Month: January 2021

Blood Heir: The return of Julie, princess incognito (Blog Tour Review!)

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

This review is part of the Blood Heir blog tour (#BloodHeirKD).

Julie is returning home to Atlanta after a long eight-year absence. Kate Daniels’ adopted daughter is now twenty-six, and she’s been busy the past eight years: fighting with the Canaanite god Moloch, the Child Eater, stealing one of his eyes for herself after he ripped out one of hers, being remade inside and out by the magical eye, learning about ancient powers and civilizations from her adoptive relatives … and still pining for Derek,

January 8th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Ilona Andrews | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Fires of Vengeance: Best served cold

The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter

The Rage of Dragons was a well-realized and propulsive debut for author Evan Winter, though the main character was such an Edgy Boi™ that he could probably have gone ice dancing without skates. Winter’s gifts for pacing and his novel world-building nevertheless left me with a good impression, and when I saw that the sequel was available, I immediately purchased a copy. To be clear, there are relatively few series that I buy on release day anymore,

January 8th, 2021. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Evan Winter | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Thoughtful Thursday: What’s the best book you read last month?

It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!

What is the best book you read in December 2020 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF, or even fiction. 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.

January 7th, 2021. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 15 comments |

Over the Woodward Wall: Follow the improbable brick road

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker

Over the Woodward Wall (2020) began its life as an imagined book, existing merely as a set of excerpts “quoted” at the end of certain chapters in Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame. But these excerpts were compelling enough that McGuire decided to use them as the building blocks for an actual fantasy series, using the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker (the alchemist credited with authoring this book in Middlegame).

WWWednesday: January 6, 2021

Happy 2021, everyone. Congratulations on making it this far.

Conventions:

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society reported out on the findings of an investigation into the behavior of Eric Gasior, Vice Chair of the Virtual BaltiCon 54.

Giveaway:

One commenter will get the trade paperback version of Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House.

Tech and Fun:

From Boston Dynamics, the famous dancing robots.

Books and Writing:

Daniel Jose Older gets some help from Tik Tok to demonstrate why he thinks there’s no reason to put non-English words in italics in English text.

January 6th, 2021. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 15 comments |

The Somebody People: Better than its predecessor

The Somebody People by Bob Proehl

I wasn’t crazy about Bob Proehl’s The Nobody People. While the premise was intriguing (kids with supernatural powers being raised and trained in a boarding school without the public’s knowledge), the novel, for reasons I’ve described in my review, was not compelling. I struggled to finish it but, in the end, I was curious about where Proehl was going with the story. For that reason, I picked up the sequel, The Somebody People,

The Rage of Dragons: A classic style in new clothes

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

There’s a vogue lately for fantasy inspired by cultures other than medieval western Europe or modern America, and to that I give a hearty cheer. To be clear, you’ll hardly find a bigger lover of medieval Europe in particular than I am — I spent the last couple of weeks before Christmas grading papers on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, for example — but even I will admit that the neverending conga line of plucky yeomen rising up to shake wartorn kingdoms can sometimes get old.

January 5th, 2021. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Evan Winter | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Catfishing on CatNet: A clowder of catastrophes, catalysts and catharsis

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

In this worthy Nebula (Andre Norton Award) finalist by Naomi Kritzer we meet Steph, a girl who has spent most of her life on the run with her mother. According to her mom, Steph’s abusive father is extremely dangerous and, after spending a couple of years in jail for arson, he’s stalking them. Steph and her mom keep fleeing to small towns, trying to get lost, but eventually her mom gets nervous again and wants to move on. This means that Steph keeps starting at new schools and never has time to settle in and make friends.

The Fictional Man: Could have been more

The Fictional Man by Al Ewing

A number of times while reading The Fictional Man, by Al Ewing, I felt like I was on the edge of a great book. Like one of those clichéd oases in any stranded-in-the-desert movie, I could see it glimmering and hazy just at the edge of the horizon. But every time I thought I was nearly there, I was left with just more sand. Though that’s more than a little unfair. The Fictional Man is better than sand,

Sunday Status Update: January 3, 2021

Kat: I’ve been busy with holidays and planning for the spring semester, but yesterday I managed to read the two most recent PENRIC & DESDEMONA novellas by Lois Mcmaster Bujold: The Orphans of Raspay and The Physicians of Vilnoc.

Bill: Since our last status, I’ve read the following, unfortunately none particularly strong:
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
The Fictional Man by Al Ewing
“The Only Living Girl on Earth”,

January 3rd, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 4 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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