Toronto Star: The Machine Awakes is the second installment in Adam Christopher’s Spider Wars trilogy, telling a stand-alone story set in the same universe as last year’s The Burning Dark.
As things begin it seems something’s stirring on the moons of Jupiter, and it’s not those pesky Spiders again. Meanwhile, things aren’t going well on Earth either, as the Fleet Admiral has just been assassinated after being overthrown in a coup. But which of the many conspiracies out there is responsible?
It’s up to the Fleet Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of all this, and Special Agent Von Kodiak is the man for the job. Expect a really entertaining space opera with all the fixings from a young writer who is hitting his stride.
Boston Globe: This novel, the fourth in the Stevens and Windermere series, is a police procedural with the pulse of a thriller, 
Library Journal: When she doesn’t hear from her friend Blake for months, Liz Drake travels with her roommate Alex to Vancouver where Blake had been living with a circle of artists that included his boyfriend Alain. She finds that Blake is in a coma, Alain is dead, and the artists, especially gallery owner Ranier, are keeping secrets. And Liz has been dreaming of Blake, trapped under water, visions that also reveal a secret world and a yellow king. VERDICT This unusual blend of urban fantasy and trippy horror is particularly notable for its lovely descriptions by Downum, author of “The Necromancer Chronicles” (last seen in 2012’s Kingdoms of Dust). She keeps the horrors slipping in and out of shadowsmore menacing for being only half seen. Allusions to H.P. Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers, and Ambrose Bierce are combined with modern city streets, addictive psychotropic drugs, and a stubborn heroine determined to save a friend.
Library Journal: A tropical setting on a slave plantation adds interest to the world Kowal has made in which magic called Glamour is real and manipulated by those with special skills. Jane and David should be enjoying the happiest time in their marriage when they discover she is pregnant, but they must endure the fraught situation with Vincent’s father and the many troubles they find on his estate. Through it all, Kowal paints a lovely picture of a couple who truly complement and support each other, capping off a terrific series.
Locus: Vermilion: mingling the Western past of mining towns and migrant Chinese railroad workers with fully sentient bears and sea lions who deal with us as they ply their trades – and no one blinks an eye. Many genres meet in this first ‘‘Adventure of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp’’. Lou is described as ‘‘a gunslinging, chain smoking, cross-dressing Taoist… who keeps San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades, and geung si’’ (entities feared in Chinatown), and her profession has aspects of exorcist, alchemist, and private detective. As Tanzer puts it, psychompompery demands ‘‘intense concentration, physical stamina, and quick reflexes.’’
School Library Journal: VERDICT An excellent book with loads of cross-genre and cross-format appeal. Highly recommended. May and Libby created Princess X on the day they met in fifth grade. That was before Libby and her mother died in a car crash. Now May is 16 and looking at another long, lonely summer in Seattle when she spots a Princess X sticker on the corner of a store window. Suddenly she starts seeing Princess X everywhere, including in a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com, where the princess story is eerily similar to Libby’s. This means that the only person who could have created the comic is May’s best friend – Libby – who must still be alive. In her YA debut, Priest offers a tantalizing, page-turner of a mystery that spans real locations in Seattle and dark pockets of the Internet. May is an assertive, capable heroine who finds help from likable and well-realized characters along the way in this fresh and authentic story. Even when the action moves online, Priest keeps the story exciting and approachable without ever resorting to technical jargon. Accompanying illustrations by Ciesemier bring the story found in the webcomic to life and integrate beautifully with May’s search for Libby in this utterly satisfying read.
Publishers Weekly: In Lee and Miller’s sprawling and satisfying 18th Liaden Universe novel (after Trade Secret), the spacefaring Clan Korval settles into its new home on the crime-ridden planet of Surebleak after being exiled from Liad. The pilots, traders, and rogues of Korval approach a wide variety of problems with calm determination and cunning resourcefulness, imposing their rules and customs on the natives of Surebleak while countering the corrupt Liaden Department of the Interior and its brainwashed agents. Lee and Miller juggle numerous plot lines (which interweave with previous entries in complicated ways) and introduce a new problem for every one that’s solved.