Book Reviews
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.
Review: “No Dominion” by Charlie Huston
The book is marvelously written and very heavy on dialogue and vivid, yet dark, descriptions. Twists and turns abound, unfolding the story at a steady pace. It is also written as a first-person, present tense story, a style that I usually find jarring and unbelievable.
Review: “Peace & Memory” by Mark W. Tiedemann
What does Mark W. Tiedemann’s Peace and Memory offer? It has an interesting, well thought out universe, a bizarre and entertaining ensemble of characters, thought provoking dialogue on social and political issues, action, adventure, twists, turns, irony, and a hair raising finale.
Which is why, for the life of me, I can’t understand why I didn’t like it more.
Review: “SOMETIMES THE MAGIC WORKS: Lessons from a Writing Life” by Terry Brooks
Take a sneak peek into the imagination of an amazing writer…and a good guy to boot. Sometimes The Magic Works is a book for everyone who either loves to write, loves to read, or loves to dream.
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: “River of Stars” by Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is famous for his historical fantasy novels, one of the rare group of fantasy authors whose books regularly cross over to mainstream reading lists and awards. River Of Stars is his second book using Chinese history; this time the Song Dynasty as a jumping off point for another wonderful novel.
Review: “‘Salem’s Lot: Illustrated Edition” by Stephen King
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Stephen King’s classic horror novel ‘Salem’s Lot, Doubleday is publishing a new edition of the book in hardcover that includes black-and-white illustrations, a new introduction, fifty pages of additional material deleted from the original manuscript, and two short stories related to events in the novel.
Review: “Hydrogen Steel” by K. A. Bedford
Hydrogen Steel could have been (cue the cheesy SciFi Echo) “Detectives In Space” but, thankfully, it’s not. The story meanders between a mystery and an espionage tale, nimbly dances on the edge of hard Science Fiction and throws in a heavy philosophical element for good measure.
