Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Rebecca Fisher

The Sleeper and the Spindle: Another treat from a favourite storyteller

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman‘s latest offering defies the conventions of your typical fairy tale not just in content but format as well. You won’t be able to sit down and read this to your child in one sitting as despite the multiple illustrations, for the story is lengthy and the font small.

Perhaps then it’s better described as a fairy tale for adults, though I’ve always shied away from putting age restrictions on these types of stories. Let’s go with calling it an illustrated short story that will be highly enjoyed by people of all ages with an interest in dark and twisted fairy tales.

Penny Dreadful, Season 1: Everything you could want from Victorian Gothic Horror

Penny Dreadful: Season 1 by John Logan

If you had told me the premise of Penny Dreadful before I’d seen it, I would have probably rolled my eyes. A collection of famous characters from 19th century Gothic horror novels thrown together into an original plot? Yeah that worked SO well for Hollywood’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Van Helsing. (Not).

So the fact that Penny Dreadful manages to be compelling, thought-provoking, and genuinely interested in engaging the themes of the books that inspired it is a miracle in itself.

January 29th, 2016. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

Winter’s Tale: A strange experiment that never finds its feet

Winter’s Tale by Akiva Goldsman

I made a point of watching Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale AFTER reading the book upon which it’s based, knowing that stories are usually considered better on the page than as filmic adaptations. But having completed Mark Helprin‘s novel of the same name, I was left pretty bewildered as to how on earth the transition from book to screen would take place.

The trailers would have you believe that Winter’s Tale is a bittersweet time-travelling love story (perhaps a more fairytale-esque version of The Time Traveller’s Wife),

January 26th, 2016. Rebecca Fisher | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Elfstones of Shannara: Actually refreshing for today, and for when it was written

The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks

I’ve read plenty of Terry Brooks‘s fantasy novels, but among his earliest works I’ve only ever completed The Wishsong of Shannara. But with news of a television adaptation of The Elfstones of Shannara scheduled to air in 2016, I figured now was as good a time as any to delve into his backlog — and it’s interesting to see how he’s developed as a writer since then.

As the direct sequel to The Sword of Shannara,

December 24th, 2015. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

The Mark of Athena: A bit of middle book syndrome, but still action-packed

Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

This is the third book in the five-part HEROES OF OLYMPUS series by Rick Riordan, and as the title would imply, it focuses on Annabeth Chase: daughter of Athena. Though it suffers a little from middle book syndrome, with nothing started and nothing finished, Riordan makes sure that Annabeth’s quest remains the key focus of the book, letting it drive the course of the otherwise sprawling narrative.

The seven heroes of the prophecy have been assembled: Percy,

Immortal Beloved: A light but promising new start to a supernatural trilogy

Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

Nastasya is a burned-out immortal who has spent hundreds of years trying to avoid any sort of real emotion. With her equally jaded friends, she spends all her time in endless, meaningless carousing. She’s not very likable at first, but that’s the whole point. When her friend Incy’s casual cruelty gives Nastasya a wake-up call about what her life has become, she doesn’t like herself much either.

Horrified with herself, afraid of Incy, Nastasya does the only thing she can think of. She turns to River,

End of Days: A satisfying(ish) conclusion to an edge-of-your-seat thriller

End of Days by Susan Ee

End of Days is the third and final book in Susan Ee‘s post-apocalyptic PENRYN AND THE END OF DAYS trilogy, one which pits seventeen year old Penryn Young against hordes of angels who seem intent on bringing about the end of the world. More like an alien invasion than the Rapture, these Old Testament angels have decimated entire cities, leaving the remnants of humanity’s population to scrounge in the streets.

Penryn has it worse than most,

The Son of Neptune: The second instalment of a series steadily cranking into gear…

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Warning: Contains some mild spoilers for the previous book, The Lost Hero.

First, a brief reminder of where this book stands among Rick Riordan‘s collection of YA novels: it is the second book in the HEROES OF OLYMPUS five-part series, which itself is the sequel series to the original PERCY JACKSON books. Suffice to say, if you’re unfamiliar with the stories published before this one, you’re likely to be hopelessly lost in understanding what’s happening here.

To Hold the Bridge: An inventive and engaging collection of short-stories

To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix

This is not the first time Garth Nix (or at least his publisher) has released an anthology like this one: a short story collection that heavily emphasizes the inclusion of a brand new tale set within the Old Kingdom (the setting of his most famous works: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen and the recent Clariel) but which also contains an eclectic assortment of unrelated stories.

The last anthology was called Across the Wall,

The Monster’s Ring: A quick and breezy Halloween tale

The Monster’s Ring by Bruce Coville

Note: This book is titled Russell Troy, Monster Boy in some markets.

For kids that are too young for the complexity of the HARRY POTTER series, and yet still interested in fantasy stories, Bruce Coville‘s MAGIC SHOP books might be the thing to hook them up with. Five in total, each one revolves around a simple premise: a young child with the usual kid problems (home trouble, bullies, crushes, angry teachers,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
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