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The Witch of Lagg by Ann Pilling
Ann Pilling, who also goes by the alias Ann Cheatham or Lillian Cheatham, is an author with a great interest in taking historical events and folk-legends and bringing them into the present day. She has done this for the two other books concerning Oliver, Colin and Prill, Black Harvest and The Beggar’s Curse — with her three contemporary kids finding themselves caught up in the unquiet remnants of the past.
June 21st, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Ann Pilling | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The children’s fantasy/sci fi novel Malice is set in two worlds: modern day London and Malice, an eponymous comic book whose chief villain, Tall Jake, takes kids into the dangerous world of the comic if the right ritual is performed. In an attempt to better convey this two-setting concept, Malice melds a graphic novel/comic with a young adult/middle grade novel, with mixed results for the author (Chris Wooding) and illustrator (Dan Chernett).
The graphic aspect of the novel is by far the poorer stepchild here.
June 18th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Chris Wooding | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan
Averil is the daughter of a duke of Lys, trained from childhood in the magical arts on the Ladies’ Isle. Gereint is a fatherless farmboy who possesses a powerful, untamed streak of wild magic. As the sinister king of Lys and his advisor, both practioners of dark magic, unleash a plot to remove the realm’s nobles and awaken an ancient evil, Averil is summoned back to the mainland, while Gereint chases after a band of Knights of the Rose, hoping that their Order can train him.
June 18th, 2010. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3 | Kathleen Bryan | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Keepers’ Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott
The Keepers’ Tattoo, previously published as The Keepers’ Daughter in the U.K., is a young adult high fantasy with historical overtones. While it is set in an imaginary world, the story revolves around the earthquake-ruined city of Thira and the highly advanced “Keepers” who once lived there. Gill Arbuthnott is clearly drawing on the real-life Thera and the mysterious Minoan culture that may have inspired the legends of Atlantis. I’ve long been fascinated by all things Minoan,
June 8th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Gill Arbuthnott | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Red Hot Fury by Kasey MacKenzie
Look out, paranormal baddies; Marissa Holloway is on the job. Riss is a Fury, and her mission is to fight supernatural crime. Kasey MacKenzie bases her Furies on the ones from Greek mythology, but with a twist. In myth, there were three Furies: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. Here, these names represent not individual Furies, but classes of Furies. Riss is a Tisiphone. This means she wears red and deals mainly with homicides.
(Unfortunately, MacKenzie doesn’t do as much with this concept as one might hope.
June 8th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Kasey MacKenzie | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
You could make an argument for establishing a new sub-genre called something like “assassin fantasy,” given the number of novels currently on the shelves with heroes in that grim and surprisingly popular profession. So when the cover of Shadow’s Son, Jon Sprunk‘s debut novel, shows a man wearing a hood and flashing a set of matching knives, it’s not hard to predict the main character’s occupation before even opening the book.
And yes, right in the opening scene,
June 7th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3 | Jon Sprunk | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson
Slaves of the Mastery picks up several years after the events of The Wind Singer and in plot and structure is similar to its predecessor, though not as original in thought or imagery. Once again, the book examines a dystopic setting. In this case it is The Mastery, a city-state of slaves and masters, one of whose leaders has raided the Manth city and taken its inhabitants, including the main characters from book one, into slavery. The book once again focuses on the Hath family (including this time Pinto,
June 5th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | William Nicholson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
If Paul Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God were a movie, its audience would have lots of reasons to walk out well before the credits. It’s a big mess of a book with major flaws in nearly all aspects: plot, character, world building, and pace, to name a few. Yet somehow, and I have yet to figure out how, it kept me marching through it, and damn if I wasn’t a bit curious about what would happen in the sequel.
June 2nd, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Paul Hoffman | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Eyes of God is a sprawling, medieval fantasy novel. The seed for the next book (The Devil’s Armor) is planted well in the first, and I hope more of the good than the bad from the first book carries over.
The Eyes of God consists of three parts. (And before that, a beautiful cover — one of its very best features.) The first is basically a rehashing of Camelot’s love triangle.
June 2nd, 2010. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3 | John Marco | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Some books are like candy. You know they’re not good for you. You feel compelled to keep reading them anyway. Maybe, after a while, they start leaving an “off” taste in your mouth. Still, you keep reading. This is what Nina Malkin’s Swoon was like for me.
The plot is sort of Twilight-meets-Heathers. The protagonist, Dice (everyone has a cheesy nickname, you get used to it after a while), is a misfit in moneyed, WASPy Swoon,
May 29th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Nina Malkin | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.