Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
These are stand alone novels (not part of a series).
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
I’m going to come right out and say what will make most people think I’m slightly crazy: I enjoyed reading The Silmarillion more than I enjoyed reading The Lord of the Rings. Why? I haven’t the faintest idea. Maybe I was too young to properly appreciate The Lord of the Rings. Maybe my love of mythology made The Silmarillion a shoe-in. Maybe the lack of three-dimensional characters was more understandable in a book this vast.
June 12th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | J.R.R. Tolkien | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
“You have never heard a story quite like this one.”
Start a book with a sentence like this, and you’ve given yourself a tall order to fill. However, Alex Bell doesn’t disappoint. Jasmyn is something special indeed, putting me under its spell in a way that only a few books a year ever do.
Our heroine, Jasmyn, is devastated when her beloved husband Liam dies suddenly, just a year after their marriage. Then, at his funeral,
June 12th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Alex Bell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander
All the wizards have long since departed this land for Vale Innis — but one has been left behind. When Mallory’s favorite oak tree is felled, she finds a surprising discovery inside: an old wizard named Arbican who’s desperate to follow his fellow wizards across the sea. The orphaned Mallory has grown up with stories of magic and enchantment, and couldn’t be more delighted with the discovery — especially if there’s a chance that she can go with him. Mallory does not have the most wonderful life as scullery maid to the nasty Mrs Parsel,
June 12th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A maiden is kidnapped. Her mother searches for her, disguised as an old beggar woman. A deadly fruit is eaten. The maiden dies, but not necessarily for good…
Depending on how you flesh out the rest of the tale, this could either be the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, or the fairy tale “Snow White.” Tanith Lee weaves the two together in White as Snow until it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.
June 11th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Tanith Lee | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Three Sisters by Rebecca Locksley
I’d been meaning to read The Three Sisters for a long time. The cover art intrigued me. I remember seeing it in the bookstore, thinking “But there are only two sisters in the picture!” and then finally noticing the third, ghostly woman in the pool. I wanted to know what these sisters’ story was. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever know.
The sisters, Elena, Yanimena, and Marigoth, are members of a race called the Tari. The Tari are magically gifted,
June 10th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Rebecca Locksley | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Master of Shadows by Janet Lorimer
With a single sentence, Janet Lorimer establishes the mood of Master of Shadows. And there, she starts a familiar story — Beauty meets the Beast and goes to live with him in his enchanted castle. That is, he could be a beast. Since he is always shrouded in a cowl, Ariel doesn’t know for certain.
In the story, Louvel hires Ariel to categorize the books in his extensive library. Ariel has a master’s degree in Liberal Arts — a proper degree for a the daughter of a wealthy man — and she is delighted to have a chance to actually use it.
June 9th, 2009. Tia Nevitt (guest)´s rating: 4 | Janet Lorimer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
I have a long-time interest in adaptations of fairy tales, and so it surprised me that it took me so long to get through Tender Morsels, a strange and dark retelling of “Snow White and Rose Red.”
The beginning is promising. We meet Liga, mother of the “Snow White” and “Rose Red” characters, as a traumatized teenager. She is sexually abused by her father and later raped by town boys, and Margo Lanagan handles these sensitive topics well. The actual abuse is never described in detail,
June 4th, 2009. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Margo Lanagan | Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters
S.M. Peters’ Whitechapel Gods is a debut novel that I would have passed over if not for its eye-catching cover by artist Cliff Nielsen. Like Stephen Hunt’s The Court of the Air and Jonathan Barnes’ The Somnambulist, Whitechapel Gods takes place in a fantastical Victorian setting. In this case, the backdrop is 19th century London, specifically the district of Whitechapel — that is,
June 2nd, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | S.M. Peters | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nearly almost all of Donna Jo Napoli’s books are based around a simple formula: to take a well-known myth, legend or fairytale, and retell the story from the eyes of a certain character (often the villain, allowing them to defend their actions). It has been a technique that has worked brilliantly for several of her stories.
In this case, Breath draws upon the German folktale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, though it is not told by the Piper himself. Instead,
June 2nd, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Donna Jo Napoli | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Despite having read two Jay Lake novels (Rocket Science and Mainspring), they didn’t prepare me for Trial of Flowers. This is an entirely different animal; Right from the outset you’re hit with stylistic language, a complex tapestry of characters and plot, and most importantly, a flat-out weirdness and originality that tends to be missing from most mainstream fantasy novels.
Lake juggles several characters, each with their own level of depravity, yet these are the characters you’re rooting for and sympathizing with. The setting — the City Imperishable — is quite distinct with its unconventionality: factions of boxed dwarfs,
May 28th, 2009. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 4 | Jay Lake | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
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Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
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