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Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict
The only good thing about gods is that they prefer their realm to ours.
Lyn Benedict also writes political-intrigue fantasy under the name Lane Robins. I learned this before starting Sins & Shadows, and I’ve been wondering ever since whether I’d have figured it out if I hadn’t known. The setting, plot, and prose style are completely different from the Lane Robins books, but there are some echoes in the general themes: love,
May 22nd, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Lyn Benedict | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James Ward
I first encountered James Ward when he wrote the best-selling Pools books for the FORGOTTEN REALMS shared world. When I came across Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, I just had to pick it up. I didn’t regret the decision.
The story is about young Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, a sixteen year old boy, late to his magical powers, who must learn to serve his country on a dragonship of the line. Much of the story is reminiscent of the Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S.
May 22nd, 2009. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 4 | James Ward | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout
Stop. Look closely. Look beyond the typically stylish urban fantasy cover (the one with the nicely built young woman holding her weapon of choice with an air of defiant competence). Look beyond the title that’s both serious and punny. Inside, through pages inked with the shadows of ravens, you’ll watch the long-foretold cataclysm of Ragnarok as it rolls in a relentless wave from the dry, gray plains of Hel to… the dry, black asphalt of a California parking lot. And if you’re partial to Norse mythology or urban tales driven by fascinating characters and laser-crisp writing,
May 21st, 2009. Rob Rhodes and Greg Hersom´s rating: 3, 4 | Greg Van_Eekhout | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Seven for a Secret by Elizabeth Bear
In 1938, in an alternate London occupied by the conquering German-Prussian empire, the ancient vampire Sebastien, attended by his ‘court’ of servants, awaits the death of his lover, the venerable sorceress, Abigail Irene. One night, however, two teenage girls — cadets in one of the empire’s schools and each a seventh daughter — pique the vampire’s curiosity. Sebastien and Abigail Irene begin to investigate the girls’ backgrounds and the school’s true activities, even as the girls progress toward an unorthodox graduation that will transform them into the empire’s ultimate stormtroopers.
May 20th, 2009. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 4 | Elizabeth Bear | SFF Reviews | no comments |
After the high standards of Inda, the prequel to Sherwood Smith’s The Fox, it was next to impossible to be better this time. But, still, Smith delivers a quality second book in the series.
After the drama of the first book, Inda was left at sea after being forced from his homeland. Smith had really run Inda through a ragged race of events while growing him slowly into the man he would become. That process continues in The Fox.
May 19th, 2009. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Sherwood Smith | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine
Blurbs for Salt and Silver use the word “romp” often enough that I was expecting something in the vein of paranormal chick lit. I was surprised, then, by the dark places Salt and Silver goes, and Anna Katherine‘s ability to both scare the daylights out of me and break my heart.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, given that the whole story is about going to, well, Hell.
Our heroine is Allie,
May 17th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Anna Katherine | SFF Reviews | no comments |
“It’s not death that allows us to understand one another, but poetry.”
Lavinia, wife of Aeneas, is silent in Virgil’s Aeneid. In the novel Lavinia, Ursula Le Guin gives a voice and a story to this nearly obscure figure.
I loved the prose from page one. Le Guin’s skill with the English language is unquestionable. Here’s a sample from early in the novel:
Like Spartan Helen,
May 13th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Ursula K. Le-Guin | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian is Rick Riordan’s conclusion to the well-received Percy Jackson series which involves the attempt by Kronos, the titan displaced ages ago by Zeus and the other Olympians, to rally his fellow titans, as well as assorted monsters, demigods, and disgruntled minor gods, to take down the Olympians and their allies, especially the Olympians’ children — the demigods of Camp Half-Blood led by Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon), Annabeth (daughter of Athena), and Grover (a satyr).
As one might expect of the concluding book,
May 12th, 2009. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood
Although I generally don’t like reviewing the second book in a trilogy, (middle books often seem to just be filler) I just had to write about Ed Greenwood’s Swords of Dragonfire which continues the early exploits of the Knights of Myth Drannor, some of Greenwood’s more interesting characters. A roaming band of adventurers, loyal to the crown of Cormyr, the Knights are perhaps some of the most successful bunglers in the history of the Forgotten Realms.
May 11th, 2009. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 4 | Ed Greenwood | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I thought Scar Night, the first book in Alan Campbell’s Deepgate Codex, never really reached its potential in terms of story, character, or richness of imagination and detail. It had enough to keep my interest piqued in the series, but I can’t say I was holding my breath for book two.
Iron Angel picks up slightly after the events of Scar Night and continues the major story arc.
May 11th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Alan Campbell | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.
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