The Outcast Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
I have good news and bad news about The Outcast Blade, the second book in Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s ACTS OF THE ASSASSINI series.
The good news is that the book is as captivating as its predecessor, The Fallen Blade. It’s a heady brew of magic, military strategy, politics, mystery, betrayal and love. Grimwood’s descriptions of Venice are grounded rather than lyrical, creating a living city that is gritty and fantastical,
March 26th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Jon Courtenay (Jonathan) Grimwood | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Mastermind Plot by Angie Frazier
Zanna Snow is excited when her grandmother invites her to visit Boston. She barely knows her grandmother, but this gives her a chance to spend more time with her uncle Bruce, the famous detective, and with her cousin Will. It’s not long before Zanna catches wind of another mystery and sets out to solve it. Meanwhile, Grandmother has enrolled her in a prestigious academy for young ladies, where one of her classmates seems determined to make her life miserable. On top of all that, Zanna is being followed around town by a mysterious old man.
March 16th, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Angie Frazier | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Perception is Kim Harrington’s second mystery starring Clarity “Clare” Fern, a young girl who comes from a family of psychics. Clare’s special power is psychometry: she can touch an object and see scenes from its past.
In the first novel, Clarity, Clare used her ability to help solve a murder mystery. As Perception begins, that story’s aftereffects have turned Clare’s social life upside down. Once a social misfit, now she’s locally famous and unsure how to deal with the sudden fawning attention she’s getting from kids who once shunned her.
March 6th, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Kim Harrington | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Leaves of Flame by Benjamin Tate
Leaves of Flame is the follow-up to Well of Sorrows by Benjamin Tate (pen name of Joshua Palmatier) and while it isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, since Well of Sorrows was one of my favorite reads last year, that’s a pretty high bar to meet. The sequel has more issues in terms of pacing and organization, but still remains a good novel and its latter third or so is especially strong.
January 3rd, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Benjamin Tate | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Hearts of Smoke and Steam by Andrew P. Mayer
Set in New York during the Gilded Age, Hearts of Smoke and Steam is Andrew P. Mayer’s second book in the Society of Steam series. It is extremely difficult to follow if you haven’t read The Falling Machine, which introduced these characters and their conflicts. This book continues the problem I had with the first book: an interesting premise is undercut by awkward storytelling.
I think this novel is about a transition of power from a stagnant,
November 3rd, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2 | Andrew P. Mayer | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Water to Burn by Katharine Kerr
Katharine Kerr’s License to Ensorcell was an uneven but unique entry into the urban fantasy subgenre. It began as an interesting paranormal whodunit with some annoying acronyms, then took a sharp turn and became a story of alternate universes (also known here as deviant world levels). The addition of the alternate-universe material made License to Ensorcell more original than many of its peers and introduced a poignant subplot involving the heroine’s teenage brother, but also made the mystery make less sense.
August 22nd, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Katharine Kerr | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Turns out that when you kill a god, people want to talk to you. Paranormal insurance salesmen with special “godslayer” term life policies. Charlatans with “godproof” armor and extraplanar safe houses for rent. But, most notably, other gods, who want to first congratulate you on your achievement, second warn you not to try such shenanigans on them, and finally suggest that you try to slay one of their rivals — purely as a shenanigan, of course.
It’s been three weeks since Atticus O’Sullivan slew two gods.
June 19th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
A promising jazz drummer is found dead of a heart attack shortly after playing a gig in London. At first, the only odd circumstance surrounding his death is the fact that Peter Grant, apprentice wizard and police constable, faintly hears the notes of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” rising from the corpse, indicating that magic was somehow involved in the musician’s death. However, when further research reveals that several jazz musicians have died in similar circumstances over the years, it suddenly becomes much more urgent for Peter and his supervisor Thomas Nightingale to find out what’s really going on…
March 31st, 2011. Stefan Raets, Terry Weyna and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…