Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Bill Capossere

A Darkling Sea: Enjoyable and raises thoughtful questions

A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias

Ever since I was a kid stealing my dad’s sci-fi books the moment he laid them down for a minute (silly, silly man), I’ve loved First Contact stories and still fondly remember reading Murray Leinster’s classic, entitled, shockingly, “First Contact.” So when I was offered a chance to read A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias, which is at its heart a first contact story, I jumped. And I’m glad I did, as it turned out to be a mostly well-executed story with a fully realized alien race and a compelling story line.

March 12th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 4 | James L. Cambias | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Well’s End: Inspired by Baby Jessica

The Well’s End by Seth Fishman

Mia Kish held the attention of the country when she got stuck in a well when she was four years old. Everybody knows about Baby Mia. Now, at age sixteen, Mia is a scholarship student at the elite Westbrook Academy. She’s one of the world’s best teenage swimmers, which is why she’s hated by some of her peers. When there’s a deadly virus outbreak at Westbrook and the teachers and students start rapidly aging, it’s Mia who may be able to protect her classmates. First they have to get past the quarantine guards to escape the school.

Words of Radiance: Worth the trip so far

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance is book two in Brandon Sanderson’s huge STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE series, projected to be ten books. In fact, at 1100 pages, Words of Radiance is almost large enough to be its own series (at least once upon a time — I’m thinking say of Zelazny’s AMBER series, or Donaldson’s original COVENANT trilogy). With another eight thousand pages to go,

March 11th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Brandon Sanderson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

On Such a Full Sea: On the Edge

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

[In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]

I had high hopes for Chang-rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea. A literary author turning his hand to a post-apocalyptic tale that would focus less it seems on zombies and cannibals etc.,

Futurdaze: An Anthology of YA Science Fiction

Futurdaze: An Anthology of YA Science Fiction edited by Hannah Strom-Martin and Erin Underwood

In their introduction to Futurdaze: An Anthology of YA Science Fiction, editors Hannah Strom-Martin and Erin Underwood offer up their motivation for the collection:

We hope to inject the short-fiction market . . . with an extra serving of undisguised wonder at the possibilities the future may hold [and] give the next generation of speculative readers and writers a taste . . . of the infinite possibilities inherent in both the science fiction genre and the short story form [and to] represent a wider range of viewpoints than is typically seen in American popular culture.

The Waking Engine: Great premise, falls short

The Waking Engine by David Edison

The Waking Engine, by David Edison, continues my unfortunately long-running streak of books that fell short of their potential. As with many of them this past month or so, The Waking Engine has a great premise — people (defined very broadly) do not die just once; instead they do so multiple times, each time waking in a new body to a new life on another world, but with all their memories intact.

February 27th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | David Edison | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match

Given the recent flap over J.K. Rowling’s revelation that Hermione and Ron were perhaps not the best choice to put together in a long-term relationship (though she has since said they’d probably be OK with some counseling), Alix and I were wondering if any of us could do a better job playing Cupid this Valentine’s Week.

Alix wants to introduce Arya Stark and Kvothe, because, she says, “I never bought Kvothe and whassername for a second, and Arya would take him down a notch or two.”

As for me,

February 13th, 2014. Bill Capossere | Thoughtful Thursday | 8 comments |

Three Princes: A struggle to finish

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

Ramona Wheeler came up with a great setting premise for her novel Three Princes: an alternate Earth where neither the Egyptian nor the Incan Empires ever failed. Now, from their center in Memphis, Egypt rules an enormous swath of land across Africa, Europe, and Asia, though not all are happy with said rule, especially a resistance group led by Otto von Bismarck. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Incans rule most of that area, which they crisscross in their Quetzal airships,

February 13th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Ramona Wheeler | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dreams of the Golden Age: Better than first book

Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

Dreams of the Golden Age is the follow up to Carrie Vaughn’s After the Golden Age, to which I gave only a middling review thanks to issues of plotting and characterization. While the sequel suffers from some of the same problems, they crop up less frequently and are less problematic. The main character, meanwhile, is a more active and engaging voice and so I found Dreams of the Golden Age to be more successful and thus far more enjoyable.

February 5th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Carrie Vaughn | SFF Reviews | no comments |

After the Golden Age: The perils of being human

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

After the Golden Age, by Carrie Vaughn, is a likable enough novel that takes the world of comic book superheroes and filters it through a more realistic prism, focusing more on a family and character, with the usual superhero action scenes playing more in the background. Unfortunately, what could have been a truly fun read is marred by issues of weak plotting and characterization, making After the Golden Age a somewhat pallid and on balance a slightly disappointing novel.

February 4th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Carrie Vaughn | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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