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Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows by Tim Siedell, Gabriel Guzman, Michael Atiyeh, Felipe Massafera
From the same author that released Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows is a graphic novel set a few months after The Revenge of the Sith, in which the Empire is consolidating its power across the galaxy.
Despite Vader’s name being in the title, it’s really the story of a clone soldier who is left for dead by his Jedi general during the Clone Wars.
May 13th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nevertell (2020), by Katharine Orton, is an engaging if somewhat limited Middle Grade book set in the wild north of Stalinist Russia and focused on a young girl trying to escape a brutal work camp and make her way south to Moscow and the grandmother she’s been told would be able to take her in.
Twelve-year-old Lina was born in the camp (her father is rumored to be the cruel commandant Zima) that her grandfather, mother, and uncle had been brought to years earlier.
May 11th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Katharine Orton | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola (author) & Emily Carroll (illustrator)
Baba Yaga’s Assistant, by Marika McCoola and illustrated by Emily Carroll, is a MG graphic novel that tries to work the frightening richness of the Baba Yaga folktales into the press of modern family life, but despite the great source material, the attempt falls short, though it has its moments.
The protagonist is Masha, a young girl whose father has just proposed to a woman sometime after her mother’s death.
May 4th, 2020. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Semiosis, Sue Burke’s 2018 debut novel, is a fascinating examination of culture, intelligence, and co-operation in the face of extreme hardship. A small group of high-minded and free-thinking colonists have left Earth for a planet they’ve named Pax, in honor of their Utopic dream of what the planet represents, though they quickly discover that peace is not easily achieved — especially when they discover that you can never go home again, but neither can you completely leave it behind.
Pax has breathable air and potable water,
April 30th, 2020. Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5, 4.5 | Sue Burke | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Way Past Winter by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The first thing about this book that caught my eye was just how beautiful it was: the green binding, the interior pattern, the embossed cover-art — I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it really is a lovely object to behold.
The story itself rides the current popular wave of Scandinavian-based fairy tales, and reads a little like Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen”. Winter has lasted for five years in Eldbjørn Forest, and siblings Oskar,
April 29th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Kiran Millwood Hargrave | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
The film adaptation of Mortal Engines may have been a disappointment, but at least its release led to more material from Philip Reeve — not only this book, but a series of short stories starring Anna Fang, and new reprints of the original MORTAL ENGINES quartet. So it all works out well!
The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines (2018) is a standard tie-in volume that comes with many a book franchise,
April 28th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Philip Reeve | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Stars Beyond (2020) is the sequel to sisterly writing duo S.K. Dunstall’s novel Stars Uncharted which Tadiana and I reviewed last year. We agreed that it was a Firefly-type story that was accessible and pleasant, but lacked originality. The good news, though, is that book two, Stars Beyond, is better.
Stars Beyond picks up where Stars Uncharted left off.
April 20th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | S.K. Dunstall | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sisters Eleanor and Mike have come to rely on each other for comfort and love. The space beneath Eleanor’s bed is a favorite hiding place where they can retreat from real life when their parents begin to fight almost every night.
One night, after their abusive father breaks the family heirloom they call the “witch ball,” the girls find a river running under Eleanor’s bed. After falling in, they discover that the river leads to a land of dreams and nightmares and that, according to strange creatures who live there,
April 15th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Fran Wilde | Audio, Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards
The Hanged Man, published in 2019, is the second book in K.D. Edwards’s fantasy series THE TAROT SEQUENCE. In the first book, The Last Sun, we men Rune Sun, last of the Sun Court, in New Atlantis. New Atlantis is the former island of Nantucket and exists because of a truce between humans and the Atlanteans, at the end of a devastating war. The New Atlanteans value power only,
April 14th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | K.D. Edwards | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
The ALEX RIDER books have always veered on the side of realism (as opposed to other teen-targeted spy stories such as Spy Kids and Kim Possible) but even I was surprised by just how dark the third book in Anthony Horowitz‘s series actually got.
Having been recruited and trained by MI6 in order to infiltrate locations and undergo missions in which teenagers go unnoticed, fourteen year old Alex is happy to be free of espionage and just hanging out with the lovely Sabina Pleasure (a Bond girl if ever there was one).
April 10th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Anthony Horowitz | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…