Star Soldiers (2001 Baen Books, 2021 Tantor Media) contains the two related stand-alone stories Star Guard (1955) and Star Rangers (1953) which together are known as the CENTRAL CONTROL novels. I’m reviewing them separately since that’s how they were originally published. I’ve read more than 20 Andre Norton novels and these are some of my favorites. Like most of her work, they’ll be enjoyed most by teenagers, especially those new to science fiction.
August 17th, 2021. Kat Hooper and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Andre Norton | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg by Phil & Kaja Foglio
The GIRL GENIUS novels are so much fun! When I picked up the first of these (Agatha H. and the Airship City), I assumed that a novelization of a web comic wouldn’t work very well. Boy, was I wrong! Though the Foglios’ artwork is fabulous, and I urge you with all the force of my will to take a look at it online, I find that I enjoy the story just as much with the novels.
August 16th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Phil and Kaja Foglio | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Synchronized Sorcery by Juliet Blackwell
Juliet Blackwell’s WITCHRAFT MYSTERIES series has been delighting readers of paranormal cozy mysteries since 2009. At this point, it seems unnecessary to keep reviewing the individual installments, but since Tantor Media graciously sends me review copies (something I look forward to every summer!), I will continue to say something about them. But if you’re a fan of this series, all you need to know is that book 11, Synchronized Sorcery (2021), is just as good as its predecessors,
August 12th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Juliet Blackwell | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Stars are Ours by Andre Norton
Tantor Media has been publishing the omnibus editions of Andre Norton’s science-fiction adventures in audiobook format. The omnibus (originally published by Baen) called Star Flight contains the novels The Stars are Ours and Star Born (the PAX/ASTRA duology). Both novels are set in the same universe (ours, actually) but they stand alone.
The prologue of The Stars are Ours,
August 10th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Andre Norton | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Queen’s Triumph by Jessie Mihalik
The Queen’s Triumph (2020) is the third and final volume of Jessie Mihalik’s ROGUE QUEEN trilogy. I’ve enjoyed this series and recommend it to anyone looking for a short, fun, and sexy space opera with a strong female lead. Tantor Audio’s editions, narrated by Rachel Dulude, are pleasant and worth a try.
It’s been two weeks since the events of the last book, The Queen’s Advantage. Samara Rani, the young and inexperienced queen of her small country,
August 6th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Jessie Mihalik | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dr. Jens and her alien colleagues rescue spaceships that are in trouble. After answering a distress call, they discover an old ship in which all of the human crewmembers are in cryogenic storage. Their only caretaker is an oddly sexy robot who was given instructions to build the cryogenic storage containers for the crew long ago.
When Dr. Jens and her colleagues get back to their own ship and get ready to thaw out some of the frozen humans, they discover that their own trusty shipmind,
July 29th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Elizabeth Bear | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Victory on Janus by Andre Norton
Victory on Janus (1966) is the sequel to Andre Norton’s Judgment on Janus (1963). The two novels make up the JANUS duology (Baen, 2002) which has recently been published by Tantor Media as an audiobook (2021). Gabriel Vaughan, the narrator, gives an excellent performance.
In Judgment on Janus, we met Naill Renfro, who was an indentured servant on the frontier planet of Janus.
July 19th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Judgment on Janus by Andre Norton
Naill Renfro lives in The Dipple, a ghetto on the pleasure planet of Korwar (same setting as in Catseye). He and his mother arrived there years ago as refugees when their home was destroyed by a space war. Now his mother is dying and she’s in a lot of pain and anguish. To purchase a final gift and a peaceful death for his mother, Naill sells himself into indentured servitude on a frontier planet called Janus.
When Naill arrives on Janus,
July 12th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Andre Norton | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Quest Crosstime by Andre Norton
Quest Crosstime (1965) is Andre Norton’s second and final story about Blake Walker, a man who has the precognitive ability to sense when he’s in danger. Quest Crosstime is combined with The Crossroads of Time (1956), the first novel about Blake Walker, in the Crosstime omnibus which was published by Baen books in 2008 and has recently been released in an audiobook edition by Tantor Media.
June 28th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Andre Norton | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This Virtual Night by C.S. Friedman
C.S. Friedman’s This Virtual Night (2020) is billed as book two in her OUTWORLDS/ALIEN SHORES series but these novels are, so far, stand-alone stories set in the same universe. Thus, you don’t need to have read the first book, This Alien Shore (1998), though I’d recommend doing so anyway because it was fabulous. All you need to know about Friedman’s world is that, long ago, the humans who left Earth to colonize other galaxies evolved in ways that their fellow humans who remained on Earth find repulsive.
June 24th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | C.S. Friedman | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
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Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
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