Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep
Note: Some spoilers for the first book, Cold Burn of Magic.
In Dark Heart of Magic, the second book in Jennifer Estep’s BLACK BLADE teen urban fantasy series, the adventures of seventeen year old Lila Merriweather ― orphan, ex-homeless person and pickpocket, current bodyguard, and swordfighter extraordinaire ― continue. In a world that contains both normal mortals and magicks, humans endowed with different magical powers,
June 10th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Jennifer Estep | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Lois Lane: Double Down by Gwenda Bond
Building on the successes of 2015’s Lois Lane: Fallout, Gwenda Bond takes everything that fans loved about that book and throws even more entertainment into its sequel, Lois Lane: Double Down. Excellent friendships? Check. An online romance between two people who respect one another and view each other as friends above all else? Check. Hard-nosed investigation of nefarious dealings, sprinkled with a dash of shadowy criminals? Check. Mysterious and possibly crackpot sightings of a flying man?
May 2nd, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Gwenda Bond | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Warning: Will contain spoilers for the previous book, Red Queen.
After escaping from Maven and Queen Elara’s clutches, Mare soon finds herself on a new mission for the rebel cause. While she quietly processes Maven’s betrayal, Mare must race against the clock to rescue other “newbloods” like herself and recruit them to the rebels’ side. All the while, Maven and his army are pursuing her, and they are willing to take down anyone who gets in their way.
March 17th, 2016. Karima Al-Absy´s rating: 3 | Victoria Aveyard | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Alistair Grim’s Odd Aquaticum by Gregory Funaro
The strange adventures of Grubb, a young boy and former chimney sweep swept away to hair-raising magical escapades in Gregory Funaro’s Alistair Grim’s Odditorium, continue in Alistair Grim’s Odd Aquaticum, the second volume in the ODDITORIUM series set in Victorian-era England. Grubb is starting to feel at home in the Odditorium, a magically mechanical ― or perhaps mechanically magical ― flying mansion of wonders built by Alistair Grim,
February 1st, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Gregory Funaro | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
I am absolutely loving Claire North’s THE GAMESHOUSE series so far. Loving it. These are short stand-alone novellas set in an alternate version of our world where an enigmatic institution called The Gameshouse works behind the scenes to influence minor and major world events. It does this by collecting and using people as “players” and “cards.” For example, The Gameshouse may offer to help a politician win a race and, in return, that politician must make himself available as a “card” when one of the players of the Gameshouse needs to use him in the future.
January 20th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Claire North | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
I thoroughly enjoyed Ian Tregillis’ The Mechanical, the first book in his THE ALCHEMY WARS series, and I’m happy to say that book two, The Rising, continues the story in strong fashion, showing not a whit of sophomore slump.
The series is set in an alternative history world where Christiaan Huygens’ discoveries led to the Netherlands dominating the world via a mechanical army of “Clakkers.” The sole resistance is led by the French in North America’s “New France,” (old France has already been conquered) whose capital,
January 5th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Ian Tregillis | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton
My jaw remained open whilst I read the last pages of Jo Walton’s The Just City, and for a little while afterwards. Released earlier this year, Walton’s first novel in a new trilogy saw the start of a story whose foundational ideas are so wild, so daring, that only an author with the fullest grasp of her talent could even think of trying to wrestle with them, let alone to actually subdue and then use them to write an engaging story.
November 27th, 2015. João Eira´s rating: 4.5 | Jo Walton | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Warning: May contain mild spoilers for Superposition
Supersymmetry is David Walton’s sequel to Superposition. While Superposition was a quantum physics murder mystery, Supersymmetry is a thriller. The action starts on page 8 and never really flags, and yes, the physics do matter.
In the first book, Jacob Kelley and his family battled an intelligent quantum entity they called the varcolac.
August 27th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | David Walton | SFF Reviews | 6 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…