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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: May 2009

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Winter Duty: A violent emotional roller-coaster

Winter Duty by E.E. Knight

E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth is one of the most interesting military fantasy series around. Watching the maturation and evolution of the main character David Valentine has been very intriguing because Knight has done the right things. Val has been through the proverbial wringer in terms of losing friends, getting hurt, and dealing with leaders who are more concerned with their own career than doing the right things for the Soldiers they lead. In many ways, Knight’s tongue-in-cheek commentary on bureaucrats and indictment of self-serving Officers has been his most powerful theme.


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May 22nd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Sins & Shadows: Pretty woman, big gun, bigger mouth

Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict

The only good thing about gods is that they prefer their realm to ours.

Lyn Benedict also writes political-intrigue fantasy under the name Lane Robins. I learned this before starting Sins & Shadows, and I’ve been wondering ever since whether I’d have figured it out if I hadn’t known. The setting, plot, and prose style are completely different from the Lane Robins books, but there are some echoes in the general themes: love,


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May 22nd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Royal Exile: Dry and dull, full of flat characters

Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

In Royal Exile, Fiona McIntosh returns to the same world of the Percheron Saga. Though the concept is exactly what makes for good epic fantasy, the writer’s execution does not bear it out. Wooden dialogue, information dumps, and characters indistinguishable from each other make this novel a sad caricature of its potential.

A tribal barbarian warlord by the name of Loethar is rapidly conquering the Set, a federation of kingdoms with a high medieval culture.


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May 22nd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe: Just plain fun!

Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James Ward

I first encountered James Ward when he wrote the best-selling Pools books for the FORGOTTEN REALMS shared world. When I came across Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, I just had to pick it up. I didn’t regret the decision.

The story is about young Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, a sixteen year old boy, late to his magical powers, who must learn to serve his country on a dragonship of the line. Much of the story is reminiscent of the Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S.


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May 22nd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Crossroads of Twilight: THE PLOT DOES NOT MOVE

Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

Crossroads of Twilight was maddening. I read it years ago and ended up giving up on The Wheel of Time after this book. I tried again in my preparation for reading Memory of Light, and I just couldn’t manage to do it again. So, as with Winter’s Heart, I cheated by reading many of the chapter summaries at Encyclopaedia WOT. I skimmed the chapters involving Perrin’s hunt for Faile because I remembered how slow,


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May 21st, 2009. ´s rating: | , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Norse Code: Greg van Eekhout’s debut is impressive!

Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout

Stop. Look closely. Look beyond the typically stylish urban fantasy cover (the one with the nicely built young woman holding her weapon of choice with an air of defiant competence). Look beyond the title that’s both serious and punny. Inside, through pages inked with the shadows of ravens, you’ll watch the long-foretold cataclysm of Ragnarok as it rolls in a relentless wave from the dry, gray plains of Hel to… the dry, black asphalt of a California parking lot. And if you’re partial to Norse mythology or urban tales driven by fascinating characters and laser-crisp writing,


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May 21st, 2009. and ´s rating: , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Escapement: The main course

Escapement by Jay Lake

In my opinion, Jay Lake’s Mainspring was a novel full of great potential that was hindered by inconsistent writing and execution. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and was looking forward to reading the sequel. Happily, everything that worked so well in the first book has been retained in Escapement, while most of the problems were corrected, resulting in a greatly improved sequel that is everything Mainspring could have been and much more.

I had several issues with Mainspring — notably the description of Jay’s clockwork universe,


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May 21st, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Seven for a Secret: Skillful blend of alternate history, fantasy, macabre

Seven for a Secret by Elizabeth Bear

In 1938, in an alternate London occupied by the conquering German-Prussian empire, the ancient vampire Sebastien, attended by his ‘court’ of servants, awaits the death of his lover, the venerable sorceress, Abigail Irene. One night, however, two teenage girls — cadets in one of the empire’s schools and each a seventh daughter — pique the vampire’s curiosity. Sebastien and Abigail Irene begin to investigate the girls’ backgrounds and the school’s true activities, even as the girls progress toward an unorthodox graduation that will transform them into the empire’s ultimate stormtroopers. 


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May 20th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Jinx: A delightful morsel of a novel

Jinx by Jennifer Estep

Jinx focuses on Bella Bulluci, who was Fiona Fine’s fashion designer rival in Hot Mama. Bella comes from a family of superheroes — both superpowered and otherwise — and she’s quite frankly tired of the whole gig. She’s had superheroes out the wazoo, especially since her family became closely affiliated to the Fearless Five in the previous novel. She has a power that is more of a curse, and it causes her endless embarrassment when the strangest things happen around her.


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May 20th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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God’s Demon: Extraordinary fantasy set in the bowels of Hell

God’s Demon by Wayne Barlowe

From acclaimed artist Wayne Barlowe, whose distinctive stamp can be found in literature (Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials, Expedition), film (Harry Potter 3 + 4, Blade II, Hellboy), television (Discovery Channel’s Alien Planet, Babylon 5) and videogames (Dead Rush, Prototype) as well as appearing in numerous museums, Time, Life, and Newsweek, comes the creator’s latest visionary piece God’s Demon, an extraordinary fantasy novel set in the bowels of Hell.


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May 19th, 2009. and ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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