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The Conqueror’s Shadow by Ari Marmell
CLASSIFICATION: Combining lighthearted humor and graphic violence with both traditional fantasy tropes and trope-breaking twists, The Conqueror’s Shadow is what would happen if you took Dungeons & Dragons and crossed it with the writing styles of David Eddings and Joe Abercrombie.
FORMAT/INFO: The Conqueror’s Shadow is 448 pages long divided over 28 numbered chapters, a Prologue, and an Epilogue.
February 15th, 2010. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Ari Marmell | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology by Christopher Golden (ed.)
FORMAT/INFO: The New Dead is 400 pages long divided over nineteen short stories. Also includes a Foreword by the editor Christopher Golden, and biographies on all of the anthology’s contributors. February 16, 2010 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The New Dead via St. Martin’s Griffin. Cover art provided by Per Haagensen. The UK version will be published on February 18,
February 13th, 2010. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Christopher Golden, David Wellington, Joe Hill, Joe R. Lansdale, John Connolly, Jonathan Maberry, Kelley Armstrong, Mike (M.R.) Carey, Rick Hautala, Tad Williams, Tim Lebbon | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
Had I realized that House of Many Ways was another sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle it would’ve ended up in my hands even quicker than it did. Nevertheless, it found its way there happily enough, allowing me another visit into my favorite of Diana Wynne Jones’ wonderful worlds.
House of Many Ways features Charmain Baker, an overly sheltered girl strong-armed by her aunt into taking care of her Great-Uncle William’s cottage — which just so happens to bend space and time,
February 8th, 2010. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
It’s just a routine rain spell. Jessie and her teacher and lover, Cooper, head to the city park to call up a storm and make a few bucks. But something goes horribly wrong. By the end of the night, Cooper has been sucked away into a Hell realm, and Jessie has suffered devastating injuries.
Then, things get worse. Benedict Jordan, the leader of the city’s magicians, gives Jessie a choice: either she agrees not to rescue Cooper, or else she becomes anathema.
February 5th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Lucy A. Snyder | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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 |
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.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…