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The Damned (2020) is the sequel to Renée Ahdieh’s The Beautiful, a young adult vampire novel set in 19th century New Orleans. You’ll need to read The Beautiful first, and this review will have a few spoilers for that novel.
The Damned begins where The Beautiful left off. (Spoilers for The Beautiful are starting here!) Sébastien Saint Germain had been betrayed and murdered by his friend.
August 11th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Renee Ahdieh | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds
Shadow Captain (2019) is the second novel in Alastair Reynolds’ REVENGER series for young adults. You’ll need to read Revenger first, and this review will have some spoilers for that first book.
It’s been three months since Revenger ended, and Adrana and Fura Ness are back together after Adrana was kidnapped by the evil pirate Bosa Sennen and rescued by Fura. Now the Ness sisters have Bosa’s infamous ship and Fura,
June 17th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Alastair Reynolds | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Solstice (2020), by Lorence Alison, is subtitled “A Tropical Horror Comedy” and is a thinly fictionalized take on the disastrous Fyre Festival, with the addition of an eldritch sea monster lurking beneath the waves. I wasn’t expecting high literature from it, just the proverbial “beach read” to distract myself from the fact that there is no beach anywhere near me (and if there were, it would probably be closed anyway). But the more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t work for me.
June 4th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2 | Lorence Alison | Horror, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Cerulean Queen by Sarah Kozloff
In my review of The Broken Queen, the penultimate chapter of Sarah Kozloff’s NINE REALMS tetralogy, I said I was going to need a “slambang ending” to be able to recommend the series. Unfortunately, after finishing the series’ concluding novel, The Cerulean Queen (2020), I can’t say I got the close I was hoping for.
The final novel picks up where the last one finished (warning,
April 21st, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Sarah Kozloff | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Apparently the market for breathless YA romances with sexy vampires isn’t fully saturated yet, because Crave (2020), a new paranormal romance thriller by Tracy Wolff that cheerfully admits to being inspired by Twilight — check out the blatant knock-off cover — offers readers a slightly updated take on the genre.
When her parents are killed in an automobile accident, high-school-aged Grace reluctantly leaves San Diego and travels to the remote, icy interior of Alaska, where her uncle Finn is headmaster of an exclusive boarding school,
April 13th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2 | Tracy Wolff | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey
Jinx High (1991) is the third novel in Mercedes Lackey’s DIANA TREGARDE trilogy, following Burning Water and Children of the Night. This series stars Diana Tregarde, a romance novelist and witch who protects humans from supernatural harm. The novels and short stories in this series can be read in any order.
In Burning Water we watched Diana catch a serial killer inspired by an ancient Aztec god and in Children of the Night she confronted vampires that were sucking the life out of people in her city.
December 10th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Bid My Soul Farewell by Beth Revis
Bid My Soul Farewell (2019) is the sequel to Beth Revis’ novel Give the Dark My Love. You need to read Give the Dark My Love first. There will be some spoilers for that novel here.
When we left Nedra and Grey in Give the Dark My Love, they had uncovered the treachery in their government and exterminated the culprit.
October 11th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Beth Revis | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Jon Keller is having breakfast in a Swiss hotel when the world ends. Another guest at the hotel receives a notification on her Twitter: Washington has been destroyed by a nuclear weapon. New York follows. Then Scotland, China, Germany. Now only twenty people remain at the hotel whilst the state of the outside world remains a mystery.
On day fifty, Jon and some of the other hotel guests find the body of a murdered girl. A historian by profession (Jon had been visiting Switzerland for an academic conference),
September 25th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2 | Hanna Jameson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Nicole has been running with the wrong crowd. One day she wakes up, hungover as usual, in some guy’s apartment. A street thug named Bungie is kicking her, demanding that she drive him to the hospital because he’s about to bleed out. In the hospital’s parking lot, Bungie and Nicole attempt to kidnap a young doctor named Sam when two wispy creatures with butterfly wings approach and take all three of the humans to a huge spaceship called the Fyrantha.
On the ship,
September 23rd, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Timothy Zahn | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton
Duncan M. Hamilton’s Dragonslayer (2019) has all the elements one might expect from a fantasy novel: a quasi-medieval-Europe setting, swordmasters, mages, powerful talismans, ancient half-forgotten lore, quests with slim odds of success, powerful clerics, secret societies, etc. And that, unfortunately, is just the problem. It has all the expected elements but little unexpected, and the elements as presented are somewhat flat, as are the characters.
Gill (Lord Guillot) was once the greatest swordsman in the land and a member (currently the last living one) of the Chevaliers of the Silver Circle,
September 5th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Duncan M. Hamilton | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
How did I miss this? Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I guess that is true, Marion. And when it comes to "You Only Live Twice," I saw the movie TWICE…
I absolutely loved this deep dive into Edwige Fenech's giallo films! Her unique blend of allure and mystery truly captivates.…
You managed to work in your two loves; vintage fiction and films!
Yup, Marion, your memory serves you well! Oh...as regards these three recent Bond reviews of mine, as the old saying…