Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Bill Capossere

The Half-Made World: Strikingly original

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman, is a strikingly original book that, though it has its flaws, is a fascinating opening to a new world and characters. I look forward to rejoining when the sequel (and the title “The Half-Made World “pretty much mandates a sequel) arrives.

The Half-Made World is set in an alternate America, but Gilman has gone well past the add-a-few-inventions-that-weren’t-there-and-change-the-Civil-War kind of alternate world-building here.

October 6th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Felix Gilman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Passion Play: Could have been great

Passion Play by Beth Bernobich

CLASSIFICATION: Passion Play is a novel that blends together romance, classic fantasy tropes and political intrigue. Some comparisons have been made to Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series, and while there are a few similarities, Passion Play is not nearly as grandiose, sensual, or elegantly written. Instead, the book reminded me at times of Robin Hobb’s early stuff, some Kate Elliott, and C.E. Murphy’s Inheritors’ Cycle, although Beth Bernobich has her own style.

October 4th, 2010. Robert Thompson, Bill Capossere and Kelly Lasiter | Beth Bernobich | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Omnitopia Dawn: Rich with potential

Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane

Omnitopia Dawn is the start of a new series by Diane Duane, who is probably best known for her excellent Young Wizards fantasy series. Young Wizards has always been a fantasy with some science-fiction underpinnings, but in Omnitopia Dawn Duane reverses that balance, giving us a near-future science fiction tale with some fantasy possibilities. It’s mostly a fun read, though I don’t think it so far matches the quality and depth of Young Wizards.

October 4th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Diane Duane | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dreadnought: Pleasure and disappointment

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

CLASSIFICATION: The CLOCKWORK CENTURY series is set in an alternate history America, circa 1880, flavored with steampunk, western, intrigue, and horror.

FORMAT/INFO: Dreadnought is 400 pages long divided over twenty-two numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person, exclusively via the nurse, Mercy Lynch. Dreadnought is self-contained, but loosely connected to Boneshaker and Clementine, the first two volumes in the Clockwork Century series. September 28, 2010 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of Dreadnought via Tor.

September 17th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack: Pretty good steampunk

The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

I’ve had some mixed success with the steampunk trend the past few years, thoroughly enjoying it when the authors pay as much attention to story and character as they do in coming up with new ways to mash-up old and new technologies, but finding it dully disappointing when the basic steampunk premise is the high point of creativity (Look! Airships flying over horse-drawn carriages while Dickens is walking through the streets!). Mark Hodder’s new book, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack,

September 16th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Mark Hodder | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Children of the Lost: This series could be a winner

The Children of the Lost by David Whitley

The Children of the Lost is David Whitley’s follow-up to last year’s The Midnight Charter, which I reviewed as a weak three: strong in ideas but weaker in characterization and plotting. The Children of the Lost is a stronger book, though it also has its flaws. One thing I feel compelled to point out upfront, however, is that The Children of the Lost ends in a true cliffhanger of an ending,

Antiphon: Even better than its predecessors

Antiphon by Ken Scholes

PLOT SUMMARY: The ancient past is not dead. The hand of the Wizard Kings still reaches out to challenge the Androfrancine Order, to control the magick and technology that they sought to understand and claim for their own.

Nebios, the boy who watched the destruction of the city of Windwir, now runs the vast deserts of the world, far from his beloved Marsh Queen. He is being hunted by strange women warriors, while his dreams are invaded by warnings from his dead father.

Jin Li Tam,

September 7th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Ken Scholes | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

The Way of Kings: A very promising start to a very long series

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Here we go, folks: The Way of Kings, at over 1000 pages, is the first volume of Brandon Sanderson’s projected ten-book series, THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE. At one book per year, we probably won’t see the end of this series before 2020, especially given that Sanderson is first planning to finish up Robert Jordan’s WHEEL OF TIME. So, if you’re looking for a new series to read, this one has some advantages and disadvantages: on the plus side,

August 31st, 2010. Stefan Raets and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Brandon Sanderson | SFF Reviews | 21 comments |

Mockingjay: Our mixed opinions

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

OK, HUNGER GAMES fans, you’ve been waiting a year for this book, and the last thing you want is some @#$% reviewer spoiling the plot. So, I will do my best to give my impressions of Mockingjay with as few spoilers as possible.

When a series becomes this popular and sparks this much speculation among readers, the author’s task is extremely difficult. How to surprise a fanbase, when that fanbase has spent many months trying to guess what will happen in the final installment (and almost certainly guessed right on a few counts)?

August 29th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter, Bill Capossere, Jason Golomb, Terry Weyna and Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Suzanne Collins | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Dragongirl: It’s well past time to put Pern to rest

Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey

The steep fall in the quality of the PERN series can’t be laid solely at the feet of Anne McCaffrey’s son Todd McCaffrey, as Anne’s later books in the series themselves widely varied in quality, ranging from downright bad (a few) to mediocre/adequate (most) to not-great-but-pretty-good (a few). But at least one could kind of justify the existence of most of them, as they wrapped up characters we’d grown to love, or gave us the backstory of how the whole setup began, or kept us in the familiar and beloved setting but gave us new situations.

August 26th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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