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

Rating: 2.5

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

Goddess of Light: Go read Goddess of Spring instead

Goddess of Light by P.C. Cast

Workaholic interior designer Pamela is on a business trip to Las Vegas. Reeling from an abusive marriage, she’s hoping her heart isn’t entirely dead yet. She accidentally weaves her desire for romance into a spell binding the goddess Artemis to her aid, and Artemis sends her brother Apollo to woo Pamela.

Apollo and Pamela fall in love, of course. I didn’t think their relationship was developed as well as Lina and Hades’ relationship in Goddess of Spring. It seemed more like Apollo and Pamela fell into bed a couple of times and then declared themselves soul mates.

September 26th, 2007. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | P.C. Cast | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Hidden Stars: Overwritten and uneven

The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard

A small band of wizards and warriors must find the lost royal child prophesied to end the reign of an ‘evil’, self-proclaimed goddess-empress. Adapting that main plotline from Willow, Madeline Howard’s novel The Hidden Stars further combines several Tolkien-esque elements (wondrously dexterous elves/fey; vastly powerful wizards; not nine but twelve misshapen servants of the villain) to create an initially promising but unfortunately disappointing fantasy experience.

Many fantasy plots have been explored time and again.

July 1st, 2007. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 2.5 | Madeline Howard | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Confidence Game: Not a page-turner

Confidence Game by Michelle M. Welch

Confidence Game describes itself as two characters who are troubled by their history and are caught up in a situation that leads them together to confront their problems. The dual main characters of Elzith and Tod are both broken to a certain degree and the story revolves around their burgeoning relationship and the impending problems that they have to overcome.

Elzith is a orphan, raised to be a super competent spy for the Justices of Dabion, a ruling council of Magistrates.

June 21st, 2007. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Michelle M. Welch | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Lara: She has no faults

Lara by Bertrice Small

Lara has been sold into slavery by her father. For most young women in the world of Hetar, this is a disaster that brings about nothing but fear and sorrow. For Lara however it is but the very beginning of her adventure.

Half human, half faerie, Lara is stunningly beautiful and willful as well. Her faerie protector guides her in finding her destiny which involves a series of great adventures and great lovers. Finally reaching the Outlands, Lara comes to realize her destiny is to aid the people she finds there in their war against her homeland Hatar.

June 20th, 2007. Guest´s rating: 2.5 | Bertrice Small | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dr. Illuminatus: Its strength is also its weakness

Dr. Illuminatus by Martin Booth

Doctor Illuminatus is the first of what promises to be three books, and it deserves two and a half stars, putting it exactly midpoint between good and just fair. Though it has an interesting premise and is full of fascinating facts and ideas, it often falls short on several accounts.

Pip and Tim are two twins that have just moved into an old, mysterious house called Rawne Barton: your standard beginning for a fantasy story of this nature. Before long, the siblings have uncovered a strange boy hidden in the walls of the house named Sebastian who claims to be the son of a medieval alchemist.

Mystic and Rider: A mystified, riderless horse…

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

Like a mystified and riderless horse, Sharon Shinn’s fantasy novel Mystic & Rider gallops to the point of fatigue and frustration. This conclusion is especially unfortunate in light of the excellent opening chapter. But buyer beware: the tension and excitement rarely increase from that point, and the last of the 440 pages brings us little closer to some kind of resolution or revelation than the first. Rather, the entire novel is simply a prologue for the rest of the series.

The novel’s plot is perfectly plain.

June 9th, 2007. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 2.5 | Sharon Shinn | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Midnight for Charlie Bone: Solidly interesting, not particularly compelling

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Any book nowadays that has its main character be a young boy who suddenly discovers he has magical talent is, fair or not, going to be compared to the Harry Potter series. Add in a school for geniuses and those “endowed” with magical talents, a small cadre of mixed (talented and not-talented) friends to aid the main character, suspicious professors, and a missing presumed dead father and you’re almost asking for it. It might not be right, but at least so many people have read Harry Potter that it gives us all a solid baseline standard.

Gardens of the Moon: Erikson displays a prodigious imagination

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

It’s always a question for fantasy fans: do I really want to read a first book in yet another long series? Remember when we moaned about when everything was a trilogy — now I’ll be happy to take a simple three-book series. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell ahead of time if the trip will be worth it? Well, thanks to the quirks of international publication, you can with the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Gardens of the Moon,

June 1st, 2007. Bill Capossere, Rob Rhodes and Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2, 2.5, 5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

April 2025
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

April 2025

Bill Capossere on Red Rabbit: Perfect blend of western adventure and wild magicApril 25, 2025
this sounds like a fun one
Paul Connelly on Red Rabbit: Perfect blend of western adventure and wild magicApril 25, 2025
These weird westerns are always interesting and have been popping up more in recent times (it seemed like there was…
Marion Deeds on Vazkor, Son of Vazkor: What’s become of the baby?April 18, 2025
Looking forward to reading the review.
Sandy Ferber on Vazkor, Son of Vazkor: What’s become of the baby?April 18, 2025
Always my pleasure, Marion! I'm almost finished with Book #3 now, and hope to be reporting on it very shortly....
Marion Deeds on Vazkor, Son of Vazkor: What’s become of the baby?April 17, 2025
After reading your review, I'm quite sure I never read this one, or Book Three for that matter. I loved…

Rating: 2.5

Goddess of Light: Go read Goddess of Spring instead

The Hidden Stars: Overwritten and uneven

Confidence Game: Not a page-turner

Lara: She has no faults

Dr. Illuminatus: Its strength is also its weakness

Mystic and Rider: A mystified, riderless horse…

Midnight for Charlie Bone: Solidly interesting, not particularly compelling

Gardens of the Moon: Erikson displays a prodigious imagination

Subscribe to all posts:

You can subscribe to our new posts via email, email digest, browser notifications, RSS, etc. You can filter by tag, keyword, post author, etc. We won't share your email address with anyone and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

Get notified about Giveaways:

Enter your email address to get notifications about Giveaways only. We won't share your address with anyone and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

Support FanLit

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Subscribe to all comments: