World’s End is the first book in British fantasy author’s Mark Chadbourn AGE OF MISRULE trilogy. The novel was originally released in the UK in 1999, and has been re-released in the US by Pyr in 2009.
World’s End can probably best be categorized as dark contemporary fantasy. The setting is England, in more or less the present day. Jack Churchill (“Church”) lives in London and is trying to cope with the apparent suicide of his girlfriend Marianne.
January 6th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Justin Blazier | Mark Chadbourn | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts
At the start of To Ride Hell’s Chasm, an outstanding standalone fantasy by Janny Wurts, Princess Anja of the tiny isolated kingdom of Sessalie has gone missing on the eve of the ceremony for her betrothal to the Crown Prince of Devall. Since Anja is beloved by her people, and the alliance with Devall represents potentially big trade increases, it doesn’t take long for many people to be involved in the search, from Mykkael, a foreign-born former mercenary now in charge of the city’s garrison,
December 22nd, 2009. Stefan Raets, Greg Hersom and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Janny Wurts | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
The first thing that strikes you about Palimpsest is the gorgeous prose. Every sentence is crafted with the utmost care, resulting in a novel that almost reads like poetry. It simply begs to be read out loud. I’ve read many books that attempt this kind of lush prose, but Palimpsest is one of the most successful and most beautiful.
Palimpsest is a sexually transmitted city. People who have been there have a small tattoo — a piece of the city’s map — somewhere on their body.
December 21st, 2009. Stefan Raets, Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5, 4.5, 5 | Catherynne M. Valente | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Warhost of Vastmark by Janny Wurts
Warhost of Vastmark by Janny Wurts takes up directly where The Ships of Merior left off. The two books are definitely meant to be read back to back — together they comprise Arc 2 of the author’s THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW series, and some editions actually combine both of them in one cover.
It’s hard to give many details of the story without throwing in spoilers for The Ships of Merior,
December 20th, 2009. Stefan Raets and Greg Hersom´s rating: 5 | Janny Wurts | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Remember those episodes of Matlock in which someone is arrested for a crime, but during the investigation it turns out that the arrest was really just a front for a much larger intrigue? Steven Brust‘s newest VLAD TALTOS novel Iorich is sort of like that — except the person who is arrested is Aliera e’Kieron, and the larger intrigue involves Empress Zerika of the Dragaeran Empire. Oh, and Matlock’s role is played by Vlad Taltos, human assassin and bon-vivant,
December 18th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Steven Brust | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Not Less Than Gods by Kage Baker
Your reaction to the announcement of Not Less Than Gods by consistently excellent SF and fantasy author Kage Baker will probably depend to a large extent on how familiar you are with her The Company series. If you haven’t read any of the Company novels or collections, the story of the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society (GSS) and one of its operatives, Edward Alton Fairfax-Bell, sounds like an interesting and entertaining steampunk novel. However, if you’re familiar with the Company series,
December 16th, 2009. Stefan Raets and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4 | Kage Baker | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Nightchild is officially the third book in the CHRONICLES OF THE RAVEN trilogy by British fantasy author James Barclay, but it feels like a completely separate novel from Dawnthief and Nightchild, which were so strongly connected that they could have been published as one long story, with book 2 picking up right where book 1 left off. Nightchild, by contrast, starts 5 years after the end of the previous book,
November 20th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3 | James Barclay | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce
Reviewing Graham Joyce for fantasy readers can be tricky, because his novels are often firmly set in our contemporary reality, with only minor fantasy elements. In addition, those fantasy elements are often only visible to the narrator of the novel, creating the impression that they may be figments of the narrator’s imagination. Regardless of the fact that Graham Joyce has won a handful of British Fantasy Awards, you could label his books as magical realism,
November 18th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4.5 | Graham Joyce | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
All the Windwracked Stars is the first book in the EDDA OF BURDENS trilogy by fantasy and SF author Elizabeth Bear. The novel is a very original blend of fantasy, science fiction, steampunk and mythology, and while it has some weaknesses, its originality sets it apart in a genre that’s all too often filled with cookie-cutter material.
Surprisingly, All the Windwracked Stars actually begins with Ragnarok, the final battle between the Children of the Light and the Tarnished.
November 13th, 2009. Stefan Raets and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
In Between is a novella by R.A. MacAvoy about Ewen Young, a Chinese-American painter who early in the story is held up by three gangsters — a threat to his uncle who apparently is behind on some gambling debts. Ewen is a fascinating character who seems to have some latent psychic powers… something that becomes more and more apparent as the story develops.
In Between is one of those novellas that feels and reads like a really tightly compressed novel (as opposed to,
November 11th, 2009. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3 | R.A. MacAvoy | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.