Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: September 2010

Why You Should Read… Jaqueline Carey

Welcome to another Friday — and another edition of Why You Should Read… Our contributor this week is the ever-amazing Cara, known as @murf61 on Twitter. She contributes reviews to both Speculative Book Review and Temple Library Reviews, and has her own blog at Murf-more than meets the eye! She is here to tell us why we should be reading Jacqueline Carey.

If you enjoy intricate and detailed worldbuilding, combined with political intrigue and conspiracy flavoured with dark eroticism, then Jacqueline Carey is an author you should read.

September 10th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest) | Jacqueline Carey | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

Perdido Street Station: Outstanding urban fantasy

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station is the first of three novels set in the Miéville’s Bas-Lag universe. First released in 2000, Perdido Street Station and its sequels have made China Miéville one of the most acclaimed fantasy writers of the 21st century. Perdido Street Station is an outstanding urban fantasy full of unconventional plot twists and the most unlikely of heroes.

Yagharek is a “Garuda,” or a humanoid bird. However,

September 9th, 2010. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | China Mieville | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Children of the Lost: This series could be a winner

The Children of the Lost by David Whitley

The Children of the Lost is David Whitley’s follow-up to last year’s The Midnight Charter, which I reviewed as a weak three: strong in ideas but weaker in characterization and plotting. The Children of the Lost is a stronger book, though it also has its flaws. One thing I feel compelled to point out upfront, however, is that The Children of the Lost ends in a true cliffhanger of an ending,

Dead Beat: Should be made into a movie

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Mavra, Queen of the Black Vampires, is after “The Word of Kemmler,” the ultimate how-to on being an all-powerful necromancer. Mavra wants it, and is blackmailing Harry into getting it for her. Harry must find this book, while dodging a whole collection of black wizards who are also seeking the tome.

Jim Butcher’s Dead Beat is another one of the “middle” DRESDEN books that I love so much. Just about the time when most series start getting stale,

Little, Big: Bittersweet and unforgettable

Little, Big: or, The Fairies’ Parliament by John Crowley

“All Part of the Tale. Don’t Ask Me How…”

This review is going to be well-nigh impossible to write, as the subject matter is so impossible to describe. Well, John Crowley’s Little, Big is definitely a book. That’s a good start. But the second I try to narrow down rudimentary elements like plot and character, my brain gets a bit fuzzy. It’s about a family. And a house. And how this family lives in the house which is situated on the borders of another world which sometimes intrudes upon their own,

The Grimrose Path: Had me laughing, shuddering, sniffling

The Grimrose Path by Rob Thurman

Trixa Iktomi comes from a long-lived, semi-divine trickster race. (Think “relative of Coyote” here.) She currently makes her home in Las Vegas, running a bar with her friend Leo, who is really the god Loki. As a result of events that occurred in the first TRICKSTER book, Trick of the Light, Trixa and Leo are de-powered at the moment and now have to solve their problems with very little in the way of magical ability.

Trixa is approached by a demon,

September 7th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Rob Thurman | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Antiphon: Even better than its predecessors

Antiphon by Ken Scholes

PLOT SUMMARY: The ancient past is not dead. The hand of the Wizard Kings still reaches out to challenge the Androfrancine Order, to control the magick and technology that they sought to understand and claim for their own.

Nebios, the boy who watched the destruction of the city of Windwir, now runs the vast deserts of the world, far from his beloved Marsh Queen. He is being hunted by strange women warriors, while his dreams are invaded by warnings from his dead father.

Jin Li Tam,

September 7th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Ken Scholes | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

The Capture: Enjoyable and suspenseful

The Capture by Kathryn Lasky

In anticipation of the upcoming movie based on Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, Scholastic has re-released the first book in the series, The Capture. Being an owl fan, I of course had to give it a try! Lasky is clearly following in Richard Adams’ footsteps here, what with her invented owl words and the mixture of animal behavior and very human social commentary. The Capture is less intense than Watership Down in terms of both reading level and violence level,

Plain Kate: If you’re sick of romantic YA, you’ll like Plain Kate

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Plain Kate is the orphaned daughter of a master woodcarver, and a skilled woodcarver herself. She lives in the town of Samilae, whose inhabitants are a superstitious lot; when the crops fail or disease strikes, they cast around for someone to blame. A Roamer (Rom), perhaps. A person with a deformity. Or, maybe, someone with a skill they think is uncanny. An enigmatic stranger arrives in Samilae with a terrible plan, and vulnerable Kate is just the right person to serve as the linchpin in it. He frames her for witchcraft,

Why You Should Read… Joe R. Lansdale

This week we turn to science fiction debut author with Gollancz Gavin Smith, who released his novel Veteran earlier this year in the UK. He has decided to bring us all the reasons we should be reading Joe R. Lansdale.

Somewhere in East Texas, not far from Nagadoches, is a crossroads like the kind that Robert Johnson went down to. There you’ll find the God of the Razor sitting down and having a beer with Johnah Hex at his best. There’ll be others there as well,

September 3rd, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest) | Joe R. Lansdale | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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