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Madhouse is one of those novels that you think has potential when you look at it, but just doesn’t quite meet your expectations. Rob Thurman’s writing style is easy to read and pleasant on the eyes and mind, but unfortunately, this third book about Cal and Nik Leandros is not well-plotted and suffers from an excess of innuendo.
The story is basic: Cal and Nik run a sort of supernatural detective agency in NYC. Nik is a ninja and Cal is a half monster/half human strong-arm.
June 22nd, 2009. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Rob Thurman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Charles de Lint said once that the current urban-fantasy novels are highly focused on character, and that readers like or dislike a series based on whether they connect with the protagonist. (I wish I could find that quote!) Based on this, I’m not surprised that Charlaine Harris has, as I write this review, the top three best-selling fantasy titles on Amazon. Disclaimer: I’ve only read this first book so far, and haven’t seen the TV series. But from what I’ve seen, Sookie Stackhouse is a delight.
June 16th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter and Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5, 4 | Charlaine Harris | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Indigo King by James A. Owen
The Indigo King has high aspirations that it sets up in terms of character and a large plot canvas, but doesn’t really meet them, though it is a solid work of fantasy. It’s major flaws are in its construction: a picaresque pastiche. The pastiche part is a myriad of legendary and mythological sources.
On the surface, one might expect such a all-encompassing field of sources ranging from Arthurian legends to Greek mythology to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and Mark Twain (to name only some) would offer up a rich tapestry of fiction.
June 4th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | James A. Owen | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
I have a long-time interest in adaptations of fairy tales, and so it surprised me that it took me so long to get through Tender Morsels, a strange and dark retelling of “Snow White and Rose Red.”
The beginning is promising. We meet Liga, mother of the “Snow White” and “Rose Red” characters, as a traumatized teenager. She is sexually abused by her father and later raped by town boys, and Margo Lanagan handles these sensitive topics well. The actual abuse is never described in detail,
June 4th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Margo Lanagan | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge
Inspector Pete Caldecott is baffled. A rash of child abductions has swept London and all of her leads are turning up bad. The good news is that the lost kids are turning up alive; the bad news is they’re… changed — blinded and usually raving mad by the time the police turn them up.
Pete is almost ready to throw in the towel when a blast from the past suddenly crosses her path. Jack Winter, her sister’s boyfriend from almost a decade ago, shows up and tells her where to find one of her missing children.
June 1st, 2009. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Caitlin Kittredge | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
Some people don’t like to admit that they didn’t “get” a book, but I’m secure enough with myself to say that I didn’t get this one.
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter started off well. Jane is a human changeling who works in a Faerie factory that makes flying iron dragons for weapons. Jane and the other child slave laborers (who are a mix of strange creatures) are entertaining and bring to mind Lord of the Flies and that scene in Sid’s room from Pixar’s Toy Story.
May 16th, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Michael Swanwick | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
What drew me to The Blue Girl wasn’t the bad girl trying to be a good girl premise. It wasn’t the thing about the resident student ghost or the gang of malicious fairies or being a social misfit. Been there, seen that — not just in books. It was the line about Imogene’s imaginary friend manifesting into reality that piqued my interest. Now that was something I couldn’t really recall seeing before. It tickled that whimsical part of me that my mom is so fond of talking about (and envying).
April 6th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2.5 | Charles De_Lint | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I was attracted to Midwinter because of the gorgeous cover art (by Chris McGrath) and the publisher’s blurb. This sounds like my kind of story. Unfortunately, this novel didn’t deliver what I was looking for, but it had so much potential that I hold out hope for future efforts from Matthew Sturges.
Midwinter starts out well. The prose is pleasant — perfectly readable and without any pretensions. Usually this is the first place an author will lose me,
March 11th, 2009. Kat Hooper, Greg Hersom and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 2.5 | Matthew Sturges | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (on audio)
I could almost copy and paste my review for Fires of Heaven right here and it would be mostly suitable because Lord of Chaos is more of the same. This is another metropolitan-city-phonebook-sized novel with a potentially interesting story that is bogged down by its excruciatingly slow pace, regular insertions of backstory, constant descriptions of the garb of every major and minor character (garb which keeps getting smoothed, straightened, or otherwise adjusted), and too many mentions of expanses of bosoms,
March 1st, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Master of Dragons by Margaret Weis
Master of Dragons, the final book in Margaret Weis’s Dragonvarld trilogy was a tasty but sloppy finale — like a cheesecake that didn’t quite set.
This last book wraps things up, as we knew it would, and everything is finally well in the world, as we knew it would be. There are some fine moments (Draconas showing tenderness to a female dragon, Ven finds a family, Marcus falls in love) and even some hilarious ones (Draconas darning socks,
January 12th, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Margaret Weis | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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