Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
These are stand alone novels (not part of a series).
At first glance, Rocket Science might seem like a very short read at under 200 pages, but Jay Lake makes every word count. Set in a post-World War II Kansas, the novel starts off with a mundane premise but as one progresses through the book, Lake slowly adds an additional element of conflict so that by the time you reach the end, Rocket Science is a great novel about conspiracies, betrayal, family, friendship, and adventure.
Lake’s language is simple enough,
December 18th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Jay Lake | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair
I enjoyed Ann Aguirre’s Grimspace so much that I thought I ought to start looking into this whole “romantic” sci-fi thing. It all seemed so right up my alley. And I’d seen Linnea Sinclair listed as an author of this type of work, and Finders Keepers sounded interesting.
Finders Keepers is undoubtedly a romance novel with spaceships and laser rifles (no lightsabers). No matter how you shake it,
November 19th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 1.5 | Linnea Sinclair | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Into the Green by Charles de Lint
What a strange little book. That was the first thought that crossed my head after I closed Into the Green. It concerns the adventures of Angharad, a tinker-woman who is also ‘Summerborn’, which means that she has a mystical gift that connects her with the realm of Faerie, better known in this world as ‘the Green’. Traveling the three islands that make up her Celtic-flavoured world, Angharad’s mission in life is to awaken other potential Summerborns to their dormant gift and prevent the magic of the Green from leaking out of the world through her singing,
October 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Charles De-Lint | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A beautiful fairytale for the YA reader, Chalice is a very loose reinterpretation of a Beauty and the Beast story. Mirasol is a beekeeper who is forced to become the Chalice for her demesne after the previous Chalice and Master are killed in an accident. Her role is to bind her abused land back together and to the new Master, a Priest of Fire, a being who isn’t quite human and can burn both the land and human flesh with the barest touch.
September 18th, 2008. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Robin McKinley | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As much as I love reading fairytales, there’s always the sense that I’m only getting half of the story. There’s never any character development, explanations on where those magical artifacts come from, or why the bad guys act so villainous beyond the fairly rudimentary: “they’re evil.” In fairytales, things just happen, with little or no back-story.
Which is why I’ve always appreciated authors who consider the missing pieces to any fairytale and fill them accordingly with their own ideas. Donna Jo Napoli has built her career on this technique,
September 1st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Helen Lowe | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Situation by Jeff Vandermeer
I’m a big fan of both Jeff VanderMeer and PS Publishing, so imagine my surprise when I found a copy of The Situation in my hard drive, a giveaway from Wired that I had downloaded but forgotten, mainly because it wasn’t in my immediate must-be-read-for-review-or-else-we’ll-send-ninjas queue. The first scene immediately hooked me, evoking a New Weird atmosphere as corporate drones created insects that crawled into your ears and conjured nightmares, all the while being quite readable instead of the overwhelming details that characterize China Mieville‘s NEW CROBUZON novels.
August 26th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Jeff VanderMeer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Through a Brazen Mirror by Delia Sherman
Through a Brazen Mirror is the sort of book that deserves a wider audience than it’s gotten so far. The author is a lesbian, and the book contains a gay character. Since mainstream publishers are still a little squeamish about such things, this book gets the label “Queer Fantasy” slapped on it, gets published by a small press, and the upshot of it is that most straight readers have never heard of the darn thing. And that’s a shame. This isn’t just a good “gay book,”
July 9th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Delia Sherman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
I was drawn to Christopher Priest’s novel after having watched and enjoyed the Nolan brothers’ film adaptation of The Prestige. Going into the reading, I knew that several plot twists would be spotted a mile away, but the film is sufficiently different from its source material that Priest’s work contains several surprises.
Journalist Andrew Westley is brought under false pretences to a Derbyshire estate to meet with a young woman who is quite desperate to get in contact with him.
June 17th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Christopher Priest | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Crystal Mountain by Ruth Sanderson
If it were up to me, I’d make sure every single children’s bookshelf had at least one of Ruth Sanderson’s wonderful books. Her stories are simple, sweet, and yet thought-provoking, and her illustrations are clear, uncluttered and utterly beautiful. The Crystal Mountain is no exception, and is definitely up there as one of her best works.
As she did with The Golden Mare, the Firebird and the Magic Ring, Sanderson ingeniously combines more than one fairy or folk tale to create a story that is both new and familiar.
June 17th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Ruth Sanderson | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Great God Pan by Donna Jo Napoli
Donna Jo Napoli is famous for her retellings of fairytales; from Rapunzel (Zel), Rumplestiltskin (Spinners) and Hansel and Gretel (The Magic Circle), but she’s also done a couple of Greek myths as well: Sirena, and this, The Great God Pan. Taking inspiration from two mythological mysteries: the fate of Iphigenia (the king’s daughter sacrificed in order to ensure safe passage to Troy) and the goat-legged god Pan (of whom Plutarch wrote: “the great god Pan is dead!”),
June 13th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Donna Jo Napoli | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
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