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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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The Wizard in the Tree: Not up to usual quality

The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander

All the wizards have long since departed this land for Vale Innis — but one has been left behind. When Mallory’s favorite oak tree is felled, she finds a surprising discovery inside: an old wizard named Arbican who’s desperate to follow his fellow wizards across the sea. The orphaned Mallory has grown up with stories of magic and enchantment, and couldn’t be more delighted with the discovery — especially if there’s a chance that she can go with him. Mallory does not have the most wonderful life as scullery maid to the nasty Mrs Parsel,


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June 12th, 2009. ´s rating: | | , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Royal Exile: Dry and dull, full of flat characters

Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

In Royal Exile, Fiona McIntosh returns to the same world of the Percheron Saga. Though the concept is exactly what makes for good epic fantasy, the writer’s execution does not bear it out. Wooden dialogue, information dumps, and characters indistinguishable from each other make this novel a sad caricature of its potential.

A tribal barbarian warlord by the name of Loethar is rapidly conquering the Set, a federation of kingdoms with a high medieval culture.


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May 22nd, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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City of Jade: A real snooze-fest

City of Jade by Dennis L. McKiernan

I hate to say it, because I have always liked the world of Mithgar, and most of the novels by Dennis L. McKiernan, but City of Jade is a real snooze-fest. Characters travel around, there are two battle scenes, and many characters nearly die, but are saved rather quickly. City of Jade lacks any real suspense. It’s Lord of the Rings without the trip to Mordor, or George R.R.


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May 19th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Winter’s Heart: Plods along

Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan

The first six chapters of Winter’s Heart follow Perrin and Faile after Faile is abducted by the Shaido Aiel. The next several chapters follow Elayne as she returns to Caemlyn and prepares to make a bid for her mother’s crown. These two storylines are incredibly dull and I confess that I skimmed over a lot of it and read the excellent cross-referenced chapter summaries at Encyclopaedia WOT. I read Winter’s Heart years ago and I just did not feel like once again sitting in on Elayne’s steward’s descriptions of the rats in the Caemlyn sewers or Perrin’s angst about Faile (good riddance,


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May 1st, 2009. ´s rating: | , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Book of Shadows: Feels unfinished

The Book of Shadows by James Reese

James Reese attempts Anne-Rice-style supernatural fiction with The Book of Shadows, his first novel. It is Rice-like in that it contains gender-bending sexual material, lush detail, horrifying violence, and a set of supernatural beings who have long existed in folklore but are given new “rules” and characteristics by the author. Here, it’s witches, but not the sort of harmless neo-pagan witches that are around today. These are witches as depicted in medieval lore, throwing orgies and dealing with demons.


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April 30th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Path of Daggers: At least it’s shorter

The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan

The best thing I can say about The Path of Daggers is that it is significantly shorter than the last few novels have been — only 700 pages (mass market paperback) compared to the 900-1100 page novels that have preceded it. There is much less of the repetitive backstory. I guess Mr. Jordan finally realized that new readers aren’t jumping in at this point.

However, that’s not to say that there are 700 pages of plot here,


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April 15th, 2009. ´s rating: | , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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A Kiss of Shadows: Not my cup of mead

A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

Laurell K. Hamilton promises a story of modern-day faeries and their complex court intrigue, which in theory is right up my alley, but I didn’t really get into A Kiss of Shadows.

By about page 100, my significant other was laughing because I kept yelling aloud, “Is she going to sleep with HIM, TOO?” The entire plot of the book seems to consist of Merry’s sexual adventures. That would be OK if it were good erotica,


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April 11th, 2009. and ´s rating: , | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Firebrand: Feminist agenda goes too far

The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

I’m not a huge fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but the Trojan War is one of my favourite subjects, and I was curious to see how it could be told from a singular, feminine point of view — in this case, Princess Kassandra of Troy, tragically famous for her accurate predictions of doom that no one believed. The Firebrand is told with Bradley’s trademark style; a strong feminist streak (that can become a little too heavy-handed at times), and her fresh spin on an ancient legend,


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April 10th, 2009. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Becoming: Nothing to write home about

The Becoming by Jeanne C. Stein

If you don’t think about it too hard, The Becoming could be a fun book for the beach. It’s short, fast-paced, and suffused with a sun-drenched California atmosphere that’s unusual in a vampire novel. (Jeanne C. Stein’s vampires have evolved to tolerate the sun.) It’s also nice that it’s self-contained; there are sequels, but The Becoming is a complete story in itself. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of things about it that bothered me or fell flat with me.


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April 8th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Mage-Guard of Hamor: Left me bored

Mage-Guard of Hamor by L.E. Modesitt Jr

Mage-Guard of Hamor is the 15th book in the Saga of Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt Jr. If you’ve gotten to this point in the series, then odds are you know what you are getting in to, and perhaps you don’t mind the comfortable repetition. But, unfortunately, this installment only left me bored.

Mage-Guard of Hamor continues the story we were following in Natural Ordermage. The main character,


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April 6th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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