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The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (on audio)
In The Dragon Reborn, Rand finally starts to discover his new talents. Unfortunately, we don’t get to watch that happen. We only see a few glimpses of him learning to use his power. It makes me wonder if it was just easier for Jordan to show us the newly developed Rand rather than to explain how he got that way.
A couple of times here (and in later books) we’re told that Rand doesn’t really know how he wields the power — he just does.
December 21st, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
To briefly bring you up to date: the five-part Percy Jackson series revolves around updated versions of the Greek gods and their half-blood children. With Olympus currently situated in New York, many of the gods’ children (who often don’t know who their godly parent is, having been raised by their mortal one) attend Camp Half-Blood where they can learn to control their abilities and fend off the monsters that they attract like magnets. Percy’s coming-of-age story involves him undertaking number of dangerous quests to defeat the growing power of Kronos,
December 8th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Paper Cities by Ekaterina Sedia
Bring up urban fantasy nowadays and most readers will probably assume that you’re talking about such authors as Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon and so on, but in this new anthology from Senses Five Press, which is edited by Ekaterina Sedia, Paper Cities reveals that Urban Fantasy has actually been around for almost two hundred years and can be traced as far back as the Arabian Nights.
December 7th, 2008. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Barth Anderson, Ben Peek, Cat Rambo, Catherynne M. Valente, Ekaterina Sedia, Greg Van_Eekhout, Hal Duncan, Jay Lake, Kaaron Warren, Mark Teppo, Vylar Kaftan | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham
The Cities of the Khaiem shine like jewels in the East, and the brightest is the port of Saraykeht. The realm’s profitable cotton trade flows through the city, quickened by the artistry of the poet Heshai. For in the East, a poet’s art can become incarnate as a powerful spirit-slave (andat), and it is on the shoulders of Heshai, master of the andat Seedless, that the weight of Saraykeht’s continuing prosperity balances… a weight outsiders would gladly topple.
In these delicate times, first-time novelist Daniel Abraham chronicles the poignant choices of a handful of characters seldom seen in the “fantasy”
December 2nd, 2008. Rob Rhodes, Kat Hooper and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Daniel Abraham | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
It took me a little while to get fully engrossed in Blood Bargain, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. Maria Lima’s second Blood Lines novel is even better than the first, a fun and sometimes poignant paranormal treat.
Once again, there’s trouble in Rio Seco, and Keira Kelly finds herself embroiled in it. Her vampire boyfriend Adam is showing alarming signs of weakness, and at the same time, Keira is drawn into two missing-persons cases that seem unconnected on the surface but may in fact be linked.
November 25th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Maria Lima | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Truth be told, I wasn’t hugely impressed with the first Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief. It was entertaining, yes, but somewhat convoluted, derivative and predictable. Well, with Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, I take it all back. With a more rewarding plot, stronger characterization, and smoother pacing, the second book in the five-part series is an improvement in every respect.
Percy Jackson has recently discovered that his missing father is none other than the sea god Poseidon,
November 15th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Here’s another really fun installment of The Wheel of Time. Like The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt kept me thoroughly entertained. Everything I said in the review above goes for this book, too. It’s fast-paced and full of plot. I think this is the best book in the series.
We get to meet some excellent secondary heroes and villains in The Great Hunt — Egeanin and the Seanchan from across the sea who use captured and chained women with power to fight for them,
November 15th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook
In my review of Glen Cook’s first book in the Instrumentalities of the Night series, I bemoaned the lack of a map. Somehow, my opinion managed to go unheard and/or unheeded and so I’ll start again by asking if it would be too much to include a map in a book that jumps among a slew of kingdoms, countries, islands, and petty territories.
As a long-time fan of “epic” fantasy, I consider myself pretty well-versed in how to handle sweeping geography,
November 14th, 2008. Bill Capossere, John Hulet and Robert Thompson´s rating: 3, 4 | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
I had been hearing good things about Rick Riordan’s young adult fantasy series, but it wasn’t until a half-price sale at the bookstore and the release of the movie (which I still haven’t seen) that I finally decided to catch up with the bandwagon. I knew that it followed the basic premise of the typical coming-of-age drama in a fantasy setting, in which a troubled youngster discovers that he has innate power and a lot of trouble to go with it. To harness his power,
November 8th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk
Magic to the Bone is a breath of fresh air in the urban fantasy genre, in much the same way that Ilona Andrews‘ Kate Daniels series is a breath of fresh air. Instead of the same tired werewolf/vampire soap opera that so many novels perpetuate, Magic to the Bone is more concerned with the ramifications of adding magic to modern society and exploring the realistic consequences. Magic, in Devon Monk’s universe, has been recently discovered,
November 2nd, 2008. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Devon Monk | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.…
It would give me very great pleasure to personally destroy every single copy of those first two J. J. Abrams…
Agree! And a perfect ending, too.