Midwinter

"Besides being an excellent quest fantasy, Midwinter is a superb morality play. Especially coming alive is the political intrigue inside the Sturges mythos. Fans will relish the eye opening first act from one of the Shadowpack and Jack of Fables comic book team (along with Bill Willingham ), and want more in this Fae setting." -- Harriet Klausner review, March 2009 "Known for his talents as a writer of comic book series including "House of Mystery" and the Eisner Award-nominated "Jack of Fables," Sturges turns his storytelling mastery to epic fantasy. With an enigmatic hero and a supporting cast of colorful and varied personalities, his latest work breathes new life into a genre too often stunted by stereotypical portrayals of good and bad creatures of the faerie realms. Joining Neil Gaiman in making the crossover from comics to prose fiction, Sturges represents a strong, new voice in fantasy." -- Library Journal Starred review!, March 15, 2009 "There is a lot of potential in this world, and the author has a really strong grasp on world building, characterization, and dialogue." -- Fantasy Book News and Reviews, February 16, 2009 "If one were to envision a fairy tale as a high octane action movie you might get something close to Sturges debut novel, Midwinter - a fantastic read. The narrative is quick and packed with action. Midwinter keeps things diverse and always fresh. Sturges' background in comics is (at least for me) reflected in the strong visual presentation of his writing, in particular the scenes involving Mab's flying cities created some strong mental imagery that was absolutely dripping in awesome." -- King of the Nerds blog, March 30, 2009 "Lots of fun and I really hope a sequel is planned." -- Weekly Press and University City Review, Philadelphia, PA, April 2009 "I have not read Midwinter yet - it is in my sizable stack - but the cover art alone makes me want to read it. It is dark and moody and interesting. Snow scenes seem to be rare on fantasy covers and the snow (oooh, or maybe its ash?) falling on a human and elf intrigues that high fantasy side of me." -- Suvudu.com, March 23, 2009 "Comic book writer Sturges (Jack of Fables) makes an impressive debut with this superb low fantasy. Sturges deftly works in superb character development, solid action sequences and engaging heroes and villains, as well as an original and fascinating mythological backbone for the Fae world. Although there is certainly room for the planned sequel, this tale stands nicely on its own." -- Starred review, Publishers Weekly, January 2009 "Midwinter was my most anticipated read from Pyr this year and it turns out that it more than lived up to my expectations. Midwinter should definitely appeal to readers of Abercrombie and Lynch or anyone looking for an adventurous read a la the dirty dozen with a healthy dose of fantasy mixed in. Pyr and Lou Anders have once proven again that they are the leader in the Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Midwinter is now in the running from one of my top reads of the year. I'll be one of the first to grab a copy of the follow-up of Mauritaine's adventures in The Office of the Shadow, which will hopefully bow early next year. I give Midwinter 9.0 out of 10 hats." -- The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Reviews on Booktionary.com, April 28, 2009 "Midwinter is not a book that will bore you. It's an exciting page-turner that infuses some modern Sci-Fi elements in with a traditional fantasy world. Sturges definitely shows promise! Grade B." -- Mania Entertainment Book Buzz, May 2009 "I enjoyed Midwinter and think that Matthew Sturges has only started to dazzle us with his too easy writing style and clever character creations and twisty plotlines. There is a mix of cultures here with tiny elements of science fiction and not too little magic but it is woven seamlessly into a strong debut novel by a writer already adept at writing graphic novels. The plot is evolved enough to satisfy with an antagonist that veers from almost likeable to despicable and secondary characters who could in turn be set up in their own novels within Sturges' world. (hint! hint!) it is definitely one of my best books for this year, thus far." -- My Favorite Books blog, May 2009 "I enjoyed the novel and was entertained. I do want to see how Sturges grows as a writer in subsequent novels. There is clear potential here that I would love to see in full bloom." -- Skyseastone.net, blog, May 2009 Read more...