Kirkus: There’s a lived-in sensibility to much of this novel that makes the horrific elements stand out even more, and Marino has a good eye for genuinely disturbing imagery…. this novel hums with a terrifying momentum…. A memorably visceral take on art, family, and power.
Locus: …if you’re not already a fan, this is not the place to start. Go directly to Gideon the Ninth. If you love it, read Harrow the Ninth, and then read this. If you don’t love it, Nona the Ninth is not for you. Also, we can’t be friends. (Actually, let me dial that back – for all I know this is a valid place to start. Given Muir’s astonishing skill, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it turned out the books had […]
Congratulations to our DMLA authors who have been chosen as 2022 Dragon award finalist! Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger Best Horror Novel The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
The New York Times: It’s so rare to love every single book in a trilogy, to admire the aim, precision and storytelling stamina of an author this much. The fatal flaws of trilogies are plentiful: an explosive but overpromising beginning, a sagging middle, an insufficient end; characters whose arcs aren’t sustained; dropped threads, rushed acts. There’s none of that here — just the sense of a careful, experienced hand at the rudder, navigating the story home.
Congratulations to Darcie Little Badger for having her title, A Snake Falls to Earth, shortlisted for the 2022 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction!
Booklist: Marino draws readers in quickly, creating sympathy for the characters, unveiling the necessary details to immerse them in a world of art, siblings, deadly intrigue, and a centuries-long nefarious quest. Dread is present from the start, but it quickly escalates into a disorienting cosmic terror that touches everyone. Booktalk it to readers as The Twisted Ones, by T. Kingfisher (2019) meets Slade House, by David Mitchell (2015) with a touch of Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff (2016).
Library Journal: Nona feels she has a pretty good life: she loves her family, works with alot of people her age, gets to be around a nice dog almost every day, and hopes to celebrate her birthday with a party on the beach. Of course, all of this is overshadowed by the facts that her city—and the entire planet—is under threat of destruction; that the Emperor Undying may be coming; and that Pyrrha, Camilla, and Palamedes may care about her, but […]
Premee Mohamed’s THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST, in which a world-weary woman races against the clock to rescue the children of a wrathful tyrant from a dangerous, otherworldly forest, to Emily Goldman at Tordotcom Publishing, with Jonathan Strahan editing, for publication in 2024, by Michael Curry.
Shelf Awareness: A Taiwanese American teen stumbles through the confusions of choosing a college, interpreting sexual interest from young men and asserting her desires in this refreshingly sex-positive coming-of-age YA novel.
Authors of THE ROUGHEST DRAFT Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s THE BREAK-UP TOUR, pitched as a Taylor Swift-inspired romance about a singer whose breakout album is about all of her ex-boyfriends, including the one from college she never got over, and who is now joining her on tour, to Kristine Swartz at Berkley, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Katie Shea Boutillier.