Author: Bill Capossere

Thunderer: A lot to like

Thunderer by Felix Gilman

It seems lately that a lot of books have come out where setting plays as large a role as character. I’m thinking of Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergris, China Miéville’s New Crobuzon, Gregory Frost’s Shadowbridge, and Jay Lake’s Mainspring. Books that haven’t simply created a new world, but whose world itself is an integral part of the story, rather than just the physical part the story moves across.

Felix Gilman’s Thunderer certainly falls into that category — more successfully than some and less so than others.

July 25th, 2007. Bill Capossere and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4 | Felix Gilman | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Inkheart: Great premise weakly executed

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

The premise of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart, that some have the ability to call out characters from books by reading aloud, is absolutely wonderful. At first, of course, one thinks how great to have such a talent — to call out Bilbo or Willy Wonka or Aladdin, but what if you couldn’t then return them to their homes — how tragic and cruel for them. Or even worse, what if you couldn’t control your talent, so reading aloud Lord of the Rings might mean you’d get to talk to a hobbit or an elf,

The Wizard Hunters: Never quite lives up to its promise

The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells

The Wizard Hunters has a great opening line. Unfortunately, it never quite lives up to the promise so tantalizingly held out to us. The good news is the character we meet in that first line, Tremaine, holds up well throughout the book. In general, the characterization is one of the book’s stronger points. The story premise is also a highlight, offering up an unusual meshing of cultures — one with magic and science/technology working side by side, another where technology has yet to form and magic is evil,

July 21st, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Martha Wells | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Fitting end

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

There’s good news, middling news, and bad news in the final Harry Potter installment, a book that replicates in many ways the unevenness of the series as a whole. First the good news. The main character, which has always been the book’s strength, continues in that vein through most of the book. Harry’s oh-so-realistic ongoing grief at his parents’ deaths, his sometimes-bends-but-never-breaks bond with Hermione and Ron, his coming-of-age process through idol-worship then respect then disillusionment then adult understanding with Dumbledore,

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane: Strong followup

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

The Prophecy of Bane continues the strengths displayed in Suzanne Collins‘ first book in the series, Gregor the Overlander. The book moves along quickly and smoothly with few if any slow spots; the major characters, if not minutely detailed, have enough personality and reality to hold one’s interest and concern; and the setting, which as in the first is probably the weakest element in terms of vividness, is at least interesting enough in general terms so that its lack of detail is not much of a flaw.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: We love it

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I’m giving Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a 5 for the simply reason that I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through, but I’d warn all readers to be more wary than usual of reviews (including this one). More than many books, this one I think will be a matter of true personal taste and experience will be your only truly accurate guide.

To begin with, Strange is often referred to as a “fantasy”

July 14th, 2007. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper, Marion Deeds, Tadiana Jones and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Audio, Hugo Award, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Dark Hills Divide: Interesting premise but little spark

The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

Patrick Carman’s The Dark Hills Divide has a good if not all that original premise at its core — a kingdom of four cities completely walled in and a 12-yr-old heroine who longs to see what’s beyond the walls. The walls were built a generation ago by Thomas Warvold, a well-traveled adventurer who came up with the idea to overcome people’s fears of expansion into unknown and allegedly dangerous lands by building walled roads and towns using temporarily freed convicts as laborers.

July 14th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Patrick Carman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Iron Council: A step down from earlier books but still quite strong

Iron Council by China Mieville

Iron Council is Miéville’s third book set in his created world. While not really a trilogy as is normally thought of, since each book can stand independent of the others, it’s probably best to have at least read Perdido Street Station since that book gives the most full description of the world’s background — its various races, politics, technologies, magics, economics, etc. In this book, the city of Perdido Street Station is at war both with a vague outside enemy known as the Tesh and with itself,

July 11th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | China Mieville | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Light Ages: An atomospheric fantasy

The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod

The Light Ages is far from light reading. Anyone wanting a quick read or the typical multi-book fantasy focusing on a questing band of travelers beset by evil should look elsewhere.

Instead Macleod gives us a land more evoked than described, beautiful at times poetic prose, three-dimensional characters (including the “evil” ones), questions that aren’t always neatly answered, and a pace that would be described as slow by many but which I found perfectly suited to the nature of the novel.

July 9th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Ian R. MacLeod | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Runes of the Earth: A mostly welcome return

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson

Fans of Stephen R. Donaldson’s earlier work in the Land will find much to like here. Much of what was so good in the first two trilogies is here: conflicted characters; examinations of power and guilt, sense of loss, familiar etc. That’s both a positive and a negative, however, as there is a distinct sense of been there done that. Not overpowering, as the story does expand, deepen, and in general differ in slight, subtle ways from its predecessors. But the sense remains through much of the book,

June 30th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Stephen R. Donaldson | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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