All Night Awake by Sarah A. Hoyt
I wasn’t expecting a sequel to Ill Met by Moonlight. That novel was complete and satisfactory in itself, so the appearance of a sequel came as a pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like All Night Awake quite as much as Ill Met by Moonlight, for several reasons. First, the metaphysics were more confusing than in the first book. Second, the constant use of Shakespearean quotes gets a little heavy-handed from time to time.
May 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Sarah A. Hoyt | SFF Reviews | no comments |
British author John Meaney is primarily known as a writer of hard science fiction. In his latest offering however, he changes tack a bit and delivers a novel in Bone Song that is described as blending “gritty futuristic noir with gothic fantasy.” A fairly accurate description, although personally I would categorize the book as urban fantasy because the backdrop is definitely present day, the main character is a police lieutenant, and the story is driven by a murder investigation that features plenty of familiar police procedural elements and subplots like a romance,
May 29th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | John Meaney | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Imagine what the settling of the West would have been like if, along with hunger, drought, and malaria, the settlers also had to deal with dragons. Patricia Wrede’s Thirteenth Child is a sort of a magical version of Little House on the Prairie. Eff is the titular thirteenth child, which means she is a beacon of bad luck and will curse all those around her as she ages. Her twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son,
May 29th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Patricia C. Wrede | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Map of Moments by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon
Mind the Gap, the first collaboration between award-winning and bestselling authors Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, was a solid offering, marred by a slow start and conventional plotting, but ended on a very strong note. Their second collaboration follows a somewhat similar path — slow beginning, powerful ending — but with some key differences.
Firstly, the setting for The Map of Moments is much more interesting than it was in Mind the Gap.
May 29th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Despite having read two Jay Lake novels (Rocket Science and Mainspring), they didn’t prepare me for Trial of Flowers. This is an entirely different animal; Right from the outset you’re hit with stylistic language, a complex tapestry of characters and plot, and most importantly, a flat-out weirdness and originality that tends to be missing from most mainstream fantasy novels.
Lake juggles several characters, each with their own level of depravity, yet these are the characters you’re rooting for and sympathizing with. The setting — the City Imperishable — is quite distinct with its unconventionality: factions of boxed dwarfs,
May 28th, 2009. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 4 | Jay Lake | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Confessor is the last book in Terry Goodkind’s epic fantasy/philosophy series The Sword of Truth. When the series began, many readers thought this book would be a great fantasy trilogy, short and sweet. It quickly blossomed into eleven novels, each 500 or more pages in length, and the novella Debt of Bones. Throughout that time, it generated a lot of criticism from fans of speculative fiction and professional critics. Yet each novel has consistently stayed at the top of many bestseller lists,
May 28th, 2009. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 3 | Terry Goodkind | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
In the long ago history of Jonathan Stroud’s YA fantasy Heroes of the Valley, the great hero Svein gathered the other 11 heroes of the Valley to fight the Battle of the Rock against the ravening inhuman Trows who had long terrorized the Valley residents, snatching babies and killing women and children at night — the only time the Trow came out. At the end of the battle, the heroes were all dead but the Trow were driven utterly out of the valley and into the heights.
May 27th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Jonathan Stroud | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson
In modern fantasy literature, there are certain select works that define the genre such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, the Shannara novels by Terry Brooks, and Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles among others.
May 26th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ill Met by Moonlight by Sarah A. Hoyt
Quicksilver is a faery version of Prince Hamlet. He is the rightful ruler of his people, but his inheritance has been usurped by his murderous brother. He can only wreak revenge and claim his birthright with the help of a mortal, and Will Shakespeare seems like just the man for the job. Luckily, Quicksilver has a gender-shifting talent, and Will is much intrigued by Q’s female aspect…
Will has an agenda as well; his wife has been kidnapped by the aforementioned usurping king,
May 26th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Sarah A. Hoyt | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
The publisher’s summary adequately describes the premise of this novel, the first foray of C.C. Finlay/Charles Coleman Finlay into historical fantasy. (Prior to this, Mr. Finlay was perhaps best known for his fantasy novel The Prodigal Troll, as well as the gritty, sword-against-sorcery tales of Vertir and Kuikan that graced the pages of Fantasy & Science Fiction.)
Colonial America has been, at least to my knowledge, an under-used setting for speculative fiction,
May 25th, 2009. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 4 | Charles Coleman (C.C.) Finlay | SFF Reviews | no comments |
That list of anticipated books is certainly odd, although it does align with the type of books ReacTor and Locus…
If it doesn't have a ripped shirt, is it *really* Doc Savage?
Ooh, I DO kinda like that Doc Savage action figure! But without the ripped shirt, I think I will take…
I like the analysis of the artwork here--detailed and thoughtful. Thanks for sharing this review!
Please contact me Scott I know who got us away and contacted social services.