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The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Gen is now The King of Attolia, married to the woman who he has loved since childhood, who also ordered his hand cut off when he was caught snooping around the castle. At the end of the last book, The Queen of Attolia, he offered to marry the Queen to seal a peace treaty between her country and his native Eddis, keeping secret from almost everyone that he has been in love with her since his youth.
January 13th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Megan Whalen Turner | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Changing the World: All new tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
In Changing the World: All new tales of Valdemar, Mercedes Lackey edits a collection of short stories from several different authors. They’re all set in her famous Valdemar, and many center on a theme: What happens when being Chosen causes more problems than it solves? I enjoyed this approach to the classic being Chosen trope in which being Chosen is the end of all your troubles.
Lackey starts off the collection with “The One Left Behind” about a young woman who is dealing with the emotional fallout of being left — her father abandoned her as a child because he was Chosen,
January 13th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Mercedes Lackey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian by Lloyd Alexander
Despite its mouthful of a title, this children’s novel has everything that you would expect from a Lloyd Alexander story: a likable protagonist, a colorful supporting cast, plenty of twists and turns, and a profound morality at work that is so expertly melded into the storyline that many won’t even realized they’ve been reading about it.
Set in what feels like sixteenth-century Italy (though Alexander is never specific on the time or location) young Sebastian is a fiddler for the Baron Purn-Hessel,
January 5th, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cybermage is Alma Alexander’s third book in the Worldweavers series and one that can satisfyingly close this particular series though I hesitate to ever use the word “concluding” with any fantasy trilogy as authors (or nervous publishers/agents) are wont to reopen allegedly “done” series.
Cybermage picks up just a little while after book two ended and while this book can stand on its own, with an independent storyline, it will make much more sense and be all the richer for having read the previous two (Gift of the Unmage and Spellspam),
January 3rd, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Alma Alexander | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Morganville Vampires (Glass Houses & The Dead Girl’s Dance) by Rachel Caine
I pretty much avoid sparkly vampire stories. I’ve never read Twilight, and have not seen the movies. I am only vaguely familiar with Anne Rice’s stuff. I have been “self-sheltered” from vampire fantasy fiction. But when I saw that Penguin Books was re-releasing Rachel Caine’s The Morganville Vampires in omnibus editions, I asked for a copy of the first one (Glass Houses and The Dead Girl’s Dance).
December 30th, 2009. Justin Blazier´s rating: 3.5 | Rachel Caine | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE OATH OF EMPIRE by Thomas Harlan
The Oath of Empire is a series of four books, namely The Shadow of Ararat, The Gate of Fire, The Storm of Heaven, and The Dark Lord, which is at once a fantasy and an alternate history of the Western and Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empires, and which is set in the early 7th Century. The alternate history part pre-supposes that Christianity never gained much of a foothold in the Empire, and Constantine was only a rebel, never Emperor,
December 27th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Thomas Harlan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Slaves of the Shinar by Justin Allen
This is the debut novel for Justin Allen, and its whole title is Slaves of the Shinar: An Epic Fantasy of the Ancient World. The title is misleading, because I am of the solid opinion that this book is not fantasy, but is rather historical fiction, and pretty good historical fiction at that. Perhaps it is classed as fantasy by the publisher because of the creative manner in which Allen sets his story in very early (I assume pre-Hammurabi) Mesopotamia,
December 27th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Justin Allen | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I’m a big fan of the original series, Thieves’ World, which ended over a decade ago. When I’d finished the last page of the last book of Thieves’ World, I’d experienced for the first time what I would come to judge all other books by: that bittersweet feeling of a triumphant conclusion to a great story mingled with slight sorrow at the parting with its characters.
So I started Sanctuary with apprehensions. One of them being that this book was written by a single author while Thieves’
December 22nd, 2009. Greg Hersom´s rating: 3.5 | Lynn Abbey | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
The first thing that strikes you about Palimpsest is the gorgeous prose. Every sentence is crafted with the utmost care, resulting in a novel that almost reads like poetry. It simply begs to be read out loud. I’ve read many books that attempt this kind of lush prose, but Palimpsest is one of the most successful and most beautiful.
Palimpsest is a sexually transmitted city. People who have been there have a small tattoo — a piece of the city’s map — somewhere on their body.
December 21st, 2009. Stefan Raets, Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5, 4.5, 5 | Catherynne M. Valente | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz is truly a mistress of fantasy — she’s been writing high epic fantasy for 40 years and should be considered one of the post-Tolkien “parents” of our genre.
The setting of the Deryni saga is an alternate medieval Europe (clearly analogous to our medieval England and Wales) and the Deryni are a magical race who look just like, and can interbreed with, humans. They have been persecuted for years by the Church (clearly meant to be our medieval Catholic church) and most people with Deryni blood choose to hide and/or deny their lineage and magical powers.
December 20th, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Kurtz | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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That list of anticipated books is certainly odd, although it does align with the type of books ReacTor and Locus…
If it doesn't have a ripped shirt, is it *really* Doc Savage?
Ooh, I DO kinda like that Doc Savage action figure! But without the ripped shirt, I think I will take…
I like the analysis of the artwork here--detailed and thoughtful. Thanks for sharing this review!
Please contact me Scott I know who got us away and contacted social services.