Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Kelly Lasiter

Wolfbreed: The worst and the best that humanity can do

Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann

Lilly is one of a litter of werewolf children being raised by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 13th century Prusa (later Prussia). The wolfbreed, as they are called, are subjected to horrifying abuses and trained to become brutal weapons of war. Their purpose: to help the Order massacre Prussia’s remaining pagan strongholds.

A theological debate rages between the Order and the Church regarding the nature of the wolfbreed. Are they simply animals, soulless but trainable and possibly useful? Or, are they minions of Satan?

August 31st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | S. Andrew Swann | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Hannah: Great for young girls

Hannah by Kathryn Lasky

The other orphan girls at the Boston Home for Little Wanderers fantasize that they are secretly the long-lost daughters of wealthy families, or even of royalty. Hannah harbors no such dreams. What she doesn’t know, however, is that her heritage is the strangest of all. When she is packed off to live in dry landlocked Kansas and falls deathly ill, she begins to realize that she’s not like other girls.

Desperate, Hannah returns to Boston and finds a job as a scullery maid with the wealthy Hawley family.

Bloody Right: Best of The Brytewood Trilogy

Bloody Right by Georgia Evans

My guess was right — Bloody Right, in fact! This is the best book in the The Brytewood Trilogy.

This time, the remaining Nazi vampires have been assigned to assassinate Winston Churchill at a party on an estate near Brytewood. The assorted pixies, dragons, elves, sprites, and humans of the village must stop them before they can do the dastardly deed.

The leading lady and man in this installment are Mary LaPrioux, a schoolteacher evacuated from Guernsey,

August 28th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Georgia Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Bloody Awful: Nazi Vampires!

Bloody Awful by Georgia Evans

Bloody Awful continues the story of Brytewood, a cozy English village that is secretly home to several supernatural beings. Brytewood’s inhabitants, both human and Other, face an ongoing struggle as German bombs fall from the sky and Nazi vampires infiltrate the town itself. It’s the characters that make this series compelling. I had issues with Bloody Good, but wanted to keep reading to find out what happened to the people I’d “met.”

I enjoyed Bloody Awful more than I did Bloody Good.

August 21st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Georgia Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Red Tree: What a strange book!

The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan

What a strange book! Then again, I know never to expect the expected when reading Caitlín R. Kiernan.

The story centers on Sarah Crowe, a writer who moves to an isolated house in Rhode Island after her lover’s death. Beset by writer’s block, she finds herself unable to write the novel her contract demands, and instead becomes obsessed with an old manuscript she finds in the basement. This manuscript was written by a previous tenant of the house who died before he could complete it,

Bloody Good: WWII Nazi vampires

Bloody Good by Georgia Evans

I’m always glad to see a vampire novel that moves away from stereotypical plots and settings. So, when I learned that Georgia Evans’s Bloody Good was set in England during World War II and that its vampires were Nazi secret agents, I was immediately intrigued.

Bloody Good is at its best when depicting the struggles of ordinary country folk during the war. Through the many neighborly chats that fill these pages, the reader gets an idea of what it might have been like to deal with air raids,

August 1st, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Georgia Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Strangely Beautiful: Excellent romantic historical fantasy

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Editor’s note. Since Kelly first reviewed these books in 2009, they have been picked up by Tor and combined into one volume called Strangely Beautiful (shown here).

As The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker opens, six London youngsters are chosen for a special destiny. Plucked from their ordinary lives, they are brought together by a mysterious goddess. Their mission: to protect humanity from the forces of evil. The goddess promises the six that,

July 28th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Leanna Renee Hieber | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Personal Demons: Fast-paced plot + humor + romance

Personal Demons by Stacia Kane

The beginning chapters of Stacia Kane’s Personal Demons is a bit choppy. There are some strange cuts and splices. In particular, there are several instances where important, plot-relevant conversations occur offscreen and are only mentioned in retrospect as Megan muses about them. (I think it would have been more effective to show these conversations rather than narrate about them after the fact.) I also had trouble getting a feel for the passage of time in these early chapters. I would think days passed,

July 25th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Stacia Kane | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Wildfire: Like Firethorn, Wildfire is not for the faint of heart

Wildfire by Sarah Micklem

When we last saw Firethorn, she had resolved to follow Sire Galan to war rather than retreat to the country house he had provided her. As Wildfire opens, she does just that. But the gods aren’t finished with Firethorn yet. Before she reaches the city of Lanx, where she will be reunited with Galan, Firethorn is struck by lightning.

She survives, but not unscathed. Firethorn comes away from the incident with several ailments, most notably aphasia. She often says one word when she means another.

July 24th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Micklem | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Lavondyss: Will stay in my mind forever

Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock

The wood sucks at the mind, it sucks out the dreams.

Many times I don’t like sequels because there’s nothing new to learn. Authors tend to give us all of their world-building in the first novel, so I’m often bored by a sequel. But Lavondyss blew my mind. It is, I have no doubt, one of the best fantasy novels ever written.

In Mythago Wood, Harry Keeton entered the forest with Steven and he’s been there for years.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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