Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Imagine what the settling of the West would have been like if, along with hunger, drought, and malaria, the settlers also had to deal with dragons. Patricia Wrede’s Thirteenth Child is a sort of a magical version of Little House on the Prairie. Eff is the titular thirteenth child, which means she is a beacon of bad luck and will curse all those around her as she ages. Her twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son,
May 29th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Patricia C. Wrede | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
The publisher’s summary adequately describes the premise of this novel, the first foray of C.C. Finlay/Charles Coleman Finlay into historical fantasy. (Prior to this, Mr. Finlay was perhaps best known for his fantasy novel The Prodigal Troll, as well as the gritty, sword-against-sorcery tales of Vertir and Kuikan that graced the pages of Fantasy & Science Fiction.)
Colonial America has been, at least to my knowledge, an under-used setting for speculative fiction,
May 25th, 2009. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 4 | Charles Coleman (C.C.) Finlay | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict
The only good thing about gods is that they prefer their realm to ours.
Lyn Benedict also writes political-intrigue fantasy under the name Lane Robins. I learned this before starting Sins & Shadows, and I’ve been wondering ever since whether I’d have figured it out if I hadn’t known. The setting, plot, and prose style are completely different from the Lane Robins books, but there are some echoes in the general themes: love,
May 22nd, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Lyn Benedict | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Max Frei’s The Stranger is an interesting novel to say the least. For starters, I almost gave up on the book at three different times. Why? Well for one, it took a long while before the book started making sense to me, especially the setting, the story and the novel’s direction. It took even longer for me to get used to The Stranger’s peculiar brand of humor, not to mention the author’s liberal use of exclamation points. And finally,
May 19th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Max Frei | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
The Adamantine Palace is classic fantasy with all the major ingredients: magic, dragons, knights, castles and all the trimmings. There is, however, one missing element: the hero. Stephen Deas writes a really interesting, very complex first novel, kicking off the Memory of Flames series, but I can’t figure out who the hero is.
The point of view in The Adamantine Palace switches among five major characters. At times Deas takes us behind the eyes of a few other characters,
May 16th, 2009. John Hulet and Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5, 4.5 | Stephen Deas | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder
Opal, a student magician at the Keep in Sitia is having problems learning how to control her magic. Known as a “one-trick wonder” by the other students, Opal has a strong relationship with glass and glass making, but can do little else with her skills.
When a glass problem comes up in the storm lands, Master magician Zitora takes Opal with her to see what the problem is. As it turns out, the storm orbs that all the stormdancers use to capture the power of raging storms are breaking and killing stormdancers.
April 24th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3 | Maria V. Snyder | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Betrayal tells the story of a conflict between the aelven (elves, of course) and their exiled kin, the alben, who were outcast from aelven society in the distant past when they became afflicted with vampiric urges. I’m a little sick of vampires in general, but Pati Nagle‘s take on them is original, and it makes sense. The magic of the aelven is based on exchange of khi, or energy, and the alben’s blood drinking is a logical corruption of that.
April 20th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Pati Nagle | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wow, faeries are everywhere in YA fantasy lately. Aprilynne Pike adds to this growing subgenre with a novel that stands out in some ways but not in others.
Pike’s best touch is her take on how faeries differ from humans biologically. It’s clever, it’s well-thought-out, and it makes sense. It’s easy to imagine how these beings could give rise to the stories humans tell about faeries. Laurel’s plantlike biology also turns out to be crucial to the plot, late in the novel.
The pace is slow in the beginning;
April 16th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Aprilynne Pike | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison
Madison Avery is dead, but that won’t stop her from trying to live a normal life for a high school girl. At Prom, Madison’s willful ways lead to her physical death at the hands of a handsome dark angel. The fact that her strong will gives her a chance to survive beyond death seems only fair. But now she has to figure out how to exist and what the rules are.
Kim Harrison’s Once Dead, Twice Shy is a well-written entry in the ever-growing and ever-popular young adult urban fantasy genre.
April 10th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Kim Harrison | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Welcome to S.J. Day’s California, where demons walk among us, unbeknownst to all but a few chosen souls. These chosen souls are the “Marks,” so named because they bear the Mark of Cain. Personally recruited by God to serve as demon-hunting enforcers, they gain superhuman powers and a chance to expiate their sins. The oldest, baddest mark is Cain himself. He’s still a rebel with a distaste for rules, and he still doesn’t get along with that brother of his.
Our heroine, Evangeline “Eve”
April 9th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | S.J. (Sylvia) Day | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Mine too, but to be fair, he's the only Iraqi torturer I know, fictional or otherwise. He has a great…
COMMENT Sayid ... my favorite Iraqi torturer!
Would you believe that this was the first time that I ever read it? SO glad that I finally caught…
LOVE The Big Front Yard!
Always my pleasure, Marion! And Part 2 of this review should be appearing soon....