Previous SFF Author: C.M. Eddy_Jr
In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
A Book of Bones by John Connolly
2019’s A Book of Bones is the 18th book in John Connolly’s CHARLIE PARKER series. This series is dark, with a thriller plot steeped in supernatural elements. Over the years, we’ve seen Parker, his human helpers Louis and Angel, and his supernatural protectors Sam and Jennifer face a variety of entities. A Book of Bones seems to resolve most of the issues around a specific Not-God and an evil murderous cult called the Familists.
July 9th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | John Connolly | Edge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
When Rob Ryan was twelve, he and his two best friends went off to play in the woods and disappeared. Rob’s friends were never seen again. Only Rob came home, and without any memory of what had happened to the three of them while he was missing. Twenty years later, Rob is a detective with the Dublin Murder Squad. When he is called upon to investigate the killing of a twelve-year-old girl in the same forest, Rob is confronted again with his old trauma.
In the Woods (2007) is the first in Tana French’s DUBLIN MURDER SQUAD series.
October 29th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Tana French | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
On her seventeenth birthday, Dublin teenager Deena Rys accidentally comes out as gay to her father; he doesn’t react well. Later that day, she confides in her older sister, Mandy, who is also appalled — not because she’s gay, per se, but because she’s been researching the family history and has come to a frightening conclusion. Mandy believes there’s a curse on all the Rys women who don’t fit in, and that something terrible happens to all of these “bad apples” at the age of seventeen.
September 24th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Moïra Fowley-Doyle | Edge, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn
Japan in 1857 is in turmoil. Internal divisions mean the country is on the brink of civil war, whilst after centuries of isolation, the country has also opened its doors to the west. In the midst of this instability, Tsuru, a doctor’s daughter, wishes to study medicine, but the only expectation her father has for her is to marry.
After the hugely successful TALES OF THE OTORI series, Lian Hearn returns with a very different kind of novel in Blossoms and Shadows (2010).
September 20th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2.5 | Lian Hearn | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Confession by Jessie Burton
After the phenomenal success of The Miniaturist (and The Muse after it), the buzz surrounding Jessie Burton‘s latest release should come as no surprise. Whilst The Confession (2019) might seem like a very different kind of book (gone are the elements of the fantastical and the uncanny), Burton’s signature tension, suspense and an intricately characterised female cast remain.
In the winter of 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden on Hampstead Heath by chance.
September 12th, 2019. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Jessie Burton | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Silvie’s summer vacation is a nightmare. She, her abusive father, and her browbeaten mother have joined a college professor and his three-person Experimental Archaeology class in the northern woods of England, where they are trying to live like the ancients. For the class, it’s a learning experience and something of a lark, at least at first. For Silvie’s father, it’s deadly serious; he’d love to live like that all the time, as he imagines Iron Age Britain to be the world of his racist and sexist dreams.
July 30th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Sarah Moss | Edge, Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
I really loved Robin Sloan’s Sourdough (2017), but not everyone will. You probably will if you’re a foodie (I am), an introvert (I am), and a bit geeky (I am). If you love sourdough bread (I do) and magical realism (I do), you’ve just got to read Sourdough. And you must try the audio version. It’s amazing.
Lois is new to San Francisco. She moved from Michigan,
March 1st, 2019. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Robin Sloan | Audio, Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
Wild Seed (1980) was written last in Octavia Butler’s 5-book PATTERNIST series, but comes first in chronology. The next books, by internal chronology, are Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay’s Ark (1984), and Patternmaster (1976). Butler was later unsatisfied with Survivor (1978) and elected to not have it reprinted, so I will focus on the main four volumes. Wild Seed is an origin story set well before later books and can stand on its own.
January 8th, 2019. Stuart Starosta, Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Octavia Butler | Audio, Edge | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Toru Watanabe is just another kid studying drama at university when he falls for his friend Naoko, who is in a relationship with another of Toru’s friends, Kizuki — until Kizuki commits suicide. Emotionally confused because she feels “split in two and playing tag with myself,” Naoko escapes to a mountain retreat, though not before sleeping with Toru. Watanabe pines for Naoko as he passes time in Tokyo with his friend Nagasawa. Nagasawa likes The Great Gatsby, and he has no trouble finding women to sleep with him — and with Toru,
January 1st, 2019. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Haruki Murakami | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell
War of the Wolf (2018) is the eleventh book in Bernard Cornwell’s THE SAXON STORIES series, which was adapted into The Last Kingdom, on Netflix. It’s easy to see why the series was optioned for a visual adaptation — Cornwell’s prose neatly balances battle scenes and moments when plots are quietly hammered out, and his faithfulness to his faithfulness to 9th and 10th century Britain is admirable without becoming slavish, allowing his room to invent his own characters or scenarios and fold them into established historical precedent.
November 30th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Bernard Cornwell | Edge | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: C.M. Eddy_Jr
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!