Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
*Note: spoilers for earlier books in the series
Fire Touched, just published on March 8, 2016, is the ninth novel in Patricia Briggs’ MERCY THOMPSON urban fantasy series, and the series is still going strong. In fact, this is one of the stronger entries in the series.
Mercy is relaxing in her home with her husband Adam, the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack. Of course there are all the small day-to-day annoyances: Adam’s ex-wife,
March 8th, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Patricia Briggs | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Here are some of the stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about. This week we continue focusing on 2015 Nebula-nominated short fiction, along with some other stories that caught our attention.
“Madeleine” by Amal El-Mohtar (2015, free on Lightspeed magazine, Kindle magazine issue), nominated for the 2015 Nebula award (short story)
Madeleine is in therapy after the death of her mother from Alzheimer’s. She and her therapist, Clarice, are discussing the loss of her mother and the odd side-effects from a clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s drug that Madeleine has taken part in.
March 7th, 2016. Kate Lechler, Katie Burton, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Amal El-Mohtar, C.S.E. Cooney, Catherynne M. Valente, Greg Bear, Philip Pullman, Sam J. Miller | Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Secret Countess (aka A Countess Below Stairs) by Eva Ibbotson
As a Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer enthusiast, I’m always on the lookout for historical novels in that mold, with manners, a little romance and lots of deliciously witty dialogue. I previously was familiar with Eva Ibbotson solely from her 1994 children’s fantasy The Secret of Platform 13, in which a magical door at Platform 13 of King’s Cross Station in London opens every nine years for a nine-day period,
March 4th, 2016. Tadiana Jones | Eva Ibbotson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Here are some of the stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about. For the next few weeks we’ll be focusing on 2015 Nebula-nominated short fiction.
Waters of Versailles by Kelly Robson (2015, free at Tor.com, $0.99 for Kindle). Nominated for the 2015 Nebula Award (Novella).
Waters of Versailles centres on an unorthodox protagonist in Sylvain de Guilherand. Sylvain is the mastermind behind the water system in Versailles. That is to say,
February 29th, 2016. Skye Walker, Tadiana Jones, Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper | David D. Levine, Jonathan Maberry, Kelly Robson, Naomi Kritzer | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
In Bone Crossed, the fourth installment in the Mercedes Thompson series, Mercy is learning to cope with her new role as the mate of the local werewolf pack while still suffering the effects of a horrific assault that occurred at the climax of Iron Kissed. Complications from inter-species conflicts remain a central theme, and her relationship challenges don’t simply fade away, but Mercy Thompson does not cry mercy.
Patricia Briggs keeps the story moving,
February 25th, 2016. John Hulet, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Patricia Briggs | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“The Deepwater Bride” by Tamsyn Muir (2015, Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine July/August 2015 issue, Kindle)
Sixteen-year-old Hester Blake is having an unconventional summer: octopodes are in the laundry, deep-sea fish keep showing up in a pond, and salty, oily rain falls from the sky. Normal people are worried about global warming, but the Blakes belong to a long line of seers and scribes,
February 22nd, 2016. Jana Nyman, Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones | Brandon Sanderson, Ruthanna Emrys, T. Kingfisher, Tamsyn Muir | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Snow in Summer is Jane Yolen’s middle grade/young adult retelling of Snow White, set in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia in the 1940s. The main character is Snow in Summer, a girl named by her mother after the white Cerastium flowers that carpet their front yard. Her mother dies in childbirth when Summer is seven years old, and her father completely withdraws in his grief, neglecting Summer, who gets along with the help of her mother’s best friend Nancy.
February 22nd, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Jane Yolen | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
I’m not sure what’s been in the air lately, but it seems I’ve been reading a lot of books this past year dealing with reincarnation/being reborn. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is yet another of those, and while it isn’t my favorite of the ones I’ve read with similar ideas (that would be either Life After Life by Kate Atkinson or The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell),
February 22nd, 2016. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Ray McKenzie and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Claire North | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Years ago I read the Wheel of Time series up through book 10. Now it’s late 2008, Robert Jordan has passed on, and we’re expecting the last Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light in about one year. Brandon Sanderson will be writing it with the help of notes and taped messages left by Jordan, and in consultation with Harriet, Jordan’s widow and confidante.
When I read it the first time,
February 18th, 2016. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“One Last, Great Adventure” by Ellen Kushner and Ysabeau S. Wilce (2013, free at Clarkesworld in Nov. 2015 issue, $6.99 for paperback magazine issue)
“One Last, Great Adventure” tells the story of the Hero, who is looking for one last heroic exploit before he retires from hero-ing. He gets a job killing a monster that,
February 15th, 2016. Kate Lechler, Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones | Ellen Kushner, Lord Dunsany, Naomi Novik, Ysabeau S. Wilce | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 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.