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The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Anne Rice’s second vampire novel is both a prequel and a sequel to her original story Interview with the Vampire. A sequel because it is framed by a sequence of events in contemporary times, and a prequel because it recounts the history of the vampire Lestat, the sire of the protagonist Louis in Interview. After waking from centuries-sleep in 1980’s New Orleans, Lestat discovers the Interview manuscript and goes about setting the story straight,
April 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher and Tim Scheidler´s rating: 5 | Anne Rice | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Birth of the Firebringer by Meredith Ann Pierce
Meredith Ann Pierce is best known for her wonderful Darkangel trilogy, which sadly is not as renowned as it deserves to be. Even lesser known is Pierce’s Firebringer trilogy, based on stories she wrote and dreams she experienced as a young child, which chronicle the lives and adventures of a tribe of unicorns exiled from their home.
Legend tells of how the unicorns were driven out from their Hallow Hills by the serpentine wyverns, who by trickery,
April 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Meredith Ann Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES by Holly Black
Although the book in The Spiderwick Chronicles were originally published separately (five in all), I knew it was only a matter of time before a box set was released, and so held off purchasing the separate installments so that I could invest in the complete set. I’m glad I waited, as one of the best things about this series is its beautiful presentation (the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” has little meaning here), and this nifty box set protects and displays them to best effect.
April 1st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
There’s nothing I love so much as sinking into a big fat book that combines the sweep of history with a dash of magic. This book is an adaptation of The Aeneid, from the point of view of the Sybil who, in the poem, guides Aeneas through the underworld.
She’s a lot more fleshed out here. Her name is Gull, later known as Linnea and as Pythia, and jumps off the page from the very beginning of chapter one with a self-introduction that reminded me a bit of Phèdre’s at the beginning of Kushiel’s Dart.
March 23rd, 2008. Kelly Lasiter, Ruth Arnell and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4, 5 | Jo Graham | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Greenwitch is the third book in The Dark is Rising series, and it is necessary to be familiar with the first two books Over Sea, Under Stone and The Dark is Rising to fully understand what is going on in this volume. In the first book siblings Simon, Jane, and Barney uncovered the grail from its hiding place, but unfortunately lost the lead-incased manuscript that would decipher the inscription on the grail’s side. Now after the grail has been stolen from the museum,
March 19th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Susan Cooper | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Despite multiple awards and a talent that is up there with the best of the fantasy authors, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series is often overlooked by readers in general. A five-part series, it deals with the battle between good and evil as waged by the Old Ones, several contemporary children, a range of mystical objects, and figures from history and legend. It sounds like pretty generic stuff, but Cooper’s gift lies in the telling of the story, and manages to take these well-trod aspects of the fantasy genre and turn them into something truly memorable.
March 15th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Susan Cooper | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Pearl of the Soul of the World by Meredith Ann Pierce
As the last installment of the Darkangel trilogy, The Pearl of the Soul of the World had a lot to live up to, as well as a lot to wrap up. In the first book The Darkangel, slavegirl Aerial saved the darkangel Irrylath from the misery of his own existence under the power of the White Witch and returned him to his mother’s house. In A Gathering of Gargoyles she undertook another task,
March 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Meredith Ann Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Louise Cooper’s Dark Enchantment books are a series of reasonably short novels, all stand-alone stories, that cater well to the young teenage girl who likes a blend of romance, mystery, mild horror and fairytale. Though I don’t fit into that age group anymore, the books in the Dark Enchantment series are nice, quick reads, perfect for cold wintry nights by the fire, just complex enough to hold my interest.
In Heart of Ice,
February 21st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Louise Cooper | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore
Sometimes, a fantasy story comes along that simply isn’t meant to be taken seriously. This is one of them.
Not to say that that’s a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s wonderful. Resenting the Hero happily mocks a number of fantasy standards, yet manages to avoid completely sacrificing its own story to do so. The plot is not mindblowing or anything, far from it, but it is well suited to the humorous type of story that Resenting the Hero is.
February 8th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 5 | Moira J. Moore | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
So says the note that Mr Crossley finds hidden between the exercise books in class 2Y. In any other world, this would be seen as a harmless joke, but at Larwood House for witch orphans, in a world run by Inquisitors and where witch-burnings still take place, such things are taken deadly seriously. Who is the witch? Chubby Nan Pilgrim, named after the most famous Arch-Witch? Sullen Charles Morgan, who holds a sympathetic view toward witches? Or weird Brian Wentworth, who behaviour gets stranger by the day?
February 7th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…