Wood Sprites (2014) is the fourth installment in Wen Spencer’s ELFHOME series. You’ll want to read the previous books (Tinker, Wolf Who Rules, and Elfhome) first.
Wood Sprites takes a surprising turn—one that, frankly, the series needed. Instead of following Tinker’s storyline, we return to Earth and meet two precocious nine-year-old twins,
February 21st, 2025. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Wen Spencer | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Aerie is the fourth and final book in Mercedes Lackey’s DRAGON JOUSTERS series. This review will spoil some of the plot for the previous three books, Joust, Alta, and Sanctuary, so it’d be best to not read further in this review if you haven’t read those books yet.
I’m convinced that Aerie exists only because Lackey left a thread dangling in the third book,
May 16th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau
When the Roamer, Maggs, drives her carriage into the small town of Sparks, she finds a desperate people with nothing to trade. Sparks used to be reasonably flush for a post-apocalyptic society, but absorbing the refugees from Ember just before winter has used up almost all of its resources. People aren’t starving, but they might be soon. Maggs is about to leave when Doon and Lina spot an old book in her carriage. Doon wants the book, but Maggs has been using the book as fuel for her fires,
February 13th, 2015. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Jeanne DuPrau | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Everyone thinks of Rin as her mother’s shadow. She belongs to a large extended family that all live near each other in the forest and, until recently, Rin has always been her hard-working mother’s helper. She cooks, cleans, fetches the water, helps take care of all the kids, etc. When she needs a little peace, she communes with the trees of the forest. She doesn’t really “speak” with them, but just feels their love and the constant harmony they provide.
But then Rin did something bad and the trees have withdrawn their love.
November 10th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Shannon Hale | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Hex and the City by Simon R. Green
Hex and the City is the fourth novel in Simon R. Green’s NIGHTSIDE series. I’ve been listening to NIGHTSIDE on audio lately because I’ve been doing a lot of home improvements, especially painting, and NIGHTSIDE is such an easy read that I don’t ever have to stop and rewind, which is something you don’t want to do when you’ve got paint all over your hands. Audio readers know what I mean.
In Hex and the City,
May 22nd, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Simon R. Green | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon
Command Decision is the fourth installment in Elizabeth Moon’s VATTA’S WAR series. Things are starting to look up for Kylara Vatta, her cousin Stella, and their Aunt Grace. Ky, who has proven herself a skilled military commander and is gaining respect, still has to deal with a lot of bureaucratic silliness, but she sees more action in this book. Stella has (thankfully) rebounded from her pity party and is now the capable CEO of Vatta Enterprises. Young Toby turns out to be a genius with the on-board ansibles and is able to provide engineering skills.
March 14th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Elizabeth Moon | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Mischief Monster by Bruce Coville
The Mischief Monster is the fourth book in Bruce Coville’s delightful MOONGOBBLE AND ME series for ages 9-12. I’ve been listening to this series of short books on audio with my girls who are 6 and 9 years old. Each book is about an hour long and dramatized by Full Cast Audio, which means there’s a cast of readers playing parts rather than just one narrator.
In The Mischief Monster, Edward, Moongobble, and their friends try to return a mischievous monster princess named Snelly to her home in Monster Mountain.
January 7th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Bruce Coville | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Odysseus by Geraldine McCaughrean
This, the forth and final book in Geraldine McCaughrean’s stories of Greek heroes, (preceded by Perseus, Hercules and Theseus) is the only one based on actual literature: Homer’s Odyssey. As such, McCaughrean does not have to pick and choose aspects of convoluted and often contradictory myths; her source material has already been written, providing a fairly linear sequence of events. As such, the stories concerning Odysseus have always been more straightforward than those of his peers.
December 24th, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Geraldine McCaughrean | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
Fans of Jonathan Stroud’s fantastic Bartimaeus Trilogy, which began with The Amulet of Samarkand and ended with Ptolemy’s Gate, will be happy to know that the title character — the wise-cracking fourth-level djinn who has long-standing issues with authority — is back and funny as ever in The Ring of Solomon.
Rather than continue the story of the first trilogy,
November 11th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Jonathan Stroud | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Alector’s Choice by L.E. Modesitt Jr
There’s no longer any doubt — Modesitt has fallen into the “shampoo” mode of series writing: rinse-shampoo-repeat. Alector’s Choice, while not a bad book if read on its own (which it can be), is, for fans or former fans of Modesitt’s other work, merely a rehash of the same old same old. Same old plot. Same old characters. Same old conflicts. Same old resolutions. Only the names have been changed to protect the profits (and a possible plagiarism suit if one could sue oneself).
March 3rd, 2008. Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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…