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The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
I’ve often said that employing the usual fantasy tropes in a novel isn’t an automatic sign of poor writing; it’s what you do with them that matters. Witness the three main characters in Peter Brett’s The Warded Man: a young boy leaving his small hamlet for the larger world, a young girl trying to maintain her independent nature, a young orphan who must make his own way in the world. Anyone seen these before? Anyone? Buehler?
Luckily for us readers,
February 1st, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Peter V. Brett | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson
Linda Robertson’s first novel, Vicious Circle, was a fun read, and its sequel, Hallowed Circle, is even better. In this second installment, Robertson spins a highly original plot (if this has been done in urban fantasy before, it was in a book I missed!), further develops her characters and the relationships among them, and as an added bonus, passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors.
Persephone Alcmedi is still reeling from the discovery that she is the Lustrata,
January 27th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Linda Robertson | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn
Set one hundred years after Jovah’s Angel, rumors are abounding that Alleluia had discovered the truth about the god Jovah — that he is actually a large spaceship orbiting the planet. While these ideas are declared heretical, a small cult has sprung up around finding the files Alleluia is said to have left behind. The Jacobites are declared criminals, and the Archangel Bael brutally suppresses their existence. But there are enough people believing the rumors that Bael can’t stop them all,
January 27th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Sharon Shinn | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black
The first collection of short stories by author Holly Black, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories is dark, gorgeous, and emotionally compelling. Ranging from longer stories to short little character sketches, Black has created a handful of settings and characters that will live on in memory long after you close this slim volume. Holly Black manages to evoke an incredibly detailed world with a spare prose that conveys the static crackle of a remote video feed,
January 25th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Holly Black | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Dragon Revenant (US) or Dragonspell: The Southern Sea (UK) by Katharine Kerr
For the first time in the Deverry series, all the action takes place in the present day rather than flitting back to fill gaps in the past, and the plot and pacing are all the tighter for it.
Rhodry has been sold as a slave on the Bardek islands, and one storyline follows his new life, intersected with information about Salamander and Jill chasing him down. Behind all this we discover more about the politics and machinations within the Hawks,
January 21st, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Katharine Kerr | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander
If I ever have kids, I’m going to make sure that their bookshelves are stocked full of Lloyd Alexander’s books. Most famous for his award-winning The Prydain Chronicles, Alexander has carved out a little niche for himself in children’s literature by taking his often-used (but never stale) technique of adapting a particular culture’s mythology and shaping it to include his own brand of wisdom, poignancy and humour. For The Prydain Chronicles Alexander borrowed heavily from Welsh mythology as found in the The Mabinogian,
January 3rd, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crack’d Pot Trail by Steven Erikson
Crack’d Pot Trail is the fourth of Steven Erikson’s Malazan novellas following the exploits of Korbal Broach and Bauchelain, a pair of sinister necromancers whose dark side is often thrown into a grayer cast due to their situational context and the characters (often allegedly “purer” or “better”) that surround them. As with the earlier novellas, Erikson lightens up on the dense worldbuilding, labyrinthine layered plots, and casts of thousands of the larger series to focus on,
January 2nd, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The other reviewers mocked me when I said I was going to review Watership Down. ‘I hope you like rabbits!’, they sniggered. Well, Watership Down does have rabbits as the main characters, but it is so much more than a story about bunnies. That would be like saying The Hobbit was about hobbits. Both stories encompasses so many greater themes — adventure, friendship and loyalty, courage in the face of adversity, leadership, the value of home and security,
January 2nd, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Richard Adams | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson
Curse of the Spider King (2009) begins by introducing the reader, one at a time, to seven completely unrelated teens from around the world. Left to live out mortal lives on earth as humans, these seven teens are actually far from human. They are in fact the only living heirs to the thrones of a forgotten realm inhabited by elves and the Spider King. Once these seven turn thirteen, they are no longer protected by an ancient curse, and they become prey.
December 31st, 2009. Skye Walker´s rating: 4.5 | Wayne Thomas Batson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Confessions of a Demon by S.L. Wright
Confessions of a Demon is what urban fantasy should be and so seldom is. It’s fun, it’s a bit sexy, and S.L. Wright knows how to balance those two prerequisites with enough action and world-building to make this more than just a relationship novel. That’s not such an easy task.
Allay, the main character, is caught up in a struggle for power between two rival factions of demons. She doesn’t realize it at first, but that’s really what it’s all about.
December 30th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | S.L. Wright | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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!
Sorry if I mislead you in this detail, Paul...the voyage by ship was only the first leg of the quintet's…
The geography is confusing me--how does one get to a village in Tibet by ship? And even the northernmost part…
Oh, this sounds interesting!