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]: 2007.01

Off Armageddon Reef: Overlong, but worth it

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber

Picture this: an incredibly powerful race of aliens known as the Gdaba halted the human exploration in space and all but wiped humanity out. The remainder of the human fleet splits up — one half cloaks and stops moving, the other continues flying to draw the Gdaba away. The half of the fleet that cloaked and escaped colonized an Earth-like planet called Safehold.

Here’s the catch — the Gdaba can detect any technology of the industrial level or higher. Humanity is forced to revert to a medieval society,

November 7th, 2013. Pat Doherty´s rating: 4 | David Weber | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients

Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy

Scepter of the Ancients is the first book in Derek Landy’s children’s series called SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT. The story follows 11 year old Stephanie Edgley who inherits her eccentric uncle’s property after he dies. Stephanie gets involved with some supernatural goings-on when a thief breaks into her new house (the one her uncle left her) and nearly kills her. To her rescue comes Skulduggery Pleasant — a man who used to be alive but is now a magically animated skeleton.

Monster Hunter International: Entertaining dude-lit

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

“Our business is monsters. And business is booming.”

Owen Zastava Pitt was just trying to be normal. He used to be a bouncer who spent his evenings participating in illegal pit fights, but he managed to earn a CPA and became a boring accountant for a big corporation — pension and dental benefits included. Being tall and weighing in at 300 lbs, he didn’t quite look like an accountant — and he still spent his weekends as a gun hobbyist — but he was making progress….

Flora Segunda: Did Not Finish

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce is just odd. For one thing, the book is fully titled as Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog, and while I don’t have a problem with long titles in general — see my love for Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland books, or Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede’s collaborations — the problem with this title is the same problem I had with the book.

The Secret War: Urban historical fantasy

The Secret War by M.F.W. Curran

The Secret War by M.F.W. Curran is a combination of historical fiction and urban fantasy set at the end of the Napoleonic wars. The background of the book draws heavily on real places and political events from that era and I really enjoyed the sense of realism that these elements lend to the story.

William Saxon and his all-but-adopted-brother Kieran Harte are thrust into the world of supernatural conflict when they are attacked by a monster shortly after the battle of Waterloo.

November 17th, 2011. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | M.F.W. Curran | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Key to Conflict: Badly written erotica

Key to Conflict by Talia Gryphon

I did not finish Key to Conflict by Talia Gryphon. I stopped at around the 100 page mark. Key to Conflict is the kind of book that makes people think “urban fantasy” is a euphemism for “badly written erotica.”

In the first sentence, we are introduced to: “Gillian Key, United States Marine Corps Captain, Special Forces Operative, former flower child, wiseass extraordinaire, also legitimately known as Dr. Gillian Key, Paramortal psychologist,” and that sets the stage for Gillian as a character.

November 13th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Talia Gryphon | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

The 14th century alchemist alchemyst Nicholas Flamel has the secret codex containing the recipe for the elixir of life hanging around his neck. For centuries, Dr. John Dee has been hunting for him because he wants that book. Dee has finally traced Flamel to his bookstore in 21st century California. He busts in, gets all but the last two pages of the book, and kidnaps Flamel’s wife. Now the world is in danger because Dee plans to bring the dark Elder gods to power and they will enslave humans.

Hunter’s Moon: Gritty, cynical and procedural

Hunter’s Moon by David Devereux

Think of Jack, the first person narrator of David Devereux’s Hunter’s Moon, as James Bond with a wand as well as a Walther PPK; a magical double-oh agent with a license to kill. Jack (if that really is his name) works for a shadowy section of M15 who use magicians and witches as well as more traditional tools like murder, blackmail and torture to rid Britain of enemies of the state.

Hunter’s Moon reminds me of some really old,

November 10th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | David Devereux | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Evil Genius: Original, unexpected, unpleasant

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks

Cadel Piggott doesn’t really fit in. His genius IQ and his peculiar obsessions seem strange to his classmates. He’s not a malicious child, but his boredom drives him to challenge himself by hacking into computers and designing intricate pranks. It doesn’t help that his parents are constantly busy and don’t spend any time with him. The only person who really seems to care about Cadel is Dr. Thaddeus Roth, his psychologist. Thaddeus even encourages Cadel’s obsessions and pranks. As Cadel gets older, Thaddeus gradually starts to reveal why he’s interested in the boy — he wants to enroll him in Dr.

100 Cupboards: Great premise, doesn’t pay off

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

Henry’s parents have been kidnapped, so his aunt and uncle and their three daughters have taken him in. Things are different at Uncle Frank and Aunt Dotty’s house. Henry’s overprotective parents made him eat healthy food, ride in a carseat until he was nine, and wear a helmet at recess. But now Henry eats hotdogs, drinks soda, plays baseball, and owns a knife. But things get even more interesting for Henry when he discovers that there are dozens of little doors under the plaster of the walls in his attic bedroom,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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