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.
Jul 142021
July 14, 2021
Jul 092021
Tor: Engrossing, horrifying, and vivid, Kerstin Hall’s debut novel Star Eater is a hard one to talk about. This is in part simply because there’s so much there there—so much inventive worldbuilding, so much carefully structured power, so many things I want to exclaim over.
Star Eater is a magical consideration of what it means to destroy a power structure. It’s an intimate, gripping exploration of what people are willing to do to maintain the systems that they believe maintain the world; it’s also a story that asks what doors might be opened if we could truly envision a world unlike the one we live in now.. Hall mixes her unique worldbuilding with familiar tropes—the chosen one, the love triangle(ish), the conspiracy, the mentor figures, the loss of a mother—and the combination creates a book that feels both familiar and unnervingly strange.
July 9, 2021
Jul 082021
Library Journal: The universe is controlled by the Conversation, a hive of AI minds who refuse to let what’s left of humanity take it back. The planet of Dimmuborgir is mostly legend, hiding a secret superweapon that will make whoever controls it supremely powerful. The Dirty Dozen, a diverse mercenary group, was once feared throughout the universe, but 40 years ago their last mission ended in a tragedy that still binds them together, yet apart. Now Rita and Maya are bringing the Dozen back together—kicking, screaming, dying, reviving—for one last mission: to find the secret of Dimmuborgir before the sentient spaceships do. They also need to recover one of their own who’d been thought dead. But when you’re made of clone tissue, uploaded sequences, and modified tech, can you ever die? Filled with emotional trauma, some body horror, and abusive relationships, this can be a difficult read. Yet it’s enthralling too, as it mashes and blurs the lines separating human from machine; the commanding prose brings to mind Tamsyn Muir’s “Locked Tomb” trilogy. VERDICT Khaw’s (Hammers on Bone) first full-length novel is a sensory deluge of language and action that will sweep readers away in a flood of joyful, violent abandon.
July 8, 2021
Jun 292021
Kirkus: When magic and illusion collide, anything is possible.
Sixteen-year-old Jack, magician’s assistant and pickpocket, is ready to steal the show—and anything else he can get his hands on—when the Enchantress, aka Evangeline Dubois, magician, con artist, and his guardian, sets her eyes on the 1909 Seattle World’s Fair. At the same time, 16-year-old Wilhelm, a boy with the ability to magically transport himself and others, is forced to perform there by Teddy, his abusive captor. Teddy has plans to use Wil’s gifts to pull off the ultimate heist, and his desire for notoriety results in a plan in which the two masquerade as a magician and his assistant, causing Jack’s and Wil’s worlds to collide. With the help of street-smart dancer Ruth and clever Jessamy, the boys examine the abuses they suffer and work to build a stable life together. Like all good magic acts, the novel will keep readers on the edges of their seats as they follow the twists and double-crosses that fill the lives of con artists and magicians. The book flawlessly combines magic and suspense in a well-crafted heist story that’s sweetly sprinkled with queer romances. A final unanswered question hints at a sequel and will have readers shouting for an encore. Ruth is Black; all other main characters are White. Jack, Wil, Ruth, and Jessamy are openly queer.
A delight.
June 29, 2021
Jun 282021
Publishers Weekly: In gorgeous prose, Mohamed (Beneath the Rising) conjures a post–climate apocalypse future in which “the chain of knowledge and study” has broken and humanity “live[s] in the scattered links that remain.” With few resources left, survival hinges on collective collaboration. So when 19-year-old Reid receives an acceptance letter from a college many believe to be a myth, she’s equally elated and guilt-ridden: how can she leave her community and ailing mother for a place that may not even be real? Complicating her decision is the Cad, a “semi-sapient” fungal parasite that lives beneath her skin. It lies dormant for years before “going off,” and there’s no cure for it and no guarantee as to how it will affect those infected. As Reid argues with her mother about her future and navigates her changing relationship with her best friend, she begins to fear that the Cad is controlling her actions. Mohamed grounds her complex, chilling vision of the future in accessible human drama, keeping a tight focus on Reid’s difficult decision and the tension it creates in her relationships. It’s an impressive feat of worldbuilding made stronger by the sensitive, nuanced characters and urgent questions about what people owe to each other. This packs a punch.
June 28, 2021
Jun 182021
Publishers Weekly: Picking up from 2020’s American Demon, Harrison’s 15th The Hollows urban fantasy pits her enduring heroine against a new fearsome foe while still delivering the soap operatic supernatural machinations fans expect. The struggle for control of Cincinnati heats up when master vampire Constance Corson makes it clear that the city isn’t big enough for both her and witch-born demon Rachel Morgan. To protect her friends and save her home, Rachel must fight back with every spell, charm, and ally at her disposal. It won’t be easy: she’s on the outs with her demon mentor, Al; on the verge of homelessness thanks to Constance’s machinations; and her lover, Trent Kalamack, is out of town. While he’s away, Rachel must resist the deadly allure of Pike, her vampiric foil who walks the line between reluctant ally and uneasy enemy. Meanwhile, she’s wrapped up in the intrigues of myriad supernatural factions, caught between friendship and obligation—and if she succeeds in ousting Constance, she may need to accept a level of power and responsibility she’s never wanted. This entry relies on the substantial worldbuilding of the previous novels, which will satisfy existing fans but may leave new readers struggling to catch up. For dedicated readers, however, this proves a rousing addition to the series.
June 18, 2021
Jun 172021
Publishers Weekly: Moody and atmospheric, this dystopian novella from Mohamed (A Broken Darkness) skillfully turns a murder mystery into a scathing examination of what life might be like in even later stage capitalism. Narrator Jewel and the other courtesans of the House of Bicchieri, an elite brothel, are holding a secret wake for one of their number, Winfield, in the abandoned church that is their place of worship, when Winfield suddenly comes back to life. The undead Winfield recalls being murdered—a fact the owners of the House covered up—and seeks revenge for her death and all the other injuries and injustices meted out to her fellow courtesans by the House’s über-wealthy clientele. Jewel hungers for revenge herself, but is kept in such purposeful and permanent precarity that she can’t act out. Then the owners profane the courtesans’ church, and Jewel must make a choice between protecting Winfield’s plans or her place in the House of Bicchieri. The lush prose, rife with classical allusions, captivates, echoing the brothel’s penchant for containing horrors but covering them up in a wealth of gilded detail. Mohamed’s fans won’t want to miss the mesmerizing lyricality of her latest.
June 17, 2021
Jun 102021
Library Journal: Lex has been traveling the world since graduating college. She’ll go anywhere but home: Memphis, TN. Rather than facing her mother’s unsettling death, she immerses herself in words, creating a lexicon of her own lived experience. Yet after a heartbreak and with help from her godmother Cami, Lex returns to Memphis for what she assumes will be a short visit. Instead, Cami gives Lex the opportunity to learn her mother’s life story. Through her mother’s own words in diary entries from before Lex was born, this daughter begins to question who she is and how many ways there are to define family. A quick and intimate read, Cook’s second novel (after How To Bury Your Brother) embraces the classic story of a daughter realizing that within her mother was a woman she never knew, who was as spirited and strong-willed as Lex herself. Though the plot is predictable, this isn’t frustrating. The familiarity and assurance that you know what’s coming is rewarding and endears the characters to the reader. VERDICT Readers of Southern and women’s fiction will become deeply immersed in this mother-daughter narrative.
June 10, 2021
Jun 092021
Library Journal: Constance Corson, the new subrosa, or master vampire, of present-day Cincinnati, has finally arrived, and she’s ready to take out protagonist Rachel Morgan. As Rachel looks for a new home in the Hollows, she learns that many Inderlander vampires are being forced from their homes so that Constance and her group can move in. Unable to ignore the problem, Rachel starts bringing the evicted Inderlanders into a partially destroyed church for temporary residence. Everywhere she turns, Rachel finds that Constance is bullying her friends, cutting off supplies, and terrorizing everyone in her way. To stop Constance, Rachel might need to usurp her role as Cincinnati’s subrosa—and take control of the city—which is more than Rachel believes she can handle. With the return of long-standing characters and the addition of some new faces, Harrison’s new entry in the series reveals Rachel to be a flawed but tenacious person who puts personal ties before power. VERDICT Rachel Morgan comes back strong in her 15th outing (after American Demon), as she takes on a new master vampire and finds herself dealing with emotional turmoil and high-stakes action in equal measures.
June 9, 2021
Jun 082021
Booklist: Sharpson’s debut novel takes place in the 2200s in the Caspian Republic, a totalitarian state that is in theory a safe haven from “the Machine,” inhabitants’ term for the rest of the world and its utopian society administered by and populated with sentient AI. The narrative follows Nikolai South, an operative for StaSec, one of the two security forces in charge of maintaining the status quo in the Republic. When a prominent, rabidly anti-Machine journalist dies and is revealed to have been an AI living in a clone body, South is assigned to look after the AI widow of the deceased as she comes to view her husband’s remains. He is thrown into a whirlpool of intrigue as various factions conspire to use the widow’s visit for their own ends, and is simultaneously dragged back into his own muddled past by the widow’s resemblance to his own dead wife. Well-written and suitably grim, this picture of one dystopian holdout in a utopian world should please many sf readers interested in visions of a post-AI future.
June 8, 2021