Reviews :: Book Rating :: Books We Love :: Page 28

Yes, I know, this review comes a little late. After its being nominated for a Hugo. After it being out for over a year. Despite this, I’m still glad I’m the one who gets to review it. Yay me!

It’s probably a good thing that it is me, because while it’s impossible to deny the EBR Overlords’ discriminating tastes in the Speculative Fiction literary world–because, well, they are always right–even they will pass on a perfectly good book because it simply doesn’t appeal to them, or they just don’t have time. They can be quite benevolent that way. Again, yay me!
Read the rest of this review »

Admittedly, there are some great perks to being a reviewer. The lavish lifestyle includes all-expense-paid trips to foreign countries, supermodels, perfectly cooked steaks…OK, none of that. I get books. Lots and lots of books. Some are awesome, and some are terrible. One of the greatest perks is reading a novel I’d never have picked up on my own and discovering how fantastic it is. That happened to me last year when I read Marie Brennan‘s A STAR SHALL FALL (EBR Review). Set in historic London, the novel unexpectedly shoved me down in my comfy reading chair and didn’t let me up until I had finished the novel. Understand, that sort of thing rarely happens to me anymore.
Read the rest of this review »

Full disclosure. I loved Mira Grant‘s novel, FEED (EBR Review). I didn’t think I would because I was a tad tired of zombies, but FEED was still awesome… especially the ending which was absolutely incredible. Sure there were some things that made me say “meh”, but I personally thought the characters were fun (specifically in the latter half of the novel when the story got really grim and bleak), and the setting was fantastic. Not to mention, Mira Grant’s writing appealed to me with its accessibility and her sense of pacing. If was my personal pick for the Hugo this year. I bought copies of her books and lugged them to WorldCon so I could stalk Mira down for signatures. Yeah, I’m a fan.
Read the rest of this review »

My dad and I have an ongoing argument. My dad seems to think that China Miéville (Amazon) is a superior work to THE SCAR (Amazon), which is also by Miéville and set in the same world as PERDIDO. While I know better. THE SCAR is better, better plotted, cooler stuff. In one thing we are agreed, however. In my opinion THE SCAR is a 10 (on a scale of one to ten, ten being perfect) whereas PERDIDO is a 9.9. For my dad it’s PERDIDO that gets the 10 and THE SCAR the measly 9.9. They are both good books. Fantastic books, genre-altering books.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because EMBASSYTOWN (Amazon), the latest novel by China Miéville, is probably a strong 9.8 in my opinion. Easily my favorite of Miéville’s books since THE SCAR.
Read the rest of this review »

Many people have strong feelings about Lev Grossman’s 2009 book THE MAGICIANS (Amazon). It’s inspired no small amount of passion—both for and against. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the book, it tells the tale of Quentin Coldwater, a young man who’s about as diehard of a Narnia fan as you can get. (Except of course Narnia isn’t actually Narnia. It’s called Fillory—but the parallels are too strong for there to be any doubt in the reader’s mind.) He’s a genius, extremely gifted, and kind of a major self-obsessed jerk. You know—like a lot of teenagers you know, except Quentin really is a genius. But he hates his life, and he wishes more than anything that Fillory were real, and that he lived there, instead.Read the rest of this review »

Ever since we started this lovely little blog we’ve found our horizons broadened. Out of necessity–and due to our unwavering commitment to be being completely awesome–we read a pretty much everything that is sent to us. If we had to point at one area where our appreciation has grown significantly, it would be with YA novels.

That brings us to Robison Wells and his first major novel, VARIANT (Amazon). It is completely awesome. Why? Because we said so.
Read the rest of this review »

VORTEX (Amazon) is the latest novel by author Robert Charles Wilson. I’ve been a rabid fan of Wilson’s ever since his Hugo-winning SPIN (Amazon). After that novel I went out and read four or five of his previous novels and I’ve read everything he’s written since. He doesn’t always hit it out of the park, like he did in SPIN, but he never fails to be entertaining.
Read the rest of this review »

There comes a time in nearly every series where the side characters of the first two or three novels become so interesting that they take on a life of their own. The readers beg, plead and offer bribes to the author for more information or more “screen time” for their beloved side-character. A lot of times we see this in the form of some short stories or novellas. But if we are lucky (sometimes), we get a full novel with that chosen side character as the main focus.

This was the case with Larry Correia‘s Monster Hunter series. From the moment the character Earl Harbinger was introduced in MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL, fans pleaded for Larry to write more about the werewolf. Larry relented, and we have MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA (Amazon) to show for it.
Read the rest of this review »

This was my first foray into the works of Cathrynne M. Valente. It seems like whenever I would turn around someone (usually our resident reviewer, Shawn) would be saying how incredible a storyteller and writer Valente is. A guy like me can only take so much of that kind of hype before he gives in. Unfortunately reading an author’s work based off that kind hype can also lead to letdowns–it has happened to me more times than I can count. I was worried. Luckily for me (and for all you discerning readers out there), it seems that everything people are saying about Valente is true. She is amazing.
Read the rest of this review »

I actually finished reading this book quite a while ago and have been trying to think of how I would review it. Is it a good book? Of course it is. It’s written by Catherynne M. Valente, and I’m convinced now that she has some sort of magical pen that turns everything she writes into gold (and if she doesn’t use a pen then it must be a magical computer. Wish I knew where to get one like it). Does it contain beautiful writing, weird and wonderful characters and imagery that makes you weep it’s so gorgeous? Yes and for the same reasons as above. Yet still I’m not sure how to talk about it.

So let’s just dive right in, shall we?
Read the rest of this review »