Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
Year of the Unicorn, third in Andre Norton’s Witch World saga, is a departure from the first two novels. It’s the story of Gillan, a girl with no family and an unknown heritage who has grown up in an abbey in High Hallack, far from the places we visited with Simon and Jaelithe in the first two Witch World novels. Gillan feels stifled in the abbey and longs for something more. She also feels the stirrings of a strange power within her.
May 16th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Andre Norton | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Web of the Witch World by Andre Norton
Web of the Witch World continues the story of Simon Tregarth, the modern man who escaped assassination by coming through a gate into the Witch World, and Jaelithe, a witch of Estcarp, as they fight the strange enemy who are invading their land. At the end of the previous novel, the Kolder, who are from a technologically advanced planet, had been defeated by the witchery of Jaelithe and her sisters (and it seems that Simon has some powers, too). Jaelithe gave Simon her name,
May 14th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Andre Norton | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance is the best anthology I’ve ever read. These stories will be enjoyed by any SFF reader, but they’ll be ten times more fun if you’ve read Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, because they are all written in honor of that fantastic work. Each tale is written in the style of Vance,
May 7th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Hand, Elizabeth Moon, Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin, Glen Cook, Jack Vance, Jeff VanderMeer, John C. Wright, Kage Baker, Liz Williams, Matthew Hughes, Mike Resnick, Neil Gaiman, Paula Volsky, Phyllis Eisenstein, Tad Williams, Tanith Lee, Walter Jon Williams | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Choice of the Cat by E.E. Knight
David Valentine returns home for a break in Choice of the Cat, but his rest is short-lived, as he quickly becomes the victim of military bureaucracy and is given a special assignment: he is to partner with a special agent who goes by the code name Smoke. Smoke, a small, attractive female killer with mild psychotic tendencies, is a specialized soldier called a Cat. While we learned a little about Cats in Way of the Wolf,
April 30th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 4 | E.E. Knight | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Cugel’s Saga (aka The Skybreak Spatterlight) by Jack Vance
Cugel “the clever” is one of the scummiest, nastiest, lowliest rogues in all of fantasy literature. He’s got no morals and no respect for women, he’s often a coward, he’s not good looking, nor is he particularly good with a sword. In the words of one of Cugel’s acquaintances, “who could imagine such protean depravity?” The answer, apparently, is Jack Vance. And that’s why Cugel is one of my favorite “heroes” — because he belongs to Jack Vance.
April 23rd, 2010. Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Jack Vance | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Way of the Wolf by E.E. Knight
Post-apocalyptic science fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres. Finding a good fantasy equivalent can sometimes be difficult, as it usually gets classified as science fiction. E.E. Knight’s Way of the Wolf has vampires and magic, and clearly falls into the category of fantasy. It also is about a post-nuclear United States with aliens, and scattered communities of humanity fighting for survival. It’s a strange mix, but it all works out well.
In the 2020’s a series of natural disasters struck earth,
April 23rd, 2010. Justin Blazier and John Hulet´s rating: 4 | E.E. Knight | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher
Stoneheart, the first book in the Stoneheart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher features a cast of three main characters. George, a 12 year old boy, has a hard home life. His father died in a car accident, his mother is a self-absorbed actress who is physically and emotionally absent most of the time, and he’s a social outcast at school. When he gets unfairly blamed for an accident on a school field trip, he lashes out by breaking the head off a stone dragon carved on the outside of the museum.
April 21st, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Charlie (C.A.) Fletcher | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I love Harry Dresden like he’s the crazy scary magical uncle I never had. My wife (The Asian OverLord™) gets annoyed at my exclamations of “Hell’s Bells!” and my constant need to tell people that a scar on my hand came from “Hell Fire” rather than a childhood bicycle wreck. The Dresden Files have become a part of my life in a way that few stories do.
When I first learned about Changes, it frightened me. I thought to myself: if Jim Butcher “Changes” too much,
April 13th, 2010. Justin Blazier, Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3, 4, 4.5 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Under Heaven is the long-awaited new novel by master fantasist Guy Gavriel Kay — and let’s get the most important news out of the way: it was 100% worth the wait.
Fans of Guy Gavriel Kay know that his novels often take place in what appear to be fantasy versions of real countries: A Song for Arbonne is set in 13th century France, The Lions of Al-Rassan in Spain during the Moorish occupation,
April 12th, 2010. Stefan Raets, Rob Rhodes and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
Woohoo! Another Mercy Thompson book from Patricia Briggs’ is hitting the shelves. I had just finished book four (Bone Crossed) only a few weeks ago, so I was very happy to get a chance to read Silver Borne so soon afterwards.
I love the Mercy Thompson series. I started reading it while waiting for the next Dresden Files novel and they have been a worthy diversion.
March 23rd, 2010. Justin Blazier and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Patricia Briggs | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…