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

Blood on the Bayou: Forget the romance, babe

Blood on the Bayou by Stacey Jay

Blood on the Bayou, by Stacey Jay, starts with a nightmare and ends with a wedding. In between, Annabelle Lee learns more about her growing magical powers, the nature of the toxic fairies who menace humanity, and the secrets of her own heart.

Annabelle Lee… sounds all dreamy and ethereal, doesn’t it? Well, forget the romance, babe. Lee is a hard-drinkin’, hard-lovin’, kick-ass redhead doing a dangerous job in the war zone of Louisiana, where venomous sparrow-sized fairies have driven humans to live behind iron fences and travel in head-to-toe exposure suits.

July 12th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Stacey Jay | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Farmer in the Sky: A Heinlein Juvenile in audio

Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein

As I mentioned in my recent review of The Number of the Beast, I used to be a fan of Robert A. Heinlein’s “Juveniles” when I was a kid. I give Heinlein much of the credit for turning me into a speculative fiction lover at a young age, so I was really disappointed that The Number of the Beast was so dreadful. To cleanse my palate, and to restore my trust in a man who was such an influence on me,

The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse: Quirky unusual YA

The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse by Fredrik Brouneus

This is Turning Into the Magic Mushroom Version of the Da Vinci Code…

The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse (2013) is a quirky, funny, thought-provoking story by New Zealand/Swedish author Fredrik Brouneus, told in very colloquial first-person narration by George Larson, an eighteen year old high school student whose life is about to get very strange. Content with his dreams of becoming a soul singer and hooking up with the beautiful exchange student Kaisa,

…Where Angels Fear to Tread: Steele takes on time-travel

…Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele

Allen Steele promised himself he’d never write a time-travel story, but nevertheless, here it is. In his introduction to this audio version, he explains that he didn’t want to write about something he thought was impossible, but one of his friends challenged him to write a story that could overcome his own doubts. And thus we have …Where Angels Fear to Tread.

There are two timelines going on in …Where Angels Fear to Tread.

Sun of Suns: Virga is a marvelous creation

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder

Hayden Griffin is out for revenge. When he was a boy, the nation of Slipstream attacked his little home world of Aerie. Hayden’s parents had just managed to build a sun for Aerie so their world could be independent of Slipstream, but the more powerful nation attacked before Aerie could escape. Both of Hayden’s parents were killed. Years later, Hayden knows it was Admiral Chaison Fanning, the Admiral of Slipstream’s space fleet, who ordered the massacre, so Hayden plans to insinuate himself into the admiral’s household so he can get close enough to kill him.

The Color of Magic: Non-stop quirky adventure

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

The Color of Magic, published in 1983, is the first book in Sir Terry Pratchett’s enormously popular DISCWORLD series. The Disworld is a flat world which rides on the back of four elephants which ride on the back of a giant turtle named Great A’Tuin. The DISCWORLD novels are humorous, satirical and spoofy, often making fun of their own genre and various real-world cultural and political issues and institutions. Before HARRY POTTER,

June 22nd, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Nightfall: A bloody mystery thriller

Nightfall by Stephen Leather

Jack Nightingale was a cop, a negotiator to be specific. He becomes a private investigator after a series of strange and tragic events. Things get really weird for Jack when he finds out the parents he lost as a teenager had actually adopted him, and his real father has left him a huge mansion in the countryside. I should also mention that his biological father was an evil bastard who sold Jack’s soul to a demon, and only a few days remain till said demon comes to collect.

A Study in Emerald: Gaiman pays tribute to Sherlock and Lovecraft

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

A Study in Emerald is a Hugo and Locus Award winning short story by Neil Gaiman in which he pays tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

At first Gaiman’s story appears to be a straight Sherlock Holmes pastiche as a man who appears to be Watson relates how his new friend, a consulting detective who appears to be Holmes, is being asked by Inspector Lestrade to help solve a murder mystery.

Maelstrom: No rest for the weary

Maelstrom by Taylor Anderson

There’s just no rest for the weary. The destroyermen have had no time to search for other humans or to try to build their own community in their new parallel world because they’re still busy fighting for their lives. First there’s the Grik — the ugly reptilian species who keep attacking and trying to eat them. Then there’s the captain of the Japanese battlecruiser Amagi, who wants revenge on the destroyermen for damaging his ship. Even though they’re clearly no longer in their own world,

Fall of a Kingdom: Nice change of pace

Fall of a Kingdom by Hilari Bell

Let the two of us end this war…

Fall of a Kingdomis the first book in the FARSALA trilogy, followed by Rise of a Hero and Forging the Sword, all set in a pseudo-Arabian land called Farsala which is attempting to resist the invasion of an ever-growing empire that bears more than a few similarities to the Roman Empire. Known as the Hrum, these invaders are committed to fighting any conquerable land for a year before negotiating for peace;

Rating: 3.5

Blood on the Bayou: Forget the romance, babe

Farmer in the Sky: A Heinlein Juvenile in audio

The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse: Quirky unusual YA

…Where Angels Fear to Tread: Steele takes on time-travel

Sun of Suns: Virga is a marvelous creation

The Color of Magic: Non-stop quirky adventure

Nightfall: A bloody mystery thriller

A Study in Emerald: Gaiman pays tribute to Sherlock and Lovecraft

Maelstrom: No rest for the weary

Fall of a Kingdom: Nice change of pace

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