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

Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Poof! Another vampire up in smoke

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

My instincts were right with this one. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin stood out from all the other urban fantasies right from the start. For me, it was a great and long-overdue introduction to the urban fantasy genre.

Rardin invented a great deal of vampire mythology, but she saw fit to keep all the traditional aspects as well. One can fend a vampire off with a cross, and holy water will cause even the most deadly vampire to back off.

May 6th, 2009. Tia Nevitt (guest) | Jennifer Rardin | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Lord of the Fading Lands: Entertaining romantic fantasy

Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson

Lord of the Fading Lands has me thinking about genres, and the distinctions between them, and the places where they blur. Specifically, is the Tairen Soul series romance-with-fantasy or fantasy-with-romance? I’m going to have to come down on the side of romance-with-fantasy, though there’s a great big fantasy plot in this book alongside the love story.

The central characters are Rain, a shapeshifting Fey king with a thousand years’ worth of traumatic past; and Ellysetta, a young woman of humble background who is unappreciated in her home city but who turns out to be exceptionally powerful.

April 16th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | C.L. Wilson | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Karma Girl: Surprising Depth

Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep

After Carmen Cole finds her finance in bed with her best friend, she makes the startling discovery — thanks to the suits they are wearing — that they are in fact a superhero and an ubervillain. She snaps some photos of them with a handy camera and unmasks them both — thus launching her unmasking career. In Bigtime, New York, superhero battles level buildings on a regular basis. When you go shopping at Oodles-o-Stuff, you’re likely to encounter superheroes, because they get special discounts in exchange for protection against superfights.

February 1st, 2009. Tia Nevitt (guest)´s rating: 4 | Jennifer Estep | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dog Days: Lacks soul, personality, and style

Dog Days by John Levitt

I’ve been eyeing Dog Days curiously for a while now (insert obvious feline joke here), mainly intrigued by the blurb’s promise of a magical dog. Yes, that’s right, I freely admit it — my inner three-year-old wanted to see the magical doggie.

The magical dog is an Ifrit, which I found kind of intriguing. Besides that, though, Dog Days has little to offer. I don’t like the main character, Mason, one bit. To avoid making him a Gary Stu,

December 20th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 1 | John Levitt | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Ascendancy of the Last: Exciting and accessible

Ascendancy of the Last by Lisa Smedman

The sava game is still being played, and Lolth and Eilistraee continue to vie for control of all the drow of Faerun. But the drow were once dark elves — surface dwellers — and faithful to the pantheon of the “light” elves. As Lisa Smedman‘s The Lady Penitent draws to its conclusion, the fate of all hangs in the balance. Ascendency of the Last, the concluding volume of this trilogy, returns the reader to the halls of the Promenade,

October 15th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Lisa Smedman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Lonely Werewolf Girl: Addicting

Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar

Lonely Werewolf Girl is a thick, intimidating tome but when you actually start reading, it goes down smoothly. What stands out most in this novel is Martin Millar’s writing style. Not only does he use simple language and set a quick pace, but his chapters are very short and most of them end on just the right beat. Millar doesn’t spend much time describing unnecessary details, instead focusing on the motivations, action, and dialog of the characters. Millar is someone who manages to break the “show don’t tell”

The Society of S: Wonderful storytelling

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

A current Professor of English at the University of Central Florida who has received teaching awards from Syracuse University, Cornell University, UCF, and the South Atlantic Administrators of Departments of English, not to mention many other educational accolades and achievements, Susan Hubbard is also an author of two critically acclaimed short story collections (Walking On Ice, Blue Money) and two chick-lit novels (Lisa Marie’s Guide for the Perplexed,

Unclean: Excellent sword and sorcery romp

Unclean by Richard Lee Byers

What happens when a young bard returns home to find the lover he left gone? What would you do if you saw your entire regiment slaughtered by the undead? If an undead lich made a grab for control of your country, even if that country is the notoriously self-serving Thay?

It is these questions that Richard Lee Byers’ attempts to answer in Unclean: The Haunted Lands. Byers continues to show his writing prowess in the shared world arena by tackling a difficult topic in the Forgotten Realms world: the undead.

June 19th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 4 | Richard Lee Byers | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Gossamer Plain: Not much happens

The Gossamer Plain by Thomas M. Reid

What happens when the alu-fiend Aliisza gets a conscience? Will she turn to good? Will the justice of Tyr change a creature half-human, half-demon? Interesting questions, especially when you consider that demons are, by their nature, wholly evil. Such a plot allows for discussions on the nature of good and evil, and how choices affect our lives.

Thomas M. Reid, best selling author of Insurrection, returns to the character he created for that story in The Empyrean Odyssey.

June 15th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Thomas M. Reid | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Unshapely Things: Lacks the spark

Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco

Mark Del Franco’s Unshapely Things is another addition to the urban fantasy universe. I bought it for a break from all the female authors and their super powerful sassy female characters. That’s not criticism of those authors or their characters — just my desire to read something different.

Del Franco’s main character, Connor Grey, is a formerly powerful investigator for the Guild, a sort of FBI for fey. Elves, fey, and many other permutations of non-humans have become part of the world we live in due to a magic cataclysm.

May 16th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Mark Del-Franco | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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