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The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson
I’m not a fan of belaboring why a book is bad, so this will be a pretty brief review. Suffice to say that I did not finish Kevin Anderson’s The Edge of the World, the first book of his Terra Incognita series. Not finishing is rare for me, even if a book is mediocre, so that gives you some sense of what I thought of The Edge of the World.
July 20th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 0.1 | Kevin J. Anderson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Sword of Fire and Sea by Erin Hoffman
At the start of Erin Hoffman’s debut novel Sword of Fire and Sea, Captain Vidarian is tasked by the priestess Endera to transport Ariadel, a young fire priestess, to the safety of a water temple. The journey will be dangerous, because Ariadel is pursued by the telepathic Vkortha, so Vidarian is understandably reluctant to take on the assignment, but when Endera invokes an old pact between his family and the Temple of Kara’zul, he has no choice but to comply….
July 15th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 0.1 | Erin Hoffman | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Small Persons With Wings by Ellen Booraem
Mellie Turpin has been suffering for her entire school career. Not only has she always been teased about being overweight, but she made the mistake of promising her kindergarten class that she’d bring in Fidius, her fairy friend, for show-and-tell. When Fidius disappeared the night before show-and-tell, Mellie was declared a liar and earned the sticky nickname “Fairy Fat.”
Now that she’s thirteen, Mellie has learned to suppress her imagination, but she’s still smart and overweight and she’s still being bullied and ostracized at school.
July 9th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 0.1 | Ellen Booraem | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The year is 1433. Seraphim d’Ange is a young woman riding through France on a quest for revenge. The de Morte brothers attacked the d’Ange castle, killing Seraphim’s family. Seraphim was raped, wounded, and left for dead. Now she is disguised as “the Black Knight” and killing off the de Morte brothers one by one. Two down, three to go.
All of this takes place before Seraphim begins. Sera is now preparing to eradicate the third brother. She and her squire, Baldwin,
July 1st, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Michele Hauf | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The second in Chloe Neill’s DARK ELITE series, Hexbound follows the continued adventures of Lily and her friend Scout at St. Sophia’s School for Girls, as they face both teen drama and evil magicians.
I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into this series from the beginning, but couldn’t initially put my finger on why. I got a little over halfway through Hexbound and encountered a scene that made the issue clear to me — and sapped my interest in the book.
February 26th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Chloe Neill | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Humans came to this land generations ago. There they formed an alliance with the pegasi, defending them from evil creatures in exchange for shelter in Pegasus lands. As a sign of the alliance, members of the royal families of both races are magically bound together when the human comes of age. These ceremonies are performed by the Speakers, the only humans who can understand Pegasus speech, until at the binding of Princess Sylvi and Ebon, when they discover they can understand each other perfectly. This threatens to upset the balance of power between the two kingdoms and break the Speakers’ hold on power,
December 14th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Robin McKinley | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
I wanted to love Tyger Tyger. I’ve got a soft spot for teenagers-in-faeryland stories, and this one gets off to a terrific start. Teagan, the heroine, is working at a Chicago zoo; she plans to pursue a related career when she grows up. I can’t praise Kersten Hamilton highly enough for giving Teagan a concrete aspiration like this. The YA paranormal field is alarmingly full of heroines who seem bland without the magic or without the male lead, and have no idea what they want to do with their lives.
December 10th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Kersten Hamilton | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams
I wanted to like The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams. And I think, had I been in its target age group, I probably would have. There’s no denying that Williams has a vivid imagination. The world of the Kitchen is populated with strange and delightfully odd creatures like Natterjack, a one-eyed Rastafarian imp (at least, if his description and illustration are anything to go by). These myriad mad beasties remind me strongly of dark Jim Henson films like Labyrinth.
October 19th, 2010. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 0.1 | Allen Williams | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
An albino army invades the kingdom of Falanor, and the first to fall to their merciless onslaught is its most northern city, Jaldar. As it happens, this is where the famous warrior hero Kell has retired. As the invaders begin the slaughter, Kell hurries to rescue his grand-daughter, Nieanna. The dire circumstances call for an uneasy alliance between Kell and a dapper, swashbuckling thief named Saark. After a daring rescue of Nieanna and her friend Kat, the four become refugees, and they may be Falanor’s only hope against the clockwork vampire horde.
October 1st, 2010. Greg Hersom´s rating: 0.1 | Andy Remic | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Song of the Dragon by Tracy Hickman
Song of the Dragon is the first book of the Annals of Drakis, a new series by Tracy Hickman, an author who most fans will remember for his work with Margaret Weis writing the Dragonlance books. This solo effort left me feeling like he shouldn’t have been let out on his own.
The story starts with Drakis, a human warrior-slave, deep underground with his brother-soldiers, an odd conglomeration of warriors from the slave races — chimera,
September 29th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Tracy Hickman | 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…