Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Bill Capossere

The Last Dangerous Visions: Disappointing

The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski

Short story collections by their nature are hit and miss. The classic, almost unavoidable go-to review is calling a collection a “mixed bag” or noting only “some of the stories hit.” Honestly, I wish I could go that far with The Last Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison (kind of) and J. Michael Straczynski (kind of), but the disappointing reality is that most of these stories rather than some “didn’t hit” for me,

September 24th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | A.E. Van_Vogt, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Cory Doctorow, Dan Simmons, David Brin, Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczynski, James S.A. Corey, John Morressy, Max Brooks, P.C. Hodgell, Robert Sheckley, Ward Moore | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Wind That Sweeps the Stars: Often utterly fascinating

The Wind That Sweeps the Stars by Greg Keyes

Greg Keyes’ The Wind That Sweeps the Stars (2024) is a book that while it has its issues I’d say with pace and structure, is often utterly fascinating thanks to the underlying mythos that serves as the sub-structure of the story. That mythos, combined with several action-packed fight scenes and several engaging and likable characters makes it an easy recommendation despite my few quibbles.

The story itself is relatively simple. We open in a tall tower in the center of an Empire’s fortress capital,

September 17th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Naming Song: I absolutely loved this premise

The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry

The Naming Song (2024), by Jedediah Berry, is an ambitious work with a thoughtful and thought-provoking premise, and if (for me at least), it didn’t fully carry through on that ambition or premise, I’ve got to give credit to Berry for the reach. Certainly, given both that ambition and the level of writing here, I’ll look forward to what comes next from them (and also check out some prior work).

The story is set in world that developed after a great cataclysm that seemingly erased all language (amongst more tangible losses;

September 16th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Jedediah Berry | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Impossible Creatures: Perfectly serviceable

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

I really wish I hadn’t seen all the hype around Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures — the Waterstones Prize, the comparisons to C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Rowling, and Tolkien, the sales numbers off the charts. That way I could have come to the book clean of expectations, even though I (as one should) took all such comparisons with heaping bucketfuls of salt, if not entire mines’ worth. Unfortunately, I did see all those comparisons, and so despite all that salt, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by what in the end turned out to be a perfectly serviceable MG fantasy,

Play of Shadows: In which the play’s the thing

Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell

Welcome to Play of Shadows, in which, in the fabled city of Jereste, our Hero, Damelas Chademantaigne, flees a duel and takes refuge with a Theater Troupe. Our young Hero faces many adversaries, among them a Duellist, (the Vixen); An Assassin, (the Black Amaranth), and a dreaded vigilante army (the Iron Orchids), while he Confronts Undesirable Truths from the Past, and is charged by a Duke to perform A Play that will Reveal the Truth and may destroy Jereste in the process.

August 27th, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: Engaging and entertaining

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party by Edward Dolnick

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party (2024), by Edward Dolnick, is an engaging and entertaining look at how the discovery of dinosaur bones in the 1800s and the subsequent explanations of their origins overturned the Victorian view of the world in a host of ways, leading to our more modern conceptions of things such as evolution, time, and our place in the universe.

Dolnick begins in 1802 with a young boy in Massachusetts discovering a set of footprints that would late turn out to be a dinosaur trackway and ends with the famous 1853 New Year’s Eve party held inside a reconstructed dinosaur skeleton.

August 23rd, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

One Hundred Shadows: A haunting novella told in simple, spare prose

One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun (translated by Jung Yewon)

One Hundred Shadows (2024) by Hwan Jungeun (translated by Jung Yewon) is a haunting novella told in simple, spare prose. But don’t let that simplicity, and the surface gentleness of the style, fool you. This is a story that is sharp in its criticism of Korean society (really, capitalist society in general) even as it is tender toward its characters, one that is thoughtful and moving even as it is spartan in its dialogue and language. It’s the kind of book that passes quickly in terms of reading experience but lingers in the mind for some time after you’ve turned the last page.

Blade of Dream: Explores choices and consequences

Reposting to include Marion’s new review.

Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham

Blade of Dream is Daniel Abraham’s second book in his KITHAMAR trilogy, though to call it a “sequel” is a bit of a misnomer as rather than directly following the events of Age of Ash, this new story parallels that first book’s events in time, actually intersecting with a few scenes here and there but mostly, or at least somewhat,

August 16th, 2024. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Mercy of Gods: Just as good as one would expect it to be

The Mercy of Gods by James S. Corey

After the brilliance that was THE EXPANSE, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (collectively writing as James S. Corey) are back with The Mercy of Gods (2024), the first book in their new series, THE CAPTIVE’S WAR, and it’s just as good as one would expect it to be. While it shares some narrative DNA with the prior series, The Mercy of Gods is more, um, expansive than THE EXPANSE,

August 5th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | James S.A. Corey | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins: Clark is a master of the short novel form

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djèlí Clark has in past works show himself to be a master of the short novel form, and that holds true with his newest, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, a fast-paced mystery romp full of dark humor set amidst a twisting turning tale. I had a blast reading it and can’t imagine that reaction won’t be widely shared amongst those wise enough to pick it up.

That odd title (it gets explained in the opening scene) is the name of an assassins guild working in the port city of Tal Abisi.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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