Beyond the Deep Woods by Paul Stewart
Beyond the Deepwoods is the start to the long-running Edge Chronicles. This first book does what one would expect, introduces the world, the major characters, and the major conflicts, but it does so in such shallow fashion that one might be hard-pressed to consider reading on. I don’t know how the rest of the series goes, but I can say that the second novel, Stormchaser, improves in many ways upon the first.
Beyond the Deepwoods,
September 11th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Paul Stewart | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Mists of Avalon, as you’ve likely guessed, is a retake on the King Arthur legends, but what makes it different is that it’s written from the women’s perspectives (Morgaine, Guinevere, etc.). The first one was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley in 1983 and this was the first time this feminist technique was used in fantasy literature and it was very successful (I learned that when I took a Modern Scholar course in fantasy literature).
September 10th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Marion Zimmer Bradley | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Rose and the Beast: Nine Fairy Tales by Francesca Lia Block
The Rose and the Beast: Nine Fairy Tales was my first look into the writing of Francesca Lia Block, and I was immediately captivated by both her style and tone and her unsurpassable use of imagery, and her ability to make old fairytales into new, darker and profound creations. It is gradually becoming clear in the general world of literature that fairytales in their original form were not at all intended for children,
September 10th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Francesca Lia Block | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE ELDARN SEQUENCE by Robert Scott & Jay Gordon
THE ELDARN SEQUENCE is a good story told poorly.
This review was difficult for me to do. Partly because I’m writing it on a day off work while home sick and partly because there are characteristics of these books that really annoy me, but reflect some real-world political and cultural positions and I want to review the book without offending anyone inadvertently. If you are offended by anything here, just assume that you’ve read it incorrectly and that I am really the most tolerant and inoffensive person anywhere in the world,
September 7th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 0.1 | Robert Scott | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Predator’s Gold by Philip Reeve
We Will Unleash a Storm that will Scour the Earth.
It had been a while since I’d read Philip Reeve’s first installment in the Hungry City quartet, and so my memories of the events that happened in Mortal Engines were a little hazy. However, nothing could make me forget the imaginative post-apocalyptic world that Reeve had created, in which massive Traction-Cities trundled across the wastelands according to the laws of Municipal Darwinism; eating any smaller city that crossed their paths.
September 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings
Back before David Eddings became a shampoo-rinse-repeat sort of author, churning out the same old storylines and character types, there was the original Belgariad series, which remains by far his best work.
The premise is an old stand-by — farmboy discovers he’s not who he thought he was and, along with a band of helpers, goes on a quest to stop the world’s destruction/domination by the evil one. But Eddings manages to breathe a lot of life into the archetypical plot. His characters are gradually revealed throughout the series to have hidden layers of complexity,
September 3rd, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | David Eddings | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Before They are Hanged (2007) begins just where The Blade Itself left off and continues the stories of Logen, West, Jezal, Ferro, Bayaz, Glokta, and company. Expect more of the same in this novel: brutal fighting, sickening torture, nasty politics, ruthless characters, and barbarian grammar.
This recipe mostly works — the plot is interesting, the pace is fast, there’s a bit of humor, and the characters are well-developed and continue to grow. I certainly enjoyed the story. There were a few things,
September 1st, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Joe Abercrombie | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As much as I love reading fairytales, there’s always the sense that I’m only getting half of the story. There’s never any character development, explanations on where those magical artifacts come from, or why the bad guys act so villainous beyond the fairly rudimentary: “they’re evil.” In fairytales, things just happen, with little or no back-story.
Which is why I’ve always appreciated authors who consider the missing pieces to any fairytale and fill them accordingly with their own ideas. Donna Jo Napoli has built her career on this technique,
September 1st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Helen Lowe | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…