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Olympus Bound by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Warning: some mild spoilers for both The Immortals and Winter of the Gods will be unavoidable.
In Olympus Bound (2018), Jordanna Max Brodsky concludes the OLYMPUS BOUND trilogy she began with The Immortals, featuring the Greek goddess Artemis living in modern-day New York City under various appellations, including Selene. As the books progressed, the remaining Greek gods dwindled in number,
April 6th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Jordanna Max Brodsky | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Stone Girl’s Story by Sarah Beth Durst
High up in the mountains, in a marble house, live a stone girl and her animal friends, who are also carved from stone. In this world, magical symbols and marks carved into stone make the stone come alive, giving it the power to move above, see, speak and hear, think, and even fly. Mayka, the stone girl, and her family of living stone birds, rabbits, a cat, an owl and others, were all carved and brought to life by a kindly master stonemason. The marks tell their stories,
April 4th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Assembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Essays on the Social, Cultural, and Geopolitical Domains (ed: Julian C. Chambliss, William L. Svitavsk, Daniel Fandion)
Assembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Essays on the Social, Cultural, and Geopolitical Domains (2018) edited by Julian C. Chambliss, William L. Svitavsk, and Daniel Fandion is a collection of 15 essays examining the Marvel films, in particular how they “represent, construct, and distort American culture.” The essays vary in the level of “academese” employed, and also for me varied in how far they stretched their given premises,
March 29th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Dreadful Sleep by Jack Williamson
At the end of my recent review of Jack Williamson’s 1933 novel Golden Blood, which initially appeared as a six-part serial in the pages of Weird Tales magazine, I mentioned that the author had later placed another serial in that same pulp publication, and that I meant to seek it out. Well, I am here to tell you MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! That later serial, Dreadful Sleep, was a three-part affair in the March –
March 28th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Jack Williamson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Game of Thrones and the Medieval Art of War by Ken Mondschein
Game of Thrones and the Medieval Art of War (2017), by Ken Mondschein, is just what he himself labels it: “an entire book on the rather nerdy and troublesome subject of how medieval warfare is reflected in a fantasy book series.” It’s also an extremely informative and often entertaining one, and in addition does the service of “rebut [ting] the pop-culture Middle Ages as a Jurassic World of resurrected straight white male barbarians out of a Frazetta painting.” Whether you’re a fan of the TV series or of medieval-era fantasy,
March 22nd, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | George R.R. Martin | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman makes no secret of his love of Norse mythology and folklore. It shows up over and over in his fiction (Sandman, American Gods, Odd and the Frost Giants to name a few); and he has mentioned his love of the stories in interviews and essays. In Norse Mythology (2017), Gaiman puts his distinctive narrative voice in service to this mythological cycle and tells us the tales of the beginnings of the Norse gods,
March 6th, 2018. Marion Deeds and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Neil Gaiman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling by Tony Cliff
Where Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant was a rip-roaring and fun introduction to a feisty heroine and her faithful companion, Tony Cliff takes a slightly melancholic turn in Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling, which is no less fun, but provides a welcome depth of understanding into Ms. Dirk and Mr. Selim, both as individuals and as a pair.
A few years into their adventures, Delilah and Selim are content to wander through the sun-dappled countrysides of Portugal,
February 17th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Black Flame by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Although Kentucky-born sci-fi author Stanley G. Weinbaum is today considered a seminal writer in his chosen field, his actual career was, sadly, an exceedingly brief one. After making a huge splash with his short story “A Martian Odyssey,” featuring the truly alien, ostrichlike Tweel, in the July ’34 issue of Wonder Stories, Weinbaum shifted into high gear, creating some two dozen short pieces and three novels before succumbing to cancer in December ’35, at the age of 33.
February 9th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Stanley G. Weinbaum | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
As much as I enjoyed Vic James’ 2017 debut novel, Gilded Cage, I thought there were a few missteps and odd choices, and I wasn’t sure what that meant for the second book in her DARK GIFTS trilogy, Tarnished City (2018). I am pleased to report that Tarnished City blew all of my expectations out of the water, improving on the first novel in every possible way and preparing readers for world-shaking consequences with a true nail-biter of a cliffhanger ending.
February 7th, 2018. Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Vic James | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
In the world of Gilded Cage (2017), there are those who are called Equals ― but there’s a deep divide between Equals, who have magical Skills, and the commoners, the Skilless, and they are decisively not equal. In England the Equals are both the aristocrats and the sole parliament, and they hold all the power, with the magical ability to enforce it.
One of the ways the Equals use their power is to require all commoners to spend ten years of their lives as slaves,
February 7th, 2018. Tadiana Jones, Ray McKenzie and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Vic James | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 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.