Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove vs. Silver by Rhiannon Held

The second round of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books continues with Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove against Silver by Rhiannon Held. Whichever book I most want to keep reading after 50 pages will advance to the semifinals.

Age of Aztec: Solaris paperback, 507 pages, cover art by Marek Okon. Age of Aztec is a standalone SF adventure novel in the Pantheon series. James Lovegrove is a British author of a number of SF, horror and dark fantasy books. Age of Aztec advanced to the second round by defeating The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin.

In the first 25 pages, an Aztec blood rite at the London ziggurat was attacked by the terrorist called the Conquistador. The Jaguar Warriors blasted what they thought was the Conquistador with their lightning guns, but it was just his empty armor. The Conquistador escaped. Chief Kellaway of Scotland Yard killed the inspector responsible for the debacle. Inspector Mal Vaughn was promoted and given the Conquistador case.

Mal Vaughn and her assistant Aaronson go to London ziggurat. Mal determines that the Conquistador avoided capture by hiding for hours among the dead bodies of the sacrificial victims.

Rich English businessman Stuart Reston takes an aerodisc flight to Palermo. He’s interested in purchasing an obsidian mining company on the slopes of the volcano Mount Etna, and tours operations. The mining company’s Italian CEO thinks Reston is an uptight, but no nonsense type of guy.

An Aztec priest is brutally murdered, along with his two bodyguards, at Heathrow Airport. The TV News questions if it was the work of the Conquistador. Later, at Regent Park amphitheater, there’s a stage performance containing aspects of Aztec mythology.

Silver: Tor book trade paperback, June 2012, 317 pages, cover photograph by Trevillion Images. Rhiannon Held is a US writer. Silver, an urban fantasy, is her first novel, and start of a planned series. Silver advanced to the second round by defeating Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn

In the first 25 pages, Werewolf Andrew Dare tracked down an unknown lone werewolf who smelled of silver. He found an injured, scrawny, somewhat deranged woman who talked to herself. She can no longer change into a wolf. She told him that Death called her Silver. Andrew coaxed Silver come with him. Someone hurt Silver by injecting her arm with silver.

Andrew decides to take Silver to the Roanoke pack house. He hopes that she’ll become more lucid if treated by their doctor. But Silver fears she will lead “the monster” to the others.

Andrew, who works outside the pack as an enforcer, isn’t entirely welcome in the Roanoke house. Rory, the Roanoke Alpha, doesn’t recognize Silver and is unwilling let her stay because she’s a madwoman. They don’t know where Silver is from, but Rory wants one of the Western packs to take her. Andrew queries several unhelpful Western alphas about possible were disappearances.

The Battle: We have a alternate world, military SF novel going against a contemporary urban fantasy with werewolves. Two very different books.

The first 25 pages of Age of Aztec was filled with brutal action scenes. The start of the next 25 pages wasn’t and dragged. The characters, for me, couldn’t carry the pace. But the next action scene worked, although it featured an Aztec priest getting murdered in the toilet.

I had problems getting into the characters. It didn’t help me that the first thing I learned about Inspector Mal was about her one-night stand. I disapproved of the Italian CEO’s demeaning jokes about his wife. I’m not sure of Stuart Reston's motivations.

The bit about the Aztec Empire using fusion plants to control eruptions of the world’s volcanoes seemed implausible.

Silver, on the other hand, is character driven, and not action packed. Death’s only appearance is in a speaking role in Silver’s mind. There’s been minimal action, only a slap away of an unwanted hand, and a slap in the jaw for insubordination. Shifting forms between human and wolf isn’t traumatic.

I found Andrew Dare to be a likable character. Andrew wants to do the right thing for Silver and investigate the threat. Silver is an interesting, but damaged character. Silver thinks her silver-injected arm contains snakes. I like that Death talks to her using the voices of dead people, and that Death takes people to get their voices.

This battle comes down to which I’d personally rather read: brutal action or slow-paced character building. Age of Aztec is more of a thrill ride, but I personally care to find out what happens with the werewolves.

THE WINNER: SILVER by Rhiannon Held

Silver by Rhiannon Held advances to meet either The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen or The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove vs. The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin

Moving into the bottom half of the bracket, the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books continues with Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove going against The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin. The winner will be whichever book I most want to keep reading after the first 25 pages.

Age of Aztec: Solaris paperback, 507 pages, cover art by Marek Okon. Age of Aztec is part of the Pantheon series, which are standalone military adventure novels featuring the gods of ancient mythologies. James Lovegrove is a British author of SF, horror and dark fantasy. He has written around a dozen novels, plus a similar number of books for children and young adults.

In Age of Aztec, the year is 2012, but the world is not as we know it. The setting is a mashup of modern Britain and the historic Aztecs. For instance, there are pubs and coca-leaf tea, plasma lightning guns and sharpened obsidian weapons. In this world, the Aztecs were never conquered by Cortez. Britain was subsumed into the Aztec Empire, and St. Paul’s Cathedral was demolished to build the City of London ziggurat. The weather in London is strangely tropically hot. The first 25 pages covers about a chapter and a half.

An Aztec blood rite is held at the London ziggurat. Thousands throng the streets for the festivities. A hundred participating volunteers queue for sacrifice. The officiating priest ritually dispatches sacrificial victims then the acolytes remove the victims’ hearts. A TV network aerodisc broadcasting the event dips low, unusually close to the temple. Out of the aerodisc jumps the terrorist called The Conquistador, and chaos ensues. Quote: “people were getting killed who weren’t meant to be getting killed.” The Jaguar Warrior police blast the temple and The Conquistador. Afterwards, in the debris they don’t find the Conquistador’s corpse, only pieces of his empty armor.

Upon reporting for work the next day at Scotland Yard, Inpector Mal Vaughn mets her DS (Detective Sergeant), Aaronson, who jokes about her having a casual sexual encounter, and tells her that Chief Superintendent Kellaway is looking for her. Mal witnesses Kellaway’s displeasure with Chief inspector Nyman for mishandling security at the blood rite. Kellaway kills Nyman with a macuahitl, an Aztec sword. Then Vaughn is promoted to Chief Inspector and given the dreaded Conquistador case.

The Ultimate Game: AAA Reality Games paperback, March 2012, 281 pages. Book One of Echo’s Revenge. This seems to be a tie-in novel for a future game from AAA Reality Games. This is first novel, for author Hart Getzen (aka Sean Austin). The first 25 pages cover an author introduction, a prologue, and little more than two chapters.

The author Sean Austin claims that this book is a report of an ongoing investigation, that some names and locations were changed to protect his sources.

Fourteen year old Reggie King and his eleven year old brother, Jeremy, of Washington state play an online multi-player game called ECHO’s Revenge, featuring a huge predator in body armor called ECHO (E-6) and mechanized ghouls. The game is an escape for the boys from their dysfunctional home life. Their mother, Jennifer Edna, called Jeda, is somewhat clueless and works late. Asa, Jeda’s live-in unemployed boyfriend, who is supposed to look after the boys, drinks and is abusive.

Reggie, aka Waiting for You, is one of top players of ECHO’s Revenge. He’s invited by AAA Reality Games LLC (interestingly the publisher of this book) to join a focus group with other Master level players, travel expenses paid. But Reggie doesn’t see the letter until the night before because his mean step-father, Asa, hides it from him. Of course, Reggie isn’t allowed to go. So early the next morning, Reggie sneaks away from home, leaving his brother Jeremy to cover for him, and catches a bus to AAA Reality Games lab, which is a couple hours away.

The Battle: We have a brutal alternate world SF novel, and a young adult gamers adventure book.

In the first 25 page of Age of Aztec, there’s already a sizable body count with gruesome onstage deaths. As in many recent British books, the profanity f*ck is used, in my opinion, over abundantly in conversations. I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own.

In The Ultimate Game, the boys are likable characters, although some of the things they do seem a bit unbelievable, such as jumping out a second story window in winter to avoid their angry step-father. In my opinion, the writing seems a bit wordy and unpolished. But then again, this is a book targeted at young male tween and teen gamers, which I’m not.

For this battle, I have to go with Age of Aztec, even though it’s brutal, because I got to admit it’s a page turner.

THE WINNER: AGE OF AZTEC by James Lovegrove

Age of Aztec will advance to meet either Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn or Silver by Rhiannon Held in the second round.

To see the whole bracket, click here.