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The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris’s alternative history/urban fantasy GUNNIE ROSE series shifts to a new setting in this third book in the series, The Russian Cage (2021), one that was foreshadowed by the ending of the prior book, A Longer Fall. Lizbeth Rose, who makes her living as a hired gun or “gunnie,” receives an intentionally cryptic letter from her younger half-sister, Felicia. For the past year, Felicia has been living in what once was California,
February 24th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Charlaine Harris | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Death Weavers (2016) is the fourth of five novels in Brandon Mull’s FIVE KINGDOMS series. This is a fun adventure that I’d recommend for middle grade readers. You’ll want to read the first three books, Sky Raiders, Rogue Knight, and Crystal Keepers, before picking up Death Weavers. I’ll assume you’ve read them and I may include minor spoilers for those earlier installments in this review.
February 16th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Mull | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
Princess Thanh was a royal hostage for many years in the northern country of Ephteria before being sent back to her home country of Bình Hải. Two years after her return, she’s a disappointment to her mother, the empress, who hoped that Thanh’s time in Ephteria would give her insights into that country’s government and culture, making her more useful as a diplomat. It’s especially important now that an Ephterian delegation is arriving, certain to make demands and threats that will encroach on Bình Hải’s independence.
February 11th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Aliette De_Bodard | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
It’s been a few months since the events of Generation Loss, and Cass Neary, strapped for cash, has made a big mistake. In that previous book, she took pictures of someone’s death but told the police she wasn’t at the scene. She never meant to publish any of the photos. Whoops. So, with the police and the dead person’s son asking awkward questions, and Cass in need of money again, it seems like a great time to take a gig that will absent her from the country for a while.
February 4th, 2021. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Elizabeth Hand | Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It’s unnerving reading a book about a devastating pandemic at this point during the COVID-19 crisis, but in fairness, this near-future SF duology by Tosca Lee was published in 2019, so Lee gets credit for anticipating a timely topic. The first book, The Line Between, tells how Wynter Roth, a young woman in her early twenties, escapes from a doomsday cult and (obligatory spoiler warning for the first book here) is entrusted with some tissue samples that may help with the development of a vaccine against the growing pandemic.
January 29th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Tosca Lee | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Physicians of Vilnoc (2020) is another installment in Lois McMaster Bujold’s PENRIC AND DESDEMONA series which is set in the same world as her award-winning FIVE GODS / CHALION trilogy. You don’t need to read the CHALION books first, but I highly recommend them. Most of the PENRIC AND DESDEMONA novellas can stand alone, but it’s best to read them in order if you can.
January 21st, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
1983-era London, with a half-twist toward the fantastic, mingles with ancient British mythology in Garth Nix’s new urban fantasy, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020). Art student Susan Arkshaw, a punkish eighteen-year-old from rural western England, takes leave of her loving, vague mother and heads to London to try to find the father she’s never met. She starts with an old family acquaintance, “Uncle” Frank Thringley, but Frank turn out to be, in rapid succession,
January 18th, 2021. Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Garth Nix | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Girlfriends Mal and Lee are cryptid hunters. They don’t believe in any of the monsters they hunt, of course, but it’s fun to follow the clues and debunk the myths for their blog. But on their last adventure, they saw some weird stuff and Mal disappeared.
That was four years ago. Now, suddenly, Lee runs into Mal on the street in London and she’s with a man who looks like a Neanderthal. Where has she been and why is she with that guy?
January 14th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
I’ve been hit and miss on Seanan McGuire’s WAYWARD CHILDREN portal series, finding some of the novellas lyrical and emotional and others frustratingly slapdash. Her newest, Across the Green Grass Fields (2021), unfortunately falls closer to the latter end of the spectrum.
As one expects by now, we have a young girl who steps through a doorway into another world. We meet Regan first at seven, part of a best friends trio with Heather Nelson and Laurel Anderson.
January 11th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2, 3.5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
Over the Woodward Wall (2020) began its life as an imagined book, existing merely as a set of excerpts “quoted” at the end of certain chapters in Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame. But these excerpts were compelling enough that McGuire decided to use them as the building blocks for an actual fantasy series, using the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker (the alchemist credited with authoring this book in Middlegame).
January 7th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | A. Deborah Baker | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…