Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell
The second book in Cressida Cowell‘s WIZARDS OF ONCE series does everything a good sequel should: expand the world, develop the characters, and deepen the story. As we discovered in The Wizards of Once, Ancient Britain is inhabited by two distinct races: the Wizards, who live among the magical creatures of the forest, and the Warriors, who are armed with iron weapons, the only metal that can repel magic.
In the first book,
January 14th, 2022. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Cressida Cowell | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
The illicit adventures of Murderbot continue in Artificial Condition (2018), the terrific sequel to Martha Wells’ 2017 Nebula award-winning novella, All Systems Red. Murderbot, a deeply introverted cyborg security unit, or SecUnit, who previously hacked the governor software that forced obedience to human commands, has illegally gone off the grid, eschewing the safety of a mostly-free life with a sympathetic owner in order to travel on its own. Disguising itself as an augmented human,
April 2nd, 2021. Tadiana Jones, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Martha Wells | Locus Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Silence of the Soleri by Michael Johnston
I gave a 2½-star rating for Michael Johnston’s Soleri, and was hoping to see some improvement in the sequel, Silence of the Soleri (2021). Unfortunately, the book tipped in the other direction, so much so that I gave up at the halfway point. As usual with DNF reviews, this will be brief.
The problems here were pretty much the same as I noted in my review of book one.
February 9th, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 0.1 | Michael Johnston | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Rightful Queen by Isabelle Steiger
The Rightful Queen (2020) is the sequel to 2017’s The Empire’s Ghost and the second in Isabelle Steiger’s PATHS OF LANTISTYNE series. It continues the story of the many aristocrats and commoners who oppose Imperator Elgar, who is trying to reunite the old Elesthene empire under his own rule.
The Empire’s Ghost was solid, smoothly written, and intriguing, but the characters were a bit thin and I didn’t feel compelled to devour the book quickly.
August 12th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Isabelle Steiger | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 2: Legacy’s End by Charles Soule & Giuseppe Camuncoli
Charles Soule’s DARTH VADER comics explore the character’s thoughts, decisions and actions in the immediate aftermath of The Revenge of the Sith, in which the Empire is still consolidating its power and Vader himself grappling with his new identity as the Emperor’s apprentice.
This volume sees him training the Inquisitors (which featured so heavily in the first two seasons of Star Wars Rebels),
July 23rd, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Charles Soule | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer
At first glance, based on the title and cover art, Molly Tanzer’s Creatures of Want and Ruin (2018) looks and sounds like it’s a sequel to her earlier novel Creatures of Will and Temper, but it’s not. The stories have different characters and settings, so I’m going to treat Creatures of Want and Ruin as a stand-alone novel.
During prohibition, Ellie West is a bootlegger in Amityville,
July 6th, 2020. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Molly Tanzer | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Jade War (2019) is the second book in Fonda Lee’s GREEN BONE SAGA series and a finalist for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It follows Jade City, which won the World Fantasy Award, and which you’ll need to read first (this review will contain some mild spoilers for that novel).
Jade War picks up a year after the dramatic events of Jade City.
June 19th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Fonda Lee | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest
When Laurie Forest’s debut YA fantasy novel The Black Witch was published in 2017, there was a massive explosion of outrage in the Twitterverse and elsewhere online. Accusations of various types of prejudice — racism (albeit based on fantasy races), homophobia, white saviorism, ableism, lookism and more — were hurled against it. In my opinion those charges were unfair and based on a superficial reading of the text, missing the fact that the main character’s prejudices were clearly being shown as unthinking bias and bigotry,
June 10th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Laurie Forest | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Batgirl Vol. 2: Son of Penguin (Rebirth) by Hope Larson & Christian Wildgoose
At the end of Volume One of Hope Larson’s take on Batgirl, a new face had arrived in Burnside, Gotham, who answered to the name “Cobblepot” at the airport.
Turns out he’s Ethan Cobblepot, son of the Penguin, though has never had any kind of close relationship with his father. He’s handsome and clever, and wants to improve the world through technology, launching a variety of apps to ensure public safety. Barbara is charmed, and agrees to go on a date with him — though given the spate of tech-related crime happening in the area,
June 8th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne
A Blight of Blackwings is the second novel in Kevin Hearne’s SEVEN KENNINGS series, following A Plague of Giants which you’ll need to read first because this novel jumps in right where the first one left off. Hearne uses the same structure and frame story, with Fintan the bard using a magical device to turn himself into the image of each point-of-view character.
At the end of A Plague of Giants,
April 29th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…