Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 2.5

Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended:
Not Recommended:

The Way of Shadows: Still in the rough draft stage

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

In the back-alley slums of Cenaria, a guild rat named Azoth hopes to survive by becoming the apprentice of Durzo Blint, who is the best of the wetboys — the most elite of assassins. To do this he must unquestioningly follow Durzo’s every command, accept that life — anyone’s life — is worthless, and forget everyone he knew in his old life. He must become Kylar Stern: gentleman by day, stone-cold killer by night. Though Azoth doesn’t know it, as Kylar he is destined for much bigger things.

September 30th, 2008. Greg Hersom and John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Brent Weeks | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Magic Study: When dangling, watch your participles

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

A brief overview of the plot of Magic Study is this: Yelena, the poison taster turned magician whom we met in Poison Study, leaves Ixia for Sitia, the country of her birth, to enter magical training and meet her long-lost family. Along the way, there are family tensions, new friends and enemies among the students and teachers at Yelena’s school, and sinister forces that may claim Yelena’s life, or that of one of her friends, if Yelena can’t thwart them.

June 9th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Maria V. Snyder | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Hallowed Hunt: Fresh characters and plot

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold

I think Lois McMaster Bujold has exactly the right idea with the Chalion series. Each book stands alone, but if you have read the first one (Curse of Chalion), you get all the background material you need to understand the geographical, political, and religious systems of her world. This means that later books (Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt) can have fresh new characters and plots,

The Blood King: Characters are over-the-top

The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin

The Blood King is the second book in The Chronicles of the Necromancer.

Gail Z. Martin has a decent writing voice, but the book as a whole really left me wanting. Perhaps it was the combination of good characters who were too good and bad characters who were too bad that I just didn’t quite feel comfortable with.

The first book, The Summoner, took us through the overthrow of the Kingdom of Margolan by the eldest son who is evil and selfish and cruel and lecherous and impatient… see where I am going with this?

March 29th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Gail Z. Martin | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Bitten: Elena is a brat

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong is a very competent writer and her command of the urban fantasy genre is also really good. She knows how to manage dialogue and keep pace with both action and character development. So, Bitten, the first book of the Women of the Otherworld series, should be a great book, right?

Ok, I despised Bitten because the main character, Elena Michaels, is such a ridiculous brat that I simply couldn’t stand her. Armstrong has created such a completely unbelievable character that I was happy when the book was over and the totally predictable ending brought my suffering to a close.

March 9th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Kelley Armstrong | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Acacia: Challenges us with an uncomfortable warp of the familiar

Acacia by David Anthony Durham

David Anthony Durham‘s Acacia has some of elements of epic fantasy we’ve all seen before: a large empire, a resentful race, a king’s children scattered and forced to grow into previously hidden strengths, a near-ritualized style of sword fighting, political intrigue, large battle scenes, and a few others. But anyone thinking to write off Acacia as simply another cookie-cutter fantasy would be missing a highly rewarding read — for Durham gives us these familiar set-ups only to repeatedly yank them out from under our feet.

February 20th, 2008. Bill Capossere, Kevin Wei and Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5, 3, 4 | David Anthony Durham | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Book of Earth: I’m indifferent

The Book of Earth by Marjorie B. Kellogg

Erde, the daughter of a German noble, is suddenly and terribly thrust into a world of magic and fear when she is accused of a crime she did not commit. After fleeing her father’s wrath and the insane ravings of a power-hungry priest, Erde heads into the mountains to be joined by a small, clumsy, surprisingly un-fantastic dragon named Earth.

Earth knows that he is called to a higher purpose, he just does not know exactly what. Content to put as much distance between her father and herself as possible,

February 10th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Marjorie B. Kellogg | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Gloriana, or The Unfulfill’d Queen: Reader Unfulfill’d

Gloriana, or The Unfulfill’d Queen: Being a Romance by Michael Moorcock

Gloriana (1979) is Moorcock’s homage to Mervyn Peake (author of the Gormenghast saga), and fittingly, is a lush tale of intrigue told in thoroughly British prose. At times brilliant (especially in the descriptions of the seasonal festivities), often captivating and humorous, often sluggish and overly subtle, ultimately unfulfilling, it’s a book I recommend borrowing from the library before buying. Not everyone will enjoy such decadence.

Speaking of decadence,

Clan Daughter: Weak follow-up

Clan Daughter by Morgan Howell

After reading King’s Property, the first book in the Orc series, I could see a lot of room for improvement.

The main character, Dar, was really hard to enjoy reading about and she was just a little too lucky a little too often for my taste.

Book two… Wow, can you say “more of the same”? And 80% of the book is a boring journey which sets the stage for interspecies love and actions on the part of the Orc mothers that totally contradicts everything we have been told about them.

December 28th, 2007. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Morgan Howell | SFF Reviews | no comments |

A Distant Tomorrow: Mindlessly entertaining

A Distant Tomorrow by Bertrice Small

Five long and peaceful years have passed since the Winter War the people of the Outlands fought and won against the greedy nation of Hetar. But Gaius Prospero has not given up his scheme to become emperor, and after an unexpected and tragic blow, the Fairy woman Lara is pulled towards her distant and elusive destiny once again.

Unexpectedly Lara finds herself in a distant land across the sea know as Terah where, with her newfound powers, she manages to banish an evil curse and earns the love and adoration of the ruler Magnus Hauk.

December 19th, 2007. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Bertrice Small | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8290 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Bill Capossere on Witch Hat Atelier: Volumes 1-3 (An Oxford College Student Review!)April 27, 2024
thanks for this! While I enjoy graphics, I confess it's an area I'm always far less aware of (save for…
Marion Deeds on Witch Hat Atelier: Volumes 1-3 (An Oxford College Student Review!)April 27, 2024
Mandy, thank you for this great review. Today is Independent Bookstore Day and I will be at a specialty store…
Marion Deeds on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
Me, too! I think independent bookstore are enjoying a golden age, and I plan to continue to support that. One…
Marion Deeds on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
I read the most recent Elysian article. I tried not be bummed out, because I already knew most of it,…
Andi B on WWWednesday: April 24, 2024April 25, 2024
Wow, I'm really impressed by the 15- and 20-year old owning and running their own bookstores! I loved books as…