Sunset of the Gods by Steve White Sunset of the Gods (2012) is the second novel in Steve White’s JASON THANOU (TEMPORAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY) series about time travelers who go back in time to study historical events. It would be helpful, but not necessary, to read the previous book, Blood of the Heroes, first. This […]
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Criminal (vol. 2): Lawless by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips In Criminal (vol. 2): Lawless, Ed Brubaker tells a noir story of family loyalty. One brother — a criminal — dies and the other seeks justice, doing what he can to be an avenging angel on the wrong side of the law. When we meet Tracy Lawless, […]
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Queen of Candesce by Karl Schroeder “I’m someone infinitely more capable than a mere heir to a backward nation on this backward little wheel.” Warning: This review contains a minor spoiler for Sun of Suns, the previous volume in the VIRGA series, but the same spoiler is in the publisher’s blurb for the book, so […]
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Echopraxia by Peter Watts I was extremely impressed by Peter Watts’ Blindsight (2006), a diamond-hard sci-fi novel about first contact, AIs, evolutionary biology, genetically-engineered vampires, sentience vs intelligence, and virtual reality. It is an intense experience, relentless in its demands on the reader, but makes you think very hard about whether humanity’s sentience (as we […]
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Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs Owing a favor to a vampire is pretty much always going to be asking for trouble. Stefan, a vampire who’s been a help and even a friend to Mercy Thompson, calls her at three a.m. to go witness his confrontation with a new vampire in town. But Stefan gives Mercy his […]
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Ha’Penny by Jo Walton (May contain spoilers for the previous book, Farthing.) Ha’Penny is the second book in Jo Walton’s dark alternate history series SMALL CHANGE. The “small change” that created this world is the refusal of America to get involved in the war in Europe, in 1941. From that small “counterfactual” sprang a world […]
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A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham “Constant struggle is the price of power.” A Betrayal in Winter, the second book in Daniel Abraham’s LONG PRICE QUARTET begins about 15 years after the events of A Shadow in Summer (which you probably should read before beginning A Betrayal Winter or before reading this review). Maati, […]
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The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume One: To Be Continued 1953-1958 by Robert Silverberg Though To Be Continued: 1953-1958 is the first official volume of the definitive collection of Robert Silverberg’s short stories, it should be read after In the Beginning: Tales from the Pulp Era (1955-1959), a collection of short stories that overlaps with […]
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Fearless by Jack Campbell Fearless is the second book in Jack Campbell’s LOST FLEET series about Captain Jack Geary who has recovered from 100 years of cold sleep just in time to try to save the Alliance fleet from certain annihilation by the Syndics. As I explained in my review of the first LOST FLEET […]
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Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow Dead Man Rising is the second book in Lilith Saintcrow’s DANTE VALENTINE series. Dante, a freelance necromance, has lived through her first assignment for the devil. (She didn’t want to work for him, but the devil can be very persuasive.) Now Dante’s brooding because her demon lover is dead […]
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Trollbridge by Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple Trollbridge is a quirky collaboration between a mother/son team: author Jane Yolen and musician Adam Stemple. An amalgamation of the fairytales “Three Billy Goats Gruff” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (with a bit of Scandinavian folklore thrown in for good measure), it involves chapters that alternate between driven music […]
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Poltergeist by Kat Richardson Poltergeist is the second Kat Richardson GREYWALKER novel. A few years have passed since Greywalker, marked by the growth of Ben and Mara’s son Brian from a babe-in-arms to a talking toddler, and Harper Blaine’s increasing proficiency in navigating the transitional dimension next to ours, called the Grey. Harper clinically died for two minutes, […]
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Heart of Gold, Word of Honour, Time of Trial, Moment of Truth by Michael Pryor “Charmingly old-fashioned” is how I would describe Michael Pryor’s series The Laws of Magic, which begins with Blaze of Glory (reviewed above) and continues with Heart of Gold, Word of Honour, Time of Trial, and the most recent, due out […]
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The Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko The Day Watch is the second novel in Sergei Lukyanenko’s Watch series. Like its predecessor, The Day Watch contains three short stories set in Russia and Europe that can be read independently or as part of a larger narrative arc. His work has once again been skillfully translated from the […]
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Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning At the end of Darkfever, Mac learned the identity of her sister’s mysterious lover (and possible murderer), but didn’t get the chance to strike against him. She’s still out for revenge, and Barrons still wants her help finding the Sinsar Dubh, an ancient book of evil magic. Meanwhile, Mac has […]
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The Kiss of Death by Marcus Sedgwick Though generically named, The Kiss of Death is a fantastically original and exciting novel, full of blood, danger, thrills, mystery, and legions of the undead. It is sequel of sorts to My Swordhand Is Singing, in that it features Peter and his father’s sword from the previous book, […]
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Breakaway by Joel Shepherd Breakaway, the second Cassandra Kresnov novel by Australian SF and fantasy author Joel Shepherd, picks up soon after the ending of series opener Crossover. Sandy, a highly advanced artificial human with military training, is now attached to a squad of SWAT agents, while also helping the government of Callay review its […]
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The Chick and the Dead by Casey Daniels Pepper Martin thought her newly acquired ability to see ghosts was a one-shot deal. That once Gus Scarpetti moved on to the great hereafter, she could go back to her normal life where only the living talked to her. She was wrong. It seems Gus has been […]
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Sorcery and the Single Girl by Mindy Klasky It’s been almost a year, but Jane Madison still hasn’t mastered this whole “witchcraft” thing. True, she managed to turn the Potomac River into ice, and can make small whirlpools in the sink…but those things aren’t really helpful in real life…right? Things are looking up for Jane’s […]
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Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn In Changeling, Yasmine Galenorn avoids the thing that annoyed me most in Witchling; namely, the infodumping. Having set the scene in Witchling, Galenorn is free to spend most of Changeling on plot and character development. There is some exposition, but it didn’t strike me as excessive. It was just the right […]
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Deepwood by Jennifer Roberson Looking back, Karavans was a typical set-up novel. It focused mainly on worldbuilding, laying down the groundwork for the story, and introducing a diverse cast of characters — Audrun, Davyn, and their children Gillan, Ellica, Torvic, and Megritte; the Shoia guide Rhuan and his partner Darmuth; Rhuan’s cousin and courier Brodhi; […]
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The Fox by Sherwood Smith After the high standards of Inda, the prequel to Sherwood Smith’s The Fox, it was next to impossible to be better this time. But, still, Smith delivers a quality second book in the series. After the drama of the first book, Inda was left at sea after being forced from his […]
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Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood Although I generally don’t like reviewing the second book in a trilogy, (middle books often seem to just be filler) I just had to write about Ed Greenwood’s Swords of Dragonfire which continues the early exploits of the Knights of Myth Drannor, some of Greenwood’s more interesting characters. A […]
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The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen The previous Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica book, Here There Be Dragons, had a clean ending, but The Search for the Red Dragon introduces a new conflict that’s tied to the original adventure. The strengths — and weaknesses — of the first book continue in […]
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Before They are Hanged Before They are Hanged (2007) begins just where The Blade Itself left off and continues the stories of Logen, West, Jezal, Ferro, Bayaz, Glokta, and company. Expect more of the same in this novel: brutal fighting, sickening torture, nasty politics, ruthless characters, and barbarian grammar. This recipe mostly works — the plot […]
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