Like many of my reads during this summer’s extended Hugo voting window, A.K. Larkwood’s debut epic, The Unspoken Name, is a book that I’ve seen widely praised, but not a book that moved to the top of my list until Larkwood’s nomination for Best New Author. But I do like epic fantasy, so between that… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
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
Gideon the Ninth is one of those books that has been incredibly popular in my online circles for the last year or two, but where I needed a push to actually move it to the top of my list. That push came in the form of its sequel being nominated for the Hugo Award for… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
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
Seanan McGuire is one of those authors with the combination of popularity and prolific production that makes them hard not to hear recommended. And yet I hadn’t actually read any of her work going into this year’s attempts to read the Hugo finalists. Her Come Tumbling Down—the fifth installment in the Wayward Children series—was nominated… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
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
For the last couple years, I’ve regularly seen The Essalayien Series by Michelle West (an alias of Michelle Sagara, author of The Chronicles of Elantra) cited as an underrated gem for those who like character-driven epic fantasy. As I very much enjoy character-driven epic fantasy, I’ve had this one on my list for quite a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Hidden City by Michelle West
N.K. Jemisin may be the best there is in contemporary speculative fiction, and coming into last year, I’d read every single one of her solo-authored novels. But I had some reticence when she announced a novel-sized expansion of her Hugo-nominated short story “The City Born Great.” That story was heavy enough in unexplained New York… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No Gods, No Monsters will be released on September 7, 2021. Urban fantasy is not my go-to subgenre, but the plot summary of No Gods, No Monsters caught my eye with “what looks… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
Tade Thompson’s first contact novel Rosewater was released by a small press in 2016 and quickly generated enough attention for a Nommo Award and an acquisition by Orbit, who rereleased the book in 2018 in advance of the trilogy continuing with a pair of 2019 installments. Like so many highly-praised novels, it’s been on my… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: Rosewater by Tade Thompson
