WriteAway is a rather disorganized review of children's books based at APU. It includes a review of Epic by Sue Ellis. She picks up on one of my favourite things about Conor's writing:
[...] where there are battles, they are brilliantly describedUpdate: (5-Feb-2007) The review is now here.
Lady Schrapnell had previously blogged about Epic. Then on her way to WorldCon she met Conor Kostick at Dublin airport.
Claire Hennessy is a young Irish writer who appeared on Irish TV with Conor. She wrote about it in her blog. Conor wrote a comment on the blog entry mentioning The Wizard of Earthsea.
Families is a free parenting magazine available in some areas of the UK. They have a brief review of Epic which is fairly positive.
“Epic” is an “unputdownable” thriller for the confident reader, although its tiny typeface and dense text could be off-putting to less seasoned readers.
Vickie McManus is a writer of science fiction/fantasy and erotica. On her blog she has a good review of Epic.
Following up on her blog entry about Epic, Sherwood Smith has posted a full review at SF Site. I think this is the most careful review of Epic so far, it does a great job of explaining the premise of the book. A quick quote:
There are moments of beauty, humor, big surprises, action, tension, and fascinating character insight, and very little that is predictable.
Lady Schrapnell is reading Epic because she knows Charles Butler who is moderating the panel on the Second Golden Age of Children's Fantasy that Conor Kostick is appearing on at WorldCon. Charles Butler is a senior lecturer at UWE where he teaches children's literature and has written about Alan Garner who is one of my favourite authors.
Scholastic is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books (in the US they publish Harry Potter). Their UK arm includes Junior Education, a magazine for primary school teachers, which recently included a review of Epic. This review was written by popular author Sam Llewellyn, author of many books including Little Darlings.
Humanity has migrated to a new Earth. The social order is tough and weird. Citizens progress in society by winning points in a gigantic interactive computer game, and Erik's parents are losing badly. Erik applies his unconventional mind to winning. And why stop there? Why not go after the Committee that runs the game? A thoughtful, exciting science-fiction epic, with strong interpersonal and political resonances. The author is a games designer, and it shows. This book will appeal to computer-games zombies, and makes a good introduction to science-fiction.
