This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Palaces of the Crow was released on May 19, 2026. Ray Nayler wowed me a few years back with his debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea. My last couple reads didn’t quite hit… Continue reading Historical Speculative Novel Review: Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Republic of Memory was released on May 5, 2026. Short Fiction Book Club picked up “Memories of Memories Lost” by Mahmud El Sayed a couple years back, and it remains my favorite of… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed
This review is based on a ebook provided by the author for the purpose of an honest review. Sometimes a new release checks so many boxes that there’s no real question about whether I’ll pick it up, only about how long it will take me to get my hands on it. With an author I’d… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light will be released on April 28, 2026. For all that I adore sci-fi short fiction, I don’t read many collections cover-to-cover unless they’re coming from… Continue reading Sci-fi Short Fiction Review: If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop
I’m not much of a romantasy reader, so when I saw that a romantasy imprint was releasing a new book with a pretty cover, I didn’t think much of it. But a couple glowing reviews prompted me to take a further look, and an author interview pushing back against the perception of the novel… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
Tamora Pierce’s Tortall universe seems to be a cultural touchstone for so many women in fantasy, but (in no small part due to having never been a girl reading fantasy), I’d never delved into it. But the combination of peer pressure and a couple auspicious Bingo squares gave me a reason to move the Protector of… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce
I didn’t know too much about Daughter of the Forest going in—just that it involved a recovery arc after a deeply traumatic start and that it came highly recommended by a few friends. Had I realized it was a fantasy romance fairy tale retelling, I might mot have tried it at all. And that would’ve… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
A few years ago, when I started publishing annual sci-fi/fantasy recommended reading lists, the proliferation of favorites lists dropping each winter would kick off a genuine reading flurry that made my late-February list substantially larger than my mid-December one. That’s the reason I started posting two versions of the list each year. But as I… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Top Ten 2025 Short Fiction and Updated Recommended Reading List
I only occasionally dip into speculative litfic, largely with mixed results, so despite her fame, Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel wasn’t really on my radar until a Redditor recommended it for fans of Octavia E. Butler and Emily St. John Mandel. Seeing as how Clay’s Ark and Station Eleven were two of the best things… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Sublimation will be released on June 2, 2026. Isabel J. Kim burst onto the scene with the tremendous debut short story “Homecoming Is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self.” Over the… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
