In a crowded genre like urban fantasy, authors have to strike a difficult balance. They need to adhere to the genre’s tropes and formulas closely enough that readers feel like they’re getting what they were looking for. On the other hand, there needs to be enough innovation that readers have a reason to read this book, this series, rather than one of the many others on the shelf.
In a nutshell, the trouble with Grave Witch is that it doesn’t stand out.
October 27th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Kalayna Price | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero picks up shortly after his Percy Jackson & The Olympians series ended and continues onward in the same universe with both new and familiar characters. Actually, I should say “mostly” the same universe, as Riordan has broadened his Greek mythology premise to include the Roman gods as well (or as is often the case, the familiar Greek gods in their less-familiar Roman aspects).
Percy literally isn’t around for this one (don’t worry — he appears to play a major role in the next);
October 26th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Everlasting is a comfort read. It’s kind of like having cake for dinner. It’s really sweet and a little silly, but sometimes it hits the spot.
Camille Rowen is a young girl living in 1850s San Francisco, but she’s not like other young girls. She’d rather go adventuring with her sea captain father than hang around the city being a proper lady. But Camille’s adventuring days seem numbered. She’s engaged to Randall Jackson, a wealthy young man, and their wedding is scheduled to take place in just a few months.
October 25th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Angie Frazier | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
City of Dreams and Nightmares by Ian Whates
Thaiburley is a sprawling city carved into a towering mountain. For everyone but the privileged few that live in the upper rows, Thaiburley is a city of nightmares. Those that live in the City Below do their best to survive gangs and poverty, sometimes scavenging the scraps thrown down from the heights. Street-nicks like Tom, on the other hand, take what they need.
When Tom, who has a knack for stealth, leaves the lower levels to spend a night exploring the City Above,
October 20th, 2010. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Ian Whates | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Sometimes, when I give a book a middling rating, it means the book was middling throughout. This is not one of those times. I intensely disliked the first half of Dust, and it took me about a month to get through it. The second half, I loved, and read in one day.
Dust’s greatest strength — and also its greatest drawback — is that Joan Frances Turner writes description extremely well. She has the gift of evoking that one perfect image that puts you right there in the character’s mind: a dimly remembered strawberry,
October 14th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Joan Frances Turner | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman
The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman, is a strikingly original book that, though it has its flaws, is a fascinating opening to a new world and characters. I look forward to rejoining when the sequel (and the title “The Half-Made World “pretty much mandates a sequel) arrives.
The Half-Made World is set in an alternate America, but Gilman has gone well past the add-a-few-inventions-that-weren’t-there-and-change-the-Civil-War kind of alternate world-building here.
October 6th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Felix Gilman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Passion Play by Beth Bernobich
CLASSIFICATION: Passion Play is a novel that blends together romance, classic fantasy tropes and political intrigue. Some comparisons have been made to Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series, and while there are a few similarities, Passion Play is not nearly as grandiose, sensual, or elegantly written. Instead, the book reminded me at times of Robin Hobb’s early stuff, some Kate Elliott, and C.E. Murphy’s Inheritors’ Cycle, although Beth Bernobich has her own style.
October 4th, 2010. Robert Thompson, Bill Capossere and Kelly Lasiter | Beth Bernobich | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Omnitopia Dawn is the start of a new series by Diane Duane, who is probably best known for her excellent Young Wizards fantasy series. Young Wizards has always been a fantasy with some science-fiction underpinnings, but in Omnitopia Dawn Duane reverses that balance, giving us a near-future science fiction tale with some fantasy possibilities. It’s mostly a fun read, though I don’t think it so far matches the quality and depth of Young Wizards.
October 4th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Diane Duane | SFF Reviews | no comments |
An albino army invades the kingdom of Falanor, and the first to fall to their merciless onslaught is its most northern city, Jaldar. As it happens, this is where the famous warrior hero Kell has retired. As the invaders begin the slaughter, Kell hurries to rescue his grand-daughter, Nieanna. The dire circumstances call for an uneasy alliance between Kell and a dapper, swashbuckling thief named Saark. After a daring rescue of Nieanna and her friend Kat, the four become refugees, and they may be Falanor’s only hope against the clockwork vampire horde.
October 1st, 2010. Greg Hersom´s rating: 0.1 | Andy Remic | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
In the opening scene of The Spirit Thief (2010), Rachel Aaron’s charming debut novel, the notorious thief Eli Monpress is trying to escape from the royal dungeon of Mellinor. Since he’s not just a thief but also a wizard, he does this by quite literally trying to charm the dungeon’s door into opening: not by casting a spell on it, but rather by persuading, cajoling and wheedling it into letting him through, explaining that it really would be much better off without those annoying nails keeping it together (which results in the memorable line “Indecision is the bane of all hardwoods.”).
September 30th, 2010. Stefan Raets and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Rachel Aaron | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 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…