I didn’t like Infinity. There were parts that I quite enjoyed, but the majority I found tedious and vaguely confusing.
By far the strongest part of the book is the character of Nick. His dialogue, both internal and towards other characters, is sarcastic and funny. He cares deeply about his mother. Like most teenage boys he wants to date girls, but doesn’t know where to start. He’s pretty realistic in the way he’s written, and I enjoyed the way Sherrilyn Kenyon represented him.
June 11th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 2 | Sherrilyn Kenyon | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE DRAGONCROWN WAR CYCLE by Michael A. Stackpole
I enjoyed The Dark Glory War, the prequel to The Dragoncrown War Cycle trilogy, a fair amount. That being said, the story took a steady downhill slide from there.
It is pure fanboy fantasy, and at its very worst. These heroes have all the personality of mud. The men are all “humble” and act completely shocked to find themselves in the roles of heroes. And the women are downright offensive. These strong, proud, independent women, who turn into docile,
June 11th, 2010. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Michael A. Stackpole | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
This week I bring to you the results of our MBTI-type survey from two weeks ago. The results are in: our readers are not normal! (Haha, statistics joke.) If you don’t like stats, jump down past the chart. For those of you who like stats, look at this:
GRAPH UPDATED LATER TO SHOW FINAL RESULTS
MBTI Type (based on population stats) Observed % Expected % Residual INTJ 28 2.2 25.8 INFJ 16 1.6 14.4 ISTJ 11 12.1 -1.1 INFP 9 4.5 4.5 INTP 8 3.4 4.6 ENFJ 7 2.5 4.5 ISFJ 5 14.4 -9.4 ENFP 3 8.5 -5.5 ENTJ 3 1.9 1.1 ENTP 3 3.3 -0.3 ESFJ 2 12.8 -10.8 ISFP 2 9.2 -7.2 ESFP 1 8.9 -7.9 ESTJ 1 9.1 -8.1 ISTP 1 5.6 -4.6 Total 100That’s a statistically significant difference (Chi-square value (df=14)=498.761,
June 10th, 2010. Ruth Arnell | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 7 comments |
Fugitive Prince by Janny Wurts
Fugitive Prince is the fourth novel in THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW by Janny Wurts, but because of the series’ unique structure, it’s actually the start of a brand new “arc” inside the overall story: book 1 comprises the first arc, books 2 and 3 together are the second arc, and the third arc consists of books 4 through 8 (the first of which is Fugitive Prince). Looking forward, the forthcoming 9th novel,
June 10th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Greg Hersom´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Janny Wurts | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I am feeling ill today — sympathy please — so this Top 10 will be brief to the point of brusqueness!
1) Do you like tattoos?
Lurv a la Mode is getting really tired of the tattoos all over book covers right now! Is this one of your pet peeves? Are there any other cover conventions that you find difficult to take?
2) In celebration of authors
A couple of Wednesdays ago I introduced you to the Author Fan Letter blog crawl that was occurring —
June 9th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest) | World Wide Wednesday | 9 comments |
Merlin’s Harp by Anne Eliot Crompton
Reading Merlin’s Harp, I realized something about novels that portray the interaction between the human world and Faerie. They usually don’t tell the stories of fae folk in their own homeland. There are exceptions, of course, but authors tend to focus on faeries stuck in the human world, or humans encountering Faerie. I think I may know why that is. When writing about faeries living in Faerie, it’s all too easy to have nothing happen.
Anne Eliot Crompton uses beautiful,
June 9th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Anne Eliot Crompton | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Keepers’ Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott
The Keepers’ Tattoo, previously published as The Keepers’ Daughter in the U.K., is a young adult high fantasy with historical overtones. While it is set in an imaginary world, the story revolves around the earthquake-ruined city of Thira and the highly advanced “Keepers” who once lived there. Gill Arbuthnott is clearly drawing on the real-life Thera and the mysterious Minoan culture that may have inspired the legends of Atlantis. I’ve long been fascinated by all things Minoan,
June 8th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Gill Arbuthnott | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
For some people, awards are guides as to which books to read, but for others they can serve as a warning that the novels are “too literary,” all art and artifice and no story. It’s easy to see how some might think that of Cloud Atlas. Nominated for several awards, including the heavyweight Booker prize, written by an author — David Mitchell — known for his surreal “literariness,” and constructed in a non-linear fashion, Cloud Atlas runs the risk of being ruled out at the outset by many.
June 8th, 2010. Bill Capossere, Marion Deeds and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | David Mitchell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Red Hot Fury by Kasey MacKenzie
Look out, paranormal baddies; Marissa Holloway is on the job. Riss is a Fury, and her mission is to fight supernatural crime. Kasey MacKenzie bases her Furies on the ones from Greek mythology, but with a twist. In myth, there were three Furies: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. Here, these names represent not individual Furies, but classes of Furies. Riss is a Tisiphone. This means she wears red and deals mainly with homicides.
(Unfortunately, MacKenzie doesn’t do as much with this concept as one might hope.
June 8th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Kasey MacKenzie | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dark Prince by Christine Feehan
Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of the Carpathians, a powerful race that is dying out due to lack of females. Raven Whitney, a human, is vacationing in the Carpathian Mountains after using her telepathic skills to help catch a serial killer. Raven senses Mikhail’s distress and the two of them realize they have a connection to each other. Raven may be the life mate that Mikhail thought he’d never find and she represents hope for the Carpathians.
Ugh. I really hated Dark Prince and,
June 8th, 2010. Kat Hooper and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1, 2 | Christine Feehan | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!