Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time by Philip Reeve
Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time (2023) is the third and final book in the UTTERLY DARK trilogy, and the reason I left it this long (I read the preceding books exactly one year ago) is simply because I didn’t want it to end. Once a Philip Reeve story is over, it can’t be read for the first time ever again, so you have to savour them while they last.
And in this case,
June 10th, 2025. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Philip Reeve | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A new MORTAL ENGINES story? What bliss!
The first book set in the dystopian world of Philip Reeve’s mighty Traction Cities since Scrivener’s Moon was published back in 2011, Thunder City (2024) ends up being something of an oddity within the overarching scope of the series. Unlike the three prequels, which delved into the genesis of the Traction Cities, or Night Flights,
May 29th, 2025. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Philip Reeve | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Susan Price is a gifted author, though like Anne Pilling, I suspect her work is just a tad too dark and uncanny to draw in a devoted child fanbase. Truly, she pulls no punches with what she writes for her young audience – here for example, the protagonist is killed when she’s deliberately impaled with a large stake. Though she finds a way to reanimate her body, it’s not before hungry wolves chew off one of her arms. You know,
November 5th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Susan Price | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Darkwater Hall by Catherine Fisher
I must have read this book for the first time over twenty years ago, and though I had forgotten the title, author and much of the story, a few little details stuck with me: the evocative atmosphere it conjured, the central premise that concerned a young girl striking a deal with the devil, and something about a stairwell that ran up and down time.
Then, one day while perusing the library catalogue in search of another book entirely, the cover art for Darkwater Hall (2011) stirred something in my memory.
September 3rd, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Catherine Fisher | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Reposting to include Rebecca’s new review.
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
Rule of Wolves, the second half of Leigh Bardugo’s NIKOLAI DUOLOGY, picks up right where King of Scars left off and flings the reader headlong into the story. In other words, if it’s been a while since you read King of Scars, you’d be well advised to refamiliarize yourself at least a little with its plot;
July 29th, 2024. Tadiana Jones and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Leigh Bardugo | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild by Philip Reeve
In his review for Skye McKenna’s Hedgewitch, Reeve said: “there are only two sorts of fantasy story: the ones that feel fake and the ones that feel real. It’s hard to explain the difference but you know the real ones when you read them.”
I know exactly what he’s talking about, because he writes the real ones too. His depiction of Faerie – that ancient place where all the fairy tales come from – captures its mystery and danger and uncanny beauty as it also exists in books like Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter and Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,
April 26th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden
What is it that makes funfairs and carnivals so scary? Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari both take place in carnivals, as do a few significant chapters of Stephen King’s It and several third season episodes of Stranger Things. I even recall that the third book of L.J. Smith’s The Forbidden Game ended in an abandoned funfair.
April 11th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Katherine Arden | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dark Waters by Katherine Arden
The third (but clearly not final, given its cliffhanger ending) book in the SMALL SPACES QUARTET sees our three eleven-year-old protagonists once more go up against “the Smiling Man,” an immortal fey creature who loves to make deals and play games with unsuspecting mortals. As I anticipated after Small Spaces and Dead Voices, it’s Brian’s turn to be front-and-center while Ollie and Coco take on supporting roles.
Having received a cryptic note that promises yet another round of the terrifying feud they’ve been dragged into,
March 19th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Katherine Arden | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Have you ever read a book in which the plot and characterization are best described as “fun but not special” only to completely fall in love with the world in which they’re set? In this case, there’s nothing wrong with the story of Hedgewitch (even if it hews a little too closely to the HARRY POTTER formula for its first few chapters: a magically-gifted child escapes a terrible environment with the help of a flying broomstick and a talking cat) but the construction and ambiance of the setting is just intoxicating.
March 8th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Skye McKenna | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve
Philip Reeve has been one of my favourite authors for a while now, even though most of his stories are slightly outside my preferred genres. I loved Railhead, which was science-fiction, and Mortal Engines, which was dystopian – so imagine the weird squeaky noise of excitement I made on discovering that his latest book was not only in my genre wheelhouse (fantasy, of course) but which bore the captivating title of Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep (2021).
February 20th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 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.