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

Ice: Cassie is not one of those passive YA heroines

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Cassie doesn’t believe in fairy tales. Sure, Gram used to tell her that bedtime story about how Cassie’s mother was stolen away by the North Wind and imprisoned by trolls. But Cassie, who lives with her scientist father at a research station in the Arctic, has every intention of following in Dad’s logical, analytical footsteps. She has no time for fantasy. And besides, as she grew older, she realized that “stolen by the North Wind” was just a euphemism for “died.”

Or was it?

On her eighteenth birthday,

The Best of Michael Moorcock: Excellent short stories

The Best of Michael Moorcock by Michael Moorcock

The Best of Michael Moorcock is a collection of the legendary author’s best short fiction, containing several of his classic stories, as well as one previously unreleased story.

The collection, lovingly edited by John Davey with Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, is nothing short of excellent. There are really no bad stories here, and some that are simply stunning. As someone who has read many of Michael Moorcock‘s novels but barely any of his shorter work,

Under in the Mere: Inaccessible, maddening, rewarding

Under in the Mere by Catherynne Valente

Catherynne Valente’s novella Under in the Mere is about as inaccessible a book as I’ve read in some time. That doesn’t mean I’m not recommending it, but it’s fair warning to any who attempt it. Under in the Mere is a poetic, surrealistic “retelling” of several Arthurian tales (a mix of the better and lesser known ones), although “retelling” is really far too pedestrian and prosaic a term for Valente’s dense, imagistic and poetic language here,

Palimpsest: Gorgeous

Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente

The first thing that strikes you about Palimpsest is the gorgeous prose. Every sentence is crafted with the utmost care, resulting in a novel that almost reads like poetry. It simply begs to be read out loud. I’ve read many books that attempt this kind of lush prose, but Palimpsest is one of the most successful and most beautiful.

Palimpsest is a sexually transmitted city. People who have been there have a small tattoo — a piece of the city’s map — somewhere on their body.

The Laurentine Spy: Deserves more than 5 stars

The Laurentine Spy by Emily Gee

Saliel is in over her head. Masquerading as a noble lady in the fortress of Laureant’s greatest enemy, she sneaks into the old disused catacombs every other night to meet One, Two, and the Guardian, other Laurentine spies whose true identities she doesn’t know.

After foiling an enemy plan to take over another fought-over land, Saliel learns that the Prince and his consort know there are spies in the fortress and have hired a notorious and feared spycatcher. Saliel and the other spies still have work to do however,

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: An amusing gimmick

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

This is a book that straightforwardly declares its content from the presentation of both cover and title. With the bloodied portrait and the “and zombies” appendage, what you get here is precisely what appearances promise: no more and no less. This is Jane Austen’s manuscript, almost in its entirety, with sporadic scenes of zombies inserted.

The result is an amusing gimmick, but nothing that is astoundingly witty or which sheds new light on familiar characters or situations as most parodies are wont to do.

December 17th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Seth Grahame-Smith | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart: Every oozing boil is lovingly described

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is a difficult one to review, not because of plot or character, but because of the general style in which it is written. Plainly speaking; it’s pretty gross. Full of pus, vomit, blood, urine, gore, snot and other bodily fluids, The Brothers Grossbart isn’t short on content that will make you screw up your nose in disgust. Yet dismissing this novel for its ability to make you cringe is a bit like going to a Quentin Tarantino movie and complaining about the violence.

The Splendor Falls: A little too slow…

The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Sylvie Davis was once a promising ballerina, but a broken leg ended her career. Distraught over her injury, her father’s death, and her mother’s remarriage, she overindulges in champagne at the wedding reception, and sees something … supernatural. Something that simply isn’t possible. Her mother and stepfather, convinced that Sylvie is either an alcoholic or mentally ill, pack her off to Alabama to recuperate at the home of a cousin.

But life at Bluestone Hill is far from peaceful. Sylvie soon realizes she’s walked into a hotbed of simmering tensions.

How to Make Friends with Demons: Beautiful

How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce

Reviewing Graham Joyce for fantasy readers can be tricky, because his novels are often firmly set in our contemporary reality, with only minor fantasy elements. In addition, those fantasy elements are often only visible to the narrator of the novel, creating the impression that they may be figments of the narrator’s imagination. Regardless of the fact that Graham Joyce has won a handful of British Fantasy Awards, you could label his books as magical realism,

Gwenhywfar: Didn’t meet expectations

Gwenhywfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey

I normally wait a day or two after reading a book to write the review. This gives me time to let the book settle, and for my opinions to solidify. I finished Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey over a week ago, and am still struggling with this review…

Gwenhwyfar is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on an ancient Welsh myth that says that Arthur actually had three separate wives named Gwenhwyfar.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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