Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
If you’ve had the good fortune to read any of Premee Mohamed’s short fiction, you know it is strange, beautiful and often horrifying. In Beneath the Rising (2020), her first full-length novel, all these things are true. This adventure novel with tentacular monsters and evil Ancient Ones will sweep you along and get deeply under your skin.
Joanna Chambers, who goes by Johnny, is more than a genius and more than a prodigy. She might be a miracle.
March 31st, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Premee Mohamed | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
Readers who pay attention to the Hugo Award category called “Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)” may recall that one of the 2018 finalists for the award was a hip hop song called “The Deep” by the band clipping which is fronted by Grammy- and Tony-Award winner Daveed Diggs who played Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton.
The song, which I recommend listening to,
March 31st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Rivers Solomon | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Anthropocene Rag by Alex Irvine
I’m of mixed feelings on Anthropocene Rag (2020), by Alex Irvine. On the one hand, the writing is often quite strong, and the novel has a creative, imaginative flair to it in many moments. On the other hand, its episodic nature didn’t fully work for me, and I can’t say the novel fully met its rich potential. Still, its strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and there’s often a true pleasure in reading it.
The story is set in a post “Boom” America,
March 30th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Alex Irvine | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Broken Ones by Danielle L. Jensen
This is a prequel novel to Danielle Jensen‘s MALEDICTION TRILOGY, which is comprised of Stolen Songbird, Hidden Huntress and Warrior Witch. A lot of people like to read books series in chronological order, but I would highly recommend not doing that here, as The Broken Ones (2017) well and truly assumes you’ve already read the original trilogy.
March 30th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Danielle L. Jensen | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Phalanxes of Atlans by F. Van Wyck Mason
A little while ago. I had some words to say about Capt. S.P. Meek’s 1930 novel The Drums of Tapajos, in which a band of American explorers discovers a lost civilization in the jungle wilderness of Brazil, comprised of the cultured and scientifically advanced remnants of the 10 Lost Tribes and Troy, uneasily coexisting with the barbaric remnants of Atlantis. The book was done in by a lack of convincing detail and exciting set pieces,
March 27th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3 | F. Van Wyck Mason | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Over the past few years I’ve been reading Sarah J. Maas‘s THRONE OF GLASS series, though thanks to my dislike of e-books, never got around to reading the five novellas that explored some of the early years in Celaena Sardothien’s career.
Celaena is a famous assassin in the employ of Arobynn Hamel, the ruthless master of the Assassin’s Guild. Though few have seen her face, Celaena already has a fearsome reputation despite her youth, and is recognized as Arobynn’s protégé among the other recruits.
March 27th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Sarah J. Maas | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane
A Heart of Blood and Ashes (2020) is the first book in Milla Vane’s A GATHERING OF DRAGONS, a supposedly romantic fantasy about a barbarian warlord named Maddek who is searching for a princess named Yvenne who appears to be responsible for his parents’ death. Maddek’s council has instructed him to stay out of the matter because they value the alliance between their country and the princess’s, but Maddek wants revenge, so he ignores his council.
March 26th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 0.1 | Milla Vane | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Reposting to include Rebecca’s review of the new reprint edition.
Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan
Sherryl Jordan is a New Zealand-based author of young adult and children’s fantasy fiction. In Winter of Fire (1993) she tells the story of Elsha, a sixteen year old girl born into the enslaved underclass called the Quelled. As the sun has disappeared from the world, a memory only alive in mythology, the Quelled are forced to mine for the firestones that are the people’s only source of warmth.
March 26th, 2020. Katie Burton and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4, 5 | Sherryl Jordan | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
This week, a few videos for you, including two that your sequestered kids might enjoy:
Kid-friendly! John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton perform a staged reading of a section from Redshirts, at Burbank Library, in 2012. It’s about 11 minutes long. At 5.30 minutes, Scalzi loses it.
Kid-friendly! From the Georgia Aquarium, a 6 minute video about a handler and an orphaned otter.
From January, 2019, here is Rebecca Roanhorse being interviewed at the San Francisco Public Library. It’s about 33 minutes long. Your teens might get a lot from this.
March 25th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Ruin (2019) is the second book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s CHILDREN OF TIME series, following Children of Time, which you’ll want to read first.
Children of time, which I called “an expansive and visionary epic that speculates about the future of humanity,” was fascinating. In it we watched the evolution of a species of spider that was uplifted by a man-made virus.
March 25th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
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…