Alta (2004), the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s DRAGON JOUSTERS quartet, starts where Joust left off. Vetch, formerly a slave and more recently a “dragon boy” in the land of his enemies, has escaped with the dragon he raised from an egg. They are now in Alta, the land of his birth, which has been occupied by Tia, the land he just escaped from.
Vetch (now called by his real name,
April 16th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Supreme Power (Vol. 2): Powers and Principalities by J. Michael Straczynski
In this volume, the shinola hits the fanola. Turns out alien superbeings don’t like being lied to or manipulated in the way they were raised . . . Who knew?! In Powers and Principalities, the second volume of Supreme Power, Hyperion now knows that the government sponsored fiasco that he calls his childhood was all just a scam so the U.S. of A. could have a super-weapon in its back pocket.
January 24th, 2015. Terry Lago´s rating: 3 | J. Michael Straczynski | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau
Nickie is eleven years old when her aunt Crystal takes her to Yonwood, North Carolina. Their family has inherited a mansion, Greenhaven, from Nickie’s great-grandfather, and while Nickie loves the old building, Crystal is determined to sell it and get back to Philadelphia as soon as possible.
We see the house through Nickie’s eyes, and it is full of neat things, including her great-grandfather’s journals. Nickie also finds Amanda Stokes, who had cared for Nickie’s great-grandfather but who now has nowhere else to go.
January 16th, 2015. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Jeanne DuPrau | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
Lina and Doon have led their people out from the subterranean city of Ember. Now, they encounter a world full of dazzling new things like birds, sunlight, and trees. For all its wonder, Lina and Doon have not entered a world of plenty. The humans before largely destroyed the world with their weapons and their insatiable need for revenge. Doon and Lina lead the wandering Emberites in search of a new home.
December 9th, 2014. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Jeanne DuPrau | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt Jr
First off, though this does stand as in independent story in what is called THE COREAN CHRONICLES, it will make a lot more sense to you and you’ll be a lot more invested in the characters if you read the first book ahead of time. Darknesses returns to the same main character, Alucius, who remains as in the first a reluctant soldier caught up in battles and politics he’d rather not wage, preferring to set down his sword and his strange Talent and return home to be a herder with his new wife.
October 31st, 2014. Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Rebel Angels is the second volume in Libba Bray’s trilogy about Gemma Doyle, a teenage girl who attends a finishing school in Victorian England. The magic she inherited from her mother, a member of the secretive Order, allows her to enter the Realms, a beautiful fantasy world where she is able to control her surroundings. In the first volume, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma arrives at school after her mother’s death and deals with all the usual things you’d expect to find in a YA novel about a boarding school.
October 14th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Libba Bray | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Runaways: Teenage Wasteland by Brian K. Vaughan
Almost every teenager has a point where he or she decides that parents are either evil, or the lackeys of evil. In the case of six young people in Marvel’s RUNAWAYS, they discover to their shock that their parents truly are, and not just garden variety evil, either; the parents are costumed super-villains. At the end of the first volume of this comic book series collection, the Runaways have gathered information and weapons, and have gone into hiding in a secret hideout.
April 25th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Brian K. Vaughan | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Enna Burning is one of Shannon Hale’s BAYERN books — a set of four “companion” books set in the fictional country of Bayern. Each book can stand alone, but they have overlapping characters. I was glad I had read The Goose Girl, the first BAYERN book, before reading Enna Burning because I was already familiar with the world and its inhabitants.
Readers who’ve read The Goose Girl will remember Enna,
October 4th, 2013. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Shannon Hale | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon
After being kicked out of the officer’s academy, getting dumped by her fiancé, and taking a position as a captain in her father’s shipping empire, Kylara Vatta is not living the life she planned. She barely escaped the events in Trading in Danger and was considering severing ties with Vatta Transportation until tragedy struck. An unknown enemy has declared war on Vatta, bombed their buildings and killed most of the family. But Ky has no time to grieve. The enemy is after her,
March 11th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Elizabeth Moon | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint
From its charming dustcover to the muted two-page illustration at the end, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is a beautiful book that I would love to read with, or to, a child. Charles de Lint and artist Charles Vess form a perfect collaboration here, with a wonderful, magical story for middle readers.
This novel is an expansion of de Lint’s novella, The Circle of Cats. De Lint uses as inspiration many of the Appalachian folk-tales,
March 7th, 2013. Marion Deeds and Ruth Arnell´s rating: 5 | Charles De_Lint | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Steve! And I am very envious of that first edition!
Dang it, I missed out because the giveaway notification subscription *still* isn't working, and you stopped posting Thoughtful Thursday giveaways…
A very informed review. I am pleasantly in possession (right word?) of a Macmillan 1912 1st edition and just read…
I have sent an email to the sonic address. Thank you and have a great week!
John, I access Bluesky on my PC. Since you are the ONLY comment, you win the giveaway. Please contact me…