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]: 2012.01

The Last Policeman: This book does not go gentle into that good night

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

What if the world really would end in the next six months and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it? What would you do? Would you quit your job and start doing everything on your “bucket list?” Cash in all your savings and plan to party ‘til the end? Look up old friends and lost family members? Hunt down people who had done you wrong? Devote yourself to doing good works? Or would you stay in your home town and try to maintain a sense of normalcy?

Death Warmed Over: Like microwaved leftovers

Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson

Dan Chambeaux, a private investigator, and his girlfriend Sheyenne, a med student, recently died. But thanks to a weird event now called “The Big Uneasy” which happened a decade ago, dead no longer means dead. A certain percentage of folks (usually homicides and suicides) return from the grave as some sort of “Unnatural.” That’s what happened to Dan and Sheyenne. Now he’s a zombie and she’s a ghost. That’s not stopping them from living life, but it is stopping them from touching each other.

Dan has returned to his job and he’s working on several cases involving Unnaturals (divorce,

The Mongoliad: Mostly successful

THE MONGOLIAD by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, and others

The series of books known as THE FOREWORLD SAGA was a grand experiment in collaboration and serialized storytelling involving more than half a dozen authors, including Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. So far it includes three novels (individually titled The Mongoliad, Books One, Two, and Three) which relate the central tale set during a near-history version of the Mongol invasions of the mid-thirteenth century. Also available are several short stand-alone prequels and “sidequests,”

August 15th, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Neal Stephenson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Goblin Secrets: Charming ideas and missed opportunities

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander

My family and I were just quasi-playing a game called Booktastic the other night (quasi as in just reading questions from the cards rather than actually playing the game), when the question came up to name an award-winning book whose awarding you just didn’t get. I believe I chose an entire year of finalists one year for the National Book Award (All five. Every one.). Now though, I’d have to add this year’s winner for Young People: William Alexander’s Goblin Secrets.

The Red Knight: A valiant effort

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron

The thing about military-esque epic fantasy is that it will always have an audience. Always. There will always be someone out there who sees a blurb about a knight on a horse and buys the book. It’s a sort of subgenre that will have fans no matter how redundant, or unique, the book may be. For me, books that fit into that genre have a greater challenge ahead of them. They need to do something new, or present an old story in a refreshing way because there really are only so many different things that you can say about a guy on a horse on a quest.

June 13th, 2013. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 3 | Miles Cameron | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Lazarus Machine: YA steampunk

The Lazarus Machine by Paul Crilley

The Lazarus Machine hooked me at first because I really like the title. I mean, come on, that’s just a cool title. The Lazarus Machine is a young adult steampunk set in the late 1800’s in an alternative Earth. Paul Crilley, for the most part, pulls this time period off well, despite the Sherlock Holmes feel (which is starting to feel a little been-there-done-that for my taste). The book starts out with interesting steampunk inventions.

Blood Song: It’s The Name of the Wind with warrior monks

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

I purchased Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song because it showed up in my Goodreads “recommended” list with a ton of 5-star reviews. I’m usually suspicious, however, when the reviews so overwhelmingly endorse the greatness of a book. Based on my experience with Blood Song, I was right to be suspicious.

While Blood Song is not horrible — I probably would’ve slid it 3 stars had I finished — I’m totally clueless as to how it earned so many 5-star reviews.

May 23rd, 2013. Greg Hersom and Tim Scheidler´s rating: 0.1, 3 | Anthony Ryan | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Loki’s Wolves: Lacks so many quality elements

Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr

I’m going to start this review of Loki’s Wolves, the first book in a new series entitled THE BLACKWELL PAGES, by K.L. (Kelley) Armstrong and M.A. (Melissa) Marr, by saying that there is a good chance it really is a pretty decent Middle Grade book that a number of readers that age will enjoy. Not being that age, it is kind of hard for me to tell. That hasn’t stopped me from reviewing Middle Grade books before,

Technomancer: Doesn’t fulfill my criteria for good entertainment

Technomancer by B.V. Larson

When Quentin Draith wakes up in a bed in a private hospital he has no idea how he got there or even who he is. He does realize, though, that he’s being drugged and, therefore, somebody must be trying to control him. After he manages to escape, he learns that he lives in Las Vegas and blogs about supernatural events. And there’s a lot of weird stuff going on in Las Vegas these days.

Quentin soon discovers that the world contains an assortment of powerful magical objects and that he’s a rogue member of a community of people who are trying to collect them.

God Save the Queen: A good escape from reality

God Save the Queen by Kate Locke

First, before I say anything else about God Save the Queen, I need to applaud Orbit for the design of this hardcover. I never realized, until I had a one-year-old, how annoying dust jackets were on hardcover books. My daughter, darling though she is, manages to find them and destroy them wherever they are. I am now in the habit of taking off the dust jacket as soon as I get the book and hiding it somewhere. Then I take bets with my husband about how long it will be until Fiona finds the dust jacket and ruins it.

April 11th, 2013. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 3 | Kate Locke | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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