It Devours! by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
Considering the massive, continuing success of their Welcome to Night Vale podcast and the first Night Vale tie-in novel, Welcome to Night Vale, it’s no surprise that Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor wanted to keep the ball rolling and co-write a second Night Vale novel. Skeptical or worried readers could be forgiven for justifiable fears about the quality of It Devours! (2017): what if the core concept began to wear thin,
October 31st, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Joseph Fink | Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Wandering Mage by Melissa McShane
The Wandering Mage (2017), the second volume of the CONVERGENCE trilogy by Melissa McShane, picks up right where the first volume, The Summoned Mage, left off (so there are, necessarily, some major spoilers here for that first book). Their world was split apart many centuries ago by a misuse of magic, but now the worlds have converged again. A complex spell, involving the work of many mages, has helped to minimize the physical damage caused by the convergence,
September 1st, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Melissa McShane | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Arabella and the Battle of Venus by David D. Levine
The adventures of the gallant-hearted young heroine Arabella Ashby continue in Arabella and the Battle of Venus (2017), David D. Levine’s warm-hearted melding of retro science fiction, à la Jules Verne, and the Napoleonic wars. In this sequel to Arabella of Mars, Arabella receives a battered letter from fiancé Captain Singh, regretfully informing her that he and his ship, the Diana,
August 3rd, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | David D. Levine | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
Storm clouds have been gathering since the events of Age of Myth, the first book in Michael J. Sullivan‘s new epic fantasy series, LEGENDS OF THE FIRST EMPIRE. The Fhrey (elves) have been feeling threatened by the Rhunes (humans) ever since the Rhunes shifted from a nomadic lifestyle to a more settled one, with crops and flocks of animals as well as hunting. Their population started exploding, and the Rhunes now outnumber the long-lived Fhrey by a factor of twenty to one (one million Rhunes vs.
August 2nd, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Michael J. Sullivan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst
The Reluctant Queen (2017), the second in Sarah Beth Durst’s QUEENS OF RENTHIA trilogy, follows quite closely on the heels of The Queen of Blood and reveals the consequences of Daleina’s unexpected rise to power as the Queen of Aratay. This series is meant to be read in sequence, so there will be some mild inevitable spoilers for The Queen of Blood.
Just six months after her bloody coronation,
July 24th, 2017. Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Sarah Beth Durst | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart a Doorway (2016) introduces the reader to a reality in which some children get swept away to other worlds. These worlds of whimsy or darkness (and everything in between) become home to the children so much so that they are devastated if they are forced to leave. If they do come back to our world, a fortunate few may find kindred spirits at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the setting of that first novella.
July 12th, 2017. Skye Walker and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Just three months have passed between the events of Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex and Heroine Worship (2017), which is just about enough time for Aveda Jupiter (aka Annie Chang), San Francisco’s beloved superheroine, to go out of her mind with boredom. She’s not quite at climbing-the-walls or intentionally-setting-fires levels of stir crazy, but she seems pretty close. (Daily multi-hour breakfasts leading to afternoons filled with absolutely nothing would do that to anyone.) Demon activity has been nonexistent since the big battle at the end of Heroine Complex,
July 11th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Kuhn | SFF Reviews | no comments |
And I Darken bought us some of the best characters YA has seen in a long time: Lada Dracul, the fearsome terror of a little girl, and her gentle brother Radu. Defying stereotypes of gender, race and religion, as well as the predictable tropes of the genre itself, And I Darken was a FanLit fave of last year. Lada and Radu make their return in the follow-up, Now I Rise (2017), but can the sequel live up to its dazzling predecessor?
July 5th, 2017. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Kiss Before Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton
Laurence MacNaughton is back with the second installment of his urban fantasy DRU JASPER series. This one, A Kiss Before Doomsday (2017), takes place shortly after the first book ended. Dru, a crystal witch working in Denver, Colorado, believes the love of her life, the demonically possessed Grayson, died helping her escape from the netherworld, but we know Grayson is alive and at risk. He’s been abducted by the undead, and faces a terrible fate, as does the world,
June 26th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Laurence MacNaughton | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
This Savage Song (2016), Schwab’s first book in her MONSTERS OF VERITY duology, introduced this world and its sharply drawn main characters Kate and August via a well and smoothly told story that ended with a great closing scene that whetted the reader’s desire for more of this story. In Our Dark Duet (2017), Schwab happily delivers with an equally-good sequel that resolves the narrative fully, though I for one wouldn’t mind if the author were to show us a few more nooks and crannies of this fascinating world.
June 15th, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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