C.E. Murphybegins Heart of Stone, the first of the Negotiator books, with our main character “Grit” being shadowed by a Gargoyle as she runs through Central Park. The Gargoyle, Alban, is a member of the few Old Races that are hidden in plain sight from the rest of humanity. His tragic history and how it compels him and leads him to eventually interact with Grit is the meat of the tale.
Murphy creates a plausible background and history for this story,
January 31st, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | C.E. Murphy | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner
Sometimes authors lose the plot. In Redeeming the Lost, Elizabeth Kerner loses… everything.
She loses what restraint she had on her overly flowery writing style. It reached a point where some of the language was laughable and ridiculous, and often it looked like there were several words missing from sentences. Kerner is one of those fantasy authors that unfortunately can’t fight the desire to show off her knowledge of archaic language.
She loses the pacing. In actuality about 72 hours passes from start to finish of the book.
January 31st, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Elizabeth Kerner | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Based loosely on the fairytales of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “The Frog Prince” (but adding plenty of her own ideas), Juliet Marillier crafts an entertaining story of magic and faerie, set in the wild-lands of Transylvania. Jena is one of five sisters (Tatiana, Iulia, Paula and Stela) who have long-since kept a secret in their bedroom: a magical portal into the Other Kingdom, through which they can pass through every full moon to cavort with faerie-creatures in the Dancing Glade of the Faerie Queen.
January 29th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Juliet Marillier | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin
The Farthest Shore is the third book in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series, and the concluding one for several decades. Since it’s highly recommended to have read the first two, I’ll work on the assumption that the reader has. If book one, Wizard of Earthsea has the most action/magic and book two, Tombs of Atuan, is the slowest and most introspective of the opening trilogy, then The Farthest Shore is a nicely-balanced blending of the styles.
January 28th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4, 5 | Ursula K. Le-Guin | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Finally, a sequel that does not disappoint!
Tally finally has all she ever wanted: She’s pretty, she’s popular, she’s in the coolest clique in New Pretty Town.
What could possibly go wrong now?
Nothing does… until the night of the coolest costume party ever when a blast from the past shows up and leaves her a mystery to follow. All of a sudden Tally and her new friend Zane not only have a mystery to solve, but two tiny white pills to take…
January 28th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the Eye of Heaven by David Keck
In the Eye of Heaven has potential, but unfortunately the writing drags it down considerably. It really needed to be polished. At the moment it reads almost like a first draft, without anything properly fleshed out.
The first problem is that scenes are poorly described, when they are described at all. I felt almost blind as I was reading, because David Keck gives you nearly no idea of the places or people that the characters find themselves around.
January 27th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 2 | David Keck | SFF Reviews | no comments |
With New Spring, Robert Jordan offers himself up to two major criticisms up front. One is for releasing a prequel when you haven’t finished the first series yet and the other is for trying to grab a quick book by just padding out an already published first story. With regard to the first, I think it’s pretty silly to complain about an author’s choice of subject — perhaps he became inspired with something in terms of the back story and is excited to write it,
January 26th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Shannon Parker, Beloved of Epona and now living in the lap of luxury in Parthalon is suddenly pulled back into the modern world from whence she came. Summoned back by the mirror image of her centaur husband, ClanFintan, Clint Freeman a handsome and brave former Air Force pilot has been battling with Shannon’s evil twin Rhiannon.
But Shannon isn’t the only one who has been pulled out of Parthalon. The evil spirit of the demon Shannon helped to vanquish in Divine By Mistake,
January 26th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 4 | P.C. Cast | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Kingless Land by Ed Greenwood
To say there is little plot to The Kingless Land is an understatement. I used to game with a number of players where one of them kept notes of our gaming session. The next time we came together to game, he would recap what occurred the last time we played. Greenwood apparently has this down to an art form. The Kingless Land reads exactly like a D&D gaming session. I can’t think of anything more boring than reading about someone else’s D&D adventures.
January 25th, 2008. Guest | Ed Greenwood | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind
The Sword of Truth, though a bit derivative, started off well and, while it has had its stops and starts, it has generally been well-worth reading.
Sadly, Naked Empire fails even the minimal standard of “if it’s in a series, you’ve gotta read it if only to know what happens.” So little of import happens here, and it’s so painful to get to what little does, that it simply isn’t worth it. The book is preachy, talkative, dogmatic, repetitive, one-sided, and simplistic,
January 25th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1 | Terry Goodkind | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fly Fishing is the Answer!
I guess I'll have to read these.
I'd IMAGINE so, never having read that other book or seen the film....
So, more in the territory of A River Runs Through It than Siddhartha? ;-)
No Buddha mentioned in the book, but he DOES seem to suggest that fly fishing = true happiness....