Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews (page 284)

THE ULTIMATE WITCH by Byron Preiss
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 5, 1993

"John Skipp and Craig Spector, 1989, outclasses this zombie collection)—but, still, two strong bets for horror fans."
Generous collections of horror stories, nearly all original, that comprise the fourth and fifth volumes of the publisher's Ultimate series (previous volumes, not reviewed, covered Dracula, Frankenstein, and werewolves). Read full book review >
THE PRESIDENT'S ANGEL by Sophy Burnham
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

"Her inspiration is palpable—but her story and characters remain pale images, never taking on real life or force."
The third and final entry in Burnham's self-proclaimed ``angel cycle'' (A Book of Angels; Angel Letters—not reviewed). Read full book review >

THE STRICKEN FIELD by Dave Duncan
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

"So: refreshingly lighthearted in the telling, and above-average overall."
Part three of Duncan's projected tetralogy (most recently Upland Outlaw, p. 338), set in Pandemia, land of sorcerers, gods, and numerous human varieties. Read full book review >
MORE THAN FIRE by Philip José Farmer
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

"Though recent volumes have been presented for review in these pages, series fans will wish to investigate."
Farmer's World of Tiers yarns—a mingling of classical and American Indian mythology, William Blake-ish romanticism, and Edgar Rice Burroughs-like high adventure—have been appearing variously since 1965; this book (according to the publishers) presents the ultimate showdown between the hero, Kickaha, and Lord Red Orc—one of the arrogant and decadent super-race that created the Tiers, a succession of pocket universes (the Tower of Babylon tier, the Atlantis tier, the Amerind tier, etc.). Read full book review >
THE FAR KINGDOMS by Allan Cole
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

"Churning but undistinguished."
First hardcover outing for the authors of numerous paperback fantasy collaborations. Read full book review >

THE WELL-FAVORED MAN by Elizabeth Willey
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

"Assured, different, superior."
Strange, complicated fantasy with confusing, science-fiction- ish intrusions: Willey's agreeable, often impressive debut. Read full book review >
PLANET OF ADVENTURE by Jack Vance
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Oct. 1, 1993

Four quintessential Vance adventures—(1968-75) City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, and The Pnume—now issued for the first time in a single volume and for the first time in hardcover. Read full book review >
ARROWS OF THE SUN by Judith Tarr
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Sept. 23, 1993

"Other than the proper names, which sound as if they've wandered in from Tolkien's Beleriand: persuasively produced, thoughtful and modestly inventive, a considerable, newcomer- friendly improvement on the rather stodgy original trilogy."
Sequel to Tarr's Avaryan Rising trilogy—concluded with A Fall of Princes (1988)—about Mirain the Sunborn and the forcibly united empires of Asanion and Keruvarion. Read full book review >
THE CRIMSON BEARS by Tom LaFarge
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Sept. 20, 1993

"Pleasantly fanciful, even inspired at times, but also marred by persistent cuteness and a dearth of sustained drama."
An inventive if flawed debut, the first in a series, that opens a window onto a fantasy world where bears wield power in a long-civilized animal kingdom—though their position is imperiled by the smoldering resentments of subject species, and by others of their own kind. Read full book review >
ISLE OF WOMAN by Piers Anthony
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Sept. 20, 1993

"Amiable twaddle, then, intended for a wider audience than usual."
Start of a new series—maybe (Anthony isn't sure)—entitled Geodyssey, attempting to frame, in ecological terms, no less than the entire history of the human species: Now that's ambition. Read full book review >
MAD BOYS by Ernest Hebert
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Sept. 10, 1993

"Commendable for its new (if not especially promising) direction, but a botch all the same."
Hebert has forsaken his Darby series of novels about rural New Hampshire (The Dogs of March, 1979; A Little More Than Kin, 1982, etc.)—and realism itself, for that matter—to journey among the cyberpunky ideas of virtual reality and road-novel fecklessness. Read full book review >
CHUNG KUO by David Wingrove
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Released: Sept. 2, 1993

"More of the same: those already hooked on Chung Kuo will want to continue their acquaintance; the merely curious would do better to start with volume one—this is a heavy, tortuous series with a cast of thousands, and isolated installments are not readily intelligible."
Fourth of Wingrove's Chung Kuo series of yarns (The White Mountain, 1992, etc.)—a vast epic of revolution and war in a relatively low-tech, overpopulated medium-future ruled by seven Chinese overlords, or T'angs. Read full book review >
Kirkus Interview
Luis Alberto Urrea
April 21, 2015

Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Luis Alberto Urrea’s latest story collection, The Water Museum, reveals his mastery of the short form. This collection includes the Edgar-award winning "Amapola" and his now-classic "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," which had the honor of being chosen for NPR's "Selected Shorts" not once but twice. Urrea has also recently published a poetry collection, Tijuana Book of the Dead, mixing lyricism and colloquial voices, mysticism and the daily grind. We talk to Urrea about both of his new books this week on Kirkus TV. View video >
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