Kirkus: The story swiftly knots itself into steampunk-ishly surreal complications, with dauntless (and, by this point, love-stricken) Karen in the thick of the action. Supplies all the Bear necessities: strong female characters, existential threats, intriguing developments and a touch of the light fantastic. Steampunk: Something of a new venture for Bear, whose previous output (Steles of the Sky, 2014, etc.) has ranged from heroic fantasy to science fiction, often with an embedded murder mystery. By the late 19th century, airships ply the trade and passenger routes, optimistic miners head in droves for the Alaskan gold fields, and steam-powered robots invented by licensed Mad Scientists do much of the heavy (and sometimes delicate) work. Continue reading »
Nov 242014
November 24, 2014
RT Book Reviews: Most writers would kill (or, okay, maybe just maim) for a debut novel as electrifying as Alex Gordon’s Gideon. 
Kirkus: “The quick turns of the mystery plot make this a speedy and enjoyable read, and Finn’s world is a lively one, packed with all manner of weird and wonderful ghosts and goblins. Genre fans looking for a fix will enjoy the gleefully ghoulish setting and engaging, suspenseful plot.”
Publishers Weekly: This gripping postscript to Priest’s Clockwork Century series (which officially concluded with Fiddlehead) takes readers to the titular Galveston, Tex., haunted hotel, in an alternate 1895 seasoned with ghosts and gears. Father Rios is a former gunslinger cursed with second sight and a dark past. When Sister Eileen contacts him about the dozens who have died in the hotel, he visits ahead of an impending hurricane and soon witnesses the horrors firsthand. The hotel’s guests all have dark secrets, and the violence with which the hotel disposes of them is all the more horrifying as it takes place off-page, leaving only the aftermath for the characters to discover. Priest is hardly covering new ground, but the American steampunk setting gives the classic evil haunted house a nice new coat of paint. Rios is a great protagonist, full of conflicts and doubts, and he drives the tale well. While the story stands on its own, it also provides some melancholy closure for fans of Priest’s earlier books.
Kirkus: Hutchinson remains an author worth watching. A homeless, gay teen finds shelter and hope in the hospital where his family perished. Traumatized by their loss, 17-year-old Drew bides his time working in the kitchen of a suburban hospital. He lives in an abandoned wing and slips in and out of the halls and staff-only areas under the pretense that his grandmother is in a coma. He befriends two teens sick with cancer and finds himself opening up and falling for a gay teen admitted into the emergency room after being set on fire in a hate crime. At the same time Drew pens a gruesome comic strip called “Patient F” to exorcise his own demons and guilt; drawn by Larsen, this effectively communicates his interior turmoil, heightening it to near-grotesque levels over the course of the story. Hutchinson builds believable secondary characters and presents unexpectedly fresh plotting and genuine repartee—the conversations among Drew and his two teen friends feel particularly real and are full of insight and humor. 
New York Times: “Readers seeking a truly refreshing fantasy milieu should travel to Bulikov, and welcome its conquest.”
Publishers Weekly: Where The Longest Night stood out by demonstrating that consent is sexy, this smashing sequel shows that respectful communication is downright scorching. Opportunities abound for miscommunication and high drama between Michelle Cole, who’s planning to turn an English house into a B and B, and Ray Powell, the battle-fatigued military contractor who shows up at what used to be his grandmother’s home and is startled to meet its new owner. The tension and the stakes are artfully developed, and the characters handle their conflict head-on rather than with melodramatic assumptions. Ray can be rough and intimidating, but his manner toward Michelle is respectful and patient as affection builds between them and their relationship blossoms. Though each character is haunted by sorrows and traumas, they both grow, change, and adapt as whole people, and the story is better for not being limited to surface personality traits. This sweet contemporary will appeal to romance fans who like their heroes powerful and smitten and their heroines capable and genuine.
Publishers Weekly: This satisfying feminist tale set in an underexplored corner of Lake’s lush, mythical Green universe (Green, etc.) but entirely accessible to new readers features an empathetic middle-aged, middle-class protagonist managing the roles of businesswoman, mother and grandmother, fugitive, and unwilling savior with realism and grace. Clothing merchant Sian Kattë is assaulted by the charismatic rogue priest of the Butchered God, an encounter that grants her the unwanted power to heal by touch. Sian and her new abilities are misunderstood by her husband, lover, and daughter. She is hunted by the Mishrah-Khote physician-priests, who believe only men can be healers and accuse her of fraud, and manipulated by politically-minded relatives who insist that she stay away from both the public and her distant cousin’s dying son. Undaunted, Sian pursues her divine mission and encounters unexpected help from a woman in disguise; together they turn the second half of the book into a celebration of female friendship and