Previous SFF Author: Cherith Baldry
(1971- )
Philippa (“Pip”) Ballantine was born in Wellington, New Zealand, studied English Literature and Politics at Victoria University, and found herself working in the magical world of libraries. She still lives in Wellington, and is kept company by two Siberian cats, Sebastian and Viola. Here’s Philippa Ballantine’s website.
Sometimes you read a book and enjoy it while reading, only to find it falls apart when you think about it later. The inverse happened to me with Philippa Ballantine’s Geist. I enjoyed it, and then the more I thought about it, the more I found to appreciate.
Geist is a secondary-world fantasy, set on the continent of Arkaym. The residents of Arkaym fear the geists, powerful otherworldly spirits that can enter the physical realm and possess people.
Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Philippa (Pip) Ballantine | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are agents in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, taking on the uncanny in the name of Queen and country. Agent Books is a straitlaced archivist — don’t call him a librarian — who enjoys mechanical tinkering and his peaceful job among the Ministry’s old files. Agent Braun is an outspoken New Zealand transplant who loves to blow things up. At the beginning of Phoenix Rising, the two agents land themselves in the doghouse with the Ministry and are assigned to work together.
Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Philippa (Pip) Ballantine, Tee Morris | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
The Janus Affair, by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, is the second in these writers’ steampunk adventure series. Wellington Books, Chief Archivist, and Eliza Braun, former field agent turned junior archivist, work for Queen Victoria’s Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. Books is an aristocrat, a son of England, while Braun is a “colonial pepperpot” from New Zealand. Something happened in New Zealand that makes it impossible for Braun to return home. In The Janus Affair,
Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Philippa (Pip) Ballantine, Tee Morris | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Cherith Baldry
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…