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Like most veteran readers, I know to take the author endorsements on the front of a book with a sizable grain of salt. Among other things, they’re often taken slightly out of context. I had to relearn that lesson recently when I picked up a copy of Darkborn by Alison Sinclair and saw a cover quote from Carol Berg. My inner fangirl, whom I keep tied up and gagged somewhere down in the dark pits of my black, cranky reader heart was unable to resist.
July 22nd, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 3 | Alison Sinclair | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The novella The Duke in His Castle starts out like a conventional fairy tale but it soon spirals into a plotty story with unexpected twists. Admittedly, the book didn’t hook me at first, especially with its rude protagonist (not quite the initial sympathetic hero but some readers will grow fond of him) and the bare-bones setting (everything takes places in a castle) but Vera Nazarian turns things around as the enigma surrounding our main character slowly unfolds.
There are two key figures in the story and both have distinctive,
July 13th, 2009. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Vera Nazarian | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod (ed)
The theme of Strange Brew is witchcraft. This anthology features nine well-known urban fantasy authors, each with their own spin on the theme. Some of these stories feature well-known characters. Others focus on characters who are secondary in the author’s series, or characters who are entirely new. Glancing at the table of contents and doing a little mental math, most of the stories are around 40 pages, give or take a few. (The longest is Karen Chance’s at just under 60.) As is always the case with anthologies,
July 11th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Caitlin Kittredge, Charlaine Harris, Faith Hunter, Jim Butcher, Karen Chance, P.N. Elrod, Patricia Briggs, Rachel Caine | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heart of Light by Sarah A. Hoyt
Known for her diversity, the Portugal-born Sarah A. Hoyt has written dozens of short stories and several novels including the Shakespearean Fantasies series, the Musketeer Mystery books, and the Shifters urban fantasy series. She has also written a historical romance under the pseudonym Laurien Gardner, a collaborative novel with SF author Eric Flint, and co-edits the forthcoming anthology Something Magic This Way Comes (below).
In Ms. Hoyt’s Magical British Empire series,
July 10th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3 | Sarah A. Hoyt | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES Vol 1: BloodList, LifeBlood, BloodCircle by P.N. Elrod
The Vampire Chronicles compiles the first three books in P.N. Elrod’s series featuring Jack Fleming who, in case you haven’t deduced by the title, is a vampire.
What makes this series different from most other recent vampire novels is that Elrod combines an old familiar trope with something familiar but not usually associated with vampires: noir detectives. Her characters are believably of the gumshoe type and include those hopeful yet gray sensibilities that were products of that era.
July 6th, 2009. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | P.N. Elrod | SFF Reviews | no comments |
At the epicenter of the universe is the House, a sort of celestial bureaucracy that is responsible for recording everything that happens in the Secondary Realms (the world as we know it). It is the Architect who is responsible for creating all this, with a range of guidelines and rules in place for keeping order in each world.
Named after the days of the week and personifying the seven deadly sins, the trustees took over the House when the Architect disappeared, disregarding the instructions she left behind in the form of the Will.
June 24th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Garth Nix | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow
Lilith Saintcrow is the perfect name for an author of urban fantasy.
Like most of the novels that I’ve read that are classified as urban fantasy, supernatural thriller or paranormal romance, Night Shift has its good and bad qualities. What I like about the book was its darker vibe, the emphasis on action instead of romance or comedy, the intense pacing, Jill Kismet’s noir-esque narrative voice, and Lilith Saintcrow’s piercing prose:
The arkeus took shape, rising like a fume from dry-scorched pavement,
June 22nd, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3 | Lilith Saintcrow | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Sorcerer’s Treason by Sarah Zettel
Bridget Lederle is the lighthouse keeper on Sand Island, Wisconsin in 1899. She’s an outcast, having had a baby (which died) while she was single. One night she saves the life of mysterious Valin Kalami whose boat crashed onto the rocky shore of Lake Superior.
It turns out that Kalami is a sorcerer sent from the kingdom of Isavalta to find Bridget — who doesn’t realize that she has a tie to this parallel world and some powers of her own. With not much to keep her on Sand Island,
June 19th, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Sarah Zettel | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Honored Enemy & Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist, William R. Forstchen & Joel Rosenberg
Raymond E. Feist has always been notable for his willingness to share the world of Midkemia. In all his acknowledgments and dedications, Feist notes that from its very inception the world has been a collaborative effort. His Empire trilogy was a collaboration with Janny Wurts, and the computer game Betrayal at Krondor had to be shared,
June 18th, 2009. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 3 | Joel Rosenberg, Raymond E. Feist, S.M. Stirling, William R. Forstchen | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cartomancy by Michael A. Stackpole
It’s not uncommon for the second book in a fantasy trilogy to suffer the middle-book syndrome — a transition novel that doesn’t live up to the quality of the preceding volume but is essential in appreciating the third. Thankfully, that isn’t the case with Cartomancy, the sequel to A Secret Atlas.
In fact, Cartomancy is more exciting because Michael Stackpole planted the seeds in the first novel and what you get here is all the action and excitement.
June 17th, 2009. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Michael A. Stackpole | SFF Reviews | no comments |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!