Reviews, Reviews

Permit a little indulgence. Nights of Villjamur is but a fresh-faced babe to the American market, and Kirkus Reviews, important lit journal, has got its paws on a copy:

The first book of a promising fantasy series… The novel is fast-moving and intricately plotted, though sometimes a bit gory; one character is ripped apart by grotesque blood beetles, who toss bits of his flesh into the air “in a fine pink mist.” In general, however, the violence serves the story and contributes to the dark tone. Readers who don’t mind occasional violence will enjoy exploring this impressive world.

Meanwhile, South Afrian blogger, Dave Brendon, has moved on to City of Ruin.

What I also enjoyed about City is that it was a larger novel, a larger story, much bigger in scale than Nights; it’s shown me that Mark can handle a bigger canvas with ease and aplomb, and that he can tackle an Epic just as well as all the previous and current greats… Mark stepped up the pace in City, sending the plot into a shattering conclusion that sets the scene for Book 3 and answers many questions while leaving many more to ponder. Mark also manages to meld genres in this book, and very bloody well, I might add; I was a skeptic at first, when certain things began happening, but Mark won me over and left me awed; he took a chance, and in my opinion, it definitely paid off… All in all I’m once again impressed with Mark as an author and with the tales he writes – he has a great eye for detail, knows how to create characters that resonate with the reader and creates scenes with enough action and tension that I was left breathless at times. This is definitely one of my top reads of 2010, and will definitely cement Mark’s place in Fantasy.

Which is rather nice.