Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 2017.01

Snowspelled: A Regency magician without her magic

Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis

Snowspelled (2017), the first book in the new HARWOOD SPELLBOOK fantasy series by Stephanie Burgis, is a fun, light read, right at the intersection of magical fantasy and Regency romance, with a twist of alternative history. We are in Angland, not England, and there’s a time-honored treaty between humans and elves, with the humans paying a toll to live on elven lands. Cassandra Harwood, her brother Jonathan, and sister-in-law Amy travel to a week-long house party at Cosgrove Manor,

September 4th, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Stephanie Burgis | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Wicked Like a Wildfire: Edgy YA heroine, unique setting, extravagant imagery

Wicked Like a Wildfire by Lana Popović

In Wicked Like a Wildfire (2017), magic and secrecy swirl around Iris and Malina, a pair of seventeen year old fraternal twins who live in current-day Montenegro with their single mother, Jasmina. Jasmina confides to them that all of the women in their family have a distinct gleam, a magical way to create and enhance beauty. Jasmina bakes marvelous foods that call particular visual scenes to the minds of those who eat them. Malina can sense moods and reflect them back with an amazing voice that creates layers of harmony.

Age of Assassins: Intriguing world-building and an attempted-murder mystery

Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker

Let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that you’re a fan of Robin Hobb’s REALMS OF THE ELDERLINGS — in particular, the FARSEER SAGA and FITZ AND THE FOOL books — as many readers are. Naturally, with Assassin’s Fate bringing the grand tale of Fitzchivalry Farseer to a close, you might feel a bit cast adrift, wondering where you might get your fix for “young assassin’s bildungsroman” paired with a deadly mentor and spycraft-disguised-as-theatre in an epic fantasy setting.

August 9th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | R.J. Barker | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Half-Drowned King: A fascinating tale of revenge and freedom

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

The Half-Drowned King (2017), Linnea Hartsuyker’s debut novel, is a fascinating glimpse into a long-ago time, when Scandinavian warriors took their dragon-boats as far south as Constantinople or west to Ireland, trading with and terrorizing the locals, depending on regional treaties and individual temperaments. By necessity, this accounting of events leading up to the coronation of King Harald Fairhair is largely fictionalized, but as most sagas and poems about his life were compiled a few centuries after his death — rather like King Arthur of Britain — their own historical accuracy should be taken with a pinch of salt and enjoyed for their entertainment value.

August 2nd, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Linnea Hartsuyker | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dinosaur Empire: Earth Before Us Volume 1: Dinosaur evolution for kids

Dinosaur Empire: Earth Before Us Volume 1 by Abby Howard

Dinosaur Empire is a dense, fact-filled graphic exploration of the rise and fall of dinosaurs that conveys a lot of information for readers in the MG and YA range, though it could use a bit more spark in its storytelling.

Ronnie has just failed her test on dinosaurs horribly, though she has a chance to retake it the next day. Resigned to failing it yet again, and wondering “Who needs to learn about dinosaurs anyway,” she tosses her test into a nearby recycling bin.

August 1st, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Backstagers Act: 1: A fantastical space for the weird kid in all of us

The Backstagers Act: 1 by James Tynion IV (author) & Rian Sygh (artist)

Behind the scenes of the drama club, there is a labyrinth of rooms and hallways filled with creepy critters and questionable sofas alike – that is the world of The Backstagers Act: 1 (2107). The inhabitants design and build the sets and props for the actors of the drama club and are all but forgotten in their backstage rooms. The Backstagers not only cater to the needs of the drama club but have their own adventures out of sight and out of mind of the rest of the school.

July 22nd, 2017. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Graveyard Shift: Unusual protagonist brings new life to urban fantasy/horror tropes

Graveyard Shift by Michael F. Haspil

With Graveyard Shift (2017), Michael F. Haspil’s debut novel, readers who enjoy a fair amount of horror and blood mixed into their urban fantasy are in for a rare treat: the primary protagonist is a reanimated mummy, though he’s certainly no bandage-wrapped, shambling thing. Rather, he’s a sophisticated and smooth-talking detective in the sun-drenched Miami-Dade metro area, and he takes protecting his city very seriously.

As Menkaure, he once strode along the banks of the mighty Nile, bending the backs of others to his will as easily as one bends a reed,

An Augmented Fourth: Otherworldly, rock and roll horror

An Augmented Fourth by Tony McMillen

Tony McMillen’s An Augmented Fourth (2017) is heavy metal rock and roll horror at its wailing-guitar best. Set in 1980, the point of transition from heavy metal to punk, An Augmented Fourth blends inter-dimensional eldritch horror, David-Cronenberg-movie grotesquerie, and psychedelia in a thrash-metal twenty-minute-guitar-solo of a story.

It’s December, 1980, and Codger Burton, bassist and lyricist of the UK’s once-premiere heavy metal band, Frivolous Black, wakes up in a Boston hotel to find the city snowed in.

Flame in the Mist: In this forest, there is no place to hide…

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

We meet our protagonist, the rather precious Mariko, being carried roughly through the forest in her palanquin. Next thing she’s the target of an attempted assassination. So begins our tale of magic, samurai and deception in Flame in the Mist‘s ancient, feudal Japan.

Mariko is on the way to the Imperial Palace to meet her betrothed when her convoy is attacked. At just seventeen years old, she has little say in such minor matters as her future husband.

Soleri: Unoriginal but engaging, potential marred by execution

Soleri by Michael Johnston

Soleri (2017), by Michael Johnston, isn’t going to make anyone marvel at its originality, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily a problem. I’ve said many a time that with genre books, often one can get away with employing standard tropes in terms of characters and plots so long as the craft and execution is there. Unfortunately, Johnston doesn’t quite succeed with either, and so despite having some potential, it’s hard to recommend Soleri at this point,

June 13th, 2017. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5, 3.5 | Michael Johnston | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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