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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: May 2009

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The City & The City: Utter genius

The City & The City by China Miéville

It’s impossible to discuss China Miéville’s The City & The City without discussing its premise. I don’t consider this much of a spoiler, as the reader is pretty fully confronted with the premise about 20-30 pages in, but it is led into with hints here and there so before hitting the premise, I’ll offer a very short summation and recommendation in the next two paragraphs, followed by the full discussion which includes the premise.

Despite the title’s promise of more urban New Weird fantasy along the lines of Perdido Street Station,


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May 6th, 2009. and ´s rating: , | | , , , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Poof! Another vampire up in smoke

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

My instincts were right with this one. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin stood out from all the other urban fantasies right from the start. For me, it was a great and long-overdue introduction to the urban fantasy genre.

Rardin invented a great deal of vampire mythology, but she saw fit to keep all the traditional aspects as well. One can fend a vampire off with a cross, and holy water will cause even the most deadly vampire to back off.


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May 6th, 2009. | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Hawkspar: Three things about a Holly Lisle novel

Hawkspar by Holly Lisle

This story is about a slave, and her fight for freedom. She is a member of the Tonk race. Rather than a nation, the Tonk are spread throughout the world. It turns out that there are quite a few Tonk among not only Hawkspar’s fellow slaves, but among the Oracles themselves. And one of them has cooked up a plot. Once the slave — who, through most of the story, doesn’t remember her name — takes on the Eyes, she becomes Hawkspar, and she immediately sets her predecessor’s plans into motion.


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May 6th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Magic in the Blood: Ouch!

Magic in the Blood by Devon Monk

I complain sometimes about urban fantasy heroines who keep racking up more and more improbable powers over the course of a series, eventually becoming such spectacular demigoddesses that it would take a small army to give them so much as a black eye.

That’s one problem Allie Beckstrom doesn’t have. I’m beginning to think Allie needs more powers to deal with everything Devon Monk is throwing at her. Monk is great — maybe a little too great — at describing the agony of trekking all over Portland in the rain with a blinding migraine,


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May 3rd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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An Earthly Knight: Interesting character study, flat romance

An Earthly Knight by Janet McNaughton

I went through a phase a few years ago where I sought out every retelling of the Tam Lin story that I could get my hands on. So the title An Earthly Knight was instantly familiar to me, and I knew I needed to read this book. I was especially intrigued by the author’s choice to return the story to its original setting, medieval Scotland.

Unfortunately, the historical aspect falls a little flat. McNaughton has a tendency to get a bit infodump-y. I wasn’t familiar with the politics of that time and place,


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May 3rd, 2009. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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King of Morning, Queen of Day: A fairy tale of unforgettable power

King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald

I knew, just by reading the back cover blurb, that King of Morning, Queen of Day was right up my alley. Women with mystical powers? Check. Faeries? Check. Ireland? Check. In fact, I think the only reason I didn’t discover this book earlier is that it was published in 1991, and I only started reading fantasy sometime in the late nineties.

The story begins with Emily, a bratty but endearing girl of fifteen,


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May 3rd, 2009. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Winter’s Heart: Plods along

Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan

The first six chapters of Winter’s Heart follow Perrin and Faile after Faile is abducted by the Shaido Aiel. The next several chapters follow Elayne as she returns to Caemlyn and prepares to make a bid for her mother’s crown. These two storylines are incredibly dull and I confess that I skimmed over a lot of it and read the excellent cross-referenced chapter summaries at Encyclopaedia WOT. I read Winter’s Heart years ago and I just did not feel like once again sitting in on Elayne’s steward’s descriptions of the rats in the Caemlyn sewers or Perrin’s angst about Faile (good riddance,


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May 1st, 2009. ´s rating: | , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Stormcaller: Time and effort required, but strikes a primal chord

The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd

The Land is a world where Gods rule supreme. The time of the prophecies has come and old rebellions against the gods have resurfaced, including conflicts with nature itself. The tribes of man, and other species, must scramble and conspire to be on the winning side. Into this dark time, a white-eye (a god-created superhuman) named Isak has ascended and he may be mankind’s last hope or final doom.

For a relatively small page-count, there are way too many characters to keep up with. I realize that many were only introduced to play a bigger role in the following books but I’m afraid I’ll probably forget them by then.


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May 1st, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Magic Strikes: Ilona Andrews does it again!

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

I didn’t know how much I’d missed Ilona Andrews’ writing until I started reading Magic Strikes (2009). Part of it is the prose. It’s vivid, it has a great streak of humor running through it, and best of all, it’s smooth. The reader is never jolted out of the story by a grammar snafu or an awkward phrase.

Part of it is Andrews’ continued use of a wide variety of myths. Andrews is one of the few urban fantasy authors who seem to realize folklore is a huge sandbox.


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May 1st, 2009. , , and ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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