SF Book Reviews

The book reviews are alphabetical by author and subdivided via genre.  In cases where more than one of an author's works are reviewed, they are listed in order of publication.  Some of these reviews were written by other people back when the Sci-Fi Fan Letter was an in store newsletter at the World's Biggest Bookstore.  With one exception, they were all WBB bookstore employees (and the exception was an Indigo bookseller from another Toronto store).  Their pseudonyms in no particular order are: Mel, Cat, Sheila, DG-88, Leeman, Chud, James Duncan, Sandra, Rose, Gord, Kat & James Bernard.  They helped me make the newsletter a success for the 19 monthly issues it ran before I switched over to more regular and varied blog posts.  Their reviews are all credited to them, and shown on this page in brackets as guest reviewers.  As to my own reviews, it took some time before I'd devised my current format (with pros/cons) so go easy on my beginner work.

Science Fiction

Ring of Charon - Roger MacBride Allen
Debris - Jo Anderton
Suited - Jo Anderton
Mickey7 - Edward Ashton
Antimatter Blues - Edward Ashton
The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
Fantastic Voyage - Isaac Asimov
Valiant Dust - Richard Baker
The Boost - Stephen Baker
Sniper Elite: Spear of Destiny – Jaspre Bark (Guest Reviewer)
Vigilance - Robert Jackson Bennett
The Time Roads - Beth Bernobich
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The Coincidence Makers - Yoav Blum
Planet of the Apes – Pierre Boulle
The Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett
World War Z– Max Brooks
Good Guys - Steven Brust
Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys
Semiosis - Sue Burke
Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler
Veracity - Laura Bynum
A Darkling Sea - James Cambias
R. U. R. - Karel Capek
The Girl With All the Gifts - M. R. Carey
Plague Year – Jeff Carlton
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
The Hangman's Replacement: The Sprout of Disruption - Taona Dumisani Chiveneko
The Burning Dark - Adam Christopher
The Death of Grass - John Christopher
The Lives of Tao - Wesley Chu
Play or Die - Jen Cole
Leviathan Wakes - S. A. Corey
The Space Between the Stars - Anne Corlett
Vox - Christina Dalcher
The Burn Zone - James Decker
Fallout - James Decker
Medusa Uploaded - Emily Devenport
Medusa in the Graveyard - Emily Devenport
The Tourist - Robert Dickinson
Machinehood - S. B. Divya
Meru - S. B. Divya
Escaping Exodus - Nicky Drayden
Infoquake - David Louis Edelman
This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Blonde Roots – Bernardine Evaristo
Nova - Margaret Fortune
Archangel - Margaret Fortune
Triptych - J. M. Frey
Jade Sky - Patrick Frievald
The World of the End - Ofir Touche Gafla
Repossession Mambo (Repo Men) - Eric Garcia
Expendable – James Alan Gardner (Guest Reviewer)
Transcendental - James Gunn
Transgalactic - James Gunn
Mad Skills - Walter Greatshell
Afterparty - Daryl Grogory
The Fire Sermon - Francesca Haig
Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Kop - Warren Hammond
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars - Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
The Warehouse - Rob Hart
The Traveler – John Twelve Hawks
Dawn of Procyon - Mark Healy
Rocket Ship Galileo – Robert Heinlein (Guest Reviewer)
Starship Troopers – Robert Heinlein
Brown Girl in the Ring – Nalo Hopkinson
Zero Sum Game - S. L. Huang
Dread Nation - Justina Ireland
God's War - Kameron Hurley
The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
The Stars Are Legion - Kameron Hurley
When She Woke - Hilary Jordan
Fitzpatrick's War – Theodore Judson (Guest Reviewer)
The Martian General's Daughter – Theodore Judson
Star Wars: Path of Destruction – Drew Karpyshyn (Guest Reviewer)
Bright of the Sky – Kay Kenyon
The Third - Abel Keogh 
An Excess Male - Maggie Shen King
The Long Walk - Stephen King
Alice in No-Man's-Land - James Knapp
State of Decay – James Knapp
The Silent Army - James Knapp 
Element Zero - James Knapp
The Unincorporated Man - Dani and Eytan Kollin
The Spare Man - Mary Robinette Kowal
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall - Nancy Kress
Six Wakes - Mur Lafferty
False Hearts - Laura Lam
Shattered Minds - Laura Lam
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie
Ancillary Mercy - Ann Leckie
This Perfect Day - Ira Levin 
Artemis Awakening - Jane Lindskold
Up Against It - M. J. Locke
The Best of All Possible Worlds - Karen Lord
Burndive – Karin Lowachee
Halfhead - Stuart MacBride
The Postmortal (aka The End Specialist)- Drew Magary 
The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
Germline - T. C. McCarthy
The Dervish House– Ian McDonald
Love Minus Eighty - Will McIntosh
Robotech The Macross Saga: Battlecry & Doomsday – Jack McKinney (Guest Reviewer)
Gameboard of the Gods - Rachel Mead
Embassytown - China Mieville
Perdido Street Station – China Mieville (Guest Reviewer)
Canticle for Liebowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Razor - J. Barton Mitchell
The Speed of Dark – Elizabeth Moon
Behold the Man– Michael Moorcock
One Way - S. J. Morden
No Way - S. J. Morden
Prime Meridian - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Everyone In Silico - Jim Munroe
Nexus - Ramez Naam
Blaze of Glory - Sheryl Nantus
We Have Always Been Here - Lena Nguyen
Vessel - Lisa Nichols
The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Dream Park - Larry Niven and Steven Barnes 
The Barsoom Project - Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
Touch - Claire North
The Rook - Daniel O'Malley
Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer
Seven Surrenders - Ada Palmer
Reviver - Seth Patrick
Cumulus - Eliot Peper
The Space Merchants - Fredrick Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
Summerland - Hannu Rajaniemi
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse – Robert Rankin (Guest Reviewer)
Enclave - Kit Reed
Foe - Iain Reid 
The Man From Primrose Lane - James Renner
Those Who Walk in Darkness – John Ridley
Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse
Salvaged - Madeleine Roux
Mind Storm - K. M. Ruiz
Terminal Point - K. M. Ruiz
All You Need is Kill - Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Gemsigns - Stephanie Saulter
Binary - Stephanie Saulter
Revolution - Stephanie Saulter
Flashforward- Robert J. Sawyer
Hominid – Robert J. Sawyer (Guest Reviewer)
Lock In - John Scalzi
Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom - Bradley Schenck
Trouble and Her Friends - Melissa Scott
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Bioshock: Rapture - John Shirley
The World Inside - Robert Silverberg
Brain Plague - Joan Slonczewski
The Highest Frontier - Joan Slonczewski
Triplanetary - E. E. "Doc" Smith
First Lensman - E. E. "Doc" Smith
Only Forward – Michael Marshall Smith
Toru: Wayfarer Returns - Stephanie Sorensen
The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling
Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling
The Mother Code - Carole Stivers
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
Hollow World - Michael Sullivan
The Ultra Thin Man - Patrick Swenson 
The Offset - Calder Szewczak
Battle Royale – Koushun Takami
Bots: Emergent Behavior - Nicole Taylor
Grass – Sheri Tepper
Far From the Light of Heaven - Tade Thompson
Rosewater - Tade Thompson
Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer
Authority - Jeff VanderMeer
Acceptance - Jeff VanderMeer
One Jump Ahead – Mark L. Van Name
After the Golden Age - Carrie Vaughan
Bannerless - Carrie Vaughan
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas - Jules Verne
Plague of Memory – S. L. Viehl
Metropolis – Thea Von Harbou
Salvation Day - Kali Wallace
Quintessence - David Walton
On Basilisk Station – David Weber
The Martian - Andy Weir
Extreme Makeover - Dan Wells
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells (Guest Reviewer)
All Systems Red - Martha Wells
City of Dreams and Nightmare - Ian Whates
City of Hope and Despair - Ian Whates
Killing Gravity - Corey White
Last Year - Robert Charles Wilson
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
Star Wars: Allegiance – Timothy Zahn (Guest Reviewer)
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

Steampunk
Karen Memory - Elizabeth Bear
Soulless – Gail Carriger
Changeless – Gail Carriger
Blameless - Gail Carriger
Etiquette and Espionage - Gail Carriger
Curtsies and Conspiracies - Gail Carriger
Waistcoats and Weaponry - Gail Carriger
Whitechapel Gods – S.M. Peters
Everfair - Nisi Shawl
Her Ladyship's Curse (part 1 of Disenchanted and Co) - Lynn Viehl

Short Story Collections
The Apex Book of World SF 4 - Edited by Mahvesh Murad
Machine of Death - Edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennarto and David Malki

Kids/Teen Science Fiction
Swipe - Evan Angler
Dominion - Shane Arbuthnott
Tin Star - Cecil Castellucci
Stone in the Sky - Cecil Castellucci
Dualed - Elsie Chapman
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
Matched - Ally Condie
Conquest - John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard
Breathe - Sarah Crossan
Dreadnought - April Daniels
Sovereign - April Daniels
The Maze Runner - James Dashner 
The Scorch Trials - James Dashner
The Death Cure - James Dashner
City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau
People of Sparks – Jeanne DuPrau
Earth Girl - Janet Edwards
Enchantress From the StarsLouise Engdahl
Children of Eden - Joey Graceffa
Gone - Michael Grant 
Dearly, Departed - Lia Habel
Song of the Deep - Brian Hastings
Zita the Spacegirl - Ben Hatke (graphic novel)
A Class Apart - Stephen Henning
What Happened in Witches Wood - Stephen Henning
Where's Lolly? (novella) - Stephen Henning
London Belongs to the Alchemist - Stephen Henning
The Bridge - Jane Higgins
Memory of Water - Emmi Itaranta
The Broken Hearted - Amelia Kahaney
Control - Lydia Kang
0.4 - Mike Lancaster 
Mystic City - Theo Lawrence
Every Day - David Levithan
Legend - Marie Lu 
Weave a Circle Round - Kari Maaren
Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi
The Declaration - Gemma Malloy
The Lost Girl - Sangu Mandanna
The Unidentified - Rae Mariz 
The Rendering - Joel Naftali 
The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness 
Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness
More Than This - Patrick Ness
Birthmarked - Caragh O'Brien
Z for Zachariah - Robert O'Brien
Swans and Klons - Nora Olsen
ACID - Emma Pass
The Adoration of Jenna Fox– Mary Pearson
WANT - Cindy Pon
Erebos - Ursula Poznanski
Divergent - Veronica Roth
Forest of Hands And Teeth – Carrie Ryan
Tankborn - Karen Sandler 
Awakening - Karen Sandler
Rebellion - Karen Sandler
The Ables - Jeremy Scott
Unwind – Neal Shusterman
Article 5 - Kristen Simmons
Inside Out - Maria Snyder
Outside In - Maria Snyder
Skylark - Meagan Spooner
All Our Yesterdays - Cristin Terrill
Quarantine: The Loners - Lex Thomas
Partials - Dan Wells
Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld
The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey
The Infinite Sea - Rick Yancey
Blood Red Road - Moira Young