Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Marion Deeds

Descent into Dust: Atmospheric Victorian pastiche

Descent into Dust by Jacqueline Lepore

Jacqueline Lepore’s Descent into Dust is an atmospheric Victorian pastiche complete with a forbidding mansion, an innocent child in danger, the shadow of madness, and vampires. Emma Andrews is a young and wealthy widow coming to the moors to visit her newly married half-sister and their cousins. Emma has always felt like an outsider. The specter of her mother’s madness and death haunt her. Soon after arriving at Dulwich Manor, Emma has a frightening encounter on the moors. The house,

March 21st, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Jacqueline Lepore | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti: Grabs you by your collar

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine

Here is how you read Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti:

You open the book, and the first paragraph reminds you, a little, of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and then a gold and brass hand sprouts from the pages, grabs you by your collar, and drags you headfirst into the book.

(At least, that’s what it feels like.)

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti is Genevieve Valentine’s first novel,

March 7th, 2012. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Genevieve Valentine | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

ARABESK: How to get the reader to suspend disbelief

ARABESK: Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen
In this review, I’m going to write about the willing suspension of disbelief. Perhaps more precisely, I’m writing about the intersection of world-building and the willing suspension of disbelief. Enter Jon Courtenay Grimwood and the ARABESK trilogy: Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen.

In Grimwood’s world, the Ottoman Empire never collapsed. Woodrow Wilson brokered peace between London and Berlin in 1915, World War II never happened, and the major world powers seem to be Germany,

Poltergeist: A confident second novel

Poltergeist by Kat Richardson

Poltergeist is the second Kat Richardson GREYWALKER novel. A few years have passed since Greywalker, marked by the growth of Ben and Mara’s son Brian from a babe-in-arms to a talking toddler, and Harper Blaine’s increasing proficiency in navigating the transitional dimension next to ours, called the Grey. Harper clinically died for two minutes, and during that time, “crossed over,” triggering this strange ability.

Harper is hired by an egotistical and unethical professor of psychology to vet the results of an experiment in the paranormal.

February 23rd, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Kat Richardson | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Secrets of the Cave: Beautiful moments, but not satisfying

The Secrets of the Cave by Phillipa Bowers

The loveliest image in Phillipa Bowers’s The Secrets of the Cave is the form of a woman, carved into the rock of the cave by the flow of the spring waters. At her feet, the pure water gathers in a pool lined with pink and red crystals. The water looks blood-red because of those crystals. The Lady in the cave is never described but frequently evoked in this book, which follows a young woman in England from 1930 until the end of World War II.

The Fetch: Enjoyable and convincing YA

The Fetch by Chris Humphreys

Nordic runes became a big fortune-telling and New Age self-exploration tool in the 1970s and 80s. Like Tarot cards and other things, the runes became commercialized and sanitized, slanted toward the positive and not-scary. In The Fetch, Book One of Chris Humphreys’s YA fantasy trilogy THE RUNESTONE SAGA, the runes are ancient and wise, filled with darkness and blood. To embrace them is to embrace great power, and the darker side of power: sacrifice.

Fifteen-year-old Sky calls himself the King of the Sleepwalkers.

Greywalker: A great opening to a refreshing series

Greywalker by Marion Deeds

This is not a traditional review of Kat Richardson’s Greywalker. I’m going to talk instead about the technique Richardson uses to introduce her paranormal world and her main character’s magical power.

Richardson’s premise is that abutting our dimension is a transitional dimension known as the Grey. Some creatures live in the Grey; some come through it from other places. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts and ghouls move about freely in it, and can shift easily from the Grey to here.

Most (not all) urban fantasies start with a character who is already magical.

February 14th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Kat Richardson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

City of Saints and Madmen: A long strange trip

City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

What a long strange trip City of Saints and Madmen is! Jeff VanderMeer’s first book about the city of Ambergris is a tour de force of imagination and style.

It’s a hard book to review, though. First of all, what is it? It’s not a novel. Is it a collection of short stories? Maybe, although some of the pieces included in City of Saints and Madmen are not stories, and in some cases,

February 8th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Jeff VanderMeer | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Eyes Like Leaves: A gifted writer’s beginnings

Eyes Like Leaves by Charles de Lint

The magic is leaving the Green Isles. The Summerlord Hafarl’s staff has been broken, and the Everwinter is coming to blanket the islands in snow forever. To make matters worse, the Vikings are raiding up and down the shore, laying waste to everything in their way. It’s up to Puretongue, leader of the dhruides, to weld together the last scraps of the Summerlord’s power that can be found in the people to create a defense against Lothan, and bring summer and magic back to the isles.

Shadows West: Three screenplays by the Lansdales

Shadows West by Joe R. and John L. Lansdale

Reading a screenplay is a different experience from a novel or short story. A screenplay strips the story down to dialogue and action, with some visuals. There is no interior monologue or author philosophizing, or at least, not much. It can be refreshing.

Joe R. Lansdale, who has written crime novels, mystery, dark fantasy and horror, provides three screenplays for the interested reader in Shadows West. Two of the trio were written with his brother John Lansdale,

January 30th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Joe R. Lansdale | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Recent Discussion:

David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
Bill Capossere on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.