Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Bantam Spectra Published: 1995 Review Posted: 2/7/2002 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Have you read this book? Brightness Reef is the latest of David Brin’s “Uplift” series of novels, which began with his first novel, Sundiver, originally published in 1980. (Many of his …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Bantam Spectra Published: 1987 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Have you read this book? Iain M. Banks has built an impressive reputation of what might be called (if one dared) “Literary Space Operas”, which is to say, Science Fiction set in space, usually …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: 1997 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Have you read this book? Catherine Asaro’s latest Skolian novel is The Last Hawk. This takes place roughly at the same time as the action of her first novel, Primary Inversion, but on …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Published: 1998 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of Connie Willis’ time travel stories, sharing a milieu with her award-winning novelette “Fire Watch” and her award-winning novel Doomsday Book. I’m very fond of …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Baen Published: 1995 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating The latest of Lois McMaster Bujold`s Miles Vorkosigan adventures, Cetaganda, is, by Bujold’s own testimony, a rather light-hearted romp, a bit of a step down in seriousness and apparent ambition from Barrayar and Mirror …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Harper Collins Published: 1995 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Greg Egan is one of the most inventive and exciting current SF writers. His SF is distinctly “hard”, rife with “cutting edge” speculations, and also generally “through-composed”, in that he tries to set …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Tor Published: 1996 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating This is really, really, good. Set in the 23rd century, the Russian narrator (Maya, making at least three major SF novels this year to feature a major character named Maya (also Holy Fire and …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Published: 1997 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Penelope Fitzgerald is a rather well-known author in the U.K., having been short-listed for the Booker Prize four times and winning once (for Offshore (1979)). The Blue Flower is the story of the romance …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Warner Books Published: 1998 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating There are plenty of wonderful older books that may not have received their due notice. I won’t venture too far into the past: Sewer, Gas, & Electric is a long, inspired, hilarious but …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: 1999 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating The dedicated SF reader does well to scrounge other then the Science Fiction shelves. Many books are hard to categorize, and many books are categorized for marketing reasons rather than any formal genre …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Wildside Press Published: 2001 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Fortunate SF readers will have encountered William Sanders’ earlier novels Journey to Fusang, a fine, funny-serious, alternate history about a North American colonized by the Chinese instead of the Europeans, and The Wild Blue …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Pantheon Books Published: 1999 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Here we have Eric Idle’s second adult novel, The Road to Mars. Idle, of course, is a member of the great British comedy group Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and a reasonable successful comedian, …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Published: 1976 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a famous 20th Century Russian novel. It’s also a fantasy novel, and certainly of interest to genre readers. It’s set in Moscow, apparently in the ’20s or …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates Published: 2001 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Ascendant Sun is a sequel to two branches of her “story so far”. It follows the journey of Kelric, hero of The Last Hawk, a Nebula Award nominee, as he returns to …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Wildside Press Published: 2000 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Wildside Press, under the direction of John Gregory Betancourt, has been a respected small press in the field for some time. One of their most worthy projects is the reprinting of most of Avram …
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Bantam Published: 1995 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Iain M. Banks has been publishing SF novels for the past several years, as well as publishing mainstream novels (with horror and/or slipstream SF facets) as by Iain Banks. He has received considerable praise …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Ace Published: 2000 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Galveston is set in the same world as two of Sean Stewart’s earlier novels, Resurrection Man and The Night Watch, though all three books are set at different times, and feature different characters. It’s an …
Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Tor Published: 2000 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating The King’s Peace is an absorbing book, full of action and battles and treachery, which nonetheless reads almost quietly. This is because it is at heart about a rather philosophical subject: the creation of a …
When the King Comes Home, by Caroline Stevermer Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Tor Published: 2000 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating Caroline Stevermer has a new book out, When the King Comes Home. It’s apparently set in the same world as her fine earlier novel A College of Magics. …
Genre: Modern/Urban Fantasy Publisher: Tor Published: 2000 Reviewer Rating: Book Review by Richard R. Horton Reader Rating John M. Ford is one of the best and subtlest writers we have, as well as having outstanding range. His previous books include spy stories, space opera, hard SF set on the Moon, and …
