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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an early attempt to bring foreign films – specifically, the Chinese kung fu fantasy – to an American audience with high production values and more sophisticated plotting than the usual chopsui. It succeeds admirably, and was justly recognized with multiple awards. As a fan of chopsui, I was not disappointed. The kung fu is powerful in this movie. Although much is fast, it is not too fast to follow, and the camerawork does an excellent job of maintaining a smooth visual continuity that showcases even the more complex fighting.

The series follows a human paidhi (a diplomatic specialist in alien cultures) in his career as liason between a colony of humans and the native race of the planet, the Atevi, who are undergoing a dramatically accelerated transition from the beginning of their industrial period to a human-guided space age. Although a certain initial investment is required, the tale rapidly becomes engrossing. The paidhi’s unenviable status as the sole human permitted in close contact with the Atevi, with responsibility for interperting all contact between their cultures, embroils him in labyrinthine politics that threaten his life as well as planetary war.

Arrow’s Fall completes the story of Talia, Queen’s Own Herald of Valdemar. Returning from her internship, Talia’s friends and allies at Court welcome her back with the news that the Queen is considering a betrothal for Elspeth, heir to the throne, at the insistence of her advisors. The betrothal offer came from Ancar of Hardorn, a neighboring kingdom with a history of friendship, if not outright alliance, but something about the situation doesn’t sit right with the Queen – nor with the Queen’s Own.

The second novel in the Tales of the Continuing Time series, The Long Run is a masterpiece of the science fiction genre that is difficult to summarize in a few paragraphs. Moran has done some brilliant technological and political speculation set in the late 21st Century. His characters are very real and alive, and the writing is rich and fast-paced. TLR has the most cohesive plot of the three books in the series so far, and if you’re a new reader, I actually recommend starting with it rather than Emerald Eyes.

The Chanur Saga is a compilation of three books in Cherryh’s Chanur universe. This is the obligatory “catlike semi-humanoid spacefaring alien species” series from Cherryh; for reasons I quail at examining the basic idea is fairly popular and has received several treatments by various authors. This compilation includes an introductory novel and the first two novels of a trilogy, so if you decide to buy it, make sure you buy Chanur’s Homecoming too.

The Hidden Land is the second novel in Pamela Dean’s The Secret Country trilogy. Having accepted the Secret Country as real enough for the moment, the children must rise to meet the challenges they invented in the roles they were so eager to play in safe imagination. Yet they must do so without most of the strength and skills of the characters they are playing. Prince Edward, the eldest of the five, now rules a country on the brink of war with the Dragon King.

In Shadow Games, the first Book of the South in the Chronicles of the Black Company, we follow the Company on its journey southward towards the near-mythical Khatovar, a city not on any map, yet nevertheless faithfully recorded in the company Annals. Their quest does not lack for opposition, however, for the Shadowmasters are determined to bar their path, and there are hints that those long thought dead have come south to pursue old enmities as well.

A Knight of the Word is the second book in Terry Brooks’ loose trilogy The Word and the Void. This book focuses on John Ross and his crisis of faith, with Nest (from Running with the Demon) trying to save him from himself. In my description of the first book in this series, I felt it was important to note that it wasn’t one of Brooks’ Shannara titles. The same applies here, but there’s also some stylistic differences from the first book in the trilogy as well.

George RR Martin is a writer with a long, if less than best-selling, list of hits. His previous work includes science fiction like Tuf Voyaging, the tale of a solitary “eco-engineer” with the resources of an intersteller bioweapons facility at his command, or editing the Wild Cards collection, which featured short stories about the real problems faced by comic-book superheroes. He was established as publishable – but there was absolutely no hint of what would come.

Innocence is a sequel to the popular anime Ghost in the Shell. And it’s a sequel that gives the lie to sequelitis: Innocence may even surpass it’s predecessor. Fans of Ghost in the Shell will recognize Batou, who returns in the sequel as the solemn, philosophical cyborg cop. Since the disappearance of the Major, his partner, he has withdrawn further and further into himself. He’s assigned a new partner and put on a case involving robots that are killing their human owners and committing suicide.