Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest) | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Sebastian: A romance novel with some fantasy concepts

Sebastian by Anne Bishop

It always saddens me when an author I thought was good turns out to be…well, not so good. I was willing to forget about Anne Bishop’s previous trilogy (Tir Alainn) and go into Sebastian with her original Black Jewels Trilogy in mind.
This just was not a good book. It was not a fantasy novel, so much as a romance novel with some fantasy concepts. And they are interesting concepts, as Bishop’s often are (although a bit confusing until you get far enough into the book to make the right connections).

March 31st, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Anne Bishop | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Resenting the Hero: One of the funniest comic fantasies

Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore

Sometimes, a fantasy story comes along that simply isn’t meant to be taken seriously. This is one of them.

Not to say that that’s a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s wonderful. Resenting the Hero happily mocks a number of fantasy standards, yet manages to avoid completely sacrificing its own story to do so. The plot is not mindblowing or anything, far from it, but it is well suited to the humorous type of story that Resenting the Hero is.

February 8th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 5 | Moira J. Moore | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Redeeming the Lost: Short on redeeming qualities

Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner

Sometimes authors lose the plot. In Redeeming the Lost, Elizabeth Kerner loses… everything.

She loses what restraint she had on her overly flowery writing style. It reached a point where some of the language was laughable and ridiculous, and often it looked like there were several words missing from sentences. Kerner is one of those fantasy authors that unfortunately can’t fight the desire to show off her knowledge of archaic language.

She loses the pacing. In actuality about 72 hours passes from start to finish of the book.

January 31st, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Elizabeth Kerner | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Queen of Dragon: Not bothering with the next one

Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe

So here we are in the third book. The plot has something to do with the mysterious Drakon princess, Maricara, who was introduced in The Dream Thief and Kimba the White Lion — I mean, Kimber, the son of Kit and Rue from The Smoke Thief. There’s something to do with someone murdering Drakon, I think, but frankly I didn’t make it far enough to find out. Which is kind of sad, actually, because if the reader isn’t sure of what’s going on by page 70 or so,

January 1st, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 0.1 | Shana Abe | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The High King’s Tomb: Meanders for a long time

The High King’s Tomb by Kristen Britain

From early on in The High King’s Tomb (2007), alarm bells started going off in my head. It doesn’t take very long, if you’ve read the other two books (and you should have), to realize that a “grab the reader by the throat” event is conspicuously absent from the beginning of the story. There’s one in the first book, there’s one in the second book, but The High King’s Tomb starts out on a noticeably meandering path.

November 21st, 2007. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Kristen Britain | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Charmed Sphere: Asaro’s SF is much better

The Charmed Sphere by Catherine Asaro

This is not going to be pretty, but then, neither was the reading experience.

I’m filled with dread right within the second paragraph, when Catherine Asaro for some reason feels the need to inform me that apple yellow is Chime’s favorite color. This dread is not soothed as the scene carries on, full of Chime’s rather juvenile observations. She sounds more like she’s five rather than almost eighteen, and I’m just not happy.

Neither am I pleased with her male opposite, a prince and heir to the throne of the realm,

October 9th, 2007. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 0.1 | Catherine Asaro | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Flesh and Spirit: Elegant, beautifully crafted

Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg

With the second book of The Lighthouse Duet, Breath and Bone, now out, I decided to refresh my memory, as it’s been a full year since I last read this one. I can remember being distinctly disappointed with it. Yet after some of what I’ve read this year (some of it being absolutely awful) I’d have to say my mind has changed somewhat.

This year my poor eyes have suffered so much awkward prose and poorly placed punctuation that Carol Berg’s elegant,

The Witches of Eileanan: Disappointing

The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth

I wanted to like The Witches of Eileanan. I’m always looking for something to read and this is a pretty long series. Unfortunately, although I tried valiantly, I couldn’t even finish it. Usually, for books that I can’t make it through, I give a DNF (did not finish) rating. However, there were a couple of things here that were at least refreshing, which is why the one star.

For starters there was the accent. Now, generally stories with a Celtic bent in general drive me bonkers.

June 20th, 2007. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 1 | Kate Forsyth | SFF Reviews | 11 comments |

The Smoke Thief: The book equivalent of chocolate mousse

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe

Sometimes I don’t get myself. It’s been years since I’ve enjoyed an actual romance novel and to be perfectly frank, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy The Smoke Thief.

Joke’s on me there, I guess. Shana Abe‘s writing is so light and airy that reading it is, if you’ll excuse the pun, a breeze. It just floats by without effort, easy and evocative (and occasionally slightly purple, especially during love scenes, but no one is perfect and I don’t expect them to be).

June 1st, 2007. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4 | Shana Abe | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Author: Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)

Sebastian: A romance novel with some fantasy concepts

Resenting the Hero: One of the funniest comic fantasies

Redeeming the Lost: Short on redeeming qualities

Queen of Dragon: Not bothering with the next one

The High King’s Tomb: Meanders for a long time

The Charmed Sphere: Asaro’s SF is much better

Flesh and Spirit: Elegant, beautifully crafted

The Witches of Eileanan: Disappointing

The Smoke Thief: The book equivalent of chocolate mousse

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