Sherwood Smith’s Inda is such a wonderful book. To begin with, Smith has created a world full of all the details and history that many of us crave and so seldom find. Smith takes the time to do more than simply tell a story. She creates a really vibrant backdrop for the characters to act against and the result is something a cut above most of the fantasy being written today.
Inda (his actual name is Indevan-Dal) is the second son of a noble family.
January 19th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 5 | Sherwood Smith | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
When last we left our characters, they were trapped with the Prussian Army running for their lives in the face of Napoleon’s Army. Returning home they are confronted by a disaster of cataclysmic proportions as an illness is rapidly decimating the dragon populace of England. Harrowing stuff…
Empire of Ivory takes quite a while to get going and is more compelling in its depiction of events than characters. The main character remains almost cardboard for most of the book, which leaves me uninterested in him.
December 20th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Naomi Novik | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook
In my review of Glen Cook’s first book in the Instrumentalities of the Night series, I bemoaned the lack of a map. Somehow, my opinion managed to go unheard and/or unheeded and so I’ll start again by asking if it would be too much to include a map in a book that jumps among a slew of kingdoms, countries, islands, and petty territories.
As a long-time fan of “epic” fantasy, I consider myself pretty well-versed in how to handle sweeping geography,
November 14th, 2008. Bill Capossere, John Hulet and Robert Thompson´s rating: 3, 4 | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
In the back-alley slums of Cenaria, a guild rat named Azoth hopes to survive by becoming the apprentice of Durzo Blint, who is the best of the wetboys — the most elite of assassins. To do this he must unquestioningly follow Durzo’s every command, accept that life — anyone’s life — is worthless, and forget everyone he knew in his old life. He must become Kylar Stern: gentleman by day, stone-cold killer by night. Though Azoth doesn’t know it, as Kylar he is destined for much bigger things.
September 30th, 2008. Greg Hersom and John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Brent Weeks | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Family Trade by Charles Stross
In The Family Trade, Charles Stross brings together an interesting blend of several different fantasy subgenres. Most of the characters are enjoyable and make sense in their roles, but the main character, Miriam, seems to have left her blue and red superwoman suit in her luggage. She acquires an unending stream of skills and abilities when she gets in a tight spot. Sometimes, in order to be realistic, an author needs to let the hero flounder and fail a bit.
But I look forward to the next Merchant Princes book because The Family Trade has set a stage where multiple factions appear to be competing to eradicate Miriam,
July 11th, 2008. John Hulet and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Charles Stross | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Black Company is an ancient mercenary brotherhood, its members as hard-bitten as skilled. As their ongoing commission in the city of Beryl disintegrates, they escape through the “trap-door” (in its fullest sense) of new employment by a mysterious northern sorcerer; and they soon find themselves the elite unit in the army of the Lady — a legendary figure who, in the eyes of the opposing Rebels, is the embodiment of evil.
The first of Glen Cook’s Black Company novels,
July 1st, 2008. Rob Rhodes, John Hulet and Greg Hersom | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The First Vampire by Alicia Ryan
I am a big fan of alternate history books and urban fantasy. Alicia Ryan has done a more than adequate job of blending the two into a fun book. The First Vampire is a story based on the Biblical Samson and his seductress/destroyer Delilah. Ryan weaves urban fantasy into the culmination of a millennia long search by Samson to have his final revenge.
The First Vampire takes elements of alternate history to explain how vampirism came to be through a fluke event.
June 15th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Alicia Ryan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco
Mark Del Franco’s Unshapely Things is another addition to the urban fantasy universe. I bought it for a break from all the female authors and their super powerful sassy female characters. That’s not criticism of those authors or their characters — just my desire to read something different.
Del Franco’s main character, Connor Grey, is a formerly powerful investigator for the Guild, a sort of FBI for fey. Elves, fey, and many other permutations of non-humans have become part of the world we live in due to a magic cataclysm.
May 16th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Mark Del_Franco | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Tyranny of the Night by Glen Cook
The Tyranny of the Night has a lot of what one would expect from Glen Cook. A gritty atmosphere, a darkly wry sense of humor, a world-weary cynicism somehow melded with optimism, complex characters, a slowly engrossing story.
What doesn’t it have? A map for one. Would it have killed the publishers to spend a few bucks having someone draw one? I’d have taken an editor’s six-year-old kid’s drawing of one if I could have.
May 14th, 2008. Bill Capossere and John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sorcerer’s Legacy by Janny Wurts
Sorcerer’s Legacy is the first book written by Janny Wurts and it’s a wonderful breath of fresh air because it’s a self-contained story. Much of modern fantasy seems bent of many volumes and epic scope while Legacy is content to be a single volume and a complete story.
It is essential to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that Wurts puts into her writing and for one familiar with her more recent works, this novel is just plain fun.
May 2nd, 2008. John Hulet and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Janny Wurts | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…