Fans of Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES have been waiting for the sixteenth novel, Peace Talks (2020), for six years. It’s been so long that I actually had to go back and re-read the last few novels to get back up to speed on Harry’s life.
Was Peace Talks worth the wait? The short answer is “No.” Though it’s entertaining and shows us what Harry’s life has been like since the previous novel,
August 26th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Joron Twiner, an ineffective drunkard with low self-esteem, is the shipwife (captain, basically) of Tide Child, a bone ship made of the bones of a supposedly extinct species of sea dragons. When we meet Joron, he’s in port, sleeping off the booze, when a fierce woman named Lucky Meas attacks and easily subjugates him. As the new shipwife of Tide Child, with Joron as her second-in-command, she plans to whip the pathetic crew into shape and to redeem the reputations of both Tide Child and herself.
August 19th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | R.J. Barker | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Damned (2020) is the sequel to Renée Ahdieh’s The Beautiful, a young adult vampire novel set in 19th century New Orleans. You’ll need to read The Beautiful first, and this review will have a few spoilers for that novel.
The Damned begins where The Beautiful left off. (Spoilers for The Beautiful are starting here!) Sébastien Saint Germain had been betrayed and murdered by his friend.
August 11th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Renee Ahdieh | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It’s 1872 and Celine Rousseau, who’s seventeen years old, has just arrived in New Orleans with several other girls who will work in a convent until they can make matches with respectable young men in the city. Celine is from Paris, where she made gowns for the upper class. She had to flee Paris, and her father, after a tragic event that she won’t talk about.
The work at the convent is boring, but Celine has found a new best friend — Pippa from England — and she’s fascinated by the sultry city of New Orleans,
August 4th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Renee Ahdieh | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Reynolds’ REVENGER series started off well enough with Revenger, which was entertaining, though, in my opinion, not deserving of its Locus Award for Best Young Adult novel. The sequel, Shadow Captain, a Locus Award finalist (but not winner) was a significant step down for the series. I was hoping for at least a return to form in the third and final novel, Bone Silence (2020),
July 29th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | Alastair Reynolds | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Harbors of the Sun by Martha Wells
The Harbors of the Sun (2020) is the fifth and final novel of Martha Wells’ BOOKS OF THE RAKSURA (or at least this part of the RAKSURA series). It won’t make any sense if you haven’t read the previous books, so please do that first. There will be some spoilers for the previous novels in this review.
The Harbors of the Sun begins where the previous installment,
July 22nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Martha Wells | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
Hank Green’s A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (2020) is the sequel to his 2018 debut, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing which you’ll need to read first. There will be spoilers for An Absolutely Remarkable Thing in this review.
It’s been a few months since the life-shattering events that occurred at the end of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. The Carls are all gone and it appears that April died in a fire that was set by some extremists influenced by anti-April vitriol on social media.
July 21st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Hank Green | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
SHORTS: Our column exploring free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. In today’s column we review the 2020 Retro Hugo nominees in the novelette and short story categories, following up on yesterday’s column, in which we reviewed the novellas.
RETRO HUGO NOVELETTES:
Arena by Fredric Brown (1944, published in Astounding Science Fiction, free online at Internet Archive). 2020 Retro Hugo award nominee (novelette).
Two massive fleets hang outside the orbit of Pluto, about to engage in a furious battle to the death: Humans and the aliens they call the Outsiders.
July 15th, 2020. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | A.E. Van_Vogt, C.L. Moore, Clifford D. Simak, Henry Kuttner, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury | Audio, Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
The third and final instalment in Leigh Bardugo‘s GRISHA trilogy was far more rewarding than I had ever anticipated. Though I liked the first book Shadow and Bone and really liked the sequel Siege and Storm, it was Ruin and Rising that I truly loved.
It’s difficult to summarize the finale of any book series without giving away details of its predecessors,
July 15th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Leigh Bardugo | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey
In publication order, By the Sword (1991) is the ninth novel in Mercedes Lackey’s VALDEMAR saga, but if you haven’t read any VALDEMAR novels before, don’t let that stop you. By the Sword can stand alone and it’s a fine place to enter Lackey’s universe. There are several beloved VALDEMAR characters in the novel, but it doesn’t matter if you meet them now or later. In general, the VALDEMAR saga is divided into several different trilogies and a few stand-alones and anthologies.
July 14th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
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.... 🤔