More Than This by Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness casts his line with five words, and we are hooked: “Here is the boy, drowning.” Seth is sixteen years old when we meet him, and about to die. He is out at sea with the icy tide dragging him out further and further in a terrifying opening for Ness’s Young Adult novel, More Than This. And then his shoulder blade “snaps in two so loudly he can hear the crack.” Seth drowns.
But impossibly,
December 30th, 2014. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Patrick Ness | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
How do you fight an enemy that can read your every thought, and another that has been designed and bred for war? In 2029, according to Will McIntosh’s novel Defenders, that’s the most impending question humanity needs to answer if it wants to survive.
Having achieved critical acclaim in 2013 with Love Minus Eighty, McIntosh’s newest novel is a fast-paced and visceral exploration of morality and war. Earth has been invaded by the Luyten,
December 29th, 2014. João Eira´s rating: 4 | Will McIntosh | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman
The Necromancer’s House, by Christopher Buehlman, is a scary, funny, fast-paced urban fantasy novel with a rich voice and likeable characters. With its multiple viewpoints and several satisfying reveals along the way, it is one of the most well-crafted and exciting books I have read in a while.
Buehlman tells the story of Andrew Blankenship, a charming, brilliant modern wizard who drives an antique Mustang, wears his long black hair in a samurai bun, and goes to AA meetings regularly.
December 15th, 2014. Kate Lechler´s rating: 4.5 | Christopher Buehlman | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Spera (Vol 1) by Josh Tierney and various artists
Spera by Josh Tierney is a YA fantasy work that I raved about in a Sunday Status Update about a month ago. The story is of two young girls, fleeing princesses, on the run from murderous relatives and accompanied by an Aslan-like creature made of fire. One of the princesses, Lono, is a hesitant-young lady in a dress; the other, her protector, is a bold tomboy named Pira who wields a magic sword. The graphic novel is comprised of episodic tales overall,
November 29th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
SubCulture Omnibus by Kevin Freeman (writer) and Stan Yan (artist)
I love to read, but for the life of me, I can’t stay up reading all night. Or at least, that’s usually the case. However, last night I had one of those rare occasions because I made the mistake of starting to read the SubCulture Omnibus by Kevin Freeman and Stan Yan. The subculture in this book is geek- or fanboy-culture. The geek/fanboy group in this comic consists of mostly young adults who have met through,
November 8th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a novel of the same name as a short story in Holly Black’s The Poison Eaters, and anthology of delightfully dark YA stories, all with particular flavours and drawing on different myths from around the world. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown finds the reader in a post-vampiricism-infected United States. The cities in which the largest outbreaks occurred were swiftly enclosed (earning the name ‘Coldtowns’), trapping vampires,
October 15th, 2014. Skye Walker´s rating: 2.5 | Holly Black | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood (pseudonym of Jon Courtenay Grimwood)
Jean-Marie Charles d’Aumont is first and foremost a chef. Even the title chef is a gross understatement. Jean-Marie is a connoisseur on an adventure to taste as many different things as he can in his lifetime. As The Last Banquet opens up, we find Jean-Marie as an orphan sitting by a dung heap munching on beetles. With each beetle consumed, he notes that they often taste like what they’d consumed prior to being eaten. There’s a very wry,
October 9th, 2014. Pat Doherty´s rating: 5 | Jon Courtenay (Jonathan) Grimwood | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Forever Evil by Geoff Johns
Two years into the New 52 and DC has managed to divide fans down the middle: Just as many seem to hate the New 52 as love the new possibilities it offers as a “soft reboot” (Jim Lee) to the DC universe. However, the excited buzz in the comic book stores as they launched into their first event, Trinity War, died out as the second half seemed to fizzle after the great promise of the first few issues. However, Trinity War paved the way for Forever Evil,
September 12th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Geoff Johns | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
This was my first time reading an Elizabeth Knox novel, but I know for certain that it won’t be my last. Quite famous in her (and my) country of New Zealand, Knox is best known for her adult novel The Vintner’s Luck and her YA duology Dreamhunter and Dreamquake. Mortal Fire is set in the same world as the Dreamhunter books, one that’s so similar to our own that only a few name changes and the presence of hidden magic differentiates it.
September 6th, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Elizabeth Knox | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter
I’d never read any of Gena Showalter’s books before trying Beauty Awakened, but I’d gotten the idea they were fun reads. Unfortunately, I did not have fun with Beauty Awakened — in fact, it made me angry — and I abandoned the book partway through.
The setup is that Koldo, a physically and emotionally scarred dark-angel type, and Nicola, a self-sacrificing young woman with a heart condition and a dying twin sister, meet and eventually fall in love.
July 21st, 2014. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1 | Gena Showalter | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
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…