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Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
A SUMMONING OF SOULS gets a "MOMENTOUS" review from Publisher's Weekly!
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The Historical Novel Society Review praises A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS!
Dear Readers!
I'm so thrilled to report that the spring edition of The Historical Novel Society Review loved my latest Spectral City novel, A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS! See what Audra Friend, blogger and reviewer at Unabridged Chick, has to say, I'm so honored by her words!
From HNR Issue 91 (February 2020)
A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS - Nov, 2019 from Kensington Rebel Base Books
"This second book in Hieber’s Spectral City series returns with another powerful, evocative story set in this unique alternative history of 1899 New York City in which the NYPD has a secretive paranormal department where mediums work with ghostly spirit guides to solve crimes. This refreshing and inventive setting provides a wonderful freshness to the crowded murder mystery shelf, and the supernatural elements evoked by the work of the Spiritualist crime fighters are interesting, emotional, and intriguing.
I'm so thrilled to report that the spring edition of The Historical Novel Society Review loved my latest Spectral City novel, A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS! See what Audra Friend, blogger and reviewer at Unabridged Chick, has to say, I'm so honored by her words!
From HNR Issue 91 (February 2020)
A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS - Nov, 2019 from Kensington Rebel Base Books
"This second book in Hieber’s Spectral City series returns with another powerful, evocative story set in this unique alternative history of 1899 New York City in which the NYPD has a secretive paranormal department where mediums work with ghostly spirit guides to solve crimes. This refreshing and inventive setting provides a wonderful freshness to the crowded murder mystery shelf, and the supernatural elements evoked by the work of the Spiritualist crime fighters are interesting, emotional, and intriguing.
Readers will benefit from – and enjoy – Hieber’s previous book, The Spectral City, which introduces this world and the main character, Eve Whitby. Eve is a cautious, empathetic medium who leads séances with three other mediums, working with the dead and the living to solve crimes. This book quickly dives into an atmospheric and moody mystery involving the seemingly impossible: a criminal who can hurt the dead. (Sensitive readers should be aware that there are child victims, but there is no in-scene violence depicted, just the aftereffects.) Most challenging for Eve and her squadron of mediums is that ghosts are as unreliable as humans.
Hieber expertly mixes atmospheric setting with compelling and complicated relationships – grandmother to granddaughter, friendship between women, a burgeoning romance between individuals of different cultural backgrounds, the tenuous threads connecting the dead to the living – with an unearthly and moody plot. The social mores and restrictions of late 19th-century life are still real in this world, making Eve’s work and her burgeoning romance with the Jewish Detective Jacob Horowitz resonant and emotionally satisfying. Her world building is rich and imaginative, diving into the everyday realities of what life would be like if the living could communicate with the undead.
This is a compelling read that will leave readers eager for the next in the series; start with the first book to most enjoy the growth of characters in this one." - Audra Friend, Unabridged Chick, for The Historical Novel Society Review
Monday, November 27, 2017
A moving review of THE ETERNA SOLUTION
Deepest thanks to Meghan Harker at Criminal Element for this moving review of THE ETERNA SOLUTION, out now from Tor Books. "The sheer joy of reading Hieber’s work reminded me of what I strive for as an artist and the power that love and friendship have in fighting against the darkness..."
Life-affirming, it is words like these that keep me going and resolute on my mission. I hope you'll join us on the journey. Blessings.
Full review:
https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2017/11/review-the-eterna-solution-by-leanna-renee-Hieber
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Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Barnes & Noble glowingly reviews PERILOUS PROPHECY, a Strangely Beautiful novel
Hello Darlings!
Barnes and Noble has always been a brilliant supporter of me and my work, and I couldn't be more honored by this glowing review from The Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog's review of PERILOUS PROPHECY, a Strangely Beautiful prequel.
This is a very cross-genre work that will appeal to fans of YA, Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Suspense, Gothic, and light Horror. As with all my work, it would be rated "PG-13" in content.
If you're interested in this series and haven't begun it yet, this reviewer started right here with this first edition and found it a fantastic place to start. I hope you'll join her in reading (and reviewing) this book, a testament to hope and love in dark times.
From The Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog:
"Perilous Prophecy Is a Magical Journey into a World of Power and Light.
There is something truly magical about Leanna Renee Hieber’s writing. Every page of Perilous Prophecy is infused with it, and it will seep into you, changing you as you read.
Here is the story of the goddess Persephone, imprisoned within the darkness of the Whisper-world, a place born of the misery of humankind, only able to travel to the mortal world for brief restorative periods. To maintain the Balance, a Guard chosen to fend off the dark tendrils of that other place, to prevent them taking too strong a hold on the earthly realm.
Again and again, Persephone’s murdered love, Phoenix, along with five loyal muses—Heart, Intuition, Memory, Art, and a Healer—possess six mortals who will fight as the Guard. Every cycle, the Guard takes up the fight in a different time and city. This round falls on Cairo in the 1860s.
Beatrice Smith, chosen by Phoenix, and thus the Guard leader, must cast aside self-doubt and become someone her newfound companions can depend upon. Her second-in-command, Ibrahim, Intuition’s chosen vessel, is a source of compelling strength for them all. Now able to see the ghosts infesting Cairo, the Guard must work quickly to master their gifts and prepare for the coming darkness, for an ancient prophecy has been set in motion.
At the heart of Perilous Prophecy is one of the deepest love stories I’ve encountered in fantasy in some time. Actually, there are love stories woven throughout this exquisite novel—the bond between Persephone and Phoenix is more powerful and deeper than mere mortals could ever experience, but the love we see forming between Beatrice and Ibrahim, and the fraternal love growing within the Guard itself—these are loves we mortals can only dream of experiencing. Hieber deftly wields the power of words to create a world and a calling you’ll long to experience first-hand.
Ahmed, Heart’s chosen mortal, had visions of a great war on the horizon, even before becoming a member of the Guard. Yet the joy he feels in his heart is infectious, to both his companions and the reader. Despite battling menacing ghosts and watching Persephone’s painful time in the Whisper-world, this novel is overflowing with hope and light. A prequel to Hieber’s Strangely Beautiful, it’s laced with ominous threads of a prophecy still to come. But the encroaching darkness does not weigh down the beauty of this story.
I fell in love with the cast of characters. The strength of this story is bolstered by the strength of the bonds they form. Yes, there are ghosts, but this is more a story of living people, and the choices we all must make as we navigate our lives and responsibilities. Meanwhile, Hieber captures what feels like the purest essence of 1860s Cairo through the small details that brush the senses, but also through the acknowledgement by the characters of the harsh realities a motley Guard comprised of members from European and Egyptian backgrounds might face during the 1860s.
I am delighted to admit I have not yet read Strangely Beautiful, because it means I get to read it now, and spend more time in this world.
Perilous Prophecy is available now." - Shana DuBois, Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble has always been a brilliant supporter of me and my work, and I couldn't be more honored by this glowing review from The Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog's review of PERILOUS PROPHECY, a Strangely Beautiful prequel.
This is a very cross-genre work that will appeal to fans of YA, Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Suspense, Gothic, and light Horror. As with all my work, it would be rated "PG-13" in content.
If you're interested in this series and haven't begun it yet, this reviewer started right here with this first edition and found it a fantastic place to start. I hope you'll join her in reading (and reviewing) this book, a testament to hope and love in dark times.
From The Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog:
"Perilous Prophecy Is a Magical Journey into a World of Power and Light.
There is something truly magical about Leanna Renee Hieber’s writing. Every page of Perilous Prophecy is infused with it, and it will seep into you, changing you as you read.Here is the story of the goddess Persephone, imprisoned within the darkness of the Whisper-world, a place born of the misery of humankind, only able to travel to the mortal world for brief restorative periods. To maintain the Balance, a Guard chosen to fend off the dark tendrils of that other place, to prevent them taking too strong a hold on the earthly realm.
Again and again, Persephone’s murdered love, Phoenix, along with five loyal muses—Heart, Intuition, Memory, Art, and a Healer—possess six mortals who will fight as the Guard. Every cycle, the Guard takes up the fight in a different time and city. This round falls on Cairo in the 1860s.
Beatrice Smith, chosen by Phoenix, and thus the Guard leader, must cast aside self-doubt and become someone her newfound companions can depend upon. Her second-in-command, Ibrahim, Intuition’s chosen vessel, is a source of compelling strength for them all. Now able to see the ghosts infesting Cairo, the Guard must work quickly to master their gifts and prepare for the coming darkness, for an ancient prophecy has been set in motion.
At the heart of Perilous Prophecy is one of the deepest love stories I’ve encountered in fantasy in some time. Actually, there are love stories woven throughout this exquisite novel—the bond between Persephone and Phoenix is more powerful and deeper than mere mortals could ever experience, but the love we see forming between Beatrice and Ibrahim, and the fraternal love growing within the Guard itself—these are loves we mortals can only dream of experiencing. Hieber deftly wields the power of words to create a world and a calling you’ll long to experience first-hand.
Ahmed, Heart’s chosen mortal, had visions of a great war on the horizon, even before becoming a member of the Guard. Yet the joy he feels in his heart is infectious, to both his companions and the reader. Despite battling menacing ghosts and watching Persephone’s painful time in the Whisper-world, this novel is overflowing with hope and light. A prequel to Hieber’s Strangely Beautiful, it’s laced with ominous threads of a prophecy still to come. But the encroaching darkness does not weigh down the beauty of this story.
I fell in love with the cast of characters. The strength of this story is bolstered by the strength of the bonds they form. Yes, there are ghosts, but this is more a story of living people, and the choices we all must make as we navigate our lives and responsibilities. Meanwhile, Hieber captures what feels like the purest essence of 1860s Cairo through the small details that brush the senses, but also through the acknowledgement by the characters of the harsh realities a motley Guard comprised of members from European and Egyptian backgrounds might face during the 1860s.
I am delighted to admit I have not yet read Strangely Beautiful, because it means I get to read it now, and spend more time in this world.
Perilous Prophecy is available now." - Shana DuBois, Barnes and Noble
Monday, October 5, 2015
Updates, Asimov's Magazine Review, Appearances, Dreadpunk and more!
Darlings!
The whirlwind paces continue! DragonCon and Space Coast Comic Con were really wonderful across the board, amazing panels and audiences! I signed tons of books and sold a great deal of art! The rest of the month has seen me busy restocking and working on a few short stories, with Eterna Files book 2 edits up ahead.
This month, as you all should know, it is Halloween Awareness Month! And I'm all over New York City and the surrounding environs in really amazing capacities, whether giving ghost talks at local libraries (Hoboken, East Meadow) or signing books and selling art at amazing festivals in incredible historic, haunted locations (Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Morris Jumel Mansion) check out the upcoming APPEARANCES here on the website and come get a signed book and some one of a kind jewelry and art!
In spectacular Industry review news: I'm honoured that in the September issue of Asimov's Magazine I was given this truly incredible review for Eterna Files, I'm so humbled and in awe of the beautiful things said:
Eterna Moonshine of the Spotted Mind
The alert book-shopper will find an advance-publication quote from me adorning the front cover of Leanna Renee Hieber’s novel The Eterna Files (Tor, hardcover, $24.99, 320 pages, ISBN 978-
0-7653-5674-5). Without much real acquaintance with the author, I was motivated to provide a quote based sheerly on the high quality of the book. So I thought I would use a small amount of this column to explicate my admiration further.
The novel falls squarely into the steampunk genre, but exhibits a richer helping of metaphysics than is common in that game, and a bit more gravitas. Hieber’s MacGuffin is the quest for immortality,
surely a subject that can bear the symbolic weight. In the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a small group of eccentric talents are given the assignment of learning how to defeat death. Chief among these is our heroine, Clara Templeton, a psychic. We pick up her tale when the project is at a crisis point after many years. Several of the researchers have been brutally murdered, including Clara’s lover. Is the project doomed, or so close to success that it has aroused great powers?
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the British government has learned of the Eterna project and decided to steal or preempt it. They have assigned London detective Harold Spire to the case, and given him the assistance of the redoubtable Rose Everhart. Needless to say, presented with such a formidable array of allies and antagonists, many sparks, supernatural and otherwise, are going to fly. Hieber’s approach to the “science” of anti-death protocols is fascinating. (She even gets in a nod to Clarke’s Third Law: “All sciences, at their zenith, create what is tantamount to sorcery.”) Blending a kind of alchemy with unique “patriotic magic,” the pursuit assumes epistemological magnitude.
Says Louis, Clara’s lover (who continues to play a role as a ghost), “The key of Eterna, ma cherie, is to determine the boundaries of meaning. Nothing that may have meaning in terms of life can be overlooked.” This is a wide remit, and eventually Clara comes to wonder if they have bitten off more than they can chew. “Eterna was full of the restless living and the restless dead. It needed to die once and for all.”
Rich in conceits as anything from Alan Moore, Hieber’s novel mixes action and the emotional lives of its characters into a fascinating stew. Anyone who enjoyed Paul Cornell’s London Falling and The
Severed Streets will certainly cozy up to Hieber’s parallel depiction of questioning savants and heroes versus the forces of anarchy and despair." Asimov’s Magazine - September 2015 - Paul Di Filippo
(More about The Eterna Files here)
--
In GENRE news: I was also really psyched to be a part of the first ever DREADPUNK panel at DragonCon, "Dreadpunk" being a new word to talk about some of the great things happening in the Gothic Genre today, and to talk about those trends in new ways. Considering I exist under similar parasols as Steampunk and other retro-futurist genres, "Dreadpunk" helps me express the Gothic Horror underpinnings of a lot of my work and inspiration, without being beholden to the traditional feminine issues represented it traditional Gothics. The Daily Dot did an incredible article about the Dreadpunk panel and I was fortunate enough to be very featured. Check it out here.
Book Stuffs: THE DARK NEST CHRONICLES are now out across the boards; digitally, each as separate novellas 1-3, Dark Nest, Dark Nest: Reckoning and Dark Nest: Song of Saire or in the compilation The Dark Nest Chronicles, AND they have all been collected in a paperback edition available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so if you haven't taken a turn to this lesser-known Space Opera series of mine, go forth! These are action-packed quick reads with inspiring psychic characters you'll fall in love with and root for as they try to save their people from genocide.
O Ye Lovecraftian Devotees! I'm also quite pleased to have been asked to contribute a chilling and very strange (even for me, so that's saying something) piece for THE BOOK OF STARRY WISDOM, an amazing new high-end and very artistic Lovecraft volume currently funding HERE. The book features newly edited editions of the main cult of Cthulhu stories as well as original fiction from a slew of talents. I'm really thrilled to be in amazing company of artists and authors here, it's going to be a must-have volume for any Lovecraft fan. If you get a copy, everyone wins as the stretch goals will also be amazing!
Lots of new things up on the Etsy store! Tons of new Poe pieces honouring my favourite author and foremost inspiration (my best selling items!). Everything is one of a kind and original, never are two pieces alike so if you see something you like, pick it up before it's gone and never made again! (Commissions are welcome). BLOG10 is a coupon code for you fine folks, so don't forget to use it!
October will see the re-issue of my short story "Sea-Found" in Fantasy Scroll magazine, there will be an audio edition starring yours truly that will accompany the reissue as well!
As always, there's a lot going on in the Hieberverse so I shall try to keep you all updated here as best I can, thanks for being a part of these worlds! Happy Haunting!
The whirlwind paces continue! DragonCon and Space Coast Comic Con were really wonderful across the board, amazing panels and audiences! I signed tons of books and sold a great deal of art! The rest of the month has seen me busy restocking and working on a few short stories, with Eterna Files book 2 edits up ahead.
This month, as you all should know, it is Halloween Awareness Month! And I'm all over New York City and the surrounding environs in really amazing capacities, whether giving ghost talks at local libraries (Hoboken, East Meadow) or signing books and selling art at amazing festivals in incredible historic, haunted locations (Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Morris Jumel Mansion) check out the upcoming APPEARANCES here on the website and come get a signed book and some one of a kind jewelry and art!
In spectacular Industry review news: I'm honoured that in the September issue of Asimov's Magazine I was given this truly incredible review for Eterna Files, I'm so humbled and in awe of the beautiful things said:
Eterna Moonshine of the Spotted Mind
The alert book-shopper will find an advance-publication quote from me adorning the front cover of Leanna Renee Hieber’s novel The Eterna Files (Tor, hardcover, $24.99, 320 pages, ISBN 978-
0-7653-5674-5). Without much real acquaintance with the author, I was motivated to provide a quote based sheerly on the high quality of the book. So I thought I would use a small amount of this column to explicate my admiration further.
The novel falls squarely into the steampunk genre, but exhibits a richer helping of metaphysics than is common in that game, and a bit more gravitas. Hieber’s MacGuffin is the quest for immortality,
surely a subject that can bear the symbolic weight. In the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a small group of eccentric talents are given the assignment of learning how to defeat death. Chief among these is our heroine, Clara Templeton, a psychic. We pick up her tale when the project is at a crisis point after many years. Several of the researchers have been brutally murdered, including Clara’s lover. Is the project doomed, or so close to success that it has aroused great powers?
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the British government has learned of the Eterna project and decided to steal or preempt it. They have assigned London detective Harold Spire to the case, and given him the assistance of the redoubtable Rose Everhart. Needless to say, presented with such a formidable array of allies and antagonists, many sparks, supernatural and otherwise, are going to fly. Hieber’s approach to the “science” of anti-death protocols is fascinating. (She even gets in a nod to Clarke’s Third Law: “All sciences, at their zenith, create what is tantamount to sorcery.”) Blending a kind of alchemy with unique “patriotic magic,” the pursuit assumes epistemological magnitude.
Says Louis, Clara’s lover (who continues to play a role as a ghost), “The key of Eterna, ma cherie, is to determine the boundaries of meaning. Nothing that may have meaning in terms of life can be overlooked.” This is a wide remit, and eventually Clara comes to wonder if they have bitten off more than they can chew. “Eterna was full of the restless living and the restless dead. It needed to die once and for all.”
Rich in conceits as anything from Alan Moore, Hieber’s novel mixes action and the emotional lives of its characters into a fascinating stew. Anyone who enjoyed Paul Cornell’s London Falling and The
Severed Streets will certainly cozy up to Hieber’s parallel depiction of questioning savants and heroes versus the forces of anarchy and despair." Asimov’s Magazine - September 2015 - Paul Di Filippo
(More about The Eterna Files here)
--
In GENRE news: I was also really psyched to be a part of the first ever DREADPUNK panel at DragonCon, "Dreadpunk" being a new word to talk about some of the great things happening in the Gothic Genre today, and to talk about those trends in new ways. Considering I exist under similar parasols as Steampunk and other retro-futurist genres, "Dreadpunk" helps me express the Gothic Horror underpinnings of a lot of my work and inspiration, without being beholden to the traditional feminine issues represented it traditional Gothics. The Daily Dot did an incredible article about the Dreadpunk panel and I was fortunate enough to be very featured. Check it out here.
Book Stuffs: THE DARK NEST CHRONICLES are now out across the boards; digitally, each as separate novellas 1-3, Dark Nest, Dark Nest: Reckoning and Dark Nest: Song of Saire or in the compilation The Dark Nest Chronicles, AND they have all been collected in a paperback edition available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so if you haven't taken a turn to this lesser-known Space Opera series of mine, go forth! These are action-packed quick reads with inspiring psychic characters you'll fall in love with and root for as they try to save their people from genocide.
O Ye Lovecraftian Devotees! I'm also quite pleased to have been asked to contribute a chilling and very strange (even for me, so that's saying something) piece for THE BOOK OF STARRY WISDOM, an amazing new high-end and very artistic Lovecraft volume currently funding HERE. The book features newly edited editions of the main cult of Cthulhu stories as well as original fiction from a slew of talents. I'm really thrilled to be in amazing company of artists and authors here, it's going to be a must-have volume for any Lovecraft fan. If you get a copy, everyone wins as the stretch goals will also be amazing!
Lots of new things up on the Etsy store! Tons of new Poe pieces honouring my favourite author and foremost inspiration (my best selling items!). Everything is one of a kind and original, never are two pieces alike so if you see something you like, pick it up before it's gone and never made again! (Commissions are welcome). BLOG10 is a coupon code for you fine folks, so don't forget to use it!
October will see the re-issue of my short story "Sea-Found" in Fantasy Scroll magazine, there will be an audio edition starring yours truly that will accompany the reissue as well!
As always, there's a lot going on in the Hieberverse so I shall try to keep you all updated here as best I can, thanks for being a part of these worlds! Happy Haunting!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Booklist has lovely words for Twisted Tragedy!
It's always exciting when the major publishing industry publications weigh in on your novel. 2013 is starting off with some lovely gems!
Booklist gives The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart a lovely review!
Booklist gives The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart a lovely review!
The Twisted
Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart
By Leanna Renee Hieber, 2012. 336p. Sourcebooks, paper, $8.99 (9781402262036)
"In this second Magic Most Foul novel (Darker
Still, 2011), Natalie Stewart has gained her voice and Jonathon Denbury is
alive, his soul rescued from a painting by Natalie's newly discovered magical
powers. Escaping to Minnesota upon Mrs. Northe's advice, the young couple
experiences a few days of happiness before Jonathon decides to avoid the ominous
Dr. Preston by returning to London, where he dons the visage of his doppelganger
to solve the mystery of his murdered family. Hieber's second YA novel is filled
with bizarre evil: a resurrectionist doctor who collects severed hands; a dark,
foreboding actor who inserts himself between Natalie and Jonathon in her
nightmares; and a deaf-mute friend who hears the tormented spirits of the
dismembered dead. Readers, who will benefit
from a prior reading of the first book in the series, will enjoy not only the
dark, supernatural mystery and then-daring romance but also the Victorian
setting of elegant houses, beautiful gowns, and historical yet surprisingly
contemporary New York City." - Frances Bradburn
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