Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
The Dragon’s Son by Margaret Weis
This typical middle novel concerns the twin sons born to Melisande: Marcus, the son of the King of Idlyswylde, and Ven (short for Vengeance), the son of the dragon who (in the body of the human Grald) raped her.
Most of the book focuses on the development of both boys from age 6 to 16. Neither of them know about the other. Ven is half dragon (his legs are dragon’s legs) and is being raised by Bellona (Melisande died at the end of Mistress of Dragons).
November 12th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Margaret Weis | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Mists of Avalon, as you’ve likely guessed, is a retake on the King Arthur legends, but what makes it different is that it’s written from the women’s perspectives (Morgaine, Guinevere, etc.). The first one was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley in 1983 and this was the first time this feminist technique was used in fantasy literature and it was very successful (I learned that when I took a Modern Scholar course in fantasy literature).
September 10th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Marion Zimmer Bradley | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber
All due respect to the late Fritz Leiber, but overall, this book was weak.
The first story, “Cloud of Hate” was good. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser unwittingly take-on Hate embodied in a noxious mist that turns already shady characters into rampaging serial killers. The next one, “Lean Times in Lankhmar”, starts out interesting as the life-long friends go their separates ways, but goes flat. “Their Mistress, the Sea” builds up well but the ending seemed to be missing something. The rest of the book brings Fafhrd and Gray Mouser to our world’s ancient history,
June 16th, 2008. Greg Hersom, Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3 | Fritz Leiber | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Mistress of Dragons by Margaret Weis
Mistress of Dragons is an interesting story with some likable heroes and excellent villains. The heroes are the humans and their dragon allies, but the humans don’t realize that dragons are their friends because the villains are a couple of dragons gone bad. Very bad. The good dragons concoct a plot which uses humans to conquer the bad dragons. Mistress of Dragons ends with an unexpected plot twist.
This story is well-told, though it annoys me how often Margaret Weis omits conjunctions from her sentences.
June 12th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Margaret Weis | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Bridge books are always dicey things — many fall into a sophomore slump, meandering along trying to get from A to C with the required stop at B (because everyone knows a fantasy story can’t be told in only two books; three is clearly the sacred minimum — damn you Tolkien!). Luckily, The Well of Ascension (2007) doesn’t fall into that trap.
Mistborn is set in an ashen, mist-filled world whose myths tell of a time when plants were green.
June 7th, 2008. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 4 | Brandon Sanderson | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Water Mirror is a strong start to a series that gives a small sense of resolution at the end but really ends mid-adventure. Before it ends though it has introduced enough characters, plots, and teasing hints that the reader is left wanting much more. It’s certainly one of the better beginnings out there. The setting is an alternate Venice whose canals are filled with sharp- teethed mermaids, whose streets are patrolled by stone lions (a few of which can fly), and whose people are protected by the mysterious Flowing Queen,
May 31st, 2008. Bill Capossere and Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Kai Meyer | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold
It sincerely hurts me to give Lois McMaster Bujold the “DNF,” but I didn’t get very far into The Sharing Knife: Legacy before giving up. It tried it on audio, with the same reader who read Beguilement (see above).
The first scene was a sex scene: Dag (who’s 55 years old) and Fawn (who’s 19) on their wedding night. I rolled my eyes through most of it, and when Fawn started chatting about her family’s propensity to produce twins and other unsuitable topics for a wedding night scene (this is during the act,
May 26th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 0.1 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
The moment I finished Susanna Clarke’s wonderful first novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I wished that there was more of it. It was a long wait, but finally the fans of Clarke’s magically-soaked nineteenth-century Britain have a sequel — of sorts. Clarke presents eight short stories concerned with the presence of Faerie in England, and its influence on human inhabitants, all set in the same universe (with the same magical structure) as her previous work.
May 14th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sorcerer’s Legacy by Janny Wurts
Sorcerer’s Legacy is the first book written by Janny Wurts and it’s a wonderful breath of fresh air because it’s a self-contained story. Much of modern fantasy seems bent of many volumes and epic scope while Legacy is content to be a single volume and a complete story.
It is essential to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that Wurts puts into her writing and for one familiar with her more recent works, this novel is just plain fun.
May 2nd, 2008. John Hulet and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Janny Wurts | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
I think Lois McMaster Bujold has exactly the right idea with the Chalion series. Each book stands alone, but if you have read the first one (Curse of Chalion), you get all the background material you need to understand the geographical, political, and religious systems of her world. This means that later books (Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt) can have fresh new characters and plots,
April 26th, 2008. Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5, 4 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Hi Marion, The List of 5 is by James Davis Nicoll, rather than James Driscoll! Thanks for doing these entries.…
Surely, not the worst things in the world to collect: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubs_not_in_series.cgi?408
Oh, Marion, those little Gnome Press sci-fi hardcovers are highly collectible items today! Who wouldn't want the entire set?
Gnome Press is probably the best publisher name ever. You mentioned the vocabulary, and I started thinking about how many…
Menewood, Orbital and GennaRose Nathercott's Thistlefoot were three of my favorite reads of 24/25 so far.