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The Born Queen is the concluding (and how often do we get to say that when reviewing a fantasy novel?) book in Greg Keyes’ four-book series, Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. And it does actually conclude the series without any sort of sly wink-wink, nod-nod to a new series rising like the undead from the killed-off plot. For that alone, he should be given lots of credit, along with actually finishing a series in a decent amount of time and space.
March 28th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3.5 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I enjoyed this book, except for the subplot about the Norse vampire, Thorne, at the beginning and end. This frame story had a lot of promise but ended up making little sense to me. I think maybe it alludes to Norse myth, which has never been my forte. Whatever the reason, it left me scratching my head.
But at least it gets Marius telling his life story, and perhaps because the “interviewer” is a stranger, he feels comfortable opening up about all sorts of things.
March 5th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Anne Rice | SFF Reviews | no comments |
For Tim Lebbon, multiple award-winning (Bram Stoker, Tombstone, Shocker, British Fantasy) author of numerous horror/supernatural-themed novels and short stories, the Dusk and Dawn duology marks the writer’s first attempt at a fully realized fantasy world with mixed results.
Before we get into the positives and negatives of the novels, it must be noted that Dawn is a direct sequel to Dusk, so it’s necessary to have read the one before the other,
February 26th, 2008. Robert Thompson and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3, 3.5 | Tim Lebbon | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Up till now, my exposure to Jay Lake has been limited to the author’s short fiction which either really worked for me or was underwhelming. Mainspring falls somewhere in the middle with the parts that I liked and disliked usually related to one another.
For instance, I loved the concept of Earth being part of a giant clockwork mechanism constructed by God, complete with colossal gears and springs. What I didn’t like so much was the haphazard manner in which this backdrop was described with certain aspects depicted in great detail while others were left frustratingly vague — like the Mainspring itself.
February 7th, 2008. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | Jay Lake | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Childe Morgan by Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz’s first Deryni series introducing the land of Gwynneth and its young, just-made King Kelson and his advisor Alaric Morgan is a justifiably acclaimed fantasy classic. Since that first trilogy, Kurtz has given us several series of books dipping into Gwynneth’s far history as well as Kelson’s near future. While, as is true of just about any such multi-volume fantasy series, there have been some stumbles here and there, for the most part Kurtz has maintained the high level of quality set by that first trilogy,
February 3rd, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Kurtz | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dragon Avenger, the second installment in E.E. Knight’s Age of Fire, is a worthy addition to a good young adult series. This story’s protagonist is the sister of Auron, the main character of the first book (Dragon Champion). Using an easy-to-follow storyline, Knight incorporates characters and concepts from his first book into the second.
Wistala has to forge a path in a world that is prejudiced against dragons — just like her brother did.
February 1st, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | E.E. Knight | SFF Reviews | no comments |
C.E. Murphybegins Heart of Stone, the first of the Negotiator books, with our main character “Grit” being shadowed by a Gargoyle as she runs through Central Park. The Gargoyle, Alban, is a member of the few Old Races that are hidden in plain sight from the rest of humanity. His tragic history and how it compels him and leads him to eventually interact with Grit is the meat of the tale.
Murphy creates a plausible background and history for this story,
January 31st, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | C.E. Murphy | SFF Reviews | no comments |
With New Spring, Robert Jordan offers himself up to two major criticisms up front. One is for releasing a prequel when you haven’t finished the first series yet and the other is for trying to grab a quick book by just padding out an already published first story. With regard to the first, I think it’s pretty silly to complain about an author’s choice of subject — perhaps he became inspired with something in terms of the back story and is excited to write it,
January 26th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
In a genre that has become over-saturated in recent years with second and third-rate carbon copies looking to feed off the successes of more popular series such as Laurell K. Hamilton’s ANITA BLAKE novels, The Devil You Know is quite a breath of fresh air. At a glance there may seem to be a lot of similarities: the contemporary setting where the paranormal has become a part of everyday life, the down-on-your-luck main character who narrates in a first-person perspective,
January 14th, 2008. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | Mike (M.R.) Carey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This collection comes with 31 short stories and poems as well as an introduction that’s as compelling as Smoke and Mirrors. Of all of Gaiman’s collections, I think this is by far the most superior as it features more of his later work and has a more polished style.
I’ve also read several of the stories here before in various anthologies but it was great to revisit them as I wasn’t the same reader I was several years ago. Reading them today,
January 2nd, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Neil Gaiman | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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