Tochi Onyebuchi is an author whom I wait patiently for these days. His first two adult outings floored me, and while I haven't explored his young adult offerings, there is a part of me that is curious. But instead, I was treated to his latest, Harmattan Season. Boubacar, like most private eyes, is down on…
Emily Tesh is back on the scene with a highly anticipated standalone story about warlocks who teach at a British boarding school called The Incandescent. Tesh really made an impact with her novel Some Desperate Glory back in 2023. It was one of my favorite reads of that year and made me forever curious about…
I’m not what the culture would call a “True Crime Girlie.” I’ve seen my fair share of crime documentaries, and I’ve absorbed a heap of secondhand information from my wife and her friends who are more interested in such things. I prefer my crimes fictional, and I often find the True Crime genre icky, particularly…
Continue reading ➞ I’ll Be Gone In The Dark – A True Crime Masterpiece
Frail Little Embers is a collection of short stories from author Fija Callaghan about love, life, and healing after experiencing the very worst. There were many incredibly moving and difficult stories, but each one had sparks that eventually lit the way forward. These magical short stories are an inspiring collection, and I think you’ll find…
Are you interested in hearing a legendary tale from a crow god about a political clusterfuck during the succession of a richly written fantasy empire? If so, stick around. The Raven Scholar has exploded out of nowhere from a book that I hadn’t heard of to one of my top contenders for best of 2025.…
Joe Abercrombie is back with a new fantasy series to knock your socks off. The Devils is the first novel in a new series by the same name, and boy, does it start off with a bang. Everything you love about this masterful author is back with a vengeance (best-in-class characters, stunning action sequences, a…
Continue reading ➞ The Devils – League Of Extraordinary Bastards
Lesser-known indie author Brandon Sanderson is a Quill To Live favorite, and you should hop on the bandwagon before he gets big, folks! I’ve long praised Sanderson’s Cosmere and other works—today, I’m reviewing one of the latter. The Rithmatist is a standalone novel (with a promised but yet-to-be-seen sequel) with many of Sanderson’s storytelling stamps. …
The decadent debauchery of the 1920s has been put to bed, but Nghi Vo still has a story to tell. Vo returns to her Gatsby retelling with a companion novella, Don’t Sleep with the Dead, to expand on Nick Carraway’s story. I have avoided spoilers for The Chosen and the Beautiful in my review, but…
I haven’t had the chance to check out Tender Is The Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica’s international hit, so I figured I would treat myself with her latest outing. The Unworthy is a nightmarish fever dream in which one woman chronicles her time with a cloister of women in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by climate change. The…
Continue reading ➞ The Unworthy – Bask In The Light Of The Holy
We are walking, talking collections of memories. Every experience we have is in the past. That really awkward wave I gave to someone who was decidedly not waving at me? In the past. The time I called my teacher “mom” in front of my first-grade class? Past. Even the most present-feeling moments—the delicious explosion of…
