This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Far from the Light of Heaven will be released on October 26, 2021. Earlier this year, I read my first book from Tade Thompson, the Nommo Award-winning Rosewater (full review). While it didn’t click… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson
Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby drew almost unanimous praise last year in my corners of the sci-fi/fantasy internet, being hailed as a powerful and timely exploration of race in America. Unsurprisingly, it garnered plenty of award consideration, and my journey through the Hugo Award Finalists for Best Novella proved a convenient time to pull it off… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
I’ve heard so many glowing reviews of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in the last year, but given my mixed results with literary-leaning novels, I hadn’t found the excuse to give it a read until its nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. And so I approached with a healthy mix of excitement and trepidation Although… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I picked up Sarah Zettel’s The Quiet Invasion last summer on the recommendation of Janny Wurts. And with under 200 ratings on Goodreads, it may be the most obscure traditionally-published book I’ve read since getting back into sci-fi and fantasy these last few years. It’s also absolutely tremendous, and I heartily recommend it to anyone… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel
Tyler Hayes’ debut has run under the radar, but the few reviews I’ve seen have been glowing, and the concept of The Imaginary Corpse was eye-catching enough to immediately put this one on my list. The Imaginary Corpse takes place in the Stillreal, where figments of imagination go when they are too real to disappear… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
Back in March, a blogger friend advised me to read Sarah Gailey’s STET, which immediately became one of the best short stories I’d ever read. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for an excuse to read more of their work, and while a queerphobic dystopia styled after the Old West probably wouldn’t have been my… Continue reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
After reading and loving A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, I resolved to read more of T. Kingfisher (an alias of Ursula Vernon), a remarkably versatile writer with acclaimed children’s books, horror novels, fantasy romances, and fairy tale retellings. The Hollow Places may mark the first time I’ve ever read a novel primarily marketed as… Continue reading Fantasy/Horror Novel Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
The Vanished Birds is another book that I didn’t know much about before award nominations came out, but Simon Jimenez was nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer on the strength of this debut, so I thought it was well worth a shot. Before starting, I had heard that The Vanished Birds was… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Nominations for both Hugo and Nebula Awards certainly put Finna on my radar, but I knew next-to nothing about Nino Cipri’s debut novella before reading it—in fact, I mistakenly thought that the title was a reference to the African American slang for “going to” (by way of the Southern US idiom “fixing to”) rather than… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Finna by Nino Cipri
Maggie Stiefvater has a pair of series that have made her a name in YA fantasy, but in my circles, I’ve heard as much or more about her 2011 stand-alone featuring high-stakes races on the backs of murderous water horses. And with the two first-person narrators fitting perfectly into one of the trickiest of bingo… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
