Tuesday 29 January 2013

FANTASY REVIEW: Babylon Steel 2: Dangerous Gifts - Gaie Sebold

Release Date: 29/01/13

SYNOPSIS:

Babylon Steel, former avatar of the goddess of sex and war, owner of the Scarlet Lantern brothel, has been offered a job as bodyguard to Enthemmerlee, candidate for the Council of Incandress; and as spy for the barelyacknowledged government of Scalentine. Incandress is on the verge of civil war. Enthemmerlee represents the hopes or fears of a large portion of its population and is a prime target for assassination. Babylon attempts to turn Enthemmerlee's useless household guard into a disciplined fighting force, dodge the Moral Statutes and the unwilling presence of a very annoyed Scalentine diplomat. Keeping both herself and her client alive is a hard job that only gets harder. And that s before she is driven to a choice that has terrible and far-reaching consequences...


REVIEW:

Fantasy is one of those genres that many feel is just a one trick pony. That is, if you were to ask a cross section of the public, they’d more than likely say that it was all Conanesque muscle bound heroes fighting impossible odds to get the girl and a bit of booty. Well readers of fantasy would argue differently and for me, I have to recommend Gaie as an author for them to try purely for the fact that her writing is definitely something far from the norm.

You’ve got a kickass lead heroine who works wonderfully into the genre with her forthright modern thinking as well as the twists that the authors thrown in to give the readers a real grasp of her world. Yes it’s dark, there’s all sorts of shades of grey but when you add some great twists, jaw jarring combat alongside complex twists that need to be figured out and you’ve got a brief hold on what she has to offer. Yes, it’s no Song of Fire and Ice series but with so many of the brain breaking titles out there you want something that’s going to not only hit that fantasy itch but go full on into overkill, then this could well be the author for you. All round a great second novel and one that I’m more than happy to have enjoyed.



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