Review: The Queen’s Price by Anne Bishop

Jan 122023
 

Library Journal: In the aftermath of the troubles from the previous book, The Queen’s Weapons, three young women must make decisions which will affect not only themselves, but those around them, as Witch provides them with guidance. Queen-in-training Zoey may now be safe within the walls of SaDiablo Hall, but she is still vulnerable to those with sharp tongues and dark thoughts. When a stranger arrives at the hall looking for sanctuary, Zoey’s attempts at friendship could put everyone around her in danger. Meanwhile, Jillian is preparing for her rite of passage that ensures she’ll keep her witch power and the jewels she wears, but a heart secret means facing her powerful family members and their lethally protective natures. Then there’s Saetien, who travels away to discover information, which may finally let her face her own truths as daughter of the High Lord of Hell.

VERDICT A fine continuation of the “Black Jewels” series, keeping the legacy alive with its tangled web of family and power. Bishop’s devoted fans will devour this, while readers of Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews who enjoy high fantasy may want to start this series from the beginning.

Review: Meru by S.B. Divya

Jan 052023
 

Library Journal: This is a thrilling combination of traditional SF space travel and forward-thinking examinations of what “humanity” will mean in the future. With its blend of science fiction and social justice concepts, this will appeal to advanced teen and adult readers alike who enjoy progressive science fiction.

Review: The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Dec 142022
 

Entertainment Weekly: Making their adult fiction debut, Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka, a couple turned writing duo turned husband and wife, have crafted a book about two writing partners, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen, who are themselves in denial about their romantic feelings for each other all while they write about other complicated couples. It’s a meta mind-trip that sets the stage (or the page, rather) for a meditation on writing, the power of prose, and the terrible cost of fear. Few books this year understood so deeply the thrall of books, and the freedom of only revealing one’s truest self in the pages of fiction. The Roughest Draft is an angsty tale of two emotionally blocked writers figuring out how to be honest with each other, but it’s also an ode to the ways in which stories can expose our vulnerabilities if we let them.

Review: Meru by S.B. Divya

Nov 292022
 

Kirkus: The world presented here is rich and complicated, [and] the love story, plus plenty of jaw-dropping space scenes, will reward readers.

Review: Meru by S.B. Divya

Nov 232022
 

Booklist: Divya’s latest (after Machinehood, 2021) is full of twists and turns to keep readers glued to the pages, with rich worldbuilding that will truly invest them in the character’s fates. MERU transcends genres and will appeal to fans of science fiction, philosophy, and fantasy.

Starred Review: Meru by S.B. Divya

Nov 032022
 

Publishers Weekly: Empathy convincingly overcomes anxiety in this thoughtful, inventive, and impressively understated space opera from Divya, [who] filters the immensity of outer space through the lens of close personal relationships, crafting compassionate and responsible characters (whatever their physical forms may be) that will surely win over readers.

Starred Review: Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw

Nov 012022
 

Library Journal: With their collection of 23 stories, previously published across the genre fiction landscape and one original to this volume, Khaw (Nothing but Blackened Teeth) presents a book that is a terrifying joy to read. Many of the entries invoke fairy tales and/or mythologies from all over the world. They are lyrical, brutal, and intensely unsettling and mostly center women—quite often as the monsters. While not long, the stories are immersive, with lush and detailed settings, intriguing characters, and beguiling and beautiful lines. The original tale, “How Selkies Are Made,” and “And in Our Daughters, We Find a Voice” are two water-infused, stellar examples, but every story will dig into the reader, threatening to never let go, especially because each ends perfectly.

VERDICT Khaw’s critical acclaim and popularity are skyrocketing, and this collection showcases exactly why. It allows readers a chance to swim around in their unique brand of intensely unsettling tales, submerging themselves in a larger pool of their beautiful but horrific waters. For fans of the dark speculative stories by Angela Slatter, Nadia Bulkin, and Samanta Schweblin.

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