The Iron King (2010) is just plain fun. Julie Kagawa takes sixteen-year-old Meghan Chase on a heroic journey through the lands of Faerie, where she meets a host of vivid characters and crosses unearthly landscapes in search of her missing kid brother. Along the way, she learns a dangerous secret about her parentage, gets caught up in a Faerie political struggle, and finds herself torn between two very different fey boys.
There’s an element of pastiche to The Iron King;
April 16th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Julie Kagawa | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Under Heaven is the long-awaited new novel by master fantasist Guy Gavriel Kay — and let’s get the most important news out of the way: it was 100% worth the wait.
Fans of Guy Gavriel Kay know that his novels often take place in what appear to be fantasy versions of real countries: A Song for Arbonne is set in 13th century France, The Lions of Al-Rassan in Spain during the Moorish occupation,
April 12th, 2010. Stefan Raets, Rob Rhodes and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann
I’ve been lukewarm to George Mann’s Victorian steampunk novels set in London, finding them mostly adequate: quick-paced but a bit flat and somewhat too beholden to cinematic cliché. They are intermittently entertaining and lively, but never quite get all the way to good. Mann’s new novel, Ghosts of Manhattan, is similar, but set in America this time. It’s perhaps a step above the London novels in quality.
It’s 1926 and America is in a cold war with a British Empire that still stretches over much of the world.
April 8th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Terry Weyna´s rating: 2 | George Mann | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Master of None by Sonya Bateman
If you took parts of the Arabian Nights and remade them in an urban fantasy mold, one of the stories would come out something very similar to Sonya Bateman’s Master of None. Gavyn Donatti, a professional thief, is hired to steal a small item for a local crime boss, but somehow Gavyn manages to lose the item before handing it over to his employer, and this bit of bad luck ends up sending Gavyn on the run. He is saved along the way by a Djinn named “Ian.”
March 20th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 2.5 | Sonya Bateman | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes
A motley assortment of adventurers, led by Lenk, find it difficult to do anything but bicker with each other as they travel the world in search of pay. In fact, there seems to be not an ounce of goodwill between any of them. You’d think when their ship is attacked by pirates, they’d band together, but the insults just fly more furiously. As Lenk attempts to round the characters up and point them all in the same direction — towards the demon that threatens their lives and souls — he realises that he is having a very bad day.
March 17th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 4 | Sam Sykes | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The River Kings’ Road by Liane Merciel
CLASSIFICATION: The River Kings’ Road is a traditional, medieval European-influenced epic fantasy in the vein of Greg Keyes’ THE KINGDOMS OF THORN AND BONE, David Farland, and early J.V. Jones.
FORMAT/INFO: The River Kings’ Road is 384 pages long divided over twenty numbered chapters and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Brys Tarnell,
February 27th, 2010. Robert Thompson and Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Liane Merciel | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke
Sometimes you find a fantasy novel that’s not extremely original, but is so much plain fun to read that you just can’t help but love it. The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke is one of those books: despite using some recognizable fantasy templates, it’s a great story and a book I found extremely hard to put down.
Whenever the main character in a fantasy novel is poor and young, you can be almost certain that they’re destined for great things later in the book or series.
February 27th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Glenda Larke | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
King Maker by Maurice Broaddus
The premise of King Maker is simply awesome, and I wanted to love the book based on that alone. I’m a big fan of the King Arthur mythology, and the idea of such a unique slant on the story had me extremely excited. I found myself bewildered, however, as I worked my way through the book.
I want to deal with the strengths of the novel first. Maurice Broaddus’ writing creates a dangerous and authentic mood.
February 26th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 2 | Maurice Broaddus | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Original Sin by Allison Brennan
Original Sin is a hot mess, and I’m not quite sure where to start.
Allison Brennan may not have known where to start, either. The early chapters jump around in time to a head-spinning degree. There are so many flashbacks to years ago, and references to events of weeks ago, that Original Sin gives the impression of beginning in the wrong place. If the monastery murders and fire are so important, why not put them in the novel?
February 26th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1 | Allison Brennan | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard
Servant of the Underworld by Writers of the Future winner Aliette de Bodard is an interesting and, especially for a debut, well-executed cross-genre novel that successfully combines several disparate elements into an original story.
If ever a novel could be called cross-genre, Servant of the Underworld is it: the story is set in the 15th century Aztec empire (1. historical fiction) but magic and gods are real (2. fantasy). When a priestess is murdered,
February 24th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Terry Weyna´s rating: 3 | Aliette De_Bodard | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…