Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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]: 2005.01

The Dark Mirror: Did Not Finish

The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier

As a rule, I love Juliet Marillier’s work, but I’ve tried several times to read The Dark Mirror and have never managed to get very far.

Marillier’s prose is as beautiful as ever, but the story doesn’t hook me. It just feels like such a slow beginning, and the protagonist Bridei is very young and nobody tells him anything. Events occur, but we often don’t see them; a secondary character will exit stage left, come back having obviously had a perilous adventure,

January 3rd, 2017. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Juliet Marillier | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Lord of the Silver Bow: Big, bold, heroic and surprisingly good

Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell

I tried reading David Gemmell‘s Lord of the Silver Bow about 9 months before I actually read it. It was heavy, plodding, and confusing. I was looking for a fun story full of action and adventure, and I love history… but, alas, I stopped reading after about 50 pages, and kind of figured that I was simply beyond the age when testosterone-fueled adventures could carry a story. I gave it a second shot, and it turns out,

Kitty and the Midnight Hour: A Denver DJ with a little extra bite

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville is a radio DJ that hosts a late night talk show about various paranormal topics. She often gets strange calls from the very subjects she talks about. She usually ends up giving out advice to these callers since they have very few options for advice available to them. As a werewolf herself, Kitty is in a unique position to dispense helpful information to those that need it. Her show became popular and that did not sit too well with some key players in her life.

The DC Infinite Crisis and the “Old” 52 (Part 1): The Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1

The DC Infinite Crisis and the “Old” 52 (Part 1): The Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1

Previously, I’ve written about one of my favorite single DC events: Identity Crisis. It’s an excellent story contained in a single volume. In other words, it’s what I would call a graphic novel because it is unified in narrative and theme and is contained in a single volume, even though it was published initially as monthly comics. At the end of my Identity Crisis review,

Vampire Knight (Vol. 1) by Matsuri Hino

Vampire Knight (Vol. 1) by Matsuri Hino (art and story)

Vampire Knight has a great premise for a manga story that would appeal to most fans of Vampire love stories; however, the writing is clearly aimed at tween and young teenage girls (shojo). The story is in the boarding-school genre, and this particular boarding school runs day and night. The daytime students are your typical students, but the mysterious headmaster has added a night class of beautiful, brilliant students of whom the day students are in awe.

May 7th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Grandville: Astonishing artwork brings a steampunk world to life

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

Exquisite, fantastical artwork lifts Grandville out of the ordinary. Bryan Talbot’s graphic novel, set in an alternate fantasy world where homo sapiens sapiens is not the dominant species, and Napoleon won the Peninsular Wars, is a true luxury to read, due mostly to the stunning, vividly executed pictures.

But Napoleon? Napoleon, probably the third of that name, is a lion. Archie LeBrock, the Scotland Yard Detective-Inspector who is our hero, is a badger and his sergeant is a rat.

Labyrinth: Such a great premise

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth has one of the best premises for a novel I’ve heard in a long time: two women, one from the past, one from the present, both caught up in a search for the Holy Grail. The former is entrusted with one of three books leading to the Grail’s hiding place, whilst the latter becomes entangled in a conspiracy concerning its rediscovery.

In 2005, Alice Tanner is volunteering at an archaeology dig in the Sabarthes Mountains when she is drawn to a hidden cave in the hills.

Batman: Snow

Batman: Snow by Dan Curtis Johnson & J.H. Williams III (writers), Seth Fisher (artist), Dave Stewart (colors), Phil Balsman (letterer)

Batman: Snow is a trade collecting a story arc originally published in 2005 in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (issues 192-196). Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight is a series that featured stories about Bruce Wayne’s early adventures as Batman. Such a premise allows writers to deal with a somewhat naïve Bruce who makes mistakes as a vigilante and allows readers to see where he learned the lessons that make him the seasoned vigilante we see in later stories told in comics and block-buster movies.

January 18th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Spin: Every science fiction novel condensed into one book

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

With Spin, Robert Charles Wilson has condensed every science fiction novel into one book.

It’s quite an accomplishment, really, though the novel begins innocently enough. We’re in the near future with our narrator, Tyler Dupree, who is injected with a strange cure somewhere in Sumatra. The drug produces side effects, and one of them compels Tyler to tell his life’s story.

Tyler grew up in the little house “across the lawn.” His mother, Carol, cleaned the house of the Lawton family while Tyler played games with their children,

Gene of Isis: Did not finish

Gene of Isis by Traci Harding

Traci Harding’s Gene of Isis, the first book in her MYSTIQUE trilogy, is about three related women in three different time periods who have descended from the Grail kings: Ashlee Granville, an independent young woman who is unhappy about being on the “marriage market” in 19th century England; Dr. Mia Montrose, Ashlee’s 21st century descendent who is an expert in ancient languages; and Lillet du Lac, a 13th century priestess who is fighting the Catholic Church. Each woman has clairvoyant talents and is drawn to a mountain that contains ancient mysteries and is the source of these women’s psychic gifts.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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