Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Ryan Skardal

The Drowned Cities: Brings weighty concerns to a YA audience

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

The oceans have swallowed the world’s coastlines. Although the Chinese have adapted to the new world – they have even built “Island Shanghai” – the American state has drowned beneath the rising tides. Now, only tattered American flags and decrepit skyscrapers remain on the coast, and the American government is a thing of the past. In spite of past efforts made by Chinese peacekeepers, adolescent refugees Mahlia and Mouse now live in the “Drowned Cities,” struggling to survive amidst competing scavengers, criminals, and warlords.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Drowned Cities is the sequel to Ship Breaker,

Making Money: Not as good as Going Postal

Making Money by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s Making Money is the thirty sixth Discworld novel, and the second to feature Moist von Lipwig as its hero. Traditionalists will point out that Moist is not very heroic. In fact, he is a conman. Then again, in a city led by an assassin, perhaps a conman is the perfect candidate to run an institution like the Post Office. That was the premise of Going Postal, which introduced us to Moist.

August 27th, 2012. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Going Postal: Learning how to hope

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

When searching for a strong conflict to anchor a story, most fantasy authors rely on dragons, invading hordes of orcs, and universe-ending supernatural beings and phenomena. In Going Postal, Terry Pratchett tries to save Ankh-Morpork’s post office.

Oddly, by aiming lower – just saving the post office? – I felt that Pratchett had taken more of a gamble than his more bombastic peers. Then again, Going Postal is the thirty-third novel in Pratchett’s spectacularly successful DISCWORLD series,

August 25th, 2012. Ryan Skardal and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 5 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Confusion: Best novel in THE BAROQUE CYCLE

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

If Quicksilver, the first book in Neal Stephenson’s BAROQUE CYCLE, focused on events in England and continental Europe during the 17th century, The Confusion is Stephenson taking the time to provide a more global context. Or half of it is. The Confusion combines two novels from the cycle, The Juncto and Bonanza. The Juncto follows Eliza’s exploits in Europe,

August 21st, 2012. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | Neal Stephenson | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Further: Beyond the Threshold

Further: Beyond the Threshold by Chris Roberson

Some premises are so great that authors can’t resist trying them out again. In Further: Beyond the Threshold, Chris Roberson tries his hand at Charlton Heston waking up from cryogenic sleep in the distant future. Well, actually, our hero is Captain Ramachandra Jason Stone, who left earth in the 22nd century to journey to Alpha Centauri B. He wakes up over ten thousand years later, when Further begins.

Roberson is aware of the connections between his work and his predecessors,

Ether Frolics: Nine Tales from the Etheric Explorers Club

Ether Frolics: Nine Tales from the Etheric Explorers Club by Paul Marlowe

The motto of Etheric Explorers Club, translated from the Greek, is “to seek, to discover, to return home.” These explorers dedicate themselves to investigating the ways in which the spirit world touches the physical world. Unfortunately for the explorers, most of these meetings between the spiritual and the physical are dangerous.

Paul Marlowe’s Ether Frolics is a collection of short stories that provide accounts of the explorations of the ether since the end of the Victorian era.

Giant Thief: An amusing rogue’s tale

Giant Thief by David Tallerman

Easie Damasco is caught stealing and sent to war. He manages to escape, taking a giant named Saltlick and some other items with him, mostly out of habit since he is a thief by trade. Unfortunately, Easie does not realize the full significance of the items he has stolen, and he is forced to run for his life. Fortunately, he hadn’t intended to fight in the battle anyway.

David Tallerman’s Giant Thief is an amusing rogue’s tale, and Easie is just the sort of hero that one might expect from a rogue’s tale: clever and not above bending the rules and the truth to get ahead.

Against the Light: Promising premise, slow plot

Against the Light by Dave Duncan

The forces of the Earth Mother are being oppressed by the Hierarchy, which is guided by the light, in Dave Duncan’s Against the Light. The Children of the Mother are being hunted down and taken into custody where they are tortured by dungeon masters that recall the Spanish Inquisition. Sadly, as Rollo Woodbridge finds out, the Hierarchy has many weapons in addition to surprise in their arsenal. Against such determined zealots, how can Children of the Mother survive?

Snow Crash: Required reading for cyberpunk and speculative fiction fans

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Readers considering whether they should read Neal Stephenson’s breakthrough novel, Snow Crash, would do well to read the novel’s opening chapters about the Deliverator. Rarely has a sales pitch been so blatantly — and so masterfully — launched at the start of a novel. Even James Bond must envy such a rich opening gambit.

For some readers, the remainder of Snow Crash will not live up to the pacing of the opening sequence.

Hull Zero Three: A science fiction thriller with a touch of horror

Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear

Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three is a science fiction thriller with a touch of horror thrown in for good measure.

The novel starts quickly with a spaceship arriving at a distant planet. A man wakes suddenly, naked, and tries to figure out where he is. He can remember sleeping and dreaming, and the memories of those dreams remain. He otherwise knows very little about himself, aside from the names of his organs, and how he has come to be where he is.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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