Science fantasy books reviewed on FantasyBookReview.co.uk

After I was introduced to Tim Powers through his Cold War fantasy, Declare, I attempted to track down his earlier works at libraries and used bookstores. Several proved impossible to find. Among these was the novel that first made him famous: The Anubis Gates, so eventually I gave in and bought a new copy. Now, having read it, I understand the reason for its rarity: no one in their right mind would relinquish a copy of such a marvelous book!

This is where it all began. Everything. Love, hate, good, evil, us and them. This is before they were gods. A mute prophet, a damaged sensitive, and a wayward leader, hold the fate of the world in their hands. But the ultimate choice? That belongs to the innocent. It’s what started the battle for life. It’s what made our world the way it is today. I have heard them called many things: Strangers, gods, angels, visitors. Do not forget their real names, Because they know our pasts and are not as we’ve been told.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as "Frankenstein", despite this being the name of the scientist. Frankenstein is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is arguably considered the first fully realized science fiction novel.

I was pleasantly surprised by the latest from China Mieville. For a while anyway. I was about 50 pages in when I realized it was all grown up. No gun-slinging cacti, or flying birds with no wings. Just people. Full blooded three dimensional people filling up the City of Beszel. Or was it Ul Qoma? It seems through an incident referred to as “The Cleaving”, the city became two cities. But not in the usual way. Somehow they became two cities on top of each other. They physically take up the same space and time, but are not truly in the same location. For example, the fashions, the language, the cars, and the food are all different. Confused yet? Maybe this will help:

The Host is Stephenie Meyer’s first non-Twilight Saga publication. Touted as science-fiction for those who don’t do science fiction, The Host is another love story against the odds. The story introduces us to Melanie Stryder, the girl taken by the aliens who are parasite which take over host bodies in order to completely control them. When Wanderer, the soul (parasite) who has been given Melanie’s body wakes up in her ninth life cycle on as many planets, things do not go quite as planned.

The Enemy’s Son is the debut novel of Derby-born author James Johnson and was first published in 2008 by Man Tor Publishing Ltd.

The raging Clone Wars illuminate dark motives and darker destinies until one question must be answered: Does the end ever justify the means? It’s time the Jedi found out.

Small-Minded Giants is set in a not too distant future when Earth has entered another ice age and small pockets of survivors take to living in artificial environments. Ash Harbour is such a place, a city built under a vast glass dome to keep out the elements and powered by the machine, which runs on the continual motion of Ash Harbours residents, but things are starting to breakdown, more accidents are starting to happen and people are going missing.

I can honestly say this book is unlike any I’ve ever read before. The plot is so bizarre and there is so much that writer Oisìn McGann packs into its 440 pages that it just shouldn’t work but it so does at such break neck speed that you’ll finish reading it long before you’re ready for the story to end.