Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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The Suburban Strange: Too little too late

The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki

Celia is a high school sophomore who’s grieving the death of her father and starting at a new school. She is swept up into a clique called the Rosary, a group of friends who pride themselves on their “darkness” and their sophistication. Celia feels awkward with them at first but gradually begins to gain confidence from these friendships. Meanwhile, something eerie is going on at Suburban High. Girls are suffering injuries or sudden illnesses on the day before their sixteenth birthdays. Will Celia find out what’s going on before her own birthday rolls around?

Impulse: Typical high school drama + teleporting

Impulse by Steven Gould

Impulse is the third book in Steven Gould’s JUMPER series. The first book, Jumper, which was more thriller than science fiction, told the story of Davy, a teenager who discovered that he could teleport. He used his ability to fight the terrorists who caused him some personal pain. In the second book, Reflex, Davy is captured by people who want to use his power for their own purposes and Davy’s wife Millie sets out to find him.

The Magic Circle: Has some problems

The Magic Circle by Jenny Davidson

[In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]

The Magic Circle by Jenny Davidson is the story of three young women in academia, all of whom become involved in a particular type of game that combines urban exploration with LARPing (live-action role-playing). Logical Ruth is primarily interested in games as teaching tools.

The Woodcutter: You might like it

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

The Woodcutter lives in an enchanted wood. His job, which he inherited from his ancestors, is to maintain peace and the delicate balance of good and evil in the neighboring realms of humans and fairies. One day when he discovers Cinderella lying dead on the forest floor, he knows that something has gone wrong. Further investigation shows other fairytale characters are in danger, one of Odin’s hellhounds has escaped, and someone is murdering pixies so they can sell pixie dust on the black market. The Woodcutter must figure out who is behind these evil events and set things right again.

Article 5: Dreadfully derivative

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

So, I put this as my status on Facebook:

Guess which book I’m talking about. I’m reading this YA post-apocalyptic novel where the United States of America has been torn apart by War and now it’s all separated into regions and you can’t move between regions without permission from the central government that is set on enforcing its rules on everybody and then the girl that’s the main character gets abducted from her home by the government and sent to this brutal place with a bunch of other kids but she survives because of this guy that she’s known forever and he loves her and protects her and then they join the rebellion.

Iced: Icky

Iced by Karen Marie Moning

Iced is the first novel in Karen Marie Moning’s new DANI O’MALLEY series, which is a spin-off from her excellent FEVER series. Readers of FEVER know who Dani is — she’s the 14-year-old sidhe-seer that Mac befriends. Besides being able to see the fae, Dani has other superpowers — she moves “super-fast” and has super senses, too. Dani also has the Sword of Light — one of only two magical objects that can kill the fae.

Dani lives in Dublin during the year 1 AWC (After the Wall Crash).

Imager’s Battalion: Feels like a textbook, not a fantasy novel

Imager’s Battalion by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

THE IMAGER PORTFOLIO has covered two eras and two separate characters and tied them together with a theme of great power and great responsibility. L.E. Modesitt Jr. has taken the time to show the evolution of magic (imaging) in a low-tech world and has given us some pretty amazing world-building. The challenge for readers, however, is that it has been at times dreadfully boring, endlessly repetitive and so heavy-handed in its statements about the social conditions and the inherent prejudices that exist in that world that even the most stalwart fan gets… tired.

January 22nd, 2013. John Hulet´s rating: 2 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Breathe: Failed across the board

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Breathe, by Sarah Crossan, is an unremarkable new entry in the teen dystopia field. Its premise is relatively simple: in the far future, the world’s oxygen level has dropped so far that people are relegated to living in oxygenated “pods,” where “Premiums” get all the oxygen they want and the commoners have to get by with far less. One result of this disparity is that the average person has to carefully moderate their physical activity (there are “speeding” laws with regard to walking) while the Premiums can go for a nice little job with their personal oxygen tanks.

Snuff: A City Watch novel without the City Watch

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Snuff is Terry Pratchett’s latest DISCWORLD novel to feature the City Watch. Well, actually, the City Watch is largely absent. Lady Sybil, insists that she and Commander Sam Vimes take their son, Young Sam, to the countryside for a vacation.

The vacation begins smoothly. Vimes and his family retreat to the country, where Vimes encounters Sybil’s well-to-do peers. Vimes hobnobs, or tries to, but he finds the nobility a bit stuffy. Still, he is the Duke of Ankh and does not want to disappoint Sybil,

December 18th, 2012. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Into the Black: Doesn’t stand out in any way

Into the Black by Evan Currie

Because he was such a spectacular fighter pilot during WWIII, Captain Eric Weston has been given command of the new spaceship Odyssey which is making her maiden voyage beyond the galaxy, to boldly go where no man has gone before. What Weston and his crew find out there is quite a surprise: a small spacecraft emitting a distress signal and containing a nearly dead human woman named Mia.

When they take Mia back to their ship, revive her and learn her language,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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