Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3.5

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Death’s Daughter: She thought the devil wore Prada…

Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson

She thought the devil wore Prada… until she met the real one!

Before I begin this review, a confession: I’m a sucker for any novel containing cute hellhounds.

Calliope Reaper-Jones is living the life of a typical New York office flunky, dealing with a diva boss, less-hunky-than-advertised blind dates, and a lust for designer clothes she can’t afford. That is, until her father, who happens to be the Grim Reaper himself, is kidnapped and Calliope is swept back into a dangerous supernatural world she’s spent her entire adult life trying to escape.

January 16th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Amber Benson | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

The Book of Dreams: A small but satisfying collection

The Book of Dreams edited by Nick Gevers

The Book of Dreams is a small but satisfying collection of short stories that are thematically, albeit loosely, connected by the theme of “dreams.” The book features original stories by Robert Silverberg, Lucius Shepard, Jay Lake, Kage Baker and Jeffrey Ford, and was edited by Nick Gevers for Subterranean Press.

Somewhat surprisingly,

Darkspell: Just as gripping as Daggerspell

Darkspell by Katharine Kerr

Darkspell is the second Deverry book and it proves to be just as gripping as the first. Here we are dealing with a present time storyline of Jill and Rhodry’s life on the road as silver daggers, and the danger they face from masters of dark dweomer. Jill discovers more about dweomer from Nevyn as he tries to gently encourage her to fulfill her Wyrd (destiny).

We also go back in time to a previous incarnation of Jill and Rhodry and Cullyn (Jill’s father).

January 15th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Katharine Kerr | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The King of Attolia: Recommended with a caveat

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.

Changing the World: All new tales of Valdemar

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: “We’ll never know”

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,

Cybermage: Is it over?

Cybermage by Alma Alexander

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),

The Morganville Vampires: The omnibus is a worthy purchase

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).

The Oath of Empire: A brilliant idea

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: A good historical fiction

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,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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