http://www.sfreviews.net/ Hundreds of in-depth science fiction and fantasy book reviews by Thomas M. Wagner, for discriminating readers. en-us http://www.sfreviews.net/sfr-button2.jpg http://www.sfreviews.net/ 111 45 http://sfreviews.net/scalzi_redshirts.html http://sfreviews.net/scalzi_redshirts.html Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:08:00 CST About as meta as meta gets, this comedy about a team of starship ensigns who race against time (and alternate universes) to save themselves when they learn the reason why so many low-ranking crewmen on their flagship die horribly while on away teams is told with Scalzi's trademark mixture of broad humor and sentimentalism. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/salyards_scourge_of_the_betrayer.html http://sfreviews.net/salyards_scourge_of_the_betrayer.html Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:21:00 CST A naive young scribe accompanies some soldiers on a secret mission, and finds himself having to grow up fast. Taut and extremely confident fantasy debut from Salyards is epic in scope but intimate in execution. Promises good things to come from this emerging talent. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/smythe_explorer.html http://sfreviews.net/smythe_explorer.html Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:03:00 CST Spoilers included. Crew of humanity's first manned voyage to the outer solar system comes to grief, and the last survivor finds himself faced with a genuine enigma. Despite tense storytelling, the book cannot resolve its gimmicky premise satisfyingly. (**1/2) http://sfreviews.net/perry_ramal_extraction.html http://sfreviews.net/perry_ramal_extraction.html Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:28:00 CST First in a new series by fan-favorite military SF mainstay Perry, about a team of mercenaries hired to recover the kidnapped daughter of a colonial Rajah, discovering plots within plots. MilSF mavens will hike the rating upwards a tad. (***) http://sfreviews.net/perry_man_who_never_missed.html http://sfreviews.net/perry_man_who_never_missed.html Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:18:00 CST Perry's 1985 debut, first in his popular Matador series, suffers from a near-complete absence of character development, suspense or even dramatic conflict, which is kind of counterproductive in a story that's supposed to be about a freedom-fighting rebel. (*1/2) http://sfreviews.net/abercrombie_red_country.html http://sfreviews.net/abercrombie_red_country.html Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:38:00 CST Another visit to Abercrombie's rogues gallery of crooks, fallen heroes, vagabonds and fools as two farmers searching for their kidnapped children cross paths with a ragtag fellowship and a band of gold-seeking merceneries. As violent and cynical as expected, but with much gallows humor and a sense of hope under the grim surface. (****) http://sfreviews.net/gilman_rise_of_ransom_city.html http://sfreviews.net/gilman_rise_of_ransom_city.html Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:16:00 CST Sequel to 'The Half-Made World' follows the first-person narrative of a minor character from that book, a self-proclaimed "professor," inventor, and jack-of-all-trades as he is swept up in an escalating war. Written with great skill in a manner evocative of Mark Twain, but very uneven, its story running out of steam far too early. (***) http://sfreviews.net/gilman_half_made_world.html http://sfreviews.net/gilman_half_made_world.html Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:09:00 CST Original and compelling adventure set in a world in which two competing forces race to be the first to unlock the location of a secret weapon from the mind of a mad general. Blends magic and steampunk, fantasy and western tropes to somewhat odd effect, but an engrossing story all the same. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/reynolds_blue_remembered_earth.html http://sfreviews.net/reynolds_blue_remembered_earth.html Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:05:00 CST Sweeping space opera saga in which the members of a powerful African family dynasty feud over secrets and agendas revealed in the wake of the clan matriarch's death. One of the best books of 2012, very much recommended for those who've been missing optimistic, forward-thinking SF. (****) http://sfreviews.net/rogue_angel_08.html http://sfreviews.net/rogue_angel_08.html Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:01:00 CST The 8th Rogue Angel adventure, in which Annja Creed travels into the Amazon in search of a lost slave city supposedly housing miraculous cure-all medicines, was the series' best up to that point. (***) http://sfreviews.net/tidhar_osama.html http://sfreviews.net/tidhar_osama.html Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:06:00 CST A startling, haunting, daringly original yet moving exercise in metafiction. Deals with alternate and imaginary realities, and the nature of fate, all within the idiom of a pulp detective story. Reminiscent, as has been remarked upon, to Philip K. Dick. (****) http://sfreviews.net/vvinge_children_of_the_sky.html http://sfreviews.net/vvinge_children_of_the_sky.html Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:58:00 CST Vinge's long-awaited (19 years!) sequel to 'A Fire Upon the Deep' may not be as conceptually groundbreaking a book as its predecessor, but its story is, in its own way, no less monumental. The human survivors living among the canine gestalt beings, the Tines, endure political coups and the threat of war as the Blight slowly approaches their world. (****) http://sfreviews.net/foyt_revealing_eden.html http://sfreviews.net/foyt_revealing_eden.html Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:18:00 CST This small press title might have gone completely unnoticed had it not caused an internet furor over its jaw-droppingly thoughtless racism. A young white girl must darken her face and mate with a black man, so that she is not outcast in a post-apocalyptic future society run by blacks. However bad you've heard it is, you've heard right. (*) http://sfreviews.net/dyachenko_scar.html http://sfreviews.net/dyachenko_scar.html Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:03:00 CST This fascinating 1997 morality fable from a bestselling Russian couple acquired its first American release from Tor in 2012. An arrogant young nobleman seeks to rid himself of a curse, in the form of a facial scar dealt as punishment for killing a callow student in a duel. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/sebold_babylon_steel.html http://sfreviews.net/sebold_babylon_steel.html Sat, 30 Jun 2012 08:03:00 CST Dazzling debut, one of the most promising of 2012, in which the madam of a classy brothel is asked to help in the investigation of a missing girl, and discovers an elaborate plot involving demigods, gods, and her own hidden past. A magical, mischievous bottle rocket of a book, showering readers in a radiant explosion of action, mystery, whimsy and good old-fashioned heart. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/bradbury_martian_chronicles.html http://sfreviews.net/bradbury_martian_chronicles.html Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:58:00 CST Ray Bradbury's name is synonymous with the red planet for this seminal 1950 novel (technically a linked short story collection) detailing humanity's conquest of Mars and the demise of its native race. Haunting, moving, often absurdly funny, elegiac, magnificent. (****1/2) http://sfreviews.net/bradbury_martian_chronicles.html http://sfreviews.net/bradbury_martian_chronicles.html Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:58:00 CST Ray Bradbury's name is synonymous with the red planet for this seminal 1950 novel (technically a linked short story collection) detailing humanity's conquest of Mars and the demise of its native race. Haunting, moving, often absurdly funny, elegiac, magnificent. (****1/2) http://sfreviews.net/rogersj_testament_of_jessie_lamb.html http://sfreviews.net/rogersj_testament_of_jessie_lamb.html Thu, 03 May 2012 12:01:00 CST Heart-wrenching Arthur C. Clarke Award winning story of a teenage girl who makes a fateful decision in a world where an act of bioterrorism launches an incurable plague that kills women who become pregnant. (****1/2) http://sfreviews.net/erb_mars_01.html http://sfreviews.net/erb_mars_01.html Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:45:00 CST The legendary, century-old Martian swashbuckler holds up as well as it ever has, as Civil War veteran John Carter is swept away to fabulous Barsoom to become a warlord for the ages. (****) http://sfreviews.net/kress_after_the_fall.html http://sfreviews.net/kress_after_the_fall.html Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:41:00 CST An out-of-character letdown from the usually reliable Kress. All of humanity has been wiped out but for a handful of young people living in a sealed environment watched over by ineffable aliens, who allow them brief trips back in time to gather supplies and abduct babies to keep the species alive. Fails to bring its most intriguing ideas to a satisfying resolution. (**1/2) http://sfreviews.net/mccarthy_germline.html http://sfreviews.net/mccarthy_germline.html Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:39:00 CST McCarthy's debut is the sobering and effective first volume in a military SF trilogy that explores the inescapable dehumanizing consequence of war, via the familiar concept of the super-soldier. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/vvinge_fire_upon_the_deep.html http://sfreviews.net/vvinge_fire_upon_the_deep.html Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:44:00 CST Vernor Vinge's much-loved Hugo winner may be the most exciting and important of all modern space operas. Human researchers in deep space uncover an eons-old data archive and unwittingly awaken the Blight, a dormant, malevolent intelligence that wastes no time in wreaking merciless havoc. So many brilliant concepts it's hard to believe they've all been packed into one book. (****1/2) http://sfreviews.net/esslemont_night_of_knives.html http://sfreviews.net/esslemont_night_of_knives.html Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:06:00 CST Steven Erikson's college friend Esslemont, who co-created the Malazan universe with him, finally offers up his own first Malazan novel, and it's an impressive effort, with a compelling, accessible story and an eerie atmosphere that must be read to be believed. (***1/2) http://sfreviews.net/brooks_iboy.html http://sfreviews.net/brooks_iboy.html Sub, 01 Jan 2012 11:45:00 CST Teenage boy develops superpowers, and learns a thing or two about the responsibility that comes with them, when he is brained by a fallin iPhone. Ludicrous premise, but still an effective story that doesn't flinch away from real life evils. Then again, it's probably way too ugly and violent for many young readers' tastes. (***) http://sfreviews.net/mccullough_broken_blade.html http://sfreviews.net/mccullough_broken_blade.html Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:40:00 CST McCullough's story of an assassin evokes a rich and textured setting of back alleys, rooftop hideouts, dank dungeons and urban magical grime. (***)