Janet Morris (1) (1946–)

The sequel to Tempus Unbound with his adventures in and from Lemuria, this book reunites the Sacred Band of Stepsons including Nikodemos, Critias, Straton and Randal. Jihan, one of Tempus’s lovers, and Kama, Tempus’s daughter, also join the Band.
And they are to battle with the witch Roxane, who has managed to survive from her earlier defeat, and who now seeks Niko.
Oh, and we also now have a new character, Cyrus, the son of Tempus and Jihan, who’s not happy, as he has been imprisoned for his whole life.

This is apparently the seventh Sacred Band book, and if the above makes no sense and you haven’t read earlier books, then don’t try starting here. But if you want still more of Tempus (who has long departed his origins in the Thieves’ World anthologies), this is an excellent addition to the series.… (meer)

It is a terribly cheesy conceit, mixing Tempus with god-given time travel to a future United States, playing fantasy games, but if you can keep suspending your disbelief, it’s a fun ride.
This is a sequel to the Thieves’ World stories and novels featuring Tempus, the Riddler, as one major character, and relocating him in time and space, for another battle against the evil wizards. He is without his “Sacred Band”, so there is less banter and humour, but there is humour from descriptions of modern/future technology as experienced by Tempus to partially compensate.… (meer)

This was an easy read but it seemed there was a lot of bland filler conversation in a few of the stories/chapters. I remember reading a few of these books when I was a teenager some time ago and liking them a lot, this one I had never read before. It reminded me that I absolutely hate C.J. Cherryh's writing, which constantly spins its wheels and never gets anywhere until near the end. A bit strange I guess that I'm reading this series of books in which she has a not-insignificant part. However, I did like some of the stories here. These are the first two: Son of the Morning and Newton Sleep, the latter having the same flaws as some of the later stories but here it serves as an introduction to hell's rules which then get repeated ad nauseam in every other story; and The Hand of Providence and To Reign in Hell.
Would I recommend this book? Maybe, the first two stories are fascinating and sufficiently gruesome and informational respectively and there are a couple of others that are fantastical and somewhat gory. I guess if you're in for a Bangsian fantasy with plenty of gory fantasy violence, then I would recommend this one, otherwise not so much.… (meer)