Reposting to include new reviews by Jana and Bill.
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
The Witness for the Dead is the long-hoped-for sequel to Katherine Addison’s marvelous and unusual 2014 fantasy, The Goblin Emperor, in which we met Maia, a half-goblin, half-elf young man who unexpectedly inherited the throne of the elf kingdom when his father, the emperor, was killed along with his brothers in an airship explosion. Thara Celehar,
September 3rd, 2021. Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Katherine Addison | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun (2020) introduces a new series set in an ancient Mesoamerica that is a mix of partly-familiar cultures and original fantasy elements, creating a heady brew that rolls along smoothly even as it moves back and forth in time and amongst a quartet of POVs.
Those POVs belong to:
August 27th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Rebecca Roanhorse | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
A few weeks ago I finally finished with revisions to my dissertation and rewarded myself with a read of The Goblin Emperor, the first book published under the name of Katherine Addison (the pen-name for Sarah Monette, accomplished spec-fic author).
It’s been a while since I experienced such pure undiluted reading enjoyment. I was thrilled on every page that this book even existed, and even more excited that Katherine Addison is a young writer so that,
August 16th, 2021. Kate Lechler, Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Katherine Addison | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Even and Odd by Sarah Beth Durst
Even and Odd are pre-teen sisters living in Stony Haven, Connecticut, where their parents operate a border shop carrying “supplies for the mundane world, as well as imports from the magic world — anything a magical customer might need for their visit here.” Those imports and magically-inclined customers come from the land of Firoth, where Even and Odd were born, and which is accessible via magic portals. The sisters trade off magical abilities on alternating days, leading to their nicknames, though each girl has different opinions on their access to magic: Even,
August 9th, 2021. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Becky Chambers’ first novella in the MONK AND ROBOT series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021), is a lovely and optimistic tale of a tea monk who, while seeking an answer to the question of “What am I looking for?” meets a robot looking for an answer to the question of “What do you need, and how can I help?” More generally, the robot is trying to answer the question of what all people need,
July 15th, 2021. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Becky Chambers | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
A Genie. A golem. Nineteenth-century New York City. Boy, did I want to love this book. Drawn by its come-hither characters, its promise of poetry, and by its dark side in the form of a truly nasty character, I really, really wanted to love it. And truth is, I liked The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker. But in the well-trod words of middle school, I didn’t “like like” it.
June 25th, 2021. Bill Capossere, Marion Deeds, Ray McKenzie and Jana Nyman | Helene Wecker | Edge, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott
Unconquerable Sun (2020) is the latest YA novel from Kate Elliott, the first novel in THE SUN CHRONICLES, and is nominated for a 2021 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction novel. The conceit is that Elliott has gender-flipped the historical narrative of Alexander the Great, adding a space opera setting full of galaxy-spanning politics and military battles, along with the complications created by unimaginably wealthy and privileged people.
Unfortunately, this one was not a success for me.
June 21st, 2021. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2 | Kate Elliott | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
I honestly had a very hard time with the beginning of Naomi Novik’s newest novel, A Deadly Education (2020). But based on my experience with her prior work, I kept going and though I don’t think this novel nears the strength of ones like Spinning Silver or Uprooted, I was happy I did.
El (short for Galadriel) Higgins is a student at the Scholomance,
April 30th, 2021. Bill Capossere, Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | Naomi Novik | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
There’s a point almost exactly halfway through Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel, The Bone Maker (2021), where the author teases us that the book we’ve been reading just might go in a completely different direction, prompting me to write in my notes, “Love this.” And then, well, it didn’t. Instead, as if the inertia were too great, we’re shortly steered back into a well-worn fantasy story, which, despite being mostly satisfying — with some moments that rose above that level and a few that pulled it below — had me wishing I could have gone back to that moment fifty-three percent of the way in and chosen the plot less traveled.
April 23rd, 2021. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3, 4 | Sarah Beth Durst | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
If you’ve ever gotten frustrated wandering through the endless maze of rooms that is IKEA, it’s not hard to imagine that there are hidden passages that lead, not to a secret shortcut to an exit, but to another world entirely. Nino Cipri’s Nebula Award-nominated novella Finna (2020) takes that concept and adds to it a timely set of social concerns, ranging from gender identity to the evils of capitalism generally and low-wage retail jobs in particular.
Ava is a sales associate at LitenVärld (Swedish for “small world”),
April 20th, 2021. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3, 4 | Nino Cipri | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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