About the Reviewers...
Every reviewer on this page is at least 18 years old, has read a minimum of a couple hundred books in the genres we cover, and most have some sort of background in English, either as a major, a minor, or part of a Medieval/Rennaisance major. These are not absolute prerequisites for becoming a reviewer, but it helps us bring you higher quality reviews. We aim for a diverse population of reviewers, and we encourage reviewers to write about authors with whom they are very familiar, if possible. The result is reviews you can trust.
The reviewers have written paragraphs about themselves to help you understand their tastes. If you still don't understand why they reviewed a book a certain way, you can either check out their personal webpages or email Raven, and I will contact them for you. If you really liked their reviews, please tell them that, too! They need lots of encouragement.
: "My book preferences are similar to Raven's. I most appreciate books with detailed, well-drawn characters, especially ones who are just slightly (or more than slightly) mentally off-kilter. And while I don't like reading books that don't have believable characters, I also don't like seeing stories where the characters have great potential that is somehow not realized by the descriptions or the plot. An interesting plot shouldn't be too hard to find if the characters have interesting problems. As a writer (even if unpublished), I tend to be picky about my choice of novels, because I don't enjoy reading stories that I could have written better. If I want to edit something, I'll work on my own stories. I also like being surprised, so I have a tendency to not want to give away the interesting parts of the plots. If you want to know more than I felt comfortable putting in my reviews, let me know."
Reviews by Bina: C.J. Cherryh, Charles De Lint, David Brin, David Feintuch, Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, Elizabeth Moon, Emma Bull, John Barnes, Judith Tarr, Julie E. Czerneda, Martha Wells, Sheri S. Tepper, Terry Pratchett.
: "I am heavily into fantasy with a good dose of sci-fi mixed in. That does not mean that I turn my nose down at other genres, but the book has to catch my interest for me to read it. Reading for me is a good way to escape from reality for a while and enter another world, or worlds as it may be. Not being much of a writer, I always appreciate a good book, and the more twists and turns, the better. I prefer characters and plots which are believable in the context in which they are set, but the weird, strange and fantastic are always appealing. Having recently discovered e-books, my repertoire is expanding and I find that more and more of my spare time is taken up with reading. Not that I'm complaining of course.
Reviews by Dragon: Anne McCaffrey, David Eddings, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Robert Jordan, Sharon Reddy, Terry Brooks, Traci Harding.
Reviews by Erika: David Eddings.
is a nineteen-year-old who spends way too much time reading and trying to write. He�s working on ideas for a novel, but still has yet to start the thing. Please don�t tell him that there isn�t any real demand for a cosmic, escapist fantasy/ghost story/romantic comedy or he�ll be heartbroken. After becoming thoroughly bored with generic, Tolkienesque fantasy, he has picked up on cyberpunk authors like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, but he�ll basically read anything that�s unconventional, fun, or artistic in composition. Also, he believes that eighties New Wave (long live New Order!) was the best thing to happen in the history of music and that Meg Ryan is the true Person of the Century.
Reviews by Josiah: William Gibson.
remembers the good old days when she had time to read for pleasure -- ah, youth! Now she studies serious *coughcough* literature as a full-fledged English major... ("fledged"? does this mean I have wings? ^_^;) ...but still occasionally sneaks in some SF and fantasy on the side. In case it wasn't obvious from the reviews, she worships the paper Ursula Le Guin writes on, and also has soft spots for many of the other authors Raven lists. Special Public Service Announcement: the Firebringer Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce is the most undeservingly underread fantasy trilogy in existence!
Reviews by Kristin: Ursula K. LeGuin.
prefers books with tasteful angst and psychological twists. She hates badly done torture scenes. Her favorite authors have shifted so often that she frequently forgets who she's willing to read this month, but she has long-standing obsessions with Madeleine L'engle and Ursula K. LeGuin, as well as newer ones with Lois McMaster Bujold and C. J. Cherryh. As the reader can tell from her tendency to write about herself in the third person, she considers reading a vocation rather than a hobby.
Reviews by Raven: Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, C. J. Cherryh, C. S. Lewis, C. Walter Hodges, Charles De Lint, Charlotte Boyett-Compo, Clare Bell, Connie Willis, Crockett Johnson, David Eddings, David Feintuch, Denise Little, Dick Claassen, Douglas Adams, E. B. White, Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Moon, Emma Bull, Fay S. Lapka, Frank Herbert, Henry N. Beard, Isaac Asimov, Isabo Kelly, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane S. Fancher, Jerome Beatty, Jr., Jodell Abrams, Joe Haldeman, John Brunner, John F. X. Sudman, Julian May, Katherine Kurtz, Kenneth Grahame, L. Sprague de Camp, Larry Niven, Lois McMaster Bujold, Madeleine L'Engle, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Martin H. Greensberg, Mercedes Lackey, Meredith Ann Pierce, Michael Moorcock, Morgan Llewellyn, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Pamela Dean, Patricia C. Wrede, Peter David, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Robin McKinley, Sharon Reddy, Sheri S. Tepper, Susan Cooper, Susan Sanchez, Thomas Bulfinch, Tom Williams, Wayland Drew, William Goldman, Ursula K. LeGuin, Willo Davis Roberts, Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
has not yet turned in a bio.
Reviews by Roberto: Larry Niven, Neal Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Poul Anderson.
has not yet turned in a bio.
Reviews by Sarah: C. S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Peter David.
has not yet turned in a bio.
Reviews by Shawna: Caroline Stervermer, Jane Yolan, Rosemarie Bishop.
cut his F&SF teeth on Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in grade school, discovered Bradbury, Asimov and H.G. Wells in middle school, and Douglas Adams, Crichton, McCaffrey, and Anne Rice during college. His reading tastes are rather eclectic by most standards, ranging as far afield as Clavell, Clancy, A. Conan Doyle, Dumas, Neil Gaiman, Lovecraft, Robert Anton Wilson, and Eiji Yoshikawa. He is a one-time English major whose enjoyment of the so-called "classics" has been heavily influenced by whether they appeared on a syllabus.
Reviews by Tim: Alexandre Dumas, Diana L. Paxson, Edgar Allan Poe, Eiji Yoshikawa, Future Boston Project, H. P. Lovecraft, Harry Turtledove, Katherine Kurtz, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman, Phillip K. Dick, R. A. Salvatore, Robert E. Howard, Roger Zelazny, Umberto Eco.
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Last Updated: March 1, 2000
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