As March draws to a close, we have plenty more books on the docket!
Kat: The worst part of my semester is behind me and now I am making myself get off the computer and relax by 8:00pm every night, so I’m getting more reading done. I’ve joined a jigsaw puzzle swap club, so each night, if there’s nothing else going on, I work on a puzzle and listen to an audiobook. This week I read these books: The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs (an amusing fantasy classic),
March 31st, 2019. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 2 comments |
Ghosted (Vol. 2): Books of the Dead by Joshua Williamson (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), and Miroslav Mrva (colorist)
In Joshua Williamson’s Ghosted (vol. 2): Books of the Dead, Jackson T. Winters is given yet another offer he can’t refuse, and again it’s got him dealing in ghosts and the possessed (And if you haven’t read volume 1 yet, start there and read my review of Ghosted (vol. 1): Haunted House). When we last saw Jackson, he was on his island in a little paradise all his own.
March 30th, 2019. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire (2019) is one of the more ambitious books (and certainly debuts) I’ve read in some time, an ambition well within the author’s reach, it turns out. Richly layered, backgrounded with vividly intriguing world-building, nicely paced in the way it moves and unfolds, and filled with complex, engaging characters, it’s pretty much everything one can ask for in a book.
Most of the setting takes place on the capital world of the Teixcalaanli Empire,
March 29th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Arkady Martine | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Queen of No Tomorrows by Matt Maxwell
Matt Maxwell’s 109-page novel (I’d call it a novella), Queen of No Tomorrows (2018), mixes American tentacular-weird with LA Noir, flavoring the story with bits of pot-smoke-fueled punk imagery of the 1980s. It is a story that thrives on shadows.
Cait MacReady works as a book restorer for the Los Angeles Public Library. On the side, she locates rare, exotic occult volumes for discerning customers… or, when the books are unavailable, creates them herself. She is an expert forger,
March 28th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Matt Maxwell | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Coco by Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina
When you settle down to watch a Pixar movie, you know you’re in for a treat. But as it happens, I finished Coco with rather mixed feelings. It ticked all the boxes of what we’ve come to expect from Pixar: a fascinating and inventive original premise, loveable characters, plenty of humour, at least one surprising plot-twist, and visuals that seem to glow with colour (especially in this film!) And yet Coco treads a lot of familiar ground when it’s compared not only to other the rest of the Pixar repertoire,
March 28th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Wow, that month went by fast.
Awards:
Gabriela Damian Miravete has won the James Tiptree award for 2018 with They Will Dream in the Garden.
The Horror Writers Association awarded their Specialty Press award to Raw Dog Screaming Press. There’s an evocative name.
Conventions:
(Re)Generation Who 5, a Doctor Who convention scheduled for this upcoming weekend, has cancelled abruptly. (Thanks to File 770 for this item.)
Giveaway:
This column’s pictures are from an author event I attended.
March 27th, 2019. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 9 comments |
Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
The third book in Tad Williams’ OVERLAND quartet, Mountain of Black Glass (1999) is better than the previous novels in the series (City of Golden Shadow and River of Blue Ice). Warning: You must read those books before starting Mountain of Black Glass.
At this point in the story, our heroes are still in Otherland,
March 27th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Star Wars Rebels: Season 1 by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg & Greg Weisman
This show has been on my radar for a while, and I’m glad I finally found the time to settle down and binge the first fifteen episodes of the first season. As a follow-up to The Clone Wars (2008 – 2014) and a bridge between the prequel and original trilogies, Star Wars Rebels also holds the distinction of being the first STAR WARS project to be released after Disney’s procurement of the franchise.
Would it match the maturity and relative darkness of the preceding animated series?
March 27th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Charmcaster by Sebastien de Castell
“But when an Argosi encounters something new — something that should not exist and yet could alter the course of history — we are compelled to paint a new card: a discordance.”
Charmcaster (2018) is the third book in Sebastien de Castell’s SPELLSLINGER series. In it, we see another nation in Kellen’s world, a different form of magic adopts Kellen, and the political situation convolutes in even more dangerous ways.
March 26th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Sebastien De-Castell | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
River of Blue Fire (1998) is the second book in Tad Williams’ OVERLAND quartet. You absolutely must read the first book, City of Golden Shadow, first.
Our group of heroes (Renie, Xabbu, Orlando, Fredericks, Martine, Tb4, Kwan-Le) have entered Otherland and are searching for Paul Jonas at Mr. Sellar’s request. They hope to discover what the Grail Brotherhood is up to and why some kids (including Renie’s little brother Stephen,
March 26th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…
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.