Recent Reviews08 September 2008 Anathem is a unique, impressive but fairly mad novel: one part hubris to one part taking the piss to one part gnarly geek awesomeness. Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen 05 September 2008 Atmospheric Disturbances certainly lends itself to many alternative readings, but for me the novel's main success is in depicting the inexorable dissipation of a relationship between two people. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz 03 September 2008 Imagine, if you will, the Salman Rushdie of geek culture. Done that? Good. You probably now know whether you're going to like The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Wit's End/The Case of the Imaginary Detective by Karen Joy Fowler 01 September 2008 The real life of this novel is lived in the meta-level, in its observations about mystery writing, writing in general, and, as I've already noted, the relationship between an author and her characters, an author and her readers, and readers with their beloved characters. Viewed in this light, Wit's End is an interesting novel, and a cleverly constructed one. It is not, however, particularly intelligent. The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow 29 August 2008 The anthology as a whole deserves acclaim for its willingness to take chances by presenting ambitious and complex work that could have failed in the hands of weaker writers. The Roswell Poems by Rane Arroyo 27 August 2008 Rane Arroyo, in his first book of speculative poetry book, asks, "Something happened in that obscure town, something happened that is still with us in the 21st century—but what?" Neuropath by Scott Bakker and Blindsight by Peter Watts 25 August 2008 Whereas Bakker's novel derives much of its impact from its narrow scope and no-frills future, Watts's bigger canvas proves essential to telling his "macro" tale about what such a diminished premium on sentience might mean from the standpoint of the history of life in this universe. Year's Bests edited by Jonathan Strahan, and David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer 22 August 2008 The books I have before me are Jonathan Strahan's The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Two, David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer's Year's Best Fantasy 8, and the Year's Best Science Fiction 13 from the same duo. The differences between the volumes are interesting for what they imply about the current trends in the field. Everything is Sinister by David Llewellyn and The Heritage by Will Ashon 20 August 2008 There is a strong seam of disgust running through contemporary British fiction. Predominately masculine in nature, it is a disgust directed primarily at the vapidity of the world that surrounds it. At the same time a fair portion is directed inwards: we are all fiddling whilst Rome burns. Speculative Japan, edited by Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis 18 August 2008 This anthology—published last year to mark the first Japanese Worldcon—is intimidatingly generous. Sputnik Caledonia by Andrew Crumey 15 August 2008 Sputnik Caledonia's greatest strength lies in the rich and contrasting portraits of the two universes it envisions, and once it gets properly underway it provides a thought-provoking twist on its familiar theme. 13 August 2008 When I reviewed Scar Night a while back I gave it a glowing review, so I approached its sequel Iron Angel with fairly high expectations. Happily, these were pretty much met. The X-Files: I Want to Believe 11 August 2008 I Want to Believe is an odd artifact—on the one hand, clearly aiming for and relying on viewers' nostalgia and lingering love for Mulder and Scully, and on the other leaving out much of what made The X-Files and its characters appealing to just those people it is trying to draw back in. View older reviews in our Archive, thanks to the kindness of our authors who allow us to keep their material online. |