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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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My Swordhand is Singing: Refreshingly old-fashioned

My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

Are you sick of wannabe vampires who sparkle rather than self-combust in the sunlight, and who mope around high schools instead of stalking the terrified living in order to slake their never-ending thirst for blood? I know I am, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed Marcus Sedgwick‘s My Swordhand is Singing, a vampire tale that does away with modern interpretations of lovelorn emo-vamps and instead draws upon the oldest known records of these creatures in order to shape its chilling story.


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December 29th, 2010. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

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Bitter Seeds: A dark story of a dark time in human history

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

Ian Tregillis takes the notion of an alternate history of World War II to new heights in his first novel, Bitter Seeds. The weapons Germany and England bring to bear on the conflict include not just men and guns, but also magical forces. Germany has developed psychic powers in certain individuals, powered by batteries wired into their brains; the powers vary from individual to individual, but include the ability to become invisible and impervious to weapons; the ability to see the future;


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December 28th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Nocturne: A curl-up-on-a-cold-night book

Nocturne by Syrie James

When it’s snowy and blustery out, there are two kinds of books I really love to read: books that whisk me away to a balmy paradise, and books that are set in a snowstorm so that the real weather enhances the mood of the novel. Nocturne is one of the latter, taking place in the Colorado Rockies during a blizzard.

Twenty-nine-year-old Nicole is driving back from a friend’s wedding when she crashes her rental car in the aforementioned snowstorm. She is rescued by Michael, a reclusive man who lives alone in his palatial mountain home.


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December 28th, 2010. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

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Tuck: A warm and memorable portrayal

Tuck by Stephen Lawhead

This is the third and final part in The Raven King trilogy, begun with Stephen Lawhead’s Hood and continued in Scarlet. After publication was delayed for a period of time due to illness, Tuck finally concludes the story in a satisfactorily, though perhaps slightly anti-climactically, way. The key concept behind this particular version of Robin Hood is that it proposes to be the “real” story behind the legends, based on events that originated in Wales and which went on to inspire the later bards and minstrels.


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December 27th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Devices and Desires: Parker has a unique cynical voice

Devices and Desires by K.J. Parker

How could I not automatically love a book where the first line is: “The quickest way to a man’s heart,’ said the instructor, ‘is proverbially through his stomach. But if you want to get into his brain, I recommend the eye-socket.” It was love at first sight. K.J. Parker’s Devices and Desires is a complex, quickly moving book that is filled with what I am quickly discovering to be Parker’s unique, cynical voice (and I do love dry cynicism).


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December 26th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Eagle’s Brood: Fine historical adventure

The Eagle’s Brood by Jack Whyte

The Eagle’s Brood, by Jack Whyte, is the third book in the A Dream of Eagles series (Camulod Chronicles, in America) and it does something that up to this point has been unthinkable: characters that are recognizably from Arthurian legend take center stage.

For two novels, Whyte’s take on the Arthurian legend has focused on the exploits of Publius Varrus and his visionary general Caius Britannicus. Now, a new generation has taken over, one including Uther Pendragon and Caius Merlyn Britannicus.


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December 25th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Odysseus: A straightforward adaptation

Odysseus by Geraldine McCaughrean

This, the forth and final book in Geraldine McCaughrean’s stories of Greek heroes, (preceded by Perseus, Hercules  and Theseus) is the only one based on actual literature: Homer’s Odyssey. As such, McCaughrean does not have to pick and choose aspects of convoluted and often contradictory myths; her source material has already been written, providing a fairly linear sequence of events. As such, the stories concerning Odysseus have always been more straightforward than those of his peers.


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December 24th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Deathbird Stories: This 35 year-old collection has aged well

Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison®

If Harlan Ellison’s afterword from 2010 is to be believed, Deathbird Stories is a short story collection about the merits of religion and the religious. Given that Ellison is perhaps as confrontational as he is influential in sci-fi circles, we can expect him to crush eggshells as he goes. However, with a few exceptions (“Bleeding Stone,” for example) these stories tend to examine the values and ideas that we have placed at the forefront of our society. In short, Ellison explores the West’s changing values and the new deities of the 20th century.


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December 22nd, 2010. ´s rating: | | , , | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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The Secret Country: A role-player’s dream

The Secret Country by Pamela Dean

The Secret Country is a fun fantasy about five teenagers and pre-teens who accidentally stumble into the fantasy world that they themselves created in play. Unfortunately, they are their normal selves, not their powerful alter egos, and so they are in a magical medieval kingdom without magical abilities, weapons skills, or even decent horsemanship. And the catch is that everyone expects them to know these things, since their characters do! This book is a role-player’s dream, and perhaps nightmare as well.

They get by,


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December 22nd, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Of Love and Evil: I was pleasantly surprised

Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice

I started Of Love and Evil with modest expectations. I’d been underwhelmed with the previous Songs of the Seraphim novel, Angel Time. I’m also increasingly annoyed with the trend toward publishing extremely slender books in hardcover. As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised by Of Love and Evil. (I still think it makes a pretty skinny hardcover, though, at 192 pages.)

When we last saw Toby O’Dare, he had just learned that,


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December 15th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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