Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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The World of the End: Not completely successful

The World of the End by Ofir Touché Gafla

The World of the End, by Ofir Touché Gafla is one of those post-death stories where much of the plot takes place in an after-life of some sort (think Hungry Bones, Defending Your Life, The Brief History of the Dead, etc.). Generally, I find these sort of explorations pretty intriguing, partially because I like seeing what sort of strange take on the afterlife authors come up and partially because I like the exploration of how people respond to a new “life” once the old one has passed.

Web of Lies: Proceeds in rather obvious ways

Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep

Web of Lies is the second book in Jennifer Estep’s ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN series about Gin Blanco, a young woman with elemental powers who was orphaned when she was a girl and was found and raised by an assassin who taught her the tricks of the trade. She’s known as The Spider — the best assassin in the city — and is now wealthy enough to retire, which she is trying to do. She spends her days running a barbeque restaurant,

Blood’s Pride: Reads like an early draft of a first novel

Blood’s Pride by Evie Manieri

Blood’s Pride is a debut fantasy from Eve Manieri that unfortunately reads not so much like a first novel, with all the usual attendant issues of a first novel, but more like an early draft of a first novel. There’s the very strong opening scene that one could see perhaps sparking the whole idea, a few intriguing “what if one character did this to another character” plot points to create both internal and external conflicts at the outset, and several neat background ideas concepts with regard to mythology or world-building.

August 22nd, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Evie Manieri | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Planet Thieves: Lots of action, not much else

The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, is the first in a new children’s science fiction series set in a far future during a half-century-old interplanetary war between humanity and a mysterious race known as the Tremist. Thirteen-year-old Mason Stark, his best friend Merrin, and his sometime rival Tom Renner, along with another dozen or so cadets, are on board the warship SS Egypt for what is supposed to be a routine mission when they are suddenly attacked by a Tremist ship.

Sojourn: A transitional novel, and it shows

Sojourn by R.A. Salvatore

Sojourn is the last book in Salvatore’s DARK ELF TRILOGY, the prequel novels he wrote to establish Drizzt’s origin story after the success of his earlier trilogy ICEWIND DALE. While the first two DARK ELF novels, Homeland and Exile, are charming enough little stories to entertain on their own merits, Sojourn is the point at which the story begins to suffer for the necessity of ticking certain narrative boxes to get Drizzt where he needs to be by book four.

July 18th, 2013. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 2.5 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Princess and the Bear: A simple evocative YA story

The Princess and the Bear by Mette Ivie Harrison

I was about three chapters into The Princess and the Bear when I realized that it must be a sequel. The narrative seemed to assume that I knew more about the characters and their situation that I actually did, and after a quick flick to the back of the book (where there was an interview with the author) this was confirmed. The predecessor to this is The Princess and the Hound, the reading of which probably would have given me a greater understanding of the background that this book draws upon in the crafting of its story.

Firestorm: The plot doesn’t get very far

Firestorm by Taylor Anderson

Firestorm (2011) is the sixth book in Taylor Anderson’s DESTROYERMEN series about the WWII navy warship USS Walker that was hurled into an alternate Earth during an electrical storm. (If you didn’t know that, you should probably stop here and go back to read the first book, Into the Storm, and the subsequent volumes before continuing on.)

In Firestorm, our heroes are spread out across the world trying to stop evil in its several guises.

The Blue Heron: A puzzling Stoker win

The Blue Heron by Gene O’Neill

This year’s Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in long fiction went to Gene O’Neill for The Blue Heron. Dark Regions Press originally printed a mere 13 signed copies of the novella-length work, but plans to issue a trade paperback edition this year. A bit of research on the internet also suggests that it was briefly available as an e-book on the author’s own website or Facebook page, but that no longer appears to be the case. (update: Find it here.)

I’m frankly puzzled by the Stoker win.

What entropy Means to Me: Definitely a weird book

What entropy Means to Me by George Alec Effinger

Obviously a first novel and very New Wave-y, in some places to the point of excess, What entropy Means to Me is still a very ambitious book which tackles the idea of story itself and its impact on our lives. It isn’t always successful and is definitely a very weird book. It will likely take a few chapters before the reader becomes familiar with what is going on (assuming he ever does), and even then the bizarro elements and shifting of the narrative can be quite confusing.

Clockwork Princess: Has this series lost steam?

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess, by Cassandra Clare, felt like an overloaded cargo plane lumbering down a runway, trying to get airborne. This is the third book in Clare’s INFERNAL DEVICES series, the Victorian prequel to her MORTAL INSTRUMENTS books, and in this one the soap opera overwhelms the story.

The INFERNAL DEVICES series follows Tessa Gray, an orphaned American who came to London to live with her brother. Tessa was captured by demons and forced to use her unusual abilities for their benefit.

June 19th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Cassandra Clare | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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