Archenemies (2018) is the second installment in the popular YA trilogy RENEGADES, by Marissa Meyer. The story revolves around a team of superheroes who police Gatlon City against crime. In Gatlon, superhuman powers abound and their possessors have polarized int two antagonistic groups — The Renegades and The Anarchists. With names like that, you may have a difficult time knowing which are the good guys and which are the bad — and that’s kind of the point.
February 13th, 2019. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 0.1 | Marissa Meyer | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Kingdom of Exiles by S.B. Nova
Here we have the tale of Serena Smith, blacksmith’s daughter exiled from her puritan-like settlement and then kidnapped by fairies and sold in the Kingdom of Aldar, which has much worse political problems than the oppressive community from which she’s taken. The difference is, she finds a way of making a difference — a thing she could not do in her human home.
I feel like this kind of fairy story is a bit at war with itself. Kingdom of Exiles (2017) bills as a feminist tale and means to make Serena fierce and self-actualizing,
January 14th, 2019. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 2 | S.B. Nova | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Legendary (2018) is the second novel in the CARAVAL trilogy. The third novel, Finale, is due out in May of 2019. I entered this series midstream, after sisters Donatella (Tella) and Scarlet have escaped their father’s controlling grip and freed themselves from the hold of their first Caraval competition. Now Tella is about to dive back into the stream for the sake of a debt she incurred in Caraval.
December 4th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 0.1 | Stephanie Garber | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Let’s get this out of the way early. Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver (2018) is not perfect. It’s a little overlong, with a bit of a pacing issue about two-thirds of the way through. Beyond that, other problems include … no, wait. I forgot. There are no other problems. And I lifted up each and every page to check under them. Zip. Nada. Nothing. So yeah, the biggest problem with Spinning Silver is kind of like the problem you have when the waiter brings out your chocolate cake dessert,
November 9th, 2018. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Taya Okerlund and Nathan Okerlund´s rating: 5 | Naomi Novik | Locus Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne
Livia Blackburne’s second novel in the ROSEMARKED duology, Umbertouched (2018) follows the story of plague-infected Zivah and -recovered Dineas as they escape imperial quarantine to return to their tribe and village, prepare them for imperial attack, and try to widely expose the rogue physician who had used the plague to deliberately infect imperial troops.
Tension between Dineas and Zivah remains consistent and credible, despite Zivah’s having restored his memory. Zivah feels guilt for the lingering negative impact of the treatment and psychological burden of having,
November 2nd, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3 | Livia Blackburne | Young Adult | Giveaway!, SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Wizard’s Daughter by Jeff Minerd
This YA novel is a steampunk adventure filled with deft airship handling, daring mid-air rescues, and the dauntless search for long-estranged family ties.
The Wizard’s Daughter (2018) is the second book in the SKY RIDERS OF ETHERIUM series, and I haven’t read the first, The Sailweaver’s Son, but nevertheless found this book a perfectly accessible entry point into the series. Our narrative follows Brieze, the adopted/apprenticed daughter of a wizard resident within the west-lying Kingdom of Spire.
October 5th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Jeff Minerd | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms edited by Ellen Campbell & Patrice Fitzgerald
Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms (2018) is a space opera anthology released by Astral Books. I don’t know whether the realms in question are really unimagined. In some places they are pretty dimly lit.
A Lunar colony’s aroma of baking bread did enter into the narrative in “The Art of Baking Bread on the Moon” by David Bruns. Ah, fresh bread! But again, that’s more nostalgic.
My favorite story by some distance was “Adagio for Tiamat Station,” by Marion Deeds,
September 19th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A warm welcome to Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, co authors of the July 17 released fairytale farce extraordinaire Kill the Farm Boy. Kevin kindly returns to the FanLit interview seat where we’ve spoken to him in the past about his fabulous IRON DRUID series.
Taya: Tell us about the genesis of Kill the Farm Boy. Whose idea was the premise and how did it evolve?
Kevin: Delilah and I were in the Dallas airport after a signing and killing time before our flights in a seedy barbecue joint.
August 28th, 2018. Taya Okerlund | Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne | Author Interviews | 2 comments |
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
I’d wanted to read Jonathan Renshaw’s 2015 self-pub Kindle Unlimited enrollee for several months. Dawn of Wonder sports upwards of 3700 Amazon reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars — a rare feat for any well-established author, much less a self-publishing up-start. But it’s also a whopping 710 pages long, so you see my hesitation.
But enough wind-up. I read it.
The first sixth of the novel gripped me. Thirma peasant Aedan of Misty Vales lives in a medieval world of war and political intrigue,
July 10th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 4 | Jonathan Renshaw | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe
Sufficiently Advanced Magic (2017) took 2nd place in SPFBO 3, which wrapped up last week. The book is a strong addition to the highly popularized LitRPG subgenre, though Rowe avows it is not strictly LitRPG. I am not a follower of the subgenre, but this book has enjoyed such runaway popularity over the past year, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Introducing Corin Cadence, resident of a world where people can earn magical enchantments by progressing through magic towers where they encounter tests of strength,
June 18th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Andrew Rowe | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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…
this sounds like a fun one