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Invaders From the Dark by Greye La Spina
In my review of the splendid collection entitled The Women of Weird Tales, which was released by Valancourt Books in 2020, I mentioned that I’d been very impressed with the five stories by Greye La Spina to be found therein, and was now interested in checking out the author’s classic novel of modern-day lycanthropy, Invaders From the Dark. Well, it took a little searching until I found a copy of said book for what I considered a decent price,
January 27th, 2022. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Greye La_Spina | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell
The second book in Cressida Cowell‘s WIZARDS OF ONCE series does everything a good sequel should: expand the world, develop the characters, and deepen the story. As we discovered in The Wizards of Once, Ancient Britain is inhabited by two distinct races: the Wizards, who live among the magical creatures of the forest, and the Warriors, who are armed with iron weapons, the only metal that can repel magic.
In the first book,
January 14th, 2022. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Cressida Cowell | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Last Dragon Standing by Rachel Aaron
Last Dragon Standing (2018) is the epic finale of Rachel Aaron’s self-published HEARTSTRIKERS series. I’ve been listening to the audio edition of the HEARTSTRIKERS novels and can recommend them without reservation to readers interested in this fun and heart-warming saga. I listened to them with my 19-year-old daughter and we loved the narration by Vikas Adam. If you haven’t read the previous four books, Nice Dragons Finish Last,
January 7th, 2022. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Rachel Aaron | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron
Rachel Aaron’s HEARTSTRIKERS series continues with the fourth novel, A Dragon of a Different Color (2017). It’s really no use to start this story here – you should first read Nice Dragons Finish Last, One Good Dragon Deserves Another, and No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished. At this point in the story, it’s hard to avoid a few spoilers for the previous books,
December 31st, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Rachel Aaron | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Aurora’s End, the final book in the AURORA CYCLE YA science fiction trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, begins and finishes with a bang — literally, lots of them — and sandwiches all kinds of wild events in between. (Note: this review includes some spoilers for the prior books in this series.)
When we left Squad 312, a group of young adult space academy grads trying to save the galaxy,
November 30th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Understanding Genes by Kostas Kampourakis
Understanding Genes (2021), by Kostas Kampourakis, sits in a sometimes-awkward position betwixt and between a popular science book and a textbook. As such, lay readers looking for simple, smooth, easy-to-follow explanations may want to look elsewhere or be prepared to struggle and/or skim. Those with some background in biology (beyond their high school/early college courses) will fare better.
The intent of the book is a caution against genetic essentialism or fatalism and against the over-simplification,
November 26th, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence
The Girl and the Mountain (2021) is the second installment in Mark Lawrence’s BOOK OF THE ICE series. It follows The Girl and the Stars, which you need to read first. There will be a few spoilers for that book in this review.
The Girl and the Stars introduced an icy world inhabited by tribes that follow a spiritual leader who, every few years,
November 24th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Alyson Hagy’s slim 2018 literary novella Scribe mines Appalachian folktales for a bleak, harrowing and poetic story about loss, guilt, love and honor. By deliberately setting the story in a world outside of our time and space, Hagy forces attention onto the characters, which at times gives the book the feel of a stage-play more than a story or a poem.
In spite of an otherworldly setting, this novel isn’t speculative fiction. Hagy isn’t raising questions about how people live in a world like this one.
November 23rd, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Alyson Hagy | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Green Man by Harold M. Sherman
A short while back, I had some words to say about Festus Pragnell’s 1935 novel The Green Man of Graypec, which had originally appeared in the pages of Wonder Stories magazine and had given us the tale of a green-furred caveman living in a subatomic world. Now I am here to report on another green man, but one of a wholly different nature; one who hails not from the infinitesimally small microverse, but rather from a planet over a trillion miles away.
November 22nd, 2021. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Harold M. Sherman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker
In the 2020 portal fantasy Over the Woodward Wall, by A. Deborah Baker (a pseudonym for the prolific Seanan McGuire), two children, Avery and Zib, climbed a granite wall that had inexplicably appeared in the road and were transported to a magical world, the Up-and-Under. It’s much like the land of Oz but with far sharper teeth, and Avery and Zib are anxious to find their way home to our world.
November 15th, 2021. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | A. Deborah Baker | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!