Posts Tagged ‘Fantasy Book Critic’
In Her Name Takes Top Spot for 2008 Indie Fantasy Books by Fantasy Book Critic
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Book News on February 8th, 2009
I hadn’t checked the Fantasy Book Critic site in a while, but just noticed that they posted the top books they reviewed in 2008 in various categories. And guess what their top pick was for independently published books in the fantasy category? IN HER NAME!
Here’s an excerpt of the post:
Notable Indie Books:
1) “In Her Name” by Michael R. Hicks. Space opera, military sf and magic. Reviewed HERE.
2) “The Riddler’s Gift: The First Tale of the Lifesong” by Greg Hamerton. Girl discovers her magical powers; superb style and a page turner to boot.
3) “The Crown Conspiracy” by Michael Sullivan. Adventures of a fighter/thief duo—Scott Lynch move aside!
4) “The Pilo Family Circus” by Will Elliot. Think being a clown is fun?
5) “Other People’s Children” by Christopher Lucas. The most surprisingly good non-genre novel for me; young Irish-American aristocrat is fascinated and repelled by Adolf Hitler, using his Nazi connections to save thousands of children.
6) “Soldier of Rome: The Sacrovir Revolt” by James Mace. The Legions of Rome: novelization.
In Her Name Gets Great Review From Fantasy Book Critic
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Book News on February 6th, 2009
In Her Name was recently reviewed by Fantasy Book Critic, and I have to say that I was incredibly pleased with it. Aside from the fact that they really liked it, it was interesting to see the perspective of a reviewer who really focuses on fantasy works, rather than reviewing a wide spectrum of books. It also drove home what’s not necessarily apparent on the surface: that In Her Name has a lot of appeal to folks who enjoy epic fantasy stories, although it’s clear from reader feedback that even folks who don’t normally read fantasy or science fiction books find a lot to enjoy in it.
I’m not going to publish the entire review here, as it’s fairly extensive. But here are a few highlights to help grab your attention (note that the reviewer Liviu Suciu, also posted a personal review on Amazon that contains the heart of the full review posted on Fantasy Book Critic):
In Her Name is the debut novel of independent author Michael R. Hicks. The author brought In Her Name to my attention in a chance online encounter, and after reading the four chapter excerpts on Mr. Hicks’ website, I quickly wanted to finish it and bought the book. The novel is a mixture of military space opera and epic fantasy that works very well, and I recommend anyone who might be interested to check out the excerpts and decide for them selves…
…the author’s writing style is very engaging…even emotional if you want…which makes you keep turning page after page to find out what happens next, and in the process letting you live the book. That is the main reason I enjoyed In Her Name so much, and this being something based on personal taste, I strongly urge anyone who might be interested to check out the excerpts and see if they are drawn by Mr. Hicks’ style as I was.
…the main character, Reza Gard, is very interesting. Human by birth, alien by upbringing, Reza struggles to straddle two mutually incompatible societies: a scientific, more or less democratic and individualistic human one; and a fantasy-like society…in the sense that sufficiently superior technology will seem like magic…which is communal, blood-bonded, hierarchic, and based on honor and place…
Overall, I thought Michael R. Hicks’s In Her Name was an excellent book and I highly, highly recommend it…
Please feel free to check out the complete review of In Her Name by Fantasy Book Critic, along with the reader feedback on Amazon and Mobipocket.com!
