Fonda Lee brings her experience with martial arts to Jade City (2017), her first novel for adults and a sprawling tale of family, power, and an intangible but all-too-important element: control. Whether it concerns finances, emotions, or a person’s mobility through the world and their social station, control is at the heart of this novel, and informs every single moment.
Jade City is chiefly concerned with the Kaul clan of No Peak: adult siblings Lan,
December 1st, 2017. Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Fonda Lee | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Black Tides of Heaven & The Red Threads of Fortune by J.Y. Yang
J.Y. Yang’s short works of fiction have been published online and anthologized, and one particular element has always stood out to me: their ability to convincingly craft fictional circumstances and characters within a graceful economy of prose. Within the TENSORATE series of novellas, beginning with The Black Tides of Heaven (2017) and its twin The Red Threads of Fortune (2017),
November 28th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | JY Yang | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Magpie’s Song (2017) is the beginning of a new series by Allison Pang, and it’s an interesting blend of genres. There’s a dash of steampunk, a dollop of dystopia, and even a pinch of faerie lore. When I started reading, I was skeptical that all of this would work well together, but Pang pulls it off, and creates an interesting world that I want to know more about.
BrightStone is a steampunky, gritty city whose inhabitants are ruled from above — literally — by the Meridians,
November 22nd, 2017. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Allison Pang | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Nine (2017), by Tracy Townsend, is the first book in a fantasy series titled THE THIEVES OF FATE. This second-world fantasy, with its fascinating premise, imaginative settings, cool gadgets, and rich visuals, gives the reader an exciting heist story, beautifully rendered non-human people and an intellectually challenging, thought-provoking look at science, faith, and perception of God.
The Nine follows Rowena, a young woman who serves as a courier for a shady character;
November 13th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Tracy Townsend | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Rosemarked by Livia Blackburne
In this 2017 YA political fantasy, Zivah and Dineas infiltrate a common enemy kingdom on a spy mission to preserve their respective tribe/agrarian village from an imperial oppressor. Rosemarked follows a dual POV narrative between Zivah, a mystical healer afflicted with the deadly Rosemark Plague, and Dineas, a tribal warrior who has achieved a rare recovery from the disease.
This story is billed as fantasy, but speculative elements are limited to the mystical nature of the healing arts practiced by Zivah and a pair of crow message carriers who always mysteriously find their master and addressee anywhere.
November 7th, 2017. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Livia Blackburne | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Tremontaine Season One by Ellen Kushner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Joel Derfner, Patty Bryant, Racheline Maltese & Paul Witcover
Serial Box is another way to consume entertainment, pairing the pleasure of episodic television with the joy of a well-written book. Serial Box provides original works of written fiction in the form of a “season,” 10-16 chapters or episodes, released weekly. Like television, they use the metaphor of a “writers room,” and each work is produced by a team of writers, rather than an individual writer. It’s an interesting concept.
October 27th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Blackwing (2017) begins in Misery, but things will get far worse before they get better. This gritty fantasy is set on a world where there are three moons ― red, blue and gold ― whose light can be woven into magical power and stored in canisters for use by sorcerers. Two unimaginably powerful magical forces face off against each other across the terrible void called the Misery ― a magic-blasted wasteland. On the side of mankind are the Nameless: ancient, unseen wizards who are nearly godlike in their powers,
October 4th, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Ed McDonald | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
A group of teenagers, engaged in a deadly serious game-like competition. Life-changing fortunes are at stake, if not life itself. An ominously secretive corporation pulling the strings.
Many of the elements in Nyxia (2017) are familiar, but Scott Reintgen combines them with some more unusual plot features ― a worldwide cast that is primarily of minority races and nationalities, an appealing urban black young man as a protagonist, and a trip through space to a distant planet, rather misleadingly called Eden,
September 22nd, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Scott Reintgen | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer
Joshua is a teen runaway; a college-bound senior who survived a horrifying massacre of his classmates during an extracurricular project. Silas Decker is a vampire who lives in Boston, one who has the magical ability to find lost things – and people. Seth is the werewolf Prince of Boston. Elise comes from the Grigori family, who trace their bloodline back to the first angelic-human hybrids. She kills things — mostly, evil things. These four characters find their paths intersecting and tangling in The Black Wolves of Boston,
September 11th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Wen Spencer | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Mark Lawrence‘s previous six novels have been interesting and unique in their own ways, but have also formed part of a recognizable corner of the genre. That is, Lawrence’s name often appears alongside those of Joe Abercrombie and R. Scott Bakker on lists with titles like “So You’ve Just Finished A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE — What Next?” This isn’t to say that the books set in Lawrence’s Broken Empire aped George R.R.
September 5th, 2017. Tim Scheidler, Greg Hersom and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 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…