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The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin
The Farthest Shore is the third book in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series, and the concluding one for several decades. Since it’s highly recommended to have read the first two, I’ll work on the assumption that the reader has. If book one, Wizard of Earthsea has the most action/magic and book two, Tombs of Atuan, is the slowest and most introspective of the opening trilogy, then The Farthest Shore is a nicely-balanced blending of the styles.
January 28th, 2008. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4, 5 | Ursula K. Le-Guin | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Finally, a sequel that does not disappoint!
Tally finally has all she ever wanted: She’s pretty, she’s popular, she’s in the coolest clique in New Pretty Town.
What could possibly go wrong now?
Nothing does… until the night of the coolest costume party ever when a blast from the past shows up and leaves her a mystery to follow. All of a sudden Tally and her new friend Zane not only have a mystery to solve, but two tiny white pills to take…
January 28th, 2008. Guest´s rating: 5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman‘s place on my personal “favorite authors list” is cemented firmly by Smoke and Mirrors, a versatile collection of his short stories and narrative poems. There is a wide variety of “types” of story here, from fantasy to horror to mystery to wildly hilarious comedy. I liked almost all of them.
Neil Gaiman‘s two finest gifts are (1) humor, and (2) truly scary horror that gets under your skin rather than just grossing you out with gore.
January 25th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Neil Gaiman | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Finally the origins of Koom Valley are explained. Commander Vimes of the City Watch, and Duke of Ankh-Morpork, is desperatly trying to solve the mystery of one dead dwarf. And who is Mr. Shine? What does he have to do with the death of Grag Hamcrusher? And what, oh what, is he to do about the vampire in the watch? Commader Vimes solves the crime in his usual no-nonsense, magic-is-not-part-of-crime-solving, politics-is-for-politicians-not-coppers way.
Terry Pratchett has once again created a hilarious story with twists and turns and answers no one would have dreamed.
January 23rd, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 5 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce
I picked up The Darkangel the first time at my school library when I was 13 and I stayed up past three in the morning trying to finish it; It was that captivating. It has all the components of a fairytale, and yet is worked into a fantasy novel that includes vampires, gargoyles and other strange and macabre creatures.
Don’t be put off by the word ‘vampire’ though; this book isn’t yet another vampire book of that most over-used genre,
January 7th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Meredith Ann Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Dragon Charmer by Jan Siegel
There is no middle ground when it comes to Jan Siegel’s novels: you either love them or hate them. Considering I love them, you might want to take this review with a pinch of salt as you may take my advice to read it and find that it is simply not to your taste. In any case, borrow before you buy and hopefully you’ll enjoy these books as much as I do. They are beautifully written, with intriguing ideas and careful plotting, and (in my humble opinion) are among the best books that the fantasy genre has to offer.
January 6th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Jan Siegel | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Fire and Hemlock is possibly Diana Wynne Jones’ most complex and subtle novel, and it’s certainly not for the younger readers who’ve enjoyed her most famous work, the Chrestomanci novels. It is most basically described as a retelling of the Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer ballads, set in 1980’s England over a nine-year period. Needless to say, it is dense and complicated, filled with hidden meaning, metaphor and symbolism where two threads of life are wound together to make an intricate whole.
December 31st, 2007. Rebecca Fisher and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4, 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The King of Ys by Poul Anderson
“I remember Ys, though I have never seen her.”
The King of Ys is a historical fantasy — it is set in our world just before the fall of the Roman Empire and it mixes in the legend of the mythical city of Ys which was built below sea level on the coast of Brittany. Many of the characters in The King of Ys (Roman emperors, Christian saints, etc) are based on legendary and real historical figures and Poul and Karen Anderson include plenty of footnotes which explain the legend of Ys and the culture and religion of the 5th century.
December 15th, 2007. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Poul Anderson | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Like many people, I was familiar with the 1987 film The Princess Bride long before I read (or even knew about) William Goldman’s original novel, the extensively titled The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Like the film, the novel has a framing narrative that introduces the tale itself; unlike the film it is not of a young boy being read the story by his grandfather, but Goldman’s own experiences with the book both as a child and an adult.
December 14th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher, Ruth Arnell, Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | William Goldman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Briar’s Book, the last book in the Circle of Magic quartet (also published as The Healing in the Vine) is perhaps one of Tamora Pierce’s best novels. Unlike her other series, which deal with battles, magic, fantasy creatures, revolution and politics, Briar’s Book centers something very mundane by comparison: a plague. Yet Pierce incorporates within the story all her powerful themes of love and friendship, pain and suffering, grief and hope,
December 8th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Tamora Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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