Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended: 
Not Recommended: 
So one of the problems I’ve been having recently, when it comes to returning to authors I’ve already read, is book blurbs that fill me with a sense of foreboding. The plots have been sounding so thin (and often matching). Not Wanderlust though. When I read the blurb for Wanderlust, I got excited.
Now that Sirantha Jax has exposed Farwan Corporation for what it really is, she’s kind of suffering a bit of a career dilemma… i.e.,
July 2nd, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Ann Aguirre | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I’ve been a fan of Buffy for a long time, but there was one thing I always wondered about. Namely, why would a vampire ever bother going to Sunnydale, knowing the Slayer lived there and was likely to dust the vamp as soon as he or she arrived in town? One would think a vamp could live a longer, more peaceful life simply by avoiding the Slayer’s stomping grounds, right?
After the first chapter of Jocelynn Drake’s Nightwalker, I think I get it.
June 23rd, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Jocelynn Drake | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater
First love: it’s scary and confusing enough even when there aren’t homicidal faeries involved. Add in the homicidal faeries, and a girl can get in over her head before she can say “cold iron.”
Maggie Stiefvater‘s Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception is an excellent YA fantasy that will appeal to anyone who likes stories of the fae as they appear in the oldest legends: dangerous, seductive, and sometimes deadly. Let me say right up front: Lament is downright frightening in places.
June 10th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Maggie Stiefvater | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu
“When I was eight, my mother lost me to zombies in a one-card draw.”
That’s the first sentence of Marjorie M. Liu’s The Iron Hunt, and it’s just about perfect as opening lines go. It’s the primary reason I bought the book. Not only does it draw the reader in, eager to find out how and why this happened, but I’m also pretty darn sure it’s an Angela Carter reference. I love Angela Carter.
It would be misleading to suggest,
May 29th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Marjorie M. Liu | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Sword from Red Ice by J.V. Jones
This series hooked me with the first one, A Cavern of Black Ice, and I’ve since read all of J.V. Jones’ books. Sure there are better writers out there, but as far as good story-telling goes, Jones is up there with the best of them.
Sword of Shadows reads like a tale told by the village story-teller or a traveling minstrel earning his next room and board. To me, that’s the way a fantasy story should be written,
May 26th, 2008. Greg Hersom´s rating: 4.5 | J.V. Jones | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Rivers of Fire by Patrick Carman
Rivers of Fire is by far the strongest book in the ATHERTON trilogy. From beginning to end, the plot moves quickly, the characters develop and play to their own strengths, mysteries are resolved, bravery is tested, lives are lost, radical changes begin anew, foes are slain. And all while Atherton shows its true self.
Rivers of Fire picks right up where The House of Power left off — in the middle of a battle — so it gets going very quickly.
May 14th, 2008. Skye Walker´s rating: 4.5 | Patrick Carman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sorcerer’s Legacy by Janny Wurts
Sorcerer’s Legacy is the first book written by Janny Wurts and it’s a wonderful breath of fresh air because it’s a self-contained story. Much of modern fantasy seems bent of many volumes and epic scope while Legacy is content to be a single volume and a complete story.
It is essential to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that Wurts puts into her writing and for one familiar with her more recent works, this novel is just plain fun.
May 2nd, 2008. John Hulet and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Janny Wurts | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
I’m trying to remember how long ago I first read Silk. It may have been as much as ten years ago, when the book was new. I can’t say for sure, but I can say that few books have stayed with me the way Silk has. Even when I’d forgotten the details of the plot, images remained: the horror of the climactic scene, the kudzu-strangled trees. A few years after reading Silk, I went on a road trip through the South,
May 2nd, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Caitlín R. Kiernan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wizard Felix Harrowgate is back and much less crazy than he was during 90% of Sarah Monette’s Melusine. So is thief Mildmay the Fox, who’s a bit less mobile, crippled by a curse that caught up to him in the previous book. Their goal: To travel back across the world, return to Melusine (the city) and restore the magical crystal called the Virtu.
If the plot sounds a little thin…well, that might be because it is. It’s padded with events,
April 4th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Monette | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
No sophomore slump here! Ilona Andrews follows — and tops — her debut novel with an excellent sequel, Magic Burns (2008).
We get some more world-building. Andrews explains, in a way that flows smoothly with the story and doesn’t feel like an infodump, the theory as to why the magic and tech have gone wonky in the first place. We also learn about magic flares, which occur roughly every seven years. During these upsurges in magic, powerful and dangerous summonings can be done.
April 1st, 2008. Kelly Lasiter, John Hulet, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Ilona Andrews | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Will, if you live in the USA, you win a Fan Lit T-shirt (please specify 1st and 2nd preferred sizes),…
...as well as the 1932 sequel, "Topper Takes a Trip"!
It's such a rich and ancient ambience - in many ways the plot itself doesn't matter, I just like strolling…
I didn't know he wrote Topper!
Best new book: Play of Shadows by Sebastien Sebastien de Castell Honorary mention for The Naming Song by Jebediah Berry…