Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3

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Wish: Reviewed by Kelly the curmudgeon

Wish by Alexandra Bullen

Olivia always lived in the shadow of her outgoing twin sister Violet — until Violet died. Now, Olivia is starting over, with a new home, a new school, parents who have become strangers to her, and a hole in her life where Violet should be. Everything changes when Olivia takes one of Violet’s dresses to be mended, and meets the mysterious seamstress Mariposa of the Mission, a.k.a. Posey. Instead of repairing Violet’s dress, Posey makes Olivia a beautiful new one. This is not just any dress; it comes with a wish,

Echo: Teenage angst in a fairytale setting

Echo by Francesca Lia Block

For anyone who’s ever read Francesca Lia Block before, you’ll know what to expect here. Riddled with teenage angst, fairytale settings and dense, poetic language, Echo provides another glimpse into the mind of tortured, restless adolescence. As always, Block’s novel stands outside any particular genre; is it fantasy or drama? Poetry or prose? Magic realism or something else entirely? As always, her trademark style is the use of her intoxicating language, which again defies description, but is best compared to fantasist Patricia McKillip.

Changes: The Dresden Files gets darker

Changes by Jim Butcher

I love Harry Dresden like he’s the crazy scary magical uncle I never had. My wife (The Asian OverLord™) gets annoyed at my exclamations of “Hell’s Bells!” and my constant need to tell people that a scar on my hand came from “Hell Fire” rather than a childhood bicycle wreck. The Dresden Files have become a part of my life in a way that few stories do.

When I first learned about Changes, it frightened me. I thought to myself: if Jim Butcher “Changes” too much,

Lady of Avalon: Help, I’m lost in the mists of history!

Lady of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Lady of Avalon is a set of three sort-of-related stories about priestesses on the Druid isle of Avalon, during the centuries preceding Bradley’s stunning Mists of Avalon.

And they’re OK, in general. I especially liked Viviane’s story; I learned more about what made that complex character tick.

Unfortunately, certain details of the history set up by Bradley in Mists were contradicted in Lady of Avalon.

April 11th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Marion Zimmer Bradley | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Possessed: Spooky YA

Possessed by Kate Cann

The beginning of Possessed drops the reader right into the stifling life of Rayne, a young London teenager. Her relationships with her mother and boyfriend are dysfunctional, and she’s unable to find a moment’s peace amid the noise and crime of the city. Kate Cann does an excellent job of showing us Rayne’s frayed nerves and her desire to get out of her neighborhood by any means necessary. Desperate, she takes a live-in job at the country estate of Morton’s Keep.

As Rayne settles into her new life,

Winter Tides: Not what I expected

Winter Tides by James P. Blaylock

I was disappointed in Winter Tides, though it’s probably not fair to blame James P. Blaylock for my disappointment. It’s not his fault the cover copy doesn’t accurately describe the novel’s actual subject matter. It’s also not his fault I’m a big enough ballad geek that when I see the words “Anne,” “Elinor,” “sisters,” and “drowning” in the same sentence, I immediately think of “The Cruel Sister,” a heartbreaking ballad of love and sisterly betrayal. Between the cover copy and a ballad reference that may or may not have been intentional,

April 3rd, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | James P. Blaylock | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Through the Veil: Hardly high literature, but mildly entertaining

Through the Veil by Isobel Bird

Through the Veil is the ninth book in the Circle of Three series, which chronicles three teenagers’ journey through a year-and-a-day of discovering and exploring Wicca. If you haven’t yet come across these books, I suggest you stop reading now and head back to book number one So Mote It Be, as the books are very closely tied together and it’s near impossible to read them out of chronological order (which is annoying, but there you go).

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary: Not as good as Tam Lin

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean

I’ve read several Pamela Dean books in the past, and so I was prepared for her style; it didn’t bother me much that characters quoted too often, or that the book was long on characterization and mood but short on plot, or that the ending swooped in out of the ether when I was least expecting it. I was ready for those things to be the case, so they didn’t disappoint me. I opened the book hoping for a story like Dean’s earlier Tam Lin,

The Gold Falcon: Starts a new Deverry sequence

The Gold Falcon by Katharine Kerr

With The Gold Falcon, Katharine Kerr is starting a new phase in the Deverry series. We move on fifty years or so from the climactic ending of The Fire Dragon, and times have changed. The Horsekin have started marauding the Deverry border, killing the men and enslaving the women. There is a fragile alliance between the Deverry folk, the Rhiddaer, and the West Folk (Kerr’s version of elves). And Alshandra’s repute as a goddess is growing,

March 26th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3 | Katharine Kerr | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Troll Fell: A bit pallid but for Norse background

Troll Fell by Katherine Langrish

Troll Fell is a decent young adult book whose Norse background gives a more fresh feel to an otherwise relatively mundane plot and set of characters. Younger readers will most likely enjoy it if not be inspired or captured by it; older readers won’t find much to chew on.

The story follows young Peer Ulfsson who upon his father’s death is grabbed up (literally) by a pair of wicked ogrish uncles for their own hidden reasons, the most transparent of which is to use him as free labor at their run-down mill,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Recent Discussion:

David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 5, 2025
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
Bill Capossere on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.