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 |
Storm Warning by Mercedes Lackey
Storm Warning is the first book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE STORMS trilogy which is part of the VALDEMAR saga. MAGE STORMS can be read without reading other VALDEMAR novels but, because it features many characters from other trilogies, it would be best to read it directly after reading the MAGE WINDS trilogy (Winds of Fate, Winds of Change,
October 9th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
When my 24 year old son (Nate) was visiting recently, he suggested that we listen to an audiobook together and asked me to introduce him to one of my favorite fantasy series.
I was delighted to do this, of course, and I downloaded my Audible copy of Robin Hobb‘s Assassin’s Apprentice. Within minutes, Nate was hooked. We listened to the first two books together before he had to leave.
He loved FitzChivalry’s story just as much as I did and it was exciting to visit it again through his fresh eyes though,
October 8th, 2020. Kat Hooper | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 22 comments |
Pirates of the Timestream by Steve White
Jason Thanou is back in action in Pirates of the Timestream (2013). In this third novel in Steve White’s TEMPORAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY series, Jason is again sent back in time to witness important historical events.
In the previous two novels, Blood of the Heroes and Sunset of the Gods (which it would be helpful, but not necessary, to read first),
October 2nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Steve White | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Note: This review contains spoilers for Six of Crows, the first book in this duology.
Crooked Kingdom (2016) picks up the story begun in Six of Crows and takes off like ― well, there are no freight trains in this world, so ― a runaway Grisha on jurda parem. In Six of Crows, teenage crime lord Kaz Brekker and his handpicked group of five pulled off a near-impossible heist,
September 25th, 2020. Tadiana Jones, Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Leigh Bardugo | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Leigh Bardugo, best known for her GRISHA young adult magical fantasy trilogy, explores a different corner of the Grisha world in her new young adult novel, Six of Crows. In the city of Ketterdam, an analog for Amsterdam, criminal gangs control the waterfront, and the surrounding area is a den of iniquity where everything can be bought and sold, including people. One of the gangs, appropriately called the Dregs, is led by 17 year old Kaz Brekker,
September 23rd, 2020. Tadiana Jones, Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Leigh Bardugo | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Fans of Kevin Hearne’s popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES will be thrilled to learn that Hearne has a new spin-off series: INK & SIGIL. The first novel, Ink & Sigil (2020), introduces Al MacBharrais, an older widowed gentleman who has a unique talent. He uses special inks to create sigils that hack the brain through the ocular nerve. For example, the Sigil of Porous Mind makes the target open to suggestion, the Sigil of Certain Authority makes the caster appear to have the authority to do whatever they’re doing,
September 22nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Space Station Down by Ben Bova & Doug Beason
Kimberly Hasid-Robinson, a physicist, is overseeing her projects on the International Space Station as a Kazakhstani astronaut and a wealthy Russian tourist arrive. As they are boarding, she can’t leave her experiment, which is why she doesn’t get murdered by the Kazakhstani astronaut, who turns out to be a terrorist. Now Kimberly will spend the rest of her time on the ISS trying to neutralize the terrorist and prevent him from crashing the ISS into Manhattan while spilling plutonium across the country on its way down.
September 21st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Bova | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Driftwood (2020) is a charming, meditative, and often poignant collection of linked stories by Marie Brennan that mostly succeeds both in its individual tales and as a whole, though I had a few issues. But given that one of those is it was too short, it’s still an easy book to recommend.
The book’s general setting is the titular Driftwood. Think of it as a beach whose tide, instead of washing up the pebbles and the sea’s detritus, washes up instead dying worlds.
September 18th, 2020. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Marie Brennan | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Sunset of the Gods by Steve White
Sunset of the Gods (2012) is the second novel in Steve White’s JASON THANOU (TEMPORAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY) series about time travelers who go back in time to study historical events. It would be helpful, but not necessary, to read the previous book, Blood of the Heroes, first.
This time Jason will accompany a couple of academics to witness the Battle of Marathon. There are a few historical debates about events that occurred while the Greeks were driving the Persians out of their country in 490 BC and the team hopes to settle these disputes.
September 1st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Steve White | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…