In the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Jackson Bennett has become one of my must-read authors, a view arising from his brilliant DIVINE CITIES trilogy and only confirmed by his nearly as brilliant THE FOUNDERS TRILOGY. Both are fantasy works, but Bennett also turns his craft toward horror as well, and that craft is indeed evident in his newest novella, In the Shadows of Men (2020), a taut, concise work that unnerves in more ways than one.
September 18th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Robert Jackson Bennett | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Driftwood (2020) is a charming, meditative, and often poignant collection of linked stories by Marie Brennan that mostly succeeds both in its individual tales and as a whole, though I had a few issues. But given that one of those is it was too short, it’s still an easy book to recommend.
The book’s general setting is the titular Driftwood. Think of it as a beach whose tide, instead of washing up the pebbles and the sea’s detritus, washes up instead dying worlds.
September 18th, 2020. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Marie Brennan | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Quantum Shadows by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
What would life be like if you were living through a seemingly never-ending series of holocaust-style planetary collapses? Corvyn is a cynic. He questions everything and tries to hold himself above the mundane ideals that normal people struggle with. He’s been there, done that, is powerful enough in the world order that exists to resist almost anyone, but he refuses to take a leadership role himself.
In Quantum Shadows (2020) we follow Corvyn as he attempts to track down an apparent attempt to seize power by entities unknown.
September 16th, 2020. John Hulet´s rating: 2 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourteen-year-old baker’s assistant with just a minor talent in magic, enough to make gingerbread men dance and biscuit dough turn fluffy on command. It’s worse when the city inquisitor decides to accuse you of the murder, for no particularly good reason. It’s even worse when you realize that there’s a mysterious assassin on the loose, targeting people who have magical powers, no matter how insignificant.
September 11th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | T. Kingfisher | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
Lavie Tidhar has been on quite the roll, earning rave 5 out of 5 reviews from me his last three books. Unfortunately, his newest, By Force Alone (2020), didn’t rise to the same level. No, I’m sorry to say I could only see my way to giving it 4.5 stars thanks to being merely “excellent” as opposed to “great.” Slacker.
By Force Alone is an Arthurian tale, though that is a bit deceptive.
August 31st, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Lavie Tidhar | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Hereafter Bytes by Vincent Scott
I believe that humorous science fiction is hard to write. I’m not talking about humorous banter or moments within a book — many writers excel at that — but books that are conceived as comical stories from the start. Humor requires the balance of many elements and crucial timing. Even if those things are present, a sense of humor is hard to quantify, and a technically funny book may fail to entertain for some ephemeral reason.
Vincent Scott, however, is unafraid,
August 28th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Vincent Scott | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
On the same day a riot destroys the market in Ngwa, Nigeria, the body of Vivek Oji is left on his parents’ doorstep, naked except for a length of cloth. Gradually, through a variety of points of view, Akwaeke Emezi unfolds the story of Vivek’s life and death, and how that death affects Vivek’s loved ones — drawing some people closer together, driving faultlines between others.
Readers who’ve read Emezi’s earlier work might expect more supernatural elements than The Death of Vivek Oji (2020) actually contains.
August 25th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Akwaeke Emezi | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Multiple worlds and parallel universes are a staple in science fiction, and Micaiah Johnson does a nice job bringing some freshness to a well-worn concept in The Space Between Worlds (2020), mostly thanks to some sharp characterization, intricate plotting, and stylish prose.
Cara is a “Traverser,” one who travels from her Earth (Earth Zero) to parallel Earths collecting data for the Eldridge Corporation whose leader, Adam Bosch, invented the technology. In the rules of the narrative, one can only travel to a parallel Earth if their double there has died: “It took a lot of smart people’s corpses before they learned that If you’re alive in the world you’re trying to enter,
August 24th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Micaiah Johnson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque
In the very beginning of The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers (2020), Emily Levesque notes that “of the 7.5 billion people on our planet, fewer than fifty thousand are professional astronomers.” As the title implies, and as Levesque explains toward the end of her book, the number is perhaps more likely to shrink rather than rise. Luckily for us, Levesque is one of that select group, and so is able to fill the pages in between beginning and end with a number of entertaining stories about her own experiences,
August 14th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Second Star by Alma Alexander
At one point while reading Alma Alexander’s The Second Star, I wrote a marginalia note hoping the book wasn’t going to go where I feared it might. Some chapters later, it turned out that was indeed our destination, and I have to confess I was sorely disappointed. That said, Alexander’s novel has an excellent, compelling premise and a quite strong first two-thirds, and I think the vast majority of readers will enjoy the book to that point.
August 14th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Alma Alexander | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…