Snow in Summer is Jane Yolen’s middle grade/young adult retelling of Snow White, set in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia in the 1940s. The main character is Snow in Summer, a girl named by her mother after the white Cerastium flowers that carpet their front yard. Her mother dies in childbirth when Summer is seven years old, and her father completely withdraws in his grief, neglecting Summer, who gets along with the help of her mother’s best friend Nancy.
February 22nd, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Jane Yolen | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Finder: Volume One by Carla Speed McNeil
Even though your to-read stack of books is overflowing, even though your Amazon wish list is daunting, and even though you are starting to worry about running across another review of a book you’ve just got to read, I’m afraid you’ve found one more not merely to add to the list, but to put on the top of the stack of books—if you can resist the urge to buy the book immediately on Comixology, which isn’t a bad idea since it’s great to read with the guided view technology.
September 12th, 2015. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 12 comments |
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Were you a hard-core nerd or geek in junior high and high school in the 80s? You know, the ones who clustered at the library or at benches far from the jocks and cheerleaders, who thrilled at quoting lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, War Games, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Short Circuit, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Legend, Dark Crystal,
June 16th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4, 5 | Ernest Cline | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 17 comments |
On those occasions when I have read sci-fi, I’ve tended to stick to the familiar brand-name authors; tried-and-true old favorites such as Asimov, Bester, Bradbury, Clarke, Dick, Heinlein, Norton, Silverberg, Williamson and the like. But a recent perusal of new author Richard Fazio‘s debut novel, 2010’s The Nexus, has demonstrated that I really ought to be adventurous more often.
April 17th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Richard Fazio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
One of the best things about e-books is that many more novella-length works get stand-alone publication. You don’t have to search them out in magazines, or wait for the author to write several of them and combine them in a collection, or spend a large chunk of change for a special printing from a small press. As I’ve always thought that the novella was the form best suited for short science fiction, I’m pleased with this advance; it almost makes up for not being able to hold a real book in my hands,
April 13th, 2015. Terry Weyna´s rating: 4 | Stephen King | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Place Called Armageddon by C.C. Humphreys
“I am Constantine Palaiologos, emperor, son of Caesars. I am a baker, a ropewright, a fisherman, a monk, a merchant. I am a soldier. I am Roman. I am Greek. I am two thousand years old. I was born in freedom only yesterday. This is my city, Turk. Take it if you can.”
In C.C. Humphreys’ novel A Place Called Armageddon, it’s 1453, and the Byzantine Empire is an empire only in name.
March 4th, 2015. Pat Doherty´s rating: 4.5 | Chris (C.C.) Humphreys | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Harbinger (Vol. 1): Omega Rising by Joshua Dysart (writer) and Lewis LarRosa (artist) and Khari Evans (artist) and other various artists
Until recently, I’d read only a few various issues from Valiant, a publisher that is still relatively unknown to me; however, based on a recommendation of a friend with good taste in comics and an excellent weekend sale at Comixology, I decided to give the Valiant Universe a try. I started with the first issue of Harbinger, and before I knew it, I’d read the first two collected volumes of Harbinger,
December 6th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
While religion is often found in epic fantasy, rarely is it the main focus of a novel, as it is in Blackdog. It’s even more rare to find an epic fantasy that is a stand-alone rather than part of a long series or trilogy. While the fact that Blackdog is a stand-alone might turn some epic fantasy fans off, it is rather refreshing to read a fantasy on an epic scale that is contained within one book and has a definite beginning,
October 17th, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4 | K.V. Johansen | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
First of all, it’s important to note that Kate Mosse’s The Winter Ghosts is nowhere near the same length as her other works, particularly her best-known books Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel. It’s best described as a novella, one which can probably be read in one sitting (it took me two). Your enjoyment will probably hinge on knowing beforehand that this isn’t a dense holiday read,
July 8th, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Kate Mosse | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Wild Girls by Ursula K Leguin
“When her mother went to embrace her, Tudju made the gesture that put her aside.”
Some topics carry inevitability in their DNA. When you read about Titanic, or the 1918 influenza pandemic, you know what’s going to happen. In Ursula LeGuin’s novelette The Wild Girls we have a good idea how it’s going to end. We don’t want to believe, but we know.
In the opening paragraphs, Bela ten Belen takes five companions and a male slave and leaves his City home to raid a nearby nomadic village.
March 25th, 2014. Marion Deeds | Ursula K. Le-Guin | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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My pleasure, Robin! And yes, it surely is some kind of an experience, to be sure....