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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 5

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The City & The City: Utter genius

The City & The City by China Miéville

It’s impossible to discuss China Miéville’s The City & The City without discussing its premise. I don’t consider this much of a spoiler, as the reader is pretty fully confronted with the premise about 20-30 pages in, but it is led into with hints here and there so before hitting the premise, I’ll offer a very short summation and recommendation in the next two paragraphs, followed by the full discussion which includes the premise.

Despite the title’s promise of more urban New Weird fantasy along the lines of Perdido Street Station,


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May 6th, 2009. and ´s rating: , | | , , , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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King of Morning, Queen of Day: A fairy tale of unforgettable power

King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald

I knew, just by reading the back cover blurb, that King of Morning, Queen of Day was right up my alley. Women with mystical powers? Check. Faeries? Check. Ireland? Check. In fact, I think the only reason I didn’t discover this book earlier is that it was published in 1991, and I only started reading fantasy sometime in the late nineties.

The story begins with Emily, a bratty but endearing girl of fifteen,


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May 3rd, 2009. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Magic Strikes: Ilona Andrews does it again!

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

I didn’t know how much I’d missed Ilona Andrews’ writing until I started reading Magic Strikes (2009). Part of it is the prose. It’s vivid, it has a great streak of humor running through it, and best of all, it’s smooth. The reader is never jolted out of the story by a grammar snafu or an awkward phrase.

Part of it is Andrews’ continued use of a wide variety of myths. Andrews is one of the few urban fantasy authors who seem to realize folklore is a huge sandbox.


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May 1st, 2009. , , and ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Illusion: A wonderful historical fantasy!

Illusion by Paula Volsky

A fictionalization of the French Revolution set in the invented kingdom of “Vonahr” and laced with a little bit of magic, Illusion is a gem of historical fantasy and ought to be a classic. Paula Volsky combines epic ideals, all-too-human characters, and lovely prose to create a book I couldn’t put down and will never forget.

The events of these turbulent times are seen through the eyes of a high-born young woman, Eliste vo Derrivalle. Eliste is at first a product of her society and upbringing,


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April 30th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Warbreaker: Sequel, please!

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

I just finished Warbreaker, and the words that keep coming to mind are “That was so good!” This is the first Brandon Sanderson novel I’ve read, and it certainly won’t be the last. Warbreaker combines highly original world-building with an exciting plot that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The novel begins with the introduction of two major characters: Vivenna and Siri, princesses of the tiny kingdom of Idris. You may think you’ve seen these archetypes before — the stiff,


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April 28th, 2009. , and ´s rating: , , | | , | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

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The Green Pearl: Florid imagination, deliberately peculiar

The Green Pearl by Jack Vance

The Green Pearl is another engrossing adventure in Jack Vance’s whimsical world. This installment of Lyonesse mainly follows Aillas, now King of Troicinet, as he seeks revenge on the Ska, tests his infatuation with Tatzel, deals with a couple of traitors, and tries to thwart the ambitions of King Casmir of Lyonesse who, unbeknownst to Casmir, is Aillas’s son’s grandfather. We also spend quite a bit of time with Shimrod, Glyneth, Melancthe, and some new and excellent characters such as the duplicitous innkeeper Dildahl,


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April 28th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

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In the Night Garden: Delicious and clever (but not for Kevin)

The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne Valente

In the Night Garden is the first in a two-book (maybe more?) series and if book one is any guide, this is as delicious and clever a tale-telling as one is likely to run into for some time. With an Arabian Nights feel and structure, we’re introduced to one engrossing story after another as the demon-girl of the garden (that’s the Sultan’s garden of course) spins them out to the enraptured young prince who disobeys orders and decorum to listen.


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April 16th, 2009. , , , and ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

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Suldrun’s Garden: Beautiful and complex, full of fascinating characters

Suldrun’s Garden by Jack Vance

As I’m writing this, Jack Vance’s under-appreciated Lyonesse trilogy has been off the shelves for years. My library doesn’t even have a copy — it had to be interlibrary loaned for me. Why is that? Publishers have been printing a seemingly endless stream of vampire and werewolf novels these days — same plot, same characters, blah blah blah. If not that, it’s grit. We all want grit.

Or maybe it’s that more women are reading fantasy these days and publishers think we want to read about bad-ass heroines who kill vampires.


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April 15th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |

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Blood of Ambrose: Seamlessly blends epic fantasy and sword & sorcery

Blood of Ambrose by James Enge

“The King was screaming in the throne room when the Protector’s Men arrived” — and with good reason. The King, Lathmar, is about twelve years old when his “Protector,” Urdhven, decides to seize the throne. Urdhven captures Lathmar and his many-times-great-grandmother, Ambrosia Viviana (a daughter of Merlin — apparently the Merlin of Arthurian legend — who’s therefore exceptionally long-lived), but not before they send word to Ambrosia’s brother, the infamous Morlock Ambrosius. Together, Lathmar, Ambrosia, Morlock, and Morlock’s dwarven apprentice plot and battle to preserve Lathmar’s rule,


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April 8th, 2009. and ´s rating: , | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Matthias Thulmann: Witch Hunter

Matthias Thulmann: Witch Hunter by C.L. Werner

I’m not into RPG’s. So I’m not always comfortable with an RPG-based book. But I’ve been to Warhammer’s Old World before — I‘ve read Fell Cargo, and a couple of Dark Blade books. And I do like the main concept of  the Warhammer storyline — a medieval world on the brink of apocalypse where a dark empire, ruled by the descendant of a god, is mankind’s only hope against the hordes of Chaos.


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April 8th, 2009. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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