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Before Chelle left Earth to fight in the war against the alien Os, she contracted (entered into a civil marriage) with Skip. If she returned, more than twenty years would have passed for Skip but only a few years for her: Skip would be a successful, rich lawyer, and she’d be his beautiful, young contracta. Fast forward to the start of Home Fires, the latest novel by all-round genius Gene Wolfe: Skip is indeed a rich, successful partner in his law firm,
February 17th, 2011. Stefan Raets and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Gene Wolfe | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
End of the Century by Chris Roberson
In End of the Century, Chris Roberson takes us on an Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail. While that would be plenty for most writers, Roberson isn’t content to stop with only one story; he also tells the story of a search for a serial killer in London around the time of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, and of Alice Fell, a sixteen-year-old following a vision that may simply be a symptom of epilepsy in 2000. The three stories have a number of factors that seem to be similar,
February 15th, 2011. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Chris Roberson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Underground is the third in Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series, which features Harper Blaine as a Seattle private investigator who can see the “Grey” — the borderland between reality and magic, life and death, past and present. Harper gained this ability when she died for two minutes in an attack by the subject of an investigation.
Underground starts so slowly that I feared Kat Richardson had lost her way. It’s difficult to imagine that a hard-working private investigator with plenty of work would dive into a case with no client,
January 27th, 2011. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Kat Richardson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford
Physiognomist Cley has been sent by Master Drachton Below, the evil genius who constructed the Well-Built City, to the faraway mining district of Anamasobia to investigate the theft of a fruit that’s rumored to have grown in the Earthly Paradise and to have supernatural powers. Upon arriving, the skeptical and arrogant physiognomist finds a whole town of morons whose physical features clearly indicate that they are all backward and generally pathetic. Except for Arla, whose beautiful features suggest that she is intelligent and competent, and who seems to understand the science of physiognomy (even though that’s impossible because she’s a woman).
January 24th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Jeffrey Ford | Audio, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Silence in Solitude by Melissa Scott
Silence in Solitude smartly continues Melissa Scott’s Roads of Heaven (Silence Leigh) trilogy, keeping the storyline fresh and invigorating by taking readers down unexpected new paths. This sophomore entry opens with Silence in training on the planet Solitudo Hermae to become the first female magus in history. Her sponsor, the magus Isambard, has agreed to train her in exchange for her taking him along once she discovers how to reach long-lost Earth.
Just to recap, Scott has developed an interesting,
January 22nd, 2011. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Melissa Scott | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Some reviews are harder to write than others. Take God’s War, the first novel by Kameron Hurley, an author whose blog I’ve been reading with interest. The book had a long journey getting published (which you can read about on said blog) and has now, finally, reached the shelves thanks to the awesome folks at Night Shade Books. I was excited to get my hands on this book, because it’s in a sub-genre (or maybe more accurately,
January 21st, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Kameron Hurley | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Never Knew Another by J.M. McDermott
AUTHOR INFORMATION: J.M. McDermott is the author of numerous short fiction and the critically-acclaimed debut novel, Last Dragon, which was shortlisted for an IAFA William Crawford Award and included on Amazon.com’s list for Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2008. Last Dragon will be reprinted in early 2011 by Apex Publications who will also publish McDermott’s next novel, Maze, in Spring 2011.
PLOT SUMMARY: When Walkers discover the corpse of a demon’s child — a city guard of noble blood named Jona — the memories of the deceased lead the Walkers to the city they call Dogsland.
January 18th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | J.M. McDermott | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling are the two greatest short fiction editors of fantasy and horror of our time. Their annual collections of the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror provided us, for 16 straight years, with the best short genre and slipstream fiction from all sources. Their anthologies have defined cutting edge fantasy.
Salon Fantastique is more uneven than most of Datlow and Windling’s collections.
January 15th, 2011. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Catherynne M. Valente, Christopher Barzak, Delia Sherman, Ellen Datlow, Gregory Maguire, Jeffrey Ford, Peter S. Beagle, Terri Windling | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor
Blaze of Glory is the first book in Michael Pryor’s The Laws of Magic series. It’s an engaging YA effort, if not particularly enthralling or captivating, with a solidly interesting main character. As you can tell by my somewhat qualified reaction, it didn’t blow me away, though it was strong enough that I’d take a look at book two.
The series is set in an alternate England (Albion) where the Industrial Revolution took place side by side with a magical revolution.
January 10th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Michael Pryor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott
The first volume of Melissa Scott‘s highly-regarded Roads of Heaven trilogy is an unusual SF novel in that it treats indistinguishable-from-magic science pretty much as if it were magic. It’s the sort of thing that makes scientific purists (and guys like me) roll our eyes much of the time. If I have a pet peeve, it’s when a “science” fiction story hits me with paranormal, unscientific concepts. If that’s what you want to write, then just write paranormal fiction. Scott avoids the claptrap trap,
January 8th, 2011. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Melissa Scott | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.