Imager is the first book in the IMAGER PORTFOLIO, the newest fantasy series by the incredibly prolific L. E. Modesitt Jr. I usually enjoy the author’s work very much, and Imager was no exception, despite the fact that it’s so recognizably L. E. Modesitt Jr.’s work that it verges on the predictable. I’m actually sure that some Modesitt fans could predict the early part of this novel’s plot just by looking at the included map: hmmm…
September 21st, 2009. Stefan Raets and John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Alchemaster’s Apprentice by Walter Moers
First, my hearty thanks to the translator. I saw Walter Moers’s previous novel, The City of Dreaming Books, in the Berlin Airport in German. As a German linguist, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to translate prose like this. Simply amazing.
Walter Moerstakes us back into the world of Zamonia, but this time to a completely different city and with all-new characters. You don’t really need to have read previous books because he provides enough background as the story flows.
September 19th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 5 | Walter Moers | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
Walter Moers’s young adult novel The City of Dreaming Books is a wonderful combination of fantasy and farce. Moers leads the reader on a highly entertaining, and sometimes tense, journey through an imaginary world where literature is life.
Following the death of a beloved mentor, aspiring author Optimus Yarnspinner journeys to the city of Bookholm, a city devoted entirely to the creation, sale and consumption of books. The City of Dreaming Books follows Yarnspinner as he tries to follow the path that leads from his mentor to Bookholm and finds adventure along the way.
September 11th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Walter Moers | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
Brilliance Audio and Audible Frontiers have recently produced audio versions of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, so it seemed like a great time for me to finally read them. Within two minutes of putting Swords and Deviltry on my MP3 player and pressing play, I was completely enthralled. The first part of the novel (which is really a compilation of short stories) tells the tale of Fafhrd’s liberation from the taboos, close-mindedness, and “icy morality” of his mother and clan (and the girl he got pregnant) in the northern wastes.
September 3rd, 2009. Kat Hooper, Rob Rhodes, John Hulet and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 4.5 | Fritz Leiber | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Siege Warriors: A Fantasy Anthology by Brian G. Murray
In his anthology Siege Warriors, Brian G. Murray brings a medieval siege to life through the eyes of a variety of characters. Most of the stories portray cities under siege, surrounded and attacked by an opposing army. The situations described in these stories are similar, but Murray creates diversity by showing the conflict from different points of view.
Other stories take the theme in a different direction. One takes place in a building held by bandits,
July 28th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Brian G. Murray | Short Fiction | 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 |
The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts
The Curse of the Mistwraith took me completely by surprise. Based on (obviously mistaken) assumptions, I expected something completely different — epic fantasy, yes, but nothing even close to the gorgeous prose and astounding depth I found in this novel.
The plot of this story is hard to summarize, partly because there are so many twists and turns that it’s almost impossible not to run into spoiler territory very quickly. Two half-brothers, Arithon and Lysaer, are on opposite sides of a conflict that spans generations.
July 20th, 2009. Stefan Raets, Greg Hersom and John Hulet´s rating: 5 | Janny Wurts | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Urban fantasy is replete with different, sometimes catchy, permutations of a standard bunch of mythological/fantastic beings who happen to turn up in our world. In The Calling, David Mack tries something pretty original by bringing us (instead of vampires and werewolves) guardian angels and their evil counterparts.
Tom Nash is your everyman who happens to have a mystical gift: he hears people’s prayers. And through the prayers of a little girl, he is Called to New York City to help the angels of Heaven fight the demons of Hell.
July 14th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | David Mack | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins has already proven her talent for storytelling with her recently completed Gregor the Underlander series. In that series, she showed she was able to create strong characters, move plot along quickly, deftly control the rise and fall in tension, and create moving scenes. While there were some weak sections in the series (sometimes the pace moved too quickly, settings often could have been more detailed, and a few characters could have been more richly drawn), by the end she had crafted one of the best YA series to hit the shelves the past few years — a thoughtful,
July 9th, 2009. Bill Capossere, Kelly Lasiter, John Hulet, Terry Weyna and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Suzanne Collins | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Eric Nylund’s new novel Mortal Coils is a young adult urban fantasy which is lacking in werewolves and vampires. Thus, Mortal Coils is a wonderful entry into this genre and it doesn’t have to fall back on all things cliché.
Eliot and Fiona Post are twins being raised by a strict controlling grandmother in a small town in Northern California. They don’t get to do any of the normal things that their peers get to do. Their education is non-typical and excellent,
June 8th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 5 | Eric Nylund | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
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…