2010.02 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

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]: 2010.02

Cold Fire: A strong second instalment in what promises to be a great trilogy

Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

This is the second book in Kate Elliott’s SPIRIT WALKER trilogy, preceded by Cold Magic and concluded in Cold Steel, but which manages to avoid most of the pitfalls inherent in many second installments. It’s a direct continuation of the previous book (making it impossible to start reading with this one) and there’s still a long way to go till the finish line, but despite ending on something of a cliff-hanger, it still delivers a relatively satisfying story-arc with a climactic finish and a sense of completeness.

October 1st, 2013. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Kate Elliott | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Web of Lies: Proceeds in rather obvious ways

Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep

Web of Lies is the second book in Jennifer Estep’s ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN series about Gin Blanco, a young woman with elemental powers who was orphaned when she was a girl and was found and raised by an assassin who taught her the tricks of the trade. She’s known as The Spider — the best assassin in the city — and is now wealthy enough to retire, which she is trying to do. She spends her days running a barbeque restaurant,

Glamour in Glass: I would like to see more of Jane and Vincent

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal

Glamour in Glass in a fast-paced magical adventure set in the Regency period, during the Peninsular Wars. This is Mary Robinette Kowal’s second book in her series that started with Shades of Milk and Honey.

Kowal captures the language and sensibility of Jane Austen’s era exactly. Jane and Vincent, both accomplished glamourists, have been married for three months. After Jane struggles to get through a nerve-wracking state dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales,

June 25th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Mary Robinette Kowal | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Extinction: Did Not Finish

Extinction by B.V. Larson

Extinction is the second novel in B.V. Larson’s STAR FORCE series about professor Kyle Riggs who was picked up by an alien spaceship and now captains a fleet of ships that are protecting earth from other aliens. I called the first book, Swarm, “a silly, but exciting, male wish-fulfillment fantasy.” I wouldn’t have moved on to book two, but the audiobook publisher sent it to me for a review, so here we are.

Citadel: Better than first book, but still not good

Citadel by John Ringo

Citadel is the second in John Ringo’s TROY RISING series. The first book, Live Free or Die, had an interesting plot that was totally derailed by John Ringo’s intrusive and ugly political views which seem closer to neo-Nazism than anything else. So why did I read Citadel? Only because the audiobook publisher sent me a free copy and, out of a sense of completion, I wanted to review it for FanLit. I was prepared to hate it.

The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf: A delightfully mangled fairytale

The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf by Tia Nevitt

I rarely read fairytale retellings, but I picked up The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf because its author, Tia Nevitt, is a friend of mine. She’s a former fellow SFF blogger and she lives just a few minutes away from me, so we chat occasionally and have gotten together a few times. Also, I enjoyed her first published novel, the first in her ACCIDENTAL ENCHANTMENTS series, The Sevenfold Spell, a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty which focuses on the minor characters in the story.

River of Stars: A beautifully crafted, moving novel

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

Since this is a fantasy review site, let’s get this out nice and early. Outside of its setting — a fictionalized and truncated version of China’ s 11th century Northern Song Dynasty — there is next to no fantasy in River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay’s newest work. A few ghosts, an occasional fox-woman, and that’s it. So fantasy readers will have to take those few bones tossed their way and then settle for graceful, lyrical prose, beautifully drawn characters,

The Rise of Ransom City: Climb aboard!

The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman

If Horatio Alger, rather than Mark Twain, wrote the sequel to Huck Finn (though keeping Twain’s wry humor) after he lights out for the territories, and if Huck were possessed by the spirit of Nikola Tesla, and if the Wild West were the Wild West except that the trains and guns were all hosts for demons battling for supremacy while haunting both sides is the possibility of a sort of doomsday device, well, then you just might be close to approximating Felix Gilman’s The Rise of Ransom City,

December 17th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Felix Gilman | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |

The Drowned Cities: Brings weighty concerns to a YA audience

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

The oceans have swallowed the world’s coastlines. Although the Chinese have adapted to the new world – they have even built “Island Shanghai” – the American state has drowned beneath the rising tides. Now, only tattered American flags and decrepit skyscrapers remain on the coast, and the American government is a thing of the past. In spite of past efforts made by Chinese peacekeepers, adolescent refugees Mahlia and Mouse now live in the “Drowned Cities,” struggling to survive amidst competing scavengers, criminals, and warlords.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Drowned Cities is the sequel to Ship Breaker,

Queen’s Hunt: Disappointing

Queen’s Hunt by Beth Bernobich

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Beth Bernobich’s first book, Passion Play, a combination of having received it unasked-for and its romance-like cover. While it had its flaws, I found the main characters, Ilse and Kosenmark, intriguing and captivating both individually and with regard to their burgeoning relationship. In the end I gave it four stars and said in my review that I looked forward to its follow-up. That sequel, Queen’s Hunt,

July 17th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Beth Bernobich | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Bill Capossere on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
Sandy Ferber on The Druid Stone: Ugony and the EcstasyJune 30, 2025
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
Paul Connelly on The Druid Stone: Ugony and the EcstasyJune 30, 2025
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…

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]: 2010.02

Cold Fire: A strong second instalment in what promises to be a great trilogy

Web of Lies: Proceeds in rather obvious ways

Glamour in Glass: I would like to see more of Jane and Vincent

Extinction: Did Not Finish

Citadel: Better than first book, but still not good

The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf: A delightfully mangled fairytale

River of Stars: A beautifully crafted, moving novel

The Rise of Ransom City: Climb aboard!

The Drowned Cities: Brings weighty concerns to a YA audience

Queen’s Hunt: Disappointing

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