Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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

Honeyed Words: Doesn’t quite live up to Black Blade Blues

Honeyed Words by J.A. Pitts

A few months ago, blacksmith Sarah Beauhall reforged the legendary Norse sword Gram, attracting the attention of a number of supernatural beings that wanted the sword for themselves. This culminated in an epic battle, in which Sarah and her valiant SCAdian friends defeated a dragon but suffered tragic losses. Honeyed Words, the second in J.A. Pitts’ Black Blade series, continues Sarah’s story.

From the perspective of character development, Honeyed Words is terrific. Sarah has always had avoidant tendencies,

July 6th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | J.A. Pitts | SFF Reviews | no comments |

A Shot in the Dark: A strong sequel

A Shot in the Dark by K.A. Stewart

A Shot in the Dark continues a few months after A Devil in the Details, with Jesse James Dawson mostly recovered from his last demon death-dance and tornado tango, but still suffering from nightmares of an earlier near-fatal demon fight. His annual Colorado camping trip with his buddies should provide ample opportunity for rejuvenation and recreation. A walk in the woods, dodging paintballs and pine cones, to a mountain cabin retreat should fit the bill.

July 4th, 2011. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | K.A. Stewart | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Green-Eyed Envy: A fun mystery

Green-Eyed Envy by Kasey MacKenzie

Riss’s friend Harper Cruz, a Cat shapeshifter, is marrying Pennington Banoub, a Hound shifter and the cousin of Riss’s boyfriend Scott. But as the wedding date approaches, someone is knocking off Harper’s old boyfriends. Not only is this troubling in itself, but Riss has a very personal reason to be worried as the murder spree continues: Scott had a fling with Harper while he and Riss were broken up, and if the killer knows, Scott could be the next target.

Green-Eyed Envy is rife with red herrings.

June 26th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Kasey MacKenzie | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Concrete Savior: Unique urban fantasy blend

Concrete Savior by Yvonne Navarro

Concrete Savior is the second in Yvonne Navarro’s Dark Redemption series starring Brynna Malak, a fallen angel living as a human in Chicago and trying to earn her way back to Heaven. I enjoyed the first book, Highborn, and Concrete Savior is just as good. Like its predecessor, it mixes angel/demon mythology with superhero tropes for a unique urban fantasy blend.

An anonymous Good Samaritan is afoot in Chicago.

May 31st, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Yvonne Navarro | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Heaven’s Needle: A new direction for Liane Merciel

Heaven’s Needle by Liane Merciel

PLOT SUMMARY: The mountain fortress Duradh Mal, mysteriously destroyed centuries ago, has many legends, but only one truth. And now, in the shadow of that once-mighty fortress, something evil is stirring. Unaware of the danger, the high priest of the Dome of the Sun has sent two inexperienced Illuminers to the village of Carden Vale, at the foot of Duradh Mal, on what should be a routine tour of religious service. The warrior Asharre, strong and tall, her face scarred with runes, her heart scarred by the loss of her sister,

April 22nd, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Liane Merciel | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man: A good story, but messy

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man is Mark Hodder’s second steampunk novel with Sir Richard Burton as the protagonist, following The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. Though it is a sequel, and reading the first book will give you a fuller sense of setting and character, Clockwork Man stands pretty independently, so not having read the first certainly doesn’t preclude you from starting here. Unfortunately,

April 20th, 2011. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Mark Hodder | SFF Reviews | no comments |

City of Hope and Despair: A new twist on old ingredients

City of Hope and Despair by Ian Whates

In City of Dreams and Nightmares, Ian Whates introduced us to Thaiburley, a mountain city where the rich literally live at the top of the mountain and the poor make do in the City Below. When Tom, a street-nick with a burgeoning gift for magic, ran afoul of a scheming arkademic, Magnus, he only just managed to escape being killed at the hands of Magnus’ versatile assassin, Dewar. Give credit where it’s due, Tom survived thanks to Kat,

March 15th, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Ian Whates | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Rogue Oracle: Scared the bejabbers out of me

Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

I have a deep-seated fear of nuclear disaster. If you made a list of Things that Freak Kelly Out, it’d be right up there. I can’t help it — I’m a product of my times. The Chernobyl disaster occurred when I was a child, and I knew just enough about nuclear meltdown to know that it was bad. Really bad. I still remember being sure — but being too afraid to ask and confirm my guess — that the reactor would just keep burning until it destroyed the whole world.

March 14th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Alayna Williams | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Hexbound: No sense of high stakes

Hexbound by Chloe Neill

The second in Chloe Neill’s DARK ELITE series, Hexbound follows the continued adventures of Lily and her friend Scout at St. Sophia’s School for Girls, as they face both teen drama and evil magicians.

I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into this series from the beginning, but couldn’t initially put my finger on why. I got a little over halfway through Hexbound and encountered a scene that made the issue clear to me — and sapped my interest in the book.

February 26th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Chloe Neill | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Samiha’s Song: Takes place in a giant tree

Samiha’s Song by Mary Victoria

This is the second book of Mary Victoria’s Chronicles of the Tree trilogy, following closely on the heels of Tymon’s Flight and preceding the final book Oracle’s Fire. As is always the case with middle installments, the story neither begins nor ends, though there is more scope for world-building, character development, and getting the disparate plot-threads in place for the final book.

The setting of the story is one of its most unique aspects,

February 16th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Mary Victoria | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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