Conversations with the Creators of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Thrillers!
Rocket powered superheros, prohibition era bootleggers, private eyes, mysterious men in masks; and more twists and turns than you can imagine. Welcome to Adam Christopher’s Empire State, a Superhero-Noir Science Fiction story set in a dark distorted reflection of New York City of the ’30s.
Trent Jamieson’s Roil, the first book in The Nightbound Land duology, promises… and delivers.
Wow, I really don’t know where to start with this review. Do I begin with the beautiful art of Rebecca Guay, or wax poetic on the enthralling story crafted by Jane Yolen?
Mercury Rises is, above all things, a humorous book. It made me laugh, snicker, giggle, and snort (an embarrassing but satisfying thing to happen in the middle of a crowded room).
Jo Anderton’s debut novel is a compelling tale which pulls you in right from the start. Debris is told from the point of view of the protagonist Tanyana, as the story progresses she searches for the truth behind her change of circumstances and meets a number of interesting characters along the way.
Dual Review: Twelve, Thirteen Years Later by Jasper Kent [ 5:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadBefore I start reviewing “Twelve” and “Thirteen Years Later” I have to go on a rant, a rant about books with serial killers. The success of “The Silence of the Lambs” has meant a huge number of books featuring serial killers. I find the popularity of serial killer characters unnerving and annoying. Unnerving, because this hero worship of insane killers, is well unnerving.
I do enjoy a good short story anthology and Steampunk really fits the bill. It offers 14 terrific stories all in the Steampunk genre (although some of them are pretty loosely connected — I’m looking at you Garth Nix!). And the quality of the stories are uniformly good.
I have to admit that I didn’t buy 7th Sigma because of the excerpt called “Bugs in the Arroyo” that you can find for free on the Tor website. I bought it because of Summer’s love for Steven Gould’s Jumper. I’ve never read Jumper, but Summer’s enthusiasm for Gould is contagious.
In Heart’s Blood Ms. Marillier has created believable characters, both living and dead who grow and change through the book. Far from being a knock-off, the story and style stand out nicely on their own. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to discover her work.
What I didn’t expect was to be reaching for a tissue in the first twenty pages. Ms. Carter nicely sidesteps the whole unequal romance trope by placing the emotional center of the novel in the relationship between our heroine Kate and her mother Diana. Kate’s frantic grief over her mother’s looming death drives the plot and gives more weight to the story than a YA romance would normally command.
Happily Ever After is an anthology edited by John Klima, in which each story was in some way inspired by a fairy tale. I am an absolute sucker for any kind of fairy tale retelling, but good ones are few and can be difficult to find. So this particular anthology was right up my alley. Plus any editor who was inspired to make an anthology by Neil Gaiman’s “The Troll Bridge” is guaranteed to have fantastic taste in stories.
I get a bit exhausted for Sookie. There are always someone or some things “out to get her.” Throughout Book 11, there are constant threats from different sources, and Sookie is on high alert most of the novel. Sookie still struggles with being a good person, for her world is continually violent and evil visits her seemingly day in and day out. In Dead Reckoning, you don’t see her grow much as a character, as she doesn’t have time to do much of anything except try to stay alive.
The Enterprise of Death really broke my normal reading rules. You see, normally if I stop reading a book that’s it — Game Over. I just don’t pick books back up and continue them. I did put The Enterprise of Death down several times, because it was just too intense for me. And, at one point I stopped reading it for a couple of weeks while I went on to other books
But I kept coming back to The Enterprise of Death, because I just had to find out what happened to the characters.
The setup for Coronets and Steel reminds me irresistibly of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Glenraven. Tho’ to be honest. I think this is a better book with more realistic characters. And that is saying a lot when the plot involves identical cousins, magic, kidnappings, royalty, mysterious middle European countries and much daring do and plot twists.
I was given a promotional copy of Enclave. It is the first book in a proposed series. Enclave deals with the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse in a world where those people who are trying to maintain civilization are all very young with a life expectancy of only their early twenties.
Red Glove is promoted as a YA novel, although I’d put it more at the 18 year old to adult end of the spectrum than the 13-16 year old range. If your kids are old enough to watch the “Sopranos” or “The Riches” and they like those shows, then this is the right book. Much like those shows, Red Glove contrasts the supposed glamour of a criminal lifestyle with the pain it causes our hero. A younger reader might only see the glamour and magic and miss the misery.
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