King Maker by Maurice Broaddus
The premise of King Maker is simply awesome, and I wanted to love the book based on that alone. I’m a big fan of the King Arthur mythology, and the idea of such a unique slant on the story had me extremely excited. I found myself bewildered, however, as I worked my way through the book.
I want to deal with the strengths of the novel first. Maurice Broaddus’ writing creates a dangerous and authentic mood.
February 26th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 2 | Maurice Broaddus | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
StarMan is the third in the Axis Trilogy by Sara Douglass. In this book the final battle between Axis and his half brother Gorgrael will take place, the identity of the Lover is revealed, and, finally, WolfStar shows his true colours. StarMan is absolutely packed with events, as the first two books were, and it positively glitters with the force of Douglass’ very vivid imagination.
Sara Douglass has managed to churn out a fairly effective fantasy trilogy.
February 25th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Sara Douglass | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blood Debt is the fifth and last book in the Blood Books series by Tanya Huff featuring Vicki Nelson, Henry Fitzroy and Mike Celluci. We pick up the tale as Henry finds himself haunted by a tormented ghost and realizes he needs Vicki’s help. It’s hard to review Blood Debt completely without spoiling the events at the end of Blood Pact, but I shall attempt it!
Although there is a ghost involved,
February 15th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the first few chapters of Blood Pact, the fourth novel in the Blood Books series, Vicki Nelson receives extremely bad news concerning her mother’s death. The news gets worse when she travels to Kingston and realizes that her mother’s body is being used in an appalling series of experiments. Blood Pact is the tale of Dr. Frankenstein, brought up to date in a gruesome manner. Vicki tries frantically to find out who is behind the desecration of her mother’s corpse,
February 13th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 4 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blood Lines is the third novel in the Blood Books series. In previous novels, Tanya Huff has tackled vampires (obviously), werewolves, and demons, and in Blood Lines, she wanders into the realms of ancient Egypt and mummies.
In the slow-burn start to the book, a new sarcophagus is found by Dr. Rax, curator of the Royal Ontario Museum, and brought to Toronto. After a series of mysterious deaths,
February 12th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Enchanter is book two of the Axis Trilogy of The Wayfarer Redemption saga and follows the same path as many middle novels in trilogies: lots of events occur, but the main focus is getting all the main players into place for the big wrap-up in book three. In Enchanter, Axis is trying to bring the Prophecy to fruition — seeking to unite the Acharites with the Avar and the Icarii against opposition from his half-brother Borneheld and,
February 3rd, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Sara Douglass | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Days of Blood and Fire (US) or A Time of War (UK) by Katharine Kerr
A Time of War (Days of Blood and Fire in the US) is the third book in the second Deverry quartet. Here all the action takes place in the present — we meet the Rhiddaer folk and the Gel Da’Thae (in the form of Jahdo and Meer) who quest to Deverry in search of Meer’s brother. When they find him,
February 3rd, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Katharine Kerr | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wayfarer Redemption (BattleAxe in the UK) by Sara Douglass
Note: Amanda, who reviews this novel, lives in the UK where this book is titled BattleAxe. In the US, the title is The Wayfarer Redemption.
A thousand years ago the people of Achar drove the Forbidden from their land in the War of the Axe. They pulled down huge swathes of woodland in their fear and now live by the Way of the Plough under the benign guidance of their deity Artor.
February 2nd, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Sara Douglass | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
From the blurb above, so far this book sounds like Tom Holt, or Terry Pratchett, or any other comedic fantasy author, right? No, definitely not! Jonathan L. Howard infuses Johannes Cabal the Necromancer with flavours from other authors and from films, but the book as a whole is unique and very, very funny. It has the same gruesome humor as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,
January 29th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 5 | Jonathan L. Howard | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Blood Trail is the second in Tanya Huff’s Blood Books series featuring Vicki Nelson, private investigator, and Henry Fitzroy, vampire and illegitimate son of Henry VIII.
The novel opens with Vicki accepting an invitation to Henry’s place to talk about a possible new case. It’s been a few months since the events of Blood Price, and the flirtation between Vicki and Henry is ramped up a notch. Their new case involves a pack of werewolves living near London,
January 29th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one