Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Red Seas Under Red Skies is Scott Lynch’s follow-up to his debut fantasy The Lies of Locke Lamora, and the second in the planned Gentlemen Bastard sequence. The first book asked the question: what would happen if all the guys from Ocean 11 were teleported into the usual fantasy setting? Red Seas Under Red Skies asks: what would Brad Pitt and George Clooney do if the rest of Oceans 11 were killed off in movie one?
August 30th, 2007. Bill Capossere, Greg Hersom, Marion Deeds and Skye Walker´s rating: 3.5, 4, 5 | Scott Lynch | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
With so much being churned out in the way of epic fantasy, it’s always a pleasure to come across something original and unique. I felt that way about Robin Hobb’s Farseer books and wondered if she’d be able to maintain such high standards in Liveship Traders.
While I don’t believe she quite got there (it is after all a pretty high bar she set herself), this series certainly stands on its own as quality fantasy, and Ship of Destiny is a fitting conclusion (though one wonders if that word has been banned from the genre).
August 29th, 2007. Bill Capossere, Rob Rhodes and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Robin Hobb | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
The third book in the Gregor series picks up shortly after the last one ends and quickly tosses the reader into familiar territory. Once again, Gregor takes up a task underground in order to save a family member. In the first book it was his father, in book two his sister Boots, and now it’s his mother, who in accompanying him down to the underground contracted a seemingly fatal disease that threatens to wipe out the warmbloods.
As foretold by a prophecy (another familiar element from the other books),
August 20th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Suzanne Collins | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker
The Warrior Prophet picks up from The Darkness That Comes Before (which must be read first) and mostly improves on that first book, which in itself was a solid read. Where Darkness suffered from lengthy exposition, now that the basic storyline and world have been set, Bakker can focus on moving things along more quickly, if that can be said about a 600 plus page book. Though the book could be cut by a hundred plus pages,
August 19th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | R. Scott Bakker | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
The High King is the fifth and last book in the truly wonderful Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, preceded by The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, and Taran Wanderer, all of which are necessary reading if you want to fully understand and enjoy this last installment. The High King,
August 15th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher and Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Lloyd Alexander | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Melusine has some definite issues as a first novel. It’s setting doesn’t feel quite fully fleshed out — even if one gives the author the benefit of the doubt and believes things are left unanswered for plot purposes and are “to be revealed later.” If that’s the case, the reader could have done with a bit more revelation early on, especially with regard to the politics which drive so much of the characters’ motivations. Without that background, their actions run the risk of seeming arbitrary just for the sake of plot.
August 2nd, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Sarah Monette | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT by Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson’s Land (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever) series is one of the earliest reactions against the carbon-copy Tolkien-like works that proliferated soon after the success of The Lord of the Rings and stands in start contrast to another book published the same year — Sword of Shannara —which simply rewrites Tolkien rather than responds to it.
The first series is known as the Chronicles of Thomas the Unbeliever (more on that later),
August 1st, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Stephen R. Donaldson | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
The Looking Glass Wars, somewhat a reimagining of Alice In Wonderland, has its moments but is generally weak throughout. It’s a “multi-platform” concept, which means along with the requisite trilogy (Seeing Redd is out currently as book two), there are graphic novels and a planned movie and video game. What does all this mean?
Perhaps a wonderfully immersive experience in the world if one buys all the stuff.
July 31st, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | Frank Beddor | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I have to admit that I’ve found Cornelia Funke’s works for the most part to be wonderful concepts whose execution never quite matched their potential. Dragonrider I thought was her most successful work so far, mostly because it didn’t reach quite so high. With Inkspell, however, Funke has finally meshed concept and execution together perfectly, creating her best piece of work so far.
Inkspell picks up about a year after the events of Inkheart,
July 30th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Cornelia Funke | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes
The Charnel Prince succeeds in what should be the immediate and least of goals for second books in series — it moves the plot along. The book is well-paced, moving quickly through various storylines and transitioning nicely from one point-of-view to another. The shifts occur smoothly and repeatedly act to increase suspense (some may tire of the tactic; it never really bothered me). The different stories are mostly well-balanced, each carrying its own weight in terms of plot and character. Though I’d say one is noticeably weaker than the others,
July 28th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Definitely!
Right!! Lindelof and Cuse clearly had parent issues!
While it was on, the best part for me was the water-cooler discussion aspect. I know the old expression, "A…
Andi, don't forget Shannon's cold and greedy stepmom: "Oh, I kept the money, sweetie. You're on your own!"
I was one of those viewers who loved the show throughout and kept thinking "If they manage to tie up…