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All Science Fiction & Fantasy Coverage

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Science Fiction & Fantasy

Limit of Vision

Review by bookpagedev

, the fifth novel from science fiction writer Linda Nagata, is a thriller right from the start. It opens with a dead body, a mystery and a hint at the possible existence of artificial life forms.

It is the near future; in the very recent past there has been a disaster with an unspecified artificial life-form, a kind of micro-machine that can exist by itself or in symbiosis with humans. This never-explained disaster adds an edge of danger to the book and ensures the reader is sympathetic both to the characters who support, and those who oppose, further research into the artificial life-forms.

Virgil Copeland appropriately named since he will lead humanity on a journey which may be a descent into hell is a researcher working on the life-forms, known as LOVs because they live on the Limits of Vision. Implanted into humans, they function as a feedback system, giving the wearer a new focus. Initially expected only to affect the host’s thoughts, the feedback system also intensifies emotions, leading to the possibility of a dangerous emotional rush in the host.

LOVs are illegal on Earth, so Virgil must do his research by proxy on LOV colonies on a space station. Eventually Virgil and the other two members of his research team bring the life forms to Earth in a private experiment of their own.

When Virgil’s coworker is found dead in her office, the police suspect the LOVs are involved. What seems impossible is suddenly proved true as the LOVs take over the space station on which they are exiled and bring it crashing down into the ocean near Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Some LOVs manage to survive and all hell seems about to break loose.

Nagata quickly and energetically brings the cities and rural areas of Vietnam to life, then focuses on people on the edge especially those living on ground reclaimed from the delta that will inevitably be swept clean during the next hurricane season. Her writing takes a global view, ranging from those in power to those disenfranchised by international trade. At its heart, this exciting novel questions whether we as a race know where we are going, whether we will take enough time to consider our actions, and whether the individual has any power in the face of governments and transnational corporations. Not bad for a page-turning adventure! Gavin J. Grant writes from Brooklyn, New York.

, the fifth novel from science fiction writer Linda Nagata, is a thriller right from the start. It opens with a dead body, a mystery and a hint at the possible existence of artificial life forms.

It is the near future; in…
AudioFantasy

The Eye of the World

Review by G. Robert Frazier

The success of Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is enticement enough to revisit his epic fantasy novels, which debuted in 1990. But even more exciting is listening to the new audiobook of book one in the series, The Eye of the World (33 hours), narrated by Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning British actor Rosamund Pike. Pike stars in the series as Moiraine Damodred, whose quest is to find a hero to defeat the Dark One, and she brings a unique familiarity to the characters and storyline.

Previously recorded by narrators Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for the 2004 audiobook, The Eye of the World benefits from Pike’s smooth voice and dramatic, slower-paced rendering, which extend the length of this edition by almost three hours. She gently invites the listener into Jordan’s richly detailed world before powerfully amplifying the high stakes and tension.

Through her smooth, dramatic performance, award-winning actor Rosamund Pike amplifies the new audiobook of book one in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.
Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

A timely journey to other days

Review by bookpagedev

Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days (Tor, $24.95, 0312871996) which looks into the near future and also into the distant past. Clarke is, of course, an icon of the science fiction genre, while Baxter is a major new talent. The future they envision, taken from some of today’s darker headlines, is one in which one-time grasslands are turning into wastelands and nations are at war over water supplies.

Set against this background, news tycoon Hiram Patterson is trying to find a way to cover news hot spots instantly, without getting a news crew into position. His solution is the creation of the WormCam, a device which can provide real images of any place in the world. As the global population tries to cope with this invasion of privacy, Hiram and his sons introduce refinements to the WormCam which allow viewing through time as well as space. This results in a 12,000 Days project to record the life of Jesus.

Both Clarke and Baxter have made names for themselves by extrapolating future trends from current technology, and The Light of Other Days is full of the big ideas which are so often proposed in science fiction novels. Their future world is anything but utopic, however, and the technological advances they show clearly create a new set of problems. Patterson frequently compares his WormCam to the advent of the Internet, and it becomes apparent that the issues surrounding these two advancements have much in common. While Clarke and Baxter don’t necessarily provide perfect solutions to the questions they raise, they do open a discussion about issues of privacy, intellectual property ownership, and the manner in which people deal with the past. Another interesting view of the future can be found in Lodestar (Tor, $24.95, 0312861370), the third book in Michael Flynn’s series about preventing a major asteroid strike on the Earth.

In his earlier novels, Flynn described the schools and industries started by Mariesa van Huyten in response to her primal fear of an asteroid strike. In this novel, Flynn begins to turn his attention to the children raised in those schools who, even when working towards van Huyten’s ultimate goal, have their own motivations.

Rather than continuing the focus on space exploration, Lodestar examines the evolution of the computer and virtual reality. Leading us on a journey is Jimmy Poole, a hacker-turned-security expert whose interest in a space station is sparked by his inability to bypass its security.

Flynn has an ability to make his view of the future seem real. Throughout Lodestar, the characters use slang invented by the author, and no definition of terms is required. The society Flynn portrays is neither too similar or too outrageously different from our own, and each of Flynn’s changes can be seen a possible outgrowth of current trends.

In many ways, Lodestar stands on its own. No knowledge of the earlier works, Firestar and Rogue Star, is required to enjoy this new entry in the series, although the reader may find in Flynn’s references to the earlier books some hints about where he intends to take his story.

If the future is the realm of science fiction, fantasy is frequently set in the past. The second, and concluding, volume of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic, Lord of Emperors, demonstrates what fantastic literature can be when well written. Considering the slight appearance of magic in Lord of Emperors, Kay’s book could almost be classified as an historical novel. However, by changing the names and places slightly, Kay indulges in story telling without worrying about the constraints of the historical record.

Kay manages to bring his city and world alive, populating Sarantium with complex characters in a rich and lively city. Kay’s world is populated by emperors and dancers, soldiers and doctors, artisans and sandal makers. All of these characters have their own hopes and dreams the only difference between the artisan and the emperor is a matter of scale. Kay’s concern is not how these people will react to a world filled with magic, but how they will respond to each other.

Steven Silver writes from Northbrook, Illinois.

Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days (Tor, $24.95, 0312871996) which looks into the near future and also into the distant past. Clarke is, of course,…

AudioFantasy

Good Omens

Review by Anna Zeitlin

Good Omens (12 hours) is the most fun you’ll have at the apocalypse. Amazon adapted the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett into a TV series in 2019, and while fans wait for the second season, they’re rewarded with this audiobook update featuring an all-star cast, including the show’s two lead actors. David Tennant reprises his role as Crowley, a demon tasked with overseeing the end times but who is rather enjoying life on Earth. His portrayal comes off as part sardonic badass, part buffoon. Likewise, actor Michael Sheen returns as foppish and erudite Aziraphale, the angel who is happy to help Crowley thwart Armageddon despite their supposed enmity. Both actors have a long list of Shakespearean stage credits to their names, and their performances here are some of the best character work ever recorded on audiobook.

Rebecca Front, known for her BAFTA-winning role in the British comedy series “The Thick of It,” provides the perfect narration to balance the weight of the topic with the silliness of the execution. An ensemble cast rounds out the other characters.

Good Omens would make great listening for a road trip, especially for families with precocious tweens and teenagers.

An updated audiobook with an all-star cast, Good Omens is the most fun you’ll have at the apocalypse.
Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

A timely journey to other days Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days (Tor, $24.95, 0312871996) which looks into the near future and also into the distant past. Clarke is, of course, an icon of the science fiction genre, while Baxter is a major new talent. The future they envision, taken from some of today’s darker headlines, is one in which one-time grasslands are turning into wastelands and nations are at war over water supplies.

Set against this background, news tycoon Hiram Patterson is trying to find a way to cover news hot spots instantly, without getting a news crew into position. His solution is the creation of the WormCam, a device which can provide real images of any place in the world. As the global population tries to cope with this invasion of privacy, Hiram and his sons introduce refinements to the WormCam which allow viewing through time as well as space. This results in a 12,000 Days project to record the life of Jesus. Both Clarke and Baxter have made names for themselves by extrapolating future trends from current technology, and The Light of Other Days is full of the big ideas which are so often proposed in science fiction novels. Their future world is anything but utopic, however, and the technological advances they show clearly create a new set of problems. Patterson frequently compares his WormCam to the advent of the Internet, and it becomes apparent that the issues surrounding these two advancements have much in common. While Clarke and Baxter don’t necessarily provide perfect solutions to the questions they raise, they do open a discussion about issues of privacy, intellectual property ownership, and the manner in which people deal with the past. Another interesting view of the future can be found in Lodestar, the third book in Michael Flynn’s series about preventing a major asteroid strike on the Earth. In his earlier novels, Flynn described the schools and industries started by Mariesa van Huyten in response to her primal fear of an asteroid strike. In this novel, Flynn begins to turn his attention to the children raised in those schools who, even when working towards van Huyten’s ultimate goal, have their own motivations. Rather than continuing the focus on space exploration, Lodestar examines the evolution of the computer and virtual reality. Leading us on a journey is Jimmy Poole, a hacker-turned-security expert whose interest in a space station is sparked by his inability to bypass its security. Flynn has an ability to make his view of the future seem real. Throughout Lodestar, the characters use slang invented by the author, and no definition of terms is required. The society Flynn portrays is neither too similar or too outrageously different from our own, and each of Flynn’s changes can be seen a possible outgrowth of current trends. In many ways, Lodestar stands on its own. No knowledge of the earlier works, Firestar and Rogue Star, is required to enjoy this new entry in the series, although the reader may find in Flynn’s references to the earlier books some hints about where he intends to take his story. If the future is the realm of science fiction, fantasy is frequently set in the past. The second, and concluding, volume of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic, Lord of Emperors (HarperCollins, $24, 0061051217), demonstrates what fantastic literature can be when well written. Considering the slight appearance of magic in Lord of Emperors, Kay’s book could almost be classified as an historical novel. However, by changing the names and places slightly, Kay indulges in story telling without worrying about the constraints of the historical record.

Kay manages to bring his city and world alive, populating Sarantium with complex characters in a rich and lively city. Kay’s world is populated by emperors and dancers, soldiers and doctors, artisans and sandal makers. All of these characters have their own hopes and dreams the only difference between the artisan and the emperor is a matter of scale. Kay’s concern is not how these people will react to a world filled with magic, but how they will respond to each other.

Steven Silver writes from Northbrook, Illinois.

A timely journey to other days Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days (Tor, $24.95, 0312871996) which looks into the near future and also into the…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

A timely journey to other days Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days which looks into the near future and also into the distant past. Clarke is, of course, an icon of the science fiction genre, while Baxter is a major new talent. The future they envision, taken from some of today’s darker headlines, is one in which one-time grasslands are turning into wastelands and nations are at war over water supplies.

Set against this background, news tycoon Hiram Patterson is trying to find a way to cover news hot spots instantly, without getting a news crew into position. His solution is the creation of the WormCam, a device which can provide real images of any place in the world. As the global population tries to cope with this invasion of privacy, Hiram and his sons introduce refinements to the WormCam which allow viewing through time as well as space. This results in a 12,000 Days project to record the life of Jesus. Both Clarke and Baxter have made names for themselves by extrapolating future trends from current technology, and The Light of Other Days is full of the big ideas which are so often proposed in science fiction novels. Their future world is anything but utopic, however, and the technological advances they show clearly create a new set of problems. Patterson frequently compares his WormCam to the advent of the Internet, and it becomes apparent that the issues surrounding these two advancements have much in common. While Clarke and Baxter don’t necessarily provide perfect solutions to the questions they raise, they do open a discussion about issues of privacy, intellectual property ownership, and the manner in which people deal with the past. Another interesting view of the future can be found in Lodestar (Tor, $24.95, 0312861370), the third book in Michael Flynn’s series about preventing a major asteroid strike on the Earth. In his earlier novels, Flynn described the schools and industries started by Mariesa van Huyten in response to her primal fear of an asteroid strike. In this novel, Flynn begins to turn his attention to the children raised in those schools who, even when working towards van Huyten’s ultimate goal, have their own motivations. Rather than continuing the focus on space exploration, Lodestar examines the evolution of the computer and virtual reality. Leading us on a journey is Jimmy Poole, a hacker-turned-security expert whose interest in a space station is sparked by his inability to bypass its security. Flynn has an ability to make his view of the future seem real. Throughout Lodestar, the characters use slang invented by the author, and no definition of terms is required. The society Flynn portrays is neither too similar or too outrageously different from our own, and each of Flynn’s changes can be seen a possible outgrowth of current trends. In many ways, Lodestar stands on its own. No knowledge of the earlier works, Firestar and Rogue Star, is required to enjoy this new entry in the series, although the reader may find in Flynn’s references to the earlier books some hints about where he intends to take his story. If the future is the realm of science fiction, fantasy is frequently set in the past. The second, and concluding, volume of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic, Lord of Emperors (HarperCollins, $24, 0061051217), demonstrates what fantastic literature can be when well written. Considering the slight appearance of magic in Lord of Emperors, Kay’s book could almost be classified as an historical novel. However, by changing the names and places slightly, Kay indulges in story telling without worrying about the constraints of the historical record.

Kay manages to bring his city and world alive, populating Sarantium with complex characters in a rich and lively city. Kay’s world is populated by emperors and dancers, soldiers and doctors, artisans and sandal makers. All of these characters have their own hopes and dreams the only difference between the artisan and the emperor is a matter of scale. Kay’s concern is not how these people will react to a world filled with magic, but how they will respond to each other.

Steven Silver writes from Northbrook, Illinois.

A timely journey to other days Bridging the gap between the future and the past, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter have teamed up to write The Light of Other Days which looks into the near future and also into the distant past. Clarke…

Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

A River Enchanted

Review by Laura Hubbard

A River Enchanted, Rebecca Ross’ adult fiction debut, is an elegant fantasy novel of homecoming and mystery. With its lyrical prose and tight world building, this story is both modern and timeless, drawing from the traditions of genre greats like Steven Lawhead and marrying them to the sensibilities of modern works like Genevieve Gornichec’s The Witch’s Heart and Tana French’s In the Woods.

The novel opens with the prodigal Jack Tamerlaine’s return to Cadence, the isle of his youth, a land where magic and spirits run free and gossip is carried on the wind as easily as smoke. He soon learns that young girls are going missing on Cadence, seemingly plucked from the air by a formless spirit, leaving no trace of them behind. Adaira, heiress to the laird and Jack’s childhood nemesis, has summoned Jack back to the island to help her find out exactly what has happened to the girls—and to get them back before it’s too late. She wants him to sing down the spirits as her mother once did so that Adaira can ask them what matter of mischief is afoot. But as Jack and Adaira delve deeper into the mystery, the spirits begin to suggest that a far darker secret lies behind the loss of the girls.

Already known for her young adult fantasy novels, Ross has created a world both rich and wonderful in Cadence. The island is full of so much magic, so many feuds and stories—enough that capturing them all in one novel, even a nearly 500-page one, seems a difficult task. But somehow Ross succeeds, guiding readers through the intricate warp and weft of the island and its traditions and creating a brilliant tapestry full of mystery and wonder. And while Ross does revel in world building, she doesn’t tell her story at a remove. The four characters that the book centers on—Jack, Adaira, guardsman Torin and healer Sidra—are vibrant and fully realized, keeping the myth-making quality of the book at bay and instead grounding the story in these characters’ heartaches and fears, their desires and attractions. A sublime mix of romance, intrigue and myth, A River Enchanted is a stunning addition to the canon of Celtic-inspired fantasy.

A sublime mix of romance, intrigue and myth, A River Enchanted is a stunning addition to the canon of Celtic-inspired fantasy.
Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

Last Exit

Review by Ralph Harris

Max Gladstone spins a story from the perspective of several unreliable narrators in Last Exit. That unreliability is the point in this standalone fantasy, which is intentionally cerebral and difficult to follow. The dynamics of alternate dimensions and conflicting viewpoints are not background to the plot: They are the plot.

Set in modern-day America, Last Exit revolves around alternate dimensions, nicknamed alts. Alts can only be visited with the help of spin: an individual’s understanding of possibility. If someone has a limited belief in what is possible, then they will only see what is currently in front of them. But if you can overcome skepticism and accept various possibilities, you can force possibilities to materialize. A door that should be locked just happens to be unlocked.

Zelda, Ish, Ramon, Sarah and Sal were once a dimension-hopping fellowship, fighting a mysterious rot that corroded worlds. The group imploded after the loss of Sal, and Last Exit begins as Zelda, convinced that Sal isn’t lost forever, tries to get everyone back together to save Sal and defeat the rot once and for all. The realistic rifts between characters, conveyed via broody monologuing from each unique perspective, allow readers to compare each person’s opinions, providing a rich depth of relationships for readers to explore despite the relatively limited core cast. Last Exit has a relentlessly oppressive atmosphere, with the rot barely giving Zelda and her companions room to recover, but the compelling protagonists keep things engaging.

Gladstone avoids in-depth detail, leaving the reader to conceptualize a scene by leaning on their imagination (their spin, you might say) to flesh out the details. For example, Gladstone uses the phrase “cracked the sky” with no description of the crack’s appearance or its effect on the rest of the skyline. He then reuses the phrase multiple times, challenging the reader to recall their own mental imagery. As a result, Last Exit is a book enriched through sharing; it’s easy to see a book club discussing their varied interpretations of this phrase.

The beginning of Last Exit feels like the start of an archeologist’s excavation: new clues are popping up in unexpected places and nothing makes sense. But that process of discovery and excavation is where Gladstone’s novel shines, as each chapter revises and adjusts the reader’s understanding. By the end of the book, their individual vision of Gladstone’s world reaches something like clarity, enough for the intrepid archeologist to piece together most of the picture. While not a light undertaking, Last Exit is a satisfying read for those with a lot of imagination—and a little spin.

While not a light undertaking, Last Exit is a satisfying fantasy read for those with a lot of imagination.
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Manhunt

Review by Mya Alexice

In Manhunt, author Gretchen Felker-Martin highlights the people that gender-based dystopias (think Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go or Naomi Alderman’s The Power) generally gloss over. When a new plague washes over the globe, it specifically targets those with high levels of testosterone, turning them into uncontrollable creatures who only live for sexual violence and murder.

Fran and Beth are trans women who’ve been surviving by mutilating these creatures and eating their organs, which are valuable sources of estrogen that keep the deadly testosterone at bay. This way of life is risky business, and if not for Robbie, a trans man who Beth quips is “the last man on earth,” they would have met certain death at the hands of a ravaging pack of feral men. Together, the three of them find a sanctuary from the apocalypse that looks a little too good to be true: an underground bunker ruled by an eccentric billionaire with ulterior motives. If only a militant and well-armed group of TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) would stop trying to gun them—and everyone else who doesn’t fit into a biologically essentialist narrative—down.

Felker-Martin’s prose thrives in this world of intense bodily preoccupation. She describes everything from the DIY removal of a character’s broken tooth to an enthusiastic sex scene with a character on their period. Consider this description of the feral creatures at the book’s center: “Seams of [raw flesh] glistened like meaty lava flows between the shifting tectonic plates of their hides.” Felker-Martin revels in both the disturbing and the erotic, crafting a picture of a dangerous world where one’s own body can either kill you at any moment or give you intense catharsis in the midst of a crumbling society. Manhunt explicitly depicts harrowing scenes of rape and bodily harm, but it is also at times incredibly tender, as in this line where Robbie contemplates the fate of other trans men in this dystopia: “They were out there, making their own manhood in the wreckage of the world.”

Original and unabashed, Manhunt is unafraid to be messy as it cultivates a flawed and intriguing cast of characters, centering voices that have been previously unheard in dystopian fiction.

Original and unabashed, Manhunt is unafraid to be messy as it highlights the people that gender-based dystopias generally gloss over.
Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

The Atlas Six

Review by Noah Fram

Every 10 years, the secretive Alexandrian Society, inheritors of the lost knowledge from its namesake library, recruits six of the most powerful young magic users, or medeians, to join their ranks. The half-dozen potential initiates are brought to the Society’s headquarters, where they study and learn from the greatest compendium of magical knowledge that has ever existed. This year, Caretaker Atlas Blakely has selected a sextet of particularly ambitious young medeians: three physical mediums, who specialize in manipulating external forces and energies for purposes as varied as deflecting bullets and obtaining midnight snacks; and three nascent masters of the mental, emotional and perceptual magics of reading minds and concealing acne. But these newest residents are confronted with even darker secrets than the arcane knowledge they all covet, for they are the linchpins in a conspiracy that could either save the world or utterly destroy it.

For a book with such a melodramatic premise (think “Big Brother,” but half the cast can read their companions’ minds and the other half can conjure actual black holes), Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six is curiously matter-of-fact, dispensing with on-page relationship drama and coasting through tense fight scenes with brevity. Likewise, instead of providing flowing backstory, Blake communicates personalities through lighthearted conversations and depicts the world outside the Library’s magically warded walls entirely through the scars it left on her protagonists. The Atlas Six is stingy with its exposition, with the lengthiest passages being debates between characters on topics such as the nature of time and the conservation of magical energy. But in Blake’s hands, these tracts are engaging and often very, very funny. This duality—an extremely pulpy plot married with smart and nimble writing—is the core of The Atlas Six’s appeal.

This macabre romp of a magical reality show nevertheless revolves around one weighty question: Is there knowledge that should not be shared? Blake draws heavily on the structures and practices of academia, which in our world is in the midst of a push for greater transparency and democratization of knowledge. Analyzing the costs and benefits of advanced technology or abilities has been central to speculative fiction since its inception. That Blake is using academia as a vehicle for it, adding her agile and cutting voice to the likes of Neal Stephenson and Cixin Liu, feels particularly relevant to the present moment. And if she happens to suggest some legitimately wholesome uses for small wormholes along the way, all the better.

Olivie Blake marries an extremely pulpy plot with smart and nimble writing in her debut fantasy, The Atlas Six.
Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Fred Pohl is one of the grand masters of science fiction and fantasy. His collaborations with Kornbluth in the ’50s, his editorship of the leading science fiction magazines in the ’60s, and his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Gateway novels in the ’70s and ’80s are ample evidence of his high standing in the genre. With O Pioneer! (Tor, $21.95, 0312861648), Pohl once again demonstrates his special ability to evoke a sense of wonder. Evesham Giyt and his new wife are immigrants on the colony world of Tupelo, which is inhabited by five different alien species. Giyt achieves the dubious distinction of becoming the political mayor of the colony whereupon he discovers a treacherous plot by the humans that can only be stopped through Giyt’s sacrifice. Pohl has scored again with this novel.

Reviewed by Larry Woods.

Fred Pohl is one of the grand masters of science fiction and fantasy. His collaborations with Kornbluth in the '50s, his editorship of the leading science fiction magazines in the '60s, and his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Gateway novels in the '70s and '80s are…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

If you enjoyed last year’s science fiction blockbuster, Men in Black, you should rush to buy A Hunger in the Soul by Mike Resnick. Medical researcher Dr. Michael Drake disappears in the wilderness of an alien world, and journalist Robert Markham sets out to find him. Markham embarks on the search because the galaxy needs Drake’s knowledge to combat a new plague. Much like Stanley seeking Dr. Livingstone in darkest Africa, Markham is determined to bring Drake back whether he wants to return or not. This is adventure on a galactic scale exotic, alien, and wondrous. As proven through his many previous novels, Mike Resnick can be counted on for high adventure and a satisfying conclusion.

Reviewed by Larry Woods.

If you enjoyed last year's science fiction blockbuster, Men in Black, you should rush to buy A Hunger in the Soul by Mike Resnick. Medical researcher Dr. Michael Drake disappears in the wilderness of an alien world, and journalist Robert Markham sets out to find…

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Review

Review by bookpagedev

King Louis XIV of France seems popular in science fiction these days. He is the subject of both a new movie, The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Vonda McIntyre’s most recent science fiction novel, The Moon and the Sun. Now J. Gregory Keyes, author of the new classic, The Waterborn, mixes Sir Isaac Newton, King Louis XIV, King George I, and Benjamin Franklin in a philosophical, fantastical search for truth, beauty, power, and fabulous wealth. In Newton’s Cannon, it’s 1681, and scientist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton has turned his talent to his first love the ancient art of alchemy. Newton achieves the impossible by unleashing Philosopher’s Mercury, a source of matter and a key to manipulating the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. King Louis and King George battle for its control, and as English armies march on Paris, King Louis calls for a new weapon, a device known only as Newton’s Cannon. It is a machine whose secrets the beautiful and talented Adrienne de Montchevreuil labors to unlock before it’s too late.

Meanwhile, in Boston, a young apprentice named Benjamin Franklin discovers a deadly enigma. Pursued by his enemies, Ben furtively makes his way to England. Only Newton can save him, but Newton needs saving himself. This scintillating and brilliant new novel confirms Keyes as a rapidly rising star in the science fiction firmament.

Reviewed by Larry Woods.

King Louis XIV of France seems popular in science fiction these days. He is the subject of both a new movie, The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Vonda McIntyre's most recent science fiction novel, The Moon and the Sun. Now J.…

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