B.P.R.D. (Vol. 4): The Dead by Mike Mignola (writer), John Arcudi (writer), Guy Davis (artist), Dave Stewart (colors), & Clem Robins (letters)
B.P.R.D.: The Dead is the second main arc of the B.P.R.D. series since the first two volumes were collections of short stories. The Dead advances the plot started in B.P.R.D. (Vol. 2): Plague of Frogs. In this volume, we find out that the frog cults continue to spread, moving quickly and resulting in the deaths of many people.
June 13th, 2020. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Mike Mignola | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Gods of War by Conn Iggulden
Every reader who starts Conn Iggulden’s Emperor: The Gods of War (2006) already knows that in this novel Caesar crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey, meets Cleopatra, and is ultimately betrayed by Marcus Brutus, his best friend. The point of the plot is not what happened but why. Caesar spent his life fighting for the Republic, but he betrayed it. Why? Brutus spent his life fighting for Caesar but chose to murder him. Why? The Gods of War should not work as a novel if it does not excel at character development.
August 8th, 2017. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Conn Iggulden | Edge | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson
Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the previous books in the QUEEN BETSY series.
Undead and Unreturnable is the fourth book in MaryJanice Davidson’s QUEEN BETSY series. In the first book, Undead and Unwed, we met Betsy, a shallow fashion-conscious young woman who died and woke up as a vampire. She tries to get back to her normal life, but discovers that the supernatural community expects her to participate.
September 23rd, 2015. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | MaryJanice Davidson | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Reality Bug by D.J. MacHale
The Reality Bug is the fourth novel in D.J. MacHale’s 10-book PENDRAGON series for teens. In each novel, young Bobby Pendragon, a Traveler, visits a different “territory” (world) where he tries to prevent Saint Dane, the evil villain, from causing enough chaos to completely destroy the multiverse.
This time Bobby is summoned to the territory of Veelox, which seems peaceful at first. Then he learns that Veelox is quiet because 90% of its population is plugged into a computer simulation that allows them to control and play out all their fantasies.
April 6th, 2015. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | D.J. MacHale | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
City of Secrets by Mary Hoffman
It’s Always Somehow Connected to the di Chimici…
City of Secrets is the fourth book in Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza series, but by this stage they’re wearing a little thin. They’re still very well written, but the freshness and originality of the first couple of books are long gone and what’s left is just formulaic.
The concept itself is great and somewhat reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
July 7th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Mary Hoffman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black
The first collection of short stories by author Holly Black, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories is dark, gorgeous, and emotionally compelling. Ranging from longer stories to short little character sketches, Black has created a handful of settings and characters that will live on in memory long after you close this slim volume. Holly Black manages to evoke an incredibly detailed world with a spare prose that conveys the static crackle of a remote video feed,
January 25th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Holly Black | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crack’d Pot Trail by Steven Erikson
Crack’d Pot Trail is the fourth of Steven Erikson’s Malazan novellas following the exploits of Korbal Broach and Bauchelain, a pair of sinister necromancers whose dark side is often thrown into a grayer cast due to their situational context and the characters (often allegedly “purer” or “better”) that surround them. As with the earlier novellas, Erikson lightens up on the dense worldbuilding, labyrinthine layered plots, and casts of thousands of the larger series to focus on,
January 2nd, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Born Queen is the concluding (and how often do we get to say that when reviewing a fantasy novel?) book in Greg Keyes’ four-book series, Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. And it does actually conclude the series without any sort of sly wink-wink, nod-nod to a new series rising like the undead from the killed-off plot. For that alone, he should be given lots of credit, along with actually finishing a series in a decent amount of time and space.
March 28th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3.5 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Druid’s Sword by Sara Douglass
I’ve been following this series for years, reading each new book avidly as the storyline and the relationships became deeper, richer, more complicated. I couldn’t wait to see what sort of denouement Sara Douglass had in store for The Troy Game.
I was particularly interested in what would become of Cornelia/Caela/Noah and her troubled bond with Brutus. I would have been satisfied with either of two possible endings:
(a) A redeemed Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness, and she forgives him.
(b) Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness,
October 2nd, 2007. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1 | Sara Douglass | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…