Fantasy/SF Book Reviews
Page Two of TwoEchelon by Josh Conviser
Del Rey, July, 2006Trade paperback, 304 pages
ISBN: 0345485025
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Echelon was a data mining operation run by the NSA in the
late twentieth century. But over the years, as Echelon became
more powerful, it broke away from the government and
created its own organization. Every single email, fax,
Internet communication and phone call was tracked through Echelon.
Eventually, Ehelon became the quiet ruler of the globe.
Wars ended, peace became the norm. Whenever it looked like
war might break out or a new invention might destabilize the markets,
Echelon stepped in and smoothed things out. Whatever it took,
whoever had to die, it was all for the betterment of humanity.
Normal people have no idea that their every movement in and out of the flow
(the futuristic version of the Internet) is monitored and recorded.
Ryan Laing is a veteran agent
of Echelon who handles the jobs that have to occur in the real, not
virtual, world. Ryan is bioengineered for speed and accuracy and
has implants which extend his normal senses.
His controller is Sarah Peters, a veteran hacker who
works out of Scotland. When strange things start happening inside
Echelon, it's clear that Echelon has a traitor that is trying to destroy it
from the inside. Ryan and Sarah are determined to uncover the traitor,
and are drawn into a dark conspiracy in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Josh Conviser knows dialogue and pacing and it really shows in his
debut novel, which is an exciting thriller with a touch of cyberpunk.
The atmosphere of paranoia and the biting social commentary add a
gritty realism to the science fiction plot that's not so far-fetched at all.
Echelon is the logical outcome of data mining programs that are in existence
today, which makes this compelling novel all the more interesting -- and
disturbing to read.
Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
Luna, October, 2006Hardcover, 392 pages
ISBN: 0373802498
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Yelena Zaltana was kidnapped as child by the evil mage Mogkan
who fed off the children he held captive. Yelena escaped that fate to become
the official poison taster to the ruler of Ixia (Poison
Study, 2005).
In Ixia anyone with magical talent is banished, but in her home
country magic is celebrated and taught. Yelena is now free of Ixia
and is headed back to be reunited with her family. Her reunion with her
parents is sweet, but her brother's antipathy towards her causes her great
pain. Yelena is accepted into the Magician's Citadel where she begins
her training. But her brother has spread the rumor that she is actually a spy from
Ixia. Meanwhile, a rogue magician is committing a string of murders that
Yelena is desperate to solve. Political intrigue, magic and adventure
combine to make this second installment in Yelena's exhilarating story .
Fantasy/SF/Horror Book Reviews
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Return to the December 2006 issue of The IWJ.
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