Seriously, he rocks.
Initiate Brother duo was great. (I wrote about the first book briefly here. Too bad the Vinge book turned out to be something of a disappointment.) The two River into Darkness books were also great. Now I've ordered the Moontide Magic Rise books, and that makes me sad because after that there is only one more series to go before I have run out.
On the bright side, he's pretty young. So hopefully he still has a long career ahead of him.
I realized that the other thing that makes Russell's work a candidate for comparison with Dune is the sense of a vast world behind the tale, of which only a small part is exposed in the book itself. Not many authors manage this, probably because it's a lot of work. But when done right it makes fantasy more engrossing than it can possibly be otherwise. This is one reason Tolkien's work is so amazing.
And Russell's books move. Kind of like if Tom Clancy wrote fantasy, back when he didn't suck. No Robert Jordan "how much more pointless exposition can I fit on this page" crap. (Does Clancy even bother writing anymore, or is he too busy with licensed properties to bother? And does anyone care?) (And Wheel of Time, Book 11? Seriously, Mr. Jordan, it's time to muster the courage to try something new.)
The early Russell books can be found used on Amazon for under $1. Go get some.
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