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Review: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Dec 162020
 

NPR: Elatsoe – Ellie to her friends – is an asexual Lipan Apache girl who can raise the ghosts of dead animals, in a world where fairies and vampires are acknowledged members of American society. When she’s visited in a dream by a cousin telling her he’s been murdered, she and her parents resolve to support his widow and child through their mourning – as well as solve the mystery of his murder and bring his killer to justice. Warm and spooky, charming and devastating by turns, Elatsoe brims over with love and deep grief, held in the stronger arms of family and community.

Review: Machinehood by S.B. Divya

Dec 152020
 

Kirkus: Divya has created a richly imagined and eerily familiar world…confronting urgent questions about humans’ place in a society increasingly run by AIs. Intriguing worldbuilding plus a fast-paced plot…

Starred Review: Machinehood by S.B. Divya

Dec 082020
 

Publishers Weekly: This stunning near-future thriller from Divya (Runtime) tackles issues of economic inequality, workers’ rights, privacy, and the nature of intelligence…. Divya keeps the pace rapid, and her crack worldbuilding and vivid characters make for a memorable, page-turning adventure, while the thematic inquiries into human and AI labor rights offer plenty to chew on for fans of big idea sci-fi. Readers will be blown away.

Review: Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt

Dec 012020
 

Publishers Weekly: With characteristic verve, Koboldt contrasts the playful adventure plot with the eerily dystopian setting and a searing examination of corporate greed and ambition. Fans of inventive speculative fiction are sure to be pleased.

Review: Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Nov 202020
 

Popular Science Books: Elizabeth Bear is one of the best SF writers currently active, and Machine does not disappoint. As Bear makes clear in her acknowledgements, this novel, set in her ‘White Space’ universe, owes a debt to the Irish author James White’s classic Sector General stories, which were a breath of fresh air in the 1960s.

In her White Space universe, Bear has what is surely one of the best successors to Iain M Banks’ Culture universe setting, whether it’s in the sophisticated culture, the AI-as-people or the quaintly-named ships. Throw in a relic wreck of a generation ship, located where it never should have reached, a host of corpsicles, a strange AI entity and unexpected systems failures and we get a satisfyingly rich and interesting plot. The ideas come thick and fast, and Bear deploys fun future technology with aplomb.

…A good addition to what I hope will be a long-continued universe.

Review: A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson

Nov 182020
 

Publishers Weekly: Hutchinson skillfully balances high-stakes action and mind-bending plot twists with humor and profundity. The result is a wildly ambitious, wackily imaginative tale that will leave readers craving a sequel.

Starred Review: The Conductors by Nicole Glover

Nov 162020
 

Publishers Weekly: Inventively mixing mystery, magic, and alternate history, Glover’s nail-biting debut takes readers to Reconstruction era Philadelphia. Henrietta “Hetty” and Benjamin “Benjy” Rhodes—both adept at sigil magic that draws on the constellations—are famed conductors for the Vigilance Society, which shepherded enslaved Black people to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Stories of their trips into the South are legendary in their Philadelphia community even a decade after the Civil War. Now, Hetty and Benjy use their magical and analytical skills as detectives, dealing with missing person cases, murders, and other crimes the white police force chooses to overlook. But when one of their friends turns up dead and their suspicions fall close to home, they’ll need to work out who in their community is not who they say they are. The pace is relaxed but the tension steadily builds as Glover weaves each detail into a satisfying mystery. Frequent flashbacks to Hetty and Benjy’s thrilling exploits as conductors on the Underground Railroad reveal how Hetty’s tough choices during the Civil War led to her life today. Readers will be surprised but gratified by an ending that shows just how past actions inform the present in unexpected ways. Glover is a writer to watch.

Starred Review: A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson

Nov 122020
 

Booklist: Settle in for a thrilling, funny, and moving ride…. The vulnerable, empathetic characters are full of personality and ground the high-concept premise with relatable issues.

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