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Magic on the Hunt by Devon Monk
Magic on the Hunt begins with a cute domestic scene; Allie and Zayvion play rock-paper-scissors in bed. The loser has to get out of the nice warm bed and make breakfast for the other. It’s such a sweet moment, and the two characters are so constantly in crisis mode that we don’t get nearly enough of these.
Unsurprisingly, the idyll doesn’t last very long, and it’s business as usual for the embattled magic users of Portland. And by business as usual,
April 12th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Devon Monk | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy
Archaeologist Elizabeth Butler has a secret: she can see the shades of people from the past, going about their daily activities. This talent has led to plenty of “lucky hunches” in her career but also to questions about her sanity. Normally she just sees the past scenes playing out in front of her but cannot affect them in any way. But while excavating the Maya city of Dzibilchaltún, she encounters a shade who can speak to her: Zuhuy-kak, a priestess of the Maya moon goddess. The Maya believed that time is cyclic,
April 10th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Pat Murphy | Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman
Refugees from Earth colonized the planet Erna some 1200 years ago. Excepting its extremely high seismic activity, Erna seemed a hospitable planet for mankind to call home. However, soon after our arrival a terrible threat was discovered. A natural force of energy called the fae animated the thoughts and emotions of all living things, so that our very nightmares could be brought to life. This almost destroyed us. Then, some humans figured out how to manipulate the fae to become sorcerers. A religion was created, too,
April 6th, 2011. Greg Hersom and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5, 4 | C.S. Friedman | SFF Reviews | 12 comments |
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
Written in 1894, Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan is a short novel which was highly influential to H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. King, in fact, said The Great God Pan is “…one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn’t anywhere near that good…” The Great God Pan used to be hard to find, but is now available free on the Kindle (and at other public domain e-book outlets) and is easily read in one dark and rainy evening.
April 5th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Arthur Machen | Free!, Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham
As I’ve said previously in my reviews, I’d place Daniel Abraham’s THE LONG PRICE QUARTET among the top four or five fantasy series of the past decade. So when his new series, entitled THE DAGGER AND THE COIN, was announced, I was more than eager to see what he would do for a follow-up. I was not disappointed. The first book in the series, The Dragon’s Path, is one of my favorite reads so far this year and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t make it onto my year’s best list at the end.
April 4th, 2011. Bill Capossere, Tim Scheidler, Terry Weyna, Robert Thompson and Jason Golomb´s rating: 4 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Pursuit of the Houseboat by John Kendrick Bangs
At the end of John Kendrick Bangs’ A House-boat on the Styx, the men went ashore to watch Goliath fight Samson, leaving the houseboat untended. So the ladies, headed by Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth, took the opportunity to trespass. While they were playing pool below decks, the pirate Captain Kidd and his crew, unaware that the ladies were aboard, hijacked the boat and set out for Europe so they could do some looting.
As The Pursuit of the Houseboat opens,
April 3rd, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | John Kendrick Bangs | SFF Reviews | no comments |
My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent
My Soul to Keepdeals with the issue of drug abuse, but if you’re worried it will be a preachy Very Special Episode type of story, worry no more. Rachel Vincent raises the book above that level — both by allowing the damage to strike very close to home for Kaylee and by placing the issue in an enthralling plot — so that it never feels like a simplistic “drugs are bad, mmmkay” fable.
In My Soul to Save,
April 2nd, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Rachel Vincent | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier
[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.]
Two themes drive Kevin Brockmeier’s The Illumination. The first is a fantasy motif, placing this novel right on the line that separates the best fantasy from the genre-that-won’t-admit-it’s-a-genre, i.e., the literary novel.
April 1st, 2011. Terry Weyna and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Kevin Brockmeier | Edge | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Tiassa is the thirteenth Vlad Taltos novel by Steven Brust, and counting Brokedown Palace and The Khaavren Romances, the nineteenth book to date set in Dragaera. Over on tor.com (where this review was also published), Jo Walton has written an excellent series of blog posts about the series so far so I won’t waste your time trying to summarize this amazing series and instead direct you to Jo’s spoiler-free introduction just in case you’re new to Dragaera.
April 1st, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Steven Brust | SFF Reviews | 11 comments |
Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell
CLASSIFICATION: Sea of Ghosts is a nautical-themed epic fantasy that reminded me a of cross between Robert V.S. Redick’s accessible Chathrand Voyage series and the grittier works of Glen Cook, James Clemens and Alan Campbell’s very own Deepgate Codex, while the book’s magic system brought to mind Mark Charan Newton and Ken Scholes. Recommended for fans of Brandon Sanderson, Robert V.S.
March 31st, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Alan Campbell | 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,…