Black Wolves by Kate Elliott
I’m not going to spend much time summarizing the plot of Kate Elliott’s epic fantasy Black Wolves. I don’t think I could. Black Wolves (2015)is the first book of a series, also called BLACK WOLVES. It is 780 pages long, and the story spans nearly fifty years (although there is a large gap in the timeline). It involves a nation called the Hundred, which sits on the northern border of a large,
October 7th, 2016. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Kate Elliott | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
We dive so humanity survives.
I haven’t read pop sci-fi author Nicholas Sansbury Smith before, but something drew me to his newest release Hell Divers, the first in a projected trilogy. Yes, the cover is cool, and artificial as that is, the art sometimes draws me in. But even better was the concept: 250 years ago, the world was at war. Nuclear bombs laid waste to the planet. Nothing could and nothing did survive. The apocalypse left a world utterly unlivable.
October 3rd, 2016. Jason Golomb´s rating: 3 | Nicholas Sansbury Smith | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
In this Victorian-era fantasy, sixteen year old Henrietta Howel, who is now a teacher at the Brimthorn orphanage in Yorkshire where she has spent the last eleven years, has developed an ability to magically set things on fire. She believes this marks her as a witch or magician, who are imprisoned or put to death in England since a horrific event eleven years earlier, when a magician’s spell misfired and opened a portal in our world from another dimension. Through this portal entered the Seven Ancients,
September 21st, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Jessica Cluess | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Deadbringer by E.M. Markoff
Kira Vidal is a Deadbringer. His touch brings rot, death and destruction to anything that comes into direct contact with his skin — human flesh disintegrates, metal turns to rust. Kira can also ‘summon’ death and put flesh and life back to that which is no more.
Kira’s an orphan. As is often the case in this fantasy trope, the lone wanderer seeks his past, family and the truth of his power, and has grown in a world with ‘parental ambiguity’. In Kira’s case,
September 19th, 2016. Jason Golomb´s rating: 3 | E.M. Markoff | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Note: This review contains some minor spoilers for The Rook, the first book in THE CHECQUY FILES series.
The Checquy, a top secret British agency of people with supernatural powers, are contemplating a peace accord and merger with their hereditary enemies, the Belgian Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen (the “Scientific Brotherhood of Physicists”), whom the Checquy dismissively call the “Grafters.” While Checquy members are born with superpowers (some of them very odd, like the ability to implode another person until their whole body is about the size of a head,
August 18th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Daniel O'Malley | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith
With her latest novel, Children of Icarus, Caighlan Smith takes what could have been a rehash of too-familiar YA tropes — a futuristic/dystopian setting, a promised paradise hiding a terrible secret, a band of scrappy teenagers rebelling against a faceless government — and enlivens them with innovative twists and updates on familiar Greek myths like Icarus, Daedalus’ labyrinth, and all manner of monsters.
Children of Icarus’s nameless narrator lives in the walled city of Daedalum;
August 1st, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Caighlan Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I’m enjoying the current upswing in H.P. Lovecraft-influenced horror. Modern writers are expanding upon the best elements of his authorial legacy, like the Elder Gods, inter-dimensional travel, and Things Which Should Not Be, while setting aside (or, with regards to authors like Ruthanna Emrys and Victor Lavalle, directly subverting and confronting) the racism, classism, and sexism. Similarly-minded readers will want to make note of Red Right Hand (2016), Levi Black’s debut novel and a fine addition to the weird fiction genre.
July 25th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Levi Black | Horror | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger
They live in Chicago. They’re young. They’re hip. They have tattoos. They can serve you any alcoholic drink you can name, and after last call, when the bars are closed, they go out for pancakes. And… they are part of a magical society, the Cupbearers Court, protecting innocent citizens, like you and me, from being attacked by demonic monsters. That’s the premise of Paul Krueger’s debut novel, Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge.
I mean,
July 21st, 2016. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Paul Krueger | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Dragon Lords: Fool’s Gold by Jon Hollins
If you’re a fan of heist stories — particularly the planning, the bickering between co-conspirators, the moments when it all goes dreadfully wrong or sublimely right — and you also happen to enjoy epic fantasies with vicious fire-breathing dragons and their vast caches of filthy lucre, then you’ll be happy to know that there’s a Venn diagram where those two genres meet, and the center is filled by Jon Hollins’ debut fantasy novel, The Dragon Lords: Fool’s Gold.
July 20th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Jon Hollins | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
It Happened One Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton
It Happened One Doomsday is the first book I’ve read by Laurence MacNaughton. It looks like most of his other work would be classified as supernatural thrillers, although Conspiracy of Angels has a definite urban fantasy vibe. It Happened One Doomsday lands on the border of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, with a brisk plot and characters who are, for the most part, likeable. The story relies on the old biblical story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
July 19th, 2016. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Laurence MacNaughton | SFF Reviews | 5 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.