3 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Unshapely Things: Lacks the spark

Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco

Mark Del Franco’s Unshapely Things is another addition to the urban fantasy universe. I bought it for a break from all the female authors and their super powerful sassy female characters. That’s not criticism of those authors or their characters — just my desire to read something different.

Del Franco’s main character, Connor Grey, is a formerly powerful investigator for the Guild, a sort of FBI for fey. Elves, fey, and many other permutations of non-humans have become part of the world we live in due to a magic cataclysm.

May 16th, 2008. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Mark Del_Franco | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

When the Gods Slept: Go to the library

When the Gods Slept by Allan Cole

When the Gods Slept is the first book in Allan Cole’s Timuras trilogy and I am debating whether I should read the other two books or not. Generally, I don’t like writing a review until I have read all the books in a trilogy, but I also have a strict rule against paying for additional books when the initial story is pedestrian at best. If I could develop a rating system it would not be based on stars or numbers or thumbs,

May 14th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 3 | Allan Cole | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Wolf Star: Muddled but interesting story

Wolf Star by Tanith Lee

Wolf Star (also published as Wolf Star Rising) is the second of four books known as the Claidi Journals, stories told in the format of a diary by the young escaped-slave Claidi and her travels throughout a fantasy world in search of her origins and a home of her own. In the first installment, Wolf Tower, which you really must read if you want to understand what’s going on in this story, Claidi escaped the confines of the House with the handsome Nemian,

The Witch Queen: Weakest in the trilogy

The Witch Queen by Jan Siegel

The three-part story of Fernanda “Fern” Capel that began in Prospero’s Children and continued in The Dragon Charmer comes to its conclusion in The Witch Queen. A young woman now, Fern has resigned herself to the presence of magic in her life and accepted (however reluctantly) that her Gift means that the life of a witch is the only one she can lead. In Prospero’s Children Fern time-traveled back to the City of Atlantis,

The Queen’s Bastard: Prose is lovely; can’t get a grip on the heroine

The Queen’s Bastard by C.E. Murphy

On paper, The Queen’s Bastard is right up my alley. Court intrigue plus magic plus sex? Where do I sign up? I’ve seen comparisons to the Kushiel series and it’s not hard to see why; it’s partly the intrigue/magic/sex combination and partly the prose, which is lush and has moments of exquisite beauty. It was the prose that hooked me from the first page.

Unfortunately, other factors “unhooked” me later in the book, and now I’m three-quarters of the way through The Queen’s Bastard and not really feeling the urge to go on.

April 29th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | C.E. Murphy | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Renegade’s Magic: A lot to admire, but not much to enjoy

Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb has just concluded her Soldier Son trilogy with the third book — Renegade’s Magic. There doesn’t seem to be much point in reviewing solely Renegade’s Magic, however, as anyone who has read the first two is likely to pick up the conclusion, so instead I’ll simply review the trilogy as a whole.

Of course, the first question one has to answer as a reviewer is would you recommend the book(s) to a reader.

April 29th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Robin Hobb | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Forest Mage: Slower, not as rich as book one

Forest Mage by Robin Hobb

Shaman’s Crossing was slow and at times dry, but I thought it rewarded the patient reader and that the pace was mostly appropriate for the content and character. The same complaints about book one could also be leveled at Forest Mage, and here, unfortunately, I can’t quite defend the book as strongly.

Like Shaman’s Crossing, there isn’t a lot of “action” here. One expecting large battles, political upheaval or machinations, encounters with monsters,

April 29th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Robin Hobb | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Restorer: Christian fantasy

The Restorer by Sharon Hinck

When reading fantasy books, I generally apply two arbitrary criteria that I have found useful in determining books I like. The first is I look for the willingness of the author to kill important characters — not secondary or briefly mentioned characters. I’ve always felt that to do so was brave and showed a willingness to push the story’s limits rather than following a predictable course. The second is actually from Aristotle’s Poetics. Summarized, Aristotle says the primary character must be believable. In essence, the character must be more human than superhuman.

April 26th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 3 | Sharon Hinck | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dark Moon: Middle book

Dark Moon by Meredith Ann Pierce

Ever notice how the second parts of trilogies are often the weakest? This is not always the case, but it often happens in both books and movies, and it definitely occurs here. Dark Moon is the second part of The Firebringer trilogy, which began with the fascinating Birth of the Firebringer and ending with the explosive The Son of Summer Stars. But smack dab in the middle is Dark Moon,

Ferren and the Angel: Why are they worshipping a can of fly spray?

Ferren and the Angel by Richard Harland

Never before have I read a book with such epic proportions, such potential, and such originality — and yet was written so carelessly and simplistically. What promises to be a future-fantasy-adventure along the lines of Philip Pullman‘s amazing His Dark Materials trilogy, instead reads like sci-fi pulp fiction.

Ferren and the Angel is set in the year 3000AD, after a series of scientific discoveries and heavenly experiments that resulted in a full out war between Heaven and Earth.

Rating: 3

Unshapely Things: Lacks the spark

When the Gods Slept: Go to the library

Wolf Star: Muddled but interesting story

The Witch Queen: Weakest in the trilogy

The Queen’s Bastard: Prose is lovely; can’t get a grip on the heroine

Renegade’s Magic: A lot to admire, but not much to enjoy

Forest Mage: Slower, not as rich as book one

The Restorer: Christian fantasy

Dark Moon: Middle book

Ferren and the Angel: Why are they worshipping a can of fly spray?

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