This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Babel will be released on August 23, 2022. I’m not sure there’s a more anticipated release in my corners of sci-fi/fantasy spaces than R. F. Kuang’s Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Babel by R.F. Kuang
Aliette de Bodard has been all over the sci-fi/fantasy awards lists for the past decade—with three wins each in the Nebula and BSFA Awards and nine Hugo nominations by my count—but for whatever reason, I’d been yet to find any of her work that really stuck with me. But this year’s Hugo voting has given… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Into the Broken Lands will be released on August 23, 2022. Tanya Huff is an author I’ve heard a lot about from her work in subgenres I don’t often read. So when the… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Into the Broken Lands by Tanya Huff
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
Catherynne M. Valente is not an author I’d read much before this year, but with Hugo nominations in three different fiction categories, this year is quickly changing that. The only one of those three that will warrant its own post—I usually roll up shorter work into my monthly round-ups—is the Best Novella Finalist The Past… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
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
Dog Country came into the Semifinals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) with the highest first-round score of any book in the competition. Though it promised quite a bit more war than I usually prefer in my fiction, the focus on psychological trauma and the glowing first round reviews had me especially excited to… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Dog Country by Malcolm F. Cross
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
I’ve had some fantastic success lately with Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novellas, so I figured it’d be worth my while to go back to the well with One Day All This Will Be Yours, which came out last spring accompanied by a rash of glowing reviews in my circles. Unsurprisingly, this one was yet another win. One… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
