The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (2007) – I never really understood the YA (Young Adult) and MG (Middle Grade) labels on books until I read this. With Harry Potter and the young heroes in Andre Norton’s books, the protagonist is a kid (and kids love to read them); however, they are not strictly YA or MG. The reason is the writing style. Trenton Lee Stewart shares an exciting adventure of four unique heroes, but the writing is simple and straightforward. No complex […]
Winter’s Champion and the Outcast Outcast
The Beasts of Tabat by Cat Rambo (2017) – This fantasy tale is a nice, comfortable story with some great world-building and a shared billing with two heroes. The world, northerly and cold, consists of Humans, Beasts, and Shifters. Humans rule the land and Beasts, mythical creatures such as minotaurs, griffins, and mermaids, are slaves to the humans. Shifters are shape-shifters and hunted by Humans and Beasts. Teo, our first hero, is a Shifter in a small village to the far north where his people […]
Not Your Sunday School Angel
Raphael by R.A. MacAvoy (1984) – Satan, disgusted at being cast out of heaven and forced to dwell on the lower planes among humans, blames his brother Raphael. He has a plan to bring him to ruin by using a young lute-player and friend of Raphael’s to force the angel to lower his heavenly defenses. Saara, a powerful witch watching over Gaspare, holds the Liar to blame for killing Gaspare’s teacher and her lover, and attacks when Satan shows up in her lover’s form. She […]
Read the Small Print!
Carnivores of Light and Darkness (Journeys of the Catechist – Book 1) by Alan Dean Foster (1998) – I wish I’d noticed the “Book One” subtitle before I started the book. After the great inciting event and subsequent quest, the heroes seemed no closer to achieving their goal at the end than when they began. But it was an exciting journey with interesting characters and an atmosphere of the fantastic which Alan Dean Foster is so good at. Our hero is Etjole, a quiet shepherd […]
This Mermaid Packs a Punch
The Sea King’s Daughter by Barbara Micheals (1975) – Occasionally, I have to cleanse my palate with something non-SF/Fantasy. The mother of my children got me hooked on Barbara Micheals (really Elizabeth Peters), and I’ve always enjoyed her novels. With this one, I thought maybe they’d gotten the authors mixed up. Elizabeth Peters wrote her adventure novels under her own name. She wrote her supernatural books under Barbara Michaels, but I was over halfway through this one before anything remotely magical happened. Ms. Peters was […]
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again
Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt (2010) – I knew going in that this book was going to be a challenge. For one thing, I don’t like time travel stories. I’ve never been that interested in “I’m my own grandpa” plotlines, and if you can travel in time, where’s the conflict and the uncertainty? But, I really like Jack McDevitt’s writing and have read many of his novels, so I thought I’d try it. It wasn’t bad. Nobody is anyone’s own grandpa. But, there […]
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