2014.02 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Rising Tide: This has second-book problems, but is still an engaging read

Rising Tide by Rajan Khanna

Rising Tide is Rajan Khanna’s sequel to his post-apocalyptic novel Falling Skies. Rising Tide follows Ben Gold, airship pilot and one-time scavenger, after the Sick, an engineered virus, has turned humans into living zombies called the Feral. Society and government has collapsed, and people like Ben exist mostly by being loners, but Ben made a connection with an island colony and that changed everything for him.

Rising Tide opens with Ben and his scientist partner Miranda being held captive by Malik on his repurposed battleship.

November 5th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Rajan Khanna | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Empire Ascendant: A disappointingly muddy follow-up to The Mirror Empire

Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley

I thought Kameron Hurley’s first book in her WORLDBREAKER SAGA, The Mirror Empire, was a richly imagined, ambitious novel that landed on the positive side of the ledger even if its flaws gave the book’s strengths a run for their money. Unfortunately, the flaws do a bit more than that in the sequel, Empire Ascendant, leading to an overall weaker second effort.

The Worldbreaker setting is a multi-verse with parallel worlds that,

October 6th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Kameron Hurley | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Secrets of Blood and Bone: Interesting magic in this contemporary fantasy

The Secrets of Blood and Bone by Rebecca Alexander

The Secrets of Blood and Bone is the second book in Rebecca Alexander’s JACKDAW HAMMOND fantasy series. I haven’t read the first book, The Secrets of Life and Death, yet but I found I could follow events in this book with little trouble. There may be some mild spoilers for the first book in this review.

I got interested in this book when I read Alexander’s post on John Scalzi’s Whatever blog,

September 21st, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Rebecca Alexander | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Dark Forest: Only 400 years to prepare for an alien invasion

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

The Dark Forest is Cixin Liu’s follow-up to The Three-Body Problem (first published in English in 2014 and selected as a Hugo and Nebula Award Finalist), and is the second book in his THREE BODY apocalyptic SF trilogy (which was already published in China back in 2010). It took a while for the series to gain enough popularity in China to catch the attention of US publishers, but since the first book was released last year,

August 17th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5 | Cixin Liu | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Winner’s Crime: A richly layered middle book in a strong trilogy

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Crime is the second book by Marie Rutkoski in her young adult WINNERS TRILOGY, and like the first, though I had some issues with some aspects, Rutkoski’s writing fully won me over even before we got to yet another great ending. It’s pretty much impossible to not have some spoilers for book one, The Winner’s Curse, in this review, so fair warning. Any spoilers for The Winner’s Crime will be minor.

The Warring States: A step backwards

The Warring States by Aidan Harte

The Warring States is the second book in Aidan Harte’s THE WAVE trilogy, coming after last year’s Irenicon, to which I gave a three-star rating recently. Unfortunately, I’d describe The Warring States as a bit of a step backwards, mostly due to pacing issues.

You can take a look at my review of Irenicon for the detailed back-story.

May 14th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Aidan Harte | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Half the World: Beautiful and intimate characters

Half the World by Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie’s Half the World is book two of his SHATTERED SEA trilogy. Although Yarvi and some of the cast from book one do make an appearance, Half the World isn’t exactly a sequel to Half a King, and I almost think you could read it without having read book one. The overarching storyline follows Father Yarvi’s quest to find allies abroad as Gettland’s enemies close in,

April 7th, 2015. Kevin Wei and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Joe Abercrombie | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Dark Water: The story switches from SF thriller to lost world fantasy

The Dark Water by Seth Fishman

The Dark Water is the sequel to last year’s The Well’s End, a fast-paced and suspenseful YA SF thriller that I enjoyed despite its reliance on several well-worn teen themes. To discuss The Dark Water, I’ll have to spoil a little of the plot of The Well’s End, so if you’re planning to read that novel, you may want to stop after the next paragraph.

Empire: A tense, can’t-put-it-down adventure

Empire by John Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard

(Warning, may contain spoilers for Conquest.)

Empire, by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard, is filled with action, suspense, and characters we care about. It is YA but adults will enjoy it.

In Conquest, the first book of THE CHRONICLES OF THE INVADERS, Earth had been conquered by a technologically superior race, the Illyri. Syl, a young woman, was the first Illyrian born on Earth.

Pacific Fire: A strand of moral ambiguity makes this sequel stand out

Pacific Fire by Greg van Eekhout

(Our reviews may contain spoilers for the previous novel, California Bones.)

Pacific Fire is the second book in Greg van Eekhout’s OSTEOMANCY series. The first one, California Bones, was the story of Daniel Blackland, son of a powerful osteomancer in a magical southern California. If California Bones charted the fate of Daniel, Pacific Fire belongs almost entirely to Sam,

February 11th, 2015. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Greg Van_Eekhout | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

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]: 2014.02

Rising Tide: This has second-book problems, but is still an engaging read

Empire Ascendant: A disappointingly muddy follow-up to The Mirror Empire

The Secrets of Blood and Bone: Interesting magic in this contemporary fantasy

The Dark Forest: Only 400 years to prepare for an alien invasion

The Winner’s Crime: A richly layered middle book in a strong trilogy

The Warring States: A step backwards

Half the World: Beautiful and intimate characters

The Dark Water: The story switches from SF thriller to lost world fantasy

Empire: A tense, can’t-put-it-down adventure

Pacific Fire: A strand of moral ambiguity makes this sequel stand out

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