KenScholes.com

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Praise for Canticle:

"This sequel to Scholes's stellar debut, 2008's Lamentation, ingeniously fuses epic fantasy and postapocalyptic science fiction...  Abounding in prophecy, myth, and mystery, this grand-scale saga is a towering storytelling tour de force."

-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Not only is Scholes a capable world builder, he ably handles the tough task of keeping the series momentum going, intensifying the mystery so deftly that even if readers can't foresee where the story's going, it's clear that the author knows exactly what he's doing.  When does book three come out already?"

-- Kirkus, starred review

"Scholes' journey through the Named Lands continues to fascinate; his characters are top notch and investment in them comes easily.  This novel is more technical than the first in the series.  Canticle forces the reader to hunker down and dig in along with the characters, all the while keeping the end of the journey in sight."

-- Romantic Times, 4 stars

"In the second Psalms of Isaak volume, civil war rages across the Named Lands... Scholes adds new layers of mystery and intrigue while fleshing out the compelling characters of one of speculative fiction's most spellbinding new sagas."

-- Booklist

Praise for Lamentation:

"This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work.  Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it's done.  No more ponderous plotting - Scholes barely gives us time to breathe.  Yet he gives us vivid characters, a world thick with detail, and wonders we've never seen before.  I wish my first novel had been this good.  I wish all five volumes of this series were already published so I could read them now."

-- Orson Scott Card, bestselling author of Ender's Game and The Tales of Alvin Maker

"Ken Scholes is a hot new voice to watch for on the interesting frontier between science fiction and fantasy. He has a keen eye for action and a keen ear for the sounds of the human heart. Grab on now, because he's going places."

-- Harry Turtledove, bestselling author of Guns of the South

"Ken Scholes' Lamentation is a whale of a first novel, set in a world where technological magic has come and gone, and come again, where organized religion has attempted to recover and restore lost knowledge, if with a certain amount of censorship, where no one is quite what they seem, and where parental ambitions for offspring are filled with deep love and sacrifices, along with double double-crosses, conflicting motives, and tragedy."

 -- L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of The Saga of Recluse series

"Ken Scholes's Lamentation is an iconic SF story cloaked in fantasy, drawing raw material from classics such as A Canticle for Liebowitz and Earth Abides, but forging something new, with colorful characters, compelling scenes, and unfolding miracles."

-- Kevin J. Anderson, bestselling co-author of Sandworms of Dune

"As intricate as a Whymer maze, Ken Scholes' Lamentation will keep the reader up until the wee hours, winding through this splendid labyrinth.  Bravo!"

-- Dennis L. McKiernan, bestselling author of the Mithgar series

"The author of Last Flight of the Goddess launches a new series with the startling image of mass destruction, and the action only builds from there. Richly detailed and original in concept, Scholes’s epic fantasy belongs in most libraries."

 -- Library Journal

"This is fantasy as it should be. Scholes’ subtle and complex plotting are the breadwinners here, but his world building and political scheming bring home the bacon as well. This reader has never read a freshman novel this good."

-- Romantic Times, 4 1/2 stars

"Scholes’s mesmerizing debut novel, the first installment of the five-volume Psalms of Isaak saga, launches him into the stratosphere of contemporary epic fantasy. Fueled by an impressively serpentine story line that explores deep philosophical issues of knowledge and power, the novel begins with a literal bang: Windwir, “the world’s greatest city” and home of 200,000 people as well as the famed Androfrancine Order and its enormous library, is completely destroyed by a mysterious weapon unleashed by an unknown foe. Left oddly untouched are the Androfrancines’ mechoservitors, one of whom, Isaak, may be the only one who knows what happened and why. Readers will be intrigued by the subtle, adept world building and ensemble cast of brilliantly complex characters, but it’s Scholes’s pure storytelling prowess that makes this tale of devastation and retribution so unforgettable."

-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Read more reviews of Canticle, Lamentation, Long Walks..., and other works by Ken Scholes:

created by the Gypsy WebScout in October, 2007/last updated February 2010