3.5 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

The Son of Tarzan: A “runaway” success

The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

At the conclusion of the third Tarzan novel, 1914’s The Beasts of Tarzan, the Ape Man’s archenemy, Nikolas Rokoff, lies dead (and 3/4 eaten!) beneath the fangs of Tarzan’s panther ally, Sheeta. But Rokoff’s lieutenant, the equally dastardly Alexis Paulvitch, manages to flee into the African wilderness to escape. Needing to know more, this reader wasted little time diving into book #4, The Son of Tarzan. As it had been with the first two Tarzan sequels,

May 14th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Edgar Rice Burroughs | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Beasts of Tarzan: Raw lion steaks, anyone?

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

To celebrate the centennial of Tarzan of the Apes in October 2012 — Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ first Tarzan novel was released in the October 1912 issue of All-Story Magazine — I have been compulsively reading the first novels in what eventually became a series of some two dozen books. Book #2, The Return of Tarzan (1913), was a fairly direct sequel to the initial classic outing, while book #3,

Gate of Ivrel: A seamless blend of science fiction and fantasy

Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh

Gate of Ivrel is one of C.J. Cherryh’s entries into the science fantasy genre in which we follow the adventures of Vanye, the bastard son of a minor lord in a seemingly medieval world who is cast out for standing up to his oppressive brothers and inadvertently killing one and maiming the other. As he makes his way across the harsh landscape of his world populated by clans who would like nothing more than to end the life of a miserable outlaw he stumbles across a ‘miracle’ in the person of Morgaine: a figure of power and fear out of legend seemingly magically returned and to whom he becomes joined by bonds of duty and obligation.

May 7th, 2015. Terry Lago´s rating: 3.5 | C.J. Cherryh | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Trial by Fire: A high-stakes game of war

Trial by Fire by Charles E. Gannon

There’s no sophomore slump with Trial by Fire, the second book in Charles E. Gannon’s TALES OF THE TERRAN REPUBLIC series. Trial by Fire is a white-knuckle adventure, with revelations that lay the groundwork for conflicts in future books.

In Fire with Fire, Caine Riordan and the team from Earth met exo-sapients (we used to call them space aliens) and attended a Convocation. Sabotage,

May 5th, 2015. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Charles E. Gannon | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |

Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1, Issues 1-5

Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1 by Mark Millar (author), Frank Quitely (artist), & Peter Doherty (colorer)

Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1 collects the first five books in Image Comics storyline co-created by Mark Millar (writer) and Frank Quitely (art), and colored by Peter Doherty. The basic storyline and themes will be familiar to anyone who has read comics in the past decade or so, or has seen some of the more deconstructive movies such as Watchmen, Kick–

The Return of Tarzan: Bungle in the jungle

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Perhaps the most well-known fictional creation of the 20th century, Tarzan celebrated his official centennial in October 2012. First appearing in the pulp publication All-Story Magazine as a complete novel in October 1912, Tarzan of the Apes proved so popular that its creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, wasted little time in coming up with a sequel … the first of an eventual two dozen! That sequel, perhaps inevitably titled The Return of Tarzan,

April 29th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Edgar Rice Burroughs | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Lords and Ladies: Pratchett does A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

“If cats looked like frogs, we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember. They remember the glamour.”

In Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett’s fourteenth DISCWORLD novel, we get to see what happened to the land of Lancre after Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick stirred things up and changed its fate in Wyrd Sisters. You don’t need to read Wyrd Sisters first to enjoy Lord and Ladies,

Fledgling: Love and relationships examined through vampirism

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

In some ways there are superficial resemblances between Fledgling and the last vampire book I read, Let the Right One In: both books have as their star apparently pre-pubescent vampires who have ‘complicated’ relationships with their human companions. In John Ajvide Lindqvist’s case it was a Renfield-like adult who was enamoured of the vampire-child for whom he obtained blood and the young boy who becomes a part of her life. In the case of Butler’s book the vampire in question,

The Nexus: A very fine novel by a new sci-fi talent

The Nexus by Richard Fazio

On those occasions when I have read sci-fi, I’ve tended to stick to the familiar brand-name authors; tried-and-true old favorites such as Asimov, Bester, Bradbury, Clarke, Dick, Heinlein, Norton, Silverberg, Williamson and the like. But a recent perusal of new author Richard Fazio‘s debut novel, 2010’s The Nexus, has demonstrated that I really ought to be adventurous more often.

April 17th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Richard Fazio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Quillan Games: Another exciting PENDRAGON story

The Quillan Games by D.J. MacHale

The Quillan Games is the seventh novel in D.J. MacHale’s PENDRAGON series. Bobby is now on Quillan, one of the most unappealing places we’ve been to so far. Here a large corporation called BLOK (think Wal-Mart) has price-busted everyone else out of business until BLOK basically owns and operates the entire territory. Everyone is poor (BLOK pays low wages) and they are merely surviving. But there is a way to get money. Kids who are willing to risk it, or who are sold off by their families,

Rating: 3.5

The Son of Tarzan: A “runaway” success

The Beasts of Tarzan: Raw lion steaks, anyone?

Gate of Ivrel: A seamless blend of science fiction and fantasy

Trial by Fire: A high-stakes game of war

Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1, Issues 1-5

The Return of Tarzan: Bungle in the jungle

Lords and Ladies: Pratchett does A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Fledgling: Love and relationships examined through vampirism

The Nexus: A very fine novel by a new sci-fi talent

The Quillan Games: Another exciting PENDRAGON story

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