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LATEST ISSUE OF
Kirkus Reviews
Best-seller Jeannette Walls talks about mining her own history for her new novel, The Silver Star.
Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS



Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews Available Now (page 4)

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Cover art for MECHA ROGUE
FICTION
Released: Dec. 4, 2012
Kirkus Star MECHA ROGUE
by Brett Patton
"Slam-bang action with never a dull moment: imagine a 21st century Lensman series, if anybody still remembers E.E. "Doc" Smith, without the latter's lofty black-and-white moral tone and awful prose."
In style and violence, a hybrid of the movies Transformers and Independence Day: the sequel to Mecha Corps (2011). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE CASSANDRA PROJECT
FICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Star THE CASSANDRA PROJECT
by Jack McDevitt, Mike Resnick
"A top-notch, edge-of-the-seat thriller in which there are no villains, only mysteries."
This first collaboration from McDevitt (Firebird, 2011, etc.) and Resnick (The Doctor and the Kid, 2011, etc.), developed from a 2010 story by McDevitt (spoiler alert: don't read the story first), takes the form of a conspiracy involving the moon landings. And no, Stanley Kubrick didn't fake them. Read full book review >
Cover art for BRONZE SUMMER
FICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Star BRONZE SUMMER
by Stephen Baxter
"Gripping, well researched and sharply intelligent."
The saga of Northland, a sophisticated hunter-gatherer civilization thriving behind a vast wall shielding it from the invading waters of the North Sea (Stone Spring, 2011), continues in a tumultuous alternate 1159 B.C. Read full book review >
Cover art for Time Warped Travelers
INDIE
Released: Nov. 2, 2012
TIME WARPED TRAVELERS
by Robert Westfall
"A well-researched time-travel adventure lost amid its puerile distractions."
In this debut sci-fi novel, two 20-something time travelers find romance and experiment with sex and drugs in the Roaring '20s. Read full book review >
Cover art for BOWL OF HEAVEN
FICTION
Released: Oct. 16, 2012
BOWL OF HEAVEN
by Gregory Benford, Larry Niven
"BDO or BSO, there's nothing wrong with the hardware; it's the wetware that's disappointingly deficient."
The first full-length collaboration from Niven (Fate of Worlds, 2012, etc.) and Benford (The Sunborn, 2005, etc.), featuring a science-fiction trope, the Big Dumb Object--or, as the authors distinguish it, a Big Smart Object since it's dynamically stable, as opposed to passively stable like Niven's BDO, Ringworld. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE HYDROGEN SONATA
FICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Star THE HYDROGEN SONATA
by Iain M. Banks
"Sheer delight."
Addition to Banks' wonderful space-opera series (without the middle initial, he also writes impressive mainstream novels) about the far-future galactic Culture (Surface Detail, 2010, etc.), a liberal-anarchic, multispecies civilization guided and sustained, more or less invisibly, by Minds, artificial intelligences that take such physical forms as spaceships and habitats. Read full book review >
Cover art for IRONSKIN
FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
IRONSKIN
by Tina Connolly
"An intriguing and ambitious fantasy tale."
Connolly, in her debut, delivers a supernatural spin on Jane Eyre set in a gothic, alternate version of the Victorian era, in the aftermath of a war with powerful, forest-dwelling beings called the fey. Read full book review >
Cover art for DARK CURRENTS
FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
DARK CURRENTS
by Jacqueline Carey
"Beautifully articulated and intriguingly populated: Altogether, an arresting kickoff."
The inaugural volume of a new urban fantasy series, from the author of Naamah's Blessing (2011, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for TARNISHED KNIGHT
FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Star TARNISHED KNIGHT
by Jack Campbell
"All the more impressive for being a significant departure from previous entries."
Beginning a sort of spinoff series taking place, chronologically, between Campbell's last two outings (Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught, 2011, and Beyond The Frontier: Invincible, 2012) wherein the influence of "Black Jack" Geary is palpable, though he makes no actual appearance. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE UNINCORPORATED FUTURE
FICTION
Released: Aug. 21, 2012
THE UNINCORPORATED FUTURE
by Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
"A satisfying wrap-up for series fans."
Space battles, politics, religion and revolution: final entry in the series following The Unincorporated Woman (2011, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR
FICTION
Released: Aug. 7, 2012
THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR
by Lilith Saintcrow
"Intriguing but messy; two of the chief ingredients would have sufficed, four is extreme overkill."
Sorcery, steampunk, Sherlock Holmes and an alternate world: first of a series from the author of Angel Town (2011, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY: COUP D'ETAT
FICTION
Released: July 31, 2012
THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY: COUP D'ETAT
by Harry Turtledove
"A fair middle chapter in the series, which will undoubtedly appeal to Turtledove's fans."
Turtledove (The War That Came Early: The Big Switch, 2011, etc.) delivers the fourth installment in his latest series, depicting an alternate-history version of World War II. Read full book review >