Opal Cowen has been summoned back to Sita’s Magicians Keep by the high council. Never a good sign. After an unsuccessful trip to find her lost friend Ulrick who has switched souls with her long time enemy, Opal heeds the summons and returns only to be put under house arrest. Her new-found power of siphoning the magic of others has the Keep on high alert and she must earn back their confidence.
At the same time, Opal is determined to prove that Ulrick is no longer himself,
September 4th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 4 | Maria V. Snyder | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle
Penelope Leland is off on an adventure of her own. Eager to get away from her newly married, not to mention disgustingly happy twin Persephone, Pen ships off to Ireland with her former governess Ally to continue her studies in magic in the hopes of getting to the same level as her sister.
But things never seem to go according to plan, and Pen soon finds herself more alone than she could have thought possible, Ally is expecting a baby and is dreadfully sick all the time,
August 29th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Marissa Doyle | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
Persephone and Penelope Leland are excited to start their first season as eligible women in London. At least Penelope is. Persephone is nervous, and besides, she’d much rather continue her studies in magic with their governess Ally.
The twin girls are witches — as is their governess — and in addition to their book and finishing training, Ally helps them to learn magic and how to use it responsibly. Things go horribly wrong however when Ally comes up missing a few short days before their coming out.
August 22nd, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | Marissa Doyle | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney
The Ten Thousand is a historical fantasy which follows the story of two young men growing up in a very close approximation of the Greek City States known as the Macht. One has just lost his family due to war and the other has set off to find adventure as a soldier. Both of them end up enlisting in a large force of mercenaries bound for a larger empire. Their story is interesting; we follow them on their campaign through a foreign land peopled with races who aren’t human,
July 27th, 2009. John Hulet and Guest | Paul Kearney | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Mel has a lot on her mind. She’s raising a teenage daughter, living in a renovated High School, has her mother and her grandmother living with her, and just got two dead Amazon girls left on her doorstep. Determined to find the murderer of her tribeswomen, and answer her own questions about her past, Mel has to summon the courage to face the tribe she left behind.
People seem to keep getting in her way however, particularly men. One is a very talented, secretive, and sexy tattoo artist she just hired to work in her shop.
July 18th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Lori Devoti | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Twilight Lord by Bertrice Small
Lara, Domina of Terah has been extremely happy caring for her family and husband. She has been reunited with her other children in Terah and they are learning to love their mother again. Nothing could be better.
But over in the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord is planning her abduction because he has seen the future and Lara is to be the mother of his heir. After erasing her memory and bringing her to the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord plans to make Lara his bride.
July 9th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 0.5 | Bertrice Small | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Storyteller and Other Tales by K.V. Johansen
The Storyteller and Other Tales is a book of stories, and I mean that as the highest compliment. I felt like I was transported from the 21st century to some Thane’s hall with a roaring fire and a smoke hole instead of a chimney, while K.V. Johansen wove tales that took me to different and wonderful traditions.
Johansen is a fantasy scholar, and this shows up clearly in this book. The four tales that she presents use widely differing fantasy settings.
July 7th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | K.V. Johansen | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Colony by Eoin Colfer
The Artemis Fowl series has always been superbly written and brilliantly conceived, with an astonishing array of humor, techno-gadgets, mind-bending plots, daredevil escapes and rescues… frankly, they have a tendency to leave one dizzy — but enchanted.
And The Last Colony is better than the previous installments.
There are many reasons for this. First, there were at least three places where Colfer could have stopped writing, wrapped the book up, given it a different title, and shipped it off to his publisher and wait to collect his generous royalty checks.
June 18th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | Eoin Colfer | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE FORESTWIFE TRILOGY by Theresa Tomlinson
Theresa Tomlinson’s Forestwife is a good kids’ book. For the most part, it kept me interested, but there were many “cheesy” sections that ended way too “neatly” for me. There was also no recognizable “bad guy” which makes a plotline sort of boring and unrecognizable.
The nice thing about The Forestwife was that it was not your typical Robbin Hood/Maid Marian novel. Marian was more of a hero herself in this version, making it an empowering book for young girls,
June 12th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 2 | Theresa Tomlinson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Slathbog’s Gold by M.L. Forman
Alex Taylor is not having a good day. He didn’t mean to drop all the glasses and break them. Besides it was his cousin’s fault. Thinking that a brisk walk would clear his head, Alex wanders down a street and happens to see a sign in the window of a bookshop: Adventurers Wanted, apply within.
Curious, Alex enters the store and before he knows it he is signing a contract to go on an adventure with an Elf and a Dwarf. With the rest of his company Alex goes on the adventure of a lifetime searching for the evil dragon Slathbog and pursuing his legendary treasure.
June 2nd, 2009. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | M.L. Forman | Children | 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