Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
Dark Lord of Derkholm (1998) is a delightful young adult story for those who like a heavy dose of satire in their fantasy. Similar to Diana Wynne Jones’ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, it pokes fun of the genre we love by exposing and exploiting some of its most common clichés.
The story takes place in a world parallel to ours to which people can travel and pay to have an adventure.
January 24th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Diana Wynne Jones | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft
If you haven’t read Senlin Ascends and Arm of the Sphinx yet: Please stop here and go get them. I recommend Hachette Audio’s versions because they are absolutely brilliantly performed by John Banks. Read the rest of this review at your own risk — there will be mild spoilers for Senlin Ascends and Arm of the Sphinx in my review.
I am so conflicted.
January 22nd, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Josiah Bancroft | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
At a small California college, a strange illness has broken out on one floor of a co-ed dorm. Some of the students have fallen asleep and can’t be woken. Doctors and psychiatrists are baffled. All they know is that these students are dreaming and their brain activity is off the charts.
As the unknown disease keeps spreading, the dorm is quarantined, then the hospital, and eventually the entire college town.
Citizens are panicked as they worry about themselves and their families. It seems like just a matter of time before the whole town is asleep.
January 21st, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Karen Thompson Walker | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Trifles and Folly: A Deadly Curiosities Collection by Gail Z. Martin
I haven’t read any of Gail Z. Martin’s DEADLY CURIOSITIES novels, but Tantor Audio sent me Trifles and Folly: A Deadly Curiosities Collection (2016) and I thought it’d be a good introduction to the series.
The premise reminds me of Juliet Blackwell’s WITCHCRAFT MYSTERIES, which stars a young woman, Lily Ivory, who gets vibes from used garments. She has a vintage clothing store in San Francisco and,
January 16th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Gail Z. Martin | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel
The Cold Between is the first novel in Elizabeth Bonesteel’s CENTRAL CORPS trilogy. This military space opera focuses more on personal and romantic relationships than most in this genre do. I’m tempted to call it romantic military space opera. The publisher compares Elizabeth Bonesteel’s work to that of Elizabeth Moon and Lois McMaster Bujold. I have read both of those authors’ space operas and I can say that this comparison is inaccurate. Bonesteel is writing for the same audience,
January 15th, 2019. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Elizabeth Bonesteel | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Richard K. Morgan’s stand-alone novel Thin Air (2018) is set on Mars in the universe of his novel Thirteen. His protagonist, Hakan Veil, is a disgraced “enforcer” who’s just been dumped on Mars by the corporation to whom he had been indentured since childhood. They recently fired him. Hakan would love to get back to Earth, but that’s nearly impossible these days because it costs too much to get there and Earth lets very few people in.
January 8th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Richard K. Morgan | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
Wild Seed (1980) was written last in Octavia Butler’s 5-book PATTERNIST series, but comes first in chronology. The next books, by internal chronology, are Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay’s Ark (1984), and Patternmaster (1976). Butler was later unsatisfied with Survivor (1978) and elected to not have it reprinted, so I will focus on the main four volumes. Wild Seed is an origin story set well before later books and can stand on its own.
January 8th, 2019. Stuart Starosta, Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Octavia Butler | Audio, Edge | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s review of the new SYFY channel adaptation of Nightflyers. You can find it below our reviews of the novella.
Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin
Nightflyers was first published in 1980, won the Locus Award for best novella, and was nominated for a Hugo Award. It was made into an unsuccessful film in 1987. It’s recently been on people’s radars due to the upcoming SYFY series based on the novella. You can purchase it in several new (2018) formats including an illustrated edition,
December 31st, 2018. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | George R.R. Martin | Audio, Film / TV, Horror, Locus Award, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
THE CORPORATION WARS by Ken MacLeod
My preference is to review the books in a series Individually, but I find myself so busy at the moment that I don’t have much time for writing reviews. And in the case of THE CORPORATION WARS by Ken MacLeod, I don’t feel that there’s much distinction between the individual novels and it makes sense to review the series as a whole.
THE CORPORATION WARS is a trilogy that consists of the books Dissidence,
December 20th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Ken MacLeod | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Eternity’s Wheel by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves
This review will contain spoilers for the previous two INTERWORLD books, InterWorld and The Silver Dream. You need to read those books before starting Eternity’s Wheel or you’ll have no idea what’s going on.
After discovering in the last book, The Silver Dream, that Hex and Binary are working together to destroy the universes, Joey finds himself back on Earth and not able to get back to InterWorld because it’s being chased by Hex.
December 17th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
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.