Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: July 2009

Purple and Black: Going to assign this to my political theory class

Purple and Black by K.J. Parker

You have to love a story that starts out with the line, “You are, of course, an unmitigated bastard.”

Purple and Black is a collection of the military dispatches sent back and forth between the new Roman Emperor Nicephorus and his best friend Phormio, who has reluctantly taken charge of the military at Nico’s insistence. Nico is appointing his friends to the important government positions because the empire has gone through seventy-seven emperors in the last one hundred years — all but a handful of them dying painful deaths.

Skinwalker: A truly original urban fantasy heroine

Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

The fantasy shelves are rife these days with tough ladies fighting supernatural crime, but Faith Hunter delivers something original.

The originality of Skinwalker begins with Jane Yellowrock, the heroine. Jane is a loner and a smart aleck, but her similarities to the stereotypical urban-fantasy protagonist end there. Jane is a skinwalker — a shapeshifter drawn from Native American folklore — and she lives in a sort of symbiosis with “Beast,” the spirit of a mountain lion. Some chapters are narrated from Beast’s perspective and Faith Hunter does a great job of altering her style to fit Beast’s feline thought processes.

July 18th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Faith Hunter | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Amazon Ink: A fun book

Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti

Mel has a lot on her mind. She’s raising a teenage daughter, living in a renovated High School, has her mother and her grandmother living with her, and just got two dead Amazon girls left on her doorstep. Determined to find the murderer of her tribeswomen, and answer her own questions about her past, Mel has to summon the courage to face the tribe she left behind.

People seem to keep getting in her way however, particularly men. One is a very talented, secretive, and sexy tattoo artist she just hired to work in her shop.

July 18th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Lori Devoti | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Fallen: Another outstanding addition to the Noreela mythos

Fallen by Tim Lebbon

Set 4000 years before the Dusk and Dawn duology, Fallen takes readers back to a different Noreela, one that is still dangerous and familiar due to the inclusion of tumblers, skull ravens, the always mysterious Cantrass Angels, Ventgorian wine, fodder and other familiarities, but this version of the world is not nearly as despairing and still possesses a sense of hope — of potential. In this time period, much of Noreela remains uncharted and is a playground for the Voyagers whose vocation is to discover the undiscovered.

July 17th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Tim Lebbon | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Land of Mist and Snow: This tale never quite ignites

Land of Mist and Snow by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald

Land of Mist and Snow is an alternate history of the Civil War, focusing on two ships that are controlled by elemental spirits, one ship fighting for the Union, and one for the Confederacy. Thu Union ship, Nicodemus, chases the Confederate Alecto across the Atlantic Ocean, trying to find the key to ending the Alecto’s demonic presence on the water. Key to this discovery are Lt. John Nevis, the Nicodemus’s gunnery officer,

Irons in the Fire: Bland characters, bad dialogue, dull set-up

Irons in the Fire by Juliet E. McKenna

Contemporary wisdom holds that a fantasy novel should include the following non-exclusive elements and that they, or at least tantalizing glimpses of them, should be apparent from the beginning:

distinctive characters whom the reader can like, relate to,or watch with concerned or morbid fascination
a fascinating world
a conflict, crisis, or unrealized desire that meaningfullyimpacts said characters and world

Ideally, a brisk (or at least smooth) pace and clean, crisp prose combine with these elements to create a lucid,

July 15th, 2009. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 0.1 | Juliet McKenna | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Breath and Bone: Carol Berg has left me a spoiled fantasy reader

Breath and Bone by Carol Berg

Anyone who’s read my review of Flesh and Spirit knows that I was a little bit disappointed in some aspects of the book (I maintain that this is due to the fact that Carol Berg has left me a spoiled, fussy fantasy reader). So how did Ms. Berg do this time around?

Okay, fair enough, Breath and Bone starts a little slow. This isn’t a huge surprise, since the story is more like one book broken into two,

The Calling: A supernatural thriller

The Calling by David Mack

Urban fantasy is replete with different, sometimes catchy, permutations of a standard bunch of mythological/fantastic beings who happen to turn up in our world. In The Calling, David Mack tries something pretty original by bringing us (instead of vampires and werewolves) guardian angels and their evil counterparts.

Tom Nash is your everyman who happens to have a mystical gift: he hears people’s prayers. And through the prayers of a little girl, he is Called to New York City to help the angels of Heaven fight the demons of Hell.

Daughter of Hounds: A beautiful amalgam

Daughter of Hounds by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Always on the lookout for a new author to sink my teeth into, I decide to read Caitlín R. Kiernan when I came across her novel Daughter Of Hounds. Upon further research, I discovered that this was merely the newest entry involving psychic Deacon Silvey. Knowing that, I decided to check out Ms. Kiernan’s previous works first, starting with her sophomore effort Threshold. After completing the book, I admit I was torn. On the one hand,

July 14th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Caitlín R. Kiernan | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Black Blood: In the mood for something different?

Black Blood by John Meaney

Creatively, I loved John Meaney’s Bone Song, especially the highly imaginative world. At the same time though, I was disappointed by the shallow characters, a formulaic plot, and the disjointed narrative. Because of the uneven experience, I was a bit apprehensive about reading the sequel, but my curiosity in knowing how the story continued prevailed. Fortunately, despite a few hiccups, Black Blood turned out to be an overall much stronger and much more enjoyable effort.

Like its predecessor,

July 13th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | John Meaney | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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