Archive for July, 2008
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Beast, by Donna Jo Napoli
This is another entry in Donna Jo Napoli’s collection of retold fairy tales; I reviewed another (actually a Greek myth) here. Ms. Napoli (most like Dr. Napoli) is a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College. She has written a good deal of novels for children and young adults; none for adults, but that’s certainly not [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews,children's lit,fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
East, by Edith Pattou
[Happy birthday, Dad!] I honestly thought I hadn’t read this book before; it was still in my head as ‘a book I need to read’, so when I found an inexpensive paperback copy, I grabbed it PDQ. Then, of course, I read the first twenty pages and thought, “This sounds awfully familiar.” I guess I [...]
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Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
The Fire’s Stone, by Tanya Huff
I reviewed three of Tanya Huff’s books last week (here’s the first one); those three were among her most recent novels, and urban fantasy. She has, of course, written serious fantasy, serious science fiction, humorous fantasy, urban fantasy, high fantasy, short stories, and a partridge in a pear tree; she’s also sold books. Most recently [...]
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Monday, July 14th, 2008
Piratica, by Tanith Lee
Tanith Lee has written something like fifty books, primarily for adults, but in the last ten years or so, she’s been writing quite a few for young adults. I first encountered her YA books with the early ones, which were titled Black Unicorn, Gold Unicorn, and Red Unicorn. A good deal of what she writes [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews,children's lit,fantasy by Stephanie
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Smoke and Ashes (Darkest Night, Vol. 3), by Tanya Huff
Let’s see. Monday, I reviewed book 1. Wednesday, I reviewed book 2. Today, unsurprisingly, we get book 3. I wish they would make this series into a TV show, because, well, it’s about a TV show, and it’s written in a rather cinematic fashion. Anyway, another recap: Tanya Huff is a Canadian author; she wrote [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in book reviews,fantasy by Stephanie
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
The Squire’s Tale, by Gerald Morris
This was another book I picked up on the recommendation of The Ben (my fiance, for those not caught up). Gerald Morris is a born-Californian who now lives in Wisconsin, which may explain some of the appeal to Ben. He has written a series of perhaps a dozen books for middle-grade readers about Sir Gawain, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews,children's lit,fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Smoke and Mirrors (Darkest Night, Vol. 2), by Tanya Huff
I reviewed book 1 of this series on Monday, and I have very little new to say about Tanya Huff or her “Blood”/”Darkest Night” series. In any case, to recap, Ms. Huff wrote five books featuring Vicki Nelson, a former cop turned PI; Henry Fitzroy, a vampire who writes romance novels; and Mike Celluci, Vicki’s [...]
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Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
The Foretelling, by Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman has written a good deal of books, including one that was made into a movie (Practical Magic) and another (Here on Earth) that was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. Apparently two of her other books were made into movies as well, and she wrote the script for a movie called Independence Day from [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in book reviews,children's lit,fantasy by Stephanie
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Smoke and Shadows (Darkest Night, Vol. 1), by Tanya Huff
Last season on Lifetime (and a couple Canadian stations), there was a program called Blood Ties, that featured a PI named Vicki Nelson, her former police partner Mike Celluci, and her vampire sometimes lover, Henry Fitzroy. It’s based on a series of books with “Blood” in the title by Tanya Huff, but they seem to [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in book reviews,fantasy by Stephanie
Friday, July 4th, 2008
Angel of Darkness, by Charles de Lint/Samuel M. Key
[Happy Independence Day, for my American readers, and happy fourth of July, to everyone!] Charles de Lint, one of my favorite authors (a review here), went through a spate of writing horror and dark fantasy (more like slightly fantastic horror) novels under a pen name (Samuel M. Key) in the late 80s/early 90s. This novel [...]