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I first read The Haunting when I was about ten or eleven years old, and now — almost twenty years later — I was stunned by how much I remembered it. Usually good books leave an imprint of enjoyment on your memory, but such is the potency of Margaret Mahy‘s writing that I recalled almost every beat of her story. At the same time, there were parts of The Haunting that I could appreciate much more as an adult than as a child.
October 21st, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Margaret Mahy | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Last Plane to Heaven: The Final Collection by Jay Lake
Jay Lake died in June of 2014. It was a tragic loss but not a surprise, since Lake had made his experiences with cancer public. Last Plane to Heaven, edited by Lake himself, is a reminder of just how much the speculative fiction world lost.
I have always loved Lake’s prose, but I had trouble with his novels. This collection of thirty-two stories shows him, mostly, at his best and strongest. As with his novels,
October 20th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Jay Lake | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Twenty-First Century Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell
Twenty-First Century Science Fiction is packed full of excellent science fiction stories. I’ve been reading anthologies lately, partly to improve my own short story writing, and this is the best I’ve found so far. It contains stories by authors such as Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow, Catherynne M. Valente, John Scalzi, Jo Walton, Charles Stross, Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal,
October 10th, 2014. Mike Reeves-McMillan´s rating: 5 | Brenda Cooper, Catherynne M. Valente, Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow, Daryl Gregory, David D. Levine, Elizabeth Bear, Genevieve Valentine, James L. Cambias, Jo Walton, John Scalzi, Kage Baker, Karl Schroeder, Liz Williams, Madeline Ashby, Mary Robinette Kowal, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rachel Swirsky, Tobias Buckell, Yoon Ha Lee | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood (pseudonym of Jon Courtenay Grimwood)
Jean-Marie Charles d’Aumont is first and foremost a chef. Even the title chef is a gross understatement. Jean-Marie is a connoisseur on an adventure to taste as many different things as he can in his lifetime. As The Last Banquet opens up, we find Jean-Marie as an orphan sitting by a dung heap munching on beetles. With each beetle consumed, he notes that they often taste like what they’d consumed prior to being eaten. There’s a very wry,
October 9th, 2014. Pat Doherty´s rating: 5 | Jon Courtenay (Jonathan) Grimwood | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
I shouldn’t even have to write this review. Fool’s Fate is the last book in Robin Hobb’s TAWNY MAN trilogy, following Fool’s Errand and Golden Fool. If you haven’t read those (and preferably also the earlier FARSEER trilogy), you have no business reading this review. If you have read those books, there is about a 0.00416% chance that you’re not going to pick up Fool’s Fate,
October 4th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Robin Hobb | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Robin Hobb’s TAWNY MAN trilogy, and the FARSEER trilogy that precedes them, are some of the finest epic fantasies ever written. FitzChivarly Farseer is probably my favorite character in all of fantasy literature and he’s at his best in the TAWNY MAN books. Golden Fool, the middle book in the trilogy, is nearly a perfect novel, and so is its successor, Fool’s Fate. I re-read Golden Fool last week because it’s just been released in audio format by Brilliance Audio (superbly narrated by James Langton) and I wanted to re-visit the series before reading Hobb’s newest book,
September 30th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Robin Hobb | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The DC Infinite Crisis and the “Old” 52 (Part 2): “Lightning Strikes Twice” by Judd Winick
In Part One, I gave an introduction to this series and discussed Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 (it’s available on Comixology or in the trade paperback The OMAC Project). This second review is about the first three issues included in the trade paperback Day of Vengeance. These issues, by Judd Winick, tell the three-part “Lightning Strikes Twice”
September 26th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
South African writer Lauren Beukes had a hit with last year’s The Shining Girls, the story of a serial killer who could travel through time. Readers of both time travel novels and serial killer thrillers loved the way Beukes melded the two genres. Beukes has again given us a genre-bender with Broken Monsters. Both a horror novel and a police procedural, Broken Monsters is even better than The Shining Girls.
Broken Monsters is set in Detroit — today’s Detroit,
September 22nd, 2014. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Lauren Beukes | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley
When I first saw the 1968 horror film “The Devil Rides Out” several years back at one of NYC’s numerous revival theatres, I thought it was one of the best Hammer films that I’d ever seen, and made a mental note to check out Dennis Wheatley‘s 1934 source novel one day. That resolve was further strengthened when I read a very laudatory article by Stephen Volk on the book in Kim Newman and Stephen Jones‘
September 15th, 2014. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Dennis Wheatley | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Forever Evil by Geoff Johns
Two years into the New 52 and DC has managed to divide fans down the middle: Just as many seem to hate the New 52 as love the new possibilities it offers as a “soft reboot” (Jim Lee) to the DC universe. However, the excited buzz in the comic book stores as they launched into their first event, Trinity War, died out as the second half seemed to fizzle after the great promise of the first few issues. However, Trinity War paved the way for Forever Evil,
September 12th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Geoff Johns | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Thanks! These are the "easy" ones, ha!
can't wait to get to these after the usual post-end-of-term review backlog gets a little cleared up--your review and David's…
Agreed! I have loved both of these books. I wasn't as perceptive as you at guessing the true target, though,…
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the Giallo genre! I love how you highlighted her unique blend…
Ever since Tor.com became Reactor they seem to have been focusing increasingly less on books and more on visual media…