It Devours! by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
Considering the massive, continuing success of their Welcome to Night Vale podcast and the first Night Vale tie-in novel, Welcome to Night Vale, it’s no surprise that Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor wanted to keep the ball rolling and co-write a second Night Vale novel. Skeptical or worried readers could be forgiven for justifiable fears about the quality of It Devours! (2017): what if the core concept began to wear thin,
October 31st, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Joseph Fink | Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
“Crispin’s Model” by Max Gladstone (Oct. 2017, free at Tor.com, 99c Kindle version)
A young woman, Delilah Dane, moves from Savannah to New York City to pursue her theatrical dreams; the cost of living in NYC being what it is, she supplements her waitressing income by posing for artists. (Nothing more than posing — she has very strict rules about conduct and respect.) After an extremely weird interview and some ground rules which are eccentric even by artists’ standards,
October 23rd, 2017. Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Skye Walker | Max Gladstone, Nancy Kress | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The climactic conclusion to N.K. Jemisin’s THE BROKEN EARTH trilogy, The Stone Sky (2017), has expectations erupting into the stratosphere since both the previous books, The Fifth Season (2015) and The Obelisk Gate (2016), captured the Hugo Awards for Best SF Novels of 2015 and 2016, and these wins were well deserved. Having just finished it, I think THE BROKEN EARTH trilogy is one of the most intelligent,
October 20th, 2017. Stuart Starosta, Jana Nyman and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | N.K. Jemisin | Audio, Locus Award, Nebula Award | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Fans of the Deadlands tabletop RPG series will be happy to know that Boneyard (2017), Seanan McGuire’s addition to the two previously published tie-in novels Ghostwalkers (2015) and Thunder Moon Rising (2016), is chock-full of Weird West goodness, steampunk-style mechanical creations, and mighty strange bumps in the night. Fans of McGuire’s fiction will be happy to know that Boneyard’s weirdness is matched by a strong and complicated main character,
October 17th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Seanan McGuire | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Accelerators Vol. 3: Relativity by R.F.I. Porto, Gavin Smith, Tim Yates
Warning: There will be some spoilers for both The Accelerators: Time Games and The Accelerators: Momentum. As with any time-travel story, the best place to begin is at the beginning.
At the end of Momentum, Spatz was separated from his fellow time-travelers and held back in the last years of the third millennium with an old Spatz while the rest of the group skipped ahead to the 88th century and met yet another Spatz — this one just a little older,
September 29th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
As one of Patricia McKillip’s earlier works, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld provides an interesting comparison to her first publication Riddle-Master, a dense trilogy that made the most of her trademark poetic-prose. On the other hand, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a relatively slim volume with a clear concise style and a straightforward story. Since then, McKillip has managed to successfully merge the aspects of both works in her later works,
September 19th, 2017. Rebecca Fisher and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Patricia McKillip | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey
In the novella River of Teeth (2017), Sarah Gailey introduced readers to a hard-working crew of miscreants who were hired for an operation (not a caper, mind you), the goal of which was the removal of feral hippopotami living in a portion of the Mississippi Delta. In its sequel novella Taste of Marrow (2017), they’ve been split into two groups by the after-effects of River of Teeth’s explosive conclusion: Adelia Reyes,
September 12th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Sarah Gailey | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan
At nearly 500 pages, Louisa Morgan’s A Secret History of Witches (2017) might seem daunting, but it’s partitioned into five sections, individually focusing on a subsequent member of the Orchiére family as they flee persecution in France, set up roots in England, and eventually become involved in World War II. I zipped through this book in an afternoon, and while romance does have its own part to play, the interactions between mothers and their daughters is the most significant aspect of the novel.
September 12th, 2017. Jana Nyman | Louisa Morgan, Louise Marley | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Accelerators Vol. 2: Momentum by R.F.I. Porto, Gavin P. Smith, Tim Yates
The Accelerators Vo. 2: Momentum picks up right after the end of The Accelerators Vol. 1: Time Games, which introduced readers to an intrepid group of accidental time-travelers leapfrogging toward an unknowable future. In this second volume, the group visits the same location on Earth in different epochs — some friendly, though most are hostile or outright dangerous — gaining precious few answers along the way as to how any of this is possible or how it’s all come to pass.
September 2nd, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869 by Alex Alice
Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869 is a beautifully drawn graphic steampunk tale by author/illustrator Alex Alice, whose artwork alone makes the book worth picking up for a middle-grade reader (or relatively advanced younger reader). Luckily, the narrative/text half (translated from the original French by Anne and Owen Smith) has its own charm and strengths, even if it doesn’t quite match the quality of the illustrations.
The tale opens in 1868 with a young woman (Claire) preparing,
August 31st, 2017. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…