Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 4

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The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World: Fabulous narration

The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World by Harry Harrison

Listen to the beginning of The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World here.

Slippery Jim DiGriz is back. Back in time, that is. The evil villain who calls himself “He” has been using time travel to try to rid the world of the Special Corp (including Jim and Angelina) by eliminating them before they were even born. As his world is quickly fading in front of his eyes, Jim jumps back to a planet called “Dirt” (that’s Earth) in their year 1975 so he can kill He before He can work His evil plan.

Nightshade: A thought-provoking YA paranormal series

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Nightshade is yet another addition to the burgeoning YA paranormal genre, but stands out for several reasons, including its creative premise. It centers on the Guardians (essentially werewolves but with a few vampire traits as well), who are powerful compared to humans but are themselves enslaved by a race of witches called the Keepers. The Keepers rule most of the world from behind the scenes. But in Vail, where 17-year-old Guardian Calla Tor lives, their dominance is overt.

All I knew going in was that this was a werewolf novel with a love triangle,

The Horns of Ruin: I can’t wait for the sequels

The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers

I enjoy steampunk novels. The alternate technology amuses me. When a stream of magic is blended into it as well, a steampunk world is a great place to set a story. The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers has just such a setting.

Eva Forge is the last Paladin of Morgan, the God of War and the Hunt. He fought many battles, won many wars, and then was killed by his own brother, also a God. The followers of Morgan were once numerous and powerful.

December 13th, 2010. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Tim Akers | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Valentine’s Resolve: Like a favorite TV show

Valentine’s Resolve by E.E. Knight

Some time has passed since the end of Valentine’s Exile, and in Valentine’s Resolve David Valentine is still in exile. He has spent many months wandering the Kurian zone exacting revenge on “Quisling” scum. When Styachowski and Duvalier find him in a remote outpost, he is alone, filthy, and just a little bitter. His former comrades convince him to take on a special mission for Southern Command. They need the help of the Lifeweavers and they believe Valentine may be the only one capable of finding them.

The Wolf’s Hour: Still vivid after 20 years

The Wolf’s Hour by Robert McCammon

As the Allied forces plan for D-Day, rumors surface within covert operations that the Nazis may have a final, deadly ace in the hole. With so much depending on the Allied invasion, the very best agent must be sent deep into enemy territory to thwart whatever it is that the Nazis have in store. What makes this British spy so special is that Michael Gallatin is a werewolf.

The Wolf’s Hour was originally published just over two decades ago and I read the mass market paperback way back then.

December 8th, 2010. Greg Hersom´s rating: 4 | Robert McCammon | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Pathfinder: A great way to steer YAs toward SFF

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

Rigg is a 13-year-old boy who lives in seclusion with his father, surviving as a trapper and only occasionally going to the nearest town to sell animals’ pelts. He is successful as a trapper in part because he has a unique ability: he can see the “paths” people and animals have taken, in the form of a colored trail that stretches behind them, showing where they’ve been. This way, he can track almost anything — “almost” because the only person who doesn’t have a trail is his father…

In The Dark of Dreams: So long, winter!

In The Dark of Dreams by Marjorie M. Liu

In the beautifully written prologue to In the Dark of Dreams, a young human girl meets a mer-boy on the beach near her family home. The moment is brief and the two are torn away from each other, but they never forget each other and see each other in dreams for many years afterward.

Fast-forward to the present: Jenny (the girl) and Perrin (the boy) have both grown to adulthood and have picked up their share of physical and emotional scars along the way.

December 6th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Marjorie M. Liu | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Red Pyramid: Why mess with a good thing?

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid (2011), by Rick Riordan, starts readers off on a new series intermingling ancient mythology, today’s world, and snappy young teens. In this case, though, the mythology is Egyptian, not Greek as in his Percy Jackson series (or Roman, as in the newest addition to that series) and the young teens aren’t the sons and daughters of gods but are instead possessed by them (if that doesn’t seem like much of a difference, it’s because it really isn’t as the story plays out).

Tiger Eye: A great deal of depth and emotion

Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu

Having enjoyed Marjorie M. Liu’s Hunter Kiss urban fantasy series, I decided to look into her paranormal romance series, Dirk & Steele.

Tiger Eye is the first novel in the Dirk & Steele sequence. The heroine, Dela Reese, is a sculptor with a psychic affinity for metal. On a trip to China, she buys a mysterious riddle box and finds herself bound to Hari, an immortal shapeshifter, by magical forces beyond their control.

December 1st, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Marjorie M. Liu | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Greyfriar: Wonderful first installment

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith

The Greyfriar, an interesting blend of steampunk, alternate history and paranormal fantasy, introduces us to a British Empire that has relocated to North Africa after a hugely successful assault by organized armies of vampires. Humankind now lives in areas of the globe that offer the greatest chance for survival and resistance to the vampire threat. (This felt very much like the setting of S.M. Stirling’s The Peshawar Lancers in which Britain relocates to India after England was destroyed by a comet.)

The Vampires in The Greyfriar are similar to humans;

November 30th, 2010. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Clay and Susan Griffith | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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