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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: June 2013

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The City: Gemmell had me immersed in the story and characters from the very start

The City by Stella Gemmell

For a novel titled The City (2013), we see surprisingly little of the Stella Gemmell’s eponymous setting itself, save for its labyrinthine underground tunnels and sewers. But there’s no doubt the city sits at the center of this patiently-developed, detailed work thanks to its ongoing and seemingly endless war against the enemies that ring its lands and its internal dissensions as some of its most powerful citizens begin to chafe under the leadership of the Immortal.

The City begins from the point of view of a young brother (Elija) and sister (Emly) who live in one of the many communities in the sewers of the city.


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June 11th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Victorious: The fleet is finally found!

Victorious by Jack Campbell

Victorious is the sixth and last book in Jack Campbell’s original LOST FLEET series. (If you haven’t read the previous books, you’ll want to read them before reading this review.)

Captain Black Jack Geary and the Alliance fleet have finally arrived, battered and bruised, to their home in the Alliance system and Geary’s feet touch ground for the first time in 100 years. Not surprisingly, the Alliance senate is leery of Geary (ugh, that rhyme!) and suspect that he may be planning a coup.


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June 11th, 2013. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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War in Heaven: An epic of galaxy-spanning philosophical adventure

War in Heaven by David Zindell

David Zindell’s space opera books, that started with the stand-alone Neverness and continued with his REQUIEM FOR HOMO SAPIENS trilogy (of which this volume is the conclusion), always scratch that itch I have for DUNE-like space opera. You’ve got the baroque world-building of a far, far future of humanity in an interstellar diaspora that combines elements of medieval and pre-industrial societies with ‘magical’ technology and gleaming ships that fold space; you’ve got bizarre human enclaves (sometimes almost reminiscent of Jack Vance,


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June 11th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Magazine Monday: Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2013

Editor’s note: We now know that K.J. Parker is author Tom Holt.

The Summer 2013 issue of Subterranean Magazine has a special K.J. Parker section, which is a treat for anyone who has read any of Parker’s work. This author (gender unknown) writes from the perspective of a military historian, and appears to have a special interest in ancient Greek and Roman warfare. All of his/her stories have the flavor of ancient days.

“The Sun and I” is the first of two Parker stories in this issue.


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June 10th, 2013. | , , , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Strange Magic: Decent story poorly written

Strange Magic by Gord Rollo

Reading Strange Magic made me think deeply about a number of issues I doubt Gord Rollo intended me to be thinking about. I wasn’t pondering whether good and evil are entirely human or whether there is a supernatural agency at work in some forms of evil (and good); I wasn’t thinking about addiction, its causes and cures; I wasn’t thinking about the redemptive power of love. Instead, I was thinking about whether a book can be considered good when it has a decent story but is poorly written,


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June 10th, 2013. ´s rating: | | , | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Rocket Ship Galileo: Boys can dream

Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A. Heinlein

When I was a kid I loved the “Heinlein Juveniles.” Rocket Ship Galileo, Heinlein’s first Juvenile, is one I missed back then. It won’t hold up well today (actually, it wouldn’t have held up well when I was reading Heinlein Juveniles in the 1980s) but sometimes it’s fun to read these old science fiction stories for kids and I did have fun recently reading Rocket Ship Galileo even though I am very much aware of its flaws.


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June 10th, 2013. ´s rating: | | , , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Jim Henson’s The Storyteller

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller by various authors and artists

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller was a TV show, but somehow I missed seeing it: This graphic novel version serves as my first introduction. It’s such a wonderful graphic novel — and fitting for all ages — that I was curious to see if the TV show was supposed to be any good. Based on Amazon’s reviews, it was a much-loved show mixing live-action and puppets, as I’m sure some of you out there know. I was also curious to know before I wrote this review if fans of the TV show would be likely to enjoy this adaptation,


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June 7th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz: An homage to Jack Vance

The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz by Dan Simmons

A few years ago Subterranean Press published what has ever since been my favorite anthology of all time — Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance. It’s a hefty collection of stories written by 22 authors who consider Jack Vance an influence on their own work. Each wrote a story set in Vance’s DYING EARTH universe and many of them attempted — often quite successfully —Vance’s trademark style. Each also wrote an afterward which explains how Vance influenced them personally.


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June 7th, 2013. ´s rating: | , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Doktor Glass: Steampunk police procedural with a stunning architectural conceit

Doktor Glass by Thomas Brennan

 “Not enough time had passed since he had sat on the side of that very bed, there, and held Sarah’s hand while the drugs had struggled to do their work. He didn’t know if he could trust himself. He felt like one of the Span’s great cables wound too tight. Even braided steel snapped under enough strain.”

To differentiate it from alternate-history fantasy or “gas-lamp” tales, steampunk almost has to have some outstanding piece of technology. It might be airborne penny-farthings,


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June 6th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Relentless: Good deeds are bearing fruit

Relentless by Jack Campbell

In Relentless, book 5 of Jack Campbell’s LOST FLEET series, Captain Black Jack Geary and the Alliance fleet are jumping through a Syndic star system, trying to evade the Syndics, as usual, when they happen to be in a position from which they can rescue some Alliance POWs from one of the Syndic planets. Here the Alliance force sees the consequences of their past honorable behavior which Captain Geary has insisted upon, despite earlier protests from many in his fleet. Their good deeds are bearing fruit.


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June 6th, 2013. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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