The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Bridge books are always dicey things — many fall into a sophomore slump, meandering along trying to get from A to C with the required stop at B (because everyone knows a fantasy story can’t be told in only two books; three is clearly the sacred minimum — damn you Tolkien!). Luckily, The Well of Ascension (2007) doesn’t fall into that trap.
Mistborn is set in an ashen, mist-filled world whose myths tell of a time when plants were green.
June 7th, 2008. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 4 | Brandon Sanderson | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson
How to explain my feelings about Lady of the Forest? A romantic historical novel about Maid Marian and Robin Hood, it was an enjoyable escape and post-work-stress-reliever for a couple of weeks. I did enjoy it. Unfortunately, when I shut the back cover, I realized I had just read a six-hundred page book containing almost no surprises.
Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the stellar Mists of Avalon, gushes about this book in the cover blurb,
June 5th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Jennifer Roberson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As part of Anne Rice‘s The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, this installment comes after The Witching Hour in which we were introduced to three major concepts: a secret organisation called the Talamasca (best described as a supernatural FBI), a powerful family of witches known as the Mayfairs, and a strange spirit called Lasher that has haunted generations of Mayfairs, and been investigated by the Talamasca for centuries.
In the previous novel Rowan Mayfair, the latest matriarch of the Mayfair clan,
June 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Anne Rice | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
If you’re a reader who can’t get enough of crumbling antebellum mansions, dark family secrets, and muggy Southern weather, you’ll enjoy Four and Twenty Blackbirds (2003). This Southern Gothic ghost story was Cherie Priest’s first novel, and while it’s imperfect, it’s quite readable and shows a lot of promise.
Set in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Four and Twenty Blackbirds possesses a strong, tangible sense of place. I once spent a brief time in Chattanooga during the summer,
June 5th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price
In the 21st century an invention has finally been perfected: The Time Tube, which allows contemporary scientists, researches and corporate moneymakers to travel back into the 16th century and mingle with the locals there. Think of the possibilities! Plentiful supplies of oil, gold and coal, an extraordinary opportunity to study ancient life, and a pollution-free resort for those wealthy enough to make the trip. The corporation FUP has already purchased the troublesome borderlands between 16th century Scotland and England in order to begin development.
But there’s just one problem: the Sterkarms.
June 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Susan Price | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Son of Summer Stars by Meredith Ann Pierce
In the last book in the Firebringer trilogy, we finally come to the event that the two previous books have been steadily building toward: the retaking of the unicorns’ ancestral home from the treacherous wyverns. As the prophesied ‘Firebringer’, Prince Alijan is looked to as the means of regaining their Hallow Hills and Jan is certainly up to the challenge. Having finally made peace with the marauding gryphons, and finding happiness in his beloved Tek and their twin children, Jan has readied his tribe to march out to their homelands and do battle.
June 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Meredith Ann Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
They say that the book is often better than the movie and that statement definitely applies to Bridge to Terabithia. The movie gets only 2 stars, but the book is worthy of 5 stars. While the movie had very good actors and great special effects, somewhere along the way it lost the soul of the book. No other piece of fantasy writing has so clarified for me the exquisite pain and joy of being a child. Of being terrified of one’s powerlessness,
June 5th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 5 | Katherine Paterson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories by Garth Nix
Most fans will find that the most exciting feature of this Garth Nix collection is undoubtedly the short story “Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case,” set in the world of the Old Kingdom (the setting of the Old Kingdom trilogy; Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen) and acting as a type of coda for the character of Nicolas Sayre, left damaged and traumatized in the last book.
June 4th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Garth Nix | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I’m not usually a sci fi reader. Call me a wuss, but whenever I would try to read sci fi, I usually got too distracted by all the sciencey stuff to remain focused on the story. But I had seen Grimspace advertised on a website and the cover caught my eye. At that point my reaction was about as intellectual as “Ooo, pretty colors…” but hey, attractive covers are a plus. Then the book caught my eye again, this time in the bookstore, and lo and behold,
June 2nd, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4 | Ann Aguirre | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
The Wind Singer is a children’s novel and so comes with all the pluses and minuses of that genre. The pace is quick with little room or time for digression or a lot of descriptive detail. The upside is that the book never once bogs down and keeps pulling the reader along. The downside, though how much of a downside will mostly depend on age and expectations, is that characterization suffers a bit and there are a few places where it would have been nice to have gotten a more full picture (both visually and in terms of plot context/background).
June 2nd, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | William Nicholson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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