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The Doctor and the Dinosaurs by Mike Resnick
The Doctor and the Dinosaurs, by Mike Resnick, is part of his WEIRD WEST series, featuring Theodore Roosevelt in an American frontier where colonial westward expansion was delayed for many decades by native magic. I read this book because I remember Resnick as being a writer with interesting ideas; “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge,” was good, and Kirinyaga was thought-provoking. With The Doctor and the Dinosaurs,
December 17th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Mike Resnick | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Bared Blade by Kelly McCullough
Bared Blade is the second book in the FALLEN BLADE series. Kelly McCullough continues the story of Aral Kingslayer, survivor of the destruction of the Goddess Namara turned petty thief and spy.
Aral is still struggling with the revelation that other members of his cult survived the fall of his goddess. His experiences in Broken Blade have started to give him an inkling that there may be more to look forward to than alcoholic oblivion.
December 3rd, 2013. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Kelly McCullough | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Defiant Agents by Andre Norton
The Defiant Agents is the third book in Andre Norton’s TIME TRADERS series about a secret United States government program that uses time travel to solve geopolitical problems, especially those involving the Cold War with the Russians. In the first book, The Time Traders, we met Ross Murdock, a criminal who avoided his sentence by signing on with the Time Traders and discovering the source of the Russians’ new powers. In the second book, Galactic Derelict,
November 29th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Free!, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Dream London by Tony Ballantyne
Antihero (n): Protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, such as nobility of mind or spirit.
Tony Ballantyne’s Dream London opens with a stunner of a first chapter. Captain Jim Wedderburn awakens in his room to find two fiery salamanders munching on a green beetle the size of a dinner plate. It only gets stranger from there, as he confronts a business rival (Wedderburn is a pimp); bumps into his old girlfriend who hands him a scroll with his fortune on it;
November 20th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Tony Ballantyne | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Subterranean Stratagem by Michael Pryor
I have to confess, Michael Pryor’s second installment of THE EXTRAORDINAIRES series, The Subterranean Stratagem, did not quite charm or engage me as much as its predecessor, The Extinction Gambit, did (or Pryor’s earlier THE LAWS OF MAGIC series). As this is the first of Pryor’s books not to do so, I’m going to consider this a minor blip and assume book three will regain his usual form.
November 13th, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Michael Pryor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign by Tom Lloyd
Tom Lloyd shares stories from before his TWILIGHT REIGN series in this collection, The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign. I read it because I thought you didn’t have to have read any of the TWILIGHT REIGN books in order to understand what was going on. I would say that’s not strictly true. My ignorance of the series definitely hampered my enjoyment of these pieces.
These eleven stories follow various characters in the city and nation of Narkang in a land called The Land.
November 5th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Tom Lloyd | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart is a young adult novel, it has a post-apocalyptic setting, and it’s about superheroes (super villains, actually). It’s like Sanderson collected the last five years of blockbuster movies and novels and condensed them into one work that could be adapted into a newer, even bigger blockbuster movie. I also think there’s video game potential.
Steelheart is not adapted from a specific comic series, though Sanderson does appear to have been inspired by some of the genre’s most popular titles.
October 17th, 2013. Ryan Skardal and Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Brandon Sanderson | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
On the back of my copy of Extremities, a new collection of horror by David Lubar, the author bluntly states, “This is not a book for children. Let me clear about that.” Because much of his other work is so clearly aimed at children, I can see why Lubar feels the need to highlight this. Especially as there are some references to drugs and some graphic violence. But while I agree the book isn’t for “children,” I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone much older thirteen or fourteen,
October 7th, 2013. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | David Lubar | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Enna Burning is one of Shannon Hale’s BAYERN books — a set of four “companion” books set in the fictional country of Bayern. Each book can stand alone, but they have overlapping characters. I was glad I had read The Goose Girl, the first BAYERN book, before reading Enna Burning because I was already familiar with the world and its inhabitants.
Readers who’ve read The Goose Girl will remember Enna,
October 4th, 2013. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Shannon Hale | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon R. Green
John Taylor has been hired by The Unnatural Inquirer, the gossip magazine of the Nightside, to find a stolen DVD that allegedly contains a recording of a transmission from the afterlife. His investigation will take him all over the Nightside where we’ll encounter old and new friends (and enemies).
The Unnatural Inquirer is the eighth book in Simon R. Green’s NIGHTSIDE series. If you’ve read all the previous books, you know what to expect here and,
September 19th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Simon R. Green | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…