Mystic Dragon (2018) is the second book in the MYSTIC series by Jason Denzel, and I confess I did not read book one, Mystic. The good news is that while I assume having done so will help reader pick up on a few references to past events, I never felt that my stepping in at book two was any serious detriment to the reading experience. The bad news is that while Mystic Dragon is a solid enough entry in the fantasy field,
August 8th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Jason Denzel | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald
Luna: Wolf Moon (2017) continues the saga Ian McDonald began in Luna: New Moon, which explored the power struggles between the Five Dragons, five powerful families controlling certain areas of influence on Earth’s moon. Each family, in turn, adheres to a national identity which dictates how they do business, what sort of business they do, and who they’re most likely to (figuratively and literally) stab in the back at the nearest opportunity while simultaneously marrying their offspring to one another in attempts to gain influence or construct gossamer-thin alliances.
June 7th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Ian McDonald | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cat Rambo’s Hearts of Tabat (2018) is the second book in the Tabat Quartet. I love the beautiful, strange world Rambo has created here. I understood nearly everything that was going on in this book, so technically it qualifies as a standalone, but I see that reading the first book, Beasts of Tabat, first would probably have answered some questions and added richness to an already lush tapestry of a story.
May 31st, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Cat Rambo | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Readers who were enthralled by Ilana C. Myer’s 2015 debut novel, Last Song Before Night, will be pleased to know that they can expect more of what they enjoyed in the sequel/companion novel, Fire Dance (2018). Myer’s prose is rich and imaginative, and her worldbuilding is multi-layered. For my own part, I think that many important details wouldn’t have made sense to me if I hadn’t read Last Song Before Night first,
April 11th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Ilana C. Myer | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2) by Mark Millar & Frank Quitely
Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2) by Mark Millar, with art by the incredible Frank Quitely, tells the origin story of a new group of superheroes. It is told quickly and succinctly, switching between the early days and the present, years after the race of superheroes began. In the present, we meet the next generation of superheroes, and they have many problems dealing with superhero parents. Having a therapist seems to be expected when you are the child of a superhero.
April 7th, 2018. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Millar | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Elizabeth Bear instantly charmed me with her 2015 novel Karen Memory, in which a young “seamstress” battles against greed and corruption with the aid of her friends, a U.S. Marshal, and a hulking ambulatory sewing machine. The first follow-up tale, Stone Mad (2018), is a slight novella jam-packed with action, adventure, folklore, and romantic strife.
Karen Memery and her brilliant girlfriend, Priya, are treating themselves to a top-notch dinner at the Rain City Riverside Hotel,
April 3rd, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
MONSTRESS 2: The Blood by Marjorie Liu
As much as I enjoyed the first volume of Marjorie Liu‘s MONSTRESS , its second instalment (comprised of issues seven to twelve) is a vast improvement. The first volume was stuffed full of exposition and world-building and backstory, so much so that it was difficult to discern the actual plot. Granted, that made it exciting and complex, but I also had to read through it three times just to glean what was going on.
By contrast,
February 24th, 2018. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Marjorie M. Liu | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Blade of Black Steel by Alex Marshall
Alex Marshall‘s A Blade of Black Steel (2016), the sequel to A Crown for Cold Silver, continues turning the sword-and-sorcery genre on its head while displaying Marshall’s obvious love of both swords and sorcery. Character development is the key this time around, much to the enrichment of the novel itself and the series as a whole. But don’t get too complacent — the entire world may be coming to an end,
December 22nd, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Alex Marshall | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Emma Newman’s After Atlas (2016) is the pseudo-sequel to her first sci-fi offering, Planetfall (2015). As Kat explained in her review, Planetfall 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. After Atlas takes place on Earth,
November 2nd, 2017. Jason Golomb and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cloudbound is Fran Wilde’s 2016 sequel to her debut novel Updraft, and if its predecessor was a mixed bag whose balance tipped toward the positive, albeit not as much as one would wish, Cloudbound doesn’t fare quite so successfully, with the needle pointing slightly more toward the negative. Thanks to a continuingly inventive world-building and a somewhat predictable but still intriguing ending, I’ll forge forward to book three,
September 15th, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Fran Wilde | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…