The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Saint of Bright Doors, a debut novel by Vajra Chandrasekera, opens with an absolutely killer beginning (literally, as the very young main character is being trained as an assassin) that had me sure I was going to love this novel. But while I did love parts of it, and was in the end happy I’d read it, I can’t say it lived up fully to the promise of that beginning.
But oh,
June 19th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Vajra Chandrasekera | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Devil’s Mistress by J.W. Brodie-Innes
A little while back, I shared some thoughts here regarding two books – Elliott O’Donnell’s The Sorcery Club (1912) and G. Firth Scott’s Possessed (also from 1912) – that were released by the London-based publisher William Rider & Son, whose specialty was occult literature. Now, I would like to pull off a hat trick of sorts by discussing still another supernatural book from this enterprising house;
June 16th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | J.W. Brodie-Innes | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet by Matthew Shindell
Mars has long fascinated us Earthlings, whether we were gazing up at it with eyes or telescopes, gazing down at it via orbital probes, or vicariously rolling across/flying over it via a slew of lander expeditions, several of which are still up there tooling around. That long obsession with the planet has prompted a huge number of books, fiction and non-fiction, centered on our red neighbor and now Matthew Shindell has added another — For the Love of Mars — which rather than focusing on Mars itself looks at our long-enduring but changing relationship.
June 15th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Charlotte Perkins Gilman is well-known in literary feminist circles for her novel The Yellow Wallpaper, and for her periodical, which she published in the early decades of the 20th century. I didn’t know about Herland, a feminist utopian novel, until a few years ago. She wrote two sequels; With her in Ourland and Moving the Mountain. Herland is worth reading for historical context, and also for a lot of laughs—because in addition to being a genuine feminist utopian,
June 14th, 2023. Marion Deeds | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Stand-Alone | Giveaway!, SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
The Jupiter Knife by D.J. Butler & Aaron Michael Ritchey
Hiram Woolley and Michael are back in The Jupiter Knife (2021), a follow-up to The Cunning Man. (Each novel can stand-alone so it’s not necessary to read The Cunning Man first, but I think you’ll enjoy The Jupiter Knife a little more if you do).
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Cunning Man (first in THE CUNNING MAN series) when I read it a couple of years ago.
June 13th, 2023. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Aaron Michael Ritchey, Dave (D.J.) Butler | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Possessed by G. Firth Scott
In my recent review of Elliott O’Donnell’s 1912 novel of the supernatural, The Sorcery Club, I mentioned that the book had been initially released by the British publisher William Rider & Son, which, after taking over the occult publisher Phillip Wellby in 1908, proceeded to come out with some two dozen outre works from 1910 – 1924. In 1911, the firm would release Bram Stoker’s classic (and, for me, borderline unreadable) The Lair of the White Worm,
June 12th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | G. Firth Scott | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Kat: You haven’t heard from me in a while because this past academic year was so busy. I had no time for pleasure reading. It’s over now, so I’m back at it. Recently I’ve read The Wind-Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, The Jupiter Knife by D.J. Butler, Wool by Hugh Howey, and Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach. Expect a review of the Bach and Butler books very soon.
June 11th, 2023. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 5 comments |
Val Hall: The Odd Years by Alma Alexander
Val Hall: The Odd Years, by Alma Alexander, is the second collection of linked stories set in what is basically a retirement home for superheroes (or possibly villains as one story asks). Particularly “Third-class superheroes”, those who have a singular, lesser power that might only have been used once or a handful of times. As with just about every collection, the stories vary in effectiveness/impact, but overall, as with Val Hall: The Even Years,
June 9th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Alma Alexander | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Sorcery Club by Elliott O’Donnell
1912 was something of a banner year in the field of fantastic literature. Here in the U.S., Edgar Rice Burroughs jump-started his writing career with the releases of Tarzan of the Apes and A Princess of Mars, while Jack London came out with one of his finest fantasy creations, The Scarlet Plague. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond,
June 6th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Elliott O’Donnell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach
Heaven’s Queen (2014) is the final book in Rachel Bach’s PARADOX trilogy. I read the first two novels, Fortune’s Pawn and Honor’s Knight nine years ago in audio format, but this final installment, though published in print in 2014, wasn’t available in audio format until November 2022 (I didn’t look into the reason for this). Not surprisingly, I had to go back and read the first two novels again to refresh my memory because I didn’t remember the story very well.
June 5th, 2023. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Rachel Bach | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 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.