The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
I’m not sure what’s been in the air lately, but it seems I’ve been reading a lot of books this past year dealing with reincarnation/being reborn. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is yet another of those, and while it isn’t my favorite of the ones I’ve read with similar ideas (that would be either Life After Life by Kate Atkinson or The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell),
February 22nd, 2016. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Ray McKenzie and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Claire North | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb
Batman: The Long Halloween (1997) takes place soon after Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One (1987) in chronology. Batman is still in his early days of crime-fighting, while Captain Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent are trying to combat corruption in the police force and courts. This book is a lengthy and gripping noir story that goes back to Batman’s roots as a detective, as he and Jim and Harvey all try to solve the mystery of the Holiday Killer,
February 20th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 4.5 | Comics, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Welcome to another Expanded Universe column where I feature essays from authors and editors of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as from established readers and reviewers. My guest today is Valerie Valdes. Valerie teaches for The Brainery, which offers online writing workshops focusing on speculative fiction. Her latest work can be found in She Walks In Shadows, the first all-women Lovecraft anthology by Innsmouth Free Press. Valerie copy edits, moonlights as a muse and occasionally plays video games if her son and husband are distracted by Transformers.
Some fantasy portrays mages and witches as mysterious practitioners of an ineffable art,
February 19th, 2016. Kate Lechler | Expanded Universe, Giveaway! | 8 comments |
Note: Contains mild spoilers for previous books in the series.
Staked is the eighth novel of Kevin Hearne’s extremely popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. When this series started with Hounded back in 2011, the story focused on Atticus O’Sullivan, a two-thousand-year-old Druid (the last one on Earth) who owned a bookshop in Arizona. Hiding from Aenghus Óg, the Celtic god that wanted to kill him, Atticus was living a quiet life with his hilarious bacon-loving Irish wolfhound named Oberon….
February 19th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Path of Gods by Snorri Kristjansson
Path of Gods is the third book in Snorri Kristjansson’s VALHALLA SAGA and it pretty much stays the path of what has come before, for good and ill. I rated the prior two books three-stars each, and that’s exactly where I’m placing Path of Gods. Fun dialogue, several engaging characters, and an excellent Norse setting are the strengths, while pace, fluidity, and characterization are the weaker elements.
Path of Gods picks up where Blood Will Follow ended,
February 19th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Snorri Kristjansson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The RECKONERS series finale is — for better or for worse — very much the typical Brandon Sanderson novel. Longtime fans will be fairly familiar at this point with the steps we take in Calamity, from meticulous build-up to carefully situated hints to action-packed confrontation to final twist. It may feel a little safe for that reason — Sanderson definitely doesn’t try to break any new ground here — but it’s meant to be a fun YA novel more than anything else,
February 18th, 2016. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Brandon Sanderson | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Many are the reviews declaring Gene Wolfe’s THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN to be incomprehensible rubbish. Certainly not a series (or a book, depending how you look at it) for everybody, it does often require a puzzling out of the scenes and thoughts that the main character, Severian, experiences and expresses — and knowledge of mythology, paganism, anthropology, and other historical and cultural elements doesn’t hurt. Far from entertainment-lite, it’s definitely for readers who prefer the more thought-provoking side of the SFF genre.
February 18th, 2016. Jesse Hudson | Gene Wolfe | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Years ago I read the Wheel of Time series up through book 10. Now it’s late 2008, Robert Jordan has passed on, and we’re expecting the last Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light in about one year. Brandon Sanderson will be writing it with the help of notes and taped messages left by Jordan, and in consultation with Harriet, Jordan’s widow and confidante.
When I read it the first time,
February 18th, 2016. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Should you happen to see the words “Percy Jackson” connected with Jordanna Max Brodsky’s debut novel, please do not mistake The Immortals for “kidlit” or YA fare. This is a thoroughly adult affair, with all manner of Greek gods and mortals behaving badly, and its story about the Goddess of the Hunt stalking a murderer through New York City is as bloody and thrilling as one could hope for.
Selene DiSilva lives in Manhattan, sleeping through each day and spending her nights either walking her rescue dog Hippolyta along the Hudson River or protecting women from abusive men.
February 17th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Jordanna Max Brodsky | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
The Reavers of Skaith by Leigh Brackett
First released in 1976, The Reavers of Skaith serves as both the wonderful finale of author Leigh Brackett’s SKAITH TRILOGY AND a fitting coda to her 36-year career. Reavers, as it turned out, would be Brackett’s final piece of published fiction before her death, at age 62, in 1978. Of course, the so-called “Queen of Space Opera” was not completely idle during her final years — she kept busy by writing the initial draft for a little picture to be later known as The Empire Strikes Back — but Reavers would serve as the finale of her wonderful authorial career.
February 17th, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Leigh Brackett | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
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.