The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby
Amid the several highly anticipated children’s and YA works this year by big names such as Suzanne Collins and Rick Riordan, one can be forgiven for missing the entry onto the stage of Matthew Kirby’s first novel, The Clockwork Three. Forgiven, but no longer excused, for among all those much more hyped releases (though they are often justifiably hyped), this stands out as among the best. There. Now you know.
December 16th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Matthew Kirby | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Shadowheart is the concluding fourth volume of Tad Williams’ most recent trilogy (yes, yes, I know), following Shadowmarch, Shadowplay, and Shadowrise. The last was originally intended to finish the series but instead was split in half, leading to Shadowheart. The first book, Shadowmarch, started off a bit slow and had some issues I thought with pace and cliché.
December 15th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Robert Thompson´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Tad Williams | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
The Red Pyramid (2011), by Rick Riordan, starts readers off on a new series intermingling ancient mythology, today’s world, and snappy young teens. In this case, though, the mythology is Egyptian, not Greek as in his Percy Jackson series (or Roman, as in the newest addition to that series) and the young teens aren’t the sons and daughters of gods but are instead possessed by them (if that doesn’t seem like much of a difference, it’s because it really isn’t as the story plays out).
December 6th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Shadowrise is Tad Williams’ third and thus concluding novel of the Shadowmarch trilogy, begun in Shadowmarch and continued in Shadowplay. So in this final volume… wait, hold on… I’m now being told that Williams, clearly feeling a sense of fantasy author peer pressure, has decided that, yes, while this is the “concluding volume,” it has in fact been split into two (hmmm, where have I heard that before), making this trilogy,
November 29th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Tad Williams | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Surrender to the Will of the Night by Glen Cook
PLOT SUMMARY: Piper Hecht’s first and greatest secret is that he knows how to kill gods. It is knowledge that makes him dangerous, but also puts him in danger — from his enemies, who fear what he might do, or who want revenge for what he has already done; and from his friends, who want to use his knowledge for their own purposes.
For example, Piper’s sister Heris and his living ancestor Cloven Februaren, the Ninth Unknown, have made Hecht part of their fight against the return of the dark god,
November 19th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
Fans of Jonathan Stroud’s fantastic Bartimaeus Trilogy, which began with The Amulet of Samarkand and ended with Ptolemy’s Gate, will be happy to know that the title character — the wise-cracking fourth-level djinn who has long-standing issues with authority — is back and funny as ever in The Ring of Solomon.
Rather than continue the story of the first trilogy,
November 11th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Jonathan Stroud | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
One of the problems with reviewing books like Towers of Midnight is that as you’re taking your notes and then as you’re writing the review itself, you know that really, none of it matters. Because let’s face it, nobody’s reading a review of the thirteenth book in a series — the penultimate one no less — to see if they should read the book. So we’ll dispense with the recommending part of the review and just give some spoiler-free impressions of this almost-the-end book by Robert Jordan &
November 2nd, 2010. Bill Capossere and Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis
With Blackout and All Clear, which together comprise a single fluid story, Connie Willis returns to the time travel universe that was home to her acclaimed early novel Doomsday Book. If anything, she has only gotten better with, ahem, time.
In the late 21st century, time travel is a tool employed by historians to observe and to take part in historic events, though it appears that something inherent about the travel precludes them from being sent to extremely pivotal points and settings so as to ensure they do not change history.
October 27th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Connie Willis | Hugo Award, Nebula Award | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero picks up shortly after his Percy Jackson & The Olympians series ended and continues onward in the same universe with both new and familiar characters. Actually, I should say “mostly” the same universe, as Riordan has broadened his Greek mythology premise to include the Roman gods as well (or as is often the case, the familiar Greek gods in their less-familiar Roman aspects).
Percy literally isn’t around for this one (don’t worry — he appears to play a major role in the next);
October 26th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve
No Such Thing as Dragons, by Philip Reeve, is aimed at a somewhat younger group than his excellent Mortal Engines series, though it has moments that might be a bit beyond that younger target audience.
Set in a medieval time period, No Such Thing as Dragons follows a young mute boy named Ansel who is sold by his father to Brock, the famed itinerant dragon-slayer. As Ansel soon learns,
October 23rd, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Philip Reeve | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Agree! And a perfect ending, too.
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so you're saying I should read it? :)
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