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]: 2009.01

Dust: Traditional fantasy + space opera = great story

Dust by Elizabeth Bear

While Dust is categorized as science fiction, there were actually a lot of familiar fantasy elements in the book, which I found a little bit surprising but quite enjoyable. For example, a number of medieval concepts are employed in the novel, such as a ruling family of nobles; politics regarding bloodlines, successors and inheritances; knights; castles; swords as the preferred choice of weaponry; chivalry; and so on. Then there’s the story, which features a servant girl who discovers she’s someone important, a couple of quests including one to prevent a war between the House of Rule and Engine,

January 30th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer: Gruesome humor

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

From the blurb above, so far this book sounds like Tom Holt, or Terry Pratchett, or any other comedic fantasy author, right? No, definitely not! Jonathan L. Howard infuses Johannes Cabal the Necromancer with flavours from other authors and from films, but the book as a whole is unique and very, very funny. It has the same gruesome humor as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,

January 29th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 5 | Jonathan L. Howard | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Bones of Faerie: Faults and sparks of brilliance

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

The human world has been rendered almost unlivable, victim of the wild magic unleashed by the faeries in their war with the humans twenty years earlier. Liza, a teenage girl, tries to survive in a small community in the Midwestern United States that has been savaged by the remnants of the war. The corn fights back against the humans harvesting it, and the blackberry vines seek flesh. Everyone who survived the war knows that magic is dangerous and cannot be tolerated, so when Liza’s sister is born with the clear hair that marks her as magically tainted,

Tempest Rising: Funny chick-lit urban fantasy

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

Jane True has always been an oddity in Rockabill, Maine, what with her scandalous (and missing) mother, her secret habit of swimming at night near the dangerous whirlpool called the Old Sow, and most of all, the tragic death of her childhood sweetheart in a drowning accident. Though some of Rockabill’s residents blame Jane for the tragedy, she has stayed in town to care for her ailing father. She works in a bookstore. It’s not an exciting life, but it’s the only life Jane knows.

Everything changes when,

January 27th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Nicole Peeler | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Rosemary and Rue: Lots of pain

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

“All magic hurts,” says October “Toby” Daye, and she’d know better than most.

Rosemary and Rue begins in 1995, when Toby, a half-faerie/half-human P.I., runs afoul of some nasty faeries while trying to solve a kidnapping. Toby is cursed, rendered out of commission for fourteen years, and in the process loses the happy human life she’d been trying to build.

It’s been six months since Toby was released from her curse. She wants nothing to do with the fae,

January 22nd, 2010. Kelly Lasiter, Kat Hooper and Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Seanan McGuire | SFF Reviews | 13 comments |

Numbers: Promising start, but disappointing in the end

Numbers by Rachel Ward

Numbers is a book that’s hard to categorize. It starts out as urban fantasy, then becomes more of an adventure novel, then seems to be a “teaching life lessons” story toward the end.

The heroine, Jem, has a supernatural “gift” that has caused her no end of grief. She sees numbers when she looks at people. As a little girl, she didn’t know what the numbers meant — not until her mother’s number turned out to be the day she overdosed on drugs.

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side: Brain candy for teen girls

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is a fun piece of brain candy for teen girls. Imagine the “girl finds out she’s a long-lost princess” fantasy combined with the “girl finds out she’s the destined true love of a hot vampire guy” fantasy, and you’ve pretty much got the gist. I enjoyed the novel while reading it, but I think I’d have liked it better when I was in the target audience, and there were some aspects that really troubled me.

Flesh and Fire: Where’s the fire?

Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman

Jerzy is a slave. He has never known anything but slavery in the Master Vineart’s fields, toiling away at the grape vines that create the magical wine that is so coveted by the powerful and all of the Vinearts. Jerzy’s life is uneventful until one fateful day when he happens to get a face full of the grape mash and feels something magical in the wine. Knowing death is certain now that he, a lowly slave, has tasted the magical brew, the Master summons Jerzy to the main house.

January 16th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Laura Anne Gilman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Death’s Daughter: She thought the devil wore Prada…

Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson

She thought the devil wore Prada… until she met the real one!

Before I begin this review, a confession: I’m a sucker for any novel containing cute hellhounds.

Calliope Reaper-Jones is living the life of a typical New York office flunky, dealing with a diva boss, less-hunky-than-advertised blind dates, and a lust for designer clothes she can’t afford. That is, until her father, who happens to be the Grim Reaper himself, is kidnapped and Calliope is swept back into a dangerous supernatural world she’s spent her entire adult life trying to escape.

January 16th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Amber Benson | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Diving into the Wreck: Fast and entertaining

Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Diving into the Wreck is a short but excellent science fiction novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who has also written extensively in fantasy, mystery and romance, and is the former editor of the prestigious Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

The main character of Diving into the Wreck (2009), who goes by the name “Boss,” is a specialist in the exploration of derelict space ships. Accompanied by a team of specialists,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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