Emma Newman | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

SFF Author: Emma Newman

Emma Newman was born in a coastal village in southwest England and currently lives in Somerset (UK). After graduating from Oxford University came stints in magazine publishing, website information architecture, and teaching. More information about her can be found at her blog Post-Apocalyptic publishing at www.enewman.co.uk. Her first novel, 20 Years Later, was published in November 2011 under the byline EJ Newman from Dystopia Press. The author lives in Somerset, England.

Between Two Thorns: Boring, but there’s hope

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Between Two Thorns is the first book in Emma Newman’s SPLIT WORLDS series set in Bath, England where some humans live in a secret world called Aquae Sulis (aka “the Nether”) that’s parallel to Mundanis, the “Mundane” world we know. The people who live in the Nether keep themselves hidden from us and shun modern dress, manners and technology. Their society is just like early 19th century English society except that they are influenced by their fae House Lords and are also under the authority of the Arbiters who police their use of magic.

Any Other Name: An improvement in almost all ways

Any Other Name by Emma Newman

I didn’t enjoy Between Two Thorns, the first book in Emma Newman’s SPLIT WORLDS series because I didn’t like the characters, felt a little lost in the world, and thought the plot was boring. However, at the end of that novel things started to improve and since I already had the second book, Any Other Name, loaded into my phone (Brilliance Audio sent me review copies), I listened to it.

Any Other Name picks up where the previous book ended (it is absolutely necessary to have read Between Two Thorns).

All is Fair: I still don’t connect with these characters

All is Fair by Emma Newman

Note: You really must read the first two books before coming to book three or you’ll be hopelessly lost. I’ll assume you’ve done that if you’re reading this review, so expect spoilers for those previous books.

All is Fair is the final novel in Emma Newman’s SPLIT WORLDS trilogy. I thought the first novel, Between Two Thorns was dull and confusing, and I wouldn’t have bothered with the sequel,

Planetfall: An SF exploration of mental illness

Planetfall by Emma Newman

Planetfall, the first science fiction offering from Emma Newman, is about a colony of humans who left Earth to follow Suh, an alleged prophet who received a supernatural message giving her the coordinates of an unknown distant planet where she was supposed to travel to receive instructions about God’s plans for humanity. Suh and her best friend Ren, a brilliant geneticist and engineer, gathered a team of like-minded believers and they landed on the planet 22 years ago.

After Atlas: CSI: Future World

After Atlas by Emma Newman

Emma Newman’s After Atlas (2016) is the pseudo-sequel to her first sci-fi offering, Planetfall (2015). As Kat explained in her review, Planetfall is about a colony of humans who left Earth to follow Suh, an alleged prophet who received a supernatural message giving her the coordinates of an unknown distant planet where she was supposed to travel to receive instructions about God’s plans for humanity. After Atlas takes place on Earth,

Jason Golomb and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Before Mars: Impossible to put down

Before Mars by Emma Newman

Emma Newman has done it again with her third PLANETFALL novel, Before Mars (2018). I ignored my usual daily reading goals and limits, I ignored a growing stack of paperwork, and I even ignored dinner because I was far more invested in Dr. Anna Kubrin’s declining mental state. What other reason could there be for her growing distance from reality? Why else would she be convinced that something nefarious is going on at her tiny, isolated Mars research station,

Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Atlas Alone: Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…

Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

Emma Newman continues her PLANETFALL series with Atlas Alone (2019), which takes place after Planetfall, After Atlas, and Before Mars. In fact, two of Atlas Alone’s characters will be immediately recognizable to those who have already read After Atlas, and one of those characters, in particular,

Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Weaver’s Lament: The Industrial Revolution and social upheaval with magic

Weaver’s Lament by Emma Newman

Weaver’s Lament (2017) is Emma Newman’s second novella in her INDUSTRIAL MAGIC series. The first one is Brother’s Ruin. Both stories feature Charlotte Gunn, a young woman from a respectable family who is hiding several secrets; she is secretly an illustrator of popular fiction and she is secretly magical, having clandestine meetings with a magus to learn to control her abilities. In the first story, Charlotte used her abilities to enhance her older brother’s lesser skill and get him accepted into the Royal Society (who pays the family of nascent magi a pretty penny).

Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Monstrous Little Voices: A strong collection

Monstrous Little Voices: New Tales from Shakespeare’s Fantasy World edited by Jonathan Oliver & David Moore

In Monstrous Little Voices, editors Jonathan Oliver and David Moore have collected five novellas all set in a greatly enlarged version of Shakespeare, with a host of characters spilling out of the pages of his dramas and comedies to interact with each other in ways good and ill, many of them showing us sides of their characters we never saw in the plays or offering up “what happened next” versions of their ongoing stories.

SFF Author: Emma Newman

Between Two Thorns: Boring, but there’s hope

Any Other Name: An improvement in almost all ways

All is Fair: I still don’t connect with these characters

Planetfall: An SF exploration of mental illness

After Atlas: CSI: Future World

Before Mars: Impossible to put down

Atlas Alone: Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…

Weaver’s Lament: The Industrial Revolution and social upheaval with magic

Monstrous Little Voices: A strong collection

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