Book Reviews
Review: “Running from the Deity” by Alan Dean Foster
Newbies to the “Pip & Flinx” universe will need a few chapters to catch up because Running from the Deity begins mid-crisis: Flinx, a former thief and singularly talented telepath, is on his way (via his trusty sentient starship) to locate an ancient, planet-sized weapons platform that is wandering Flying Dutchman-style through the universe.
Review: “Inkspell” by Cornelia Funke
The book is filled with drawing from the person that wrote the book!! Cornella Funke and really helps you to picture all the people in it. There is also two things in this book that wasn’t in the first one, she put in a hand drawn map!! And there is a dictionary, and a place that tells all about the characters. So if you didn’t read the first book, that’s cool. You can read this and you will be all caught up!
Review: “The Machineries of Joy: a Collection by Ray Bradbury”
I don’t think I can recommend Ray Bradbury’s writings any more highly than Neil Gaiman does in his introduction to the latest printing of The Machineries of Joy, but I’ll try anyway. I’ve enjoyed Bradbury since I first clutched a used copy of The Illustrated Man at age 13, but I think I just fell in love with his prose all over again.
Review: “Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town” by Cory Doctorow
This is a book that will appeal mostly to geeks, both because it’s SF and because it dwells so enthusiastically on the topic of wireless connectivity and networks and all that. But above and beyond those trappings, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is about family and society: fitting in, feeling left out, struggling for acceptance, struggling for independence.
Review: “Queen Ferris” by S. C. Butler
The second book in S. C. Butler’s Stoneways Trilogy continues where Reiffen’s Choice ends. The story spans more than seven years beginning with Reiffen’s return to the Three magical instruction. This book focuses equally on the growth of Reiffen, Ferris and Avender to good effect.
Review: “7th Son” by J.C. Hutchins
Attention all you Earth-crack junkies out there. J. C. Hutchins’s 7th Son podcast novel is well worth checking out. It’s a taut, tense scifi thriller that’s got me hooked after only a few episodes.
Review: “Love in the Time of Fridges” by Tim Scott
When I reviewed Outrageous Fortune earlier in the year, I referred to it as absurd . . . in a good way. Absurdist science fiction. Because it wasn’t laugh out loud comedy, it wasn’t The Hitchhiker’s Guide, but it sure wasn’t taking itself too seriously either.
Review: “Red Glove” by Holly Black
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.
