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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 |
The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh
Once in a while, a book comes along that surprises you. I picked The Crowfield Curse up on a whim, being attracted to its stark cover art and intriguing title, and it turns out to have been the best book-related choice I’ve made in months. A rich, unsettling atmosphere, imaginative use of old folktales and legends, a sweet, likeable protagonist, a fascinating central conceit — this book has it all.
After the death of his family in a fire, fourteen year old William Paynel goes to live at Crowfield Abbey.
February 11th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Pat Walsh | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
The Castle in the Attic is a warm story about a boy, an old toy castle, and a much-loved housekeeper. William does not want his babysitter, Mrs. Phillips, to leave him and return to England. William swears he will do anything to keep her with him (absolutely anything). But when she gives him her old miniature stone castle and its lone knight, William fears there will be no way to keep her around. Until the knight comes to life.
The story of William and the Silver Knight is nothing if not heartwarming.
January 15th, 2012. Skye Walker´s rating: 5 | Elizabeth Winthrop | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr
It’s the Dark Ages again. A 20th century nuclear war spawned a “Flame Deluge” which destroyed human civilization’s infrastructure and technology, killed most of the people, and created genetic mutations in many of the rest. Then there was a backlash against the educated people of the world who were seen as the creators of both the ideas that started the war, and the weapons that were used to fight it. They were persecuted and killed and all knowledge was burned up. After this “Simplification,” people took pride in being illiterate and the only institution that seemed to come through intact was the Roman Catholic Church,
December 17th, 2011. Kat Hooper, Jason Golomb and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Walter M. Miller | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 19 comments |
I am Legend by Richard Matheson
I don’t like vampire novels much, so I wasn’t planning to read Richard Matheson’s classic vampire story I am Legend which was published in 1954, is also known by the title The Omega Man, and is, of course, the basis for the movie I am Legend.
But then I recently read and was enthralled by two other books by Matheson: The Incredible Shrinking Man and Steel and Other Stories.
November 23rd, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Richard Matheson | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Scrivener’s Moon by Philip Reeve
What is to Become of Fever Crumb?
Once again I come to review a Philip Reeve book, and once again I’m astounded to find that no one else seems to have anything to say about it. It’s also gotten to the stage where it is getting harder and harder to write coherently about Reeve’s books when all I want to do is squee indiscriminately. Every time I open a book in THE HUNGRY CITY CHRONICLES, I know without a doubt that I’m in for a fantastic read,
November 22nd, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Howl’s Moving Castle is a book that is very easy to love. Diana Wynne Jones is a consistently entertaining author, and her prose seldom fails to be enticing and comfortable as settling into a favorite armchair, even when opening one of her books for the first time. What is perhaps even more impressive is that it’s generally very hard to discern any effort beneath the workings. Jones almost gives the impression that she writes at perfect ease, never agonizing but instead kicking back and letting the words flow in an uninterrupted,
November 11th, 2011. Tim Scheidler, Tadiana Jones, Rebecca Fisher, Ryan Skardal and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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.