Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Haunted Heart: A biography of Stephen King

Haunted Heart by Lisa Rogak

It must be difficult to write a biography of someone who is still living, who has not donated his papers to a library where one can get access to them, who is still active in his career, and who has a healthy sense of privacy. Even when the subject agrees to an interview, a biographer has to be aware that the subject is telling what he wants to tell and leaving out that which he does not care to discuss. If the interviewee is sufficiently charming, or is completely forthright on a particular subject that casts him in a poor light,

The Forever King: Poor characterization, clichéd writing

The Forever King by Molly Cochran & Warren Murphy

The Forever King, by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, is almost two books blended together. One is an unusual take on the Grail legend, with some familiar characters like Merlin and Nimue. The other is a contemporary fantasy thriller about the reincarnation of King Arthur and a drunken ex-FBI agent who must help him. The Grail retelling has the most chance of being successful but ultimately both stories fail because of poor characterization and clichéd writing.

September 7th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 1.5 | Molly Cochran | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

Immortal: I never felt anything but déjà vu

Immortal by Gillian Shields

Evie Johnson is a new student at Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, which resides in (you’ll never guess) a gothic mansion on the moors. Surprisingly, there are some severe headmistresses there (coiffed with scraped-back buns) and a clique of mean rich girls. They tease Evie for arriving on the train and make discourteous comments when the school mistress announces that Evie is their new “scholarship student.”

You won’t believe it, but Evie has red hair and a seemingly innocuous silver pendant which belonged to her mother (who was drowned),

September 4th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | Gillian Shields | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Fifth Sorceress: Clutters rackspace

The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb

This ambitious debut novel is set in a realm in which two kingdoms are divided by an impassable sea. Over 300 years prior to the story’s opening, a vicious war led to the exile of a coven of evil sorceresses whose lust for power would have led to the utter destruction of peaceful Eutracia had it not been for the intervention of the noble Directorate of Wizards. The book’s startlingly blunt sexual politics, in which the heroes are all male and the villains female, is only one of its dubious qualities.

July 22nd, 2011. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 1.5 | Robert Newcomb | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Vellum: Empty, pretentious twaddle

Vellum by Hal Duncan

Forty pages into Vellum, I was dazzled. Hal Duncan‘s debut novel appeared to be every bit as phantasmagoric as the tidal wave of advance hype was claiming it was. A hundred pages in, my initial delight was morphing into skepticism. Yes, Duncan is a remarkably assured stylist, but is there any direction here? Is there ever going to emerge a cogent narrative to involve me beyond the author’s obvious gift for lovely and visually evocative prose? By about 175 pages,

November 13th, 2010. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 1.5 | Hal Duncan | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

A Young Man Without Magic: I feel like I have been punished

A Young Man Without Magic by Lawrence Watt-Evans

A Young Man Without Magic seems to be set in 17th century Europe with characters who could have fallen right out of an Alexandre Dumas novel. So, if you liked The Count of Monte Cristo and think a novel like that with magic added would be great, then A Young Man Without Magic would seem to be a good choice. There is a problem, though… there is no Edmond in this book.

November 9th, 2010. John Hulet´s rating: 1.5 | Lawrence Watt_Evans | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dragongirl: It’s well past time to put Pern to rest

Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey

The steep fall in the quality of the PERN series can’t be laid solely at the feet of Anne McCaffrey’s son Todd McCaffrey, as Anne’s later books in the series themselves widely varied in quality, ranging from downright bad (a few) to mediocre/adequate (most) to not-great-but-pretty-good (a few). But at least one could kind of justify the existence of most of them, as they wrapped up characters we’d grown to love, or gave us the backstory of how the whole setup began, or kept us in the familiar and beloved setting but gave us new situations.

August 26th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

By Midnight: Dull and unimaginative

By Midnight by Mia James

April is deeply upset when her father takes a job at a small paper in London, and moves his wife and daughter from Edinburgh to do so. At first she is just miserable because she misses her friends and has to start a new school, Ravenwood, where many of the students are either stunningly beautiful or frighteningly clever. But then the deaths start, and April realises that she might be in danger as well. Suddenly there is no one she can trust — not even the beautiful and mysterious Gabriel,

July 28th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 1.5 | Mia James | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Leopard Mask: Probably better as manga

The Leopard Mask by Kaoru Kurimoto

The Leopard Mask, the first installment of The Guin Saga, is a rather uninspiring tale of two twins (Remus and Rinda) whose kingdom has fallen to an evil army and who are now trying to stay alive among all of the ghouls, demons, and other nasties who live in the marches. They are saved by an amnesic warrior (Guin) who, for some unknown but intriguing reason, has an irremovable leopard mask fused to his face.

The writing style is only serviceable.

May 28th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | Kaoru Kurimoto | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Shroud of Shadow: Ugh

Shroud of Shadow by Gael Baudino

Natil is the last of the Elven race, and in this novel she takes a runaway nun, Omelda, under her wing during the time of the Inquisition. Natil’s powers are mostly gone, except for her miraculous harp playing, which is the only thing that saves Omelda from suicide. Natil herself is suicidal, and wants nothing more than to crawl under a rock and cease to exist. Obsessed with this goal, she doesn’t do much for Omelda except get the two of them indentured to a selfish rich man,

February 4th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1.5 | Gael Baudino | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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