A couple of debut novels are added to the site this week. One's a big letdown and the other, just pretty good, nothing special.

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: Another hybrid of romance and space opera has debut author Aguirre freely indulging in the cliches of both genres. But her heroine has a farily good character arc, the plot takes some strange turns, and the entire cast is such a bunch of neurotic screwups that they're actually kind of endearing. A reasonably promising first novel. (***)

Elom by William H. Drinkard: Debut novelist Drinkard is way, way out of his league with this ambitious but immensely tedious SF epic about primitive humans on an alien world confronting the aliens who have been watching over them. Drinkard's method of world-building involves piling on the exposition, so that everything is painstakingly detailed yet superficial and lacking in mystery. Same goes for his characters. (**)

Come back next week for more cool new reviews!

Thomas