Jun 122014
 
cover of The Shibboleth by John Hornor Jacobs. Behind dark silhouettes of pine trees looms a great red skull, wisps of blue mist traveling through it.This is a book like no other. Shreve, a teenage delinquent who is a thief and a dealer of contraband candy, has an enormous power for which he struggles to find a place. His telepathy eventually causes him to join the Society of Extranaturals, and his journey is all mental, an exploration of the human psyche that turns his entire world upside down. This novel is a superb telling of what it means to be different, existing physically and mentally on the outskirts of society. Jacobs is a master of the supernatural story, leading readers along dark and winding paths containing secrets, evil, and unimaginable power. Told from a male point of view, The Shibboleth will appeal mostly to boys and any reader who loves dark tales of action, adventure, and the supernatural.
Fifteen-year-old Shreve Cannon has the ability to read people’s minds and absorb their memories. It is a dangerous power, one that pushes him to the brink of insanity. In the second installment of the Twelve-Fingered Boy trilogy, Shreve is back in the custody of the state of Arkansas, this time in a mental institution for juvenile delinquents. His friend Jack, the twelve-fingered boy, is held captive by Mr. Quincrux, the strange man who possesses the same telepathic ability as Shreve. Shreve sees Quincrux as a murderer and a demon who gets into people’s minds and manipulates their thoughts and memories for evil purposes. Shreve is summoned by Quincrux to join him and Jack on the east coast and put a stop to the contagious wave of insomnia spreading across the country. Quincrux fears the slumbering beast that resides in Maryland, a group of “impenetrables” who have unknown powers. Quincrux needs Shreve’s abilities to harness this unknown power for his own benefit. —Lindsay Grattan.
 June 12, 2014  Tagged with: ,
Jun 092014
 

Cover for Amy Alkon's Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say Fuck. Plain white cover with black and red text above a silverware setting of a knife, spoon, and fork. The fork's middle tine is longer than the rest, so it's flipping the bird.L.A. Times: Out this week from St. Martin’s Griffin, the book breezy and funny, with the sort of joking modernity you’d suspect of an advice columnist who, when asked whether it’s OK to pet on the first date, first responds, “Your dog, or your girlfriend?” – only to quip, “I’m a fan of sex on the first date, actually.” Miss Manners, she ain’t.

She is, though, endlessly engaging.

Read more about Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck at the L.A. Times.

 June 9, 2014  Tagged with: ,
May 232014
 

cover of Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau. Rich, purple background, and slight to the left is a silver medal with two crossed lightning bolts on it.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 23, 2014  Tagged with: ,
May 192014
 

Cover for Skin Game by Jim Butcher. Our hero stands in the middle, in his classic black trenchcoat and black cowboy hat, all action stance as he shoots a gun to the left, his wizard's staff in his right hand. The background is a bank vault, burning money floating around, the whole scene awash in a fiery light.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.

Butcher (Cold Days) brings back wizard Harry Dresden for his 15th adventure fighting a rogue’s gallery of supernatural villains, but this time in a caper story. Continue reading »

 May 19, 2014  Tagged with: ,
May 162014
 

Cover for Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal. a white woman with brown curly hair in an up-do stands in the foreground in a Edwardian floral summer dress. behind her is a dark-haired and -goateed man in a white Edwardian suit, his outheld hand performing a glamour of fiery orange lights in the shape of a dragon. A medieval European church can be seen in the background.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.

Continue reading »

 May 16, 2014  Tagged with: ,
May 092014
 

Cover for The Longest Night by Kara Braden.  A white woman with brown hair leans down, nose-to-nose with a white man with brown hair and a couple days stubble. Her hand cups his jaw, thumb along his cheekline. Below them is a secluded winterscape, a lone cabin in snow-covered pines.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.

 May 9, 2014  Tagged with: ,
Apr 242014
 

cover of Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau. Rich, purple background, and slight to the left is a silver medal with two crossed lightning bolts on it.Kirkus: After discovering in Independent Study (2014) that the rebellion is secretly controlled by the administration it purports to act against, Cia must choose whom to trust. Conspiracies, counterconspiracies, lies and double crosses: It’s quite a ride.

It’s up to Cia to end the Testing and prevent a civil war that’s a setup for slaughter. When she brings the conspiracies to the attention of the United Commonwealth president (whom Cia works for as a student intern), President Collindar concludes that her own office has been infiltrated so thoroughly that none can be trusted. Continue reading »

 April 24, 2014  Tagged with: ,
Apr 162014
 

Cover of Koko Takes a Holiday by Kiernan Shea. A badass woman with short, electric blue hair and white face/ black lips/ eyeliner goth make-up stands almost profile but looking at us. She's dressed from neck to wrists in a tight-fitting, futurist-looking black outfit, with an enormous, vivid-yellow and black gun slung on her shoulder like she's about to swing it around and shoot. The background is white and red stripes with action scenes illustrated in black and yellow ink in the red stripes.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.

Brothel manager Koko Martstellar was living a comfortable life on the pleasure resort of The Sixty Islands, but her former career as a mercenary returns to haunt her in this SF/crime fiction debut. Her former comrade-in-arms, who had helped her get her job in the “hospitality industry,” suddenly and inexplicably hires someone to kill Koko. On the run, Koko heads to the an orbital platform in the Second Free Zone where  former policeman Flynn puts his suicide plans on hold to help her to evade those looking to collect the bounty on her head.

 April 16, 2014  Tagged with: ,
Apr 152014
 

Cover for Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear. Two people on brown horses and a small white pony ride through a beautiful maelstrom of purple, white, and gold.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.

Edene, Temur and Samarkar are planning their war against al-Sepehr — and he will not make winning it easy. Edene, bound to the djinn and the Ghulam by the green ring on her finger, must find a way to be their supernatural leader without losing her own humanity; Samarkar must make peace with the love she feels toward Temur and also her own incredibly strong powers of sorcery, and Temur must balance his choices against what is best for him to regain his rightful seat as Khagan of his grandfather’s lands.

 April 15, 2014  Tagged with: ,
Apr 152014
 

Cover of Koko Takes a Holiday by Kiernan Shea. A badass woman with short, electric blue hair and white face/ black lips/ eyeliner goth make-up stands almost profile but looking at us. She's dressed from neck to wrists in a tight-fitting, futurist-looking black outfit, with an enormous, vivid-yellow and black gun slung on her shoulder like she's about to swing it around and shoot. The background is white and red stripes with action scenes illustrated in black and yellow ink in the red stripes.Booklist: Great fun and a fine introduction to an author with a distinctive voice. Expect more from Shea, perhaps in multiple genres. Set five centuries into the future, this debut novel begins in a resort complex called The Sixty Islands, where elite brothel owner Koko Martstellar narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Fleeing to the orbital community known as the Second Free Zone, Koko is astonished to learn that her old friend, Portia Delacompte, is behind the assassination. Continue reading »

 April 15, 2014  Tagged with: ,