Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
Planetfall, the first science fiction offering from Emma Newman, is about a colony of humans who left Earth to follow Suh, an alleged prophet who received a supernatural message giving her the coordinates of an unknown distant planet where she was supposed to travel to receive instructions about God’s plans for humanity. Suh and her best friend Ren, a brilliant geneticist and engineer, gathered a team of like-minded believers and they landed on the planet 22 years ago.
May 1st, 2019. Kat Hooper, Jason Golomb, Marion Deeds and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Emma Newman | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson
Tade Thompson’s The Rosewater Insurrection (2019) is the sequel to Rosewater (2016), a stunningly imaginative, structurally complex, and beautifully written novel that Kate and I loved. It’s about an alien presence called Wormwood that tunnels under the surface of our planet and has sprouted a dome in Nigeria. Because the dome has healing properties, a ramshackle city called Rosewater has grown up around it where people with various ailments live,
April 29th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Tade Thompson | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor
Speculative fiction reader, are you in a rut? When you think about the genre, do you mostly see brawny white guys with swords and old white wizards with beards? Or maybe a thief with a hood? Or a group of misfits who must team-up to save the world from an evil overlord or a tyrannical government? Is there a castle or a spaceship in every story? And lots of people riding horses?
Speculative fiction reader, isn’t it getting a bit stale? Are you ready for a change of scenery?
April 26th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Nnedi Okorafor | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams
Sea of Silver Light (2001) finally concludes Tad Williams’ imaginative and very long OTHERLAND quartet. You must read the previous three books, City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, and Mountain of Black Glass first. There will be spoilers for those books in this review.
If you’ve read the previous three books in the OTHERLAND quartet,
April 23rd, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
PERfunctory AfFECTION by Kim Harrison
Three years ago Meg, a talented artist who also works as a university art instructor, was in a bad car accident. She was driving and her boyfriend, the passenger, was badly injured. Since then she’s dealt with PTSD, high levels of anxiety, and overwhelming guilt. She has also had trouble recovering after her mother’s death and this has led to depression. Meg is pretty messed up and has trouble teaching her classes, making friends, and coping with life in general.
As the novella opens, Meg’s psychiatrist has put her in an experimental drug study.
April 18th, 2019. Kat Hooper and Terry Weyna´s rating: 2.5 | Kim Harrison | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Alta (2004), the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s DRAGON JOUSTERS quartet, starts where Joust left off. Vetch, formerly a slave and more recently a “dragon boy” in the land of his enemies, has escaped with the dragon he raised from an egg. They are now in Alta, the land of his birth, which has been occupied by Tia, the land he just escaped from.
Vetch (now called by his real name,
April 16th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the Land of Time: And Other Fantasy Tales by Lord Dunsany
In In the Land of Time: And Other Fantasy Tales (1986), literary critic and editor S.T. Joshi has compiled a large collection of Lord Dunsany’s short fiction that spans fifty years and is representative of his entire oeuvre. As someone who is not well-acquainted with the writings of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany (1878-1957), I found this collection to be both an excellent resource and an enjoyable read.
April 15th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Lord Dunsany | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Vetch’s family used to own land in Alta, but when they were invaded and occupied by Tia, Vetch’s father was killed and the rest of his family became serfs. Vetch, who was taken away from his mother and sisters, is now the servant of a horrible fat and lazy man who’s pretty much the worst master you can imagine. (All of Mercedes Lackey’s bad guys are really really bad!)
When a Tian dragon jouster named Ari notices Vetch’s plight, he rescues him and takes him as his own servant.
April 11th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
Thanks to Tantor Media for giving us a wonderful audio edition of The Face in the Frost, John Bellairs’ short classic fantasy novel which was first published in 1969. It’s performed by Eric Michael Summerer and is 5 hours long.
Prospero is a small-time wizard who lives in a small kingdom. Lately he’s been noticing some odd occurrences around his house and starts to suspect that something sinister is going on.
When his studious and adventurous friend Roger Bacon (also a wizard) arrives for a visit,
April 10th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | John Bellairs | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Hidden World by Melinda Snodgrass
Stop right there and don’t read past this paragraph if you haven’t yet read The High Ground and In Evil Times, the first two books in Melinda Snodgrass’s IMPERIALS saga. The Hidden World (2018) is book three (of five total, I think) and my review can’t help but contain spoilers for the previous books.
Fourteen years have passed since we left Tracy and Mercedes at the end of In Evil Times.
April 9th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Melinda Snodgrass | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
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