Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Wolves of the Calla: Less than the sum of its parts

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

In Wolves of the Calla, the fifth novel in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, Roland and his posse defend a village from monsters. King borrows the great ideas of a variety of favorite stories, yet his final product is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

Calla is a farming village preyed upon by the Wolves of the Thunderclap. The Wolves come once per generation, take children, and return them “roont,” mentally handicapped and destined to grow gigantic before dying young.

October 25th, 2010. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Stephen King | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Waste Lands: What Kind of Knights Are These?

The Waste Lands by Stephen King

The Gunslinger introduces us to Roland Deschain, the last cowboy-knight of a world that has moved on. In The Drawing of the Three, King gives Roland partners. The Waste Lands, the third novel of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower novels, focuses on fleshing out the details of Roland’s quest.

But not too many details.

It turns out that a Crimson King is doing everything in his power to destroy the universe from atop the Dark Tower.

October 12th, 2010. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Stephen King | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Entangled: A seriously weird book

Entangled by Graham Hancock

In the acknowledgments for his novel Entangled, Graham Hancock doesn’t just thank his family and his editor, but also “Ayahuasca,” the “visionary brew” used by Amazonian shamans to make out-of-body journeys into the realm of spirits. He also explains that the novel’s premise, characters, and plot resulted from visions brought to him by Ayahuasca. Given that information, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Entangled is — and I am choosing my words carefully here — a seriously weird book.

October 4th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2 | Graham Hancock | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Once Upon a Winter’s Night: We don’t need this anymore

Once Upon a Winter’s Night by Dennis L. McKiernan

have a thing for retold fairy tales. There was a time when I had even more of a thing for retold fairy tales. I was obsessed. I combed bookstores for anything claiming to be a retelling of this or that. I was especially interested in treatments of the lesser-known tales, and one of those lesser-known tales was “East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon.”

When I learned of Once Upon a Winter’s Night, I was ecstatic.

August 19th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2 | Dennis L. McKiernan | SFF Reviews | no comments |

On a Pale Horse: Juvenile

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

When the grim reaper shows up a few seconds early, Zane shoots him instead of using the gun on himself as he’d planned. Now, instead of being dead, Zane is Death. He has to take over the office, riding around the world in his convertible pale horse collecting and measuring the souls of those who’ve committed equal amounts of good and evil during their lives — those who are “in balance.” In his new guise (complete with all of the accoutrements: scythe,

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall by L.J. Smith

Elena Gilbert has returned from the Other Side, and has to relearn how to live amongst humans. She is helped by the love of her life — Stefan Salvatore, a vampire — and her three closest friends. However, evil forces are gathering around Fell’s Church, drawn by the beacon of a returned soul, and Stefan is snatched away from Elena when she needs him most. She has to turn to his dark brother, Damon, for help — never knowing for certain what motivates Damon or whether he has been possessed by the dark forces that want to steal Elena for themselves.

Spirited: Confusing and unsatisfying

Spirited by Nancy Holder

During the height of the French-Indian War, Isabella and her father, who is a doctor with the British army, are making their way to a new fort through the New York wilderness. In the meantime, Wusamequin, a Native American brave who is looking to avenge the death of his wife and child has a vision of soldiers crossing through the lands of his people. In a fit of rage Wusamequin leads a party of warriors against the English. Impressed with the way Isabella fights back, he spares her life and takes her into his home as his slave,

The Queen of Sinister: Falls flat after promising start

The Queen of Sinister by Mark Chadbourn

The Queen of Sinister, the middle book in Mark Chadbourn‘s DARK AGE trilogy, introduces a different set of characters from book 1, The Devil in Green. This is a bit surprising, because the author’s earlier AGE OF MISRULE trilogy, which describes the events leading up to the start of the DARK AGE books, focuses on the same characters throughout all three books. So, rather than offering a continuing story,

June 14th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2 | Mark Chadbourn | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Infinity: Tedious and confusing

Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I didn’t like Infinity. There were parts that I quite enjoyed, but the majority I found tedious and vaguely confusing.

By far the strongest part of the book is the character of Nick. His dialogue, both internal and towards other characters, is sarcastic and funny. He cares deeply about his mother. Like most teenage boys he wants to date girls, but doesn’t know where to start. He’s pretty realistic in the way he’s written, and I enjoyed the way Sherrilyn Kenyon represented him.

The DragonCrown War Cycle: Fanboy fantasy at its very worst

THE DRAGONCROWN WAR CYCLE by Michael A. Stackpole

I enjoyed The Dark Glory War, the prequel to The Dragoncrown War Cycle trilogy, a fair amount. That being said, the story took a steady downhill slide from there.

It is pure fanboy fantasy, and at its very worst. These heroes have all the personality of mud. The men are all “humble” and act completely shocked to find themselves in the roles of heroes. And the women are downright offensive. These strong, proud, independent women, who turn into docile,

June 11th, 2010. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 2 | Michael A. Stackpole | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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