Tor.com: Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater is a stunner of a novel. As debuts go, it’s up there with Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Dead, A.K. Larkwood’s The Unspoken Name, and Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire, and—to me, at least—a little reminiscent of all three. Hall’s prose is precise and striking, her characters compelling, and her narrative—well, damn. Damn. To say nothing of the worldbuilding: the bloody, visceral, deeply embodied queerness of its reified metaphors, the personal and political freight borne by the control and regimentation of the female body and its reproductive and generative potential, flesh consumed to fuel a society built on a fundamental act of theft… there are layers here. This novel has teeth and claws and it’s not afraid to use them—but it’s also a lot of fun, and undergirt with a generous helping of kindness. It’s absolutely fantastic. I can’t recommend it highly enough.Jul 162021
Tor.com: Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater is a stunner of a novel. As debuts go, it’s up there with Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Dead, A.K. Larkwood’s The Unspoken Name, and Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire, and—to me, at least—a little reminiscent of all three. Hall’s prose is precise and striking, her characters compelling, and her narrative—well, damn. Damn. To say nothing of the worldbuilding: the bloody, visceral, deeply embodied queerness of its reified metaphors, the personal and political freight borne by the control and regimentation of the female body and its reproductive and generative potential, flesh consumed to fuel a society built on a fundamental act of theft… there are layers here. This novel has teeth and claws and it’s not afraid to use them—but it’s also a lot of fun, and undergirt with a generous helping of kindness. It’s absolutely fantastic. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Kirkus: It’s nothing short of an adventure fantasy masterwork…. One of the most original fantasy sagas to come along in years; like Tolkien on a bender.
Debut author Mia Tsai’s BITTER MEDICINE, pitched as a xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy about a magical temp agency calligrapher who becomes involved with one of her clients and must embrace her powers in order to battle in a deadly family feud, to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications, with Jaymee Goh editing by Anne Tibbets.
W.A. Simpson’s TINDERBOX, a high fantasy about a Black witch out for revenge, and a kidnapped prince fighting to return home, as they team up against a dark fey sorcerer, to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press by Anne Tibbets.