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Lady of Light and Shadows by C.L. Wilson
Lady of Light and Shadows is the second volume in C.L. Wilson’s romantic fantasy epic, Tairen Soul. Like the previous novel, Lord of the Fading Lands, Lady of Light and Shadows is a fun guilty pleasure. Ellysetta and Rain may be a little over the top in terms of their powers, treading close to Mary Sue territory, but I’m enjoying the heck out of their story anyway.
October 16th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | C.L. Wilson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Imager’s Challenge by L.E. Modesitt Jr
I really looked forward to L.E. Modesitt‘s return to the Imager series. The first book, Imager, was typical Modesitt fare, but it felt like he was trying out some new stuff. In Imager’s Challenge, I felt like we went right back to where we were before Imager.
After the events of Imager, Rhennthyl, the main character, had been through the typical Modesitt transition.
October 7th, 2009. John Hulet and Stefan Raets´s rating: 2.5, 4 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
Science has discovered inter-dimensional travel and the other-dimensional world of Ankhanna, which we call Overworld. And like all most discoveries, it’s not long before someone figures out how to cash in. Big corporations create the ultimate reality entertainment by sending “actors” to Overworld on adventures for the masses to experience via cyber linkups for the elite who can afford them or by just watching through good ol’ fashioned video. Harri Michaelson, as the ruthless Caine, is by far the most popular “actor” on Earth and the most famous assassin in Ankhanna.
October 6th, 2009. Greg Hersom´s rating: 4 | Matthew Woodring Stover | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Canticle, the follow-up to Ken Scholes’ Lamentation, shares some of the same flaws and strengths as the first novel, including a rough start, but like its predecessor overcomes its flaws to turn into an engrossing, if not action-packed, novel.
Canticle picks up a few months after the events of Lamentation. It’s Scholes’ concerted effort to recap those events that makes the opening somewhat flawed,
October 5th, 2009. Bill Capossere and Robert Thompson´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Ken Scholes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Quatrain is a collection of four novellas, each one set in a different one of Sharon Shinn’s worlds. Ranging from fantasy to science fiction, the stories take place in radically different societies, but each novella is a different look at a person trying to find their own place in a world that is not to their liking. Each main character ends up examining their own priorities and their desire to find love and happiness in less than ideal situations. The varied responses to those dilemmas are as different as the characters and the worlds they are set in.
October 5th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Sharon Shinn | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A.J. Hartley is best known as a writer of best-selling mystery-thriller novels, as a distinguished professor of Shakespeare in the English Department at University of North Carolina, and as editor of the Shakespeare Bulletin published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Dr. Hartley’s theater expertise is readily apparent in Act of Will, the first book of his first fantasy series.
It’s Will Hawthorne’s 18th birthday and he is finally a man. Today he hopes to be promoted to playing male parts and penning plays for his acting company.
October 2nd, 2009. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | A.J. Hartley | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines
In The Stepsister Scheme, Jim Hines introduced us, or rather, re-introduced us, to three of the best-known fairy-tale characters: Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, known respectively in the book as Snow, Danielle, and Talia. When Talia used her deadly fighting skills to save Danielle from a murderous attack by one of Danielle’s step-sisters, then joins with Danielle (wielding a glass sword) and Snow White (wielding mirror magic learned at her evil stepmother’s hands) to rescue Danielle’s kidnapped husband, Prince Armand,
September 29th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Jim C. Hines | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover
My inner curmudgeon nearly set Darker Angels aside at about the halfway point. “I don’t get this book!” said the curmudgeon. “The voodoo’s all wrong. Legba isn’t an evil serial killer! The good guys’ plan doesn’t quite add up, and is pretty unethical besides. And the interpersonal drama just ate the plot for lunch!”
“Sit down and shut up,” said M.L.N. Hanover. “I’m telling a story here.”
OK, so I’ve never met M.L.N. Hanover, and he didn’t literally say that,
September 25th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | M.L.N. Hanover | SFF Reviews | no comments |
CLASSIFICATION: Set in an alternate history Seattle, sometime around the year 1880, Boneshaker is a steampunk-flavored adventure that incorporates elements of zombie horror, pulp fiction and post-apocalyptic retrofuturism. Think The Wild Wild West meets Fallout (a videogame series) meets George Romero…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 416 pages divided over 28 numbered chapters, an Epilogue, and an excerpt from Unlikely Episodes in Western History which serves as the prologue. The book also includes a map and an Author’s Note regarding the historical and geographical liberties taken in the novel.
September 25th, 2009. Robert Thompson, Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sphinx’s Princess by Esther Friesner
Nefertiti has had a wonderful childhood, living with her adoring father, stepmother, and half sister. She is the beauty of her small country town on the Nile River, and has the gift of dance as well as a desire to learn to do something almost no women can do — write and read.
But Nefertiti’s life takes a sharp curve when her aunt, the great Pharaoh’s wife, decides that she is beautiful enough to wed to her son Thutmose, the crown prince of Egypt. Before she knows it,
September 21st, 2009. Guest´s rating: 4 | Esther Friesner | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.
I like the way you think, Bill. I found the second one particularly objectionable; the one with Khan. It was…
I find if I take every Trek reference out of them (the title, the character names, the ship names, etc.),…
I loved this deep dive into Edwige Fenech's Giallo films! Her performances add such a unique flavor to the genre.…