Warning: Contains spoilers for previous books, though probably nothing you didn’t already guess.
Captain’s Fury, the fourth book in Jim Butcher’s CODEX ALERA series, takes place two years after the events we read about in Cursor’s Fury. Tavi is still the captain of the Alera’s First Legion which is still fighting a war with the Canim who have sailed to Alera and burned their ships behind them. While Senator Arnos, who has arrived to take command of the war,
April 11th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
God Save the Queen by Kate Locke
First, before I say anything else about God Save the Queen, I need to applaud Orbit for the design of this hardcover. I never realized, until I had a one-year-old, how annoying dust jackets were on hardcover books. My daughter, darling though she is, manages to find them and destroy them wherever they are. I am now in the habit of taking off the dust jacket as soon as I get the book and hiding it somewhere. Then I take bets with my husband about how long it will be until Fiona finds the dust jacket and ruins it.
April 11th, 2013. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 3 | Kate Locke | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Neil Gaiman is more influential than Kim Jong Un.
What happened to the third acorn? Warwick Davis on Willow.
A beautiful fantasy short illustrated film. Dragons and wizards and true love.
Portrait of the Book As Golem, a poem by Jane Yolen, in honor of National Poetry Month.
Science fiction and fantasy books kids should be reading in school, parts one and two.
April 10th, 2013. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 5 comments |
Trafalgar by Angélica Gorodischer
Trafalgar by Angélica Gorodischer is a wonderful and deceptively complex little book that will play havoc with your mind in general and any preconceived genre expectations you may have in particular. I highly recommend grabbing it for that reason alone, but read on if you need more convincing.
Angélica Gorodischer is the Argentine author of more than twenty books, only two of which have been translated into English thus far. The first one of these was Kalpa Imperial,
April 10th, 2013. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4.5 | Angélica Gorodischer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
I Am Mordred by Nancy Springer
Almost all the modern stories derived from Arthurian legends focus on King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Merlin. Why does Mordred, the man who eventually brings down the whole shebang, get such short shrift? There’s plenty of source material, most notably Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Maybe it’s that Mordred isn’t very romantic. Or maybe we just don’t like reading about people who are hard to root for.
April 10th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Nancy Springer | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
Way back in a review of the second book (Dragon Haven) in Robin Hobb’s RAIN WILDS series, I wrote “I’ve begun to wonder over the course of Hobb’s recent books if she is exploring just how much plot she needs in her novels to actually have a ‘story.’ It’s almost as if she’s feeling her way to as quiet and minimalist a style (in terms of action, not language) as possible.” Now, two books later, with Blood of Dragons,
April 9th, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Robin Hobb | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The latest issue of Nightmare Magazine opens with Angela Slatter’s chilling tale, “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter.” Hepsibah Ballantyne is the titled daughter, the inheritor of her father’s business and haunted by his ghost. In this world, great care must be taken that the dead do not come back as ghosts; corpses must be tightly wrapped and mirrors covered. Coffins must be sturdy, with locks. Hepsibah is therefore an important part of the community, even if she is not well liked. But Lucette D’Aguilar will flirt with her, even indulge with her in a kiss or two,
April 8th, 2013. Terry Weyna | Elizabeth Hand | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg & Martin Greenberg
Though hardly a runaway success in its day, and a publication that faced financial hardships for much of its existence, the pulp magazine known as Weird Tales is today remembered by fans and collectors alike as one of the most influential and prestigious. Anthologies without number have used stories from its pages, and the roster of authors who got their start therein reads like a “Who’s Who” of 20th century horror and fantasy literature.
April 8th, 2013. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | C.L. Moore, Clark Ashton Smith, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, H. Warner Munn, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry Kuttner, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Robert E. Howard, Theodore Sturgeon | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Who is Jake Ellis? by Nathan Edmondson (writer) and Tonci Zonjic (artist)
Who is Jake Ellis? is an excellent thriller that defied my expectations for the wonderful reason that I had so much trouble figuring out what my expectations should be in the first place. In other words, the story is so unique, I couldn’t see it fitting easily into any specific template. At first glance, it’s merely a thriller of the James Bond variety, but the James Bond character doesn’t actually seem to have any real skills of his own or seem to have any mission to accomplish other than not getting killed.
April 5th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Rope Trick by Lloyd Alexander
During his lifetime, Lloyd Alexander was a prolific children’s writer, perhaps best known for the wonderful THE CHRONICLES OF PRYDAIN, which is essential reading for any young fantasy fan. The Rope Trick was one of his last books (only two more followed it) and it contains a lot of what his fans have come to expect: a plucky heroine, a twisty plot, nuggets of wisdom, a range of colourful characters (including an enigmatic wise man who always lingers just out of reach) and the familiar theme of it being the journey,
April 4th, 2013. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…