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Latest Ten Books Reviewed

Munchkin is a quick to learn, easy to play card game. Inspired by all the principles of every RPG you've ever played, it boils it down to the essence of "Kill the monster, steal its stuff", with spoilers thrown in by the other players. While the first game might take an hour or more for 4 ...
Munchkin reviewed by Dan

Settlers of Catan is a baord game for 3 or 4 players. It mixes strategy, dice rolling and politics in a fast paced game that is different every time you play. The board is constructed randomly and the resources needed to win are well balanced for early game vs late game strategies and diffferent pla ...
Settlers of Catan (new edition) reviewed by Dan

Arkham Horror is a game for 1-8 players based in the Chthulu Mythos by Lovecraft. The players are the investigators in the town of Arkham, trying to defeat the Deep One from rising and taking over the world. The game is co-operative (players vs the board), so is ideal to teach new players as you ...
Arkham Horror reviewed by Dan

Full List of Book Reviews

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This book is a type of humour I remember enjoying in Punch magazine years ago in the school library on inclement sports afternoons. The publication page says several pieces from 1066 And All That, originally published in 1930, appeared in the magazine. I'm looking a the 75th Anniversary Edition, pub ...
1066 And All That reviewed by Len Newland

Abarat by Clive Barker, reviewed by Len Newland. A children’s fantasy aimed at ages 10 to 12, although mention of testosterone as a driver of men’s behaviour makes me wonder what primary school children are being taught these days. Victimised by her school teacher, young Candy escapes into the wo ...
Abarat reviewed by Len Newland

This is classic, larger than life space opera, with players ranging from 8th Century Norse to current days to millennia in the future, all tied together into a single universe and story. The players include Roger Blackstone, son of two mu-space Pilots and spies 600 years from now, Wulf, an 8th Centu ...
Absorption reviewed by Jonathan Dean

AN ACCIDENTAL GODDESS by Linnea Sinclair ISBN 0-553-58799-4 Reviewed by Julianne When Raheinan Special Forces captain Gillaine Davre wakes up 342 years in the future and a goddess in the seeming space of ‘a couple of unconscious hours’, she discovers that life has just become more complicated. ...
An Accidental Goddess reviewed by Julianne

When your reading takes you from a steamy Sydney summer to a snow covered Scandanavian landscape, you know you are benefiting from one of the great joys of the pastime. If exploring new countries is one of the pleasures of fantasy reading for you, then you must take a look at Across the Face of the ...
Across the Face of the World reviewed by Penny

I am a big fan of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy and the Keys to the Kingdom series. I really enjoyed this collection of short stories although, one story, Lightning Bringer was too old for me. Lots of the stories have death themes. The book begins with an Old Kingdom Story. ...
Across the Wall: Tales of the Old Kingdom and Beyond reviewed by Liam Aged 11 years

Garth Nix is well known for his Old Kingdom Trilogy and the ongoing Keys to the Kingdom Series. This book is a collection of short stories, many with dark and macabre themes, as do his other books. Each story is preceded by an introduction written by Garth. He relates where the story was first publ ...
Across the Wall: Tales of the Old Kingdom and Beyond reviewed by Catherine

Published in Australia by Simon and Schuster Trade Paperback ISBN 0743257340 Paperback ISBN 0743468481 Number of pages: 306 The novel is set around Earth in the 24th Century under a military dictatorship, with a General William Myson at its head. The chief character is Alexander Delgado wh ...
The Affinity Trap reviewed by Ryk Eksteen

Colonization 3 Aftershocks provided no great surprises. In this episode, it’s now the 60s / 70s, the lizards have been on Earth for long enough for children to have grown to adulthood knowing no other world than one divided between the humans and the Lizards. ‘World’ coverage continues to be ...
Aftershocks reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi, reviewed by Len Newland. A science fiction novel of first human contact with space aliens. The title is slightly misleading in being similar to Poul Anderson’s Trader To The Stars, which concerns a future interstellar merchant. Here we have a present day Hollywo ...
Agent to the Stars reviewed by Len Newland

Airman is set at the end of the 1800’s (1878 - 1894) in the period of when the race for flight was a joke (for the public) and a great scientific discovery era (for the knowledgeable population). The author, Eoin Colfer has taken the idea of the Saltee islands which he saw as a kid and turned them i ...
Airman CD reviewed by Liam

Dwellers are a race of sentient, occasionally space faring floating gas bags inhabiting most gas giant planets in the universe. They are classified as Slow because of their long lifetimes (billions of years), unlike races such as humans who are Quick (evolve and become extinct relatively quickly). D ...
The Algebraist CD reviewed by Tim

Alien Embassy by Ian Watson, apparently the world has given up on materialism and technology for ‘Tantric flying’ as a means of getting in touch with alien planets. This is revealed as a cover, ‘Tantric Flying’ assisted by high tech is in fact the planet’s sole defence against the Star Beast, an ...
Alien Embassy reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

ISBN 0-7322-7703-5 Alternative 3, by Ken Mitchell NZ, 440 pages, © 2003. Another SF book by a NZ Author? I picked this book up at an Op shop as I assumed it to be about the (Nigel Calder?) TV program that posited a secret conspiracy to move some humans off planet ahead of a global catastroph ...
Alternative 3 reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

America Pacifica by Anna North, reviewed by Len Newland. Author North posits that the oops! ice age (not global warming) will have arrived in the next thirty years, wiping out all Americans except fifty thousand refugees on an oddly tropical artificially extended Pacific island (rest of the world ...
America Pacifica reviewed by Len Newland

American Gods By Neil Gaiman Reviewed by Adam Bales "American Gods" is a mythological fantasy that deals with the plights of the old gods as they struggle to survive in a modern America that has too little belief to share around. Shadow, an ex-convict, is hired by the mysterious Mr. ...
American Gods reviewed by Adam bales

This is a eagerly awaited 4th book in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. These are fantasy action novels involving Artemis Fowl, a young teenage boy as the central character. He is again involved in an adventure with Fairy Captain Holly Short and Dwarf Mulch Diggums. They are up against their p ...
Artemis Fowl: Opal Deception Cassette reviewed by Liam

The Assassin’s Apprentice is a well written book set in the ‘Six Duchies’, a medieval nation. The focus of the book is the early years and coming-of-age of the protagonist, ‘FitzChivalry Farseer’, the bastard son of the heir to the throne. It also tracks Fitz’s career as an assassin, but this is not ...
Assassin's Apprentice reviewed by Bill Browne

Fans of Honor Harrington can rejoice. She’s back, in a big way. After brief cameos in Crown of Slaves and Shadow of Saganami (both of which should be read before this book), David Weber brings his heroine back to centre stage. Manitcore and Haven have resumed hostilities after tampering of diploma ...
At All Costs reviewed by Dan

Avilion by Robert Holdstock, reviewed by Len Newland. Avilion, or Lavondyss, is a special part of an enchanted forest in southern England called Ryhope Wood. Timeless, unchanging, constantly changing, and constituted of time and space warps, the Wood contains vastly more territory than it occupie ...
Avilion reviewed by Len Newland

Awakening - book one of this first trilogy by Australian author Lara Morgan is the story of an ancient conflict. It is between peoples of several nations and the good inhabitants who dwell within and the evil god who they live in fear of. Serpents also live within these lands and have magic powers ...
Awakening reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Awakening, Book One of The Triumvirate Bevan McGuiness On the outskirts of the Asan Empire a girl, Hwenfayre, grows up in a remote coastal settlement as an outsider. Her only pleasure is a beautiful driftwood harp that was left to her by her father. In playing the harp, she finds that she ca ...
The Awakening reviewed by Hayden

The Aware is the first book in Glenda Larke's new Isles of Glory Trilogy. The Isles of Glory are a loose confederation of island nations that prize racial purity. As the product of the natives of two different islands, the heroine, Blaze Halfbreed, is an outcast. She negotiates the difficulties of ...
The Aware reviewed by Penelope Read

Trade Paperback non-fiction published by Wesleyan University Press. This review was first published in slightly different form in Aurealis Magazine, issue 31, May 2003. This book generates so much thought that the reading of it has been a rich and lengthy experience which will be treasured. It ...
Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction reviewed by Bill Congreve

Fantasy fiction like X-Men, but in a space setting. Here we have multiple parallel material universes whose intelligent life is all human, overlaid by a hierarchy of “planes of awareness” populated by spirit forms linked to all humans past and present (future as well, presumably) at the peak of whic ...
Being of the Field reviewed by Len Newland

‘The Black Crusade’ by Richard Harland is an example of ‘Speculative Fiction’ and small press publication at its very best. Written as a prequel to the cult classic ‘The Vicar of Morbing Vyle’ it purports to be a memoir of a reluctant follower of the ‘The Black Crusade’, a Gothic satirical quest ...
The Black Crusade reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

The Black Gryphon,set 1,500 years before the Valdemar series, depicts the start of an epic war. The Mage of Silence, Urtho, commands an army consisting of human, intelligent magic created animals, mages, healers, empaths and soldiers. Set during the early stages of this war, The Black Gryphon foll ...
The Black Gryphon reviewed by Julianne

This fantasy book is the story of Bramble and Ash and their journey through life. Bramble is a wilful young woman; spending her youth amidst a staid rural community and this is the story of her breaking free. Bramble’s racial heritage comes from the gypsy-like race called Travellers, and it is in th ...
Blood Ties reviewed by Josephine Crowley and Naomi Cooke

‘Blue Dragon’ is the third instalment of the Dark Heavens series by Kylie Chan. ‘White Dragon’ starts with Emma Donahoe taking on the job of full-time nanny to Simone, a special little girl. Emma realises just how special Simone is when she realises that Simone’s father is none other than Xuan Tia ...
Blue Dragon reviewed by Lynn

Book Review: "Breaking Dawn" Author: Stephenie Meyer Reviewed by: Sue Waters The fourth and final book in the Twilight series, it is best read after reading the first three books - Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. In contrast to the other three books, this is not written enti ...
Breaking Dawn reviewed by Sue Waters

Breathe is a wonderful coming of age story, set in Hobart and surrounds. Undine and Trevor (better known as Trout) are coming to terms with the events of the previous summer, in which they discovered that Undine is magic. Her mother kept this secret from her, knowing the truth, and that she would di ...
Breathe reviewed by Dan

The saga is complete. Bridge of Souls, the third novel in the Quickening series is read. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is full of complex characters who required my full concentration. Lots of players in the story all interwoven and at times I had to back track on the story to check who was who. ...
Bridge of Souls reviewed by Josephine Crowley

I have told my local library to buy in this excellent electric car book. ...
Build Your Own Electric Vehicle reviewed by Taffy

Burnt Snow puts a modern paranormal twist on the old tale of forbidden love, introducing us to Sophie Morgan, a year 11 student starting at a new school in a fictional town on the NSW South Coast. It’s not long before Sophie notices bad boy loner Brody Meine, and though she’s warned to stay away fro ...
Burnt Snow reviewed by Adina West

Does God exist? Not to Tom Jericho, a terminally ill palaeontologist and lifelong atheist at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. But when a giant spider-like alien arrives at the museum to examine earth’s evolutionary history to confirm the existence of a creator, all Tom’s preconceptions are thrown int ...
Calculating God reviewed by Jen Temm

Remember the Three Musketeers? Gallant, noble swordsmen who fight for the King & Queen, against the evil, manipulating Cardinal Richelieu? This time, Cardinal Richelieu has the Cardinal's Blades, an elite group of swordsman spies, on his side, and he needs them desperately. Europe is in the midd ...
The Cardinal's Blades reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel, reviewed by Len Newland. The publisher’s notes call this novel “swashbuckling fun with dragons”; I think that phrasing apt (see below). Setting is seventeenth century France complete with Cardinal Richelieu and the King’s Musketeers, with a supernatural elem ...
The Cardinal's Blades reviewed by Len Newland

If you like Buffy and are a fan of Desperate Housewives, then this gives you the best of both worlds. A mum trying to juggle a family life which includes a teenager, and a young child suddenly realises that her demon hunting youth has reared its fangy face. The adventures are just beginning for her ...
Carpe Demon reviewed by Lynn

Chief of Staff edited by Major General David Zabecki (in two volumes) Armies can only go as far as their supplies will let them. The destruction of the French Army in 1870 is a case in point. The physical and mental strain of setting tens of thousands of men in motion in a life and death strugg ...
Chief of Staff Vol 1 reviewed by Andrew Wilson

ISBN 0-571-16918-X ‘The Children of Men’, by P. D. James (UK Dec’d) Slow Apocalypse SF novel, 239 pages, © 1992 Read September 14 to 99, 2009. Rather confronting to read this book at the time, I was reading it before and after the sit down meeting to discuss the future roles of the Futurian Socie ...
Children of Men reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

This Epic Fantasy quartet begins with the book Geomancer, and depicts the war between the humans of the planet Santhenar and the winged, armoured and incredibly intelligent creatures known as the Lyrinx, who came out of the void when the Forbidding broke. The war has lasted for over one hundred and ...
Chimaera reviewed by Andrew Rowling

A Civil Campaign is not as clearly focussed as the previous Miles Vorkosigan novels. It might have been better as three or four Novellas as 1. Miles deals with in-law and butter bug trouble, secondly, Miles deals with pre-matrimonial difficulties and Counts’ succession issues involving a sex changi ...
A Civil Campaign reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson, reviewed by Chantelle. In the clutch of a heatwave, during the party for her 16th birthday, Claire Benoit develops a small rash. Thankfully, the cute guy from school, Matthew, fails to notice and before the party is abruptly cancelled, he asks Claire out. But ...
Claire de Lune reviewed by Chantelle

Set in Japan, this story begins on the 1st of January 1861. Three Christian missionaries have arrived in Tokyo Harbour aboard the ship Star of Bethlehem. Brother Cromwell and his fiancée, Emily Gibson, have come to spread God's Word. The third missionary, Matthew Stark, has come to end a man's life ...
CLOUD OF SPARROWS reviewed by David Gatt

Born in Liverpool in 1957, Stephen Baxter is an award winning science fiction writer who has published more than eleven novels and over 100 short stories, with Coalescent being his latest offering. When you start to read this novel it is unmistakeably Stephen Baxter, but still a different offering ...
Coalescent reviewed by Jon R

Kylara Vatta is maturing in her leadership of the loose coalition of privateers resisting the depredation of organised pirate ships. Stella Vatta works on the home front, repairing the economic base of the Vatta trading empire, encouraging Toby Vatta to develop innovative technology. Rafael Dunbarge ...
Command Decision reviewed by Tim

In a world with instant communication, those who have access to it have a distinct advantage over those who don't. It's been over a year since the system ansibles run by ISC stopped working across vast areas of space, and lines of communication have been dependent upon the traders moving between sys ...
Command Decision reviewed by Dan

This is a time travel thriller with science fiction elements. It is firstly a suspense mystery with secrets and cold war espionage, and a conspiracy of staggering ambition, but at the core of the story is time travel. Most of the story is set in an alternate near future earth, of similar technical l ...
The Company of the Dead reviewed by Tim

Comrades by Robert Service This is a well rounded tale set in a universe that Lovecraft would have been quite at home in. It is the story of a bunch of religious nuts who try to create heaven on earth and don’t care who they have to murder or torture in order to get the job done. Their fanatica ...
Comrades!: A History of World Communism reviewed by Andrew Wilson

Part of the Omnibus Cordelia's Honor (Shards of Honour and Barrayar) Shards of Honour is a story about how two enemies ended up becoming life long partners. It is the story of Captain Cordelia Naismith from the planet of Beta, and Lord Aral Vorkosigan of the planet Barrayar. This couple meet on ...
Cordelia's Honor reviewed by Julianne

The Cry of the Icemark is a stand alone novel by Stuart Hill. It is a wondrous tale around the central character, fourteen year old Thirrin Freer Strong-in-the-Arm Lindenshield, Wildcat of the North, heir to the Throne of Icemark. Thirrin becomes Queen on the death of her father. The story follows h ...
The Cry of the Icemark reviewed by Liam

The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott, reviewed by Len Newland. The Crystal Skull is based on two premises: the Dresden Codex, being the ancient Mayan prediction of the end of the world on 21st December 2012, which I’ve heard of but didn’t remember the date; and worldwide legends relating that date to ...
The Crystal Skull reviewed by Len Newland

Barnaby Grimes – Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell, reviewed by Andreea Heriseanu Curse of the Night Wolf is a faux Victorian adventure novel set in a city where “there are a thousand and one ways to meet your end”. It’s an exciting new story, darkly colourful and brimmi ...
Curse of the Night Wolf reviewed by Andreea Heriseanu

Firstly, a word of warning: the new 'Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon' box does not contain new tiles. The tile illustrations are from several different tilesets, including 'Streets of Shadow', 'Halls of the Giant Kings' and 'Arcane Towers', as well as a few that appear to be from the first cou ...
D&D Dungeon Tiles Master Set - The Dungeon reviewed by Nathan Turner

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to be one of those standard, pro-forma hero overcoming all odds through gallantry, luck, and their own natural skills. I am happy to say that my initial thought was very wrong. Arren Cardockson is the son of Northerners, who were conquered and e ...
Dark Griffin reviewed by Jonathan Dean

An apocalypse novel, opening with six big earthquakes and an unspecified number of tidal waves around the world, followed by people going mad and killing each other. An omniscient narrator tells you early on that there is an “other” group walking among us and existing within many of us who periodica ...
Dark Inside reviewed by Len Newland

ISBN 0-14-012464-0 The Darwin Awards II, by Wendy Northcutt US, 240 p., © 2001 Published TBS&E, ANZAPA # 248 – Mar 09 As the second, follow-up treatment of material about the Darwin Awards it is likely to disappoint. Attempts are made to put some rigour into this compilation of Urban Myths ...
Darwin Awards 2: Natural Selection reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin, reviewed by Len Newland. Supernatural, macabre. Principal character Nicholas (35) has a couple of accidents that leave him seeing ghosts constantly re-enacting their owners’ violent deaths. This leads to his discovering a trail of child blood-sacrifice victims a ...
The Dead Path reviewed by Len Newland

Lenny Bartulin's first novel A Deadly Business (Scribe, 2008) opens with a literal cliff-hanger. Second-hand book dealer Jack Susko is dangling in perilous proximity to headland cliffs. Metaphorically speaking this scene pretty much describes Jack Susko's situation throughout the book, but as the he ...
A Deadly Business reviewed by Sue Crawford

Stephen de Selby is a Pomp. His job with MortMax (a front) is to act as a conduit for souls from this life to the afterlife. Its not fun, actually, it hurts a lot, but someone's gotta do it. When he meets Lissa (she's dead, and he's totally, instantly fallen for her... so unprofessional), she warns ...
Death Most Definite reviewed by Dan

A space opera. A real space opera, as in a musical. Yes, I know it is a printed novel without audio accompaniment, but it is in the style of a musical. As I read the book, characters are introduced and developed, and the plot progresses. However, when a major event happens, there is also a major cha ...
Debatable Space reviewed by Tim

Please put aside the 2nd Birmingham book re WWii, you were right, it is a cracking good yarn! ...
Designated Targets World War 2.2 reviewed by Greg

Recently the dead have started to rise, and they're not going away. Enter Felix Castor, freelance exorcist for hire, who does for exorcists and London what Harry Desden did for wizardry in Chicago. Bitter, cynical, and trying just to make enough to pay the rent, Felix is hired to remove a ghost haun ...
The Devil You Know reviewed by Jonathan Dean

This novel is set in the 12th century over a short period - less than 20 years when Henry II and his Queen Eleanor ruled over Britain. We follow their children; and what a tangled web they weave as their lives unfold. History is more familiar with Richard and John but them were others, some of wh ...
Devil's Brood reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, reviewed by Len Newland. Readers who remember Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy will enjoy this novel by the same author, although this novel isn’t the same sort of space opera. Dirk Gently was published in 1987, but my copy came in 2010; ...
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency reviewed by Len Newland

ISBN 0-7322-8060-5 Dis Information & other Wikkid Myths (Non-Fiction), by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki Aust, 249 pages, © 2005 Published TBS&E, ANZAPA # 248 – Mar 09 Something of an antidote or reply to the ‘Believe it or not’ book, but still in the same field, a book full of ‘amazing factoids’ ...
Dis Information and Other Wikkid Myths reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

In a world where witches, vampires and daemons live amongst humans, there are rules about mixing with other Creatures. Humans notice the wrongness when there are too many Creatures in one place. When historian Diana Bishop, the last descendant of Bridget Bishop of Salem, calls a lost tome from the B ...
Discovery of Witches reviewed by Dan

Given this aptly titled novel’s focus on character (but not the character of the private detective lurking in the background), crime fiction fans may classify Dismantled as mainstream fiction. Nevertheless, the plot is a crime puzzle that develops and is solved for the reader, with enough evidence f ...
Dismantled reviewed by Len Newland

Divergent by Veronica Roth, reviewed by Len Newland. We’re in a future decayed city where, to prevent war, much of the human race is divided into five “factions” each focussed on a different virtue. This utopia is paid for by the “factionless”, who do the menial jobs for bare subsistence and aren ...
Divergent reviewed by Len Newland

The year is 2054 and instead of studying ancient texts, universities now transport their history students back in time for first hand experience of times gone past. Kirwin has long dreamed of experiencing life in the middle ages. It was a time of witch hunts, superstitions, chivilry, and the bla ...
Doomsday Book reviewed by Naomi Cooke

The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo by Adam Roberts, reviewed by Len Newland. Apparently St George (or rather, Siegfried) lost his battle with the Dragon, for here we have a population of dragons living in a parody of the modern real world from which humans have been gone long enough to be semi-mythi ...
The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo reviewed by Len Newland

Dragon's Fire is the 19th Pern novel, and the third set in the late 2nd interval and 3rd Pass. The book focuses on Pellar, the mute son of Masterharper Zist; Halla, a Shunned, or holdless child and Cristov, son of a disgraced miner. The Harpers and some of the Lords Holder are aware that there are a ...
Dragon's Fire reviewed by Dan

Dragonclaw is the first book of six from the series The Witches of Eileanan by Australian author Kate Forsyth. On Eileanan, sixteen years ago, the Righ Jaspar took on a new wife - Maya. They claim that she has ensorcelled the Righ. Since her arrival, the first coven of witches and the towers have be ...
Dragonclaw reviewed by Julianne

Dragonclaw by Kate Forsyth, is the first of a six book series. Set on a world where magic is a part of nature and seeming much like an old Scottish fairy story. It even has a ‘Lochness Monster', though it is not called that. Unlike most fantasy stories, it is not centred around one central hero or h ...
Dragonclaw reviewed by April H.

The Dream Archipelago of the title is the chain of islands straddling the entire equator of a fantasy earth in which the advanced continental nations are fighting an interminable war. Against this allegorical background we have a collection of unrelated short fiction pieces published in various SF/F ...
The Dream Archipelago reviewed by Len Newland

Drowned Wednesday is the third book in the Keys to the Kingdom series, which have been a great success I might add. In this story Lord Arthur continues in his quest for the Keys and to free all the seven parts of the Will in the Border Sea. This book and the others in the Keys to the Kingdom seri ...
Drowned Wednesday reviewed by Liam (aged 10 1/2)

Dune by Frank Herbert Dune is an epic fantasy story, written as literary science fiction. In the world of the far future, all thinking machines have been outlawed, and technology is highly restricted. Human computers, mentats, are trained from birth to make complex calculations. The Bene Gesserit ...
Dune reviewed by Dan

So You Think You Know Doctor Who? By Clive Gifford. So you think you know Doctor Who, do you? Check out the quizzes in this book to see how much you really know. Ranging from the simple: What is the abbreviated name of the machine the Doctor time travels in? (Q1, easy quiz) to the challenging: Wh ...
DW: So You Think You Know Dr Who? reviewed by Dan

Earth to Hell is the long awaited sequel to the Dark Heavens series. This book is set 8 years after the last book (Blue Dragon), and Simone is now 16 years old. The main story follows Emma and Simone as they search for their old friend and colleague Leo who is ‘lost’ in Hell. Many of our old fri ...
Earth to Hell reviewed by Julianne

Book Review: "Eclipse" Author: Stephenie Meyer Reviewed by: Sue Waters This third book in the Twilight series begins with Bella Swam grounded by her father and on the outer with her former best friend and werewolf Jacob for taking her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen back after ...
Eclipse reviewed by Sue Waters

Read This! Great character development, deals with social issues. Really fast paced, I could not put it down. Definitely fantasy. Two strong lead characters. ...
Elantris reviewed by Karen

China Miéville's latest effort Embassytown is a novel that avoids proper classification - it is in part a tale of a society in decline and part war novel. Above all else, it is a study of the power of language and the sociological, even theological effects on a society when that language is corrupte ...
Embassytown reviewed by Sam

"Ember and Ash" is a fantasy set in the Last Domain of the Eleven Domains. The fantasy setting revolves around the Great Powers: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Forest and Ice. The book starts off with a disastrous wedding followed by an emotional argument between the protagonist and one of the G ...
Ember and Ash reviewed by Anna

Review of Karen Miller’s “Empress of Mijak” Book One in the Godspeaker series. By Josephine Crowley. This new fantasy novel begins in a remote and barren land when traders arrive in a village and a little girl is sold into slavery. So begins a new life for Hekat who grows in importance as the ma ...
Empress of Mijak reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Warlord Chronicles Bernard Cornwell Book 1: The Winter King Penguin, 495 pages Book 2: Enemy of God Penguin, 473 pages Book 3: Excalibur Penguin, 480 pages Bernard Cornwell’s epic retelling of the King Arthur legend combines intriguing characters and beautifully choreographed battle sce ...
Enemy of God reviewed by Karen

‘Exit Strategy’ is the first book in a new series by Kelley Armstrong. An assassin hitting targets ‘just because’ is always bad for business. To preserve their interests, five assassins will track him down and stop him. Nadia Stafford is invited by her mentor to join this hunt; an ex-cop turned a ...
Exit Strategy reviewed by Lynn

Gollancz Trade Paperback ISBN 0575074299 Gollancz Hardcover ISBN 0575074280 Del Ray Hardcover ISBN 0345457889 It is more then 20,000 years in the future. Humanity has been conquered, freed, then spread through the Galaxy. For the last 2000 years they have been fighting the mysterious X ...
Exultant reviewed by Ralph Buttigieg

Fantastic Cat is an anthology of stories about cats written by a diverse range of authors, some well known and some that I had never heard of. As with all anthologies, they present the reader with a great opportunity to meet new authors. The stories varied from country, time, place and background wi ...
Fantastic Cat reviewed by Julianne

Fenrir by M D Lachlan As Vikings lay siege to Paris in the 1200s, their king demands that he be given Aelis, the sister of the Count of Paris, then he swears that he will take his troops and leave. As debate about whether to give in to this demand rages within the city, the crippled & blind c ...
Fenrir reviewed by Jonathan Dean

This is an adventure book that would interest middle primary school aged boy readers. The story is based around pirates recruiting children for a scheme that is revealed as the book progresses. The central character Fergus is also searching to find out what happened to his father, who disappeared be ...
Fergus Crane reviewed by Catherine

Book review - Fire by Kristin Cashore Fire is a Monster, marked out by her flaming red hair, her ability to attract people, and to control them. On sight, you are overwhelmed by her beauty, and fall under her spell, unless you're strong enough to resist the compulsion. Very few have that strength ...
Fire reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Book review - The First Rule by Robert Crais Joe Pike runs a private mercenary unit, and a successful one. Highly skilled contractors, with the equipment & the attitude to match. Frank Meyers was one of his, until he decided to get out, and settle down with his wife & kids. Years later, f ...
The First Rule reviewed by Jonathan Dean

First Warning: Acorna's Children by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Khorri and her parents, Acorna and Aari, are headed to Maganos Moonbase to visit with Acorna's adoptive fathers aboard Captain Becker's ship, the Condor. While on route, they come across a derelict ship that is fill ...
First Warning reviewed by Dan

The First Weapon is the follow up novel to The Awakening, and the second in The Triumvirate. It continues the story of Hwenfayre, Shanek and Aldere, as well as that of those who oppose them. Hwenfayre has discovered the truth of who she is, and as a result of her actions at the Wrested Islands, ...
The First Weapon reviewed by Hayden

What if all people on Earth saw two minutes of themselves twenty-one years into the future? Flashforward shows two characters (Lloyd and Theo) in some depth and other characters in cameo, with news reports to cover the rest of humanity. Storywise, Theo investigates his own death due the day before t ...
Flashforward reviewed by Len Newland

Rachel Morgan's day (technically at least) has started badly. Possesion by a demon (insane) is not on her 'to do' list. Apparently the whole sanctified ground thing doesn't count if the demon is in possession of a body. So now the church she shares with Ivy, her vampire housemate, is no longer sanct ...
For a Few Demons More reviewed by Dan

Review of Forest Mage, book two of Soldier Son Trilogy. Forest Mage, the second book in Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son Trilogy continues the Life of Nevare Burelle as a second son and his destiny to be a soldier. But life does not run at all smoothly for Nevare. Written in the first person we get a ...
Forest Mage reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Forest Mage is the second book in the Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb. It continues to follow the life and troubles of Nevare Gerar. The book starts where the first book left us, at the Kings Cavalla Academy, where Nevare was a cadet. Nevare and other survivors are recovering from the devastating ...
Forest Mage reviewed by Catherine

Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 1; the Foundling, by David M. Cornish Aust, 433 pages, © 2006 Read Jan 22 to Jan 27, 2009 Published TBS&E, ANZAPA # 248 – Mar 09 Really something of a surprise! This is a book that was given to me by the Author (and Illustrator) who took part in the 2008 Free ...
Foundling reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

By the way, thank you for the pick of the Legend of Drizzt novels. I am enjoying them immensely. ...
FR: Legend of Drizzt Gift Set 2, Books 4-6 reviewed by Nathan

ISBN 0-7499-3815-3 Full Moon Rising, by Keri Arthur Aust, 357 pages, © 2006 Read December 29 to December 31, 2008 Published TBS&E, ANZAPA # 248 – Mar 09 How to genre type this one? It is hard to come to a conclusion as this book runs over / overlaps several genres that I read only infr ...
Full Moon Rising reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

The science magazine Nature ran a series of very short science fiction stories in its pages over the last ten years and this anthology collects one hundred of these stories. Individually the stories typically run to about three pages and the author has to communicate his ideas and story in that shor ...
Futures from Nature reviewed by Michael Wilson

This is a collection of 8 short stories / novellas all set in the Revelation Space/ Inhibitor universe of Reynolds’ series, with his interesting afterword, filling 343 pages to novel length. The stories cover war, crime, espionage and epic genres. The book title is the title of the final story. Curi ...
Galactic North reviewed by Tim

I found first The Gap of the series to be very adult in content and somewhat disturbing. It is a space opera set among a mining belt of small time freelance miners competing poorly with a large mining corporation. The story is of an opportunistic socially dysfunctional miner turned pirate who capt ...
Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story reviewed by Tim

When scientists playing with protons collide with a bunch of basement occultists and their demonic chants, the gates of hell prepare to open. Life as we know it is under threat, and only 11 year old Samuel from Biddlecombe – and his daschund Boswell - can save us… The Gates is an incongruous mix of ...
The Gates reviewed by Adina West

Welcome to the future Australia, or is it just around the corner? Genetic modification and surrogate parents are the norm in this view of society to come, but even Paradise has problems. Dr Mitchell Brown, known as Piggy because of his appearance, wants a child, but there are major legal obstacles t ...
The Gene Thieves reviewed by Jonathan Dean

ISBN 978-0-7322-8717-7 The Gene Thieves by Maria Quinn Aust, SF / Techno Thriller, 420 pages, © 2009 Dewey Decimal 823.3? Read September 6 to 13, 2009. I bough this book from the Author at a meet the Author book event held at the Customs house Library, part of the reason for this event was that ...
The Gene Thieves reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

Paperback novel published by Penguin This review first published in slightly different form in Aurealis Magazine, issue 31, May 2003. Subtitled 'The First Book of Pellinor - The Treesong Trilogy', this volume has been published as a literary fantasy novel based on an existing mythology - a tri ...
The Gift reviewed by Bill Congreve

From my readings of ancient Rome, I don't actually recall to many instances of female fighters in the gladiatorial arena or plastic water filters in their bathrooms. The ancient Rome visited by Kannon Jarrett in this novel may be a little stylised, like ancient Judea in Monty Python's Life of Brian, ...
Gladiatrix reviewed by Len Newland

Glasshouse by Charles Stross, reviewed by John McCallum This book begins with a situation similar to that of Corwin in Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. He has awakened with most of his memory gone and with a coded note with just enough dark hints to make him paranoid and a bit alarmed as to ...
Glasshouse reviewed by John McCallum

We are transported to the desert and to the prison where Ana is held captive. The scene is set for another exciting, indeed a glorious read, as Fiona McIntosh continues the Percheon series in Goddess, which is Book 3 and last, of the Percheon series. This is a long read with many characters and it ...
Goddess reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Like generations of children before them, Kenneth Storey and his brother have discovered the land of Arboria beyond their garden gate. As the world outside plunges into war, the brothers and their friends join the Arborians to wage their own battle against their ancient foe, the Barbarians. Set in ...
The Good People reviewed by Jen Temm

The Grantville Gazette, edited by Eric Flint 1632 spawned a large online following on Baen's Bar (start at www.baen.com), discussing both the fictional chacters and settings, and the way the real life technology of Grantville would work if moved to the year 1632. A series of e-books of fan-fic ch ...
The Grantville Gazette reviewed by Dan

Book review by Robert Gough for The Griffin's Flight which is the 2nd book in the Fallen Moon trilogy by K. J. Taylor published by HarperCollins. The Griffin's Flight continues the story of the " blackrobe" Arrenadd Taranasaii, the Griffiner. If you enjoyed Christopher Paolini, or Kat ...
The Griffin's Flight reviewed by Robert Gough

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre, reviewed by Len Newland. A pacy adventure-romance with space opera background. Grimspace is author Aguirre’s term for what’s usually called hyperspace, here requiring special people called jumpers for astrogation. First person is jumper Jax, and she’s suddenly embroiled ...
Grimspace reviewed by Len Newland

Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes Hal Spacejock is a would be space trader, who is not the brightest trader around. He is so paranoid that he can't afford to pay his port fees, because he won't take on any cargo in case it might be stolen goods or contraband. When things get desperate (the repo man t ...
Hal Spacejock reviewed by Dan

Halting State by Charles Stross Halting State tells the story of the investigation into a bank robbery, a bank robbery that occurs in an online RPG bank by a group of Orcs to which real police are called. The events that follow are told from three interweaving characters, alternating between th ...
Halting State reviewed by Graeme

“Hammer of God” Book 3 of Godspeaker Series by Karen Miller The Godspeaker Series tells the story of two queens. One was born a slave and rose to be queen of a kingdom. She rules with magic and cruelty and is already ancient. The other, a young woman, came to rule by chance. She is fearless in ...
Hammer of God reviewed by Josephine Crowley

It took me a little while to get into the book. I gather that this is the first of a series of books, as I felt the first two thirds provided a background story for an ongoing series, and that by the last third of the book Elizabeth Bear had hit her writing style and it flowed much better. I liked ...
Hammered reviewed by Julianne

Hammered is the first published novel by US author Elizabeth Bear and the first in a trilogy. With this book Bear has appeared as a significant new talent in the genre. The series is hard science fiction, somewhat military, set on a near future earth just reaching into space. Global warming has shi ...
Hammered reviewed by Tim

Despite being written twenty years ago, this classic novel has a frighteningly prophetic and ageless atmosphere. It remains one of the set texts on the HSC reading list for Year 12 English. Set in a bleak, near-future United States ruled by Christian fundamentalists and renamed the Republic of Gil ...
The Handmaid's Tale reviewed by Karen Maric

‘The Handmaiden’s Tale’ By Margaret Attwood, 395 pages © 1985 With this book I am going to take the time to do a lengthy review as I believe it is important to take on this challenge. I do not possess the delusion that any my criticism of Margaret Attwood’s work will ever get back to her, but ...
The Handmaid's Tale reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

The Haunted by Niki Valentine, reviewed by Len Newland. Mousy wife Susie is taken by her school teacher husband-of-ten-years to an isolated hut in the wilds of northern Scotland near Fort William in the middle of winter (!) for a second honeymoon (!). That alone speaks of a less-than-satisfactory ...
The Haunted reviewed by Len Newland

This is a near future scientific thriller of a great science discovery. It is a first contact story. A large near earth object (asteroid dubbed Keanu) wanders towards earth, so NASA diverts a moon landing mission to land on Keanu instead. Imagine what scientific discoveries could be to made! Howeve ...
Heaven's Shadow reviewed by Tim

Henry the 8th - larger than life, strong, passionate, bloodthirsty, and one of the major figures in history. After the treaty signed at the Field of Gold, ostensibly for peace between England & France, in reality a cover for a peace treaty between England & the forces of Hell, Henry is marri ...
Henry VIII: Wolfman reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Temeraire or His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik Naomi Novik has created a world that is both feels real in substance and intriguing to enter. A simple question “How would Napoleonic warfare have looked if both sides had Dragons?” has created an impressive novel. Master and Commander meets Anne ...
His Majesty's Dragon (aka Temeraire) reviewed by Andrew Wilson

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I recently spoke with a fellow book lover who confessed that they had never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams' five book series. This astounded me, as it is simply one of those books that I assume ever ...
Hitchhiker Radio Scripts 2 reviewed by Stuart Wark

Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer, reviewed by Len Newland. This Hugo award winning novel is science fiction set up around the parallel universes concept, which is explained with some interesting variants. A modern Neanderthal man (Homo Neanderthalensis) suddenly appears in our (Homo Sapiens) world. T ...
Hominids reviewed by Len Newland

Book review - Honour and the Sword by A L Berridge It's 1636, and the middle of one of the most destructive periods of the Thirty years War. The Spanish have come marching out of the Netherlands, and are invading the neighbouring region of Dax-en-Roi, on the French border. The Chevalier de Roland ...
Honour and the Sword reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Book review - Horns Joe Hill Ignatius Perrish (Ig to everyone) has had a really bad time of things recently, and it really doesn't look like it's getting better. His girlfriend was found raped & murdered, and all he can remember is getting drunk & passing out in his car. The evidence t ...
Horns reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The first hundred pages a review based on what I've read so far! I am a great believer in taking my history with a spoonful of sugar, sorry, fiction, to make the medicine go down. Sprott's The House of the Eagle, is not so much sugar as a brownie covered with rich chocolate sauce and a random sp ...
House of the Eagle reviewed by Penny

ISBN 0-95778248-9 Human Stock, by Vaughan Whitlock Aust / NZ, SF, 393 pages, © 2001 My coming across this book was extraordinary. I spotted it at one of those empty-space-at-the-Mall book clearance places. For $4 for an Australian Written and published Science Fiction book I thought it wa ...
Human Stock reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

According to the front cover, urban fantasy: current Seattle setting with mainly werewolves, but including trolls, fae, vampires, witches, and even one human! Hunting Ground is a story of international gangland intrigue where the gangs are werewolf packs instead of criminals, developing into a murde ...
Hunting Ground reviewed by Len Newland

Book review - I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett Tiffany Aching is the witch for the Chalk, and she's started getting a handle on being a witch. Admittedly a lot of the job seems to be bandaging people, cutting the toenails of old ladies, keeping an eye on things and making sure that any is ...
I Shall Wear Midnight (CD) reviewed by Anon

Title: Idlewild Author: Nick Sagan Reviewed by: Adam Bales When I started reading Nick Sagan's Idlewild, a sense of familiarity struck me. "I'm reading a rewrite of Zelazny's Amber novels," I thought. After another burst of reading, I felt like I was reading the Matrix novelisation. ...
Idlewild reviewed by Adam Bales

The Immortal Prince is a story about lies. The story winds and unwinds around two main characters, Arkady Desean, a cynical young academic and Kyle Lakesh, a murderer who desperately wants to die, despite his self-proclaimed immortality. Arkady also happens to be the Duchess of Glaeba, married to ...
The Immortal Prince reviewed by Isabelle

I recall that I once had an argument with Tim over whether first novels are better than follow up novels. My point was that first novels are not written to a deadline where as follow up novels were. It followed that there were generally few ideas. Tim’s point was that when a novel is produced as a ...
In His Majesty's Service reviewed by Andrew Wilson

IN THE BLOOD by Adrian Phoenix ISBN: 1-4165-4145-4 In the Blood is the second urban fantasy book by Adrian Phoneix. This story is still ‘stand alone’ and does not require the reader to have read the first book Rush of Wings first to pick up the story. In the Blood is about FBI Agent Heather ...
In the Blood reviewed by Julianne

Anita is up to her armpits in supernatural goings on again. Of course it doesn’t start that way. She starts this story at a nice, happy wedding (where she’s a ‘groomsman’), and things go well until she is called away from the reception to attend a crime scene where her supernatural expertise is need ...
Incubus Dreams reviewed by Dan

Infected is science fiction bordering on bloody and macabre horror. The cover cites “In-your-face, up-to-the-minute terror”. Yep. Here’s an alien invasion of Earth by the rather horrible method of organic nanomachines “infecting” human victims to produce parasitic creatures that are the vanguard of ...
Infected reviewed by Len Newland

Karen Miller's Kingmaker Kingbreaker saga is set in the kingdom of Lur, a country inhabited by two peoples: the Olkens and the Dorarens. Many centuries ago the Oklens surrendered their magic to the Dorarens and since then they have appeared to live peacefully together. A wicked mage from centuries p ...
Innocence Lost reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Innocent Mage tells of the coming of age of Asher, a young Olken man. He is the youngest of a large family of fishermen, and being youngest, gets the smallest return for his efforts. Asher is determined to make a better life for himself and his father, by making enough money to buy a boat, for o ...
The Innocent Mage reviewed by Dan

A nasty cult on a crusade. Heroes and villains easily mistaken. A doomsday weapon unleashed. A good civilisation in retaliation, a bad civilisation needing to be rescued. An omnipotent sentient AI. An naive but brave teenager. A cynical and justifiably paranoid journalist. A volunteer member of the ...
Iron Sunrise reviewed by Tim

Set ten years after the events of H.G. Wells’ “War Of The Worlds”, “The Japanese Devil Fish Girl And Other Unusual Attractions” by Robert Rankin shows a British Empire which has maintained sole rights to all of the Martian Technology, removed the Martian threat from its home planet and is starting a ...
The Japanese Devil Fish and Other Unnatural Attractions reviewed by Chantelle

Set ten years after the events of H.G. Wells’ “War Of The Worlds”, “The Japanese Devil Fish Girl And Other Unusual Attractions” by Robert Rankin shows a British Empire which has maintained sole rights to all of the Martian Technology, removed the Martian threat from its home planet and is starting a ...
Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions reviewed by Chantelle

The original Faust sold his soul to Satan for power and wealth. Johannes Cabal sold his for knowledge and insight into necromancy, but has found that being soulless has certain disadvantages, including the fact that his experiments keep going wrong. So what do you do? Go back down into Hell to reneg ...
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer reviewed by Jonathan Dean

K-PAX IV - A New Visitor from the Constellation Lyra Author: Gene Brewer This is (for now at least) the final book in the K-PAX series. Although it works to some extent as a stand-alone book, the author himself recommended that readers first read the K-PAX Trilogy to better understand the cha ...
K-Pax IV: A New Visitor from the Constellation Lyra reviewed by Sue Waters

BOOK REVIEW - The K-PAX Omnibus by Gene Brewer Reviewed by: Sue Waters This is a trilogy of stories revolving around two main characters - prot (deliberately not capitalised) and Dr Gene Brewer, a psychiatrist at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, who receives prot as a patient after he myst ...
K-Pax Omnibus reviewed by Sue Waters

Book review - The King & The Shadows David J A Milne The galaxy is at war, events are coming to coming to a climax, and the Allied forces are closing in on their over-extended foe. The Allies are desperately trying to understand how the enemy is managing their communications, but the oppos ...
The King & The Shadows reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Lake by Richard Laymon Richard Laymon was one of the best writers within the horror genre, even if he hadn’t established the high profile of authors such as Stephen King or Dean Koontz. Laymon had over 30 books published, as well as many short stories. His books featured significant blood and g ...
The Lake reviewed by Stuart Wark

The Last Stormlord: Book 1 Random Rain by Glenda Larke reviewed by Patrick Donnelly I found the premise that water was so scarce that a ‘god-given” power was given to some individuals to make rain from seawater was an interesting idea given our drought conditions in Australia during the last few ye ...
The Last Stormlord reviewed by Patrick Donnelly

Book review - The Levels by Sean Cregan Nate Turner, ex-CIA agent, is dead. He knows this because he's seen the pictures of his corpse on the news, shot twice in the head. Now he wants to know why someone ordered his killing, and who was the poor bastard the Police are claiming to be him. To find ...
The Levels reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I recently spoke with a fellow book lover who confessed that they had never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams' five book series. This astounded me, as it is simply one of those books that I assume ever ...
Life, the Universe and Everything (CD) reviewed by Stuart Wark

Ever feel like you're being watched? Your movements tracked? Your phone calls and emails monitored? Big Brother is out there, watching your every move, restricting your choices, taking over your life. Take it back. Now. Marcus is a teenage hacker, who lives to get around the system. After someone b ...
Little Brother reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Little Brother is a science fiction novel about the real world we live in. Akin to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in theme and content, it paints a dystopian picture of the near future, and the dark possibilities inherent in it. Little Brother is about power, tyranny and corruption. Cory Doctorow, Li ...
Little Brother reviewed by Adam Moszt

When someone suggested that I read Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light", my first thought was, but I don't read science fiction, I read fantasy. When I discovered that it was mythological science fiction I decided that was close enough. "Lord of Light" is set on a planet where a gro ...
Lord of Light reviewed by Adam Bales

The Lost Art by Simon Morden, reviewed by Len Newland. Ignore the cover blurb completely. We’re on a future Earth 700 years after The Reversal and the coincident collapse of the highly productive and destructive technological civilisation of the Users. Not only is their art lost (ignored past the ...
The Lost Art reviewed by Len Newland

Review of The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky published by Hodder & Stoughton. Total pages in the uncorrected proof 356. The story is like a detective novel with the author writing as the central character in it. If you don't want to read about the criminal side of life with the mentio ...
Low Town (AKA The Straight Razor Cure) reviewed by Robert Gough

Matthew Swift wakes up in his old room, but it's not the same, his body is slightly different, and the blue electric angels which live in the telephone lines are now inside him. The catch? He was murdered two years before, but now someone has brought him back from the dead. Welcome to London, where ...
A Madness of Angels reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Dark fantasy, as in blood rites, otherwise characterised as human mages fighting each other and dealing with gods in a present day Earth setting without the rest of the human race knowing about it. That’s all the gods ever known, including Jehovah; they’re all subordinate to an automaton entity call ...
MageSign reviewed by Len Newland

Lerris is the main character in the Magic of Recluse, an individualist growing up on the island of Recluse, a haven of order and conformity. He must undertake a dangergeld, a form of banishment, with another four exiles, until he can reconcile himself with life on the island. He is sent to Candar, a ...
The Magic of Recluce reviewed by Stuart Wark

Magyk by Angie Sage Book 1 of Septimus Heap ISBN 0-7475-7926-1 Magyk is story filled with Magyk and mayhem. It is a story about lost children, an evil necromancer, a purple clad snake-leather booted ExtraOrdinary Wizard, ghosts, living dragon boats, the Heap family and a princess in hiding. F ...
Magyk reviewed by Julianne

Making Money follows the career of Moist von Lipwig who successfully mastered the post office in “Going Postal.” Place yourself in the shoes of the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Vetinari, you now have a master thief and conman, Moist, at your disposal. You have turned him around from a life of crime ...
Making Money reviewed by Andrew Wilson

Just for your information though on the other novel I brought from you"Mall of Cthulhu", it is just terrible. Two hundred odd pages with fart, wee and masturbating jokes with the occasional reference to white supremacist Cthulhu cult members. I can only blame myself for picking that one. ...
The Mall of Cthulhu reviewed by Nathan

This book centres around a character who uses with the pseudonym Shaman Bond. From the outset it tries to be a parody of the James Bond character set in a world where daemons, elves, witches and worse secretly influence our modern world. Shamans job is to secretly protect humankind and eliminate the ...
Man With the Golden Torc reviewed by Graeme

Rivers of London (US title: Midnight Riot) is a cop procedural urban fantasy. Think Harry Dresden meets The Bill. The flavour is very English, with many references to streets and rivers in the London area (cop chases need streets!). Peter Grant is probationary constable in the Met. The night befo ...
Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London) reviewed by Dan

Book: Mistborn Author: Brandon Sanderson “Mistborn” is the first book in a fantasy trilogy of the same name. The first volume describes the beginning of a revolt against The Final Empire, an oppressive government ruled by the immortal Lord Ruler which has ...
Mistborn reviewed by Michael Wilson

This is more an extended magazine article than a book. However, the subject "John Law" the Scottish economist is enormously interesting. If Terry Pratchett had such a character you would think John Law a bit far fetched. John Law had an imposing physical presence, an unrufflable genialit ...
The Moneymaker reviewed by Andrew Wilson

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia, reviewed by Len Newland. Many favourite archetypes are included in this fantasy-based thriller and are described so you don’t need prior knowledge of them, although the elves and pixies are perhaps a little different from what you might expect. Monst ...
Monster Hunter International reviewed by Len Newland

Ian Graham’s debut novel is basically a 568-page fight scene in which the pace rarely lets up. The story takes place in the land of Druine, where the oppressive Pilgrim Church holds sway. Monument features an unlikely protagonist in the form of one Anhaga Ballas, a 45-year-old drunken vagrant with ...
Monument reviewed by Karen Maric

Ballas is a survivor, thoroughly selfish, but tough and resourceful, if dysfunctional and paranoid. When he opportunately steals a magical object of greater value than a vagrant can sell, he finds the world turns out against him. This book is very boyish, it has nasty humour, plenty of chase and f ...
Monument reviewed by Tim

The city of Wodonga in northern Victoria (Australia) isn’t mentioned within this novel, but the goldfield settlement of Mosquito Creek is said to be on the south bank of the Murray River with the nearest towns toward Melbourne being Chiltern and Beechworth, which sounds like Wodonga to me. The year ...
Mosquito Creek reviewed by Len Newland

It is rare that you hear a new take on an old event that strikes you as so true that you will revise your opinion. We have all heard the story of the industrial revolution but not like this. William Rosen makes a most compelling argument. That is; with the introduction of patent law the basic d ...
The Most Powerful Idea In The World reviewed by Andrew Wilson

In the Year 3134 AD, the Republic of the Inner Sphere is starting to fall apart. Devilin Stone, the Republic's founder has vanished, the HPG communications network has been sabotaged and various factions throughout the Inner Sphere are stirring the embers of war. In 3050, the Clan invasion was bea ...
MW: Blood of the Isle reviewed by John Fallon

Kaylee Cavanaugh is like every other teenage girl. She sneaks into clubs with her best friend, she fights with her family, she gets flustered around teenage boys, oh, and she can sense when someone is going to die. Kaylee's ability (and the screaming that it causes) has been passed off as panic atta ...
My Soul to Take reviewed by Dan

Myrren's Gift is a fast paced fantasy with plenty of action and intrigue. Despite its large size, the reader never feels that there is anything that should have been left out. From the beginning the book is filled with action, starting with war between traditional enemy kingdoms. The story follow ...
Myrren's Gift reviewed by Dan

What a read - fast paced from the very first page - one wanted to not put this book down even when the last page was read. Therefore it is good news that Myrren's Gift is book one in a new series by this talented author. Set in a similar fantasy universe to the Trinity Trilogy, this novel has comp ...
Myrren's Gift reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Neverending Story is highly detailed story by Michael Ende that you might have seen as a movie. If you read it, you might notice that the storyline has three main parts. The first part is about a boy in our world who feels left out since his mother died. The second part follows the quest of the ...
The Neverending Story reviewed by Liam

Book Review: "New Moon" Author: Stephenie Meyer Reviewed by: Sue Waters This second novel in the Twilight series begins with Bella Swan having nightmares about growing old while her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen stays eternally seventeen. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, ...
New Moon reviewed by Sue Waters

Isn't it always the way. You’re minding your own business when an army of more-or-less-but-not-exactly-humans magically appears, and welcomes you to their empire. They have weapons that are much better than yours, and they have magic. And just as you thought you were almost finished with the English ...
The New World Order reviewed by David Bofinger

Lt Eve Dallas is fighting that curse of all workers, paperwork. When she wishes for something, anything, to save her from it, little does she realise how much she will regret that wish. When a young man comes to find on her on a life or death case, she is thrown back to one of her earliest cases, fr ...
New York to Dallas reviewed by Dan

Nylon Angel is a fast paced novel set in a future Australia where there is Viva City (now known as Vivacity to its residents), the beautiful, clean metropolis where the wealthy live, with its outlying suburbs of people indentured to the bank. Then there is the rest: the Tert, the old industrial are ...
Nylon Angel reviewed by Dan

Fiona McIntosh has done it again! Odalisque - book one of a new trilogy by this talented author is an exciting, indeed enchanting read. I was captivated by the story of Percheron and its people, the intrigue of the Royal Court and the magic of several of its occupants. The author points a vivid pi ...
Odalisque reviewed by Josephine Crowley

I have a confession to make. I'm a gutter dweller in the Australian speculative fiction writer's ghetto, and I'd never read a Fiona McIntosh book. This was remedied by reading Odalisque, book one of the Percheron trilogy. The opening chapter didn't impress me at all, showing a slave taking out the ...
Odalisque reviewed by Steven

Old Man's War is military space opera on the surface. However, the focus is not on the details of fighting or the political plots and intrigue, but more about the personal issues that the combatants are facing. There are strong moral and ethical issues raised, and the themes of friendship and family ...
Old Man's War reviewed by Dan

title: Orbit author: John J. Nance reviewer: David Bofinger imprint: Pocket Star Books publisher: Simon & Schuster ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-7662-1 In most science fiction stories the spaceship is a plot device, taking the characters from A to B and keeping its mouth shut about the details of ...
Orbit reviewed by David Bofinger

Are you sick and tired of political correctness? Do you really want to wage war and not some half-ass "police action" or UN sanctioned weapons inspection? Do you want to actually live a zap-the-bugs video game? Well, look no further! The above novel amply furnishes the required desires/b ...
Orphanage reviewed by Brian Walls

The Robin Hood story has been told many times over the centuries, and with many variations. This book is the first of what promises to be an interesting, albeit vicious, and very bloody series. Told from the viewpoint of the minstrel Alan Dale, it depicts a brutal, harsh and at times very unpleasant ...
Outlaw reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Painted Man by Peter V Brett The realm of Mankind is threatened by demonic Corelings, risen from the Earth following the fall of the Age of Science. Witten runes can hold them back, but only for limited periods, and society is slowly dwindling back into the darkness. But three children, whose ...
The Painted Man reviewed by Jonathan Dean

If you're thinking this is just another vampire novel think again. This book is an apocalyptic journey spanning a century about fall of American society when a virus turns a group of prisoners into virals (aka vampires). At 766 pages it seems daunting when you pick this book up. Its broken dow ...
The Passage reviewed by Kirsty

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings Eddings is one the biggest fantasy writers in the world today, and his first novel in the genre was Pawn of Prophecy. It was the first of five books that now compose the Belgariad series. Pawn of Prophecy commences with a prologue that provides a brief history of s ...
Pawn Of Prophecy reviewed by Stuart Wark

Peeps Scott Westerfeld HarperCollins Eos, 312 pages Peeps is a fast-paced, highly enjoyable young adult vampire tale, the first in another trilogy from Scott Westerfeld. The novel juxtaposes the story of Cal, a nineteen-year-old Texan vampire in New York, with gruesome but fascinating factual ...
Peeps reviewed by Karen Maric

I found this fantasy novel unusually absorbing, but I can't really pin down what the story is about. The normal reader hooking features apply, to wit character interest, plot puzzles and suspense. What particularly caught me was that every chapter break is in the middle of a scene. To complete a sce ...
Poison Study reviewed by Len Newland

The Pool of Two Moons continues the story of Meghan the Beasts, Isabeau the Foundling, Lachlan MicCuinn, Iseult of the White Snows and Maya, Banrigh of Eilenan. Isabeau has reached the palace of Maya and entered the service of Latifa, a witch friend of Meghan's, who is the palace cook. Lachlan and I ...
The Pool of Two Moons reviewed by Julianne

The first in a new dark fantasy series by an Australian writer, Power and Majesty is an excellent introduction to what is clearly going to be an amazing series. I found it to be a wonderful read that I just fell into. The story is set in Aufleur, a city made up of the Creature Court (the secret magi ...
Power and Majesty reviewed by Kate Laidley

Trudi Canavan is an Australian author whose Black Magician trilogy was an excellent series of fantasy novels. Priestess of the White is Canavan’s newest novel, and is the first book in the Age of the Five series. The book is set in Ithania, a land beset by religious fervour and imminent warfare. The ...
Priestess of the White reviewed by Stuart Wark

Book review - Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence Brutal, vicious, violent & uncaring, Jorg really is not a nice person. He was a young prince once, with a mother who loved him, and a little brother whom he adored. Then troops from an adjacent realm attacked them while they were travelling, and ...
Prince of Thorns reviewed by Jonathan Dean

This is the sequel to Hammerjack of 2 years ago. The first book – the author’s first novel - came across with sterling recommendations from Richard Morgan, Neal Asher & Australia’s own Max Barry. It can be reviewed as “ye olde cyberpunk” as so many of its ideas came in the eighties or late sev ...
Prodigal reviewed by Brian Walls

This is Book 1 of a trilogy, and it doesn’t stand alone. Consequently, I can’t give a complete review. According to the publisher’s notes to reviewers in the uncorrected proof I read, Bowring’s writing is fresh, the story is intriguing, and the characters are engaging. I concur with that: the volume ...
Prophecy's Ruin reviewed by Len Newland

Book review - Prophecy's ruin Sam Bowring This is the first book, in what promises to be an intriguing series, set in a world filled with violence, betrayal, treachery and chaos. The forces of Light & Shadow are entwined in a constant battle for superiority, forever opposed & unable to ...
Prophecy's Ruin reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, reviewed by Len Newland. This novel is leading edge technology hard science fiction. Set four hundred years into the future, technologies include quantum entanglement messaging and personal matter/object fabricators, both presently in laboratory development. ...
Quantum Thief reviewed by Len Newland

"Vo Wacune was no more. Twenty-four centuries had passed since the city of the Wacite Arends has been laid to waste. . . The ship slid through the oily water, moving upstream against the current." Go on! Find out what's in between those words. It will be a chance of a lifetime. I'll give y ...
Queen of Sorcery reviewed by Liam

Quest For the Sun Gem by Belinda Murrell Ethan and Lily's father is the Royal Master of the Horse. So when the annual Royal Hunt for the White Stallion is ready to set out, Ethan sneaks into the woods to watch. He expects to watch a sacred ritual, but instead, he witnesses Sedah raiders kill the ...
Quest for the Sun Gem reviewed by Dan

The Quest for the Sun Gem is book 1 of the yet to be written Sunsword trilogy by Belinda Murrell. The story is a medieval fantasy set in the Kingdom of Tiregian. It follows the adventures of 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls and their dog. The story follows their escape and quest to rescue their pa ...
Quest for the Sun Gem reviewed by Liam aged 12 years

Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North by Alex Rutherford India 1494, and the ruler of Ferghana, a small kingdom north of India, dies in an accident. His son Babur is 12 years old, and he must prove himself worthy of the throne quickly, for the plots against him are starting straight after ...
Raiders from the North reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Rainbows End / Vernor Vinge What a mindblowing book this is! When I read Damien Broderick’s LOCUS review I supposed this must be the SF book of the year and sure enough it is on the short-list for the Hugo. The plot revolves around a world famous old poet Robert Gu (Ezra Pound being the obvious ...
Rainbow's End reviewed by Brian

In the last few years there has been an ever increasing interest in humanities faith and man’s relationship with religion. This has become even more apparent with the plethora of books being published that deal with the subject. So much so that bookshops are now creating new sections in their stores ...
RealmShift reviewed by Chris Maric

We get launched straight into the action: the semi-protagonist must locate and guide a perfect example of the scum of the earth and ensure that he fulfils his "destiny", which involves being in a Guatemalan jungle in a certain point in space-time and killing a second scum of the earth befo ...
RealmShift reviewed by Michael Fridman

Comments, rather than a review: I really did enjoy it. Good except for the swearing. A good idea and a good yarn. Better than Matthew Reilly's first novel (Conquest), and Alan Baxter should be picked up by one of the major publishers. I've ordered the sequel with Infinitas, for when it is released ...
RealmShift reviewed by Michael Wilde

When you see that a book is self published, it doesn't fill you with confidence. So, I picked up Realmshift when I had a few spare moments to fill. When I put it down, I found I didn't want to - it had hooked me. Realmshift tells the story of Isiah, an immortal who is the agent of an entity called ...
RealmShift reviewed by Adam Bales

This is a ‘stand alone’ book which I enjoyed for a change - the books I have reviewed latterly have been trilogies. Remmant Population is the story of Ofella and her life alone on a planet far from earth, after the colonists who had settled there 40 years ago had chosen to leave. She is happy and ...
Remnant Population reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I recently spoke with a fellow book lover who confessed that they had never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams' five book series. This astounded me, as it is simply one of those books that I assume ever ...
Restaurant At the End of the Universe (CD) reviewed by Stuart Wark

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I recently spoke with a fellow book lover who confessed that they had never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams' five book series. This astounded me, as it is simply one of those books that I assume ever ...
Restaurant at the End of the Universe, The (CD) reviewed by Stuart Wark

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, reviewed by Len Newland. This is a fantasy adventure yarn set in a human world with only a small proportion of special people such as the daemonist in Frey’s crew. The main transport is aircraft describable as submarine technology applied to airborne vessels; t ...
Retribution Falls reviewed by Len Newland

The Risen Queen is the second book of the Dragon Sword Histories, a new series by Australian Author Duncan Lay. It continues the story of Martil, Karia, Merren and their struggle to save Norstalos from an upcoming invasion from their neighbours and the dreaded fearpriests. The thing that I loved a ...
The Risen Queen reviewed by Julianne

This is book two of the “Godspeaker” series. It is the story Rhian and her battles to claim her inheritance and become queen of Ethrea. Book one, which I also reviewed, I found very bloody and cruel and at times quite evil, but it is important to read book one, Empress of Mijik, first. Of course th ...
The Riven Kingdom reviewed by Josephine Crowley

This is book 2 of a series. It would be best to read the first book, as it takes time in this book to put together flashbacks and see how the story is going. The main character is obscured and the story moves around the death of a king and his daughter. Slowly the connection is mage between bloodth ...
The Riven Kingdom reviewed by Diane Priday

I just finished reading The Road. It was a very humbling read. I found that the relationship between the father and son was very sad, yet motivating, in a time of hopelessness. It was endearing that the father sacrificed so much for the son so that he could live. That some aspects of man's behavi ...
The Road reviewed by Monika Griffiths

I have to be honest straight up – knowing I was reviewing ‘Rosemary and Rue’ made me read it with more of a critical eye than normal. My reading habits are exclusively for escapism so rather than reading this book for the sake of a good story (which is why I put my hand up for it in the first place) ...
Rosemary and Rue reviewed by Chantelle

Wow! Fiona McIntosh, you have done it again. Please, please hurry and write number 2 - and number 3 in this new series "Valisar". I so enjoyed Royal Exile and once again I wanted to stay up all night and read and read! This is the story of the Donova Set - made up of seven realms and each ...
Royal Exile reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Runemarks is set in a world loosely based on Norse mythology. Ragnarok has come and gone 500 hundred years earlier. The world has moved on and the gods are no longer revered as once they were. A young girl, Maddy grows up in a small village dominated by the Order, a quasi-religious group that has ar ...
Runemarks reviewed by Hayden

The Runes of the Earth: The first of four volumes of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Donaldson's earlier two trilogies follow Thomas Covenant's quests through The Land to thwart the evil Lord Foul. It has been over twenty years since these books were released, now we can return to The Land. ...
The Runes of the Earth reviewed by Tim

Runner by William C. Dietz, reviewed by Len Newland. This novel is a futuristic plot coupon quest fantasy, contrary to its marketing as science fiction. The setting ten thousand years into the future (later in the book it’s a million) is allegorical; the Hitler style ghost does have story impact, ...
Runner reviewed by Len Newland

This book is dark fantasy. Warning: graphic violence, graphic sex, coarse language, religious offence, utter immorality, et cetera. It takes to half way through the book to realise its full nature: this is another book where the reader needs to read the cover blurb and the author's notes a the back ...
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart reviewed by Len Newland

Sasha is Joel Shepherd’s first Fantasy novel. Better known for the Cassandra Kresnov Series novels; Crossover, Breakaway and Killswitch, this is the first of four planed novels for this series. Lenayin, ruled by the King and governed by feudal Lords, is on the brink of war. Religion divides the nat ...
Sasha reviewed by Daniel

Admittedly, I had problems following the storyline after the first few pages - lots of detail about ancient history and religions for clans will do that. That all changed once Sasha started on her journey home to see her father and honour a battle promise to a man who believes he is the one others ...
Sasha reviewed by Lynn

Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour Scott Westerfeld Penguin, 383 pages Midnighters is based on a fascinating premise, reminiscent of that behind Alex Proya’s 1998 science fiction film, Dark City. In the town of Bixby, Oklahoma, a secret twenty-fifth hour exists after midnight. During this hour all ...
The Secret Hour reviewed by Karen Maric

The Serpent Bride is the first volume of the Darkglass Mountain trilogy. It is set about 5 years after the conclusion of Crusader, in Coroleas to the east, and Ashdod to the south-east, and weaves in characters and locations from both beyond The Hanging Wall and Threshold. Kanubai / Chaos, lies impr ...
The Serpent Bride reviewed by Dan

The Serpent Bride, Book One of Darkglass Mountain Sara Douglass Sara Douglass makes a welcome return to the world of Tecendor with her latest novel, the Serpent Bride. Although the land of Tencendor has been destroyed, some of its people have yet survived. Their story has traveled to into other ...
The Serpent Bride reviewed by Hayden

Worlds of Honor #4, The Service of the Sword, is made up of six stories set in the Honor Harrington Universe and answers the question of what is there left to write now that Midshipman Harrington has made it to the top of the Manticore Space Navy and the ‘Peeps’ Space war is at an end? It is the ...
The Service of the Sword reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

If you got to know Fforde through his Thursday Next series then Shades of Grey will feel different in a familiar way: instead of literature being all-important it's colour. And it's written by Jasper Fforde, so it was never likely to be a bad book. But Shades of Grey is easily the nastiest book he's ...
Shades of Grey reviewed by David Bofinger

Shadow Of The Scorpion by Neal Asher, reviewed by Len Newland. What makes AI robot stories interesting is the question of how close to human those robots need to be and what problems might arise therefrom. The scorpion of this title, named Amistad, is a large arthropoid robot of a class of heavil ...
Shadow of the Scorpion reviewed by Len Newland

Book review - Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov Avendoom is an old city, twisty & winding, with a cursed area which has been walled off, to protect the rest of the city. But Avendoom and the world is under threat from the Orcs, first born of the races, and determined to be the only race left at ...
Shadow Prowler reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The publisher's notes say this novel is a crime thriller and a gripping page turner. If you want to read it as a crime thriller, I suggest you assume an initial unidentified hit-and-run victim a commence reading from chapter 13 (of 34). That's about where the crime thrilling starts and I started tur ...
Shallow Water reviewed by Len Newland

The Shield of the Sky is home to the Free People - Amazons, the Sisterhood. It is also home to the Ailu people, a shape-shifter race descended from the ancient gods themselves. Rhenna of the Free People, not quite an outcast of her tribe and her companions, Tahvo of the North (a seer) and Cian of th ...
Shield of the Sky reviewed by Lynn T.

Shimmer by Kathryn Deans Grieve is a troll and a thief made to breaks into the Portal and snoop around. The very next day the Shimmer goes missing from the Portal. Grieve is hauled before the Guild, who send Grieve to steal back the Shimmer. Grieve's first, and biggest problem is he needs to f ...
Shimmer reviewed by Jason K

Slant Mental illness, a self aware computer made of bugs, bacteria and fungi, set in an America extrapolated from present trends. An interesting story to read today but I cannot help wondering how anachronistic it will read in 20 or 40 years time. ...
Slant reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

Although intended for younger readers, many older readers might also enjoy this novel. Set in a country very similar to modern Indonesia, all the fantastic colour of places, people and ceremonial costumes is painted in vivid word-pictures that quickly draw you in. There's just one difference: magic ...
Snow, Fire, Sword reviewed by Nathan Turner

This is the third of the Latro books I have read and loved. These are unusual novels in that there is almost no plot, they are all about characters. Wolfe writes a his lead character, Latro (one of several names), as an insightful, ethical, strong, quiet and mature man. Much as Wolfe's lead characte ...
Soldier of Sidon reviewed by Tim

Soul eater is book three of this series. The story is of Torak and his pack brother Wolf, and their adventures together with Renn their friend in the cold far north world. It is exciting from the very first page, has action aplenty and will hold the interest of all that read it. Michele Paver has a ...
Soul Eater reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Earth is dying, poisoned by pollution and over population. Gaela, a parallel world, operates by magic, and may be the solution to the Earth's problems. But there are enemies, on Earth and Gaela, and dwelling in the spaces between worlds, which make travelling between the worlds dangerous. Rosette, ...
The Spell of Rosette reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Speculation on Science Future In the The Spike, Damien Broderick tries to take us on a tour of that undiscovered country, the future. The book defines this as being also an undiscoverable country as it lies beyond that point where extrapolations of the rate of progress of present day technologies to ...
The Spike reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott, reviewed by Len Newland. Taking this 630-page book alone, the cover accolades aptly call it a fantasy epic: the multiple point-of-view characters are mainly just acting out the prophecy revealed to the reader in the last chapter (54). This book, however, is only volum ...
Spirit Gate reviewed by Len Newland

"Spirit Walker" by Michelle Paver "The Aurock appeared quite suddenly from the trees on the other side of the stream." From this first sentence of Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver I was held spell bound. It is a story of action and adventure aplenty, one that will hold both you ...
Spirit Walker reviewed by Josephine Crowley

WARNING: DO NOT READ AFTER DARK appears on the top of the back cover, and younger readers should take it seriously. It's certainly not Stephen King fare, but in spots it's not bedtime reading, either. Boggarts, ghosts, witches and ghasts are some of the nasties that go bump in the night in the Cou ...
The Spook's Apprentice reviewed by Nathan Turner

Book: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night Author: David Mack Reviewer: Michael Wilson I have to say up front that I really don’t like media tie-in novels. They never give me the buzz of the original movie or TV series. Even the better ones are restricted by th ...
ST: Gods of Night reviewed by Michael Wilson

Book 3 of the Axis Trilogy Published by Harpercollins Paperback ISBN: 0-7322-5159-1 Starman is the 3rd book of the Axis Trilogy following Battleaxe and Enchanter. Although a large book, 709 pages, this book keeps the readers interest, drawing you toward the culmination of prophecy. Identit ...
Starman reviewed by April H.

The best description for this book I could find was Sam Reilly meets Thunderbirds. A group of elite rescue specialists, whiz bang hardware courtesy of CARPA, the civilian version of DARPA, but 'even more advanced', bad guys who think of themselves as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse....Senator Ky ...
State of Emergency reviewed by Jonathan Dean

ISBN 0-586-03374-2 The Steel Remains, by Richard Morgan, 999 pages, © 2008 A Review copy supplied by Hachette Livre. A long way into the book the title is explained, but in a sense the thought is current through most of the story. The title is explained in a brief conversation between two of ...
The Steel Remains reviewed by Garry P Dalrymple

Strange Attractions is erotic fiction with a smattering of quantum physics thrown in to provide explanations for a couple of light, vaguely paranormal events that occur within the story. Charity Wills is a gorgeous young woman ? although, in her own words, practically trailer trash: always late to ...
Strange Attractions reviewed by Karen Maric

Max is a self admitted 'classic loser', smoking, loafing, over-eating, insomniac. That is, until one day, when he finds himself drawn into the magical city of Echo, where he has been brought to serve in the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the Capital of the United Kingdom. Assigned to the noctu ...
The Stranger reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Lededje Y'breq is one of what is called the Intagliated, people marked from pre-birth with intricate tattoos, applied at a cellular level to the body. This process indicates that she is a debt slave, owned for life by Joiler Veppers, the richest man on the planet, also one of the most self obsessed, ...
Surface Detail reviewed by Jonathan Dean

A murderer who murders near-term pregnant women to steal their babies by carving knife Caesarean (the author's name is appropriate!) is definitely a nut case. Almost half way through The Surrogate, you learn how nutty: the word teratology comes to mind. From that point on, there's a question of how ...
The Surrogate reviewed by Len Newland

A Sword From Red Ice JV Jones A Sword From Red Ice is the long awaited new novel from JV Jones in the epic Sword of Shadows series. Initially, this series was supposed to have been a trilogy, but somewhere along the way it has been expanded out to a 5 book series. Unfortunately for us readers, t ...
Sword From Red Ice reviewed by Hayden

This book is a companion book to the "Harry Potter" series of seven books written by J K Rowling. Although it works to some extent as a stand-alone book for the reader of any of the "Harry Potter" series, it will not really make sense without having first read the seventh and fi ...
Tales of Beedle the Bard reviewed by Sue Waters

Science is important, and so are the people who do it. This book is a collection of ten articles by a professional science writer. Citing superstring theory as the epitome of current science, Johnson says "This is fascinating stuff, but so rarefied and confusing - so far over my, or maybe anyon ...
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments reviewed by Len Newland

Terminal World – Alastair Reynolds Alastair Reynold's new book, Terminal Worlds, is almost a step back from his usual writing style of humanity surviving in deep space. But pull past the first few chapters and you begin to realise that this world has received as much love and attention as any of ...
Terminal World reviewed by Liam Martin

The Emperor’s New Mind by Roger Penrose, reviewed by Len Newland. Popular science with university-level mathematics but good English. Published 1989; reprinted 1999; I bought my copy in 2010 after seeing recent references to it in science fiction. The cover blurb says author Penrose shows “that h ...
The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics reviewed by Len Newland

In this book Daniel Hannan & Douglas Carswell set about to completely overturn the Westminster system. You may remember Mr Hannan from his question to Gordon Brown in the European Parliament. If you have an interest in politics you should look this up the exchange on youtube. This is the utopian ...
The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain reviewed by Andrew Wilson

This is a very special book, on that we should all be compelled to read. The story of Jewish people who escaped Nazi Germany to Italy during the later part of World War II and the courage of, for the most part Italian peasants who risked their lives to save so many of them. Although the characters a ...
A Thread of Grace reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Thy Fiefdom Comes is a young adult fantasy set in the far future after the fall of our modern civilisation. Irresponsible genetic engineering has released competitors to humans – Stynes (Neanderthals), Dinosaurs (including T.Rex and Pterosaur dragons), uplifted apes (designed as a slave race) and di ...
Thy Fiefdom Comes reviewed by Tim

Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter, reviewed by Len Newland. Science fiction, beginning rather like Robert A. Heinlein’s The Man Who Sold The Moon and ending with similarity to Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the beginning, wealthy American entrepreneur Malenfant sets up his own space ...
Time reviewed by Len Newland

"Time Travel". The words conjure up DeLoreans, blue police boxes, terminators. HG Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1898 and we haven't stopped reading about time travel since. Surely the concept has wound down by now, an overdone trope to be tossed onto the pile with sleek silver spaceships ...
Time After Time reviewed by Steven Cavanagh

This is a neat and entertaining science fiction yarn. Number One is an ex-police detective turned time machine repairer who discovers a corpse hidden in a customer’s machine. In solving that riddle, he has to face the Time Lord Of The Universe. The Time Lord ends with unjustified altruism toward Num ...
Time Machines Repaired While U-Wait reviewed by Len Newland

Lenk is the leader of one of the most misbatched bands of adventurers ever seen, and it's doubtful whether leading is the best word for what he does. Trying to point all of them in the least dangerous direction at the same time might be a better description. When you're dealing regularly with a ps ...
Tome of the Undergates reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Review: Trail of Deceit by Ken Enderby and Greg Rickards, supertitled Volume 1 of 'The Last Safe Seasons', published by Distant Realms, 2011 with cover art by Nick Stathopoulos. 550 pages and $24.95 or you can buy the e-book for Kindle or Kobo. ISBN: 9780980830903 I can really recommend this boo ...
Trail of Deceit reviewed by Rod McLeod

This is the first book in a new trilogy, Troy, by one of Britain's most significant current fantasy writers. Gemmell has produced dozens of fantasy novels, most with strong male warrior heroes as leading characters. This is more of the same, which will please Gemmell's many fans. The novel sets a ...
Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow reviewed by Tim

Book Review: "Twilight" Author: Stephenie Meyer Reviewed by: Sue Waters Firstly let the record be set straight - this tale of the lives and loves of a group of vampires is far from being just another "teen" novel. Despite its obvious appeal to the teen market, this is a nove ...
Twilight reviewed by Sue Waters

The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais, reviewed by Len Newland. Murder mystery. The two-minute rule isn’t a short dictatorship, but rather the idea that if you take more than two minutes to rob a bank in Los Angeles then you’re an amateur asking to be caught. Lead character Max Holman is an ex-bank ...
The Two Minute Rule reviewed by Len Newland

Uglies Scott Westerfeld Simon & Schuster, 425 pages Uglies is a young adult novel set in a world where all children are ‘ugly’ (that is, normal) until the age of sixteen, when they undergo an Extreme Makeover-type operation that transforms them into breathtakingly attractive ‘pretties’. And ...
Uglies reviewed by Karen Maric

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I recently spoke with a fellow book lover who confessed that they had never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams' five book series. This astounded me, as it is simply one of those books that I assume ever ...
Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reviewed by Stuart Wark

This is a horror story about vampires and their blood sucking and other unmentionable things. Full of pace and humour and the life of vampires in the dark hours and in particular Betsy who tells the story. Not for young readers this book is graphic and explicit and quite horrific. If you like this ...
Undead and Unwed reviewed by Josephine Crowley

Urban Shaman C. E. Murphy Luna, 344 pages Siobhàn Walkingstick (a.k.a. Joanne Walker) is a half-Irish, half-Cherokee police officer / mechanic who becomes entangled with the Celtic god Cernunnos and the forces of the Wild Hunt in this original paranormal thriller. With the help of a spirit gu ...
Urban Shaman reviewed by Karen Maric

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy Joanne Walker -- mechanic, cop, and unwitting urban shaman -- is the latest ghoul-butt kicking heroine in the supernatural-thriller genre. She also heralds C.E. (Catie) Murphy as a potential new star to watch in the footsteps of Anita Blake, Tanya Huff and Jim Butche ...
Urban Shaman reviewed by Stuart

Book review - Veteran by Gavin Smith Jakob Douglas is a dishonourably discharged soldier of the British SAS, he's not having a good day, and it's going downhill fast. Earth has been at war for 30 years with the Others, and technology has had a huge influence on war. Genetically modified, technolo ...
Veteran reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Victory is a young adult novel set in two periods of time. The contemporary setting deals with Molly Jennings, a young British girl who is coping with moving to America when her step-father is relocated for work from London. The historical setting focuses on Sam Robbins, a farm boy who is press-gang ...
Victory reviewed by Dan

I enjoy this series. Again I couldn't put the book down it is filled with so much action. As the name implies in this book the French start with a strong victory. The French take London and all the southern English ports. For those of you who know the history of the Napoleonic wars and the posit ...
Victory Of Eagles reviewed by Andrew Wilson

Six months ago, Tory Brennan's life changed forever when her mother died and she went to live with her previously unknown father, Kit. Now she lives on an almost deserted island, in a converted ex-Civil War barracks, along with 9 other families, each in their own unit. There's not much to do on Morr ...
Virals reviewed by Dan

How many ways can you twist small retrogressed human cultures? Author Warren explores quite a few in this novel, which (although she gives a SF-ish basis in an appendix) is a coming-of-age allegory rather like The Pilgrim’s Progress. Here people live in a number of small communities ringing the Tree ...
Walking the Tree reviewed by Len Newland

Review: Wanting by Richard Flanagan. By Josephine Crowley. This novel is set in the middle of the 19th century and blends historical fact with fiction in an intriguing way. It tells the story of a young aboriginal girl, Mathinna, and her struggle to live her life as a Tasmanian Aboriginal agains ...
Wanting reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The Wealth of Nations. Books 1 to 3. There is no doubt this is part of one of the “great books” of the world. At times “the wealth of nations” is hard going as you would expect from a book on economics published in 1776. The examples that the author uses are clearly dated. The world he describ ...
Wealth of Nations: Book I - III reviewed by Andrew Wilson

Please put aside the 2nd Birmingham book re WWii, you were right, it is a cracking good yarn! ...
Weapons of Choice reviewed by Greg

I approached this book with some misgivings, was it to be a ‘Techno-Thriller’, as it’s cover implied i.e. substandard SF for a mainstream audience, or was it to be a case of Genre Denying Lit writer slumming. I was pleasantly surprised. John Birmingham can write and can write competently enough to ...
Weapons of Choice reviewed by Garry Dalrymple

This is easily the best plastic kit from GW that I have assembled. The sprue moulding lines are carefully placed to reduce the amount of preparation required when assembling and painting the model. The pieces fit together easily and lock into each other well, making for a symmetrical and sturdy fi ...
WH40K: Stormraven Gunship reviewed by Mike

Book review - The Whale's Tale by Edwina Harvey It's the immediate future, and humanity has made it into space, created colonies & encountered aliens. The only problem is the fact that humans aren't responsible for these discoveries, the whales are. After discovering a way to communicate with ...
The Whale's Tale reviewed by Jonathan Dean

The Whale’s Tale by Edwina Harvey, reviewed by Len Newland. Labelled as science fiction but actually political allegory aimed at children, The Whale’s Tale employs a grumpy old bachelor (played by a spacegoing humpback whale) suddenly responsible for a lonely attention-seeking 14-year-old girl (w ...
The Whale's Tale reviewed by Len Newland

What Fire Cannot Burn John Ridley A$17.95 Warner Books, 2006 (Sequel to Those Who Walk in Darkness) This is a cracking police procedural novel a follow up the 2003 novel. It is set in a world of tomorrow but not our tomorrow. It is a world of superpowered thugs and law-breakers, post The Age ...
What Fire Cannot Burn reviewed by Brian Walls

WHITE TIGER by Kylie Chan Book 1 of Dark Heavens ISBN 0-7322-8296-9 Reviewed by Julianne White Tiger is the first book by Australian author Kylie Chan and it’s a great read. Set in Hong Kong, this is the story of Emma Donahue and her job as nanny to Simone and her rich businessman father, Jo ...
White Tiger reviewed by Julianne

The Whorl and the Pallin is an interesting read, in that it is officially classed as a Young Adult book, but there are elements in it that are brutal and violent, and contains some concepts that most teenagers won't be familiar with in detail. Definitely a challenging read, but worthwhile to complet ...
The Whorl and the Pallin reviewed by Jonathan Dean

This review was first published in slightly different form in Aurealis Magazine, issue 31, May 2003. This text is one which is informed by a powerful sense of intellectual integrity. Not strictly SF, this narrative poem, comprised of a number of shorter poems -- vignettes in the narrative's expl ...
Wild Surmise reviewed by Bill Congreve

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, reviewed by Len Newland. Two hundred years from now, genetic engineering corporations have flooded the world with non-reproducing foods, and diseases that attack natural foods and competitor’s products. Result: the world is starving – except the Kingdom of Tha ...
The Windup Girl reviewed by Len Newland

Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw, reviewed by Len Newland. Fantasy fiction featuring the “veil between the living and the dead” and an instruction book entitled Wintercraft on how to deal with it. Setting is Albion, not pre-Saxon England despite sword weaponry, flame torches and horse travel, but ...
Wintercraft reviewed by Len Newland

Tiffany Aching is learning witching, apprenticed to Miss Treason. She attends a secret mystical dance welcoming winter to the land. The music draws her into the dance and she becomes noticed by The Wintersmith - the anthropomorphic personification of winter - who falls in love with her. Being romant ...
Wintersmith CD reviewed by Tim

The Witch of Clatteringshaws is the 11th and final novel in Joan Aiken's Wolves of Willoughby Chase series. When the story starts, Simon Battersby is King of England (grudgingly), and his good friend Dido Twite refuses to be his queen. When she hears rumours of another potential claimant to the thro ...
The Witch of Clatteringshaws reviewed by Dan

Series: The Wizard Lord: Volume One of the The Annals of the Chosen Author: Lawrence Watt-Evans Imprint: Tor (Tom Doherty Associates) Published: 2006 (2007 in paperback) Dark wizards. Chosen heroes. The greatest swordsman in the world. The most beautiful woman in the world. And a constitutiona ...
The Wizard Lord reviewed by David Bofinger

"Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver Wolf Brother is the story of boy called Torak and a wolf cub called Wolf and the adventures they share and they people they meet as they journey through the Ancient Darkness. But this story is much, much more than that. It is exciting and wondrous and at t ...
Wolf Brother reviewed by Josephine Crowley

The juggernaut World Shaker, a rolling industrial age city, is the only home Col has ever known, and seems a safe paradise. His grandfather, the Supreme Commander, has appointed him as his heir, and now he's off to school to learn about how everything fits together. As far as he knows, the upper dec ...
Worldshaker reviewed by Jonathan Dean

Worldshaker by Richard Harland Col’s privileged life aboard the massive rolling city Worldshaker is very British, very proper. Col’s grandfather is the Supreme Commander of the juggernaut, and Col takes his place at the top of the food chain for granted until the night an escaped Filthy bursts in ...
Worldshaker reviewed by Marina Finlayson

I have never really been a fan of fantasy books, until I read this book. I was introduced to this book by a friend, and was at first hesitant to read it. I took it home and found that I had some spare time so began the dragon sword adventure. I was surprised by the subtle use of dark humor which bro ...
The Wounded Guardian reviewed by Kurt Walker

Urban spirit-world fantasy. Zoë is an astral traveller using that ability to earn an income as a private detective. This is her first case where she finds spirits involved, which causes problems. The subtitle, A Zoë Martinique Investigation, is misleading: the story is about Zoë, not the investigati ...
Wraith reviewed by Len Newland

This book is about a writing class with a killer in its midst. It starts out slow, and then it builds. You’ll be half way through the book before it claims its first character. There are no chapter titles (it’s just blank at the top), except for the first chapter (voiced with a mystery character) a ...
The Writing Class reviewed by Ashley Gundlach

Singing My Sister Down by Margo Lanagan A beautifully written story, told by a young boy, a member of the family who stayed with their sister/daughter as she satisfied punishment and died by slowly sinking into a tar pit. Not a happy story, details so graphic I felt like I was there, sitting with ...
Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol One reviewed by Josephine Crowley

I found this book disturbingly amusing with its deadpan instructions on the practicalities of dealing with a plague of zombies. Clearly the author has spent much effort considering and planning his survival. ...
The Zombie Survival Guide reviewed by Tim

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