How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K.J. Parker
I wasn’t expecting a sequel to K.J. Parker’s Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, but was delighted to see one because Parker is on my (very short) must-read list. While How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (2020) is marketed as book #2 of his THE SIEGE series, it takes place several years later and has a different set of characters,
November 18th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | K.J. Parker | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE DRESDEN FILES is a weird series, even for urban fantasy. My go-to example for non-aficionados is a wizard riding a polka-powered zombie T-rex through downtown Chicago, and that’s not even the wackiest thing that’s happened. So it’s saying something when I have to acknowledge that the series is in a weird place right now. Maybe I should call it weird plus. Weird squared?
For once, though, when I say “weird,” I’m not talking about the content so much as the form. The DRESDEN books have generally followed a pretty straightforward formula: Harry Dresden (wizard private eye,
November 16th, 2020. Tim Scheidler and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
Three kids battle an invasive plant in Kenneth Oppel’s latest middle grade fantasy. Bloom (2020) is mysterious and thrilling all the way through. Our heroes are:
When black weeds appear suddenly and grow tall overnight, nobody knows what they are,
November 12th, 2020. Kat Hooper and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Kenneth Oppel | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey
The final book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE STORMS trilogy is Storm Breaking, which should be read after Storm Warning and Storm Rising. (Expect mild spoilers for those books in this review.)
In the previous books, we met some new characters, former enemies of Valdemar, who have now become allies and are working with our Valdemaran friends to stop the mage storms that threaten to destroy their entire world.
November 9th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
Fetch Phillips is a “man for hire” in Sunder City, a place that used to be full of magic until The Coda — the day the magic disappeared. Now all of those magical creatures — elves, wizards, gnomes, faeries, dragons, etc. — are left without the source of their livelihood and longevity and they are quickly deteriorating. Humans in Sunder City are suffering, also, because magic fueled the lights, heat, and other sources of comfort.
Fetch feels guilty about all of this.
November 5th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Luke Arnold | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
And Go Like This by John Crowley
I don’t usually pay attention to the media blurbs on the covers of books, but the Newsday quote on the cover of John Crowley’s And Go Like This (2019) so perfectly describes this story collection that I must share it:
“Transforms the lead of daily life into seriously dazzling artistic gold.”
“The lead of daily life” in these stories comes from mostly average people going about their mostly average lives.
November 2nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | John Crowley | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie
To my surprise and delight, Joe Abercrombie’s A Little Hatred, the first book in his THE AGE OF MADNESS series, was one of the best books I read last year. As I said in my review, “it’s got everything I’m looking for in a fantasy novel,” including a large cast of interesting and multi-faceted characters, a fascinating setting (a world on the brink of an industrial revolution), and an exciting,
October 30th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Joe Abercrombie | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey
M.R. Carey’s The Book of Koli was one of my favorite reads this year. I loved everything about it and was eagerly awaiting the sequel, The Trials of Koli (2020), which was, thankfully, released only a few months after The Book of Koli appeared. There will be some spoilers for The Book of Koli in this review, so beware.
Koli is still on the run.
October 29th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Mike (M.R.) Carey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) is a charming, thoughtful, sometimes-dark, sometimes moving, story about memory, love, rash decisions, female agency, stubborn defiance, mortality, resilience, and the power of art. In this time of Covid, a novel focused so much on the desire for human contact and fear of dying without leaving “a mark” is especially timely, though The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue would have been a highly recommended book in any other year.
October 23rd, 2020. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey
Storm Rising is the middle book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE STORMS trilogy which is part of the VALDEMAR saga. You’ll want to read the first book, Storm Warning, first. (There will be spoilers for that book in this review.) You don’t have to read any of the previous VALDEMAR books, but it would be helpful to read the MAGE WINDS trilogy,
October 14th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!