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]: 2017.02

Castle in the Stars: The Moon King: Artwork raises the overall result

Castle in the Stars: The Moon King by Alex Alice

Castle in the Stars: The Moon King is the second installment of Alex Alice’s graphic story involving a 19th Century space race between the two hostile nations of Prussia (led by Bismarck) and Bavaria (ruled by “Mad” King Ludwig.

Book one tells of the attempt to prove the existence of “aether,” a substance that along with flight would potentially be a nearly limitless source of energy. The first book ended on a cliffhanger, with the prototype space vehicle unexpectedly taking off with more on board than expected.

August 25th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Wild Dead: Ups the ante in a satisfying way

The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn

Carrie Vaughn continues the fascinating post-apocalyptic BANNERLESS SAGA in The Wild Dead (2018), the first sequel to her Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel Bannerless. Murders are, thankfully, few and far between along the Coast Road, so it’s been about a year since Enid of Haven has needed to put on her metaphorical deerstalker cap. This time, she and her painfully inexperienced new partner, Teeg, are in the remote southern settlement of Desolata to mediate a dispute over a pre-Fall house: the house’s “owner” refuses to admit that his family’s cherished home is dangerously dilapidated,

August 9th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Carrie Vaughn | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Blood of Assassins: Steadily marching forward, one foot in front of the other

Blood of Assassins by R.J. Barker

It’s been five years since Girton Club-Foot was last in the kingdom of Maniyadoc, when he and his Master, Merela Karn, were tasked with untangling a royal web of plots, lies, and murder in R.J. Barker’s debut novel Age of Assassins. Now, terrifying Nonmen prowl the yellowed lands spreading chaos and anarchy, Girton’s friend Rufra is king of Maniyadoc, and both Aydor and Tomas have set themselves against Rufra in an effort to claim the kingdom for their own.

August 7th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | R.J. Barker | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Nyxia Unleashed: A semi-strange new world

Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen

Emmett Atwater, a sixteen-year-old African American from Detroit, has spent the last year on board a spaceship owned by Babel Communications, lured in ― along with nineteen other disadvantaged teenagers from across the globe ― by Babel’s offer of immense wealth if he will travel to Eden and mine as much of the priceless mineral nyxia as possible on behalf of Babel for a year or so. Then he and the others can return home to a life of permanent ease. **Recapping Book 1 in the rest of this paragraph at a high level,

Weaver’s Lament: The Industrial Revolution and social upheaval with magic

Weaver’s Lament by Emma Newman

Weaver’s Lament (2017) is Emma Newman’s second novella in her INDUSTRIAL MAGIC series. The first one is Brother’s Ruin. Both stories feature Charlotte Gunn, a young woman from a respectable family who is hiding several secrets; she is secretly an illustrator of popular fiction and she is secretly magical, having clandestine meetings with a magus to learn to control her abilities. In the first story, Charlotte used her abilities to enhance her older brother’s lesser skill and get him accepted into the Royal Society (who pays the family of nascent magi a pretty penny).

July 3rd, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Emma Newman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Armistice: Plots and plans

Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly

Lara Elena Donnelly continues THE AMBERLOUGH DOSSIER with Armistice (2018), a worthy sequel to her Nebula- and Lambda-nominated novel Amberlough. Three years have passed since the fascist Ospies took over Amberlough City and its surrounding lands, bringing tremendous change and hardship to the lives of the people who oppose them. If you haven’t yet read Amberlough, I strongly suggest doing so before reading any reviews of Armistice,

May 29th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Lara Elena Donnelly | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Grey Sister: A solid follow-up

Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence

Grey Sister, second novel in Mark Lawrence’s BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR series, is a good follow-up to its predecessor. It’s not a perfect novel, but on the whole it’s exciting, well-written, and very gripping.

Since the last installment in the series, two years have passed, and Nona Grey is still a novice at the convent of Sweet Mercy. Her classes — and her magical abilities — have continued apace, teaching her to be deadlier than ever, but two years have brought her no closer to avenging her friend Hessa or recovering the convent’s prized Ship Heart.

By Fire Above: The absurdity and brutality of war

By Fire Above by Robyn Bennis

Robyn Bennis’ debut novel The Guns Above introduced readers to Captain Josette Dupre, Lord Bernat Hinkal, and the rest of the crew of the airship Mistral, caught up in a seemingly interminable war in defense of the Garnian empire against their Vinzhalian enemies. By Fire Above (2018) is the second entry in Bennis’ SIGNAL AIRSHIP series, and it’s just as flint- and steam-powered as the previous novel;

May 15th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Robyn Bennis | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Heart Forger: A strong sequel

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

The Heart Forger‘s (2018) prequel ended with the young bone witch, Tea, about to march upon the kingdom with an army of corpses and a bevy of monsters to boot. We pick up the story precisely where it was left off with Tea’s shock lover (for those of you who remember the twist ending of The Bone Witch) in tow.

Sticking to the same formula used in The Bone Witch,

Arm of the Sphinx: Senlin is still ascending

Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft

Arm of the Sphinx (2018) is the sequel to Senlin Ascends (2017), Josiah Bancroft’s extremely popular novel that was originally self-published but later picked up by Orbit Books after it was highlighted by Mark Lawrence in his Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off contest a couple years ago. I loved Senlin Ascends, a story about a man named Thomas Senlin who is accidentally separated from his wife at the base of the Tower of Babel.

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