Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 2003.02

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The Prophet of Yonwood: Why Book 3 of 4 is rarely a prequel

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 […]

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Darknesses: Not great but solid and well-paced

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 […]

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Rebel Angels: Better than first book

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray 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 […]

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RUNAWAYS, vol 2: Teenage Wasteland

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; […]

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Enna Burning: Rather disturbing for a children’s story

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale 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 […]

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Marque and Reprisal: No time to grieve

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 […]

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The Confusion: Best novel in THE BAROQUE CYCLE

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson If Quicksilver, the first book in Neal Stephenson’s BAROQUE CYCLE, focused on events in England and continental Europe during the 17th century, The Confusion is Stephenson taking the time to provide a more global context. Or half of it is. The Confusion combines two novels from the cycle, The Juncto […]

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Year of the Flood: On the Edge

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood [In our “The Edge of the Universe” column we review 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.] It is well documented that SFF readers love trilogies, prequel trilogies, […]

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Hercules: The best of McCaughrean’s retellings

Hercules by Geraldine McCaughrean Geraldine McCaughrean has written four retellings of Greek myths, fleshing out the personalities of various heroes and the circumstances that made them legendary. In her beautiful, fluid prose, McCaughrean hits the perfect balance in presenting the darker aspects of the myths without being either too gratuitous or too prissy. In this […]

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Spook Country: Weakest in Gibson’s Bigend trilogy

Spook Country by William Gibson William Gibson’s Spook Country is set in the same universe as Pattern Recognition, but Hubertus Bigend aside, there is little here that recalls its predecessor. Spook Country is perhaps the weakest entry in Gibson’s Bigend trilogy. Where Pattern Recognition was told from Cayce Pollard’s point of view, Spook Country is […]

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The Golem’s Eye: Good sequel, lacks a bit of the spark

The Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud The Golem’s Eye is a solidly enjoyable if slightly disappointing follow-up to The Amulet of Samarkand, which admittedly set itself a very high standard. The book returns to the same setting and characters first introduced in Samarkand, while expanding upon the first novel with a few new characters, one […]

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Agents of Light and Darkness: Better than Nightside #1

Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green Agents of Light and Darkness, the second book in Simon R. Green‘s Nightside, once again follows the almost always abstruse John Taylor, the private detective who is really good at finding things. In Something From the Nightside we learned that John is a former Nightside badass […]

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The Dragon’s Son: Doesn’t accomplish much

The Dragon’s Son by Margaret Weis This typical middle novel concerns the twin sons born to Melisande: Marcus, the son of the King of Idlyswylde, and Ven (short for Vengeance), the son of the dragon who (in the body of the human Grald) raped her. Most of the book focuses on the development of both […]

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Goddess of Spring: Light romantic fun

Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast I hesitated to read Goddess of Spring. I never did really get into P.C. Cast‘s first novel, Goddess by Mistake, and I love the Persephone myth and didn’t want to be disappointed. But finally I decided to read Goddess of Spring — and liked it! Lina, a baker from […]

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Inkspell: Funke’s best work to date

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke I have to admit that I’ve found Cornelia Funke’s works for the most part to be wonderful concepts whose execution never quite matched their potential. Dragonrider I thought was her most successful work so far, mostly because it didn’t reach quite so high. With Inkspell, however, Funke has finally meshed concept […]

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Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane: Strong followup

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins The Prophecy of Bane continues the strengths displayed in Suzanne Collins‘ first book in the series, Gregor the Overlander. The book moves along quickly and smoothly with few if any slow spots; the major characters, if not minutely detailed, have enough personality and reality to hold […]

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Soul Stealer: Weaker than first book

Soul Stealer by Martin Booth I have tracked down Soul Stealer, but I must confess that my search for the third book in this series will be even more lethargic than the search for this one. Despite a strong beginning, and excellent use of real history and alchemical knowledge in the shaping of his story, […]

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