Editor’s note: When Ruth reviewed this book in 2012, she reviewed the “first part” of CITY OF SAINTS called Liahona. Since then, the series has been released as one novel called City of Saints.
It’s the days leading up to the Civil War, and both the North and the South are desperate to bring the Kingdom of Deseret, with President Brigham Young, in on their side. Both forces send envoys to the remote kingdom,
August 17th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Dave (D.J.) Butler | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Breaking news: Harry Harrison, author of such well known books as THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT series, passed away this morning. The writing world has lost one of its greats.
On to the regularly scheduled column.
So, there is lots of sparkly nerdy geektastic goodness for you this week. Let’s do this!
1. Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Butcher, Emma Bull, and Diana Rowland discuss urban fantasy for an hour.
August 15th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
Hello, my beloved readers. This has been a bit of a slow week. It seems the entire world is watching the Olympics, which I’m okay with because I love the Olympics. The weirder the sport the better! So, what have I seen on the internet this last week?
1. The other big thing going on in the world, or I guess I should out of it, is that we landed a rover on Mars. You know how they say truth is stranger than fiction? If I had read the landing plan for the Odyssey rover in a science fiction book,
August 8th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
Hello, faithful readers. You’ve probably noticed lots of changes here in the last little bit and this is another one. I (Ruth) am taking over writing the WWWednesday column from Justin, because Justin has some new exciting stuff up his sleeves that you’ll be seeing soon. This column is probably going to look a little different under my tenure here in the comfy chair, because every writer has her own style. Mine can best be described as a mix of dragonfire and glitter, with a healthy dash of snark.
So, what fantabulous things have I seen on the internets in the last week,
August 1st, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 13 comments |
The Forest King: Woodlark’s Shadow by Dan Mishkin (author) & Tom Mandrake (illustrator)
Justin’s family has moved to the town where his dad grew up, and they now live in a house on the edge of an ancient forest. Justin knows something evil is lurking in the forest but faces ridicule from his friends and disbelief from the adults. When his friends get hurt by a strange creature playing in the forest, Justin knows that he has to act to save everyone he cares about from danger.
Woodlark’s Shadow (2006),
May 25th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 2 | Dan Mishkin | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Arm of the Stone by Victoria Strauss
The world has been torn asunder. Originally held together by disciplines of mind and hand, devotees of the powers of the mind have been pushed aside by the technological innovations of the devotees of hand power. As belief in the power of magic fades, the last enclaves of magic users simply disappear. But they are not actually gone. They have formed a second world, accessible only by a few Gates that bind the two worlds together. This new world is held together by the power of the Stone,
May 15th, 2012. Ruth Arnell and Bill Capossere | Victoria Strauss | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Briony has lots of secrets. She’s a witch. She can see the Old Ones. And when she loses her temper, bad things happen, like the accidents that crippled both her sister and her stepmother. Luckily, her stepmother figured out why these things happened, and taught Briony the trick to make sure they never happen again: she must always hate herself. Always. And she can never tell anyone else about her secret power, or she will be hanged. But when the locals decide to start draining the swamp near the town for the train to go through,
May 11th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Franny Billingsley | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn
Watchtower, the first book in the award-winning THE CHRONICLES OF TORNOR series by Elizabeth A. Lynn, follows the tale of a young prince — why is he called a prince when his father is a lord? I have no idea. This bothered me through the whole book — who has to fight against a usurper to regain his lands.
Watchtower is frequently included on lists of feminist and gay SFF.
May 8th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 2.5 | Elizabeth A. Lynn | World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Truth-Teller’s Tale by Sharon Shinn
Adele is a Safe-Keeper, physiologically incapable of sharing a secret. Her twin sister Eleda is a Truth-Teller, incapable of telling a lie. From the young age of 12, these sisters assume positions of responsibility in their town, but what happens when they get dragged into royal intrigue and the indiscretions of the most powerful family in town?
The Truth-Teller’s Tale, the second book in the SAFE-KEEPERS series by Sharon Shinn,
May 3rd, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Sharon Shinn | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Safe-Keeper’s Secret by Sharon Shinn
Safe-Keepers can be trusted to never reveal a secret. So it’s no surprise that when a royal bastard needs to be hidden, a Safe-Keeper would be the logical place to hide the child. When the royal messenger who left the infant in the dark of night with the Safe-Keeper is found dead by his own hand a few miles away, the secret identity of the baby boy who was left behind becomes more of an open secret in the village. The Safe-Keeper decides to raise the child with her own daughter who was also born that night.
April 28th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3 | Sharon Shinn | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
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…