Author: Justin Blazier

Shadow Prowler: Every fantasy cliché in the book

Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

Shadow Prowler, the first fantasy novel by Russian author Alexey Pehov to be translated to English, pulls out every fantasy cliché in the book: elves, dwarves, orcs, ogres, goblins, guilds of thieves and assassins, and an evil overlord (the “Nameless One”) who is about to awaken and take over the land with an army of evil beasties. Shadow Harold (yes, that’s his name) is a master thief who, against his will, gets involved in rescuing the world from said Nameless One.

February 12th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Justin Blazier´s rating: 1 | Alexey Pehov | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Justin chats with fantasy artist Chris McGrath

Joining us today is renowned artist Chris McGrath. Chris is responsible for some the best cover art in fantasy today. He’s done covers for Jim Butcher, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, David Gemmell, and many more. Seeing his art alone is usually enough to make me buy a book. In honor of Chris’s visit we’ll also be giving away a copy of Justin Gustainis’ Evil Ways (Chris did the cover). So with out further delay….

Justin: Thank you Chris for coming by.

January 19th, 2010. Justin Blazier | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 40 comments |

Deadtown: Holds up well against the best in the genre

Deadtown by Nancy Holzner

When FanLit interviewed Nancy Holzner last month, I thought she sounded so nice, and her debut, Deadtown, sounded awesome. While shopping that night at my local Wal-Mart, I noticed Deadtown on the shelf, so, naturally, into my cart it went, and I started reading as soon as I got home.

After a mysterious plague strikes Boston, its fallout area becomes known as Deadtown. Deadtown residents are controlled by the state of Massachusetts — they have few rights and must carry identifying papers when they move about the various zones.

January 6th, 2010. Justin Blazier and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Nancy Holzner | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

World’s End: Can be appreciated on several levels

World’s End by Mark Chadbourn

World’s End is the first book in British fantasy author’s Mark Chadbourn AGE OF MISRULE trilogy. The novel was originally released in the UK in 1999, and has been re-released in the US by Pyr in 2009.

World’s End can probably best be categorized as dark contemporary fantasy. The setting is England, in more or less the present day. Jack Churchill (“Church”) lives in London and is trying to cope with the apparent suicide of his girlfriend Marianne.

January 6th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Justin Blazier | Mark Chadbourn | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Morganville Vampires: The omnibus is a worthy purchase

The Morganville Vampires (Glass Houses & The Dead Girl’s Dance) by Rachel Caine

I pretty much avoid sparkly vampire stories. I’ve never read Twilight, and have not seen the movies. I am only vaguely familiar with Anne Rice’s stuff. I have been “self-sheltered” from vampire fantasy fiction. But when I saw that Penguin Books was re-releasing Rachel Caine’s The Morganville Vampires in omnibus editions, I asked for a copy of the first one (Glass Houses and The Dead Girl’s Dance).

Best Served Cold: Comes with a price

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie is the new master of dark, gritty, realistic fantasy, and Best Served Cold might well be the masterpiece that represents that subgenre. Monza Murcatto is a renowned and very successful mercenary … or was until she was stabbed, beaten, and thrown from a mountainside by her employer. Monza wants revenge, so she contracts a party of unsavory characters to aid her. Monza’s story goes from dark to black to “a wet match in the bottom of a dark cave” — everyone suffers,

December 24th, 2009. Justin Blazier, Greg Hersom, Kat Hooper and Terry Weyna´s rating: 5 | Joe Abercrombie | SFF Reviews | 15 comments |

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart: Every oozing boil is lovingly described

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is a difficult one to review, not because of plot or character, but because of the general style in which it is written. Plainly speaking; it’s pretty gross. Full of pus, vomit, blood, urine, gore, snot and other bodily fluids, The Brothers Grossbart isn’t short on content that will make you screw up your nose in disgust. Yet dismissing this novel for its ability to make you cringe is a bit like going to a Quentin Tarantino movie and complaining about the violence.

First Lord’s Fury: Here ends a fun fantasy epic!

First Lord’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Grab your helms, shields and swords, fantasy fans. In First Lord’s Fury, Jim Butcher is taking you to war! In the 6th and final book in the CODEX ALERA series, Butcher not only takes you to war, but makes you laugh and cry along the way. First Lord’s Fury is a very suitable ending to what I found to be a most enjoyable fantasy series. The CODEX ALERA series takes place several thousand years after a lost Roman legion found its way to another world and rebuilt a society.

December 8th, 2009. Justin Blazier and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Jim Butcher | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Nightingale’s Lament: Just serious enough

Nightingale’s Lament by Simon R. Green

The Nightside stories are so hard boiled that it’s hard to put in perspective, but I’m going to try anyway: If you took Dashiell Hammett’s corpse, rolled it in batter, then deep fried it till black, you would have a pretty good approximation of what Simon R. Green is going for.

Nightingale’s Lament is the third book in the Nightside series, and follows the same pattern as the previous books do: basically,

The Silver Skull: Justin’s favorite book so far this year

The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn

There are times when you read a book that’s so amazing to you that you feel the author had you personally in mind when they wrote it, that’s exactly how I feel about Mark Chadbourn’s The Silver Skull.

The Silver Skull is set in an alternate version of the Elizabethan England period. The story follows Will Swyfte — the greatest spy England has ever known. He’s handsome, daring, smart, and dangerous. He’s everything a great spy should be.

November 17th, 2009. Justin Blazier´s rating: 5 | Mark Chadbourn | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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