The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt
[At The Edge of the Universe, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us. Today we have two reviews of A.S. Byatt’s The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.]
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye is a collection of five stories,
November 23rd, 2012. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | A.S. Byatt | Edge, Mythopoeic Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
…Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele
Allen Steele promised himself he’d never write a time-travel story, but nevertheless, here it is. In his introduction to this audio version, he explains that he didn’t want to write about something he thought was impossible, but one of his friends challenged him to write a story that could overcome his own doubts. And thus we have …Where Angels Fear to Tread.
There are two timelines going on in …Where Angels Fear to Tread.
July 7th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Allen Steele | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
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Victor Apfel, a lonely middle-aged veteran of the Korean War, gets a recorded phone call asking him to come to his reclusive neighbor’s house to take care of what he finds there. The voice promises that he’ll be rewarded. Victor would like to ignore the message, but he gets another call every 10 minutes. When Victor arrives at Charles Kluge’s house, he finds Kluge dead and slumped over his computer keyboard, so he calls another neighbor — a computer operator named Hal (har,
May 28th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | John Varley | Audio, Horror, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Can a beast who loves roses so much be so very terrible?
It’s been years since I read and reviewed Robin McKinley’s Beauty, her first rendition of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Despite the book’s popularity, I wasn’t particularly moved by it, and ended my review saying that I was looking forward to experiencing her second retelling of the same story, seeing how an author would approach the same material the second time around.
Well,
March 7th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Robin McKinley | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Garth Nix published Shade’s Children in 1997. Shade’s Children is a complete book, not part of a series. It reads like a really well-made B movie. It isn’t terribly deep, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, just provides a decent action adventure.
In the near future, a cataclysmic “Change” made everyone over the age of fourteen disappear. The children have been captured and live very short lives in Dorms. On their fourteenth birthdays, the Overlords who now rule earth come and take them away to become part of the Meat Factory;
January 14th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Garth Nix | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Howard Pyle is best known as the writer of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, a book that’s widely considered to be the definitive compilation of the Robin Hood ballads into a cohesive whole. Though that’s his most famous work, he also wrote two anthologies of fairytales: Pepper & Salt and The Wonder Clock. This adaptation of Bearskin is from the latter collection, and Pyle’s love of fairytales and legends is apparent,
November 26th, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Howard Pyle | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Retold fairytales, in which the characters and plots of traditional stories are explored in more depth, or told from an unexpected point-of-view, are a dime a dozen these days. But one stands out from the rest, and that is Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, which takes the story of Cinderella and not only provides impetus for many of the nonsensical elements of the original tale, but builds a rich imaginary world around it and makes the titular character one of the best heroines to ever appear in YA novel.
July 29th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Gail Carson Levine | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander
The trademark feature of Lloyd Alexander’s storytelling is to choose a cultural background and weave his own story into the already existing mythology; his most famous example of this is of course The Chronicles of Prydain, in which his own story and characters were melded with the myths and legends of Wales (as found in The Mabinogian). The Iron Ring gets a similar treatment, as worked into the story are elements of The Mahabharata and The Ramayana,
June 18th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…