VOYA: In this highly anticipated final installment to The Testing Trilogy, Charbonneau delivers nail-biting suspense that fans of the series have come to love. Readers will finally get the answers they have sought throughout this dystopian thriller. Cia is now a little older, wiser, and tougher and must delicately balance her relationship with government officials and those she considers her friends. Full of even more ethically challenging decisions, deathly encounters, and deceitful characters, the book concludes the series without any loose ends. Fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and Veronica Roth’s Divergent will enjoy this exciting end to another great dystopian adventure. Continue reading »
May 232014
Library Journal: VERDICT This is urban fantasy par excellence, with magical action, moral dilemmas, and a wonderful cast. Series fans will love this, and there is enough backstory for newcomers.
Romantic Times: [4.5 of 5 stars] When it comes to writing historical fantasy that is at once absorbing, exciting and incredibly moving, Kowal is in a class by herself. Just as Kowal’s previous book, Without a Summer, blended elements of fantasy with a very real depiction of class struggle, Valour and Vanity balances the adventure of a heist with a poignant portrayal of sudden poverty. Kowal’s skill for writing characters who have fantastic abilities and yet remain deeply human, as susceptible to their own insecurities as anyone you or I know, is just part of what makes her one of the best talents in fantasy.
Publishers Weekly: In this touching and stupendously fresh debut, Braden proves that one doesn’t have to turn an entire genre on its head to get something new and exciting. For Cecily Knight, formerly a Marine captain, and Ian Fairchild, a hotshot criminal defense lawyer in need of a vacation, it’s neither love nor hate at first sight. The two begin as cordial strangers, forced by circumstances and by favors owed to share space in Knight’s remote cabin—he to avoid the temptation of relapse after an injury leaves him addicted to painkillers, she to avoid other people who might inadvertently trigger her PTSD. The two of them grow to respect, like, and then lust for one another, their relationship hindered by Ian’s overly logical approach to life and Cecily’s self-doubt and fear. Their blossoming is slow, steady, inevitable, and entrancing. Braden allows them to have their doubts and assumptions without making angst the focus of the plot, lending their story credibility and sweetness. Contemporary romance fans will savor every page.
Library Journal: VERDICT: Shea takes us 500 years into Earth’s future, a place apparently decadent and war-torn in equal measures. Reminiscent of Takeshi Kovaks from Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon with a dash of Tank Girl attitude, Koko is memorable character. The violence is quite extreme, so the squeamish should probably look elsewhere, but this is a fun gender reversal of your typical shoot-em-up SF.
Romantic Times: [4 of 5 stars] The conclusion of the Eternal Sky series, Steles of the Sky has a lot to offer. The most incredible aspects of these stories are the well-created characters, who inhabit a rich, imaginative world. Bear shows admirable skill in balancing the fantastical aspects with the believability of her characters, adding a healthy does of gritty realism of human beings locked in battle, be it emotional, physical or the clash of kings.
Shelf Awareness: “This hard science-fiction horror story latches onto the imagination and never once lets up, with intense thrills set in the unforgiving reaches of space, exploring the depths of space, time and the human condition. Christopher weaves solid characterizations with spooky visual atmospherics, leaving readers with an engaging sense of dread.”
SFX Magazine: “This sets the tone for what’s to come: spiky, evocative, with a slightly manic gleam in its eye, Okorafor’s narrative approaches its subject from unexpected angles. …All human life is here, in other words, in its endless variety and strangeness.”