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Scott Westerfeld has long been one of the best YA authors going, with multiple stories well worth a read, including the UGLIES, LEVIATHAN, and MIDNIGHTERS series, all of which are top-notch. And his SUCCESSION sci-fi series, more adult in nature, is absolutely great. So a new title from him is big news, made even bigger when we learn it’s a return to his beloved UGLIES trilogy. Honestly, it’s hard to live up to that sort of expectation,
April 17th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell
Traitor’s Blade is the first installment in Sebastien de Castell’s GREATCOATS series and is an interesting blend of genres — like The Three Musketeers with classic fantasy. At the core it is about a young man whose heart is broken and who has found meaning in defending ideals that are greater than himself.
An oft-used, but nonetheless compelling storyline in fantasy is the abuse of power by the nobility. Whether it’s something as simple as overtaxing and overworking the lower classes or some of the more heinous examples where the Nobles rape,
April 15th, 2019. John Hulet, Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Vetch’s family used to own land in Alta, but when they were invaded and occupied by Tia, Vetch’s father was killed and the rest of his family became serfs. Vetch, who was taken away from his mother and sisters, is now the servant of a horrible fat and lazy man who’s pretty much the worst master you can imagine. (All of Mercedes Lackey’s bad guys are really really bad!)
When a Tian dragon jouster named Ari notices Vetch’s plight, he rescues him and takes him as his own servant.
April 11th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield
Alice Payne arrives on the scene in this 2018 Nebula-nominated novella, and it looks like she’s setting up for a longer but welcome stay. Alice Payne is a half-black, thirty-two-year-old woman living in 1788 England in a mansion called Fleance Hall, with her father and a handful of servants; she’s also a closeted queer woman in a secret relationship with her companion, an inventor named Jane Hodgson. Alice and her father have fallen into financial straits, and her father, who is suffering from severe PTSD as a result of fighting in the American Revolution,
April 11th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Kate Heartfield | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Hidden World by Melinda Snodgrass
Stop right there and don’t read past this paragraph if you haven’t yet read The High Ground and In Evil Times, the first two books in Melinda Snodgrass’s IMPERIALS saga. The Hidden World (2018) is book three (of five total, I think) and my review can’t help but contain spoilers for the previous books.
Fourteen years have passed since we left Tracy and Mercedes at the end of In Evil Times.
April 9th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Melinda Snodgrass | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ghosted (Vol. 3): Death Wish by Joshua Williamson (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), and Miroslav Mrva (colorist)
In Ghosted (vol. 3): Death Wish, Jackson Winters, our master thief, is in prison yet again (And if you haven’t read volume 1 yet, start there and read my review of Ghosted (vol. 1): Haunted House). When we last saw Jackson, he had just escaped a haunted temple only to be greeted by his old friend King. King was a member of his gang of thieves who,
April 6th, 2019. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard
Yên, who studied to be a healer, has not lived up to expectations. Both she and her mother have failed to heal the child of one of their country’s leaders. In this land, useless people are eliminated, but Yên’s mother saves her daughter’s life by selling her off to a dragon who can shapeshift into a woman. The dragon has two rambunctious children who need to be educated, so Yen is assigned this duty in the dragon’s bizarre palace. As she lives with the dragon and her kids,
April 2nd, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Aliette De_Bodard | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Ghosted (Vol. 2): Books of the Dead by Joshua Williamson (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), and Miroslav Mrva (colorist)
In Joshua Williamson’s Ghosted (vol. 2): Books of the Dead, Jackson T. Winters is given yet another offer he can’t refuse, and again it’s got him dealing in ghosts and the possessed (And if you haven’t read volume 1 yet, start there and read my review of Ghosted (vol. 1): Haunted House). When we last saw Jackson, he was on his island in a little paradise all his own.
March 30th, 2019. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
River of Blue Fire (1998) is the second book in Tad Williams’ OVERLAND quartet. You absolutely must read the first book, City of Golden Shadow, first.
Our group of heroes (Renie, Xabbu, Orlando, Fredericks, Martine, Tb4, Kwan-Le) have entered Otherland and are searching for Paul Jonas at Mr. Sellar’s request. They hope to discover what the Grail Brotherhood is up to and why some kids (including Renie’s little brother Stephen,
March 26th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
When we first meet Harriet Lee and her daughter Perdita, they seem fairly normal. Perdita is a London teenager who attends an upperclass school while her mother awkwardly tries to fit in with the other mothers on the parents’ advisory committee by bringing them tins of her famous gingerbread.
But those mothers do not properly appreciate the gingerbread gifts, perhaps because they are unaware of the existence of the country that Harriet Lee and her gingerbread came from. It’s called Druhástrana. It’s not on our maps and it’s not easy to get in or out of.
March 20th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Helen Oyeyemi | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 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…