Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended: 
Not Recommended: 
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Bill: Let’s see, last week in September. That means I’ve got to grade my first-years’ first essays. Call the guy to clean the gutters. Make sure the furnace and gas fireplace are set to go. And, oh yeah, it’s been a month, that must mean I have a new Brandon Sanderson novel to review. Yep, Shadows of Self, the second book in his second MISTBORN trilogy (or, if you prefer, the fifth book in the entire MISTBORN series).
December 9th, 2016. Bill Capossere, Kevin Wei and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Sanderson | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton
If someone is offering to sell you a spell that predicts one hour into the future, one excellent way to test whether the spell really works is to try to murder the man selling it to you. If you succeed in killing him, clearly it wasn’t a valid prophetic spell. In any case, that’s Leandra Weal’s rationale for poisoning the blackrice liqueur she offers to the smuggler selling her the spell. Luckily for both Leandra and the smuggler, the spell warns the smuggler not to drink the puffer fish liver-infused drink.
December 7th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Blake Charlton | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In Unquiet Land, Sharon Shinn’s fourth book in her ELEMENTAL BLESSINGS fantasy series, the story returns to the country of Welce, the setting for the first two books in this series. Leah, who was introduced to readers in the third book, Jeweled Fire, lived in the country of Malinqua for five years, helping Darien Serlast, the ruler of Welce, by acting as a spy and, for the last few months of her stay,
December 1st, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Sharon Shinn | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer changes it up fairly dramatically in The Chemist (2016), her second adult novel, where there is nary a vampire, werewolf or space alien to be found. It’s a rather pulpy but absorbing thriller in the vein of a Jason Bourne novel (to whom she’s dedicated this novel, among others). There’s no real speculative element here, other than perhaps some new developments in chemical-based torture and some startlingly smart dogs.
The narrator, a bright, rather repressed molecular biologist,
November 28th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Stephenie Meyer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Taste for Monsters by Matthew Kirby
Matthew Kirby’s first two books, The Clockwork Three and Icefall are, I think, two of the best constructed and ambitious YA books out there. I haven’t been equally impressed with the ones since, though they still show marks of a fine craftsman in various aspects. Where then does his latest, A Taste for Monsters, fall? I’d say somewhere in between — better than the last few thanks to more vivid characters,
November 21st, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Matthew Kirby | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson
If you’re going to parody a TV series, as Steven Erikson did with Star Trek in Willful Child, then you can’t stop at just one book, can you? Think of all those other episodes ripe for the plucking! And so we’re back for more interstellar hijinks with the crew of the Starship Willful Child and their erstwhile leader Captain James T–, er, Captain Hadrian Sawbuck as they face hostile aliens, robots run Amok,
November 18th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Chapel of Ease by Alex Bledsoe
I love that each of the novels in Alex Bledsoe’s TUFA series can stand alone. They are all set (at least partly) in the same area of Appalachia and have overlapping characters, but they each tell a self-contained story. They can be read in any order, though it would probably be ideal to read them in publication order: The Hum and the Shiver, Wisp of a Thing,
November 16th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Alex Bledsoe | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearne
If you haven’t been reading Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES series, you are really missing out. These are fun fantasy adventures featuring a cool modern-day druid named Atticus and his canine familiar, an Irish Wolfhound named Oberon, possibly the most awesome sidekick in all of fantasy literature.
Everyone loves Oberon, so it’s not surprising that Hearne would spawn a series (called OBERON’S MEATY MYSTERIES) that gives Oberon center stage. As the name of the series implies,
November 15th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Congress of Secrets by Stephanie Burgis
In 1814, the four countries that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte held a congress in Vienna, determined to establish a new balance of power among the European nations. It was a contentious congress filled with intrigue and realpolitik, but at least those real-life diplomats and leaders weren’t contending with shadowy magic, the way Stephanie Burgis’ characters are in her alternate history fantasy Congress of Secrets (2016).
Lady Caroline Wyndham, a wealthy British widow, has come to Vienna,
November 14th, 2016. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Stephanie Burgis | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Shadow Soul by Kaitlyn Davis
The Shadow Soul came in first place of the 30 books that our Fantasy Literature team of reviewers read for Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO), in which 300 self-published science fiction and fantasy novels have been read and evaluated by ten blogs. The winner of the very first round, it managed to survive and prevail over all of the rest of the novels in our later rounds. A round of virtual but heartfelt applause to The Shadow Soul and its author,
November 11th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Kaitlyn Davis | SPFBO, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…