LATRO IN THE MIST by Gene Wolfe
LATRO IN THE MIST is the omnibus edition containing two of Gene Wolfe’s historical fantasies set in ancient Greece: Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete. They tell the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary wounded while fighting on the side of the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The wound to the head robs him of most of his long term memory as well as his short,
May 29th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Gene Wolfe | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Torn from his humble home in the Northern Isles, Gorath the badger is taken captive aboard the feared vessel Bludgullet captained by the feared Viska Longtooth, a savage and crazed fox with an unquenchable blood thirst.
Meanwhile, far away in the heart of Mossflower Woods, a young thief is exiled from the great Redwall Abbey. Orkwill Prink, a spirited and energetic hedgehog, forges ahead into the unknown to seek his fortunes in the wider world. Orkwill is unaware, however, that he is soon to cross paths with the mighty badger and a crew of vile vermin.
May 20th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 5 | Brian Jacques | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
Ten years. A long time to go without rain, but the citizens in Sydelle’s small country town are used to it by now. Until one ordinary day when Wayland North wanders into the sleepy community and brings rain with him.
Sydelle is drawn to the self-proclaimed wizard and when her town is raided the night after North’s arrival, she soon finds herself the wizard’s unwilling “assistant” and suddenly on the adventure of a lifetime. Even though Sydelle longed to leave her village, she questions why North,
April 30th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 3 | Alexandra Bracken | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
We’re big fans of C.S. Friedman (see our reviews here) and are pleased to present this interview which was conducted for FanLit by our friend R.K. Charron. Thanks, RK!
Celia S. Friedman was born in 1957. She is the author of the SF novels In Conquest Born, The Madness Season, and This Alien Shore, and the highly acclaimed SFF trilogies THE COLDFIRE TRILOGY (Black Sun Rising,
February 16th, 2010. Guest | C.S. Friedman | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 10 comments |
Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman
Jerzy is a slave. He has never known anything but slavery in the Master Vineart’s fields, toiling away at the grape vines that create the magical wine that is so coveted by the powerful and all of the Vinearts. Jerzy’s life is uneventful until one fateful day when he happens to get a face full of the grape mash and feels something magical in the wine. Knowing death is certain now that he, a lowly slave, has tasted the magical brew, the Master summons Jerzy to the main house.
January 16th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Laura Anne Gilman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The other reviewers mocked me when I said I was going to review Watership Down. ‘I hope you like rabbits!’, they sniggered. Well, Watership Down does have rabbits as the main characters, but it is so much more than a story about bunnies. That would be like saying The Hobbit was about hobbits. Both stories encompasses so many greater themes — adventure, friendship and loyalty, courage in the face of adversity, leadership, the value of home and security,
January 2nd, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Richard Adams | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
THE SCEPTER OF MERCY by Dan Chernenko
Okay, this trilogy is fantasy lite. These books have really good covers, and the blurbs on the back read pretty good, but by the time I was halfway through the first one, I was feeling guilty, and it was the kind of guilt you have for skipping Masterpiece Theatre because you want to watch Desperate Housewives (that has not happened to me, but it was the best analogy I could come up with). I would note that the cover of The Scepter’s Return bears a striking similarity to Steven Erikson’s Deadhouse Gates’ cover.
December 28th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 2 | Dan Chernenko | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What can I say about this book? If I see a new Guy Gavriel Kay book on the shelf at the bookstore, I buy it. It didn’t work out this time, though, and the reason is that the way this story is told makes no sense to me as a reader, and I cannot fathom why Kay wrote this book from the perspective of a teenager.
The story is about a fifteen year-old boy from Canada who accompanies his father, a world-renowned photographer,
December 28th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
THE OATH OF EMPIRE by Thomas Harlan
The Oath of Empire is a series of four books, namely The Shadow of Ararat, The Gate of Fire, The Storm of Heaven, and The Dark Lord, which is at once a fantasy and an alternate history of the Western and Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empires, and which is set in the early 7th Century. The alternate history part pre-supposes that Christianity never gained much of a foothold in the Empire, and Constantine was only a rebel, never Emperor,
December 27th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Thomas Harlan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Slaves of the Shinar by Justin Allen
This is the debut novel for Justin Allen, and its whole title is Slaves of the Shinar: An Epic Fantasy of the Ancient World. The title is misleading, because I am of the solid opinion that this book is not fantasy, but is rather historical fiction, and pretty good historical fiction at that. Perhaps it is classed as fantasy by the publisher because of the creative manner in which Allen sets his story in very early (I assume pre-Hammurabi) Mesopotamia,
December 27th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Justin Allen | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one