Dec 012017
 

Cover of The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer.RT Reviews: If earlier installments of this engrossing, heady political SF epic were thrilling in some small part because it seemed near impossible for Palmer to keep such a volatile mix compelling as she went forward, by the time of this third book of four, it is increasingly clear that we are in the hands of a new master of the genre.

As events bring this future (too flawed to be utopia, too promising to be dystopia) to the brink of possible disaster and ruin, the narrative is just as meaty and satisfying as before, the narrative voices just as cleverly chosen and implemented, the turns just as surprising and logical, the characters just as vivid and complex.

There’s a resonance and richness to the Terra Ignota series that is like almost nothing else being written today, and the finale ought to be a thing of wonder.

 December 1, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 272017
 

Cover of The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden.Kirkus: Nicky Drayden’s debut novel The Prey of Gods is a surprising cornucopia of genres and characters taking place in a futurist South Africa and with seemingly disparate, multi-layered storylines that slowly progress toward each other­–just as the characters do. It’s a little bit surreal, a little bit weird, a lot of fun and wholly impressive.

In a world that is constantly bombarding me with evil and awful news, reading something so queer, so beautiful, so hopeful, so cool­–well, do you wonder why I wanted more?

 November 27, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 222017
 

Cover for Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit.B&N SFF Blog: This is one of those books that can’t be adequately described; better to silently hand it to someone and nod sagely, implying with your expression that this is the book that will change everything.

Describing the universe Lee creates here isn’t easy, but here’s a go at it: it’s a consensus reality, shaped by the shared and very rigid belief of the inhabitants, belief is controlled by numbers, equations, and other mathematical processes. Reality itself is therefore governed by an accepted application of formula ­but what happens if there’s a rebellion of thought? In our own world, cutting-edge math and physics are merely disturbing. In Lee’s, they upset the very fabric of reality.

 November 22, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 202017
 

Cover of Dread Nation by Justina Ireland.Booklist: Ireland delivers a necessary, subversive, and explosive novel with her fantasy-laced alternate history. America is changed forever when the dead begin to prowl battlefields during the Civil War.

A smart, poignant, thrilling novel that does the all-important work of exploring topics of oppression, racism, and slavery while simultaneously accomplishing so much more. From page one, Jane is a capable, strong heroine maneuvering through a world that is brilliant and gut-wrenching.

Dread Nation will take readers on a breathless ride from beginning to end.

 November 20, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 152017
 

Cover photo of Look For Her by Emily Winslow.Kirkus: Annalise Williams, 24, is obsessed with an unsolved crime: the disappearance and presumed murder years earlier of a 16-year-old girl with the same first name: Annalise Wood—”the kind of girl you look at and think, of course someone would want to take her.”

An intriguing, suspenseful, and briskly paced story with complex characters, evocative descriptions of England’s Cambridgeshire, plenty of clever misdirection, and a satisfying ending.

 November 15, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 102017
 

Cover of The Stone in The Skull by Elizabeth Bear.Locus Magazine: With Elizabeth Bear’s previous novels in the same world: the Eternal Sky trilogy of Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, and Steles of the Sky. That trilogy is one of the best – most deeply thought, carefully structured, and elegantly finished – epic fantasies of the last decades.

Bear’s worldbuilding is, as ever, a richly detailed delight, rendered tangible in cut-glass prose. The precision and care with which she employs language make the landscapes through which her characters move come powerfully to life – and gives those characters, too, powerful presence and compelling life.

It’s an enormously rich and textured novel, magnificently compelling – and really easy to read. Despite its sprawling, epic canvas, its pace is tight, and Bear cuts between plotlines with an adroit eye for tension. The Stone in the Skull is an astonishing delight of a book.

 November 10, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 092017
 

Cover of The New Annotated Frankenstein edited by Leslie S. Klinger.Washington Post: With over 200 color and black-and-white illustrations, six appendixes and nearly 1,000 annotations, this edition of “Frankenstein” is a cornucopia of background information … Klinger’s edition allows readers to understand the complexities of the novel as well as the difficulties endured by its author. Only then can one be truly inspired by Mary Shelley’s genius and her bravery.

 November 9, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 082017
 

Cover of It Should Have Been You by Lynn Slaughter.Publishers Weekly: This solid mystery from Slaughter (While I Danced) opens with the murder of Clara Seibert’s twin sister, Moura, a piano prodigy. Clara’s voice and internal conflict feel authentic, and the contentious relationship between the sisters is equally believable.

Fans of the genre will find much to enjoy in this thriller.

 November 8, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 072017
 

Cover of Windhome by Kristin Landon.Publishers Weekly: After an eight-year hiatus, Landon (The Dark Reaches) returns with a complex fourth novel that combines dystopian and first-contact themes. Vika Jai, a young female xenobiologist, wakes from 40 years of cryogenic sleep to a ravaged ship and crew. Only three humans survive to make landfall on Shothef Erau, an inhabited planet known to have been bombed by an alien force.

This is a quiet, tense book, saturated with dread. Vika, barely out of adolescence, is convincingly depicted as maturing just a hair too slowly in an environment with little room for error.

 November 7, 2017  Tagged with: ,
Nov 032017
 

Cover of The Stone in The Skull by Elizabeth Bear.Tor.com: I want to rave about Elizabeth Bear’s The Stone in the Skull. Actually, it feels like I need to rave about it: a glorious, dramatic, lush and striking fantasy set in the same continuity as the Eternal Sky trilogy (Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, and The Steles of the Sky), with a brilliant cast of characters and an opening that involves an ice wyrm attacking a caravan on its way up a frozen river. It’s no exaggeration to say I was hooked from the first page.

Add that to Bear’s amazing worldbuilding, gloriously precise prose, and excellent pacing. And a wonderfully human, humane approach to relationships. The Stone in the Skull is not exactly warm and fuzzy fantasy, but it rejects grimness  and spits in the eye of pragmatism as the major criterion of human relationships. It may not take place in a kind world, but its characters move through their world with compassion. It’s hopeful without being naive. And I really love it.

 November 3, 2017  Tagged with: ,