Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended: 
Not Recommended: 
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
CLASSIFICATION: Prince of Thorns is R-rated epic fantasy that combines Robert E. Howard/Glen Cook-like sword-and-sorcery action with George R. R. Martin-inspired court intrigue and a revenge-driven plot that would make Joe Abercrombie proud. Because of a young protagonist whose accomplishments defy his age and abilities, and a fantasy world that seems to be a different version of Earth, I was also reminded of Paul Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God,
July 28th, 2011. Robert Thompson and Greg Hersom´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 17 comments |
Gatherer of Clouds by Sean Russell
Gatherer of Clouds is the sequel to Sean Russell’s The Initiate Brother, a story which is not so much about the Initiate Brother Shuyun, spiritual advisor to Lord Shonto, as it is about the entire Shonto household — a household that is seen as a threat by an insecure emperor. And with good reason, for Lord Shonto is an honorable, intelligent, and insightful man who has raised his children to be his equals and who has surrounded himself with a competent and loyal staff and several clever allies.
July 28th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Sean Russell | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Goblin Corps by Ari Marmell
FORMAT/INFO: The Goblin Corps is 552 pages long divided over a Prologue, eleven numbered/titled chapters, and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third-person omniscient via numerous characters including the seven members of the Demon Squad, the Charnel King Morthûl, his lieutenant Vigo Havarren, Ananias DuMark, King Dororam, etc. The Goblin Corps works well as a standalone novel, coming to a satisfying stopping point, but there is room for a sequel. July 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The Goblin Corps via Pyr.
July 21st, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Ari Marmell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
First things first: This one’s more serious.
Oh, there’s still humor here — and to butcher the nursery rhyme, when Kevin Hearne is funny, he’s very, very funny. I cackled madly as Atticus geeked out over his favorite author and demonstrated his knowledge of Internet memes. On the whole, though, Hammered is a much more serious story than either Hounded or Hexed. While giving us two books’ worth of side-splitting entertainment,
June 27th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5, 4.5 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Ice Song by Kirsten Imani Kasai
I’ve never been a big science fiction reader, and so it took me far too long to get around to reading Kirsten Imani Kasai’s Ice Song. Its beautiful cover would draw my eye again and again in the bookstore, then I’d flip it over to read the back cover copy and think, “Oh. Submarines. Mutations. This is that science fiction book again.” Now that I’ve read it, I wish the blurb had contained one brief sentence that would have had me snapping up the book right away: This is a fairy tale.
June 24th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Kirsten Imani Kasai | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Magic of Recluce (Special 20th Anniversary Edition) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
I first read The Magic of Recluce over 15 years ago, and I still have my original paperback copy. This year two special editions are being released by Tor and Subterranean Press. Rereading this story again, after having covered so much ground in epic fantasy, was both interesting and very comforting — comforting because it was nice to realize that a good story is still a good story even after all these years.
The Magic of Recluce chronicles the life of Lerris,
June 20th, 2011. John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
With every new book in the WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW series by Janny Wurts, it gets harder and harder to write a review without either including massive spoilers for previous volumes or simply repeating the praise already heaped on it in earlier reviews. There are only so many variations on “gorgeous prose,” “intricate world-building,” “deep characterization,” “the books are consistently excellent” and so on. It’s especially hard to avoid spoilers for Traitor’s Knot, given that it’s the fourth book in a five book “arc”,
June 19th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4.5 | Janny Wurts | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
[In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]
FORMAT/INFO: The Watchers is 560 pages long divided over a prologue called ‘Quietus’, four titled books, forty numbered chapters, and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Marc Rochat, Katherine Taylor and Jay Harper. The Watchers is mostly self-contained,
June 10th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Jon Steele | Edge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Goliath is the concluding third book in Scott Westerfeld’s LEVIATHAN trilogy (imagine that — a trilogy with only three books) and it brings a wonderfully entertaining YA steampunk/alternate WWI series to a suitably strong close. I won’t bother recapping the world or background since you really need to read books one and two first, so read my review of Leviathan (above) to catch up on the backstory if you’d like.
Goliath picks up shortly after the events of Behemoth,
June 3rd, 2011. Bill Capossere, Rebecca Fisher and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
When I first saw The Pack, I thought it looked completely cliché. Silly me… Jason Starr takes one of the more oft-used themes in urban fantasy, the werewolf community in modern society, and takes it in an original direction. The Pack has flaws, but it’s so real and the main character is so believable that I finished it in less than 24 hours. Starr deserves a lot of credit for crossing over from the crime fiction genre to urban fantasy and doing it well.
May 31st, 2011. John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | Jason Starr | SFF Reviews | 4 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.