Madame Xanadu (Vol 1): Disenchanted by Matt Wagner (author) and Amy Reeder Hadley (artist)
A few months back, we had a discussion here at Fanlit about Tarot cards and literature. We tried to come up with a list of books in which the use of Tarot cards was prominent. Well, I’ve got another book to add to that list: Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted by Matt Wagner.
Madame Xanadu is a DC character who is one of DC’s magical and mystical figures, along with such characters as Zatara,
January 17th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein’s best books are those he wrote for kids, and Citizen of the Galaxy is one of the best of those. Originally serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in 1957, this is an anthropological adventure story with strong libertarian and anti-slavery themes.
We first meet Thorby, a young belligerent orphaned slave boy, as he has just landed on an unfamiliar planet and is on the auction block. Nobody wants him — he’s too feisty — but he is eventually sold for a pittance to Baslim,
January 17th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Robert A. Heinlein | Audio, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
J.M. McDermott’s Maze is about a maze. Or possibly the maze: An unending series of stone halls and corridors which lurks in our primordial past, populated by monstrous creatures, loops and fragments of non-linear time, and a ragged band of humans who somehow got stranded there. The maze is never revealed to have any moral or mechanical logic; it just is, and the people who live there just do. Maze operates as a disjointed series of narratives about the people who have fallen into the maze.
January 16th, 2014. Alix E. Harrow´s rating: 3.5 | J.M. McDermott | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
He Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe
Eddie LaCrosse and his tough girlfriend, Liz, are back in Eddie’s fifth adventure by Alex Bledsoe. I’ve enjoyed each one of these stories, especially the audiobook versions produced by Blackstone Audio. The narrator, Stefan Rudnicki, has become the voice of Eddie LaCrosse for me — strong and gruff, but also sweet and sensitive.
The EDDIE LACROSSE books don’t have to be read in order — you could even start with this one — but each book fills in a little more of Eddie’s background and there is an overall story arc,
January 16th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Alex Bledsoe | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
For some reason I keep thinking lists are over, but they’re obviously still going strong and who am I to complain. Amazon’s Omnivoracious has a list of SFF books coming up in 2014, compiled by Robin A. Rothman. iO9 also has their 2014 list up, and it’s long, annotated, and arranged by month. I might just cut and paste the whole thing into my calendar. Oh, and Strange Horizons had their reviewers pick their favorite books of 2013 last Monday and I somehow missed it.
January 15th, 2014. Alix E. Harrow | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Thor: Viking God of Thunder by Graeme Davis
With all the attention being paid to Thor lately, thanks to the Marvel same-named films and his appearances in the Avengers movies, Osprey Publishing made a wise decision to make the god the subject of one of their texts in their MYTHS AND LEGENDS series, this one written by Graeme Davis. I had been a little disappointed in my first MYTHS AND LEGENDS text, dealing with Jason and the Argonauts (giving it a three-star rating),
January 15th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Myths-&-Legends | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
Epic fantasy has been heavily stocked over the years with some powerhouse writers — Jordan, Erikson, Wurts, Rothfuss and Martin have been the standard bearers of this genre of fantasy. It’s a pretty challenging genre to break into, but after reading the first book of the CHRONICLE OF THE UNHEWN THRONE, The Emperor’s Blades, I am reminded that there is always room for someone new.
January 14th, 2014. John Hulet and Bill Capossere | Brian Staveley | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg
The Daemon Prism brings to a close the first three books in Carol Berg’s COLLEGIA MAGICA series. I say “the first three” because there are enough dangling threads — a new form of magic, a royal baby about to be born — to support more stories in this world if Berg wants to write them. The primary quest, however, is resolved.
Berg’s world is similar to medieval Europe. The first book, The Spirit Lens,
January 14th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Carol Berg | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Based on the polar nature of the first two books in the DUNE series, Paul’s ascension in Dune and his descent in Dune Messiah, not much would seem left to be told in the House Atreides saga. Publishing Children of Dune in 1976, ten years after Dune, Frank Herbert proved there was still more to tell, telling a solid but not spectacular tale that has some big shoes to fill if it is to live up to the success of Dune.
January 14th, 2014. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 2.5 | Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Winter 2014 issue of Subterranean Magazine was edited by guest editor Jonathan Strahan, the editor of a popular year’s best anthology and a number of other anthologies. He has good taste, as the stories chosen for this issue demonstrate — with the exception of the longest and last piece, a snarky bit of irreligious, virtually plotless prose by Bruce Sterling (about which more below).
“The Scrivener” by Eleanor Arnason is structured as a fairy tale often is, with three daughters each setting out on an errand prescribed by their father.
January 13th, 2014. Terry Weyna | Bruce Sterling, Greg Egan, Jeffrey Ford, Jonathan Strahan, K.J. Parker | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review
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!