Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: March 2010

Petrodor: Excellent sequel to Sasha

Petrodor by Joel Shepherd

Petrodor picks up shortly after the ending of Sasha, the first novel in Joel Shepherd‘s A Trial of Blood and Steel series. Sashandra Lenayin (Sasha for short) now resides in the Torrovan port city Petrodor, a true hotbed of intrigue with several political factions squaring off against each other. With a brewing Verenthane crusade to retake the Bakosh provinces that are occupied by the serrin, war is in the air, and the tensions between the various camps are threatening to come to a boil: the powerful and rich merchant families,

March 18th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Eyes of the Overworld: Vance at his best

The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance

I’ve already said, numerous times, how much I love Jack Vance, so I’ll skip all that this time. You can read other reviews on this page if you missed that.

The Eyes of the Overworld is the second part of Tales of the Dying Earth and the main character is one of my favorite Vance characters: the self-titled Cugel the Clever. Cugel is not the kind of guy you want to have dealings with — he’s clever,

Demon Possessed: Everything comes together

Demon Possessed by Stacia Kane

The title Demon Possessed has a double meaning. On the surface, it seems to refer to the book’s murder-mystery plotline, which involves several characters who may or may not be possessed by demons. But it also refers to Megan, who must decide in this installment whether to become fully “possessed” by Greyson, the demon world, and the demonic side of her own nature.

The interpersonal-relationships plotline is the real gem in Demon Possessed. Stacia Kane does a great job of portraying Megan as a modern career woman thrust into a demon society that’s almost medieval in its treatment of women.

March 18th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Stacia Kane | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Folding Knife: Highly recommended to anyone who can read

The Folding Knife by K.J. Parker

The back cover blurb describes K.J. Parker’s The Folding Knife like this:

Basso the Magnificent. Basso the Great. Basso the Wise. The First Citizen of the Vesani public is an extraordinary man. He is ruthless, cunning, and above all, lucky. He brings wealth, power, and prestige to his people. But with power comes unwanted attention, and Basso must defend his nation and himself from threats foreign and domestic. In a lifetime of crucial decisions, he’s only ever made one mistake.

Witch World: Nice blend of science fiction and fantasy

Witch World (on audio) by Andre Norton

Simon Tregarth knows he’s about to die — he’s being hunted down by a professional assassin and he has a “feeling” that it’s going to happen tonight. But then the infamous Doctor Petronius interrupts Simon as he’s savoring his last meal and offers him an escape. Dr. Petronius’s services don’t come cheap, but this expense is a no-brainer (after all, you can’t take it with you). The only downside is that neither Simon nor Dr. Petronius knows where Simon is actually going, for he will sit on King Arthur’s Siege Perilous and be sent to a world where his soul is at home…

Andre Norton (her real name was Alice,

The Red Queen’s Daughter: Tasty brew of history, fantasy, romance

The Red Queen’s Daughter by Jacqueline Kolosov

I don’t buy hardbacks all that often, but as soon as I saw that The Red Queen’s Daughter was about Mary Seymour, and included magic to boot, I knew I had to have this book.

Mary Seymour is, historically, a question mark. The daughter of former queen Catherine Parr and her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Mary was orphaned and taken in by the Duchess of Suffolk. There are no records of Mary’s existence after the age of about two.

Tome of the Undergates: Lots of blood and crotch-stomping

Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

A motley assortment of adventurers, led by Lenk, find it difficult to do anything but bicker with each other as they travel the world in search of pay. In fact, there seems to be not an ounce of goodwill between any of them. You’d think when their ship is attacked by pirates, they’d band together, but the insults just fly more furiously. As Lenk attempts to round the characters up and point them all in the same direction — towards the demon that threatens their lives and souls — he realises that he is having a very bad day.

March 17th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 4 | Sam Sykes | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Kelly chats with Marjorie M. Liu

Kelly Lasiter interviewed Marjorie M. Liu about her recent projects. Read Kelly’s reviews of The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls.

Kelly: The HUNTER KISS series grabbed me from the first sentence of The Iron Hunt: “When I was eight, my mother lost me to zombies in a one-card draw.” I love that line, and I’ve been wondering ever since… how did that sentence first come to you?

Marjorie M. Liu: My mom was the inspiration,

March 16th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter | Marjorie M. Liu | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 18 comments |

Tam Lin: Deftly retold for kids

Tam Lin by Susan Cooper

Anyone who is familiar with the ballad Tam Lin knows it’s a story that is very much for grown-ups, or at least teenagers. Susan Cooper does a very good job here of adapting the old story so that it’s suitable for any age. It requires changing a few plot elements, but the essential spirit of the story remains the same.

Margaret is tired of sewing and acting polite and talking about future husbands with the other girls at her father’s castle, so she runs away to the woods of Carterhays to pick flowers.

Lord Sunday: Satisfying conclusion to Nix’s epic

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix

In the concluding installment of Garth Nix’s The Keys to the Kingdom, Arthur Penhaglion has to organize an assault on the Incomparable Gardens, home to Lord Sunday, who controls the last part of the Architect’s Will. But Arthur isn’t the only one trying to liberate the last magical fragment of the will — he also faces the armies of Serious Saturday and the Piper, both intent on reaching the Will before Arthur can free it to join the other six parts (which will allow the will to be fulfilled).

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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