The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Marvelous Land of Oz is the first of L. Frank Baum’s fourteen sequels to his much more famous novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Each of the sequels, which were published form 1904 to 1920, are illustrated by John R. Neill and are now in the public domain. My 11 year old daughter and I listened to a delightful audio version of The Marvelous Land of Oz which was read by Tara Sands.
May 3rd, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | L. Frank Baum | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor (text), Michael Wyatt (illustrations), and Alison Kooistra (adaptation)
This graphic novel The Night Wanderer is an adaptation by Alison Kooistra of Drew Hayden Taylor’s novel The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel. Since it’s a vampire novel — a genre of which I’ve about had my fill — I almost passed it by. But I was very interested in the Native American angle. I’m glad I picked this up — the book is only using the vampire genre to tell a Native American tale and make us look at an all-too-familiar tale in a new light.
May 2nd, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
RUNAWAYS: The Good Die Young by Brian K. Vaughan
Note: This review may contain spoilers of the previous volumes.
The Good Die Young, the third collection of Brian K. Vaughan’s Marvel’s RUNAWAYS, brings the original story arc to a successful, if sad, close. Our six young people, who have had to adjust to discovering they are the children of super-villains, come of age and make their own decisions, graduating to full hero status.
The book starts with Alex,
May 2nd, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Brian K. Vaughan | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Hild: A Novel by Nicola Griffith
[In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]
Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Nebula-nominated novel, takes us to seventh-century England, to the court of Overking Edwin of Northumbria, and into the heart and mind of the young girl who will become his seer, and later be canonized by the Christian church.
May 2nd, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Nicola Griffith | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February by John Lefleur & Shawn Dubin
I normally review comic books, so I want to be clear that Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February does not combine images and words in a series of narrative panels; instead, it is an illustrated book, an illustrated poem to be precise. Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February is an intentionally silly poem about two characters — Dreary and Naughty. The illustrations, however, transform the light tone of the poem into a touching story.
May 2nd, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tale of a Tail by Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy was one of New Zealand’s most beloved writers, the author of forty novels, over one hundred picture books, and a twice-winner of the Carnegie Medal. She passed away in 2012, and I’ll admit that I got a little tearful when I heard that there was still one last story of hers to be published posthumously.
As a final coda to Mahy’s prolific writing career, Tale of a Tail is a funny, magical little story about a boy called Tom who lives with his mother on Prodigy Street.
May 1st, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Margaret Mahy | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear
First, a confession: I’ve mostly given up on epic fantasy as a genre. I keep circling back to it because I remember the sense of soaring escape it gave me in eighth grade, but the story about intrepid heroes banding together to save the world from evil has long since lost its shine for me. The series I’ve slogged through recently — including the Hugo-nominated one, which rhymes with Peel of Lime — would only be useful to me if I needed to prop open a door on a breezy day,
May 1st, 2014. Alix E. Harrow´s rating: 4.5 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…