Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Kelly Lasiter

Deadtown: Holds up well against the best in the genre

Deadtown by Nancy Holzner

When FanLit interviewed Nancy Holzner last month, I thought she sounded so nice, and her debut, Deadtown, sounded awesome. While shopping that night at my local Wal-Mart, I noticed Deadtown on the shelf, so, naturally, into my cart it went, and I started reading as soon as I got home.

After a mysterious plague strikes Boston, its fallout area becomes known as Deadtown. Deadtown residents are controlled by the state of Massachusetts — they have few rights and must carry identifying papers when they move about the various zones.

January 6th, 2010. Justin Blazier and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Nancy Holzner | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Doppelgangster: A great mix of urban fantasy, humor, mystery, chicklit

Doppelgangster by Laura Resnick

Esther Diamond is between acting jobs. To make ends meet, she takes a job waiting tables at Bella Stella. Connor Lopez, the cop who may or may not be Esther’s boyfriend, is concerned because Bella Stella is frequented by the Gambello crime family, but hey, a girl’s gotta make a living!

Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella’s regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She’s traumatized by the event,

January 6th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Laura Resnick | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dressed to Slay: No delusions of grandeur

Dressed to Slay by Harper Allen

I’ve got a theory. I think Dressed to Slay (2006) is actually a long-lost episode of Buffy. The Scooby Gang has been hit by another demonic curse. This time, instead of falling silent or bursting into song, they’ve all been turned into Cordelia, and I mean first-season Cordelia. (All but Giles, that is. He miraculously escapes the Cordelia curse, but picks up a Russian accent.)

The comparison breaks down pretty quickly, though, because if Joss Whedon had written Dressed to Slay,

January 5th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1.5 | Harper Allen | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Touch of Evil: Interesting but uneven

Touch of Evil by C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp

Touch of Evil (2006) is a mixed bag. There were aspects of it that I liked a great deal, and aspects that didn’t work for me.

First, the good: C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s vampires and werewolves are different from the usual fare. The vampires in Touch of Evil are victims of a parasite and ruled by a hive mind; the werewolves are matriarchal and not tied to the lunar cycle.

January 2nd, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | C.T. (Cat) Adams | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Turned: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series

Turned by Julie Kenner

Turned is the third, and best, book in Julie Kenner’s Blood Lily Chronicles series. The convergence is coming, when hell’s gates will open, spilling out hordes of demons onto the Earth. Lily is the linchpin in the schemes of both Good and Evil, the “Prophecy Girl” who must choose between two fates: becoming queen of the demons, or locking the gates at the cost of her own eternal torment. Lily knows which path she must choose, but darned if queendom doesn’t sound a lot more appealing than burning in hell forever…

December 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Julie Kenner | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Nine Gates: Worth it for the sake of the hell scenes

Nine Gates by Jane Lindskold

The Orphans — at least in their current incarnation — had proven to be a chatty group. Hardly anything, from something as minor as what to have for dinner, to the planning of major expeditions did not get talked over — sometimes, she suspected, to the frustration of their allies from the Lands.

Sometimes to the frustration of the reader, too. The “talkiness” of this cast of characters was an issue in Thirteen Orphans, and it hasn’t gone away in Nine Gates.

December 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Jane Lindskold | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Veil of Shadows: A little disappointing

Veil of Shadows by Jennifer Armintrout

I’m sad to say that I was a little disappointed in Veil of Shadows. I loved the first Lightworld/ Darkworld novel, Queene of Light, and while I didn’t like Child of Darkness quite as much, I was intrigued by the plot elements that Jennifer Armintrout moved into place during that book.

The first part of Veil of Shadows deals with Cerridwen and Cedric’s journey to Ireland,

December 30th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Jennifer Armintrout | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

My Soul to Take: Solid YA fantasy

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

Kaylee Cavanaugh wants to be a normal teenage girl, but her “panic attacks” stand in the way. Kaylee can sense when someone is about to die. She can’t save the dying person, though, and can’t warn them. All she can do is let out an unearthly scream. If you’re familiar with mythology, you can probably guess what kind of supernatural being Kaylee turns out to be!

As My Soul to Take begins, Kaylee learns that her premonitions are real and that her screaming episodes aren’t symptoms of mental illness.

Torn: A middle book

Torn by Julie Kenner

It’s hard to review Torn without spoiling the big twist in the previous book, Tainted! So, I’ll just say that Torn follows the further adventures of Lily Carlyle, now Alice Purdue, as she attempts to keep demons from overrunning the Earth. Meanwhile, her thorny relationship with Deacon continues, her handlers have teamed her up with a partner, and now Lily has custody of her traumatized little sister, Rose.

Rose is now facing a violation that might well be worse than what she suffered in the previous book.

December 30th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Julie Kenner | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

War for the Oaks: Rockin’ in the Sidhe World

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

Anyone who likes urban fantasy should go “back to basics” and pick up this defining classic of the subgenre. I’ve read several books that borrow zillions of plot elements from War for the Oaks, but never reach the same sort of exhilarating heights. Yeah, yeah, we all know the story: young woman wanders the city at night and meets a mysterious stranger, so on, so forth. Now sit back and see it done right!

Eddi McCandry has just quit her boyfriend’s abysmal band,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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