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Cross Fire (2018), which is a finalist for the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel this year, is the second book in Fonda Lee’s EXO series. You need to read the first book, Exo, before picking up Cross Fire. Please note that this review of Cross Fire may spoil some of the plot for Exo.
May 20th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Fonda Lee | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A hundred years ago aliens defeated and colonized Earth. For the most part, humans now live in peace with the aliens. A minority of humans have been chosen to go through the aliens’ hardening process when they are young. This gives them a type of exoskeleton that makes them very hard to kill. These Exos constitute a military upper class and they look down on “squishies” — those humans who can’t be, or refuse to be, hardened.
Donovan Reyes, the son of the Prime Liaison to the aliens,
May 17th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Fonda Lee | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
The history books say that the God of the Sky married the Goddess of Beauty and their children populated Orléans. But when Beauty started spending all her time with their children instead of her husband, Sky cursed the people of Orléans, giving them “skin the color of a sunless sky, eyes the shade of blood, hair the texture of rotten straw, and a deep sadness that quickly turned to madness.” So, Beauty created the Belles, special girls who have magic that can bring beauty and joy back to the people of Orléans.
May 15th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Dhonielle Clayton | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Soulbinder by Sebastien de Castell
In the first three books of Sebastien deCastell’s SPELLSLINGER series, Kellen, son of a powerful Jan’Tep sorcerous family and follower of the Argosi way, has been able to count on a loyal and powerful support network. Reichis, a squirrel-cat, is thieving and verbally abusive, but fierce and faithful. Ferrius, an Argosy traveler, has taught Kellen much about the power of magic and of life. In Soulbinder (2018), the fourth book of six planned, Kellen finds himself alone,
May 14th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Buzzkill by Donny Cates (writer), Mark Reznicek (writer), and Geoff Shaw (artist)
Buzzkill, collecting all four issues of the mini-series, is a funny superhero parody by Donny Cates and Mark Reznicek, with art by Geoff Shaw. I sought it out because Donny Cates is one of my favorite new writers, with great titles like Redneck from Image and the insane Marvel title Thanos Wins, which features a cosmic Ghost Rider who is a resurrected Frank Castle,
May 11th, 2019. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Zen Cho continues her SORCERER ROYAL series with The True Queen (2019), the first follow-up to Sorcerer to the Crown. Technically, The True Queen could be read as a stand-alone or as an introduction to the series, and that was the spirit in which I read it, though I often found myself wishing I had read this book second rather than first; the series takes place in a definite chronological order,
May 6th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Zen Cho | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Children of The Lens by E.E. “Doc” Smith
Although Books 3, 4 and 5 of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s famed six-part LENSMAN series followed one another with 1 ½ to two years of time in between each, and with story lines that picked up mere seconds after their predecessors, Book 6 would eventually differ in both respects. The author’s final installment in what has been called one of the greatest of all space operas originally appeared around 5 ½ years following Book 5’s serialization. Like Books 3 –
April 24th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | E.E. "Doc" Smith | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams
Sea of Silver Light (2001) finally concludes Tad Williams’ imaginative and very long OTHERLAND quartet. You must read the previous three books, City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, and Mountain of Black Glass first. There will be spoilers for those books in this review.
If you’ve read the previous three books in the OTHERLAND quartet,
April 23rd, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell
Street-smart Chatine Renard spends her days scrounging for trinkets, or sometimes liberating them from their owners directly, and committing other crimes while dressed as a boy so that she can’t be forced to sell her blood, a nominally-legal vocation which might bring good money in the short-term but is sure to kill her within a few years. Alouette Taureau is a sweet, dangerously naïve girl brought up in near-seclusion under the watchful eyes of her kind father and the Sisters who hide belowground,
April 22nd, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Jessica Brody | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Jordanna Max Brodsky switches gears ever-so-slightly in her novel The Wolf in the Whale (2019), continuing her examination of old-gods-in-diaspora from her OLYMOUS BOUND series while taking a step back in time — a little over a thousand years from present day — and exploring the story of an Inuit shaman who finds herself at the nexus point between her people and the first band of Vikings to set foot on North American soil.
April 18th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Jordanna Max Brodsky | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Your review made me curious, so I looked this book up. Sure enough: Tor. Tor seems to specialize in these…
It's a tightrope act for sure.
[…] Stuart (2 December 2015). “Roadside Picnic: Russian SF classic with parallels to Vandermeer’s Area X | Fantasy Lit…. fantasyliterature.com. Retrieved 8 […]
yes, I mean, there are certainly lots of good sci-fi/fantasy novellas out there, so they aren't impossible to do, but…
Well, your review is a perfect match for what they marketed it as, so... that's good. I'm having the same…