I was pretty excited to read Bloodshot. I first encountered Cherie Priest by way of her Southern Gothic novel Four and Twenty Blackbirds several years ago. Since then, her name keeps popping back up in my consciousness, both as a writer of several acclaimed steampunk novels I haven’t had the chance to read yet, and as a Person Who Says Interesting Things on the Internet. So when I heard she was dipping her authorial toes into one of my favorite subgenres,
January 24th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 5 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
CLASSIFICATION: Combining alternate history with the supernatural, The Fallen Blade is kind of like Jasper Kent’s Twelve and Thirteen Years Later crossed with Anne Rice’s vampires and Underworld’s lycans, written in the style of Glen Cook.
FORMAT/INFO: The Fallen Blade is 464 pages long divided over two Parts, sixty-three numbered chapters,
January 20th, 2011. Robert Thompson, Stefan Raets and Marion Deeds | Jon Courtenay (Jonathan) Grimwood | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht
FORMAT/INFO: Of Blood and Honey is 300 pages long divided over 27 numbered chapters and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Liam Kelly, his mother Kathleen, and Father Murray. Of Blood and Honey can be read as a stand-alone novel, but offers many opportunities for future sequels. February 2011 marks the North American trade paperback publication of Stina Leicht’s Of Blood and Honey via Night Shade Books.
January 17th, 2011. Robert Thompson and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Stina Leicht | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Behemoth is Scott Westerfeld’s follow-up to Leviathan, the first book in a new steampunk series set in an alternative Europe on the edge of WWI with the Austro-Hungarians and Germans (“Clankers”) using steam-driven machines and the British and their allies (“Darwinists”) using genetic engineering. Leviathan was one of my best reads of 2009, and Behemoth would have been on my list for 2010 had I gotten around to reading it by the time I compiled my list.
January 17th, 2011. Bill Capossere, Rebecca Fisher and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 4.5, 5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fathom is an entertaining horror novel once it gets going. Cherie Priest spends the first 100 pages of Fathom setting a scene, complete with pages upon pages of infodumps. One character will tell another character a story about a third character, for instance, or a character will have a prolonged recollection of a scene from his past. In addition, the time in which the novel is set does not become apparent until the last few chapters of the novel.
January 8th, 2011. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Cherie Priest | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Habitation of the Blessed by Catherynne M. Valente
[Note: I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version of The Habitation of the Blessed read by Ralph Lister. It took me a while to adjust since I have recently listened to Lister read three installments of THE GOREAN SAGA and I at first had a hard time hearing the priest Prester John instead of the sadistic misogynist Tarl Cabot. But I got over this soon enough and thought that Mr. Lister did a great job with this one.]
In The Habitation of the Blessed,
December 28th, 2010. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Catherynne M. Valente | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Zero History by William Gibson
It is getting more difficult to classify William Gibson as an SFF writer. Although Gibson’s earliest work stands alongside the best of science fiction and cyberpunk, and The Difference Engine, which he co-wrote with Bruce Sterling, is a well-respected steampunk novel, Gibson’s Bigend trilogy has left cyberpunk, outer space, and human cloning behind.
Instead, Zero History is about jeans.
Gabriel Hounds clothing is unlike any clothing now made by mainstream fashion companies.
November 10th, 2010. Ryan Skardal and Marion Deeds | William Gibson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey’s Kill the Dead is the sequel to Sandman Slim, and James Stark has been keeping himself busy working for various entities in order to pay the rent. The Devil is one of the entities that makes use of Stark’s services, and he wants Stark to serve as his bodyguard while he’s in town on business. Stark is forced to juggle the obligations of both Heaven and Hell, and manages to place himself in the middle of a conflict that started at the dawn of time.
November 5th, 2010. Justin Blazier, Terry Weyna, Robert Thompson, Greg Hersom and Marion Deeds | Richard Kadrey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
I’m not sure what’s wrong with me lately. I keep finding myself reading some gloriously blasphemous works of fantasy literature. I reviewed Jesse Bullington’s The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and accepted that it could very well show up as a stain on my soul’s credit report. Now, having just finished Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim, I might as well file eternal bankruptcy.
James Stark was betrayed and sent to hell for 11 years.
November 3rd, 2010. Justin Blazier, Kat Hooper, Greg Hersom, Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds | Richard Kadrey | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
I’ve had some mixed success with the steampunk trend the past few years, thoroughly enjoying it when the authors pay as much attention to story and character as they do in coming up with new ways to mash-up old and new technologies, but finding it dully disappointing when the basic steampunk premise is the high point of creativity (Look! Airships flying over horse-drawn carriages while Dickens is walking through the streets!). Mark Hodder’s new book, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack,
September 16th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Mark Hodder | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.