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]: 2010.01

Angelology: Fails to create a willing suspension of disbelief

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Danielle Trussoni is a highly educated and well established non-fiction writer with an award-nominated memoir under her belt already. She has a degree in history and an MFA in creative writing. She puts both of those degrees to use in Angelology. When she is drawing on history, the book comes to life.

I should say that I tend to be biased against writers who come out of MFA programs. Maybe it’s just reverse snobbery, but it seems to me that they have learned to write exquisite paragraphs but don’t always have a good sense of story,

April 10th, 2011. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 1 | Danielle Trussoni | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

The Reapers Are the Angels: One of the oddest and best zombie novels

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell

What does the United States look like 25 years after zombies have led the nation into an apocalypse? What is life like for a teenager born ten years or so after the apocalypse? What has she seen, and done, and what is the state of her soul? These are the questions first-time novelist Alden Bell attempts to answer in The Reapers Are the Angels, a soul-searing novel that looks at some of life’s hardest questions through the lens of violence so common and natural it isn’t even evil.

April 9th, 2011. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Alden Bell | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Clockwork Angel: Mortal Instruments fans will be pleased

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

And then comes the final test, the infallible touchstone of the seventh-rate: Ichor. It oozes out of severed tentacles, it beslimes tessellated pavements, bespatters bejeweled courtiers, and bores the bejesus out of everybody.
~Ursula K. Le Guin, From Elfland to Poughkeepsie

Cassandra Clare stumbles straight out of the gate in Clockwork Angel. In the opening sentence… “ichor,” one of Ursula K. Le Guin’s perfect tests for bad fantasy.

The Cloud Roads: Rich and inventive world-building

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

FORMAT/INFO: The Cloud Roads is 288 pages long divided over 20 numbered chapters. It also includes two Appendixes, one about the Raksura and one about the Fell. Narration is in the third-person, exclusively via the protagonist Moon. The Cloud Roads is self-contained, but a sequel titled The Serpent Sea will be published in 2012. March 2011 marks the Trade Paperback publication of The Cloud Roads via Night Shade.

The Dark Griffin: Felt like a very long prologue

The Dark Griffin by K.J. Taylor

K.J. Taylor’s The Dark Griffin is billed as “the first book in an edgy new trilogy,” but felt like reading a very long prologue. Unfortunately for the reader, the gist of the story is told in the couple of paragraphs on the back cover, taking away any suspense. I hate when the back cover gives too much away. We go into the story knowing Arren is going to end up in the arena and that he will end up partnered with the wild,

February 19th, 2011. Sarah Webb (guest)´s rating: 2 | K.J. Taylor | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The World House: Takes too long to get to the point

The World House by Guy Adams

A struggling British antiquarian with gambling debts… an American socialite during the Prohibition… a young boy from Spain during Franco’s reign… a barfly and a stripper in the late seventies… an autistic teenager… In different places and during different eras, seemingly unconnected strangers all come into contact with a mysterious box, and all of them at some point suddenly find themselves transported to a different place: a huge house that seems to have endless corridors and stairs, not to mention a room filled with a huge jungle,

February 18th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5 | Guy Adams | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Firespell: Best appreciated by its target audience

Firespell by Chloe Neill

There are YA books that translate well to an adult audience, and there are those that are best appreciated by their actual target audience. I suspect Firespell is one of the latter. I found it an average read, but I think I’d have really liked it at the age of thirteen or so.

Case in point: Here is how magic works in the Dark Elite series. If someone has magical talent, that talent manifests at puberty. From puberty to the age of twenty-five,

Farlander: Promising but uneven series opener

Farlander by Col Buchanan

The Holy Empire of Mann, ruled by the Holy Matriarch Sasheen, is slowly but surely conquering all the lands bordering the Mideres Sea. One of the last areas desperately holding out against the Empire’s onslaught is the island of Khos, and it’s on this island that Nico, a teenager living with his mother and a succession of her boyfriends, decides to run away from home and create a better life for himself. But living on the streets turns out to be harder than he expected, especially when his first attempted robbery goes horribly wrong.

February 4th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3 | Col Buchanan | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Carousel Tides: A nice ride

Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee

My sister refers to this type of book as “Grandma died/disappeared and left you the family home and a whopping big mess in the basement/attic/surrounding landscape to clear up.” Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee is that kind of story, with a big helping of “you can run from your responsibilities in life, but you can’t hide.”

Carousel Tides is contemporary fantasy. I can’t call it “urban” since it takes place in a small town in coastal Maine,

Bloodshot: Familiar territory with a few refreshing twists

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

I was pretty excited to read Bloodshot. I first encountered Cherie Priest by way of her Southern Gothic novel Four and Twenty Blackbirds several years ago. Since then, her name keeps popping back up in my consciousness, both as a writer of several acclaimed steampunk novels I haven’t had the chance to read yet, and as a Person Who Says Interesting Things on the Internet. So when I heard she was dipping her authorial toes into one of my favorite subgenres,

January 24th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 5 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8288 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Marion Deeds on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
Me, too! I think independent bookstore are enjoying a golden age, and I plan to continue to support that. One…
Marion Deeds on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
I read the most recent Elysian article. I tried not be bummed out, because I already knew most of it,…
Andi B on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
Wow, I'm really impressed by the 15- and 20-year old owning and running their own bookstores! I loved books as…
Paul Connelly on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 24, 2024
There were two interesting articles about publishing that I ran across, the first via a link in the second: No…
Sandy Ferber on Galactic Pot-Healer: Unpredictable and fascinating from beginning to endApril 23, 2024
My pleasure, Robin! And yes, it surely is some kind of an experience, to be sure....