Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey
M.R. Carey’s The Book of Koli was one of my favorite reads this year. I loved everything about it and was eagerly awaiting the sequel, The Trials of Koli (2020), which was, thankfully, released only a few months after The Book of Koli appeared. There will be some spoilers for The Book of Koli in this review, so beware.
Koli is still on the run.
October 29th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Mike (M.R.) Carey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) is a charming, thoughtful, sometimes-dark, sometimes moving, story about memory, love, rash decisions, female agency, stubborn defiance, mortality, resilience, and the power of art. In this time of Covid, a novel focused so much on the desire for human contact and fear of dying without leaving “a mark” is especially timely, though The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue would have been a highly recommended book in any other year.
October 23rd, 2020. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey
Storm Rising is the middle book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE STORMS trilogy which is part of the VALDEMAR saga. You’ll want to read the first book, Storm Warning, first. (There will be spoilers for that book in this review.) You don’t have to read any of the previous VALDEMAR books, but it would be helpful to read the MAGE WINDS trilogy,
October 14th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Storm Warning by Mercedes Lackey
Storm Warning is the first book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE STORMS trilogy which is part of the VALDEMAR saga. MAGE STORMS can be read without reading other VALDEMAR novels but, because it features many characters from other trilogies, it would be best to read it directly after reading the MAGE WINDS trilogy (Winds of Fate, Winds of Change,
October 9th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Pirates of the Timestream by Steve White
Jason Thanou is back in action in Pirates of the Timestream (2013). In this third novel in Steve White’s TEMPORAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY series, Jason is again sent back in time to witness important historical events.
In the previous two novels, Blood of the Heroes and Sunset of the Gods (which it would be helpful, but not necessary, to read first),
October 2nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Steve White | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Note: This review contains spoilers for Six of Crows, the first book in this duology.
Crooked Kingdom (2016) picks up the story begun in Six of Crows and takes off like ― well, there are no freight trains in this world, so ― a runaway Grisha on jurda parem. In Six of Crows, teenage crime lord Kaz Brekker and his handpicked group of five pulled off a near-impossible heist,
September 25th, 2020. Tadiana Jones, Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Leigh Bardugo | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Fans of Kevin Hearne’s popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES will be thrilled to learn that Hearne has a new spin-off series: INK & SIGIL. The first novel, Ink & Sigil (2020), introduces Al MacBharrais, an older widowed gentleman who has a unique talent. He uses special inks to create sigils that hack the brain through the ocular nerve. For example, the Sigil of Porous Mind makes the target open to suggestion, the Sigil of Certain Authority makes the caster appear to have the authority to do whatever they’re doing,
September 22nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Space Station Down by Ben Bova & Doug Beason
Kimberly Hasid-Robinson, a physicist, is overseeing her projects on the International Space Station as a Kazakhstani astronaut and a wealthy Russian tourist arrive. As they are boarding, she can’t leave her experiment, which is why she doesn’t get murdered by the Kazakhstani astronaut, who turns out to be a terrorist. Now Kimberly will spend the rest of her time on the ISS trying to neutralize the terrorist and prevent him from crashing the ISS into Manhattan while spilling plutonium across the country on its way down.
September 21st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Bova | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
SHORTS is our column exploring free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve recently read that we wanted you to know about.
While Dragons Claim the Sky by Jen Brown (2019, originally published in FIYAH Magazine Issue #10: Hair, available online for $3.99; free audio recording on PodCastle (Part 1 and Part 2), read by C. L. Clark)
While Dragons Claim the Sky tells the story of a skilled young mage as she takes a chance on discovering more of the world and her place in it.
September 3rd, 2020. Skye Walker, Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Kelly Lasiter | Maria Dahvana Headley, Seanan McGuire, Tamsyn Muir, Theodora Goss | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sunset of the Gods by Steve White
Sunset of the Gods (2012) is the second novel in Steve White’s JASON THANOU (TEMPORAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY) series about time travelers who go back in time to study historical events. It would be helpful, but not necessary, to read the previous book, Blood of the Heroes, first.
This time Jason will accompany a couple of academics to witness the Battle of Marathon. There are a few historical debates about events that occurred while the Greeks were driving the Persians out of their country in 490 BC and the team hopes to settle these disputes.
September 1st, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Steve White | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
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