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Mercedes Lackey has written this book before. And she’s written it better before. Foundation follows the story of Mags, a plucky orphan who is rescued from an abusive situation as a slave in a mine by a Companion and brought to Haven to become a Herald. Substitute Talia for Mags, and Holder for mine, and you have just summed up Lackey’s first book, Arrows of the Queen. The problem is that Foundation isn’t nearly as good.
July 28th, 2008. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 2 | Mercedes Lackey | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The problem with this final installment in The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, is that the main plot (and most of its subplots) were begun in The Witching Hour and wrapped up neatly in its sequel Lasher. In these two previous books, Doctor Rowan Mayfair has returned to her family, discovered her witch heritage, married Michael Curry, come into contact with an organisation called the Talamasca (best described as a supernatural detective agency) unleashed the spirit Lasher on the world and — together with her husband — stopped him from achieving his goal of populating the world with his own species: the Taltos.
July 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Anne Rice | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Door in the Tree by William Corlett
This is the second book in The Magician’s House Quartet and sees the three children of the previous novel (The Steps Up The Chimney) return to their uncle Jack’s Golden House, where the year before they had meet a time-traveling wizard called Stephen Tyler, befriended a number of wild animals and mastered the magical art of sharing their bodies, and helped deliver their uncle’s girlfriend’s baby when the wizard’s assistant Morden had attempted to sabotage the birth.
June 17th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | William Corlett | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Steps up the Chimney by William Corlett
The Steps up the Chimney is the first in four books that accumulate into The Magician’s House Quartet, revolving around three children who come to stay at their uncle’s strange house, and Stephen Tyler, a time-traveling wizard who befriends the children on their stay at Golden Valley.
In The Steps Up The Chimney, the children arrive at the house after already experiencing some strange events — Will has meet a stranger at Druce Coven station who mysteriously disappeared and a fox seems to popping up everywhere they look.
June 16th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | William Corlett | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Promise of the Witch-King by R.A. Salvatore
Promise of the Witch-King is the second book in R.A. Salvatore’s Sellswords series, a spin-off/repackaging of his famous Drizz’t series. While the title may sound like a rip-off from Tolkien (and indeed, Dungeons & Dragons does name Lord of the Rings as one of its influences), Salvatore is actually paying homage to Fritz Leiber.
The novel follows the anti-hero adventures of Artemis Entreri, a mellowed-down assassin, and the dark elf Jarlaxle,
June 12th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 2 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Storm at the Edge of Time by Pamela F. Service
Storm at the Edge of Time is a good idea, and nicely presented, but on reading it one realises it could have been a lot better with a little more length and time, as well as depth into the characters and circumstances.
Jamie is a young American girl holidaying in Scotland, Arni is a young Viking living on the coast, and Tyaak is a half-human, half-alien boy who is going through with his rite-of-passage stay on Earth’s island of Britain.
June 7th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Pamela F. Service | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Meeting of the Waters by Caiseal Mor
With its gorgeous knotwork cover art and the back-cover blurb about “brave, copper-haired Aoife,” the publishers evidently mean to recommend Caiseal Mor‘s The Meeting of the Waters to readers who’ve read and loved Marillier’s Sevenwaters series, the popular trilogy of Celtic epics featuring strong female protagonists. That’s why I bought this book myself. I expected a similar kind of story, complete with adventure, love, war, and magic. The setting is the time of the Gaelic conquest of Ireland,
May 31st, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2 | Caiseal Mor | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dragon Harper by Anne McCaffrey
To be honest, I don’t expect much when I pick up a Pern book anymore. These last few have ranged from middling at best (Dragonsblood) to nearly unreadable (Dragon’s Fire). While the eternal optimist in me keeps me reading the series, the realist in me can’t help but note just how long it’s been since there’s been a good book (I’m not asking for the glory of the great ones).
Sadly,
May 30th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE MALLOREON by David Eddings
Take the plot from The Belgariad, add in the same characters, plus a couple of new ones that look strangely similar to ones in The Belgariad, and you have The Malloreon. Instead of chasing the Orb, the gang is chasing Garion and Ce’Nedra’s son.
This is a quest type of fantasy, and the same things that made The Belgariad so enjoyable are here: interesting characters and a humourous banter that makes for a quick read. The pace is fast.
May 27th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 2 | David Eddings | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Kushiel’s Justice by Jacqueline Carey
Compared to Kushiel’s Scion, Phèdre and Joscelin return for a much larger portion of this book and they are as awesome as ever. They add excitement and helped me through much of the slog that was the first 300-odd pages. Yes, that’s right. Though previous Kushiel books have been long and probably could have withstood some cutting easily, I never minded the extra. With both Scion and Justice, that extra could have been done without.
May 6th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest) and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1, 2 | Jacqueline Carey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.
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