The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills
The Accidental Sorcerer is the first book in the Rogue Agent trilogy by K.E. Mills, a pseudonym of the author Karen Miller.
Gerald Dunwoody is a “Third Grade” wizard who has been failing at one job after another. After he loses his job as a magical inspector for the government, he takes a job as Royal Wizard for the kingdom of New Ottosland. And that’s where the story really starts to get interesting.
K.E. Mills has a gift for descriptive writing.
January 1st, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | K.E. Mills | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover
Jayné Heller is feeling pretty alone in the world. She’s estranged from her intolerant family. She has just dropped out of college, and her friends have moved on without her. The only dependable person left in her life is her black-sheep uncle Eric … and he’s just been murdered.
When Jayné travels to Denver to settle Eric’s accounts, she learns two things:
1. Eric was filthy rich and left it all to her.
2. He was killed by Randolph Coin, an evil magician.
December 1st, 2008. Kelly Lasiter and Robert Thompson | M.L.N. Hanover | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The first installment of Pamela Freeman‘s Castings trilogy may seem at first like a typical fantasy novel, with swords as everyone’s weapon of choice, horses as everyone’s mode of transportation, and copious amounts of ale and stew making up everyone’s diet. But it doesn’t take long before Blood Ties reveals itself to be quite different from the usual swords-and-sorcery realm: in its setting and atmosphere, in its plot and story-structure, and in its myriad of themes and ideas.
November 20th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Pamela Freeman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk
Magic to the Bone is a breath of fresh air in the urban fantasy genre, in much the same way that Ilona Andrews‘ Kate Daniels series is a breath of fresh air. Instead of the same tired werewolf/vampire soap opera that so many novels perpetuate, Magic to the Bone is more concerned with the ramifications of adding magic to modern society and exploring the realistic consequences. Magic, in Devon Monk’s universe, has been recently discovered,
November 2nd, 2008. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Devon Monk | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What is there to say about Anton Strout’s Dead to Me? Good things, I mean, since that is my quest these days…to begin my reviews with the positive rather than the negative. This isn’t proving to be easy and if I was a more paranoid person I’d wonder if Mr. Strout didn’t just write Dead to Me for the sole purpose of trying my (admittedly rather short) patience.
Well, I love the fact that Strout chooses to give his character the power of psychometry.
October 11th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Anton Strout | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
In the back-alley slums of Cenaria, a guild rat named Azoth hopes to survive by becoming the apprentice of Durzo Blint, who is the best of the wetboys — the most elite of assassins. To do this he must unquestioningly follow Durzo’s every command, accept that life — anyone’s life — is worthless, and forget everyone he knew in his old life. He must become Kylar Stern: gentleman by day, stone-cold killer by night. Though Azoth doesn’t know it, as Kylar he is destined for much bigger things.
September 30th, 2008. Greg Hersom and John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Brent Weeks | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Matters of the Blood by Maria Lima
Maria Lima rings some refreshing changes on the urban-fantasy formula in Matters of the Blood. The two most striking departures from cliché, to my mind, are the heroine’s age (37, rather than early twenties), and the story’s vividly-drawn rural-Texas setting. I loved the locale. Lima does a great job of making the lonely town of Rio Seco real to the reader.
Our heroine, Keira Kelly, comes from a long supernatural line; there’s a brief passage that suggests she’s one of the Sidhe.
September 29th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Maria Lima | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
Midnight Never Comeis the story of two courts, and of two courtiers who must uncover a deadly secret that threatens both mortal and faerie England. Lune is a disgraced lady of the faerie court, trying to win her way back into the good graces of the cruel Queen Invidiana. Michael Deven is a young gentleman of Elizabeth I’s retinue, working with Elizabeth’s spymaster Walsingham to sniff out a “hidden player” in English politics. Neither is quite prepared for what they discover.
Marie Brennan has a lovely,
September 21st, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Marie Brennan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Seaborn is a unique fantasy; it’s unlike anything else I’ve read. Chris Howard tells a compelling story of merpeople and of two women who struggle to become their own woman (or mermaid) in the face of opposition.
Our heroines are Corina Lairsey, a California girl who becomes possessed by a megalomaniacal merman while scuba-diving, and Lady Kassandra, an exiled princess of the Seaborn who is hatching a plan to overthrow her usurping grandfather. Howard does a great job with Corina’s plight,
July 20th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Chris Howard | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett
From the back flap: “What if there were a fantastical cause underlying the social constraints and limited choices confronting a heroine in a novel by Jane Austen or Charlotte Brontë? Galen Beckett, … began The Magicians and Mrs. Quent to answer that question… ”
I was excited to receive a copy of The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, Galen Beckett‘s “debut” novel. There’s something exciting about a new author — they’re fresh,
July 9th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Galen Beckett | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.