With Guardian (2018), A.J. Hartley brings his STEEPLEJACK trilogy to a triumphant close. Readers who savored the voyeuristic thrill of soaring along rooftops and bringing evildoers to justice alongside Anglet Sutonga in Steeplejack and Firebrand are sure to cheer as she tackles an even more daunting task: gathering allies both near and far to protect the city she calls home. The STEEPLEJACK books (and reviews of said books) need to be read in order,
June 12th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | A.J. Hartley | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Sea Kings of Mars and Otherworldly Stories by Leigh Brackett
As NASA’s Curiosity rover trundles about the surface of Mars today, another page turns on the glories of pulp science fiction. Leigh Brackett’s vision of a land populated with humans and aliens, ancient cities and creatures, long-buried secrets and mysterious deserts fades a shade closer to pale as one desolate desert image after another is beamed back to Earth. But there was a day when her works shone with the hope and possibility of life on the planets beyond Earth.
June 12th, 2018. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 2.5 | Leigh Brackett | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Deadhouse Landing by Ian Cameron Esslemont
Because it occurs not that far along into Deadhouse Landing (2017), I don’t feel bad about revealing that at one point our erstwhile heroes Wu and Dancer are forced into confronting one of the most dire threats of the Malazan Universe — being taken by an Azath. A revelation that I’m sure will have many of you wondering which of the many great powers of that universe could have driven them onto those perilous grounds: K’rul? T’riss? Kallor, a Matron, Icarium? Worthy candidates all,
June 12th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Ian C. Esslemont | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In 2008, Chris Beckett published the novel Marcher to little acclaim. A later release, Dark Eden (2012) met a much better response (it was nominated for the BSFA and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award), and Beckett decided to thoroughly revise his earlier novel and re-release it. Using his five additional years of experience, he honed in on the story he had wanted to tell and republished Marcher in 2014. With the original version checking in at roughly 300 pages and the revised version 200 pages,
June 11th, 2018. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 4 | Chris Beckett | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards
There is plenty to like in The Last Sun (2018), K.D. Edwards’ inaugural novel of THE TAROT SEQUENCE series. The story is set in New Atlantis, a city and an island in our world, but inhabited by the survivors of the original Atlantis. After a world-war with humans for reasons not given, the surviving Atlanteans settled in this spot. They interact with humans, but most of the action in this book takes place between feuding Atlantean family groups who name their clans or Houses after the Major Arcana of the Tarot.
June 11th, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | K.D. Edwards | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
This is a bad land for Gods… The old gods are ignored. The new gods are as quickly taken up as they are abandoned, cast aside for the next big thing. Either you’ve been forgotten, or you’re scared you’re going to be rendered obsolete, or maybe you’re just getting tired of existing on the whims of people.
Shadow, just out of prison and with nothing to go home to, is hired to be Mr. Wednesday’s bodyguard as he travels around America to warn all the other incarnations of gods,
June 11th, 2018. Kat Hooper, Rebecca Fisher and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Another productive week!
Bill: This week I read a solid but flawed YA fantasy, The Language of Spells, by Garret Weyr, as well as Hannu Rajaniemi’s more enjoyable but not riveting Summerland. Keeping up with my “one old TBR book for every two new ones,” I’ve started Fred Cahppell’s A Shadow of All Light. I also finished a disappointing collection of essays by Clinton Crockett Peters, Pandora’s Garden: Kudzu, Cockroaches, and Other Misfits of Ecology.
June 10th, 2018. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 1 comment |
Fatale (Vol. 1): Death Chases Me by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
Death Chases Me is the first of five volumes in the Fatale series by Ed Brubaker and his frequent collaborator Sean Phillips. In the prologue to this story, Nicolas Lash is attending the funeral of his Godfather, Dominic Raines. Dominic was known as a hack writer of detective novels, but still, when Nicolas, as executor of the Raines estate, returns to Dominic’s home and finds the manuscript of Dominic’s unpublished first novel,
June 9th, 2018. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Ed Brubaker | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Brethren by H. Rider Haggard
In January 1900, British author H. Rider Haggard and his family ventured forth on a nice long vacation. As revealed in D.S. Higgins’ 1981 biography, the first part of this holiday was beset by bad weather, sickness and delays, as the Haggards made their way from London and on to Italy and Cyprus. But once the family reached the Holy Land, apparently, conditions improved significantly, and the world-famous author was so taken by the many historic sights that he saw there that the experience inspired him to write no fewer than three books: A Winter Pilgrimage (1901),
June 8th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | H. Rider Haggard | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution by Menno Schilthuizen
At the close of his exploration of the somewhat oxymoronic “urban nature,” Menno Schilthuizen tells us that one of his aims is that “the urban organisms you see on your daily wanderings of the city streets will become more special, more interesting, worthy of more than a casual glance.” Schilthuizen, I’d say, is more likely to succeed than not in achieving his goal, as Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution (2018) is a delightfully informative whose insights are enthusiastically and clearly conveyed.
June 8th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.
I like the way you think, Bill. I found the second one particularly objectionable; the one with Khan. It was…
I find if I take every Trek reference out of them (the title, the character names, the ship names, etc.),…