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]: 2014.01

The Mark of the Dragonfly: Enjoyable, misses chances to be better

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

The Mark of the Dragonfly, a Middle Grade novel by Jaleigh Johnson, starts off with a wonderfully evocative premise and setting: a world where at regular intervals over a particular region, “meteor storms” rain down artifacts from other worlds amidst a haze of poisonous green dust. After the impacts are over and the dust has settled, “scrappers” head out in a mad race to claim whatever odd (and usually broken) objects might be sold to traders.

Swords of Good Men: An action-packed debut

Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson

Swords of Good Men is a pretty good siege story. That’s about as much as I’d feel bound to tell someone if I was, for instance, asked about it in a bookshop. Pretty good. Not a light for the ages, not bad by any means. Not even mediocre. It’s just… pretty good. It has some notable strengths and a few troubling weaknesses. I’ll go into all of that below, but if all you were wondering about is whether Swords of Good Men is a reasonably diverting Viking fantasy novel to hang around with for a little while,

March 19th, 2014. Tim Scheidler and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Snorri Kristjansson | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Annihilation: Discussed by Bill, Kat, and Terry

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

So yeah. That was strange. You should read it.
Here endeth the review.

Uh…. Seriously? Try again, please, Bill.

What? It’s Kat, our managing editor, sticking her bold red italic text into my review! Oh, alright. Start over:

Loren Eiseley, Charlotte Perking Gilman, Sigmund Freud, and Franz Kafka have a literary baby. And it’s adoooorable!

C’mon, Bill….

A biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist walk into a bio zone.

Shovel Ready: Gonna keep an eye on this Sternbergh guy

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

I was alone in the spare bedroom. Upstairs, where the light is good. Though not too good. No TV, no music, no family. It had me right where it wanted me. So yeah, I bit. Most guys woulda. Most girls too, no matter what you think.

Shovel Ready the flashy label said, and if you looked closer you could see a name: Adam Sternbergh. ‘Cept, this Sternbergh guy isn’t the story. First name you get never is.

March 13th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Adam Sternbergh | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

A Darkling Sea: Enjoyable and raises thoughtful questions

A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias

Ever since I was a kid stealing my dad’s sci-fi books the moment he laid them down for a minute (silly, silly man), I’ve loved First Contact stories and still fondly remember reading Murray Leinster’s classic, entitled, shockingly, “First Contact.” So when I was offered a chance to read A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias, which is at its heart a first contact story, I jumped. And I’m glad I did, as it turned out to be a mostly well-executed story with a fully realized alien race and a compelling story line.

March 12th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 4 | James L. Cambias | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Well’s End: Inspired by Baby Jessica

The Well’s End by Seth Fishman

Mia Kish held the attention of the country when she got stuck in a well when she was four years old. Everybody knows about Baby Mia. Now, at age sixteen, Mia is a scholarship student at the elite Westbrook Academy. She’s one of the world’s best teenage swimmers, which is why she’s hated by some of her peers. When there’s a deadly virus outbreak at Westbrook and the teachers and students start rapidly aging, it’s Mia who may be able to protect her classmates. First they have to get past the quarantine guards to escape the school.

Day Men

Day Men by Matt Gagnon and Michael Alan Nelson (writers) and Brian Stelfreeze (art)

This past year I’ve been trying out a wide variety of new series by buying a ton of #1 issues. I’ve got a good sense of the Big Two (DC and Marvel), so most of these #1s have been from other publishers, often written and drawn by people I’ve never heard of. If the art looks interesting and the plot even slightly worth checking out, I’ve done so. And I have to say that about 75% of the time,

March 7th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Conquest: A welcome addition to the YA bookshelves

Conquest by John Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard

At first, Conquest by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard reminded me of a blend of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth; the Final Conflict, and the history of the Roman Empire. The Roddenberry sense comes from the descriptions of the aliens who conquer Earth; tall, slender and graceful, some with shaven heads, and a melodic, trilling name, the Illyri. By the second chapter, though, I felt firmly grounded in Roman conquest, as Andrus, the Illyri governor of Earth, and his primary general discuss an attack at an Illyri fortress,

Fates: Too many of the usual YA tropes, but lots of potential

Fates by Lanie Bross

Vampires are everywhere in teen fiction, but recently some authors have ventured outside fangland and explored a more diverse assortment of supernatural beings. And so we have Fates by Lanie Bross, a novel about, well, Fates. I was a little sad when I realized Bross’s Fates didn’t bear much resemblance to the Greek Fates, just because I’m a sucker for classical mythology, but nonetheless I was eager to see what Bross did with the concept. The gorgeous cover art didn’t hurt a bit either.

The Emperor’s Blades: Starts a promising new epic fantasy series

The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

Epic fantasy has been heavily stocked over the years with some powerhouse writers — Jordan, Erikson, Wurts, Rothfuss and Martin have been the standard bearers of this genre of fantasy. It’s a pretty challenging genre to break into, but after reading the first book of the CHRONICLE OF THE UNHEWN THRONE, The Emperor’s Blades, I am reminded that there is always room for someone new.

January 14th, 2014. John Hulet and Bill Capossere | Brian Staveley | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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