Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn
In Changeling, Yasmine Galenorn avoids the thing that annoyed me most in Witchling; namely, the infodumping. Having set the scene in Witchling, Galenorn is free to spend most of Changeling on plot and character development. There is some exposition, but it didn’t strike me as excessive. It was just the right amount to get me caught up after two years’ absence from Galenorn’s universe.
Changeling is written from the point of view of Delilah D’Artigo,
August 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Yasmine Galenorn | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lilly is one of a litter of werewolf children being raised by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 13th century Prusa (later Prussia). The wolfbreed, as they are called, are subjected to horrifying abuses and trained to become brutal weapons of war. Their purpose: to help the Order massacre Prussia’s remaining pagan strongholds.
A theological debate rages between the Order and the Church regarding the nature of the wolfbreed. Are they simply animals, soulless but trainable and possibly useful? Or, are they minions of Satan?
August 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | S. Andrew Swann | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Bon Agornin, patriarch of a well-off family, is on his death bed. His family has gathered around him, including his oldest son Penn, who is a country parson, and Avan, the younger brother who is making his way up in the bureaucracy of the capital city. Also there are his unmarried daughters Haner and Selendra, and oldest daughter Berend, who is married to Daverak, a young nobleman. When Daverak claims a large part of Bon’s wealth, a complex family drama starts, involving an inheritance battle and the search for suitable matches for the young daughters.
August 30th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Jo Walton | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Singer of Souls by Adam Stemple
Singer of Souls is simply a wonderful little fantasy novel. It’s especially impressive when you take into account that this is Adam Stemple‘s first adult novel (he previously collaborated with his mother, author Jane Yolen, on children’s music books).
The story follows Douglas, a Minneapolis street musician who is addicted to heroin. Trying to get clean, he decides to go to Scotland (where his grandmother lives) to try and make a fresh start. In Scotland, Douglas makes a living as a street performer.
August 30th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Adam Stemple | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle
Penelope Leland is off on an adventure of her own. Eager to get away from her newly married, not to mention disgustingly happy twin Persephone, Pen ships off to Ireland with her former governess Ally to continue her studies in magic in the hopes of getting to the same level as her sister.
But things never seem to go according to plan, and Pen soon finds herself more alone than she could have thought possible, Ally is expecting a baby and is dreadfully sick all the time,
August 29th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Marissa Doyle | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Drowning City by Amanda Downum
Orbit Books sent me The Drowning City and I wasn’t sure it would work for me. The cover is awesome and the back-cover blurb is intriguing, but for some reason, I just got the feeling it was a story aimed more toward a female readership.
Before I even got to the map, though, I was impressed by Amanda Downum‘s choice of opening quotes. The first quote is from Emily Dickinson, which would have been impressive even by itself,
August 29th, 2009. Greg Hersom´s rating: 4.5 | Amanda Downum | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The other orphan girls at the Boston Home for Little Wanderers fantasize that they are secretly the long-lost daughters of wealthy families, or even of royalty. Hannah harbors no such dreams. What she doesn’t know, however, is that her heritage is the strangest of all. When she is packed off to live in dry landlocked Kansas and falls deathly ill, she begins to realize that she’s not like other girls.
Desperate, Hannah returns to Boston and finds a job as a scullery maid with the wealthy Hawley family.
August 28th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Kathryn Lasky | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
My guess was right — Bloody Right, in fact! This is the best book in the The Brytewood Trilogy.
This time, the remaining Nazi vampires have been assigned to assassinate Winston Churchill at a party on an estate near Brytewood. The assorted pixies, dragons, elves, sprites, and humans of the village must stop them before they can do the dastardly deed.
The leading lady and man in this installment are Mary LaPrioux, a schoolteacher evacuated from Guernsey,
August 28th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Georgia Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Welcome back to Thoughtful Thursday! I’ve been mulling over something Janny Wurts said in the podcast we linked to on this blog last week. She talked about certain archetypes reoccurring in fantasy because they serve as an entrance point to the genre for certain age groups which made me think about how I started reading fantasy.
I remember the first fantasy book I ever read. While younger I had read other books like C.S. Lewis‘s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, or Mary Norton’s The Borrowers,
August 27th, 2009. Ruth Arnell | Thoughtful Thursday | 11 comments |
Sacred Scars, the second book in the A Resurrection of Magic trilogy, picks up immediately where the action in Skin Hunger leaves off. Told with the same style of focusing on the two main characters, Sadima and Hahp, in alternating chapters, the book starts with Sadima, Franklin, and Somiss living in a mysterious complex of caves and tunnels outside the main city of Limori, and Hahp trying to figure out how to survive the magical training he is undergoing at the hands of sadistic wizards.
August 27th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Kathleen Duey | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
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…