Joust by Mercedes Lackey Vetch’s family used to own land in Alta, but when they were invaded and occupied by Tia, Vetch’s father was killed and the rest of his family became serfs. Vetch, who was taken away from his mother and sisters, is now the servant of a horrible fat and lazy man who’s […]
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Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn Dragon and Thief (2003, issued in trade paperback in 2016) blends dragons and space opera in an exciting middle grade science fictional adventure. The dragon in the title is Draycos, a warrior-poet of an alien species called the K’da, who are able to shift from a three-dimensional being to […]
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The Weavers of Saramyr by Chris Wooding Chris Wooding has once again branched out and attacked another flavour of fantasy. This time the story brings the reader a sophisticated beginning to what promises to be a mysterious, cutthroat, and complex trilogy: THE BRAIDED PATH. Both the physical and social settings are richly described and beautifully […]
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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood In Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood details an apocalyptic plague, introduces a new species of creatures that have been genetically designed to replace humanity, and the villain is a mad scientist in love. What could be more “SFF” than Oryx and Crake? Quite a lot, according to Margaret Atwood, who prefers […]
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Time’s Eye by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter Action, you say? Science!? Characters in 3D!?? But wait… there’s more! How about an ancient battle-royale between Alexander the Great and his army vs. Genghis Khan and his Mongolian horde? Oh yes, sci-fi power couple Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have all that and more in the […]
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Supreme Power (Vol. 1): Contact by J. Michael Straczynski I guess you could consider J. Michael Straczynski’s Supreme Power the bastard child (or perhaps grandchild) of books like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in which the four-colour superheroes of old get a more ‘realistic’ make-over and are shown for […]
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The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau Long ago, the Builders created Ember, an underground city. The Builders only intended for the people of Ember to stay underground for two hundred years, but, due to a slight wrinkle in the Builders’ plans, the people of Ember have stayed underground far longer than two hundred years. […]
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Legacies by L.E. Modesitt Jr Alucius lives in the land of Corus which used to be ruled by a great civilization until some sort of cataclysm occurred. Now the continent is divided into several countries that are on the verge of war. Alucius, who we see grow from a young boy to a young man, […]
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Runaways: Pride & Joy by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Adrian Alphona (pencils) What do you do when you find out your parents aren’t who you thought they were? Brian K. Vaughan deals with ages-old drama of teenagers confronting the fallibility of their parents in an interesting and exciting way. Though most of us have never […]
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Fast Times at Fairmont High by Vernor Vinge Juan is an eighth grader in a near-future San Diego. Final exams have arrived and Juan and his friends are under a lot of pressure to perform well because those who don’t keep up in this fast-moving information-driven virtual-reality society are left behind. That’s what happened to […]
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Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon “Of course we didn’t do autopsies. We know exactly what killed them — I killed them!” Kylara Vatta, daughter of the head of the most prestigious shipping empire in the universe, didn’t want to follow in her family’s footsteps — trading is boring and Ky wants adventure and her […]
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There will be Dragons by John Ringo The premise of There Will Be Dragons is interesting, the kind of premise that made me want to read the book just to see where John Ringo would go with it. Ringo paints a unique, utopian world with a nearly perfect society. Then, in this perfect world, an apocalypse […]
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Fall of a Kingdom by Hilari Bell Let the two of us end this war… Fall of a Kingdomis the first book in the FARSALA trilogy, followed by Rise of a Hero and Forging the Sword, all set in a pseudo-Arabian land called Farsala which is attempting to resist the invasion of an ever-growing empire […]
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Prince of Ayodhya by Ashok K. Banker I don’t know exactly why Prince of Ayodhya failed to satisfy me. Ashok K. Banker has achieved a modern retelling of the Hindu mythic cycle, the Ramayana. I’m a sucker for mythology. Banker is a competent writer and some of his descriptions are beautiful. He clearly knows his […]
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The Dragon of Doom by Bruce Coville When Moongobble the magician moves to town, Edward is eager to become his new apprentice. It turns out, though, that Moongobble isn’t much of a magician after all — every time he tries a spell, he ends up turning something into cheese. In fact, he’s about to lose […]
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Holder of Lightning by S.L. Farrell Holder of Lightning is the first book of S.L. Farrell’s Cloudmages trilogy. The story takes place in a well-imagined Celtic world and there is plenty of action, particularly in the last third, where Farrell is putting things in place for a multi-generational saga. Jenna Aoire is a simple village […]
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Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter There have been some great animal stories written for children. Brian Jacques’s Redwall series invested woodland creatures with a valor and camaraderie straight out of Tolkien, and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows charmed with its odd blend of comedy and bittersweet nostalgia. E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web […]
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A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray Gemma Doyle grew up in India, but after her mother commits suicide and her father becomes a laudanum addict, she’s sent to a finishing school in England. This is Victorian England, so at Spence Academy Gemma will be instilled with “grace, charm, and beauty” as she learns […]
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The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale As the oldest child of the King and Queen, Crown Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee (Ani) is being groomed for the throne of Kildenree. Much to her mother’s disappointment, though, Ani doesn’t seem to be leadership material. She doesn’t have the ability to persuade and motivate people like her mother […]
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The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick The “Dead Days” are what author Marcus Sedgwick calls the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day, on account of their quiet, mysterious atmosphere; an idea drawn from various mythologies that hold that certain days of the year mark the time when doors to the spirit world […]
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Perseus by Geraldine McCaughrean There are probably much shorter retellings of this hero-story, and there are probably quite a few longer ones — but if you wish to avoid the simplicity of a picture book and the long-windedness of an epic, then I don’t think you’d find any reason to complain about Geraldine McCaughrean‘s version […]
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Pattern Recognition William Gibson William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition was published in 2003 and it marks the first of what has come to be known as the Bigend trilogy, a series of three novels united by a background character, Hubertus Bigend. Cayce (pronounced like ‘case’) Pollard is a marketing consultant who is highly sensitive to corporate […]
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Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson [The audiobook contains Book 1 of the print edition of the Quicksilver omnibus. Book 2 is King of the Vagabonds. Book 3 is Odalisque.] I’m a scientist by profession and I love history. Thus, I’m fascinated by the history of science, especially the era of Isaac Newton et al. So, Neal […]
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The Capture by Kathryn Lasky In anticipation of the upcoming movie based on Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, Scholastic has re-released the first book in the series, The Capture. Being an owl fan, I of course had to give it a try! Lasky is clearly following in Richard Adams’ footsteps here, what with her […]
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The Portable Door by Tom Holt I’ve come late to the Tom Holt party, but I’m glad I finally made it. The Portable Door is the first book of his that I have read and I definitely intend to try more. The Portable Door is the story of Paul Carpenter, who takes a mysterious job […]
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