2.5 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

The Suburb Beyond the Stars: Not as good as his YA

The Suburb Beyond the Stars by M.T. Anderson

As a reader, I find M.T. Anderson a bit all over the map. I tend to see his strongest work as aimed at the older crowd, while his children’s novels tend to leave me a bit cold. That was the case with The Game of Sunken Places, a children’s fantasy involving two boys playing a Game of high stakes involving trolls, ogres, etc. M.T. Anderson hadn’t done enough with the relatively “humdrum” concepts and his plotting and characters were a bit muddled.

The Cry of the Icemark: Strong idea but weak execution

The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

The Cry of the Icemark has some excellent imaginative material to work with, but it’s almost as if once the author struck gold with the idea, he decided to leave it lying in the ground. The Cry of the Icemark therefore ends up disappointing more than rewarding.

It follows 14-yr-old Thirrin, princess and heir to the throne of Icemark, a small northern kingdom threatened by an aggressive massive southern empire and its never-lost-a-battle general.

The White Road: The plot is extremely thin

The White Road by Lynn Flewelling

After a long departure from the much loved Nightrunner series, Lynn Flewelling returned to Seregil and Alec’s adventures in 2008 with the release of Shadows Return. Now the adventure begun in Shadows Return continues in The White Road:

“Having escaped death and slavery in Plenimar, Alec and Seregil want nothing more than to go back to their nightrunning life in Rhíminee. Instead they find themselves saddled with Sebrahn,

May 18th, 2010. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Lynn Flewelling | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Thief Eyes: Different opinions

Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner

Based on the Icelandic myth told in Njal’s Saga, Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner centers around American teenager Haley, who comes to Iceland with her father. The two of them are trying to find Haley’s mother, who had disappeared there a year earlier after an argument with Haley’s dad. Haley gets caught up in a generations-old curse when she finds an inscribed coin on the shore of a lake. Trying to escape the effects of the curse, she has to face the consequences of actions made by people a thousand years before she was born,

Birthmarked: Strong protagonist, weak world-building

Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien

In an opening letter concerning Caragh O’Brien’s new book Birthmarked, her editor says that she could describe the book as a “Hollywood-style pitch (The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games)” but chooses to avoid the lazy and instead describes how the main character, in the book’s first chapter, must deliver a baby solo (not hers) and then, against the wishes of the mother, take it away and deliver it (literally this time) to a group called The Enclave.

Fall of Light: Reads like a cheesy horror movie

Fall of Light by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

(Note: Fall of Light is a “sideways sequel” to A Fistful of Sky. It refers back to some of the things that happened in A Fistful of Sky, but you could read Fall of Light on its own without any problem.)

Opal LaZelle (sister to Gypsum LaZelle of A Fistful of Sky) is a Hollywood makeup artist who specializes in making monsters for horror movies.

The Sixty-eight Rooms: Great concept not fully explored

The Sixty-eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

The Sixty-Eight Rooms has a really fun premise. Sixth-graders Ruthie and Jack visit the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, and discover a magic key that enables them to shrink to doll-size and explore the rooms up close. It turns out that each room opens onto a real landscape from the time it portrays, complete with real people that Ruthie and Jack can interact with. I thought this was a great concept, and I remember thinking that Marianne Malone should set a sequel in the Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Edge of Ruin: Science vs superstition, round two

The Edge of Ruin by Melinda Snodgrass

The Edge of Ruin (2010) is a direct sequel to The Edge of Reason, an excellent present-day fantasy novel by Melinda Snodgrass in which Chtulhu-esque beings use religion to generate emotions like fear and anger, enabling them to enter our dimension. It’s an unusual and original concept that led to a fascinating novel.

Unfortunately The Edge of Ruin is not quite as strong as the first novel in the EDGE series.

April 9th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5 | Melinda Snodgrass | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Master of None: A bit awkward, but has potential

Master of None by Sonya Bateman

If you took parts of the Arabian Nights and remade them in an urban fantasy mold, one of the stories would come out something very similar to Sonya Bateman’s Master of None. Gavyn Donatti, a professional thief, is hired to steal a small item for a local crime boss, but somehow Gavyn manages to lose the item before handing it over to his employer, and this bit of bad luck ends up sending Gavyn on the run. He is saved along the way by a Djinn named “Ian.”

March 20th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 2.5 | Sonya Bateman | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Chronic City: More to admire than to enjoy

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City has lots to admire: great lines, witty jokes and good insights. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to admire here than to enjoy. The sum ended up being less than its parts, to me. This may have been part of the point, and certainly the sense of disconnectedness is as well, but one of the dangers of a novel about disconnectedness is that it can feel, well, disconnected. The trick is to avoid this somehow,

Rating: 2.5

The Suburb Beyond the Stars: Not as good as his YA

The Cry of the Icemark: Strong idea but weak execution

The White Road: The plot is extremely thin

Thief Eyes: Different opinions

Birthmarked: Strong protagonist, weak world-building

Fall of Light: Reads like a cheesy horror movie

The Sixty-eight Rooms: Great concept not fully explored

The Edge of Ruin: Science vs superstition, round two

Master of None: A bit awkward, but has potential

Chronic City: More to admire than to enjoy

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