Jana: This week I read Sarah Beth Durst’s latest MG novel, Catalyst, which was so much fun and a perfect antidote for everything I’ve been feeling over the last few weeks. I also read Martha Wells’ latest entry in the MURDERBOT DIARIES series, Network Effect, which I absolutely enjoyed (and forced my hand on picking up a copy of the first book in the series, All Systems Red,
June 7th, 2020. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 3 comments |
B.P.R.D. (Vol. 3): Plague of Frogs by Mike Mignola (writer), Guy Davis (artist), Dave Stewart (colors), & Clem Robins (letters)
The B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs is the first extended B.P.R.D. volume since the first two volumes were collections of short stories. Plague of Frogs is a five-issue mini-series. The comic book opens with bloodshed: One scientist visits another to see the fast-growing fungus being watched at a facility. The visiting scientist, out of the blue, shoots the other man in the back, claiming that “the Master commands.”
June 6th, 2020. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Mike Mignola | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Just before her twelfth birthday, Zoe finds an impossibly small, breathtakingly cute kitten hiding behind her parents’ garage. Having been forbidden from bringing home any more animal rescues — and there have been many — the obvious course of action is for Zoe to sneak the kitten into her bedroom, text photos to her best friend Harrison, and go eat cake. The next day, she tells her family about the new arrival (christened Pipsqueak) and, to her great joy, she’s finally allowed to keep this one. After all,
June 5th, 2020. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
I loved Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap so much that I was almost afraid to read Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All (2019). How could it possibly live up to my expectations of it? After having read it, I can report that I do still think I liked Bone Gap better, but that Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All is also a good read.
June 5th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Laura Ruby | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!
What is the best book you read in May 2020 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF. We just want to share some great reading material.
Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.
And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page.
June 4th, 2020. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 18 comments |
Solstice (2020), by Lorence Alison, is subtitled “A Tropical Horror Comedy” and is a thinly fictionalized take on the disastrous Fyre Festival, with the addition of an eldritch sea monster lurking beneath the waves. I wasn’t expecting high literature from it, just the proverbial “beach read” to distract myself from the fact that there is no beach anywhere near me (and if there were, it would probably be closed anyway). But the more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t work for me.
June 4th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2 | Lorence Alison | Horror, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Batgirl Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside (Rebirth) by Hope Larson & Rafael Albuquerque
Now is the right time to admit that I don’t read many DC comics — or many comics, period. I jumped straight into this series without any context of Barbara Gordon’s life or background, beyond the general basics of the character. (For instance, I know she’s the daughter of Commissioner Gordon and spent some time in a wheelchair, but I have no idea how she regained the use of her legs, or who Frankie is).
So how does this story hold up for someone with just a tenuous understanding of Batgirl?
June 4th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Internet:
Here are 20 strange and wonderful places in the world.
A new theory about Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) challenges the “pre-colonial collapse” model.
Yahama offers remote cheering for stadiums with Remote Cheer. How timely.
June 3rd, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Creatures of Charm and Hunger by Molly Tanzer
Creatures of Charm and Hunger (2020), the title of the third in Molly Tanzer’s THE DIABOLIST’S LIBRARY series, accurately describes the elemental beings with whom the human diabolists contract in order to do magic. It also accurately describes the two main characters, Miriam and Jane, and Jane’s Aunt Edith, an important secondary character.
These three books are not a trilogy in the conventional sense, since each takes place at a different point of history,
June 3rd, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Molly Tanzer | SFF Reviews | no comments |
“There shouldn’t be any monsters left in Lucille.” The city of Lucille is a utopia. A generation ago, a resistance toppled all the monsters — monsters in this case meaning people: unjust politicians, bigots, predators. The leaders of the revolution are now called “angels” and are revered as elders. Jam is a teenage girl growing up in Lucille, and she appreciates the better world the angels built; as a black trans girl, she knows the world that came before would not have been as welcoming to her. But she still has questions that her teachers are hesitant to answer.
June 3rd, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Akwaeke Emezi | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no 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.