Honor’s Knight by Rachel Bach
Honor’s Knight is the second book in Rachel Bach’s PARADOX series. Don’t even bother to pick it up until you’ve read the first book, Fortune’s Pawn. (And you might not want to read past the second paragraph of this review, either, because it will spoil some of the plot of Fortune’s Pawn.)
This series is best described as romantic space opera. It’s light on the science (it doesn’t even try,
April 9th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Rachel Bach | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
In my review of Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, I wrote that Brenan had me immediately with Lady Trent’s “wry, rebellious, sardonic voice,” but that the novel lost its edge about 100 pages in and never quite fully recovered, leaving me somewhat dissatisfied. I’m happy to say that the sequel, The Tropic of Serpents, kept that wonderfully beguiling voice, but managed to smooth out the problems with pacing,
March 27th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Marie Brennan | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
I really like it when an author can keep a character from growing stagnant. It’s not always obvious that it’s happening, but it’s very impressive when the author has enough vision to avoid it. In Iron Night, the second book in the GENERATION V series by M.L. Brennan, Fortitude Scott is a wonderful example of a main character that keeps growing.
Fortitude Scott has not given up on remaining as human as he can for as long as he can.
March 11th, 2014. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | M.L. Brennan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
King Arthur is another in Osprey Publishing’s MYTHS AND LEGENDS series, this one written by Daniel Mersey and illustrated by Alan Lathwell. Compared to the subjects of the prior two I’ve reviewed (Jason and the Argonauts, Thor), King Arthur is a much more complex and difficult figure to try and explain in concise fashion, seeing as how his stories span multiple centuries,
January 22nd, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Myths-&-Legends | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Quintessence Sky by David Walton
Quintessence Sky is the follow-up to David Walton’s historical fantasy Quintessence, one of last year’s more interesting reads for me which garnered a four and a half star recommendation, thanks to its rich characterization and smart discussions or representations of big ideas: clash of religions and cultures, imperialism/colonialism, the conflict of science and religion.
Unfortunately, despite all its good qualities, Quintessence couldn’t find enough of an audience (we do what we can here) to keep Tor on board as publisher,
December 12th, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | David Walton | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
Such games we play…. As if I didn’t have to hedge and speak in code most of the time, I must now do it as part of regular social interactions. No wonder Mademoiselle Geraldine’s has such success training the female aristocracy to be intelligencers. It’s most of our life already. ~Miss Sophronia Temminnick
The intrepid girls of Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality have returned in another completely charming YA adventure! After having possibly saved the world quite recently,
December 6th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Gail Carriger | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
I didn’t enjoy Between Two Thorns, the first book in Emma Newman’s SPLIT WORLDS series because I didn’t like the characters, felt a little lost in the world, and thought the plot was boring. However, at the end of that novel things started to improve and since I already had the second book, Any Other Name, loaded into my phone (Brilliance Audio sent me review copies), I listened to it.
Any Other Name picks up where the previous book ended (it is absolutely necessary to have read Between Two Thorns).
August 27th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Emma Newman | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi A brilliant and varied collection of mostly-SF stories, many of which focus on the interactions…
Childhood's End- Arthur C. Clarke
The only genre book I read last month was The Ghost Book, a 1926 anthology compiled by Lady Cynthia Asquith,…
Best fiction I read in April was Ian C. Esslemont's new Malazan book, Forge of the High Mage. Best non-fiction…
I read the first four books in the "Children Of the Lamp" series by P.B. Kerr. The name of the…