What would it be like if Neanderthals had become the dominant race of humans on the planet? Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer explores that very idea. This book follows a brilliant Neanderthal physicist named Ponter Boddet. Ponter and his partner, while working on experimental quantum computers, accidently open a bridge between universes. The bridge leads to the world we (Homo sapiens sapiens) currently reside in. Ponter fell into our world accidently and has now become stranded here.
April 9th, 2012. Justin Blazier and Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon might well remind readers of the Arabian Nights, given that it’s the first thing mentioned by the publishers when advertising Ahmed’s debut fantasy novel. They could also mention that it offers almost everything readers tend to expect from the genre.
Dr. Adoulla Makhslood is a ghul hunter, one of the last of his kind. The magic system he employs relies on vials that he throws at ghuls,
April 3rd, 2012. Ryan Skardal, Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Saladin Ahmed | Audio | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
Robert Charles Wilson’s novel Julian Comstock is set in a vastly changed 22nd-century USA — after the end of the age of oil and atheism has resulted in disaster. Technology is mostly back to pre-20th century levels, and the population has been vastly reduced due to social upheaval and disease. Society has become fully class-based, divided into a Eupatridian aristocracy, middle-class lease-men, and indentured servants. The country — which now stretches across most of the North American continent — is involved in a lengthy and brutal war with the Dutch over control of the recently opened Northwest Passage.
January 25th, 2012. Stefan Raets and Ryan Skardal | Robert Charles Wilson | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
City of Light & Shadow by Ian Whates
Ian Whates’ City of Light & Shadow is the third novel in the CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS series. The series title refers to Thaiburley, a city of rows built on top of each other. The lowest rows are plagued by gang violence while the well-intentioned leaders at the Heights do their best to keep order. The previous novel, City of Hope & Despair, relied on its supporting cast of assassins and gang leaders to drive the plot forward.
December 27th, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Ian Whates | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
In his “Note to the Reader” at the start of Anathem, Neal Stephenson writes “if you are accustomed to reading works of speculative fiction and enjoy puzzling things out on your own, skip this Note.” My advice is this: Don’t skip the Note. In spite of years of speculative fiction reading, I found myself constantly referring to the novel’s chronology and glossary, not to mention online summaries and Stephenson’s acknowledgements page.
Here’s why. Our narrator, Fraa Erasmus,
December 22nd, 2011. Ryan Skardal and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 0.1, 4.5 | Neal Stephenson | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 15 comments |
In our Edge of the Universe column we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
In his introduction to Micro, Michael Crichton explains that children today are “cut off from the experience of nature, and from play in the natural world.” Crichton’s purpose, it would seem, is to take the seemingly mundane world and reveal the wonderful details that don’t make it onto Wikipedia and computer models.
December 2nd, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Michael Crichton | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
In our Edge of the Universe column we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
It’s difficult to talk about Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, though not because the novel’s plot and characters are especially complex. They aren’t.
Alan Grant is a paleontologist who is asked to vet a new theme park that has brought dinosaurs back to life.
November 25th, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Michael Crichton | Edge | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World begins in Murakami’s “hard-boiled wonderland.” This wonderland is postmodern territory: our disaffected hero is in an elevator that is moving so slowly that “all sense of direction simply vanished.” Murakami finds a nexus between the detective story,
November 18th, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Haruki Murakami | Edge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Howl’s Moving Castle is a book that is very easy to love. Diana Wynne Jones is a consistently entertaining author, and her prose seldom fails to be enticing and comfortable as settling into a favorite armchair, even when opening one of her books for the first time. What is perhaps even more impressive is that it’s generally very hard to discern any effort beneath the workings. Jones almost gives the impression that she writes at perfect ease, never agonizing but instead kicking back and letting the words flow in an uninterrupted,
November 11th, 2011. Tim Scheidler, Tadiana Jones, Rebecca Fisher, Ryan Skardal and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is a highly acclaimed graphic novel about immigration. There are no words in this graphic novel, allowing Tan to rely entirely on images to reveal the doubts and conflicts that his characters face. On his website, Tan explains that:
“In ‘The Arrival’, the absence of any written description also plants the reader more firmly in the shoes of an immigrant character. There is no guidance as to how the images might be interpreted,
November 4th, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | Shaun Tan | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
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…