As Summer Knight (2002) opens, Harry Dresden’s true love, Susan, has left town, the Red Court Vampires have declared war on him and someone’s shooting at him. Oh, and it’s raining toads.
To top it off, Mab, the Faerie Queen of Winter, wants to hire him to investigate the murder of a mortal. The Faerie Queens are beautiful, powerful, alien and frightening, even to Harry:
My voice came out unsteady and more quiet than I would have liked. ‘Sort of like Tokyo,
June 2nd, 2011. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jim Butcher | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Great Work of Time by John Crowley
In 1990, Great Work of Time won the World Fantasy Award for best novella. I’m surprised someone hasn’t snapped up John Crowley’s short book, given it a glossy steampunk cover, and re-released it. Of course it isn’t steampunk. John Crowley’s work doesn’t fit easily into any sub-genre except Things John Crowley Has Written. Still, Great Work of Time has enough of the British Empire, airships, alternate histories, train terminals, misty London cityscapes, and men with bowler hats and tightly furled umbrellas to justify a steampunk cover,
May 25th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | John Crowley | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan
Takeshi Kovacs spends most of Woken Furies, the third book in the Kovacs series, in a bad mood. Kovacs is an ex-Envoy, a carefully selected, highly trained, rigidly conditioned assassin for the powerful and draconian Protectorate, so when he’s in a bad mood, people usually die.
Of course, many of them are not really dead, or rather, Really Dead, because people in Richard K. Morgan’s future universe have cortical stacks, shiny storage devices attached to their cervical vertebrae,
May 21st, 2011. Marion Deeds and Greg Hersom | Richard K. Morgan | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Steampunk’d by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg
Steampunk’d is an anthology edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg. The most common premise of steampunk is an idea that technology — steam-driven technology — went in a different direction during the Victorian era. The best steampunk stories create a sense of otherness, a truly different world, while some tales just dangle steampunk tropes like jewelry or fashion accessories.
I’m a cautious consumer of themed anthologies because the work can be uneven,
May 19th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2 | Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jean Rabe, Michael A. Stackpole | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Someone is torturing the ghosts of Chicago, driving them mad and juicing up their power. Harry Dresden, wizard, is the best person to handle this, but even a wizard needs back-up sometimes. In Grave Peril, the third book of The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher introduces Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross.
Michael wields a sword given to him by an angel. He has pledged his life to serving God, vanquishing evil and freeing the victims of evil.
May 16th, 2011. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Jim Butcher | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
In Fool Moon, Harry Dresden’s second adventure, Jim Butcher gives us four flavors of werewolf — or five, if you want to be flexible.
Harry, Chicago’s only practicing wizard-detective, is called to the scene of a gory murder by his friend and client Karrin Murphy. Murphy, a Chicago police detective, is in charge of Special Investigations (SI), Chicago’s nod to the paranormal crime that fills the city. Chicago PD is unofficial on this investigation though; it is the jurisdiction of the FBI,
May 13th, 2011. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Embassytown by China Miéville
Embassytown, China Miéville’s latest, is a sharply honed science fiction tale of linguistics. Yes, linguistics. And skeptical as one may be, it more than works. Despite its science fiction trappings, I would place Embassytown very close to The City & The City rather than Perdido Street Station and its sequels or Kraken in terms of style. I say that because while the strange alien race,
May 12th, 2011. Bill Capossere, Ryan Skardal and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 4.5, 5 | China Mieville | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan
Three weeks ago I finished Broken Angels, the second book in Richard K. Morgan’s Takeshi Kovacs trilogy. I’ve been struggling with this review ever since. Broken Angels is good noir science fiction. It is well-written. I just didn’t like it.
In some places in the book the timbers of the plot show through the flash-and-dazzle, but that is no more than a nuisance. Kovacs is a believable character in a complicated and exciting situation.
May 10th, 2011. Marion Deeds and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Richard K. Morgan | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Odd’s childhood has not been easy. His father has died, his leg is crippled, his new stepfather is unpleasant, and the winter just won’t end. So, Odd decides to go off to stay in his father’s old hut in the woods. Soon he’s befriended by a bear, a fox, and an eagle. But these aren’t your normal bear, fox, and eagle — these animals can talk, and they tell Odd that they are the gods Loki, Thor, and Odin. They’ve temporarily lost their powers and their home to the Frost Giants.
May 8th, 2011. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
I like Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. I like the idea of a wizard-detective in novel-noir Chicago, VI Warshawski with testicles and a magical staff instead of high heels. I liked the wise-crackery of the early books, I appreciated the whimsy of Harry’s potion-making, and I loved his brown leather, weatherproof, spell-laden duster, one of the coolest pieces of outerwear in fiction. With Turn Coat, the eleventh book in the series, however, Butcher has wobbled off course.
First and foremost,
April 30th, 2011. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Jim Butcher | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!
Sorry if I mislead you in this detail, Paul...the voyage by ship was only the first leg of the quintet's…