Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London in the UK) by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant is a constable-in-training in London’s police force. At the end of his probation period, it looks like he’s in line for a long career of boring desk work in the Case Progression Unit, but that all changes when he draws the luckless duty of guarding a crime scene overnight where, earlier that day, a headless body was found lying on the street. While Peter is freezing his heels off in the cold London night,
November 6th, 2019. Stefan Raets, Kelly Lasiter, Terry Weyna, Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Despite being a slim novel of only ten chapters, this novel packs a punch. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) is an unsettling, nerve-inducing exploration of what it is to give into your base desires, and the inability to escape them once you have succumbed.
The tale is largely narrated by Mr Utterson, a lawyer. His good friend Dr Jekyll has been acting strangely of late, and our story opens with Mr Utterson and his cousin Mr Enfield discussing the matter of their mutual acquaintance.
October 8th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4.5 | Robert Louis Stevenson | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Jon Keller is having breakfast in a Swiss hotel when the world ends. Another guest at the hotel receives a notification on her Twitter: Washington has been destroyed by a nuclear weapon. New York follows. Then Scotland, China, Germany. Now only twenty people remain at the hotel whilst the state of the outside world remains a mystery.
On day fifty, Jon and some of the other hotel guests find the body of a murdered girl. A historian by profession (Jon had been visiting Switzerland for an academic conference),
September 25th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2 | Hanna Jameson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn
Japan in 1857 is in turmoil. Internal divisions mean the country is on the brink of civil war, whilst after centuries of isolation, the country has also opened its doors to the west. In the midst of this instability, Tsuru, a doctor’s daughter, wishes to study medicine, but the only expectation her father has for her is to marry.
After the hugely successful TALES OF THE OTORI series, Lian Hearn returns with a very different kind of novel in Blossoms and Shadows (2010).
September 20th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2.5 | Lian Hearn | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Confession by Jessie Burton
After the phenomenal success of The Miniaturist (and The Muse after it), the buzz surrounding Jessie Burton‘s latest release should come as no surprise. Whilst The Confession (2019) might seem like a very different kind of book (gone are the elements of the fantastical and the uncanny), Burton’s signature tension, suspense and an intricately characterised female cast remain.
In the winter of 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden on Hampstead Heath by chance.
September 12th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Jessie Burton | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin
Other Words for Smoke (2019) is not a traditional coming-of-age story. Its composite parts include a magical house, a witch, her apprentice, their talking cat and an evil owl fed on bones that materialises through the walls. And yet, at its heart, the tale is universal: it explores the pain of adolescence, unrequited love and the turmoil of a family falling apart.
The story opens with twins Mae and Rossa huddled outside the wreckage of a burnt house.
May 8th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Sarah Maria Griffin | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
After her enchanting debut, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley returns with another multicultural Victorian adventure, this time in the form of a quinine expedition to the deepest, darkest corners of Peru.
The Bedlam Stacks (2017) follows the escapades of Merrick Tremayne, whom we initially meet in the bucolic backwaters of Cornwall. He is living under the good grace of his brother, Charles, after sustaining a leg injury working as an agent-cum-smuggler for the East India company.
March 15th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3 | Natasha Pulley | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
“The child is dead. There is nothing left to know.”
Thus opens Marlon James’ highly anticipated Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019) in a frenetic, dizzying tale of Tracker, the hunter tasked with finding a child at the centre of this fantasy steeped in African mythology.
The story opens with Tracker being interrogated by the Inquisitor in a grimy prison cell. “Truth eats lies just as the crocodile eats the moon,” he says, and it soon becomes apparent that this will not be the kind of fantasy epic fans of the genre are used to.
February 5th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Marlon James | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Nahri, a young woman living alone in 18th century Cairo, gets by doing minor cons, fake healing rituals and a little theft. She knows nothing about her parents or heritage but, in addition to being able to diagnose disease in others with a glance and occasionally truly heal them, her own body automatically heals of injuries almost instantly and she has the magical ability to understand ― and speak ― any language.
Nahri’s life gets upended when she accidentally summons Darayavahoush, a fiery,
January 7th, 2019. Tadiana Jones, Ray McKenzie, Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | S.A. Chakraborty | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
Whilst it never gained the traction of the likes of Pullman and Potter, the TALES OF THE OTORI series has all the same ingredients: the epic scope, mystery and intrigue, impossible love and an entirely immersive setting. Whether it was luck or timing that never saw the series reach the same heights as its contemporaries, its same crossover appeal proves it is surely one of the great YA fantasy series. So how is it possible that Lian Hearn (pseudonym of Gillian Rubinstein) can undermine this entire sweeping epic in one fell swoop?
January 4th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3 | Lian Hearn | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…