Rich Horton has some nice things to say about Chris Roberson’s Paragaea over on SFSite:
“This new novel is old again. That is, it’s quite explicitly, indeed exuberantly, in the mold of planetary romances such as Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars books, Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon serials, and Leigh Brackett’s work. And, as the author reminds us, the television series Land of the Lost. Chris Roberson also includes buried references to many other SF books, and he grounds his story in at least vaguely (if not very) plausible speculative science. The end result is quite a lot of fun… I enjoyed myself, and I enjoyed and cared for the characters. Roberson has produced some excellent short fiction in the past few years, and this book (his second novel) suggests he will be producing engaging longer works as well. “
Rob Benford does as well over on SFFWorld:
“Chris Roberson thrusts readers into a fantastic world, both familiar and original in its sense of wonder. Very often throughout the story, he hits the reader across the face with scenes eliciting a feeling of, ‘Wow, look what he did here! No, wait, don’t miss this either!’ I found myself thinking this throughout most of the book, enjoying each tidbit of SFnal goodness Roberson put into the story… While Roberson definitely echoes many of his genre predecessors, the sense of lost/forgotten technologies coupled with the blurred line of technology and magic also reminded me of a couple of recent novels, Tobias Buckell’s Crystal Rain and Keith Brooke’s Genetopia. Roberson manages to pay homage to his literary predecessors while maintaining a strong sense of modern sensibility and keeping pace (and often outpacing) his contemporaries… I want to read more about this strange, fascinating, and slightly recognizable world. Much of his fiction is linked and part of a cohesive universe, not unlike Moorcock’s Multiverse. This is good news indeed, because I would love to hitch a ride on a return trip to Paragaea.”
And Julie Haves over at the Science Fact and Science Fiction Concatenation e-magazine seems to like our first season novel, Fiona Avery’s The Crown Rose:
“A charming and believable, though fantastic, novel encompassing love, romance, war, political intrigue and the legendary order of the Knights Templar…a wonderful, magical, entertaining, heart-warming and tragic novel. It is a breath of fresh air, a truly original work which is a great pleasure to read.”
And, at the same e-mag, so does Sue Griffiths:
“What sets the book apart from many a historical work of fiction is the balance of intrigue, mysticism and romance. Another interesting addition to the book is the author’s notes at the end, explaining where she received the inspiration for her characters, who the real historical figures were and how the author researched events of the period of history her book is set in. The author’s interpretation of what life was like in that era is well pieced together, and while the mysticism in the book is a welcome change from a straightforward historical drama, it is also to the writer’s credit that it is not something that is overplayed, and therefore does not detract from other characters or the events in the story.”