Bull, Emma Books

War for the Oaks: A Novel

Emma Bull

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Emma Bull's debut novel, War for the Oaks, placed her in the top tier of urban fantasists and established a new subgenre. Unlike most of the rock & rollin' fantasies that have ripped off Ms. Bull's concept, War for the Oaks is well worth reading. Intelligent and skillfully written, with sharply drawn, sympathetic characters, War for the Oaks is about love and loyalty, life and death, and creativity and sacrifice.

Eddi McCandry has just left her boyfriend and their band when she finds herself running through the Minneapolis night, pursued by a sinister man and a huge, terrifying dog. The two creatures are one and the same: a phouka, a faerie being who has chosen Eddi to be a mortal pawn in the age-old war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Eddi isn't interested--but she doesn't have a choice. Now she struggles to build a new life and new band when she might not even survive till the first rehearsal.

War for the Oaks won the Locus Magazine award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Society Award. Other books by Emma Bull include the novels Falcon, Bone Dance (second honors, Philip K. Dick Award), Finder (a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award), and (with Stephen Brust) Freedom and Necessity; the collection Double Feature (with Will Shetterly); and the picture book The Princess and the Lord of Night. --Cynthia Ward

Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy

Francesca Lia Block, Kara Dalkey, Charles de Lint, Alan Dean Foster, Emma Bull, Patricia A. McKillip, Sharon Shinn, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Alison Goodman, Carol Emshwiller, Diana Wynne Jones, Pamela Dean, Tanith Lee, Ellen Klages, Kelly Link

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Good Collection 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I read the first collection, The Firebird, and feel in love all over again with Megan W. Turner and for this book, in addition to my already favorite authors, it introduced me to more of authors whose styles I like very much.

First of all is Ellen Klages, with 'In The House of the Seven Librarians'. I love her prose and all the words make a nice song in my head. It was almost like a poetry.

Second is Tanith Lee. I haven't had the chance to read her books but I like her story 'The House on The Planet'. The title reminds me of Laura Ingalls' :) It has the taste of pioneering adventure in it but of course, with a surprise at the ending.

Editorial Review:

Here is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning anthology Firebirds! Firebirds Rising takes readers from deep space to Faerie to just around the corner. It is full of magic, humor, adventure, and—best of all—the unexpected. The one thing readers can count on is marvelous writing. Firebirds Rising proves once again that Firebird is a gathering place for writers and readers of speculative fiction from teenage to adult, from the United States to Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction

Lloyd Alexander, Nancy Farmer, Meredith Ann Pierce, Elizabeth Wein, Michael Cadnum, Kara Dalkey, Nancy Springer, Emma Bull, Patricia A. McKillip, Delia Sherman, Megan Whalen Turner, Laurel Winter, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Sherwood Smith, Diana Wynne Jones

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths -> Anthologies
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Solid anthology with a few standouts 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

"Firebirds" came into my hands with high praise from sources I respected, and I was not disappointed. I was not overly impressed either. The collection of stories is fairly broad, but the focus is clearly on fantasy (broadly defined, not just swords and sorcery, although there is that too). I have no idea why it includes science fiction in the title, I can't remember a single title I would classify as SF.

There are several stories that revisit old tales to give them a new spin: "Cotillion" (D Sherman) places Tam Lin in 1960's New York, "The Fall of Ys" (MA Pierce) questions the character motivations of the original, "Medusa" (Cadnum)retells the story from the title character's point of view, "Lady of the Ice Garden" (K Dalkey) sets an Andersen tale in Japan. With the ties to classic tales and the strong female leads all around, these stories are particularly well suited for classroom use.

Changelings also play a prominent role: "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box" (M Whalen Turner) in which a magical child is raised by a bank; the surprisingly effective "Hope Chest" (G Nix) which combines elements of horror, political dystopia and, of all things, the Western; "Remember Me" (N Farmer)in which a changeling's differences ostracize her family and "Flotsam" (N Kiriki Hoffman) an overly ambitious about a little boy lost among worlds that ultimately fails to move the reader.

Most of the stories feature female leads, but the two stories with male leads were standouts for me: "Max Mondrosch" (Lloyd Alexander)an understated and oddly comical story about the horror of modern life and "Byndley" (P McKillip) a more traditional tale of a wizard, a fairy queen, and the things that can be stolen in the forest.

Of the remaining stories, I would recommend "Beauty" (S Smith), an "odd princess out" o fthe sort that have become popular since "The Ordinary Princess". "Black Fox" (E Bull) also bears mention as the only graphic entry in the anthology, illustrated by Charles Vess.

"Mariposa" (N Springer), "Chasing the Wind" (E Wein), "Little Dot" (D Wynne Jones, for the magical cat lovers) and "The Flying Woman" (L Winter)were all fine stroies, but none of them proved memorable for me.

The title is definitely recommended if you are a fan of fantasy short stories or the Firebird authors. If this is not something you read every day, I would recommend a Datlow/Windling anthology, such as "The Faery Reel" or one of the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (Datlow/Windling and Datlow/Link).

Editorial Review:

Firebirds gathers together sixteen original stories by some of today’s finest writers of fantasy and science fiction. Together, they have won virtually every major prize— from the National Book Award to the World Fantasy Award to the Newbery Medal—and have made bestseller lists worldwide. These authors, including Lloyd Alexander, Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Patricia A. McKillip, Meredith Ann Pierce, and Nancy Farmer, tell stories that will entertain, provoke, startle, amuse, and resonate long after the last lage has been turned. And they all share a connection to Firebird—an imprint, like this anthology, devoted to the best fantasy and science fiction for teenage and adult readers.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A Locus Recommended Reading Selection

A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

A Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club

Finder: A Novel of the Borderlands

Emma Bull

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

War For The Oaks by Emma Bull 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Excellent Urban Fantasy!!! It actually got me hooked on reading Urban Fantasy's. This is Emma Bull's best book and I recommend it to fantasy fans everywhere. A definite must read.

A Good Book to have as a "reread" 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I read Finder a long time ago. seems like eons but I always loved the book and what Borderland books I could get my hands on. I love the idea of a city/country that borders on the realm of Faerie and "The World"
Orient is a strong character, a dreamer with a huge heart.
I cried when he loses his best friend Tick Tick.

I wish there were more books in the series and now that I own this one I want to find all I can that were published for my personaly library

Editorial Review:

American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

Welcome to Bordertown. A hybrid community of misfits, oddballs and runaways. Where humans, elves and halflings co-exist. Where magic and the brutal realities of survival clash and mix. For Orient and Tick-Tick, it's just home.

Death and dark magic hang ov er the city. A seductive new drug lures young runaways to their destruction. A mysterious plague spreads through the streets. And beneath the clock tower on High Street, Bonnie Prince Charlie lies slain by an unseen hand. A cop named Sunny Rico exploits Orient's talent for finding objects to track the killer and leads both herself and him into the darker secrets of Elflands' immigrant citizens.

Bone Dance: A Fantasy for Technophiles

Emma Bull

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Unbelievably Good 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

If life held any justice, Emma Bull would be at least as famous and as (presumably) wealthy as Neil Gaiman. Anyone who enjoys his writing will positively revel in hers.

'Bone Dance' first caught my eye as a library book almost ten years ago and it was with vast happiness I bought a used copy from Amazon last summer. And really, it's the PERFECT book to read around St. John's Eve.

The protagonist is Sparrow, a mysterious but deeply engaging character with a shadowy past and a sudden tendency to black out, only to later meet characters who seem to know more about these episodes than poor Sparrow does. The greater plot concerns the Horsemen, supersoldiers created by a now-defunct U.S. government who had no bodies, gifted with the ability to seize any host body and destroy its owner's mind. Sparrow and friends (Sherrea, Theo, and many others, all finely and absorbingly drawn) are now living in a world after the Horsemen caused a nuclear holocaust, where folk magic has new credence and technology is precious.

I can't decide which I like better: the plot(which is dynamite), the characters (all of whom you'd love to spend time with), or the prose itself (witty, sparkling, and apt to make you lose whole hours while reading it). I generally don't go in for a lot of cyberpunk beyond William Gibson, simply because it's usually too invested in its own tragically hip and fiercely cutting-edge coolness to actually entertain the hapless readers who find it, but this is pure quicksilver magic. I'd give it ten stars if I could.

Falcon

Emma Bull

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

For Niki, Life is a Race Against Time. And Time is Winning. 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Dominic "Niki" Glyndwr comes from the ruling family of Cymru, a relatively isolated planet that is not part of the Central Worlds Concorde - yet. When he returns home after a summer vacation, he finds changes on Cymru. His uncle, the Prince, is acting erratically and seems to no longer care for the people. Niki is determined to make things right and makes connections with an underground revolutionary movement. But, despite all his efforts, his planet is stolen, betrayed by agents of the Central Worlds Concorde, undercover agents he thought of as friends. His family was destroyed and his world shattered before his eyes...

Dominic Glyndwr becomes Niki Falcon, an elite gestalt pilot taking part in an experiment: he has been changed into a being who can literally become his ship. And he's the last. For behind his amazing new abilities lies a deadly drug that systematically destroy's his body's defenses. So when Chyrsander Harris, a famous singer, begs him to break through the Silence imposed by the Central Worlds Concorde to return him to his native planet of Lamia, what has he got to lose? More than he could imagine...

Falcon was an amazing book about a grand adventure across the stars. And a hero to cheer for. Niki is a good guy who tries hard and often makes mistakes, but always for what he feels are the right reasons. He touches the lives of everyone that he comes in contact with: Pedr, the paranoid, frantic Prince; Kitty, the Prince's beautiful, pregnant wife; Rhys, Niki's solid older brother who suddenly belives the worst of him; Jacob, the Prince's security advisor who taught Niki to shoot and defend himself; his mother, Morwenna, a famous geneticist who will destroy his world with a few angry words; Reg, the revolutionary who wants desperately to be a hero; Jhari, the woman who must make the difficult choice between Niki and her job as a Special Agent; Chyrsander Harris, the famous singer who is both more and less than he seems; and a cast of other characters, all of whom are rich and well developed.

Falcon is almost two stories told in one book and there is quite a division between the two, but they link together beautifully as the reader continues to submerge deeper into the story. The plot is lovely and quite unexpected in parts, the characters were strong and weak and normal and yet not, and the writing is beautiful and wonderfully evocative. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading science fiction and/or fantasy. Take the time to find this in a used bookstore or order it used online - you will not regret it, this book is a treasure!

Editorial Review:

When his home planet is besieged by agents of the Central Worlds Concorde, star-pilot Niki Falcon resumes taking the deadly drug that is the source of his power and must choose between saving his planet and destroying himself. Reissue.

Freedom and Necessity

Steven Brust, Emma Bull

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The early 19th century was a heady time of repeated challenges to the assumption that the social order as it stood was supernaturally (divinely) ordained. A particularly sticky web of politics and romance traps Susan Voight and James Cobham in a dense, thrillingly suspenseful plot connecting a reforming democratic labor movement, Chartism, to a secret society, the Trotters Club, whose corrupt members intend to exploit a magical ritual for their personal, complicated purposes of vengeance and power. Layers of truths and falsehoods mislead and confound the protagonists in their dealings with each other and the conspiracies; they come to understand that only honesty can save them. Although the perversion of the natural power of sorcery fails because it is unnatural, the social order, unnatural or not, is more resistant to justice. The swift pace, surprising developments, and appealing characters make it nearly impossible to put this book down. Though the women's rights movement is glancingly acknowledged, the conventionally romantic fulfillment is a little disappointing. Is there no other end for intelligent, financially independent women than maternity and love-partnership (as binding, or more, as legal marriage) with a man?

After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

The Noise You Hear is Tolkien Spinning in his Grave 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

A much better title for this collection would have been "Just a Bunch of Stories We Never Got Around to Selling." I gave it one star on the general principle that dishonest advertising shouldn't be rewarded. These stories have nothing to do with Tolkien nor do any of them remind you of the Master. This is basically a random selection of fantasy short stories ranging from bad to average in quality.

Tricked, oh so tricked! 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good stories, but if you expect anything that has any continuity with the Ring Mythos, look elsewhere. You will be very disappointed.

What next, "tales of the old south- a tribute to tolkien"? Or how about "a history of jet planes- stories in honor of tolkien"?

The stories, as a collection, deserve 4 stars, but this book's title and dust jacket (hardcover ed.) is so misleading that ol' Greenberg gets only one.

Editorial Review:

A collection of fantasy tales that pay tribute to the worlds created by Tolkien features the writing of Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, Judith Tarr, Gregory Benford, Jane Yolen, Poul and Karen Anderson, Mike Resnick, and others. Reprint.

Liavek

Will Shetterly

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Promise Unfulfilled 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Ah, the late, unlamented Liavek series!

This was producedwhen the shared-world concept was really in vogue, when such series atThieves' World, Merovingen, and Wild Cards were flourishing. (The first two of these were brutally destroyed by the horrific contributions of Janet and Chris Morris, in my humble opinion, as they seized control of the plots and smashed them into repugnant dead ends.)Alas, Liavek never really caught the public's fancy. The setting was not distinct and unique enough, and most of the characters never really became compelling. One of the few that rose above the others was, in fact, essentially punished for his impudence, and in progressive stories seemed to literally get whittled down to size, losing a finger here, a hand there. Poor baron...

Also, a later plot line centers on the deadly fascination and influence of a suicide cult. The members have individually vowed to kill themselves as soon as they are rid of all ties and obligations. Few are ever able to achieve this goal. The mechanics of this concept are somewhat interesting, but the attraction and growing power of the cult never really made sense.

However, the magic system is very well worked out and is quite different from the usual run-of-the-mill "I got my spells out of this book" approach. Mages in this world have certain very real vulnerabilities, and these are keenly exploited by their enemies. These intrigues drive the more interesting stories.

Collectively, the books are something of a disappointment. They're good for a quick read on a slow afternoon, but on the whole they never really astonish.

Double Feature

Emma Bull, Will Shetterly

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Liavek re-visited 4 out of 5 stars.
31 of 33 people found this review helpful.

If you liked the Liavek series, you'll like this book. If you are a fan on Ms. Bull's other books such as War for the Oaks, or Finder, you might like this book, but you might not. I enjoyed the short story format that this book was published in, because I can pick it up and put it down again. I liked the mixed bag of stories, some were very good, some were mediocre, but there is enough variey to have something for everyone. I am a fan of the 'Borderland/ Finder' and 'Elsewhere' books by Ms. Bull & Mr. Shetterly, and so was a little disappointed that most of the stories were not in that genre, but in spite of my disappointment I really did get caught up in the individual short stories and thououghly enjoyed them. Both authors have a gift with words that can paint their pictures in your imagination, and leave you wondering about the characters long after you've finished their particular story.

Editorial Review:

This trade paperback reprint of the Boskone 31 Book contains 13 pieces of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry plus brief biographies and bibligoraphies of each author and an introduction by Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Cover Art by Nick Jainschigg.