Next SFF Author: Anselm Audley

Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey

Series: Audio

Speculative fiction in audiobook format.

Gormenghast: Excruciating, nail-biting tension

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books are a difficult series to categorize in terms of genre, as they really are in a league of their own. Whenever the subject of Peake has arisen in conversation and I’ve been called upon to describe them to the uninitiated, my efforts are always rewarded with baffled looks. The books defy most attempts at classification; and although they’re usually put in the “fantasy” section of libraries and bookstores, the trilogy is bereft of the usual Tolkienesque fantasy trappings (mystical creatures,

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart: Every oozing boil is lovingly described

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

Jesse Bullington’s debut novel is a difficult one to review, not because of plot or character, but because of the general style in which it is written. Plainly speaking; it’s pretty gross. Full of pus, vomit, blood, urine, gore, snot and other bodily fluids, The Brothers Grossbart isn’t short on content that will make you screw up your nose in disgust. Yet dismissing this novel for its ability to make you cringe is a bit like going to a Quentin Tarantino movie and complaining about the violence.

The Enchantress of Florence: The means justifies the end

This novel contains much insight, humor, and artistry, and this alone — not the plot or its conclusion — made the journey worthwhile.
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Nightingale’s Lament: Just serious enough

Nightingale’s Lament by Simon R. Green

The Nightside stories are so hard boiled that it’s hard to put in perspective, but I’m going to try anyway: If you took Dashiell Hammett’s corpse, rolled it in batter, then deep fried it till black, you would have a pretty good approximation of what Simon R. Green is going for.

Nightingale’s Lament is the third book in the Nightside series, and follows the same pattern as the previous books do: basically,

The Greener Shore: An extended epilogue (but gorgeous)

The Greener Shore by Morgan Llywelyn

Chief Druid Ainvar, his three wives and their children, and about 15 other survivors from their Celtic clan are sailing west to Hibernia after years of hiding in the forests of Gaul after the Romans destroyed their clan and Julius Caesar murdered their charismatic leader, Vercingetorix.

Ainvar, who relates their adventure in the first person, expended his druid magic in their last fight against the Romans and he knows how weak his tribe, the Carnutes, is. But the Romans are determined to wipe them out,

The God Engines: Keep some thinking time free

The God Engines by John Scalzi

AUTHOR INFORMATION: John Scalzi’s debut novel, Old Man’s War, was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. His other science fiction novels include Agent to the Stars, The Android’s Dream, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale. He has also written several non-fiction books, The Sagan Diary novella,

The Gathering Storm: WOT is in good hands

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

That the twelfth book in a series is entitled The “Gathering” Storm probably points to a fundamental problem with the series. I mean, we’re eleven books (long, long books by the way) down and the storm is only just “gathering”? And anyone who has stuck with The Wheel of Time thus far (which I’m assuming is pretty much everyone reading this because otherwise why the heck are you reading this?), knows that pacing has been a big problem in Robert Jordan’s work,

Agents of Light and Darkness: Better than Nightside #1

Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green

Agents of Light and Darkness, the second book in Simon R. Green‘s Nightside, once again follows the almost always abstruse John Taylor, the private detective who is really good at finding things. In Something From the Nightside we learned that John is a former Nightside badass who developed a conscious during his time away from the Nightside and returned to help someone in need. Agents of Light and Darkness follows a similar premise,

Something From the Nightside: Fast fun urban fantasy

Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green

I picked up Something From the Nightside on Jim Butcher‘s recommendation and I enjoyed it for what it was: not high literature, but a fast fun read.

John Taylor is a private detective with a gift for finding things. He takes a case about a missing girl that forces him to confront his past and enter the Nightside. John Taylor has a serious reputation in the Nightside and he thought he had left that world behind years ago.

The Phoenix Endangered: Silly and boring

The Phoenix Endangered by Mercedes Lackey

I got through about three quarters of The Phoenix Endangered on audio. This was a sluggish and clunky second installment in The Enduring Flame trilogy. The writing was dull and not much happened to advance the plot. By the time a battle finally started, I couldn’t muster up enough interest to participate.

Even more than the last book, this one was full of two teenage boys brooding, bickering, whining, and being noble. Half of what they say is said “sulkily,”

Next SFF Author: Anselm Audley

Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey

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