Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 2.5

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The Raven Queen: Courageous but unlikable heroine

The Raven Queen by Jules Watson

Jules Watson’s The Raven Queen is a historical fantasy based on the ancient Irish legends about Queen Maeve. Red-haired and fiery-tempered, since childhood Maeve has resented being used by her father, King of Connacht, as a political tool. He has sent her as a peace-bride to acquire alliances with various neighboring warlords, but Maeve doesn’t tend to actually foster peace anywhere she goes. In fact, she has just returned home to her dying father after running away from her third husband, the powerful King Conor — an action that will surely bring Conor’s wrath against Connacht at a time when they do not have a strong leader.

The World House: Takes too long to get to the point

The World House by Guy Adams

A struggling British antiquarian with gambling debts… an American socialite during the Prohibition… a young boy from Spain during Franco’s reign… a barfly and a stripper in the late seventies… an autistic teenager… In different places and during different eras, seemingly unconnected strangers all come into contact with a mysterious box, and all of them at some point suddenly find themselves transported to a different place: a huge house that seems to have endless corridors and stairs, not to mention a room filled with a huge jungle,

February 18th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5 | Guy Adams | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Death’s Sweet Embrace: Doesn’t really stand out

Death’s Sweet Embrace by Tracey O’Hara

Death’s Sweet Embrace is the second novel in Tracey O’Hara’s Dark Brethren series and the follow-up to 2009’s Night’s Cold Kiss. Here, O’Hara focuses more on the shapeshifters of her world than on the vampires, and introduces readers to the Dark Brethren themselves, a creepy faux-angelic race that once enslaved all parahumans and wants to regain its supremacy.

The central plot deals with a serial killer who preys on shapeshifters and whose grisly crimes may be connected to the Dark Brethren.

January 27th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Tracey O'Hara | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Crowded Shadows: Characters are inflamed and angsty, we’re bored

The Crowded Shadows by Celine Kiernan

I was hoping that the pace of The Moorehawke Trilogy would pick up once Razi, Christopher, and Wynter left the castle but, alas, this story continues to crawl at a glacial pace. In The Crowded Shadows, the three friends wander the forest with no plan but to find Prince Alberon (somewhere among thousands of acres) so they can hear his side of the story — why is he rebelling against his father? While they traipse about the forest,

The Gift: Dystopian urban fantasy for YAs

The Witch and the Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson & Ned Rust

A dystopian urban fantasy written for young adults, The Gift is the second novel in James Patterson’s Witch & Wizard series. Co-writing with Ned Rust, Patterson wastes no time opening The Gift, starting his story with the public execution of a resistance leader and follows up with a face-off between our teenage heroes and their villainous foe, The One Who Is The One.

Angel Time: Lacks the spark that would overcome the flaws

Angel Time by Anne Rice

Anne Rice’s body of work plays a huge role in my history as a reader, and in fact was one of the “gateway drugs” that led me to fantasy. I discovered her books the summer before I left for college and spent the next several years procrastinating my studies all too often in favor of devouring her backlist. And a hefty backlist it was; her old books kept me busy for several years. The first one I read “new” was Pandora. Then,

December 11th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Anne Rice | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Demon Underground: Falls short of its predecessor

Demon Underground by S.L. Wright

Demon Underground is S.L. Wright’s sequel to Confessions of a Demon. Wright begins pretty much right at the end of Confessions with the life and times of Allay, a human girl turned demon. Demon Underground is a straightforward urban fantasy novel with a nice blend of action, social interaction and lots and lots of romantic angst.

In Demon Underground, Allay is dealing with the aftereffects of having taken down one of the most powerful demons in New York City.

December 10th, 2010. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | S.L. Wright | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Night Child: Unoriginal, but lots of heart

Night Child by Jes Battis

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first. All of these paranormal investigator potboilers coming down the pike are more or less the same. It’s all a question of how well each one rearranges the furniture. Some do it sufficiently well so as to avoid the easiest of criticisms, that the book in question is little more than a CC of the latest Laurell K. Hamilton/Jim Butcher/Kim Harrison opus.

November 25th, 2010. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Jes Battis | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Stowaway: A YA adventure in the Forgotten Realms

The Stowaway by R.A. & Geno Salvatore

FORGOTTEN REALMS books are good for a quick, fun read, where I don’t normally expect a lot of character development and the world has been built so well that you can download maps of the different cities. The Stowaway is a perfect example: a quick, light YA adventure through well-known areas of a well-developed world.

The Stowaway begins with a young child being saved from certain death by a group of noble, powerful people.

November 14th, 2010. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | no comments |

At the Queen’s Command: A fantasy twist on the American Revolutionary War

At the Queen’s Command by Michael A. Stackpole

It’s 1763, and the Crown Colonies of Mystria are in turmoil. Unwillingly, they are becoming the new battleground in the ongoing war between their colonial master Norisle and their rivals, the Tharyngians, after the ongoing conflict on the continent of Auropa. Simultaneously, some Mystrians are beginning to feel that the young colonies don’t owe allegiance to the distant Norillian queen anymore, with underground texts that advocate independence growing in popularity.

If all of this doesn’t sound familiar yet, just change Norisle to England,

November 10th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5 | Michael A. Stackpole | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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