Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells

Oct 132023
 

Locus: The seventh of Martha Wells’s Murderbot long-form stories, System Collapse is a novel-length sequel to Network Effect, picking up within days of that novel’s conclusion. Murderbot fans are unlikely to be disappointed here: Wells is on form with the series’ trademark black humour, razor-sharp tension, Murderbot’s all-too-relatable interpersonal interactions, action, and high stakes.

But despite its action-adventure bones, System Collapse is a more low-key, introspective novel than many of the Murderbot stories have been so far. As is usual for Martha Wells’ work, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you haven’t read the Murderbot stories, I don’t advise starting here. But I do advise starting them: if you enjoy them, you’ll enjoy this one too.

Review: The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Oct 122023
 

Booklist: In their third adult contemporary romance, following Never Vacation with Your Ex (2023), married writing duo Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka explore the relationship between a famous pop star and the man who inspired her greatest hit. Riley Wynn has finally attained mainstream success with her newest album and its lead single, but everyone thinks the song is about her famous ex-husband. Determined to reclaim the narrative, she asks her ex-college-boyfriend, Max Harcourt, to go public as its real inspiration. Max agrees only if he can come on tour with her band, and soon he and Riley realize there may be more than break-up songs in their future. Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka prove they are masters of the second-chance romance, getting the essentials just right—lingering chemistry, intense longing, and two people who have regrets about the past and one more chance to make it right. Max and Riley are believable as both romantic leads and fully formed characters with conflicting desires, and readers will laugh and swoon as they find their way back to each other through music.

Review: A Second Chance for Yesterday by R.A. Sinn

Oct 112023
 

Locus: 

“provocative, assured, compelling debut novel”

“The romance that develops between Myx and Nev is indicative of the nicely divided dual priorities by which Sinn contours the book. Not only is the techno-riddle given full prominence, but so is Nev’s whole familial and adult backstory. She ends up on a path to solve not only the Glitch, but also all the little glitches in her life. The knockout ending knots off both threads nicely.”

“As with so much classic SF, that’s the glory of this suspenseful, fast-moving tale: the ratiocinative human mind pitted against the existential whirlpool of the cosmos.”

Review: It Takes Monsters by Mandy McHugh

Oct 102023
 

Booklist: McHugh’s dark, disturbing, and twisty sophomore thriller (after Chloe Cates Is Missing, 2022) features rich and privileged characters that readers will love to hate. When Victoria Tate’s husband, Warren, steals her family’s company out from under her and begins to control her life, she decides she is done with him. This time, he has gone too far, and she will not be told what to do. Victoria plans the perfect murder, but someone knows her intentions and beats her to it. After Warren’s gruesome death, Victoria becomes the focus of an investigation into a crime of which she is innocent. Taunted by cryptic texts from someone named X, Victoria must figure out who set her up before she loses everything. As a true-crime aficionado, she relies on her vast knowledge and attempts to solve the mystery herself. McHugh’s biting sarcasm and witty humor take center stage in this fast-paced domestic-suspense story full of secrets, lies, and betrayals.

Review: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher

Oct 052023
 

Library Journal: The Spires have kept humanity safe from the dangers of the surface of the world, but now war looms between Spires Albion and Aurora, as other Spires must begin to choose sides to ensure their survival. A trade summit at Spire Olympia is the opportunity for Lord Albion, the Spirearch, to secure the alliances needed to hold off Aurora, and he sends Captain Grimm and his airship, the AMS Predator, to support the diplomatic mission. When Aurora’s Armada reveals a secret weapon that can destroy entire Spires, it will take diplomacy, duels, and incredible skill to align the Spires with Albion—if it is not already too late. Multiple points of view from established and new characters widen the worldbuilding. With eight years between books, fans will enjoy reconnecting with the characters through a reread of the first book, yet new readers can also read this as a stand-alone. VERDICT Butcher’s long-awaited sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass is an exciting epic fantasy, set in the sky and filled with airships, magic, and the connections of blood and found family.

Review: The Breakup Tour by Emily & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Oct 042023
 

Library Journal: Riley Winn is one of the biggest names in music after her breakup album becomes an instant hit. The world thinks the lead single from the album is about her ex-husband, but it is actually about her college flame, Max Harcourt, whom she hasn’t seen in a decade. Riley decides to reclaim the narrative by asking Max if he will play in her tour band. Max loves music, but he decided to give up his dream of playing professionally to take over his family’s business. While he is happy enough with his decision, he sees the opportunity to perform with Riley as a chance to prove to himself that he made the correct decision to let go of his musical aspirations, and of her. Riley and Max have to work out the awkwardness of playing together again, but as they find their rhythm, they realize that the spark is still there—along with another chance for a future together. VERDICT Fans of Taylor Swift and author Bridget Morrissey will especially enjoy this emotional second-chance romance from married writing duo Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka (Do I Know You?).

Review: The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Sep 202023
 

Locus:  Stepping into The Salt Grows Heavy is like stepping into someone else’s fever dream. This strange, dark, violent, lyrical novella contains some of Khaw’s most brilliant, elegant, haunt­ing writing: ‘‘For all that humanity professes to delighting in its own sophistication, it longs for simplicity, for when the world can be deboned into binaries: darkness and light, death and life, hunter and hunted.’’ The use of language is im­maculate, but that doesn’t detract from the great pacing. The prose is lyrical and flows like water from a broken vase, but that doesn’t diminish the impact of the gore, murders, and scenes of surgery and self-mutilation. The taiga’s cold is brutal, and the small village is a bare-bones place where life seems to barely hold on, but the wealth of details Khaw injected into the narrative rivals that of any 400-page novel. In short, this is a novella that feels much larger than its word count and shows a very talented storyteller at the height of their powers.

Review: Warriorborn by Jim Butcher

Sep 182023
 

Kirkus: A novella set in the Cinder Spires fantasy universe sees its protagonist caught up in a potentially deadly mission.

Humanity survives in the Spire-cities that tower well above the deadly surface of a steampunk world. Newly minted lieutenant of the Spirearch of Albion’s Guard and warriorborn (denoting a catlike species of humanoids with “enhanced senses and speed”) Sir Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster is called upon by the ruling Spirearch, Lord Albion himself, to go on a secret, undercover mission. He is to take the airship Predator to Colony Dependence, a backwater Spire, on an assignment to retrieve a bag that may or may not contain important intelligence information regarding a looming war with their enemies. Joining him on his mission are three notoriously uncooperative warriorborn, convicted felons who had been captured and put in jail by Benedict and have now been promised their freedom on the condition Benedict survives and successfully returns home. As the ragtag team’s journey proceeds, they investigate the mystery of the inexplicably abandoned Dependence while facing danger and death. While readers familiar with the series will have a better understanding of the ins and outs of the Cinder Spires world, this is mostly a stand-alone story that, despite its brevity, packs a lot of punch in an engaging, fast-paced read with well-defined characters, including Benedict, a reluctant yet fierce hero. But the real standout is one of the secondary characters who follow Benedict into the fray: the warriorborn vigilante serial killer Lady Herringford, who becomes his de-facto second-in-command: “She’d identified his biggest problem and was now attacking it as effectively as an excellent subordinate officer. Evidently, when Matilda Herringford gave her word, she meant it.” Add Steampunk vibes, terrifying monsters, charming talking cats, and an open ending that tantalizes readers into reading the series—this is a recipe for success.

A delectable slice of SF adventure.

Review: Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher

Sep 132023
 

Publishers Weekly: Grimshaw Griswold Grimsby returns as the newest—and least magically skilled—Auditor for the Department of Unorthodox Affairs in Butcher’s dynamic urban fantasy sequel to Dead Man’s Hand. Grimsby’s partner, Leslie Mayflower, aka “the Hunstman,” has been AWOL for weeks, limiting Grimsby to routine drudge work—until he swaps out his latest assignment for a RUIN case assigned to his newly distant colleague Auditor Rayne Bathory. Grimsby isn’t ready to investigate the “ritual of unknown intent and nature” alone, so he tracks down Mayflower, who, recognizing something from his past in the ritual’s details, reluctantly agrees to help investigate. Meanwhile, Bathory, who is still searching for her ex-partner, Hives, receives unexpected help from the New York office’s Agent Defaux, who offers to provide some ritual assistance. Complicating things further, the creature Wudge, whom Grimsby rescued in the previous volume, now needs his help to recover an item from the Elsewhere. Functional magic or no, “half-witch” Grimsby stubbornly forges ahead in his mission to save others, making up in heart what he lacks in talent. The message that determination trumps ability will please fantasy readers who love to cheer for the little guy. Butcher proves that this series has legs.

Starred Review: Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling

Sep 072023
 

Kirkus: An ambitious scientist loses herself in her work—literally.

The government and citizens of San Siroco, California, believe Myrica Dynamics privatized the city’s crumbling subway system for the public good. In truth, Myrica did so to conceal Dr. Tamsin Rivers’ quest to develop a new communications protocol involving technological mirrors mounted in subterranean geodesic domes. Success means Tamsin will “revolutionize the world” and be recognized as a genius, but while early results look promising, there’s a problem. Since testing commenced, the city has been sinking three millimeters each week. More perplexingly, Tamsin’s basement has been sinking three centimeters each week—but unlike the rest of San Siroco, “not in a way that impacts the structural integrity of her home.” Tamsin hasn’t yet told anyone about her basement; nobody can definitively link the city’s subsidence with her research, and she doesn’t want Myrica to draw premature conclusions and shut things down. Tamsin begins working from home, hoping the cellar can provide answers; instead, a door appears from which a Tamsin doppelgänger emerges. At first Tamsin’s double, “Prime,” seems sweet and accommodating, but as Tamsin starts losing both time and memories and Prime becomes more assertive, Tamsin regrets her secretive tendencies. Part existential horror, part speculative fiction, and part paranoia tale, Starling’s latest thrills and chills while exploring the contextual nature of identity and the concept of personhood. Diabolical plotting, relentless pacing, and ascetic worldbuilding function in tandem with Starling’s staccato present-tense narration to maximize tension and drive.

At once visceral and introspective.

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