Blog Archives
Edition 3: Book Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin
Reviewed by Mysti Parker
Books about boy wizards will be compared to Harry Potter. Likewise will a teen dystopian novel be compared to The Hunger Games. Just like Katniss, young Alex in Mike Mullin’s Ashfall is thrown into an unspeakable life and death situation.
But that’s where the similarity ends.
Edition 4: Book Review: The Court Of The Air by Stephen Hunt
Reviewed by Sophie Yorkston
Stephen Hunt’s novel, The Court of the Air, is set in a steampunk world built on gas and steam with a very Victorian flavour. It is the first in a series set in this world, beginning with this novel in 2007. The latest, From the Deep of the Dark, was published in February 2012.
Edition 4: Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Reviewed by Mysti Parker
I have an unspoken rule when it comes to reading, and that is to reserve judgment on a book until I’ve reached the end. There are exceptions if a story is so atrocious I cannot stomach another page. Generally, though, the rule applies to books that give me mixed feelings from early on and leave me wondering (and worrying) how I’ll feel at the end. Such was the case with the first book of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy.
Edition 5: Film Review: Looper
Reviewed by Sophie Yorkston
Film: Looper
In the future, time travel is outlawed. It is almost impossible for criminals to dispose of anyone. But with their hold of an illegal device, the mob can send people back in time to disappear. Their agents in the past are called ‘loopers’. They kill and dispose of every assignment. Part of their contract is one day they will deal with their own remaining loose end—their future selves. This day comes with a golden handshake and a promise of 30 years of retirement before they will be sent backwards to be their loop’s end.
Edition 5: Book Review: Earthfall: The Battle Starts Here by Mark Walden
Reviewed by Damien Smith
Earthfall: The Battle Starts Here is the first book in the new Earthfall series by Mark Walden, author of the excellent young adult H.I.V.E. series.
Edition 5: Book Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
Reviewed by Mysti Parker
Sequels are tricky things. Sometimes they lack the novelty and excitement of the first book in a series, particularly when the book is the second in a trilogy. Often, those books serve more as a segue into the finale than as a stand-alone story in themselves. I’m happy to report, however, that Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, performed as well as any solo book of its genre.
Edition 6: Book Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Reviewed by Sophie Yorkston
It starts as it always starts; with a need for power. Deep in the jungles of Bolivia, a scientist hunts the secret of health and longevity. Aided by the American military, the mission takes on an entirely different purpose.
Edition 6: Book Review: Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
Reviewed by Mysti Parker
In this teen dystopian sequel to Ashfall, it’s been ten months since a supervolcano erupted near Yellowstone National Park. Most of the U.S. lies under a thick layer of ash and snow. People everywhere are resorting to unthinkable acts to find food and basic necessities in the midst of a perpetual winter.
Edition 6: Book Review: The Salem Witch Society by K. D. Shields
Reviewed by Damien Smith
The Salem Witch Society is the debut novel from K.D. (Kieran) Shields and it’s a cracker. The book is historical fiction set over several months in 1892 Maine, around the 200th anniversary of the Salem Witch Trials. A brutal murderer is on the loose and appears to be attempting to recreate some arcane ritual.
Edition 7: Book Review: The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Reviewed by Sophie Yorkston
Back in the South, we rejoin the adventurers from The Passage (reviewed by SQ Mag previously), who have joined the last remaining militarised encampment of survivors. Justin Cronin’s The Twelve begins by rejoining the vanquishers of Babcock, one of the most vicious of the twelve vampires (infected) created by a secret U.S. government agency.
SQ Mag 