Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended: 
Not Recommended: 
Readers considering whether they should read Neal Stephenson’s breakthrough novel, Snow Crash, would do well to read the novel’s opening chapters about the Deliverator. Rarely has a sales pitch been so blatantly — and so masterfully — launched at the start of a novel. Even James Bond must envy such a rich opening gambit.
For some readers, the remainder of Snow Crash will not live up to the pacing of the opening sequence.
May 2nd, 2012. Ryan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Neal Stephenson | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Best of Kage Baker by Kage Baker
The more I read Kage Baker, the more I love Kage Baker. Of the hundreds of speculative fiction authors I’ve read, I rank Kage Baker in the top ten. Maybe top five. She’s that amazing. I love her clever imagination and her style which is unembellished, straightforward, and full of wit and charm. Which is why I was jumping up and down when the nearly 500-page story collection called The Best of Kage Baker showed up on my doorstep.
April 30th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Kage Baker | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
What would it be like if Neanderthals had become the dominant race of humans on the planet? Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer explores that very idea. This book follows a brilliant Neanderthal physicist named Ponter Boddet. Ponter and his partner, while working on experimental quantum computers, accidently open a bridge between universes. The bridge leads to the world we (Homo sapiens sapiens) currently reside in. Ponter fell into our world accidently and has now become stranded here.
April 9th, 2012. Justin Blazier and Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
After the defeat and death of Cleopatra, her three youngest children were taken to Rome and paraded as spoils of war, then adopted into the household of the victorious emperor, Octavian. Of the three, the one who went on to make a mark on history was Cleopatra’s daughter, Cleopatra Selene. In Lily of the Nile, Stephanie Dray tells the story of Selene’s coming of age in Rome, with a magical element added.
Selene is a fully-rounded character.
March 28th, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Stephanie Dray | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk by David Lindelof (writer) & Leinil Francis Yu (artist)
A little background for newcomers or fanboys/girls who have been away for a while: Marvel comic’s ULTIMATE story arcs are a rebirth of the Marvel Universe for a new generation of readers and have storylines that fit better with the recent movie adaptations.
Bruce Banner is sentenced to death and executed by nuclear bomb. Soon after, three random disasters occur in remote places around the world that were not due to nature or terrorists. It doesn’t take S.H.I.E.L.D.
March 9th, 2012. Greg Hersom´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
[In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]
The Snow Child (2012) had me from the first page, specifically these two sentences:
She had imagined that in the Alaska wilderness silence would be peaceful, like snow falling at night, air filled with promise but no sound,
March 2nd, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Eowyn Ivey | Edge | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Initiate’s Trial by Janny Wurts
Janny Wurts’s latest novel in the WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, Initiate’s Trial, is another rock-solid installment in what has become one of my favorite series. Janny’s use of the English language, her ability to sculpt characters with concepts and characteristics that make them live and her continuing commitment to solid storytelling make her work some of the best ever. Initiate’s Trial is a perfect example of why her books are always worth the wait.
March 1st, 2012. John Hulet and Stefan Raets´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Janny Wurts | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
She walks the path of time toward this house…
Two Patricia McKillip books in a single volume, what could be better?
As two of her earliest works, the CYGNET duology (composed of The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird) make for more challenging reads than her later offerings. McKillip is renowned for her complex writing techniques. It’s obvious to those who are familiar with her distinctive poetic-prose that she’s still getting the hang of it here,
February 29th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Patricia McKillip | SFF Reviews | no comments |
GIRL GENIUS: Agatha Awakens by Phil & Kaja Foglio
Adventure! Romance! MAD SCIENCE!
I don’t read many graphic novels — though I’ve tried many of them, they’re just not my thing. In fact, I only read one graphic novel and that’s GIRL GENIUS by Phil & Kaja Foglio. I love this comic and I must not be the only one —it’s won the Hugo Award three times (and lots of other awards, too). Therefore, I was thrilled to see that Tor is releasing hardback omnibus versions of GIRL GENIUS because this comic is a work of art that deserves to be beautifully bound and displayed on coffee tables everywhere.
February 28th, 2012. Kat Hooper and Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5, 5 | Phil and Kaja Foglio | Comics | SFF Reviews | 12 comments |
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
It’s been 3000 years since Ender Wiggin, as a child, was tricked into committing xenocide. While he and his sister Valentine traveled the universe and benefited from the effects of space-time relativity, Ender’s name has been reviled on Earth and all the inhabited planets. He is infamous for his childhood deeds, but almost everyone thinks he’s been dead for centuries. They don’t realize that the man who holds the respected position of Speaker for the Dead is actually Ender Wiggin. And they don’t know that the Hive Queen of the Buggers still lives and that Ender has vowed to find her a new home.
February 15th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Orson Scott Card | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
What a perceptive and beautiful review. You make it clear that Yamada not only knows the story she wants to…
Read together with The Serpent Mage, the series is one of the best works of art out there. The main…
thanks for this really well-written review. You've definitely piqued my interest in this, particularly in how you highlight the still…
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review