4 | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

The Troupe: Why isn’t everyone reading this guy?

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett: why isn’t everyone reading this guy? Here is an authentic voice with an original vision, a uniquely American dark fantasist who can weave the three Fates into the Great Depression and fairies into a story about vaudeville. With The Troupe, Bennett moves closer to the setting and milieu he created so well in his first novel, Mr. Shivers. The Troupe is a long story with a rich cast, a powerful coming-of-age tale entwined with a traditional fantasy quest.

The Golden Age: A worthy read

The Golden Age by John C. Wright

John C. Wright’s The Golden Age is a worthy read. Taking place in the far future, 10,000 years from now, it is a world where the transhuman ‘singularity’ has occurred long before and the population of the solar system is made up of humans of massive (and varied) intellects and powers as well as the “Sophotechs,” huge supercomputers of intellectual capacity to dwarf even their superhuman creators who make sure that the society of humanity does not lack for anything except perhaps risk and adventure,

April 16th, 2012. Terry Lago´s rating: 4 | John C. Wright | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Thorn and the Blossom: On the Edge

The Thorn and The Blossom by Theodora Goss

In our Edge of the Universe column, we review books that may not be classified SFF but that incorporate elements of speculative fiction. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.

Evelyn and Brendan are both students at Oxford when they meet in the tiny Cornish town of Clews, where Evelyn is taking a much-needed break and Brendan is working in his father’s bookstore.

Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain: A hilariously wacky story

Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez

Everyone knows that that the invertebrates of Neptune are the most intelligent minds in the galaxy. That’s how, years ago, a bored mollusk from Neptune was able to conquer the Earth and set himself up as Warlord. To subdue the planet he had to use a few nasty tricks such as doping the water supply with anti-aggression drugs, but now that he has all of humanity under his tentacle, Emperor Mollusk is actually a pretty swell guy and he has even developed a soft spot (or should I say “softer spot”) for planet Earth,

The Springsweet: Appealing YA historical fantasy

The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell

The Springsweet is a young adult historical fantasy set in the late nineteenth century, mainly in the Oklahoma Territory. It’s also a sequel to Saundra Mitchell’s 2011 novel The Vespertine, though I didn’t realize that when I ordered it. So the caveat to my review is that I read The Springsweet without that background. How does it hold up on its own? Quite well, actually.

The heroine is Zora Stewart,

Rules of Ascension: A pleasant surprise

Rules of Ascension by David B. Coe

I picked up Rules of Ascension randomly from the library. I was wandering around the shelves and saw the guy on the cover and thought, “huh, he’s oddly white…” This sealed the deal. I had to learn more about the abnormally white guy on the cover (isn’t my thought process fascinating?). It was rather exciting to pick up a book I had never heard of and knew nothing about. The experience paid off. I didn’t have high hopes for this book,

April 7th, 2012. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 4 | David B. Coe | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Arctic Rising: A fast-paced near-future technothriller

Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell

Tobias Buckell offers up a fast-paced near-future technothriller in his latest novel, Arctic Rising. Two strong main characters, an intriguing and just-detailed-enough future setting, and crisp, clear prose make it mostly a winner, with only a few flaws to spoil the fun.

Arctic Rising takes place roughly 50 years from now, by which time global warming has freed up most of the northern ocean, meaning the long-sought Northwest Passage is finally open for business.

April 6th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Tobias Buckell | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Witches Abroad: A fine DISCWORLD novel

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

People have been telling me to read Terry Pratchett’s DISCWORLD books for ages, but I was always a bit intimidated by the sheer number of books he has produced. Finally, I decided to just start reading them in publication order. I have advanced to Witches Abroad, the twelfth book in publication order and the third book featuring the witches. At this point Pratchett’s got me firmly hooked. The Witches are not my favourite set of characters — I consider Guards!

April 2nd, 2012. Rob Weber´s rating: 4 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Dear Creature by Jonathan Case

Dear Creature by Jonathan Case

So here I am, fresh off a review where I admit that it seems graphic stories just aren’t for me, and lo and behold, here comes one that proves the exception to what has been a pretty consistent rule. Jonathan Case’s Dear Creature is a wonderfully quirky story that nicely mixes humor, pathos, 50s monster movie nostalgia, and a heaping portion of Shakespeare. And it all works.

Set in a California coastal town during the early 60s,

March 30th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Spellbound: A perfect example of how good audio can get

Spellbound by Larry Correia

“You’re Heavy Jake Sullivan, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
“I was afraid of that.”

Larry Correia delivers another exciting magical alternate history with Spellbound, the second of his GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES. After Jake Sullivan and the gang took care of the German zombies, the Japanese Iron Guard, and Nikola Tesla’s peace ray in Hard Magic, the magicals are needed again to thwart new threats to the country. This is hard to do,

Rating: 4

The Troupe: Why isn’t everyone reading this guy?

The Golden Age: A worthy read

The Thorn and the Blossom: On the Edge

Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain: A hilariously wacky story

The Springsweet: Appealing YA historical fantasy

Rules of Ascension: A pleasant surprise

Arctic Rising: A fast-paced near-future technothriller

Witches Abroad: A fine DISCWORLD novel

Dear Creature by Jonathan Case

Spellbound: A perfect example of how good audio can get

Subscribe to all posts:

You can subscribe to our new posts via email, email digest, browser notifications, RSS, etc. You can filter by tag, keyword, post author, etc. We won't share your email address with anyone and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

Support FanLit

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Subscribe to all comments: