If you’re a fantasy or science fiction reader, you’ve probably already seen NPR’s top 100 list of science fiction and fantasy novels. This list is based on nominations from the public, with some review by a panel of three experts to ensure that a consistent definition of science fiction and fantasy was applied. To that…
Category: Fantasy
Review: A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
This is Book Two in the Tiffany Aching series, a young adult series that’s part of the larger Discworld series. In the series, the world is actually a disc that rides on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of a turtle. The series currently has 39 books, but there are sub-series within…
Review: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
At this point, you’ve probably either read Game of Thrones or you have no interest in epic fantasy novels. I expect I’m one of many who had heard of George R. R. Martin’s series but didn’t think to read it until HBO came out with its miniseries. If you’re a fantasy reader, I doubt I…
Review: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
The Wee Free Men is a children’s book, but like all good children’s books is just as funny and entertaining for adults. Think Roald Dahl meets Harry Potter. Wee Free Men is the first of four books about Tiffany Aching. In Book 1, Tiffany is nine years old and thinking about becoming a witch. She…
Review: Songs of Love and Death, an Anthology
I rarely read short stories, even though a lot of authors I enjoy contribute to anthologies regularly. A short story is kind of a no-win for me; if I love it, it’s over too soon. This is particularly true of anthologies. Unlike a collection of short stories by an author you know you love, with…
Review: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
One of Our Thursdays is Jasper Fforde’s new release in the Thursday Next series. I’m having a hard time describing this series, and an even harder time reviewing this book. No one writes like Jasper Fforde. He’s been compared to Douglas Adams but even that’s kind of a stretch. His books are kind of the…
Review: Silver Borne and River Marked by Patricia Briggs
This seems to be my week for reviewing sequels. Like my previous post, I thought I’d cover two books at once. But first off, IF you like urban fantasy and haven’t read the Mercy Thompson series, you should stop right here. Go get Moon Called (despite cheesy cover) and see if it suits you. I would…
Mini-Review: Lirael by Garth Nix
It’s the first month of the year and already I’m struggling to keep up with my reviews — so you can expect a whole slew of “mini-reviews” coming at you. Although I did just finish One Day by David Nicholls and looking forward to writing my review of that one. I’m so grateful to those…
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the movie, too
Last month I accidentally watched most of the movie The Wizard of Oz twice. I say accidentally because when it comes on TV it’s apparently impossible for me to turn it off. Now this is a movie I know backwards and forwards – when I was a child I remember it coming on every year…
Review: Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews
I decided to give up on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It just didn’t do it for me — I didn’t like the way it was written and didn’t find either main character compelling. There must be a reason everyone in the world is reading this book — unless we are all just lemmings,…
Review: Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read this review if you haven’t read books 1-5 in the series. If you like fantasy and historical fiction, and haven’t read this series, I highly recommend you pick up book 1, His Majesty’s Dragon. I had been looking forward to this book for a while, and I was disappointed. Novik’s Temeraire…
Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin
I described The Passage to my sister as “a long slog” and she thought that was exactly the right word. This book was billed as THE book to read this summer; it was hyped in the New York Times, NPR, Good Morning America. I really wanted to like this book — nothing like a little…
The Book Stop 