The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan
The Rose and the Thorn is the second book in Michael J. Sullivan’s RIYRIA CHRONICLES. Sullivan continues to share “the early years” of Hadrian Blackwater and Royce Melborn.
The Rose and the Thorn takes place about one year after the events in The Crown Tower. The book opens, not with our two wandering thieves-for-hire, but with Reuben Hilfred. Reuben is soon to be made one of the royal guards in King Amrath,
September 13th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Michael J. Sullivan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The White Forest by Adam McOmber
“It was in the flow of that great primordium that I saw something astonishing – a final vision: a vast and wild image of myself.”
In The White Forest, Adam McOmber attempts a Victorian-style thriller, a spooky gothic in the style of Henry James. The story follows three young people on London’s Hampstead Heath, during or shortly after the Crimean War. Nathan Ashe is a young aristocrat, a gentleman, always curious, whose seeking has become more desperate since he has returned from the war.
September 11th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Adam McOmber | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
23 Years on Fire by Joel Shepherd
23 Years on Fire is the fourth book in Joel Shepherd’s CASSANDRA KRESNOV series, a set of military SF books set several hundred years in future, in a distant galaxy. Cassandra Kresnov, who goes by Sandy, is the commander of the galactic Federal Security Agency, or FSA’s, special operations branch. She is also a GI, a combat-designed 100% synthetic person. Sandy must deal with the prejudices of original humans and her own questions about the destiny and evolution of her “people,” the synthetic soldiers.
September 9th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Glass God is the second book in Kate Griffin’s Magicals Anonymous series. These books are set in the same magical London as the MATTHEW SWIFT books, but follow the character of Sharon Li, barista turned shaman turned “community support worker” for various magical beings in the greater London area.
While Swift, a sorcerer, is a loner and a one-person army of anarchy, that’s not how Sharon rolls. She is a shaman,
August 16th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Kate Griffin | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I am a big fan of Kate Griffin’s MATTHEW SWIFT books. I think her love of London; the majestic, the beautiful, the historic, the grungy, the run-down and the shoddy, powers those books, as does a system of magic that grown organically from the city (or, as Swift puts it, “Life is magic.”) With Stray Souls, Griffin introduces another character and what appears to second series set in the same magical universe; the MAGICALS ANONYMOUS series.
August 14th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Kate Griffin | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Codex Born is Jim Hines’ follow-up to last year’s Libriomancer, his breezy love letter to fantasy and science fiction readers and writers. While the sequel didn’t charm me as much as its precursor, its quick pace, likable characters, and frequent allusions to some of my favorite authors, along with Hine’s trademark darkness underlying a lightly comical surface, meant that on balance I found more to enjoy than to dislike.
The series is set in a world where certain people — libriomancers — have the ability to magically pull objects,
August 13th, 2013. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 3.5 | Jim C. Hines | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Today we welcome Michael J. Sullivan who’s here to talk about how he became a reader. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of his latest book The Crown Tower which I reviewed earlier this week. It’s a prequel to his popular RIYRIA books, so it’s the perfect book for both new readers and established fans. (We can send to U.S. addresses only.)
It’s probably not something that an author should admit but I wasn’t a “big reader” when young. In fact, I hated to read.
August 8th, 2013. Marion Deeds | Michael J. Sullivan | Thoughtful Thursday | 23 comments |
The Crown Tower by Michael J Sullivan
The Crown Tower is the first book in Michael J. Sullivan’s RIYRIA CHRONICLES series. This series starts before the existing novels, THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS, and it lets us see how Hadrian Blackwater and Royce Melborn first meet.
Since I haven’t read any of Sullivan’s other books, in a way I was the perfect reader for this one. I didn’t have expectations. The Crown Tower is full of fast-paced sword-wielding fun from the first chapter.
August 6th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Michael J. Sullivan | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
I went to see Neil Gaiman read and sign books in Santa Rosa, California recently. After he read from The Ocean at the End of the Lane, he answered some audience questions. One question was “What did you read as a child, and what influenced you?” The question was not a surprise but the answer was, a bit. Gaiman said that he read “everything. “My parents used to drop me off at the library when I was a child, and they would go off to work,” he said. “I started in the Children’s Library and read everything,
July 25th, 2013. Marion Deeds | Neil Gaiman | Thoughtful Thursday | 15 comments |
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Trained from childhood as a thief and con-artist par excellence, Locke Lamora employs a silver tongue and quicksilver mind to divest the rich of Camorr of their excessive wealth. No sooner do Locke and his associates initiate their latest scheme, however, than they find themselves at the mercy of the mysterious Gray King, who intends to use them as pawns in his bid to take over the city-state’s underworld. As the Gray King’s diabolical plan unfolds, Locke finds his skills tested as never before as he struggles not only for his own survival,
July 20th, 2013. Rob Rhodes, Greg Hersom, Kat Hooper, Marion Deeds, Terry Weyna, Tadiana Jones and Skye Walker´s rating: 4, 5 | Scott Lynch | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…