Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3.5

Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended:
Not Recommended:

The Iron Daughter: Exciting plot and striking visual imagery

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase has kept her promise and allowed Ash, prince of the Winter Court, to take her back to the castle of his mother, Queen Mab. Before arriving at the castle, Meghan thought a hint of romance had blossomed between her and Ash. Yet now he treats her with cold disdain before the entire Unseelie court.

The early chapters of The Iron Daughter (2010) focus largely on Ash’s icy demeanor and Meghan’s resulting hurt feelings. Meghan is rather annoying in these scenes;

Echo City: A dark fantasy with an impressively rich setting

Echo City by Tim Lebbon

Echo City is a vast and ancient city in the middle of a huge, deadly desert. Its inhabitants have been isolated for thousands upon thousands of years and have come to believe that the city is actually all of the world, because venturing out into the surrounding desert is certain death. During its immense history, the city has renewed itself countless times by building new layers on top of the old, not like layers of sediment but more like floors in a building, with the old “echoes” of its past slowly decaying in underground vaults.

Empress of Eternity: Impressive but impersonal

Empress of Eternity by L.E. Modesitt Jr

It’s hard not to get excited whenever L.E. Modesitt Jr. releases a new standalone sci-fi novel. Despite being better known for his various fantasy series than his science fiction, some of his best work can be found in the latter genre. Novels like The Parafaith War, Archform: Beauty, Adiamante and Haze (just to name a few) are wonderful examples of this amazingly prolific author’s talent when it comes to science fiction.

White Time: Unique YA story collection

White Time by Margo Lanagan

In the collection White Time, Margo Lanagan writes with a clear, distinctive style that doesn’t spoon-feed, but rather challenges the reader in a good way. Her text is multi-layered and works on multiple levels to create interesting speculative fiction stories, some using the tropes of science fiction and some those of fantasy.

White Time features ten stories, and each is unique and different. The eponymous story, “White Time,” is the opener for this publication.

Deadman’s Road: Gruesome violence and ribald humor

Deadman’s Road by Joe R. Lansdale

Deadman’s Road is a collection of pulp stories about a gunslingin’ preacher who wanders the American Old West on a mission from God to seek out and destroy evil creatures. Reverend Jedidiah Mercer relentlessly faces down a town full of zombies, an angry ghoul, a pack of Conquistadores-turned-werewolves, a hell-spawn monstrosity haunting a secluded cabin, and a goblin horde that invades a mining town.

I’m generally not much of a fan of horror fiction. I’ve read fewer then a handful of horror books,

No Such Thing as Dragons: Tweens will certainly enjoy

No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve

No Such Thing as Dragons, by Philip Reeve, is aimed at a somewhat younger group than his excellent Mortal Engines series, though it has moments that might be a bit beyond that younger target audience.

Set in a medieval time period, No Such Thing as Dragons follows a young mute boy named Ansel who is sold by his father to Brock, the famed itinerant dragon-slayer. As Ansel soon learns,

Strange Wonders: A Collection of Rare Fritz Leiber Works

Strange Wonders: A Collection of Rare Fritz Leiber Works by Fritz Leiber

Strange Wonders is an eclectic collection of Fritz Leiber‘s lesser-known stories, poems, fragments, rough drafts, and daily writing exercises collected by Benjamin Szumskyj who, in his introduction, admits that he’s not certain Leiber actually would have approved of their publication. He justifies himself by explaining that because Leiber didn’t destroy the material (which was mostly printed on cheap typing paper) before his death, he knew it would be found and possibly exposed some day.

Quicksilver: Information overload

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

[The audiobook contains Book 1 of the print edition of the Quicksilver omnibus. Book 2 is King of the Vagabonds. Book 3 is Odalisque.]

I’m a scientist by profession and I love history. Thus, I’m fascinated by the history of science, especially the era of Isaac Newton et al. So, Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver should be just my thing and I was fully expecting to love this book (it’s been on my list for years),

Rollback: A surprisingly moving and humane story

Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer is a very reliable writer. His books rarely blow you away, but they’re always thought provoking, well crafted and very readable — and Rollback is no exception. In this novel, the SETI effort finally pays off when a message arrives from the distant star Sigma Draconis. Professor Sarah Halifax is instrumental in decoding the message and composing a response, but because the star is over 18 light years removed from Earth, it’ll take nearly 40 years before a response can be expected.

The Wolf Age: Loyalty in a harsh world

The Wolf Age by James Enge

One of the challenges of having read a fair amount of fantasy is that I find myself comparing the novels I’ve read. I look for similarities between books, characters and storylines. James Enge’s The Wolf Age is built around the anti-hero who rebels against the existing order, a well used archetype. Fortunately, Enge still manages to put his story together in such a way that makes for a compelling read.

Morlock Ambrosius is a stranger traveling through lands that are being raided and pillaged by a nation of werewolves.

October 13th, 2010. John Hulet and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3.5 | James Enge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8497 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
Bill Capossere on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.