I saw quite a bit of hype last year for Ryka Aoki’s debut novel Light From Uncommon Stars, but not enough to convince me it was up my alley—the flying donut shop and Douglas Adams namecheck made me expect a zany romp that would inevitably fall short of Douglas Adams. But its nomination for the… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novel Review: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Catherynne M. Valente is not an author I’d read much before this year, but with Hugo nominations in three different fiction categories, this year is quickly changing that. The only one of those three that will warrant its own post—I usually roll up shorter work into my monthly round-ups—is the Best Novella Finalist The Past… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
Not being especially enamored with either steampunk or fantasy detectives, A Master of Djinn is a book that I wouldn’t have cracked without a pretty significant push. But enough people were excited about P. Djèlí Clark’s debut novel in his existing steampunk Cairo setting that it made the short list for the Hugo Award for… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Judging for the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) has matched me with a few books outside my wheelhouse, but T. A. Bruno’s debut In the Orbit of Sirens promised to be an exception. A novel featuring high-stakes exploration with a first contact storyline that didn’t just devolve into reflexive war is exactly the sort of… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno
The beginning of the year is always a scramble to reshuffle the TBR after seeing a cavalcade of “Best of the Year” lists. And one of those books that showed up quite a few times was Jennifer Marie Brissett’s Destroyer of Light. Brissett is an author that’s been on my radar for a while, so… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett
We’re living in a world with way more quality genre fiction than I could ever read. And it would be so easy to find a narrow niche and just stick to it, with new material coming out fast enough to keep me satisfied indefinitely. But part of the fun of reading is finding new loves,… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Artifact Space by Miles Cameron
I’ve had some fantastic success lately with Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novellas, so I figured it’d be worth my while to go back to the well with One Day All This Will Be Yours, which came out last spring accompanied by a rash of glowing reviews in my circles. Unsurprisingly, this one was yet another win. One… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Sarah Pinsker has written some of my absolute favorite short fiction over the last couple years. And while I know the jump from short fiction to extended work is non-trivial, her shorts had hit a level of consistent quality that made it an easy call to move her second novel to the top of my… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker
Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow was billed as an angry feminist tale inspired by Chinese history and featuring anime-style mech battles. That billing didn’t appeal to me much, but I heard so many people talking about its quality that I thought I should give it a read anyways. A few days later, I feel comfortable… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
If you spend a lot of time among heavy readers of self-published fantasy, it’s hard not to have heard of The Thirteenth Hour, Trudie Skies’ tale of a conspiracy that threatens the established order of a steampunk world of twelve races living in a tenuous peace. My SPSFC judging has shifted by indie reading heavily… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies
