Stephanie Gelder profile

Place of birth: Surrey, England

Stephanie Gelder's 17 reviews

Into the Nightside by Simon R Green (Nightside series)

It’s always night in the Nightside. It’s always three o’clock in the morning, and the dawn never comes. People are always coming and going, drawn by need, searching for pleasures and services unforgivable in the sane, daylight world. You can buy or sell anything in the Nightside, and no-one asks questions. No-one cares.J...

8.2/10

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Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton

Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton, lets get the basics out of the way first. The book is going to be published in September in the UK, and December in the US.The blurb on the rear cover reads “Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst is called to a brutal murder scene, the victim turns out to be one of the wealthy Nor...

8.5/10

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Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds (Poseidons Children)

Blue Remembered Earth is Alastair Reynolds's 10th novel and is the first of book in the Poseidon's Children Trilogy.Let's start with the blurb from the inside of the cover:One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and pov...

9.0/10

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Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey (Expanse Series)

I have been an avid reader since I was about ten or eleven, and an even more-avid reader of fantasy since the age of sixteen. Over that time I have read hundreds of fantasy books and dozens of Star Trek, Star Wars, and other franchise books. However, in that time I have very rarely turned my attention towards science-fiction (obviously classifyi...

9.0/10

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The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson (Fantasy Masterworks)

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson (Fantasy Masterworks Number 32) was first published in 1954. According to the blurb on the back of the book. The sword Tyrfing has been broken to prevent it striking at the roots of Yggdrasil, the great tree that binds earth, heaven and hell together . . . but now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elv...

7.0/10

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Manhattan in Reverse by Peter F Hamilton

This is Peter F Hamilton’s second collection of short stories. This book contains seven stories that he has written since 1998. The shortest of these stories is very short under 1,000 words, with the longest Watching Trees Grow, which is around 25,000 words.The blurb on the cover of the book says that: This is a collection of short ...

9.0/10

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Spellwright by Blake Charlton (Spell)

I first heard about this book this on twitter, it was highly recommended so I took the plunge and purchased it to read on my Kindle (the author’s website is www.blakecharlton.com and he is on twitter @blakecharlton). So with these ringing endorsements in my ears – OK, yes technically they were in front of my eyes - I plunged into the...

8.4/10

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City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton (Legends of the Red Sun)

City of Ruin is the second in the four book tetralogy (spelt correctly this time) that are the Legends of the Red Sun. The books follow on from each other, but can be read as standalone novels. As per my other review I have made it clear I am completely hooked on this series. This book is set in the city of Villiren, a similar city to Villjamur,...

9.6/10

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The Book of Transformations by Mark Charan Newton (Legends of the Red Sun)

The Book of Transformations is the third book in the Legends of Red Sun, with the final book of the teratology out next summer (2012). The books in this series all follow pretty much straight on from each other but Mark has stated that his intention is for you to be able to read each as a standalone novel. Personally I've been hooked on the ...

9.8/10

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Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell (Gravedigger Chronicles)

When the last of the Gravediggers, an elite imperial infiltration unit, are disbanded and hunted down by the emperor they once served, munitions expert Colonel Thomas Granger takes refuge in the unlikeliest of places. He becomes a jailer in Ethugra – a prison city of poison-flooded streets and gaols in which a million enemies of the empire...

8.6/10

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Always Forever by Mark Chadbourn (Age of Misrule)

Chadbourn's final book in "The Age of Misrule' is a sparkling read where the Quincunx of Church, Shavi, Veitch, Laura and Ruth lead the Tuatha De'Danaan into battle against the Fomorri and Balor. Ruth and Church are on the Waverunner, a magical ship-Tardis where they save and gain the respect of the Danaan. Church and Baccharus ...

9.3/10

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Surface Detail by Iain M Banks (A Culture Novel)

"It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limi...

9.5/10

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Darkest Hour by Mark Chadbourn (Age of Misrule)

The Eternal Conflict between the Light and the Dark once again blackens the skies and blights the land. On one side: the Tuatha De Danaan, golden-skinned and beautiful, filled with the might of the angels. On the other: the Fomorii, monstrous devils hellbent on destroying all human existence. In the middle: five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, ...

9.0/10

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World's End by Mark Chadbourn (Age of Misrule)

When Jack Churchill and Ruth Gallagher encounter a terrifying, misshapen giant beneath a London bridge they are plunged into a mystery which portends the end of the world as we know it. All over the country, the ancient gods of Celtic myth are returning to the land from which they were banished millennia ago. Following in their footsteps are cre...

9.0/10

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The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton (The Void Trilogy)

The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton is the final book in the Void trilogy. The trilogy are also the 4thto 6th books set in the “Commonwealth Universe”. The first 3 books were Misspent Youth set in the near future around 2044, followed by the two books making up the Commonwealth Saga, Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. Th...

9.2/10

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Against All Things Ending by Stephen Donaldson (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)

Against All Things Ending, is the third of four books in The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.Stephen Donaldson’s’ “Thomas Covenant” books are not an easy read, at times they leave you feeling uncomfortable, at other times they leave you in tears, they are epic in breadth and the corner of ‘The Land’ ...

8.5/10

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Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton (Legends of the Red Sun)

Disclaimer: I've never been a fan of dark, gritty, sweeping political sagas about the corruptness of corrupt politicians and how they corrupt things. I read the paper for that, to find out who / what my local MP has been swindling this week. I'm also not a huge fan of ensemble casts. I picked up this book because it was on three for two ...

7.0/10

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