Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Stefan Raets

Petrodor: Excellent sequel to Sasha

Petrodor by Joel Shepherd

Petrodor picks up shortly after the ending of Sasha, the first novel in Joel Shepherd‘s A Trial of Blood and Steel series. Sashandra Lenayin (Sasha for short) now resides in the Torrovan port city Petrodor, a true hotbed of intrigue with several political factions squaring off against each other. With a brewing Verenthane crusade to retake the Bakosh provinces that are occupied by the serrin, war is in the air, and the tensions between the various camps are threatening to come to a boil: the powerful and rich merchant families,

March 18th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |

By the Mountain Bound: Greg loves it. Stefan doesn’t.

By the Mountain Bound by Elizabeth Bear

The Einherjar and the Waelcyrge are the immortal Children of the Light that were born of the sea when the world was created. For five hundred years, they were charged with protecting the human race and preparing for the war that would one day come. As they anticipated the glory of fighting with honor, it never occurred to them that the final battle would be with each other.

This series, the EDDA OF BURDENS, seems to have gotten somewhat mixed reviews.

March 12th, 2010. Greg Hersom and Stefan Raets´s rating: 2, 5 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Bone and Jewel Creatures: A lovely trifle

Bone and Jewel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear appeared on the scene in 2004 as if she were Athena, sprung fully formed from Zeus’s forehead to be a major player in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Her first project was the science fiction thriller Jenny Casey space opera series beginning with Hammered, but in short order books by Bear began appearing at least every six months. In 2005, she won the John W. Campbell award for Best New Author; in 2008 the Hugo for Best Short Story (“Tideline”);

The Master of Whitestorm: An excellent stand-alone

The Master of Whitestorm by Janny Wurts

As The Master of Whitestorm starts off, Haldeth, a blacksmith turned galley slave, gets involved in an escape attempt by his bench mate, a mysterious and silent man who quickly proves to have surprising skills and hidden depths. After the two companions escape, they strike out together, and the mysterious man, whose name turns out to be Korendir, takes on a number of mercenary missions. It quickly becomes clear that Korendir is, to put it lightly, very focused on gathering enough money to build an impregnable fortress on the cliffs of Whitestorm…

The Sorcerer’s House: Beautifully otherworldly

The Sorcerer’s House by Gene Wolfe

The Sorcerer’s House is a beautifully subtle new novel by master fantasy and SF author Gene Wolfe. The novel’s protagonist is a recently released convict who, seemingly by complete coincidence, comes into possession of an abandoned house. As he moves in, he discovers that the house already has a few odd inhabitants…

A large part of the enjoyment of this novel is the process of discovery, as the protagonist slowly finds out more and more about the odd nature of the house and its inhabitants,

The Last Stormlord: Tremendously entertaining

The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke

Sometimes you find a fantasy novel that’s not extremely original, but is so much plain fun to read that you just can’t help but love it. The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke is one of those books: despite using some recognizable fantasy templates, it’s a great story and a book I found extremely hard to put down.

Whenever the main character in a fantasy novel is poor and young, you can be almost certain that they’re destined for great things later in the book or series.

February 27th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Glenda Larke | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Servant of the Underworld: Highly original debut novel

Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard

Servant of the Underworld by Writers of the Future winner Aliette de Bodard is an interesting and, especially for a debut, well-executed cross-genre novel that successfully combines several disparate elements into an original story.

If ever a novel could be called cross-genre, Servant of the Underworld is it: the story is set in the 15th century Aztec empire (1. historical fiction) but magic and gods are real (2. fantasy). When a priestess is murdered,

February 24th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Terry Weyna´s rating: 3 | Aliette De_Bodard | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Shades of Grey: Fantastic setting, flat characters

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

In the world of Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde‘s newest novel, your social standing is partly decided by your ability to perceive color: most people can only see one color, and some people are more color-sensitive, allowing them to see their color better than others. In this “Colortocracy,” the Greys — who can see no color at all — are the lowest class and little more than serfs, those who are most sensitive to their color become community leaders (or “precepts”),

February 23rd, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Jasper Fforde | SFF Reviews | no comments |

METAtropolis: It’s just maybe something that sucks a little less

METAtropolis edited by John Scalzi

It’s not a utopia. It’s just maybe something that sucks a little less.

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it turns out that all those eco-freaks were right all along. We humans destroyed the planet and now we’ve got to live with the mess we’ve made. Many world governments, including the U.S., have been essentially dismantled and large, mostly independent and self-governing city-states have taken their place.

Under the direction of John Scalzi,

Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy 3: New authors for my watch list!

Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy 3 edited by Kevin Brockmeier

On a hypothetical chart, with high epic fantasy in the vein of J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen Donaldson on one end and (for want of a better term) the magical realism of Gabriel García Marquez and Graham Joyce on the other, the twenty stories in the excellent Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy 3 fall, for the most part, close to or smack on the latter extreme of the scale.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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