We’re nearing the end of December, so it’s once again time for my favorite annual post: my annual favorites post! This is where I share the best sci-fi and fantasy I read from this year. I write two versions of my Recommended Reading List each year, one in December when reviewers start dropping their favorites,… Continue reading Tar Vol’s 2025 Recommended Reading List (Holiday Edition)
This review is based on an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the editor in exchange for an honest review. Think Weirder was released on October 30, 2025. I have to admit, I was won over by the cover of Think Weirder: The Year’s Best Science Fiction Ideas, edited by Joe Stech. Not because of… Continue reading Sci-fi Anthology Review: Think Weirder by Joe Stech
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Village at the Edge of Noon will be released on December 2, 2025. December and January are often pretty light on new releases, and I’m always on the lookout for more stories… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Village at the Edge of Noon by Darya Bobyleva
Nnedi Okorafor has gained plenty of plaudits in genre fiction over the past decade, and when I saw that she was releasing a speculative literary novel about a writer of robot stories, I put Death of the Author on my list of books to watch in 2025. It took me a few months, but I… Continue reading Speculative Novel Review: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. There Is No Antimemetics Division will be released on November 11, 2025. For the last few years, I’ve been seeing glowing commentary about There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm, particularly on the… Continue reading Sci-fi/Horror Novel Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Merge will be released on November 11, 2025. Over the last couple years of reading, it’s become very clear to me that I enjoy stories that play with memory in unusual ways.… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Merge by Grace Walker
With some travel on the docket and Cozy SFF on the Bingo board, I was looking for a lighter fantasy to serve as airplane reading. Having enjoyed Auston Habershaw’s short fiction in the past, If Wishes Were Retail caught my eye and seemed to fit the bill perfectly. And as it turned out, the book… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: If Wishes Were Retail by Auston Habershaw
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon was released on August 26, 2025. My first exposure to Mizuki Tsujimura was a couple years ago when I read the tremendous Lonely Castle in the… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura
R.F. Kuang seems to be a divisive author, but while I understand and agree with many of the criticisms, her engaging prose style and hard-hitting thematic work has consistently drawn me in enough to leave me with overwhelmingly positive impressions. So while a quest into Hell is a little bit outside my wheelhouse as a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
I’m not much of a horror person, but I do have a soft spot for “people are the real horror” historical pieces, with Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory and Victor LaValle’s Lone Women among my favorites of the last few years. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter seemed another entry along those lines, and given some glowing reviews… Continue reading Horror Novel Review: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
