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Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
I was a fan of Brandon Sanderson’s first novel, Elantris, though the novel had some pretty clear flaws. I’m an even bigger fan of his follow-up, Mistborn, a book that has all the plusses of Elantris without the problems.
Mistborn takes places in an ashen, devastated world where the “Skaa” are a brutally downtrodden majority who do all the work for the aristocratic minority of the Great Houses,
June 7th, 2007. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5, 4, 5 | Brandon Sanderson | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I don’t want to spoil the plot, as there are many twists lurking within this book, so I’ll just say this:
This is the best one yet.
Books 1 and 2 were occasionally intense, but mostly I liked them because they were hilarious. Book 3 was the one that really sucked me in, with its tightly woven, ever-twisting plot. Book 4 sprawled a bit too much but brought lots of romance and character development. Book 5, too, meandered far too much and lacked the comic relief that lightened earlier books,
June 6th, 2007. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | J.K. Rowling | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass (or, if you follow the British print-run, Northern Lights) is the first book of Philip Pullman‘s extraordinary, controversial, thought-provoking, fascinating, infuriating, allegorical trilogy His Dark Materials. Followed by The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, the books have a huge range of ideas and meanings; from exploring the bond between the body and soul, to denouncing modern religious practices, to retelling Milton’s Paradise Lost from a completely different point of view.
June 5th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Pullman | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Even today, almost six decades since its first publication, J.R R. Tolkien’s magnificent work of fantasy is still attracting readers and scholars — more so now due to the publicity surrounding Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Perhaps for the first time ever, the movie release of a book adaptation has actually boosted sales of the book involved. And this can only be considered a good thing, as one cannot claim to be a literary reader without exploring Tolkien’s Middle-Earth at least once in their lives.
June 1st, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | J.R.R. Tolkien | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
The Black Cauldron is the second in Lloyd Alexander’s five-part Chronicles of Prydain, and possibly the most well known. When discussing these books with other people, you’ll usually get a blank look if you say “the Prydain books” or The Book of Three, but if you mention The Black Cauldron, you’ll probably get a vague sense of recognition. It is a Newbery Honor book and was made into a Disney film,
June 1st, 2007. Rebecca Fisher and Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Lloyd Alexander | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
It’s always a question for fantasy fans: do I really want to read a first book in yet another long series? Remember when we moaned about when everything was a trilogy — now I’ll be happy to take a simple three-book series. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell ahead of time if the trip will be worth it? Well, thanks to the quirks of international publication, you can with the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Gardens of the Moon,
June 1st, 2007. Bill Capossere, Rob Rhodes and Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2, 2.5, 5 | Steven Erikson | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
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