Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Bill Capossere

Boneshaker: Steampunk Seattle

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

CLASSIFICATION: Set in an alternate history Seattle, sometime around the year 1880, Boneshaker is a steampunk-flavored adventure that incorporates elements of zombie horror, pulp fiction and post-apocalyptic retrofuturism. Think The Wild Wild West meets Fallout (a videogame series) meets George Romero…

FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 416 pages divided over 28 numbered chapters, an Epilogue, and an excerpt from Unlikely Episodes in Western History which serves as the prologue. The book also includes a map and an Author’s Note regarding the historical and geographical liberties taken in the novel.

September 25th, 2009. Robert Thompson, Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | no comments |

City of Fire: A bit thin, even for youngsters

City of Fire by Laurence Yep

City of Fire is the opening book in a new YA fantasy trilogy by Laurence Yep, set in an alternate version of 1941 where humans and magical creatures (trolls, lap griffins, shapeshifters, dragons, etc.) freely intermingle and society employs a mix of magic and technology. The novel opens in San Francisco with a tense and mysterious pov, as the assassin narrator Bayang observes her target — a young boy named Leech who somehow poses a threat to Bayang’s “people” and who has yet to come into his “true power.” The scene then shifts to another pov,

The Midnight Charter: Deep themes for YA, but weak world-building

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley is an intriguing YA book with some deep ideas behind it, though it doesn’t quite meet its potential in terms of the story itself. The book is set in the city of Agora, a walled-off dystopia whose workings revolve around a barter-for-everything system: Food, art, labor, even emotions, are commodities of trade. The system has stood for some time, but as the story opens, the needed disruption (otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a story) is about to occur.

The Magician’s Elephant: A novella to read to your children

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo’s new work, The Magician’s Elephant, takes a little bit of warming up to early on, but the simple and sometimes poetic prose combined with the fairy tale/fable-like atmosphere and style starts to win the reader over, first charming them, then moving them. By the end, which comes quickly since it’s more novella than novel, both the prose and emotional impact have deepened and intensified, making this a novella well worth reading oneself and to one’s children.

The Cabinet of Wonders: Charms, chills, and whimsy

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski is perhaps not itself a “wonder” (that sort of praise is a bit too breathlessly over the top), but it comes close enough to deserve an enthusiastic recommendation and a preeminent place on any child’s shelf. Start with several appealing and richly drawn characters; add an inventive mix of history, folk tales, and the author’s own plotting; toss in an original blend of various magics and technologies, sprinkle a few grim moments about and several more whimsical ones;

CROSSROADS: Richly detailed and realistically heterogeneous worlds

THE CROSSROADS TRILOGY by Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott’s CROSSROADS TRILOGY, the first 3 books in a multi-book series, is a great example of how good epic fantasy can be in so many ways: its world-building is richly detailed and realistically heterogeneous; it has a multitude of characters spanning a wide spectrum of human nature and behavior, most of them nicely individualized; its depiction of war is grimly and painfully realistic; the plot contains some pleasantly surprising turns along the way; its fantastic elements don’t overwhelm the plot and are interesting in their own right;

September 7th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Kate Elliott | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Catching Fire: Highly recommended

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

One of last year’s best, most compelling reads was Suzanne Collins’ dystopic The Hunger Games, in which a group of young boys and girls are sent into a large geographic area for a kill-or-be-killed TV spectacle — a sort of Running Man meets Lord of the Flies meets Survivor meets The Lottery. The book, carried along winningly by the strong main character Katniss, was suspenseful, poignant, and often breathless, ending with a clear resolution but with an obvious nod toward a sequel.

The Price of Spring: Finale of one of the best fantasy epics in recent years

The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham

I’ve been a big fan of Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet and The Price of Spring, its concluding volume, confirms my view that it is one of the more original and best-written fantasy epics in recent years.

If you haven’t read the third volume, An Autumn War, stop reading here as you’ll run into spoilers for that book.

As has been the pattern in the series, the story picks up years after the events of An Autumn War.

A Darkness Forged in Fire: We’re divided on this one

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans

“Mountains shouldn’t scream, but this one did.” Those words start the first volume in The Iron Elves series by Chris Evans, a first time author. A Darkness Forged in Fire is one of the best new fantasies that I’ve read in a long time. Evans has a visceral writing style that makes the world come alive, interesting takes on standard fantasy races such as elves and dwarves, and one of the most terrifying landscapes I can remember.

July 9th, 2009. Ruth Arnell and Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5, 5 | Chris Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Hunger Games: A cautionary tale

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins has already proven her talent for storytelling with her recently completed Gregor the Underlander series. In that series, she showed she was able to create strong characters, move plot along quickly, deftly control the rise and fall in tension, and create moving scenes. While there were some weak sections in the series (sometimes the pace moved too quickly, settings often could have been more detailed, and a few characters could have been more richly drawn), by the end she had crafted one of the best YA series to hit the shelves the past few years — a thoughtful,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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