I haven’t done many of these, so I’ll start with a word about my series reviews. They are not reviews of the last book. They are meant to be helpful for people who have not read the series at all, or perhaps who have started and are unsure about whether to continue. As such, I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham
R.A. Lafferty, who died at 87 on March 18 [2002], was undoubtedly the finest writer of whatever it was that he did that ever there was. He was a genius, an oddball, a madman. His stories. . . are without precedent. -Neil Gaiman Remember those old books for science fiction beginners, the ones that said… Continue reading Science Fiction/Fantasy Author Spotlight: R.A. Lafferty
Guy Gavriel Kay, known for his exemplary prose, historical settings, and fondness for standalones, is one of those authors I’ve been hearing about for a long time. I consistently hear other authors I like (like Carol Berg, or Janny Wurts) recommend for fans of Kay. That probably works the other way as well, so I… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
I’m reading a lot more short fiction as the new year begins, and since they don’t get their own reviews, I thought they warranted a monthly round-up post. I’ll also include some notes at the end about the longer works I’ve been reading this month, but this is mostly a chance for short stories to… Continue reading January 2021 Round-up and Short Fiction Focus
I’ve never voted for the Hugo Awards before, but I’ve signed up to do so this year, so it’s time to start figuring out what I want to nominate. I haven’t found five works that I feel strongly about in any category, so if anyone wants to put in a plug for something I’ve missed,… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Award Nominations: First Draft
K.B. Wagers’ A Pale Light in the Black promises a heartwarming tale of finding family in a military setting, complete with lots of sci-fi sporting competition. As someone who grew up reading sports novels as much as speculative fiction, I had to check it out, and, as promised, it was a lot of fun. A… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: A Pale Light in the Black by K.B. Wagers
It’s hard to know where to start with Vita Nostra. The 2007 novel by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko was brought to the English market with a 2018 translation by Julia Meitov Hersey, and the dark magic school novel came with a solid wave of rave reviews. But unlike the last magic school novel I read,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
After years of mostly sticking to adult fantasy, Legendborn is my second young adult book in the last five weeks (third if you count A Deadly Education, which sits somewhere between YA and dark fantasy), and if Tracy Deonn’s work is representative of the quality in YA fantasy, I’m going to have to read more.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
I started 2020 with the goal of reading 25 books and participating in r/Fantasy’s bingo challenge for the first time. I considered that ambitious, not having hit 20 books in a year since I was ten years-old and crushing a new middle-grade series every month. But 365 days and one global pandemic later, I’ve read… Continue reading 2021 Reading Goals and TBR Sketch
I’ve been hearing about P. Djèlí Clark’s exceptional novellas for a while, so when Ring Shout came out in October to a cascade of glowing reviews, it seemed like the perfect time to dive in to his work. Ring Shout takes place in 1920s Georgia in a world where members of the Ku Klux Klan… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
