Book Reviews
Review: “Night Rising” by Chris Marie Green
The story is fast paced and filled with enough gory fight scenes to please the hard core urban fantasy reader but with a surprisingly emotional layer that may appeal to the female reader. It fails to deliver a complete world building construct and this coupled with the tendency to leave more plot threads open than resolved left this reader dissatisfied.
Review: “Black Blade Blues” by J. A. Pitts
The thing I love about urban fantasy is that it doesn’t take place in some pretend land where everyone can shoot lightning from their eyeballs – it’s here, where we live. There’s always the little extra bit of excitement that it could happen when the story is set in a town you’ve been to, maybe even lived in.
Guest Review: “Lyranel’s Song” by Leslie Carmichael
Lyranel’s Song by Leslie Carmichael is a book that thoughtful children can relax into and enjoy. The action is steady without being relentless, leaving room for characters to lead lives that young girls, in particular, could imagine themselves living. The two young readers (age 11) that I field-tested the book on often interrupted to supplement the commentary or make suggestions for what characters might do, which I always consider a good sign.
Review: “Counting Heads” by David Marusek
Marusek has envisioned his world so clearly and carefully that the technical details feel like afterthoughts. References are made subtly and in passing, the way any of us would refer to a ubiquitous convenience like a cellphone or digital camera, and it takes you many pages to get a full glimpse of how this future society truly differs from our own, while remaining completely human and recognizable.
Review: “Team of Darkness” by Tony Ruggiero
In the twenty-first century, amidst six billion people and surveillance equipment able to tell a gnat’s sex from outer space, four monsters hid together in caves just outside the city of Kacianik, Kosovo, for nearly a century, until they attacked a captain of the US Army and left witnesses.
General Stone could barely contain himself. Vampires. Real life, blood sucking, coffin dwelling, God damned vampires. What if they could be captured? Studied? What if they could be kept under control and compelled to follow orders?
Review: “The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator” by Prentis Rollins
This is one of those ideas that seems so obvious you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Writer-artist Rollins, who’s worked extensively for DC Comics, splits his book in half.
Review: “Silverfin: A Young James Bond Adventure”
“There’s something slithering in the dark waters around a Scottish castle. Something that must be kept secret, something very deadly. One man with a thirst for power will use it. Whatever the cost. One young boy stands in his way. His name is James. James Bond.”
Cue the music!!
Review: “Soulless” by Gail Carriger
I returned from holidays to one of the worst fates that can happen to a book nerd -– a sewer backup. As I looked at the empty space where our bookshelves used to be, I realized I needed immediate cheering up. Fortunately, Gail Carriger’s Soulless was in my To Be Read pile, above the high water mark.
