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Reposting to include Bill’s new review.
Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone
Save the world, or fix the world? Can we do either? These questions underlie the second book in Max Gladstone’s CRAFT WARS series, Wicked Problems. Other things are happening in this 2024 installment, too, and the ending, while anticipated, is a gamechanger for everyone involved.
In Book One, Dead Country, Craftswoman Tara Abernathy took on a student, the orphaned and traumatized Dawn.
May 21st, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Max Gladstone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
In this column, I feature comic book reviews written by my students at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College is a small liberal arts school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I challenge students to read and interpret comics because I believe sequential art and visual literacy are essential parts of education at any level (see my Manifesto!). I post the best of my students’ reviews in this column. Today, I am proud to present a review by Mandy Sun.
Mandy Sun is a first-year student at Emory Oxford University and is considering majoring in Computer Science.
April 27th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild by Philip Reeve
In his review for Skye McKenna’s Hedgewitch, Reeve said: “there are only two sorts of fantasy story: the ones that feel fake and the ones that feel real. It’s hard to explain the difference but you know the real ones when you read them.”
I know exactly what he’s talking about, because he writes the real ones too. His depiction of Faerie – that ancient place where all the fairy tales come from – captures its mystery and danger and uncanny beauty as it also exists in books like Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter and Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,
April 26th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories With S&S Attitude by Jason M. Waltz (editor) & M.D. Jackson (illustrator)
I don’t know how aware SFF fandom is, but sword & sorcery has had a resurgence of late. Jason M. Waltz and most of the authors featured in Neither Beg Nor Yield have been champions of this subgenre, some for the past quarter century. Mr. Waltz first published sword & sorcery and other great heroic and weird fiction with Flashing Swords Press and later under his own micro-press, Rogue Blades Entertainment.
April 2nd, 2024. Greg Hersom´s rating: 5 | Adrian Cole, C.L. Werner, Glen Cook, Howard Andrew Jones, John R. Fultz, Steven Erikson, William King | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Haunted Stars by Edmond Hamilton
At the tail end of my review of Edmond Hamilton’s The Star of Life (1947), I mentioned that this was the finest novel that I’d read by the Ohio-born author so far, and added that I now looked forward to reading Hamilton’s The Haunted Stars, which seems to enjoy an even greater reputation. Take, for example, these two sources that I have always trusted: The Science Fiction Encyclopedia,
March 29th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Edmond Hamilton | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
System Collapse by Martha Wells
The first thing to know about Martha Wells’ System Collapse is that if you can’t dredge up memories of its (chronological) predecessor, Network Effect, you’re going to want to refresh yourself either by a reread (fun enough) or skimming a few reviews, as System Collapse picks up directly afterward and really feels like it could have just been part of Network Effect (you know,
March 26th, 2024. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Martha Wells | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
THE ASGARDIANS 1: Odin by George O’Connor
What do you do when you finish a 12-title series of graphic novels (THE OLYMPIANS) covering a huge chunk of Greek mythology, one that should be a required purchase for all parents, libraries, and schools? Well, if you’re George O’Connor, apparently you look around and go, “Who’s next?” The answer, it turns out, is THE ASGARDIANS. And thank the Norse gods for that.
O’Connor opens up his new series with Odin,
March 25th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older
On Jupiter, known as Giant, Mossa, an Investigator, and Pleiti, scholar and instructor, are on a new case, involving the disappearance of a student. As Mossa explores, she finds not one, but seventeen university students, faculty and staff have gone missing. What the two sleuths will uncover in 2024’s The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older, will destabilize Pleiti’s already-shaky faith in the university system, and her life’s work, even further.
These novellas are a pure pleasure to read.
March 14th, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5, 5 | Malka Older | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Magic Order (Book 1) by Mark Millar (writer), Oliver Coipel (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist), and Peter Doherty (letterer)
The first book of The Magic Order by Mark Millar is an engaging story with gorgeous art by Oliver Coipel. The Magic Order is comprised of a group of magicians who protect the world from the threats of other magicians and supernatural dangers. However, this is no Harry Potter story for young readers. Even from the beginning, violent acts are depicted quite horrifically: In the very first scene,
March 2nd, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Mark Millar | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
With 2024’s The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett introduces us to another beautiful, strange world, gives us a murder mystery, and brings on stage an engaging duo of detectives, against a backdrop of gargantuan creatures and weird botanical science. The first book of THE SHADOW OF THE LEVIATHAN is a satisfying mystery that leaves plenty of bigger questions unanswered, and I want the next book. Now.
Dinios Kol is a member of the Iudex,
February 26th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Robert Jackson Bennett | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.