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]: 2009.03

Gods & Monsters: Another strong entry

Gods & Monsters by Lyn Benedict

A subplot in Ghosts & Echoes involved Sylvie and a werewolf, Tatya, looking into the disappearance of a young woman in the Everglades. Lyn Benedict picks that thread back up at the beginning of Gods & Monsters. The woman has been found dead in the swamps, along with four others. Sylvie doesn’t want to get personally involved in this case, so she calls the police — but when the police move the bodies, one explodes into flame and the other four shift into animals.

April 26th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Lyn Benedict | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Neon Court: All the things I love about the Swift books

The Neon Court by Kate Griffin

The Neon Court, Kate Griffin’s third Matthew Swift novel, starts out with high drama as Matthew, urban sorcerer and Midnight Mayor of London, abruptly materializes on the top floor of a burning building. Oda, a member of the fundamentalist, magic-hating Order, has used a summoning spell to bring him there. This is enough, in her belief system, to damn her soul. Oda is dying, or at least, she should be, since she has been stabbed through the heart and is weeping tears of blood,

April 7th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Kate Griffin | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The King of Plagues: Back to the original Joe Ledger forumula

The King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry

PLOT SUMMARY: Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak.

Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos.

March 29th, 2011. Robert Thompson and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Jonathan Maberry | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Hidden Cities: Final volume lacks closure

Hidden Cities by Daniel Fox

PLOT SUMMARY: Whatever they thought, this was always where they were going: to the belly of the dragon, or the belly of the sea.

More by chance than good judgment, the young emperor has won his first battle. The rebels have retreated from the coastal city of Santung — but they’ll be back. Distracted by his pregnant concubine, the emperor sends a distrusted aide, Ping Wen, to govern Santung in his place. There, the treacherous general will discover the healer Tien, who is obsessed with a library of sacred mage texts and the secrets concealed within — secrets upon which,

March 16th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Macallan, Chaz Brenchley, Daniel Fox | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Serpent’s Storm: This series is getting more serious

Serpent’s Storm by Amber Benson

Calliope Reaper-Jones’s life takes a turn for the grim in Serpent’s Storm, the third book in Amber Benson’s series about the daughter of Death. These books have always featured some serious content, and Serpent’s Storm still contains some humor, but overall this is the most serious Calliope book so far.

The beginning is a little annoying, with Callie in full-on flippant mode, bored with her boyfriend Daniel for a rather obnoxious reason.

February 28th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Amber Benson | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Mercy Blade: I’m a little disappointed

Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter

Jane Yellowrock and her new boyfriend, Rick, are enjoying a brief respite from supernatural mayhem, staying at Jane’s residence in the Appalachians as they pack her belongings for a more long-term stay in New Orleans. Their peace is disrupted by an early morning news report that reveals the existence of werecats. As the story travels around the world, werewolves come out of the closet too, and one alpha werewolf appears on national television to accuse Jane’s boss, Leo Pellissier, of a long-ago murder.

Naturally, this means Jane is called back to New Orleans to help Leo with damage control.

January 4th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Faith Hunter | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Wolf Age: Loyalty in a harsh world

The Wolf Age by James Enge

One of the challenges of having read a fair amount of fantasy is that I find myself comparing the novels I’ve read. I look for similarities between books, characters and storylines. James Enge’s The Wolf Age is built around the anti-hero who rebels against the existing order, a well used archetype. Fortunately, Enge still manages to put his story together in such a way that makes for a compelling read.

Morlock Ambrosius is a stranger traveling through lands that are being raided and pillaged by a nation of werewolves.

October 13th, 2010. John Hulet and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3.5 | James Enge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

An Artificial Night: The fae realm comes to life

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire

October Daye, private investigator to San Francisco’s faerie nobility, stumbles upon her most troubling case yet. Two of her friends’ children vanish without a trace, and a third falls into an enchanted sleep from which no one can awaken her. Toby pokes around and learns that other children have been disappearing as well, both fae and human, and that an ancient and sinister power is behind the kidnappings.

Seanan McGuire wisely plays to her strengths — and Toby’s — in An Artificial Night.

Blameless: Witty, charming, exhilarating, fun

Blameless by Gail Carriger

Lord and Lady Maccon have been smitten with each other since they first met, regardless of the fact that he is a werewolf, and she is a preternatural — someone who can remove supernatural powers from anyone she touches. Everyone knows that werewolves and vampires can’t reproduce, so when Lady Maccon becomes pregnant, Lord Maccon does what any right thinking man would do in the situation — he accuses Alexandria of infidelity and kicks her out of his home.

Forced to take refuge with her stepfather,

September 24th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Gail Carriger | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Dreadnought: Pleasure and disappointment

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

CLASSIFICATION: The CLOCKWORK CENTURY series is set in an alternate history America, circa 1880, flavored with steampunk, western, intrigue, and horror.

FORMAT/INFO: Dreadnought is 400 pages long divided over twenty-two numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person, exclusively via the nurse, Mercy Lynch. Dreadnought is self-contained, but loosely connected to Boneshaker and Clementine, the first two volumes in the Clockwork Century series. September 28, 2010 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of Dreadnought via Tor.

September 17th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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