For the last couple years, the list of recent speculative fiction that everyone else seems to have read but that I hadn’t started with Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. But when the most recent book in her Wayfarers series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, I finally… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
I’m closing the inaugural Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) with two finalists that had extremely high ratings floors in the first two rounds. Today, I’ll be looking at A Star Named Vega by Benjamin J. Roberts, a novel that received a score of at least 8/10 from nine of the ten judges that rated it… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Star Named Vega by Benjamin J. Roberts
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
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
In the first round of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), my team sampled 30 works of self-published sci-fi before settling on three favorites to advance to the Semifinal round. Now, we receive the three favorites of two of the ten other judging teams, as we continue whittling down the 300 entries to a group… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Zero Day Threat by R.M. Olson
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. One Arm Shorter Than The Other was released April 5, 2022. Gigi Ganguly’s indie debut novella One Arm Shorter Than The Other may be the most off-the-beaten-track book I’ve read in years—at least… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novella Review: One Arm Shorter Than The Other by Gigi Ganguly
My attempt to read as many of this year’s Hugo finalists as I can had led me to several popular works that I had either not gotten around to or had actively avoided. One of the latter was The Poppy War, with its reputation for a jarring tonal shift and some absolutely brutal war scenes.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The praise for Raybearer has been impossible to miss since its release last year, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to squeeze it into a crowded reading schedule. When Jordan Ifueko’s debut joined an incredibly stacked list of Lodestar Award finalists, it gave me a perfect reason to move it to the top of… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
I’d heard quite a bit about Nghi Vo’s debut novella The Empress of Salt and Fortune when it came out last year, but it didn’t distinguish itself from an overstuffed TBR until it appeared on the finalist list for the Hugo Award for Best Novella. And, while I had been underwhelmed by some other finalists… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Ruin of Kings opens Jenn Lyons’ five-book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons. Despite my love of epic fantasy, I hadn’t gotten to it when it came out. But Tor Books threw their considerable marketing muscle behind the opener—I couldn’t go anywhere in fantasy-leaning corners of the Internet in 2019 without hearing about… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
