Jack of Ravens by Mark Chadbourn
I’m one of those people who is a diehard fan of anything Celtic. All you really have to do is say, “Hey, Sarah, this book is obviously inspired by Celtic lore/legend/traditions/etc” and I’m there. So when Pyr emailed me about Mark Chadbourn’s Jack of Ravens, and I saw “Celtic” in the description, I knew I had to read it. Seriously, that’s all it took. Yeah, I’m discerning like that.
Jack of Ravens is a slow burn,
March 16th, 2015. Sarah Chorn | Mark Chadbourn | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire
One of the things that sets Sparrow Hill Road apart from typical ghost stories is the fact that this is told from the ghost’s (Rose) point of view. You’d think that after her tragic death, and after years of being stuck as a teenager wandering the ghost roads, she’d be bitter and angry, but she’s not. Instead, she’s used her (after) life as a sort of second chance. She goes where the wind takes her, eats the food given to her, and borrows the coats people loan her.
March 1st, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4.5 | Seanan McGuire | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams
Happy Hour in Hell is the second novel in Tad Williams’ Bobby Dollar series. While readers might enjoy and appreciate the book more if they read The Dirty Streets of Heaven first, its sequel is one of those books that can be understood and enjoyed on its own merit, too. Happy Hour in Hell is darker than its predecessor, the world expands, Bobby Dollar is a more complex character (while never losing his humorous or cynical edge),
February 21st, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 5 | Tad Williams | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
Tad Williams and I go way back. (Not literally, of course: If I walked up to him on the street, he wouldn’t know who I was.) He was one of the first epic fantasy authors I read and fully enjoyed. I have been an avid Tad Williams fan for years due to the high quality of his work. Understandably, I was champing at the bit to read The Dirty Streets of Heaven, an adult urban fantasy which is completely out of Williams’ epic fantasy zone.
February 11th, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 5 | Tad Williams | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Different Kingdom by Paul Kearney
A Different Kingdom is a reprint of one of Paul Kearney’s first novels, first published in 1993. The good news is that this doesn’t read like an early novel in an illustrious career: it actually reads like something a well-practiced author would produce after a lot of hard work.
A Different Kingdom is set in the picturesque countryside of Ireland and the farm where Michael lives. Alongside this, perhaps on top of it or layered throughout it,
January 30th, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 5 | Paul Kearney | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The young adult genre seems to be moving beyond vampires. They’ve toyed with werewolves for a while, but I think those creatures are being left in the past like their fanged cousins. Now it seems like anyone who really wants to write young adult is going dystopian (thank you, Hunger Games). To be honest with you, I don’t get the thrill with dystopian or after-the-big-catastrophe plots, but whatever. It’s what the public wants, and the authors are delivering. Now, I’m not saying that to gripe,
January 24th, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 2 | Tim Lebbon | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Straits of Galahesh by Bradley Beaulieu
When I picked up Bradley Beaulieu’s The Straits of Galahesh, the second book in his THE LAYS OF ANUSKAYA series, it had been a while since I’d read the first book, The Winds of Khalakovo, so I was worried that I had forgotten many of the story details. But Beaulieu, in his infinite wisdom, put a summary of the first book where a prologue would be. Not only did this refresh my forgetful brain,
January 16th, 2015. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4 | Bradley P. Beaulieu | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee
The Mist-Torn Witches is a book that kind of leaves me torn. In some aspects, it’s a really great fantasy book and in others it just lacks… something. The Mist-Torn Witches is a rather short, fun little murder mystery with some magic thrown in for good measure. It’s the kind of fantasy that is a lot of fun to read, but ends up being not quite so memorable.
The two main protagonists in The Mist-Torn Witches are sisters,
December 24th, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 3 | Barb and J.C. Hendee | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Alternative history stories usually either thrive or fail for me depending on plausibility. The writer can’t just tell me a good yarn, (s)he also needs to be able to fit this yarn into a world I recognize, and make me buy the history. That’s not an easy thing to do. When you take a well-known, often romanticized period of time, and infuse it with magic, that task is even harder.
Thankfully, that’s not a problem that Morden has. I often face the issue of the Middle Ages being a bit too romanticized.
December 3rd, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4 | Simon Morden | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick
The Doctor and the Kid is the second novel in Mike Resnick’s WEIRD WEST TALES. I haven’t read the first book, The Buntline Special, but I could follow the events and characters just fine. The Doctor and the Kid works well as a stand-alone, though I probably would have had more attachment to the characters and the events if I had read The Buntline Special first.
November 26th, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4 | Mike Resnick | 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…