Oh yeah folks, it’s time for some more politically tinged science fiction. Wait, what am I saying, the genre is inherently political. I had yet to purchase a ticket to the Richard Swan show, but when I heard his latest, The Infinite State, is about trying to jumpstart a democracy while living in an authoritarian…
As the king’s niece, Elise Lysander is a powerful political piece that can be married off to secure wealth, alliances, or power. To arrange the best possible match, a well-known merchant is tasked with being Elise’s dowry negotiator. Legion Grey dutifully steps into the role, but Elise discovers that the wealthy man is much more…
Continue reading ➞ Curse Of Shadows And Thorns – A Rose Dethorned
Well, folks, I did it! I read my first George R.R. Martin book. The book in question? His definitive work, his magnum opus: an illustrated novella called The Ice Dragon. This pint-sized fable comes and goes like a winter’s first flurry, dissipating in a flash after leaving its translucent mark upon the ground where it…
Engines of Reason, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, is an eagerly anticipated sequel to Elder Race, my absolute favorite novella. In some ways, I was a little sad that Tchaikovsky decided to write Engines of Reason. I fundamentally believe that Elder Race is so perfect that it can’t be improved on, but Tchaikovsky has proven me wrong…
Continue reading ➞ Engines Of Reason – Iterating On Perfection
Reading and then reviewing older science fiction always feels a bit weird. Rarely am I picking up something that is a hidden gem, a thing that someone has never read before. Often it feels like I am just adding to the choir of voices that already assures you “yes, this is good.” I know I…
Welcome back to V.L. Bovalino’s world in The Hand and the Heart series, where we meet a spy dealing with a set of problems seemingly far removed from the long war that devastated the neighboring kingdom of Idistra. Yet the war had far-reaching effects, and the spy will soon find herself in a plot that…
Continue reading ➞ The Thief And The Traitor Bride – Stole My Time
The publisher renamed this series to the Ana and Din Mysteries while I wasn’t looking, and I only just realized. We are off to a great start. Well, the formerly called Shadow of the Leviathan series got its third installment this month, and as always, anything that Robert Jackson Bennett puts out does numbers with…
It’s the end of the world as we know it. That’s the setting for TJ Klune’s latest exploration of the human condition. We Burned So Bright drops a retired couple into the oncoming apocalypse, during which they embark on a journey that’s just as internal as it is geographical. A rogue black hole has appeared…
The Iron Garden Sutra, by A.D. Sui, is the kind of book I relish. It’s an exploration of death amongst the stars through a semi-religious lens. I read it at a particularly weird time, an almost serendipitous one, had the circumstances not been so unfortunate. It popped up as ready from the library only a…
Y’all, I had so much fun with Starside by Alex Aster. It starts with a dying world and a deadly competition, but it becomes an action-packed adventure with a pair of enemies dedicated to their hatred of one another while begrudgingly keeping each other alive. This story is pure escapism, so stop being an intellectual…
