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The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
I think Lois McMaster Bujold has exactly the right idea with the Chalion series. Each book stands alone, but if you have read the first one (Curse of Chalion), you get all the background material you need to understand the geographical, political, and religious systems of her world. This means that later books (Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt) can have fresh new characters and plots,
April 26th, 2008. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5, 4 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Anna Latham may be a rare Omega werewolf (as opposed to an Alpha/pack leader), but it hasn’t done her a bit of good. Abused and degraded by her Chicago pack, she’s at once freed and claimed by Charles, a strapping son of the Marrok (the North American werewolf lord) with rare abilities of his own. Anna returns with Charles to the Montana wilderness, both eager and hesitant to begin her life anew; but even the Marrok’s home territory isn’t exempt from the prowling of a rogue werewolf — and an even older and more sinister evil…
April 19th, 2008. Rob Rhodes and John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Patricia Briggs | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Wizard Alone is yet another Young Wizards book that maintains the high level set by the first few in the series. While not quite as dark as the previous one, where (and if you haven’t read Wizard’s Dilemma then quit reading this review if you don’t want the end spoiled) Nita’ s mother dies, A Wizard Alone maintains a level of solemnity appropriate to what has come just before.
The title could refer to any of the three major characters.
April 19th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Diane Duane | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis
Black Magic Woman begins in Salem, during the infamous witch trials, as a convicted witch utters a curse against her accuser. From there, we cut to the present time, and to a riveting vampire hunt in rural Texas. We are introduced to Quincey Morris, who is sort of a freelance paranormal investigator and vigilante, and also the direct descendant of the Quincey Morris who appears in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (In this universe, Dracula was a true story and Morris a real man,
April 10th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Justin Gustainis | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lyra’s Oxford by Philip Pullman
Everything Means Something…
First of all, if you have not read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, then don’t attempt to read this story, as you’ll be utterly baffled. But if you have, you’ll be treated with another glimpse into the parallel Oxford that Pullman so vividly created and explored in Northern Lights/The Golden Compass.
The book itself is beautifully presented, bound in cloth and filled with engravings of the city by John Lawrence,
April 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Philip Pullman | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Dragon Rider is an early Cornelia Funke novel brought to the U.S. after the success of hermore recent The Thief Lord and Inkheart. Dragon Rider begins with a young dragon named Firedrake who starts off on a quest for the Rim of Heaven, a possibly mythical land where Firedrake and his fellow dragons hope to flee to in order to escape encroaching mankind whose earth-moving machines are on their way.
April 5th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Cornelia Funke | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two edited by Jonathan Strahan
The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two is one of several anthologies that collects the best science fiction and fantasy of 2007. I’ve read many of the stories included, yet revisiting them actually made me appreciate them more rather than feel exhausted. One thing I noticed is that there’s a stronger science fiction balance in this anthology compared to the previous volume, although that might also be because the lines between science fiction and fantasy easily get blurry.
April 3rd, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 4 | Daniel Abraham, Jeffrey Ford, Jonathan Strahan, Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, Ted Chiang | Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE BLACK JEWELS TRILOGY by Anne Bishop
Imagine a fairy-tale heroine. You know the type: beautiful, kind, able to charm all the beasties of the forest into eating out of her hand. On the astral plane, she even has a unicorn’s horn. Now imagine that she has enough magical power to move mountains. (Literally.)
You might think this is a recipe for the worst Mary Sue in the history of literature, but in Black Jewels, it works. There’s a reason Jaenelle is the way she is.
March 31st, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Anne Bishop | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
While, like Son of the Shadows, Child of the Prophecy is never quite as wonderful as Daughter of the Forest, it is nevertheless a good book, and worth reading if you liked the first two.
This one is darker in tone. In Daughter of the Forest, the heroes and villains were clearly delineated; in Son of the Shadows the line between the two was more hazy,
March 29th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Juliet Marillier | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Bad-Ass Faeries by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Although I disapprove of the title, I still found Bad-Ass Faeries edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, to be a pretty good collection of stories. At least, that’s true if you discount the one or two stories that really boiled down to faerie porn. Which, ironically, is part of the humor in the story by Den C. Wilson, “Heart of Vengeance” (Well, elf porn, anyway). All, in all though, the collection is pretty good. It is targeted in its concept, but broad in its application.
March 29th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 4 | Danielle Ackley-McPhail | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.
I may be embarrassing myself by repeating something I already posted here, but Thomas Pynchon has a new novel scheduled…
[…] Tales (Fantasy Literature): John Martin Leahy was born in Washington State in 1886 and, during his five-year career as…