Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
I’ve commented before that I give very few five-star reviews. Usually, I expect a book to somehow change my thinking, or how I see the world, in order to rate it a five-star book. As I sat down to write this review I was going to say something like, “While that didn’t happen with Shadowshaper, by Daniel José Older, I still…” and then I thought more about it, and decided that Shadowshaper (2015) has changed how I think about the world,
August 1st, 2019. Marion Deeds and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Daniel José Older | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Planetfall, the first science fiction offering from Emma Newman, is about a colony of humans who left Earth to follow Suh, an alleged prophet who received a supernatural message giving her the coordinates of an unknown distant planet where she was supposed to travel to receive instructions about God’s plans for humanity. Suh and her best friend Ren, a brilliant geneticist and engineer, gathered a team of like-minded believers and they landed on the planet 22 years ago.
May 1st, 2019. Kat Hooper, Jason Golomb, Marion Deeds and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Emma Newman | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Editor’s note: BINTI was originally published in three separate novellas but has recently been released in a complete trilogy. We’ve combined all of our new and previous BINTI reviews in this post.
BINTI: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
As Binti, a mathematically brilliant, 16 year old member of the African Himba tribe, sneaks away from her home in the dead of night, I felt almost as much anticipation as Binti herself. Binti has decided, against massive family pressure, to accept a full-ride scholarship to the renowned Oomza University on a planet named ― wait for it ― Oomza Uni.
February 8th, 2019. Tadiana Jones, Bill Capossere, Jana Nyman, Kate Lechler and Marion Deeds | Nnedi Okorafor | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
If you enjoy horror in all its many forms, or just plain Weird Stuff, odds are good that you’ve at least heard of (if not been sucked into the fandom vortex of) the highly-acclaimed podcast Welcome to Night Vale. Its creators, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, have spent the last five years expanding upon a central premise — there’s a desert town in the southwestern region of the United States, where all manner of strange things happen and time doesn’t really exist — through twice-monthly podcast episodes.
February 8th, 2019. Jana Nyman and Skye Walker´s rating: 5 | Joseph Fink | Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
I’d wanted to read Jonathan Renshaw’s 2015 self-pub Kindle Unlimited enrollee for several months. Dawn of Wonder sports upwards of 3700 Amazon reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars — a rare feat for any well-established author, much less a self-publishing up-start. But it’s also a whopping 710 pages long, so you see my hesitation.
But enough wind-up. I read it.
The first sixth of the novel gripped me. Thirma peasant Aedan of Misty Vales lives in a medieval world of war and political intrigue,
July 10th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 4 | Jonathan Renshaw | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber
Just after President Lincoln’s assassination, his wife Mary sets a governmental task force to find a cure for death, thus setting in motion the plot of The Eterna Files (2015) by Leanna Renee Hieber. Seventeen years later, the science team working on the Eterna Compound is mysteriously murdered, as is a parallel team in England, where Queen Victoria wants Britain, not America, to be the first to discover an answer to mortality. Both countries seek to find out what happened to their teams,
June 8th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Leanna Renee Hieber | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Magick, Volume 001: Awakening by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott
Black Magick, Volume 001: Awakening was published by Image Press in 2016. It follows a Portsmouth, New Hampshire police detective, Rowan Black, as she investigates a series of crimes that seem to be pointing at her. It’s worrisome; in addition to being a cop, Rowan is a witch, and these crimes hint at a magical enemy who has targeted both Rowan and her coven. Poised in the potential crossfire is her non-magical partner Morgan,
December 30th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The hype surrounding An Ember in the Ashes (2015) around its release was impressive, to say the least. Classed as Epic Fantasy, the book quickly became a bestseller on multiple lists and rights have been sold across thirty countries. Film rights were sold in a seven-figure deal (seven!) well before the book’s publication. A sequel was bought almost immediately thereafter. With these kinds of stats, is a book ever going to be able to live up to itself?
Laia is a slave under the Martial Empire.
October 19th, 2017. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2 | Sabaa Tahir | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
Come for the wonderful voice (and attitude) of Aza Ray, the teenage narrator. Stay for a suspenseful plot, vivid characters, and fantastical worldbuilding.
Magonia (2015) is one of those books that, while still partway through the sample, I knew I wanted to buy. It’s difficult to create a truly original character voice, but Maria Dahvana Headley pulls it off with Aza Ray. She even pulls it off again with Jason, Aza’s best friend, though his voice is less distinctive (this shouldn’t be taken as a criticism;
September 27th, 2017. Mike Reeves-McMillan | Maria Dahvana Headley | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
I’m of mixed feelings on Fran Wilde’s 2015 debut novel Updraft, which left me at various times enthralled, captivated, curious, and eager to continue. All of which would be great if it hadn’t at other times had me thinking it was too predictable, too familiar, too plodding, and too vague. Thus the mixed feelings, though the balance tipped me over far enough to move on to book two in the series, Cloudbound (I’ll amend this review once I’ve decided whether the sequel and/or the third book,
September 14th, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Fran Wilde | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.