Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3.5

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Spellsinger & The Hour of the Gate: TMNT meets Tolkien

Spellsinger & The Hour of the Gate by Alan Dean Foster

… Well, perhaps not Tolkien, but I had the urge for alliteration in the title. Spellsinger is a fantasy series quite unlike any other. While the anthropomorphisation of animals is certain not a new thing, Alan Dean Foster has done something out of the ordinary with it here. To give you some idea, if you can imagine the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters in a fantasy setting, then you’ll have some idea of what to expect.

July 21st, 2007. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | Alan Dean Foster | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Fitting end

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

There’s good news, middling news, and bad news in the final Harry Potter installment, a book that replicates in many ways the unevenness of the series as a whole. First the good news. The main character, which has always been the book’s strength, continues in that vein through most of the book. Harry’s oh-so-realistic ongoing grief at his parents’ deaths, his sometimes-bends-but-never-breaks bond with Hermione and Ron, his coming-of-age process through idol-worship then respect then disillusionment then adult understanding with Dumbledore,

Wit’ch Fire: Fortune favours the bold

Wit’ch Fire by James Clemens

Wit’ch Fire was a genuine impulse buy. I had read no reviews nor received recommendations — I was simply in the bookshop, liked the cover and plot synopsis on the reverse, and listened to my gut. Foolhardy, perhaps, but sometimes fortune favours the bold. This time, it did.

Wit’ch Fire is the first of a series of five books by James Clemens, also known to mystery and adventure fans as James Rollins and to others as the former veterinary surgeon Jim Czajkowski — his real name.

July 14th, 2007. Guest´s rating: 3.5 | James Clemens | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Covenants: No way is this guy a soldier

Covenants by Lorna Freeman

I am a soldier, and Rabbit, the main character of Lorna Freeman’s Covenants, is a joke.

Freeman is just all over the place with Rabbit — he’s willing to tangle with someone one minute, and the next minute he’s hiding under his blankets because he’s afraid? The premise of Covenants is very interesting and I enjoyed the plot, but it bugged me that Rabbit acted like a scared kid half of the time and a foul-mouthed tough guy the rest.

June 24th, 2007. John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | Lorna Freeman | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Doppelganger (Warrior): Marie Brennan’s debut shows promise

Doppelganger (Warrior) by Marie Brennan

I picked up Doppelganger (Warrior) because Marie Brennan is a graduate student at Indiana University where I also went to grad school, so I felt a connection there. (How she’s managing to write novels while in grad school, I’ll never know!) Overall, Doppelganger is a good debut.

At first the story follows the separate lives of Mirage, a kick-butt warrior who has recently graduated from warrior school and makes her living by being commissioned for various dangerous tasks,

June 21st, 2007. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Marie Brennan | SFF Reviews | no comments |

THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN: Read the first six books

THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey

It’s been my longstanding theory on multi-book series (by multi-book I mean ones that go well beyond the standard trilogy) that the books tend to fall into four categories: great ones (usually early on), good ones that don’t match the passion or excitement of the top ones but still sweep you along, adequate ones that serviceably move the grand story along but aren’t particularly original or well-written, and the bad ones that were just spit out because the series’ fans would buy them even if the covers were made of poison ivy leaves.

June 15th, 2007. Bill Capossere and Skye Walker´s rating: 3.5 | Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Poison Study: Lightweight political fantasy

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Overall, I am impressed with Maria Snyder‘s first novel, Poison Study. It was well written and the main characters are likeable, complex, and engaging. The characters of the “supporting staff” are also well done. The dialogue is realistic and the writing style is pleasant and unpretentious. The pace is quick, there is political intrigue, spying, treachery, fighting, forgiveness, personal growth, and romance (although the single love scene was confusing and a bit corny).

However, the plot was somewhat predictable and there were few surprises.

June 9th, 2007. Kat Hooper, John Hulet, Tadiana Jones and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Maria V. Snyder | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Turning: Fast-paced and sexy, but familiar

The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout

Fans of vampire novels should check out The Turning, the first novel in Jennifer Armintrout‘s Blood Ties series, an exciting and sexy addition to the genre.

Our heroine, Carrie, is a young doctor whose sire accidentally turns her into one of his kind during a fight in the hospital morgue. Carrie has little to leave behind in her mortal life. Her parents were cold in life and are now deceased, and she has no friends,

June 9th, 2007. Kelly Lasiter and John Hulet´s rating: 3.5 | Jennifer Armintrout | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Kushiel’s Chosen: A painful but beautiful story

Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey

Jacqueline Carey returns to the lush and decadent world of Terre d’Ange in Kushiel’s Chosen, sequel to the strange but beautiful Kushiel’s Dart, and produces a sequel that unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.

Our masochistic heroine, Phèdre, leaves behind her comfortable new life as a country countess when she begins to suspect that all is not well in Terre d’Ange. She believes that Melisande Shahrizai, from her hiding place in La Serenissima (Venice),

Mistborn: The Final Empire: So much to like!

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

I was a fan of Brandon Sanderson’s first novel, Elantris, though the novel had some pretty clear flaws. I’m an even bigger fan of his follow-up, Mistborn, a book that has all the plusses of Elantris without the problems.

Mistborn takes places in an ashen, devastated world where the “Skaa” are a brutally downtrodden majority who do all the work for the aristocratic minority of the Great Houses,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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