This review was first published by Booklist on November 15, 2016.

People from the twenty-first century have opened a portal in rural Illinois that allows them to visit 1877. They’ve built a tourist resort called the City of Futurity, where wealthy individuals can experience the past and locals can catch a sanitized glimpse of the future. Jesse Cullum is a native of 1877 who works for the City. A man with a violent history, he meets and falls for a woman from the future. Meanwhile, someone is smuggling future technology into the past and sowing discord toward the City. Soon enough, it all starts to fall apart. There’s a lot going on in the latest from Hugo Award–winning Wilson. It’s an alternate-history novel, a time-travel story, and a whodunit all in one. It explores parallel universes, corporate greed, and culture clashes while critiquing the entitlement of modern society and our tendency to romanticize the past. Wilson wrangles all these threads with skill and vividly renders the reality of the past. The story is well paced, builds to an epic crisis, and makes for a satisfying read.

This review was first published by Booklist on October 13, 2016.

Into the Guns begins a new near-future military sf series from Dietz. In 2018, several meteors strike the earth and decimate civilization, and the American government is left in turmoil. Members of the armed forces are left stranded without command. The southern states secede from the union, a second Civil War looms, and a new president struggles to rebuild. The plot’s not very original, but it works. Dietz’s depictions of military operations and hardware are detailed. That alone is a major appeal factor. He delights in throwing around military jargon, although he’s inconsistent about defining some of the terms for readers unfamiliar with the argot. Unfortunately, characters are sketches more than fully rendered. Yet this will be a worthy purchase, given Dietz’s many fans.

This review was first published by Booklist on September 15, 2016.

This second entry in the Central Corps series is wall-to-wall action. It starts with a bang, opens new vistas of political and corporate intrigue, and pulls readers along to an ending that will leave them wanting more. After the events of The Cold Between (2016), Elena Shaw and Greg Foster were court-martialed for their actions. But instead of punishment, they’re put back on board their ship and assigned to patrol the Third Sector. When Syndicate raiders attack and destroy a fellow Corps ship, they must partner with a PSI captain and her crew to pursue the attackers. Elena’s former crewmates and commander open old wounds, as the pursuit leads to the site of one of her worst memories. Worse yet, there’s a saboteur on board. Bonesteel’s characters are what really stand out amid all the action—the relationships between them ground everything in the story, though this novel ditches the romance that characterized its predecessor in favor of more straightforward military science fiction. Fans of David Drake’s Honor Harrington series will find much to enjoy here.

This review was first published by Booklist on September 1, 2016.

A thousand years ago, the Five Warrior Angels rid the Five Isles of demons. Since then, their legends have given rise to religions, which now war for conquest. Many believe a prophesied apocalypse is near: some seek to hasten it, while a secret cult fights to prevent it. Magical weapons thought long lost are being found. But the legends may be lies, and the fate of the world depends on the daughters of a king, an assassin, a mysterious Vallè, and an orphan boy from a small fishing village. This is high fantasy in the vein of Stephen R. Donaldson or David Eddings, with generous helpings from George R. R. Martin. Durfee’s world building is exceptional: detailed and immersive, with a deep history and believable cultures. The plot is paced and driven, compellingly structured, with a conflict large enough to fuel forthcoming titles in the series. Some of the concepts and characters feel derivative, though archetype, and, unfortunately, the writing is inconsistent. For fans of high fantasy, the less-than-stellar writing shouldn’t detract from enjoyment of the world and the many entertainments of the story.