Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 4

Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended:
Not Recommended:



testing

Moon over Soho: Witty, gripping, creepy, tense

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

A promising jazz drummer is found dead of a heart attack shortly after playing a gig in London. At first, the only odd circumstance surrounding his death is the fact that Peter Grant, apprentice wizard and police constable, faintly hears the notes of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” rising from the corpse, indicating that magic was somehow involved in the musician’s death. However, when further research reveals that several jazz musicians have died in similar circumstances over the years, it suddenly becomes much more urgent for Peter and his supervisor Thomas Nightingale to find out what’s really going on…


Read More




testing

The Winds of Khalakovo: Unique setting, unpredictable story

The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu

FORMAT/INFO: The Winds of Khalakovo is 464 pages long divided over two Parts and 67 numbered chapters. Also includes a Dramatis Personae and maps of the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya and the Duchy of Khalakovo. Narration is in the third person via Prince Nikandr Iaroslov Khalakovo; his lover, the Aramahn Rehada Ulan al Shineshka; and Nikandr’s betrothed, Princess Atiana Radieva Vostroma. The Winds of Khalakovo is somewhat self-contained, concluding the novel’s major storylines, but it is the first of three planned books in The Lays of Anuskaya series.


Read More




testing

A House-Boat on the Styx: Bangsian fantasy

A House Boat on the Styx by John Kendrick Bangs

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American humorist who edited some popular American magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and Puck. His satirical novella A House-Boat on the Styx (1895) is responsible for the term Bangsian Fantasy, which refers to stories about famous people in the afterlife (e.g., Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series).

In A House-Boat on the Styx, Charon the ferryman is dismayed to discover that he’s got some competition in the transportation business — a posh new riverboat has appeared on the Styx and there’s no way his craft can compete.


Read More




testing

Clarity: Solid YA paranormal mystery

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Clarity, the debut novel by (the confusingly named) Kim Harrington, is a solid young adult mystery with a paranormal twist. Clarity, called Clare, comes from a family of psychics. She possesses the power of psychometry, while her mother is a telepath and her brother can speak to the spirits of the dead. They live in Eastport, a picturesque Cape Cod tourist town, and do readings for the tourists. The locals see Clare as a freak.

Clare’s life is shaken up one summer when a pretty young tourist is murdered and the prime suspect is someone very close to home.


Read More




testing

A Madness of Angels: The magical soul of London

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

I think maybe I love Kate Griffin’s A Madness of Angels. It’s a mature love, too, not just a crush, because I can see the faults in the thing and I love it anyway. It’s a hard book to write about without spoiling the fun for everyone, so instead of discussing the plot I will focus on what I loved.

I love Griffin’s view of magic. Reviewers compare A Madness of Angels to Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere,


Read More




testing

Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales

Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Fairy tales were my first love when I was a child. My mother introduced me to the joys of stories with The Golden Book of Fairy Tales long before I learned how to read. My early reading included the first three volumes of The Junior Classics and Andrew Lang’s colorful fairy tale books. When Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling started editing anthologies of new takes on the old tales for adults with Snow White,


Read More




testing

City of Hope and Despair: A new twist on old ingredients

City of Hope and Despair by Ian Whates

In City of Dreams and Nightmares, Ian Whates introduced us to Thaiburley, a mountain city where the rich literally live at the top of the mountain and the poor make do in the City Below. When Tom, a street-nick with a burgeoning gift for magic, ran afoul of a scheming arkademic, Magnus, he only just managed to escape being killed at the hands of Magnus’ versatile assassin, Dewar. Give credit where it’s due, Tom survived thanks to Kat,


Read More




testing

Rogue Oracle: Scared the bejabbers out of me

Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

I have a deep-seated fear of nuclear disaster. If you made a list of Things that Freak Kelly Out, it’d be right up there. I can’t help it — I’m a product of my times. The Chernobyl disaster occurred when I was a child, and I knew just enough about nuclear meltdown to know that it was bad. Really bad. I still remember being sure — but being too afraid to ask and confirm my guess — that the reactor would just keep burning until it destroyed the whole world.


Read More




testing

River Marked: Is Mercy finally going to get a break?

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson has been through a lot. Patricia Briggs has not spared her heroine anything and, in River Marked, if feels like Mercy is finally going to get a break… This feeling, however, is not to last…

The first quarter of River Marked focuses on Mercy’s plans to marry alpha werewolf Adam Hauptmann. She’s also still dealing with some of the lingering problems from previous books, like the recovery of her vampire friend Stefan and her continued adjustment to being a coyote in a wolf pack.


Read More




testing

Shadowmarch: Good start, and it is just a start

Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

Shadowmarch is the start of yet another epic fantasy trilogy by one of the genre’s better known authors. While I wouldn’t personally equate Shadowmarch with Tad Wiliams‘ earlier masterpiece (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn), it does stand above much of what is being written today. As is typical of fantasy, for that matter most genre novels, there are echoes of earlier works by the same author and other works by different authors.


Read More




Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8496 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:


You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US          UK         CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!
Try Audible for Free

Recent Discussion:

  1. Bill Capossere
  2. Marion Deeds