Posted by Katie Burton | Mar 26, 2020 | SFF Reviews | 9
Reposting to include Rebecca’s review of the new reprint edition. Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan Sherryl Jordan is a New Zealand-based author of young adult and children’s fantasy fiction. In Winter of Fire (1993) she tells the story of Elsha, a sixteen year old girl born into the enslaved underclass called the Quelled. As the […]
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Posted by Kat Hooper | Dec 5, 2019 | SFF Reviews | 2
Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon by Lisa Goldstein Alice Wood, a recently widowed middle-aged woman, is continuing her husband’s bookselling business in his stall in the courtyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Though Alice is liked by the other vendors in the courtyard, most think that, as a woman, she’s not equipped to run […]
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Posted by Kelly Lasiter | Aug 30, 2019 | SFF Reviews | 7
The Porcelain Dove by Delia Sherman Years ago, I got into “fantasies of manners” at about the same time as I was going through a big Revolutionary France phase. When I heard about Delia Sherman’s The Porcelain Dove (1993) — a fantasy set in that time period, and which won the Mythopoeic Award for 1994 […]
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Posted by Kat Hooper | Feb 6, 2019 | SFF Reviews | 3
The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove David Fisher is an inspector for the Environmental Perfection Agency (EPA), a bureaucracy in charge of regulating the industrial by-products (pollution) caused by using magical spells in an alternate America where most of the technology is based on magic or the actions of any deities […]
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Posted by Tadiana Jones | Oct 31, 2017 | SFF Reviews | 9
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny During the entire month of October, in the late 1800s, in a year when the full moon falls on Halloween, strange forces gather in a village outside of London. Various iconic characters ― who will be familiar to fans of Victorian literature and classic horror movies ― […]
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Posted by Kat Hooper | Jun 20, 2016 | SFF Reviews | 0
Down in the Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove Harry Turtledove is known best for his alternate histories. In Down in the Bottomlands, a novella which won the Hugo Award, Turtledove goes with the premise that the Atlantic Ocean did not re-fill the dried-up Mediterranean Sea during the Miocene period. The sea basin becomes a desert, and […]
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Posted by João Eira | May 13, 2016 | SFF Reviews | 1
Permutation City by Greg Egan What would you give in exchange for immortality? Greg Egan‘s unabashed answer to that question in Permutation City is simple: Your humanity. Its sounds cliché, but Permutation City is a book that is able to do what only the best science fiction books can: make you think of questions you […]
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Posted by Jesse Hudson | Mar 9, 2016 | SFF Reviews | 3
Against a Dark Background by Iain Banks Despite being Iain M. Banks’ fifth published work of science fiction, Against a Dark Background has all the feel of being the author’s fledgling effort in the genre. Overwritten, narrative fragmented in inconsistent fashion, and plot devices and storytelling all rather overt, the book is good if you’re […]
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Posted by Stuart Starosta | Apr 8, 2015 | SFF Reviews | 1
The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith The universe that Cordwainer Smith created has captured the imagination of many SF fans and authors thanks to the short stories that have been collected in The Instrumentality of Mankind (1974), The Best of Cordwainer Smith (1975), and The Rediscovery of Man (1993). It is without doubt one […]
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Posted by Rob Rhodes | Feb 7, 2010 | SFF Reviews | 0
The Innkeeper’s Song by Peter S. Beagle The Innkeeper’s Songis a one-volume fantasy for mature readers that is by turns (or even simultaneously) lyrical and maddening. Lyrical because much of its language is, in contemporary fantasy, on par with only Patricia McKillip and Guy Gavriel Kay. Maddening because — despite the full-throttle beginning, intricately woven […]
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Posted by Kelly Lasiter | Feb 7, 2009 | SFF Reviews | 0
Deerskin by Robin McKinley Robin McKinley sure knows how to use the English language. We are in her spell from the beginning. Deerskin commences with Lissar’s nurse telling her a fairy tale — but the fairy tale is the story of how Lissar’s larger-than-life parents met. She is told from the very cradle what paragons her […]
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Posted by Rebecca Fisher | Oct 5, 2008 | SFF Reviews | 0
Into the Green by Charles de Lint What a strange little book. That was the first thought that crossed my head after I closed Into the Green. It concerns the adventures of Angharad, a tinker-woman who is also ‘Summerborn’, which means that she has a mystical gift that connects her with the realm of Faerie, […]
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Posted by Rebecca Fisher | Sep 10, 2008 | SFF Reviews | 0
The Rose and the Beast: Nine Fairy Tales by Francesca Lia Block The Rose and the Beast: Nine Fairy Tales was my first look into the writing of Francesca Lia Block, and I was immediately captivated by both her style and tone and her unsurpassable use of imagery, and her ability to make old fairytales […]
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Posted by Rebecca Fisher | May 21, 2008 | SFF Reviews | 0
The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli Donna Jo Napoli’s trademark technique of fleshing out a fairytale is in fine display in The Magic Circle, her retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Napoli’s stories often reveal motivations behind some of the action that takes place in the traditional fairytales, reasoning out some of the fantastic elements […]
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