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Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
I read The Farseer Saga years ago and have since considered it one of my favorite fantasy epics. It’s one (along with The Lord of the Rings and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn) that I often suggest to new fantasy readers. But after more than a decade of reading deeper and further into fantasy literature, I’ve often wondered how well this saga would now appeal to my more mature (I hope) palate. When Tantor Audio recently released The Farseer Saga on audio,
September 1st, 2010. Kat Hooper, Rob Rhodes and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Robin Hobb | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Note: You may also find this book published with the name Clarges.
In Clarges, a city in the far future, humans have conquered death. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough room for billions of immortal people to live forever, so they’ve passed the fair-play act which divides society into 5 phyle which must be maintained at certain population ratios. Those who choose to participate in fair-play must register in Brood, the lowest phyle, and receive 82 years of life, after which an “assassin”
August 30th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Jack Vance | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
I still remember the day I bought my copy of The Wild Swans. I’d been on a retold-fairy-tale bender and had devoured almost every book listed in the back of the Fairy Tale Series books edited by Terri Windling, at least the ones I could track down. I knew I wanted something in a similar vein, and the back cover blurb of The Wild Swans promised exactly what I was looking for. The book delivered,
August 25th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Peg Kerr | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
China Mieville’s Kraken is a rollicking head-spinning comic novel set in an alternate London where gods and cults and magic are so interwoven into the daily fabric that there is an entire squad in the London police to deal with those elements, and it is that squad which is called in to investigate when the eponymous Kraken is stolen from the Natural History Museum.
They’re not alone in their desire to find out what happened to the giant squid, however, which also happens to be considered a god by many.
August 20th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | China Mieville | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
When he was a child, Kirth Gersen’s village was raided and massacred by the five Demon Princes. He and his grandfather escaped and, at his grandfather’s encouragement, Kirth has spent his life training and preparing for revenge. Now it’s time…
Jack Vance‘s DEMON PRINCES saga consists of five short science fiction novels which each tell the tale of how Kirth Gersen tracks down and deals with one of the evil men who killed his family. In the first installment,
August 9th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Jack Vance | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Tymon’s Flight by Mary Victoria
“I Don’t Know What’s Out There, But It Knows Me…”
Tymon is a young man growing up amongst strict priests in a seminary, an indentured orphan whose life and future have been organized in full by his guardians. Only occasionally is he able to escape his chores to visit an exiled heretic and dabble in the work of science that has been all but banned by the priests. Life for Tymon is made up of routine and dreaming, but when his friend Galliano constructs a new flying device,
August 2nd, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Mary Victoria | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Alchemist and The Executioness by Paolo Bacigalupi & Tobias Buckell
The Alchemist and The Executioness caught my eye as soon as it went up at Audible. (Both novellas are now available in print from Subterranean Press.) Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell offering linked fantasy novellas that take place in a shared world? Bacigalupi’s story read by Jonathan Davis? What could be more promising? (It turns out that had I been familiar with Katherine Kellgren,
July 30th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Paolo Bacigalupi, Tobias Buckell | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Wait for Dusk by Jocelynn Drake
Okay, I can’t help it. I have to start with this awful cover art. Not only do Mira and Danaus have no legs, the cover isn’t an accurate representation of the contents. Yes, there’s sex in Wait for Dusk. No, it’s not as predominant as this cover would imply. A more fitting cover would have shown Mira with a fireball in one hand and a big bloody knife in the other.
Having read the first four DARK DAYS novels,
July 29th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Jocelynn Drake | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley
Emily Snow is old beyond her years. Only 12 and supporting herself and her younger brother by selling watercress on the streets of Victorian England, Emily is lucky if she makes enough in one day to buy one meal to keep herself and her brother alive for one more day. Her parents having both mysteriously disappeared, Emily is not in a great mood when she pulls herself out of bed one cold winter morning to drag herself to work. On the way however, Emily comes across something she should not have seen.
July 23rd, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Paul Crilley | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque by Jeffrey Ford
The best thing about being my own master when it comes to choosing what I want to read is that when I read a book I really want to talk about I can without feeling like I have to put aside any other obligations, and I really want to talk about The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque.
Piero Piambo, a portrait artist in New York in 1893, is currently in fashion and as a result also in high demand.
July 20th, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Jeffrey Ford | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…