Set in a historical landscape that resembles the medieval Russian Steppes, Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts (2012) delivers a satisfying blend of historical adventure and fantasy with a heaping spoonful of magic. Temur is a warrior left for dead on a corpse-strewn battlefield. He acquires a wounded horse, joins a band of refugees, and falls in love with the local princess. But when his clan enemy raises an army of ghosts to kidnap the girl, Temur begins a quest to rescue her. Along the way, he gets the help of a wizard woman with her own set of problems. ( )

This is one of those stories that aren't from the average western cannon, there are little hints of western myth and places but this is on the Steppes and takes from mythology around that place and from legendary things from there. Temur is the last survivor of a battlefield where he was left for dead and he has to fight to stay alive. Once-Princess Samarkar has sacrificed her womb for magic and now she has to learn how to wield it.
The two of them, when they come together will fight for good and try to stop civil war from disrupting everything they value. I want more in this world, it was refreshingly different. ( )

I won't lie, though I've heard of Elizabeth Bear I haven't read her. I've had myself chocked full of other authors and books that sometimes if its not thrust into my face I won't notice it. TOR however was kind enough to send me a review copy of Range of Ghosts and I will thank them until I am blue in the face for it. I've been lucky lately--asian influenced fantasy is becoming much more prominent and readily available, something I wished for a lot as a child/young teen. Other than Sasha Miller's Ladylord and Raymond Feist's Riftwar Cycle series (especially the Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts) there wasn't many options for me.

Firstly the cover is beautiful, the colors are deep and nuanced, the hanging moon from the chain, the shadows and eyes peeking out in the corner...its very eye-catching. Way to go Donato, you got my attention again. I would have picked this up in the bookstore while browsing likely, so there's a lot of win here.

This is a novel that is lush, evocative and fantastical. Bear excels at bringing the smallest detail to her world, both real and imagined in this case. The shifting sky from one land to the next, the Great Khan, warrior nomad who conquered nations, the not overly complicated system of magic...they all round out to create a world conflicted by what it wants.

One of the strengths of the book is that while it follows a linear progression of time and events, the characters themselves feel like they're living it. The happiness, the sorrows, the plain dullness of routine--the characters all live through this constantly. Its not a wild coaster ride from one cover to the next in other words.

I didn't feel a connection to the characters however--is that odd? Temur's way of thinking and personality felt off, while Samarkar rubbed me the wrong way almost every time she was on the page. I think that's a personal problem though--Bear's secondary characters pleased me well enough. Samarkar did get some of the best...not really lines, but descriptions of her actions in the book, while Temur got some of the best one-line observations.

I'm interested to see where this goes, to see how the ending impacts their lives and their world. I'm particularly fond of evil cults in fantasy settings for some reason and as this is obviously the set up for the sequel I hope that the second book holds up to the first.
( )

A really easy fast read, and I do look forward to reading the next.
The concept of the different skies (universes) when you move from one controlling empire to another was quite unique. ( )

2.5 stars

I can't remember what I was going to say about this, but I was far from impressed. ( )