Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 3

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The Blood Knight: Solid if uneven “bridge” book in the series

The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes

Anyone who reads a lot of fantasy knows by now to come with some trepidation to any sort of “bridge” book — the second book in a trilogy or the 2nd or 3rd book in longer series. Too often they simply exist to get us from the exciting stuff that got us hooked in book one to the exciting stuff that will wow us in the conclusion. Other times they read like they simply exist because the author can sell a trilogy more easily than a standalone or a simple sequel and so plot events are stretched out so thinly they almost snap.

September 28th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Jarka Ruus: Promising start to a new Shannara series

Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks

“The One that Plays the Others as a Master Does his Puppets…”

It’s been twenty years since the events of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, in which a combined group of Elves, Men and Dwarves sailed under the leadership of the Druid Walker Boh in an attempt to reclaim archaic knowledge from lost islands far to the West. Though the mission failed in this respect, it did achieve one of Walker’s chief desires; to redeem the life of Grianne Ohmsford.

September 26th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | no comments |

King’s Property: A little bit too much luck

King’s Property by Morgan Howell

King’s Property is the first book in the Queen of the Orcs series, and Morgan Howell’s first novel. For a story in which the author does such a good job of depicting the harsh realities of the setting, he sure lets the main character, Dar, skate out of bad situation after bad situation to a point where it’s just a bit too much. The explanations for each magic escape work, but it needs to change to a point where Dar takes fewer risks,

September 26th, 2007. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | Morgan Howell | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Gilded Chain: Musketeers on speed

The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan

Fantasy books can be like beverages: you have your exquisitely aged wines (The Lord of the Rings, Mists of Avalon); your rich ports and liquors (the works of Guy Kay and Patricia McKillip); your searingly clear vodka (A Song of Ice and Fire); your boxed wines (The Wheel of Time, The Sword of Truth); and your panoply of Bud,

September 16th, 2007. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 3 | Dave Duncan | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Ordermaster: Decent read but same old same old

Ordermaster by L.E. Modesitt Jr

If Ordermaster and its prequel Wellspring of Chaos had come out as the first two books in the Recluce series, I’d have given them a slightly stronger review. Ordermaster is decently paced, has a good strong main character, some interestingly complex politics as its background, and is overall pretty well-written. But after reading a dozen Recluce books before these, one has to wonder how many times can Modesitt tell this same story.

September 9th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | no comments |

What the Cards Said: So darn predictable

What the Cards Said by Isobel Bird

What the Cards Said is the fourth book in the Circle of Three series, a fifteen-volume set that chronicles the learning experiences of three adolescent girls — Kate, Annie and Cooper, in their year and a day of study in the religion of Wicca.

In this book Annie has discovered her skills in tarot reading, and after she’s been talked into playing “Miss Fortune” at the school fair, others pick up on her uncanny habit to accurately predict things.

The Talismans of Shannara: Getting repetitive

The Talismans of Shannara by Terry Brooks

“Some of Us Listened to the Earth’s Whisper…”

The fourth and final installment in THE HERITAGE OF SHANNARA quartet. The premise is that the Four Lands are dying under both the totalitarian Federation and the sinister Shadowen, and the shade of the Druid of Allanon has called together three scions who can put an end to the entropy. Par is sent in search of the Sword of Shannara, Walker to bring back the Druid Keep of Paranor, and Wren to discover the missing race of Elves and restore them to the Four Lands.

August 26th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Specials: Read it to satisfy your curiosity

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Tally has changed since she was caught by Special Circumstances. She has become one of them: a Special. Her body and mind have been altered and she is now an elite fighting machine with super-fast reflexes and a hardened body that can withstand almost anything…but none of this can really make her happy. Tally is surrounded by “friends,” but none of them can take away her memories of her friends from the Smoke and the lessons they taught her. Then she and Shay get a breakthrough and once again whiz off into the wild on their hoverboards searching for the elusive “New Smoke”

The Warrior Prophet: Strong three, improves on first though a few flaws

The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker

The Warrior Prophet picks up from The Darkness That Comes Before (which must be read first) and mostly improves on that first book, which in itself was a solid read. Where Darkness suffered from lengthy exposition, now that the basic storyline and world have been set, Bakker can focus on moving things along more quickly, if that can be said about a 600 plus page book. Though the book could be cut by a hundred plus pages,

August 19th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | R. Scott Bakker | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Water: Transformation: A good read for young fantasy lovers

Transformation by Kara Dalkey

Transformation is the final book in Kara Dalkey’s Water trilogy, beginning with Ascension and continuing with Reunion, both of which are essential reads if you want to understand this final book. Previously, young mermyd called Nia from the underwater city of Atlantis came ashore in order to find Gobiath, a squid-like Farworlder that rules Atlantis. He is one of the last of his kind after Atlantis was betrayed by the evil mermyd Ma’el and his Farworlder Joab,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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