Of all the books I’ve been looking forward to this year, Doubleblind was pretty high up on the list. When we last left our heroine, Jax, she was in the orbit of Ithiss-Tor, preparing for a diplomatic mission with high stakes: Recruit the distant but formidable Ithtorians to the human cause. Fail, and the human race gets eaten by the Morgut. If they’re lucky. But the Ithtorians aren’t very fond of the idea and Jax’s job is to change their minds. She also has to deal with March,
September 28th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Ann Aguirre | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It’s time for another round of Beth vs. The Urban Fantasy Genre. Today’s contender is WebMage by Kelly McCullough. Mind, the quote on the cover has it right: Science fantasy is really a better term for it. But Webmage can and does fit into the urban fantasy genre as well. Only there’s a distinctive lack of vampires, werewolves, and love dodecagons. In fact, WebMage is kind of like the illegitimate lovechild of The Dresden Files,
September 16th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Kelly McCullough | SFF Reviews | no comments |
When I picked up Tentacles by Roland Smith, I had no idea it was a sequel (the first book being Cryptid Hunters). But I quickly discovered that it didn’t matter. Not only is there a list of dramatis personae at the beginning of the book, but Roland Smith is very deft at refreshing plot details without info-dumping the events of the previous book on unsuspecting readers.
In Tentacles,
August 19th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 5 | Roland Smith | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris
There’s nothing I like better than a good ghost story. And New Orleans is a great city to set one in. In fact, Ruined‘s greatest strength is its setting.
Because I’ve been doing research on NO for a project of my own, some of what the book offers is stuff I already know. Even so, all of it is fascinating, especially for people only just being exposed to it. Paula Morris paints the city into the perfect backdrop for her ghost story,
August 18th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 3 | Paula Morris | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee
Ah, Thief With No Shadow. Add this one to the ever growing list of books that leave me utterly baffled as to what the term “romantic fantasy” is supposed to mean. Whatever else it is, this delightful little romp of a fantasy tale is no romance novel.
Though Thief With No Shadow is of a serious nature, it has the benefit of not being extremely bogged down and dreary as seems to be the current fantasy trend.
July 24th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Emily Gee | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Like most veteran readers, I know to take the author endorsements on the front of a book with a sizable grain of salt. Among other things, they’re often taken slightly out of context. I had to relearn that lesson recently when I picked up a copy of Darkborn by Alison Sinclair and saw a cover quote from Carol Berg. My inner fangirl, whom I keep tied up and gagged somewhere down in the dark pits of my black, cranky reader heart was unable to resist.
July 22nd, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 3 | Alison Sinclair | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Anyone who’s read my review of Flesh and Spirit knows that I was a little bit disappointed in some aspects of the book (I maintain that this is due to the fact that Carol Berg has left me a spoiled, fussy fantasy reader). So how did Ms. Berg do this time around?
Okay, fair enough, Breath and Bone starts a little slow. This isn’t a huge surprise, since the story is more like one book broken into two,
July 15th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Carol Berg | Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
When I first picked up Heroes Adrift and read the back, I felt a sudden pang of ‘uh oh’. Okay, I don’t read Moira J Moore’s work for the extremely complex plots. I read her work because it’s entertaining and funny, because I like the characters, and because her occasional bouts of dry irreverence for our genre just tickle me pink. But she always manages to hold her own enough in the plot department that it works with what she’s doing.
July 7th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Moira J. Moore | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
What drew me to The Blue Girl wasn’t the bad girl trying to be a good girl premise. It wasn’t the thing about the resident student ghost or the gang of malicious fairies or being a social misfit. Been there, seen that — not just in books. It was the line about Imogene’s imaginary friend manifesting into reality that piqued my interest. Now that was something I couldn’t really recall seeing before. It tickled that whimsical part of me that my mom is so fond of talking about (and envying).
April 6th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Charles De_Lint | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Warning: This review will contain some spoilers.
The Black Jewels Trilogy was and is one of my very favorite guilty pleasures. Yet I’ve been avoiding Tangled Webs (what is tagged book six in what is now called The Black Jewels Series — don’t even get me started on that) for some time. To explain why, I’ll give you a quote from the publisher’s blurb:
“The invitation is signed “Jaenelle Angelline,”
April 6th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 1 | Anne Bishop | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a perceptive and beautiful review. You make it clear that Yamada not only knows the story she wants to…
Read together with The Serpent Mage, the series is one of the best works of art out there. The main…
thanks for this really well-written review. You've definitely piqued my interest in this, particularly in how you highlight the still…
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review