Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Blueberry Girl: A blessing for little girls

Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess have paired up again to produce the breathtaking Blueberry Girl, a fantastical blessing poem or lullaby that Gaiman wrote for his two daughters.

Invoking “Ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind,” Gaiman prays for blessings to be bestowed on his blueberry girl. Reminiscent of fairy godmothers — Gaiman’s prayer for protection and spindles makes that allusion even stronger — the author lists off his wishes for his daughters to be bestowed by the ladies who take different forms throughout the story in Vess’s enchanting drawings.

River of Shadows: Pure fun and entertainment

River of Shadows by Robert V.S. Redick

PLOT SUMMARY: The crew of the vast, ancient ship Chathrand has reached the shores of the legendary southern empire of Bali Adro. Many have died in the crossing, and the alliance of rebels, led by the tarboy Pazel Pathkendle and the admiral’s daughter Thasha Isiq, has faced death, betrayal, and darkest magic. But nothing has prepared them for the radically altered face of humanity in the South.

They have little time to recover from the shock, however. For with landfall, the battle between the rebels and centuries-old sorcerer Arunis enters its final phase.

April 19th, 2011. Robert Thompson and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4, 5 | Robert V.S. Redick | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Huntress: Noble characters, beautiful imagery, selfless love

Huntress by Malinda Lo

Huntress is a prequel to Malinda Lo’s debut novel, Ash, though the two books can stand independently. Huntress takes place several centuries earlier, in a time when the country’s culture was more analogous to that of feudal China.

In the past few years, a shift in the weather has resulted in famine. Then the Fairy Queen, who has long been out of contact with humans, issues a surprising invitation to her city, Taninli.

Altered Carbon: Graphic, brutal, and thrilling

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Richard K Morgan’s Altered Carbon, the first Takeshi Kovacs novel, is a roller-coaster ride. Morgan cycles us through traditional science-fiction, some mean-streets detective drama and a fine caper story before the book ends, all told by Kovacs himself, a disillusioned killer, a futuristic Sam Spade only slightly less dirty than the dirty business he’s in, a battered knight in tarnished armor.

In Altered Carbon’s future world, science has given humanity the ability to digitize consciousness and store it in a tiny canister embedded in a vertebra at the base of the skull.

Instructions: Safely traverse enchanted lands

Instructions by Neil Gaiman

As one might expect from Neil Gaiman, Instructions is an unusual little book, and despite technically being a picture book, isn’t necessarily something you would give to a child. Not that the content is objectionable — just a tad incomprehensible to anyone who isn’t well versed in the rules and patterns of fairytales. With that in mind, a child might be the perfect audience! I think what I’m trying to say is thatInstructions is a story for those who love stories,

The Reapers Are the Angels: One of the oddest and best zombie novels

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell

What does the United States look like 25 years after zombies have led the nation into an apocalypse? What is life like for a teenager born ten years or so after the apocalypse? What has she seen, and done, and what is the state of her soul? These are the questions first-time novelist Alden Bell attempts to answer in The Reapers Are the Angels, a soul-searing novel that looks at some of life’s hardest questions through the lens of violence so common and natural it isn’t even evil.

April 9th, 2011. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Alden Bell | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Escapement: Fascinating and provocative

The Escapement by K.J. Parker

The Escapement picks up where Evil for Evil left off. It’s shorter than the previous two books in The Engineer Trilogy, but for all its brevity, it’s still packed with surprises. After reading two books without fully knowing what is being manipulated and planned, readers are presented with nearly constant revelations regarding characters and plot points that had only been hinted at and alluded to before.

Up to this point in the trilogy, Parker has indirectly discussed love and the question of the existence of good and evil.

March 3rd, 2011. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 5 | K.J. Parker | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Crippled God: Ends the preeminent fantasy of the past 20 years

The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

If you want a quick, partial sense of what’s in store in Steven Erikson’s The Crippled God, look no further than this conversation between two characters (to remain nameless so as to avoid spoilers):

“There are too many rogue players in this game. Icarium. Draconus. The First Sword of the T’lan Imass. Olar Ethil. Silchas Ruin, Tulas Shorn, Kilava — even Gruntle, the Mortal Sword of Treach. And now the Elient, and how many dragons have come or are coming through the gate?

March 1st, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories

Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams

Even people who don’t usually read science fiction will often be familiar with a few classic titles in the “dystopian SF” sub-genre. After all, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and of course the famous Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World are some of the few SF titles that have entered the mainstream literary canon to such an extent that they’ve become assigned school reading for many students.

February 2nd, 2011. Stefan Raets and Ruth Arnell´s rating: 5 | Caitlín R. Kiernan, Carrie Vaughn, Charles Coleman (C.C.) Finlay, Cory Doctorow, Genevieve Valentine, Harlan Ellison, Kate Wilhelm, Ken Liu, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Paolo Bacigalupi, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Robert Silverberg, Tobias Buckell, Ursula K. Le-Guin | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

Bloodshot: Familiar territory with a few refreshing twists

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

I was pretty excited to read Bloodshot. I first encountered Cherie Priest by way of her Southern Gothic novel Four and Twenty Blackbirds several years ago. Since then, her name keeps popping back up in my consciousness, both as a writer of several acclaimed steampunk novels I haven’t had the chance to read yet, and as a Person Who Says Interesting Things on the Internet. So when I heard she was dipping her authorial toes into one of my favorite subgenres,

January 24th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 5 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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