Arrow’s Fall by Mercedes Lackey
Arrow’s Fall (1988) is the third and final novel in the first trilogy of Mercedes Lackey’s VALDEMAR saga (THE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR). This trilogy features Talia, a girl who lived in a close-knit conservative rural area who was unexpectedly chosen as the Queen’s Own Herald. In Arrows of the Queen and Arrow’s Flight we watched Talia come to the heralds’ collegium,
July 10th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts
Mistress of the Empire (1989) is the final book in Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts’ EMPIRE TRILOGY. It’s an exciting, emotional, dramatic, and ultimately satisfying end to the story. Please don’t read it before you read Daughter of the Empire and Servant of the Empire. (And please note that this review will contain spoilers for those two previous novels.)
At the end of the second book in the trilogy,
December 21st, 2017. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Janny Wurts, Raymond E. Feist | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This is the third book in Isobelle Carmody‘s THE OBERNEWTYN CHRONICLES, marking the point where the series takes on a truly epic quality. Seriously, this instalment is twice the size of the first volume, and the next one is even larger!
Elspeth Gordie is one of many so-called Misfits that dwell in the safe haven of Obernewtyn, a place where those with psychic abilities (whether they’re telepaths, coercers, beast-speakers or far-seekers) can live in peace and secrecy.
November 30th, 2017. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Isobelle Carmody | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman
Ellen Kushner published Swordspoint in 1987. It gathered a swarm of fans who loved the prose, the magicless world with its glittering veneer and cloak-and-dagger intrigue, and the love story at its center. Readers clamored to know more of steadfast, enigmatic swordsman Richard St.Vier and his lover, the brilliant, neurotic noble Alec Campion.
In 2003, Ellen Kushner, writing with Delia Sherman, published The Fall of the Kings.
October 17th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2 | Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
“Whatever the duke means to do with her, it can’t be anything decent.”
The Privilege of the Sword is Ellen Kushner’s sequel to her novel Swordspoint which was about the doings of the high and low societies in her fictional town of Riverside. The main characters of that novel were the nobleman Alec Tremontaine, a student, and his lover, the famous swordsman Richard St. Vier. You don’t need to read Swordspoint before reading The Privilege of the Sword,
October 6th, 2017. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Ellen Kushner | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders by Hirohiko Araki (An Oxford College Student Review!)
In this column, I feature comic book reviews written by my students at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College is a small liberal arts school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I challenge students to read and interpret comics because I believe sequential art and visual literacy are essential parts of education at any level (see my Manifesto!). I post the best of my students’ reviews in this column. Today, I am proud to present a review by Nicolas Ingle:
Nicolas Ingle is a sophomore at Oxford College of Emory University.
September 23rd, 2017. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Imago by Octavia Butler
Imago (1989) is the third book in Octavia Butler’s XENOGENESIS trilogy. It concludes the story begun with the human woman Lilith in Dawn (1987) and continued with her Oankali-human ‘construct’ son Akin in Adulthood Rites (1988). Imago takes the bold but logical next step by shifting the perspective to Jodahs, an Ooloi-human construct. The Ooloi are the third, gender-less sex of the Oankali, the alien race of ‘gene traders’ that saved the remnants of humanity on the condition that humanity share its DNA with them and be forever transformed in the process.
March 29th, 2016. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Octavia Butler | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Iain M. Banks’s Use of Weapons is the third CULTURE novel. For those not in the know, the Culture is an intergalactic paradise run by its extremely sophisticated machines. Its people are augmented so that they are able to control and enhance every function their body serves. Life in the Culture is pretty great, and so stories are rarely set there.
Fortunately for Banks, things occasionally get a little hairy on the distant edges of the Culture when it is forced to interact with other societies.
March 6th, 2013. Ryan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card
Prentice Alvin is the third book in Orson Scott Card’s TALES OF ALVIN MAKER. After the excitement in the last book, Red Prophet, when Alvin and his family experienced the Battle of Tippecanoe, Alvin is finally off to Hatrack River, where he was born, to begin his apprenticeship to Makepeace Smith, the blacksmith. He’s also hoping that Peggy, the Torch who watches over him, can help him figure out what it means to be a Maker because he’s had a vision of the Crystal City he must build.
November 2nd, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Orson Scott Card | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn by Persia Woolley
Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn is a good book, even though it perpetuates the flaws seen in Persia Woolley’s previous Guinevere Trilogy novels, Child of the Northern Spring and Queen of the Summer Stars. Woolley’s Guinevere still has a habit of distancing herself from the story, briskly rattling off the legendary happenings like an anchorwoman for the Camelot Nightly News; and Woolley’s desire to tell the Arthurian legend without the use of supernatural elements results in cumbersome and byzantine plot devices as the author attempts to explain magical events without the magic.
November 25th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Persia Woolley | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
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…