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Title: Servant of the Shard
Author: R.A. Salvatore
ISBN: 0786918780
Format: Paperback - 359 pages
Rating: Overall Concept - 6/10
Execution - 9/10

This is the 12th book in R.A. Salvatore's saga detailing the events in the lives of Drizzt Dourden, Cattabrie, Bruenor, Wulfgar, Regis, etc.

The focal characters of this book, is surprisingly, two of the series previous main villians, Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle. This is most refreshing as it adds a needed jolt to the energy of this series. The previous book in the series, Spine of the World which dealt exclusively with Wulfgar, almost finished my reading of this series.

Having a book where most of the characters are just different shades of evil was a most excellent read. It was probably during or shortly after this book that the seeds of the War of the Spiderqueen were planted.

This book was also refreshing as the characters from the Cleric Quintet series (Cadderly, Danica, Ivan & Pikel) were around for a significant portion of this book.

And the end of the book leaves endless possibilites for adventures around Artemis and Jarlaxle, with Jarlaxle revealing a secret that could very well shake the foundation of Mezzoberanzan.

A most excellent read that I would highly recommend.

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Title: Primal Scream
Author: Michael Slade
ISBN: 0451195663
Format: Paperback - 429 pages
Rating: Overall Concept - 6/10
Execution - 9/10

This book is the sixth in Michael Slade's series of novels dealing with the exploits of Special X, a division of the Vancouver RCMP.

This book follows the standard faire of any of these books, with over the top sex, violence and the criminally insane.

However, unlike its predecessors this book is full of excellent plot twists and unexpected surprises.

By this time in "his" career, Michael Slade has fully developed his writting skills and this book shows it.

I would still recommend that anyone wishing to read Michael Slade begins with the books in their chronological order (Headhunter (of which Primal Scream is a direct sequel of), Ghoul, Cutthroat, Ripper, Evil Eye and then Primal Scream). I suggest this as the characters carry through these books and without the previous knowledge of them and their histories, as provided by the earlier novels, the book may become muddled and hard to fully appreciate.

I can hardly wait to read the rest of this series, as this book was most excellent.

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Title: The Terminus Experiment (Shadowrun #34)
Author: Jonathan E. Bond & Jak Koke
ISBN: 0451457048
Format: Paperback - 288 pages
Rating: Overall Concept - 7/10
Execution - 7/10

I own the entire run of Shadowrun Novels by ROC publishing (all 40 of them) and have read up to and including this title.

I must say that this book was another example of a really good quick read. I have enjoyed all the Shadowrun books and am only dissapointed by the fact that I only have 6 more to go.

For anyone who likes Fantasy, Cyberpunk or Shadowrun type books, I would redily suggest they read this one.

The one thing about this book I found most interesting was that this was the first Shadowrun novel to have a blatantly lesbian relationship. What makes it so interesting was that the book was written by a couple of men. Not to say that a man cannot write about a gay relationship, but I couldn't help but wonder if this situation was a hook or gimmick to feed the authors fantasy.

However, it was refreshing for the authors to have included such an integral part of human society into a book dealing with the future. All of the other Shadowrun novels have made no mention of homosexuality and have made few mentions of interracial relationships. By specifically including this into this story I think the authors have taken a risk that pays off immensely.

For the above reason, as well as some of the dark imagery and there being no clear protaganist, I think that this book is showing a maturing of the Shadowrun novel series, a maturing that I hope continues in the rest of the books.

Now, lets see what we can do to convince WhizKids and Fanpro to produce more Shadowrun novels. ;^)