Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing
Review: As much as i wanted to enjoy this book I just could not get involved because of the convoluted and choppy structure. There were no real emotions to the characters, and the setting was flat and tedious.
Rating: 
Summary: Make no mistake; buy this book!
Review: I felt, after reading some reviews of this book, that I should add my own piece, since it's true that people who dislike something are more likely to give their opinion than those that like that same something. Well, I liked Confidence Game, and I'm stepping up to say so! The setting for Confidence Game is Dabion. This is one exceptionally screwed-up place. Law is the religion and its priests are judges. The priests (called Justices), if you hadn't guessed, run Dabion completely. Seem grim? It is. Now, add in that the Justices are corrupt. Seem bleak? It is. Dabion, though, is merely a backdrop to this gem. The story is only surrounded by the confines of this totalitarian-fascistic society. It is really the story of Elzith, former spy. Elzith has questionable origins. She's deeply broken. More than simply having a "tragic flaw", she is unfixable. This doesn't stop Tod from trying to enact repairs, though. Elzith lives in Tod's downstairs flat. Tod is the only stable element in Elzith's life. If it were possible to meet Tod in real-life, I'd slap him (only to bring a little excitement to his life, of course). Of all the characters in the book, Tod could be considered the most "boring". That's the polite way to put it. Tod's chosen profession of bookbinding is explained in the first four chapters. Still, without Tod, Elzith is unredeemable. Matters aren't helped by the high-up Justice who wants Elzith dead. Dabion is one exceptionally screwed-up place, after all, and simply leaving a former spy alone with her new "love interest" for the rest of her retirement would make a boring book. Yes, more boring, even than Tod. Political intrigue is the rule in Confidence Game. While elements of magic and mysticism add to the wonders of the story, this is truly a dark fantasy. This "ain't yer Daddy's" happy world of Hobbits. In Confidence Game the future is dim, and it looks like the author is wearing shades.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy is not just wizards and kings
Review: I have one question for the reviewer from BC Canada: who put him in charge of the genre? No, "Confidence Game" is nothing like the Kushiel books. It owes more to magic realism than epic fantasy. All the books that reviewer recommends are epic fantasy. That's comparing apples to oranges. "Confidence Game" is subtle and different. Some of us like different.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy is not just wizards and kings
Review: I have one question for the reviewer from BC Canada: who put him in charge of the genre? No, "Confidence Game" is nothing like the Kushiel books. It owes more to magic realism than epic fantasy. All the books that reviewer recommends are epic fantasy. That's comparing apples to oranges. "Confidence Game" is subtle and different. Some of us like different.
Rating:
Summary: Getting it right.
Review: I looked at the reviews on this book after checking out info on when Ms Welch's new book is coming out. I find baseless accusations in the reviews currently on the page. Flat characters-convoluted plot-it's not Kushiel's series. First, if you can't get past the fact that 1. Cover artists rarely read the book, and can do covers for more than just one author, and 2. Michelle M. Welch is not Jacqueline Carey, you may be in for a disappointment. As for Flat characters-I don't see how a recovering alcoholic, who's taking it one day at a time is flat, perhaps a little boring, yes, but not flat. A spy, who was thrown in a dumpster as an infant, forced to grow up in a shadowy underworld and who is thus, left cold and logical with few emotions, are flat characters. Maybe I'm just too thick, but I'm seeing depth. Convoluted? The story is well developed, it's set in the middle of a world with a deeper history than you get to see in a single story-Perhaps this is too much for an average reader to grasp. Wait, I'm an average reader, so it can't be that. Choppy. Yes, you win. It's a little uncomfortable to read, but I believe this is by design. You aren't supposed to be comfortable reading this. You're supposed to see hopelessness, and possibly a little gleam at the end, where the future is unclear. I look forward to the second book "The Bright and the Dark", which Amazon claims is coming out soon.
Rating:
Summary: A fine fantasy starring heroic characters
Review: In the country of Dabion, the Justices who make the laws and the Public Force militia rule the people. Certain colored jewelry and ornamentation are banned and anyone who has or uses magic is sentenced to death. Dabion has conquered its neighbors except for Sor'raia where magic is the norm and it's borders are closed. Elizith Kor is the most successful spy in the Secret Force due in part to her Sor'raian blood which allows her to enter and read people's mind. After a very difficult assignment Elizith wants to leave the espionage game but she knows too many secrets to be free of her masters. She rents a flat in Tod Redtanner's home and he becomes someone she trusts and cares about. Their relationship puts both of them in danger from an unknown enemy who wants nothing more than to see Elizith die a slow and painful death. Over the course of CONFIDENCE GAME, the protagonist slowly reveals her history to Tod. This technique leads to readers feeling sorry for someone who felt nothing until she reaches a breaking point and suddenly feels everything. Michelle M. Welch's debut novel is a fine fantasy starring heroic characters endearing to the audience because they are scarred and don't even realize it. It is hoped that there will be a sequel to this book that explores the magical world of Sor'raia of which the author has given the audience only tantalizing glimpses. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A fine fantasy starring heroic characters
Review: In the country of Dabion, the Justices who make the laws and the Public Force militia rule the people. Certain colored jewelry and ornamentation are banned and anyone who has or uses magic is sentenced to death. Dabion has conquered its neighbors except for Sor'raia where magic is the norm and it's borders are closed. Elizith Kor is the most successful spy in the Secret Force due in part to her Sor'raian blood which allows her to enter and read people's mind. After a very difficult assignment Elizith wants to leave the espionage game but she knows too many secrets to be free of her masters. She rents a flat in Tod Redtanner's home and he becomes someone she trusts and cares about. Their relationship puts both of them in danger from an unknown enemy who wants nothing more than to see Elizith die a slow and painful death. Over the course of CONFIDENCE GAME, the protagonist slowly reveals her history to Tod. This technique leads to readers feeling sorry for someone who felt nothing until she reaches a breaking point and suddenly feels everything. Michelle M. Welch's debut novel is a fine fantasy starring heroic characters endearing to the audience because they are scarred and don't even realize it. It is hoped that there will be a sequel to this book that explores the magical world of Sor'raia of which the author has given the audience only tantalizing glimpses. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable first novel...
Review: The author has created an interesting world (is it total fantasy or a far-future dystopia on some forgotten colony planet?) and two very engaging lead characters who are both emotionally/physically scarred by their past. A chance encounter that may not be so coincidental as it first appears bring a maybe ex-spy Elzith Kar, who is slowly recovering from wounds both physical and emotional from her recent missions, and bookbinder Tod Redtanner, a lonely recluse who hides deep-buried secrets of his own. As they slowly begin to interact, growing ever more closer, the world around them is threatening to destroy itself as events whirl out of control as forces of government, religion and magic clash with increasing levels of violence and destruction. I enjoyed the romance aspects most of all. I felt a bit lost some of the time when Elzith was revealing her past with a series of stories (told to Tod a various points in the novel) which explain her present apparent cold emotionless state and cynicism towards her trade and her masters, the despotic Judiciary bent on stamping out any potential threats to their rule of the five countries. It was hard to seperate what occuring presently with her and what was a tale of being recounted (seemed awkwardly structured to me anyways). Looking forward to the sequel coming in 2004, hopefully Elzith and Tod will appear in that as well (doesn't seem likely), set about a decade after the events of the "Confidence Game".
Rating:
Summary: Drab
Review: The word for this is "drab." Interestingly, we have some technology: muskets of the French and Indian War era, and printing presses. But the setting reminded me of a Puritan-era Soviet Union. Why would anyone create such a lackluster world for a fantasy novel? Everyone is white and the male ruling class is made of "Judges" who exert totalitarian control over the four sparsely rendered provinces. No noncomformity is allowed. Our heroine is a spy and a soldier: a plus. But she's a damaged soul who was once a sociopathic feral child (a la Mallory in the Carol O'Connell mysteries). Having little or no human emotions, she's not very interesting. Her landlord, a puppyish submissive man, inexplicably falls in love with her. Meanwhile there's some rebelling monks in another province to be put down. Her sad back-story is eked out in chapter-by-chapter confessions to her landlord. The writing is a hodge-podge of styles fueled by amateur enthusiasm: we get yanked back and forth between first-person and third-person viewpoints and past- and present-tense. An interesting note: the author got cover-art from the same artist who did the Kushiel covers - and he gave her the same type of cover: a comely naked woman's back. This may have worked in Welch's favor in that readers bought this novel, hoping for a sophisticated story of intrigue and power similar to the Kushiel books. Then it may have worked against her when readers susequently felt let down. We can't really hold that against her, but even so I won't continue with the series.
Rating:
Summary: A classic tortured spy novel set in a fantasy world
Review: This fantasy novel takes the somewhat cliche story of the tortured spy and sets it in another land, where judges are the rulers and their reasons for their schemes are difficult to ascertain. Elzith, the best spy in the ruling judge's secret army was found as a baby by thieves in a trash pile. Her life pretty much goes downhill from there (figuratively). Elzith is tortured by those she has killed, tortured by the abuse to her own body and somewhat tortured by her magical abilities that make her what she is. Tod Redtanner, is also tortured, but by failure and fear. When Elzith rents the room in his apartment, he falls in love with her and does everything he can to help her. While this may sound somewhat trite, it is difficult to convey the interesting world where Welch sets this tale. As Elzith recounts her story to Tod, one can't help but notice the parallels with all society (corruption of its leaders, their opaque goals). I had never heard of this book and picked it up on a whim, I am glad I did and look forward to the sequel due out in August '04.
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