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Grail of Stars by Katherine Roberts
Grail of Stars (2014), the fourth and final book in Katherine Roberts‘s PENDRAGON LEGACY, sees the daughter of King Arthur Pendragon go in search of the last of the Four Lights that can restore her father to life and banish her evil cousin Mordred once and for all: the Grail of Stars.
Princess Rhianna is joined by her best friend Elphin from the Island of Avalon, the newly knighted Sir Cai who wields the Lance of Truth,
September 17th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2.5 | Katherine Roberts | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
In the prologue to Kari Wallace’s debut adult novel, Salvation Day (2019), we witness the fate of the huge spaceship House of Wisdom after a biological weapon killed every member aboard except for a 12 year old boy named Jaswinder Bhattacharya, whose mother engineered his escape.
Now it’s a decade later and Jaswinder is a young man, well-educated, talented, and famous for his survival. A group of cultish separatists who are angry at the way they’ve been treated by Earth’s government plan to kidnap Jaswinder so they can gain access to House of Wisdom and get away from Earth.
September 13th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Kari Wallace | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I love fantasies set at colleges, so when I heard about Linda Haldeman’s Esbae: A Winter’s Tale (1981), I had to track it down and read it. The titular Esbae is a spirit who is found wanting by some greater power, and cast down to earth. It attaches itself to an awkward college student, Sophie, and is caught up in a magical battle between good and evil.
The three main human characters are all to be found in Dr.
August 26th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Linda Haldeman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The House on Parchment Street by Patricia McKillip
I probably would never have known about The House on Parchment Street (1973) were I not such a huge fan of Patricia McKillip‘s fantasy stories, and while browsing her name on a library search engine, this title popped up. It was obviously one of her earliest published works, so I was willing to give it a go.
The House on Parchment Street is profoundly different from her later stories,
August 20th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2.5 | Patricia McKillip | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin
The Invasion (2018), a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Young Adult Novel, is the sequel to Peadar O’Guilin’s The Call, which you’ll need to read first. (This review will spoil some of the plot of that first novel.) Once again I listened to the audiobook version (Scholastic Audio) which was nicely performed by Irish actor Amy Shiels.
At the end of The Call,
July 25th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Peadar O'Guilin | Audio, Horror, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Last Tsar’s Dragons by Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple
The Last Tsar’s Dragons (2019) is frustrating, both as a reading exercise and in retrospect, when I think about how universally lauded Jane Yolen is and that Adam Stemple, her son, is a well-regarded author in his own right. So take a master storyteller and her progeny, begin with the political tar pit that was the Russian court in the last days of the Romanovs, and add revolutionaries and literal fire-breathing dragons into the mix…
What should,
July 17th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2.5 | Adam Stemple, Jane Yolen | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
PERfunctory AfFECTION by Kim Harrison
Three years ago Meg, a talented artist who also works as a university art instructor, was in a bad car accident. She was driving and her boyfriend, the passenger, was badly injured. Since then she’s dealt with PTSD, high levels of anxiety, and overwhelming guilt. She has also had trouble recovering after her mother’s death and this has led to depression. Meg is pretty messed up and has trouble teaching her classes, making friends, and coping with life in general.
As the novella opens, Meg’s psychiatrist has put her in an experimental drug study.
April 18th, 2019. Kat Hooper and Terry Weyna´s rating: 2.5 | Kim Harrison | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Fever King by Victoria Lee
It’s the 22nd century, and North America is divided into several different countries in the aftermath of a worldwide disaster. A plague that first hit back in the early part of the 21st century killed ― and continues to kill ― almost every person who get infected with the virus. Those few who survive become “witchings,” developing a variety of magical powers as a result of the virus’s presence in their body.
Noam Álvaro is a bisexual teenage refugee from Atlantia, now living in the West Durham slums of the more well-developed country of Carolinia.
March 20th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Victoria Lee | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto
If you like Anne McCaffrey’s DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN series and are looking for more of the same — elite society of beast-riders with a telepathic/empathic link between human and animal — then Nicki Pau Preto’s YA debut novel Crown of Feathers (2019), the first in a series of the same name, might be worth your time. If you’ve read enough of this type of book to pick out key plot points and character developments from seven leagues away,
March 14th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2.5 | Nicki Pau Preto | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
Damsel (2018) has an absolutely gorgeous cover, one of the loveliest I’ve seen, with a glowing title wound about with vines, bleeding hearts and other flowers. But on closer examination there’s something just a little bit off about the cover image. An anatomically correct heart. A golden spur with a myriad of sharp points. A dragon’s pointed tail. It’s a bit disturbing. And it’s an apt metaphor for the contents of Elana K. Arnold’s book, where the fairy-tale details initially mask an allegorical story that is far,
February 13th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Elana K. Arnold | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
thanks for this! While I enjoy graphics, I confess it's an area I'm always far less aware of (save for…
Mandy, thank you for this great review. Today is Independent Bookstore Day and I will be at a specialty store…
Me, too! I think independent bookstore are enjoying a golden age, and I plan to continue to support that. One…
I read the most recent Elysian article. I tried not be bummed out, because I already knew most of it,…
Wow, I'm really impressed by the 15- and 20-year old owning and running their own bookstores! I loved books as…