I got into T. Kingfisher a little over two years ago with the delightful middle grade novel A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, and I thought there was an author binge incoming. As it happens, T. Kingfisher writes a lot, and I haven’t been able to keep up. But she’s a double Hugo finalist this… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Mammoths at the Gates will be released on September 12, 2023. Nghi Vo hooked me on The Singing Hills Cycle with the the wonderful, Hugo-winning, found object epic The Empress of Salt and Fortune.… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo
If you’re reading a speculative fiction blog, there’s a very good chance you’ve read more Discworld than I have. I keep meaning to circle back around, and then I get distracted by a new release and put them off a little longer. But Mort by Terry Pratchett happened to be one of the few books… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Mort by Terry Pratchett
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Blue, Beautiful World will be released on August 29, 2023. After enjoying Redemption in Indigo immensely back in 2020, I’ve had Karen Lord on the list of authors to revisit for a few… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Neom will be released on November 9, 2022. Lavie Tidhar is a name that has popped up several times in my short fiction reading—I’ve read a few of his stories, and I have a… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Neom by Lavie Tidhar
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Into the Riverlands will be released on October 25, 2022. Despite a decent amount of hype, I only read Nghi Vo’s The Empress of Salt and Fortune when it showed up on the Hugo ballot… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
I got started with Hugo voting a couple years after perennial nominee Seanan McGuire broke through with a Best Novella win for Every Heart a Doorway, so I haven’t read the entire Wayward Children series of portal fantasy novellas, but last year’s nomination of Come Tumbling Down and its associated backstory for me two-thirds of… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
In about a month, I’ve gone from never having read anything by Becky Chambers to having read two novels and a novella. While neither of the other two hit the five-star threshold, I could see clear progression as a writer from her debut to her Best Novella finalist. And so I was looking forward to… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
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
After whittling our initial 30-book allotment down to three, my SPSFC team has received six more semifinalists from other judging teams. Our scores of these six new books, along with our original three semifinalists, will combine with with 81 other scores (nine each from nine teams) to determine the SPSFC finalists. Each of the six… Continue reading SPSFC Semifinalist Review: Dog Country by Malcolm F. Cross
