Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3.5

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Magic Without Mercy: Solid addition to the series

Magic Without Mercy by Devon Monk

At the end of Magic on the Line, Allie Beckstrom killed the head of Portland’s Authority — who was ignoring a magical plague in the city for his own ends — and now she is a fugitive, along with her lover Zayvion and a handful of her closest friends who have now broken with the Authority as well. In Magic Without Mercy, Allie and her small band investigate the poisoning of Portland’s four magical wells and try to find a way to cleanse magic before the problem can go worldwide.

April 5th, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Devon Monk | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Ad Eternum: This newest chapter is a treat

Ad Eternum by Elizabeth Bear

In 1962, vampire-detective Sebastien, having adopted the name ‘Jack Prior,’ returns from Europe to New Amsterdam, arriving not by airship but airplane. As he attempts to re-establish himself in the new world, he makes the acquaintance of a clique of sorcerers who invite him to join them in an ambitious endeavor. But old — indeed, ancient — habits die hard, and Sebastien must chart the course of his eternal voyage while buffeted by public protests against vampires and the sudden return of someone powerful from his past.

March 23rd, 2012. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3.5 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Homunculus: Try this zany story on audio

Homunculus by James P. Blaylock

“Does the night seem uncommonly full of dead men and severed heads to you?”

Langdon St. Ives is a man of science and a member of the Royal Society. With the help of his dependable and discreet manservant, St. Ives prefers to spend his time secretly building a spaceship in his countryside silo. But currently he’s in London to help his friend Jack Owlesby recover a wooden box containing the huge emerald Jack’s father left him for an inheritance.

Things get confusing when it’s discovered that there are several of these boxes that all look the same and all contain something somebody wants.

Secondhand Spirits: A cozy mystery with a magical twist

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell

Secondhand Spirits (2009) is the first in the WITCHCRAFT MYSTERIES series by Juliet Blackwell. The series centers on Lily Ivory, a natural witch who has traveled the world looking for a place to belong, and finds it in the eccentric Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco. She owns a vintage clothing shop, and her magical abilities help her in her business by allowing her to sense something of the history of a garment and thereby match it with the right customer.

Rose Daughter: McKinley’s second rendition of Beauty and the Beast

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

Can a beast who loves roses so much be so very terrible?

It’s been years since I read and reviewed Robin McKinley’s Beauty, her first rendition of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Despite the book’s popularity, I wasn’t particularly moved by it, and ended my review saying that I was looking forward to experiencing her second retelling of the same story, seeing how an author would approach the same material the second time around.

Well,

March 7th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Robin McKinley | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Perception: Enjoyable light mystery for YA readers

Perception by Kim Harrington

Perception is Kim Harrington’s second mystery starring Clarity “Clare” Fern, a young girl who comes from a family of psychics. Clare’s special power is psychometry: she can touch an object and see scenes from its past.

In the first novel, Clarity, Clare used her ability to help solve a murder mystery. As Perception begins, that story’s aftereffects have turned Clare’s social life upside down. Once a social misfit, now she’s locally famous and unsure how to deal with the sudden fawning attention she’s getting from kids who once shunned her.

Shadow’s Edge: Significant improvement

Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

I read Brent Weeks’s debut novel The Way of Shadows some time ago. It was not a brilliant book but it kept me entertained enough to try the second part in the NIGHT ANGEL trilogy, Shadow’s Edge. On the whole I liked Shadow’s Edge much better than The Way of Shadows. With the wider scope of the story, it is a much more satisfying read,

March 1st, 2012. Rob Weber´s rating: 3.5 | Brent Weeks | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two

Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two by Jack Vance

Jack Vance is my favorite author, so another collection of Vance’s works by Subterranean Press is a welcome treat! Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two, edited and lovingly introduced by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan, collects ten of Vance’s works:

“The Dogtown Tourist Agency” (originally published in Epoch, 1975) — Miro Hetzel, a private investigator whose “fees are calculated subjectively,” goes to the planet Maz to discover how a client’s competition is creating a better but less expensive product.

ARABESK: How to get the reader to suspend disbelief

ARABESK: Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen
In this review, I’m going to write about the willing suspension of disbelief. Perhaps more precisely, I’m writing about the intersection of world-building and the willing suspension of disbelief. Enter Jon Courtenay Grimwood and the ARABESK trilogy: Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen.

In Grimwood’s world, the Ottoman Empire never collapsed. Woodrow Wilson brokered peace between London and Berlin in 1915, World War II never happened, and the major world powers seem to be Germany,

Control Point: Great world, bad soldier

Shadow OPS: Control Point by Myke Cole

Myke Cole’s initial installment in the SHADOW OPS series is an interesting read. The urban fantasy market is heavily populated with pretty, sassy heroines who are in love with this vampire or that werewolf. In Control Point, Cole takes a completely different approach to adding magic to the world we live in.

Oscar Britton is a conflicted man. His childhood was difficult, and in the Army he seems to have found a place that makes sense for him.

February 16th, 2012. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | Myke Cole | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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