Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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The Little Stranger: Sarah Waters is so skillful

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Caution: it is difficult to write about The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and not give anything away. This post might contain spoilers.

The Little Stranger is a book about a haunted house. Sarah Waters evokes emotion masterfully here. It’s not heart-pounding terror or a nauseated response to some gruesome revelation. She evokes dread, dread and a growing sense of anxiety that has you peering into the shadows and flinching at the creaks and sighs of your own house.

Icefall: Stunningly good

Icefall by Matthew Kirby

Last year I wrote this about Matthew Kirby’s novel The Clockwork Three:

“Amid the several highly anticipated children’s and YA works this year by big names such as Suzanne Collins and Rick Riordan, one can be forgiven for missing the entry onto the stage of Matthew Kirby’s first novel, The Clockwork Three. Forgiven, but no longer excused, for among all those much more hyped releases (though they are often justifiably hyped), this stands out as among the best.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone: Fresh and engrossing

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”

The “angels” and “devils” of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011) are not quite what those words would lead you to expect, but are given an original twist. The angels are closer to the angels we know — specifically the fearsome, fiery warrior type of angel, not the gauzy kind that helps adorable children cross bridges.

Breadcrumbs: For anyone who has ever been a geeky kid

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Hazel and Jack have always been best friends, bonding over their shared love of science fiction and fantasy. They play make-believe “superhero baseball” and hang out in a derelict house they call the Shrieking Shack. But now that they’re eleven, Hazel’s mom is pushing her to make some female friends, and Jack is more interested in hanging out with his male friends than with Hazel. Then the impossible happens: Jack is taken away by a mysterious witch, and Hazel is the only one who can rescue him. Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs is a retelling of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen,” and it’s fantastic.

Night’s Master: A gothic fairytale

Night’s Master by Tanith Lee

Night’s Master is the sort of book that not everyone will like, but for what it is, it’s brilliant. The styling is exquisite, the characterization direct and to-the-point in a way I’ve rarely seen before, getting right to a character’s essence without any muddying around. The plot concerned me at times while reading, but eventually proved itself beyond my expectations. I rarely say this, but this is a novel that stays with you.

As I said above, I did have my doubts coming into it.

Cyberabad Days: Science fiction at its very best

Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald

Cyberabad Days is a fully realized vision of a near-future India — indeed, of a near-future world in which India is a major player, even more so than today. Ian McDonald’s prose sparkles, the plots of the stories are uniformly tight, but it is the imagination, the picture of the future, that really works here. If you want that “sense of wonder” that science fiction is most famous for, this is the place to find it.

Cyberabad Days is set in the same universe as McDonald’s River of Gods,

The House of the Stag: Kage Baker was such a brilliant writer

The House of the Stag by Kage Baker

Kage Baker’s The House of the Stag is a stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Anvil of the World and The Bird of the River. In this story, the pacifist Yendri tribe has been enslaved by cruel invaders, and the half-demon foundling named Gard is the only one who will fight back. When he’s exiled from the tribe, Gard is captured by mages who live underground and set to work with their bound demon slaves.

One Salt Sea: Has everything that’s great about OCTOBER DAYE

One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire

It’s been a month since the defeat of Oleander de Merelands, since the Duke’s mad daughter Rayseline went on the lam, and since October Daye was brought back from the brink of death and restored to the power level she should have had all along.

This is a lot to deal with, and now there’s a new problem in Faerie. The two sons of a mermaid Duchess have been kidnapped. Unless they can be found, the sea fae will declare war upon those of the land,

September 6th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Seanan McGuire | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Magician King: Postmodernism meets Narnia

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

In Lev Grossman’s novel The Magicians, Quentin Coldwater — a geeky fantasy-loving high school senior — has his life turned upside down when he is invited to take an entrance exam for Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. After spending years learning the craft, and some time outside of school in a Bret Easton Ellis novel kind of existence, life is turned around again when he and several of his newfound magician friends discover that Fillory — the magical setting of a series of beloved children’s books (think Narnia and you’ve got it) — is real.

August 11th, 2011. Bill Capossere, Stefan Raets, Ryan Skardal and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Lev Grossman | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

A Dance with Dragons: Winter is coming

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

It’s autumn in Westeros, blizzards are already blasting the Seven Kingdoms with brutal force, and “winter is coming.” Jon Snow is treading a dangerously fine line between keeping the vows of the Brothers of the Night’s Watch and involvement with King Stannis’ revolt. Tyrion is on the run for his life and hopes to find an ally with Queen Daenerys, but as is always the case with the Imp, he just manages to trade one peril for greater ones. It is Daenerys’ destiny to reclaim the Iron Throne for the Targaryens,

August 11th, 2011. Greg Hersom, Ryan Skardal and Jason Golomb´s rating: 5 | George R.R. Martin | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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