A sleeper hit drifting out of the ether, Slow Gods by Claire North was phenomenal (and made our best of 2025 list). I had never read North before, which is somewhat surprising given her enormous body of work under multiple names. I believe she is mostly known for her historically inspired fantasy, which is why…
Fresh off our best of the year list, let's talk a bit more about Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shroud. A standalone survival horror science fiction story from the master biomancer himself, this book did not disappoint on any front. It’s all about learning to perceive reality in new and interesting ways. Also, it’s anti-capitalist, spooky as all…
Ten years! Welcome to the tenth anniversary of The Quill to Live's best books of the year list! 2025 has been a banger year for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. One of the strongest years of the decade, 2025 was filled with standout books in multiple genres. There were actually so many interesting releases, sequels,…
Welcome to hell, beckons R.F. Kuang in Katabasis. It’s basically academia! When I thought back to my agitation at being graded on how well I presented my opinions, I started to agree with Kuang’s ideas. Then, the book dragged on further and further into the depths of hell, and I lost touch with my relationship…
I know I’m the resident sour puss of the blog, but even I can have some fun sometimes. I have made it known that science fiction and horror is one of my favorite genre combinations, and with that comes a sweet tooth whenever something different (and let’s be honest, something retreading well-worn ground) pops on…
Continue reading ➞ Of Monsters and Mainframes – Werewolves, Vampires, and Mummies Oh My!
In an effort to catch up on some of the new releases, I wanted to focus on books that seemed to place climate change front and center. One of these is Thomas R. Weaver’s debut Artificial Wisdom. Unfortunately, while it does ask some interesting questions in latter parts of the book, the build up left…
The Stephen King bell ringeth once more, this time for Billy Summers. It’s a more grounded tale for King, putting a hitman front and center without any direct supernatural interference. And, by jove, it works quite well! Billy Summers is a former Iraq War sniper who now works as a hitman. But he’s a good…
Stephanie Garber has written two young adult fantasy series that have enchanted me in the past, so there was no doubt I would pick up her first adult fantasy, Alchemy of Secrets. Garber’s fantastical fairytale dust is coating this story, but this time, the golden sparkles are shifting a familiar urban setting into a new…
I’ll be the first to admit when I am wrong about something. For the longest time, I avoided The Sun Eater series because of its seemingly derivative nature. I continued my plunge into the series by picking up Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio. I naively expected that I might buy in at this juncture,…
Continue reading ➞ Demon In White – A Reviewer Goes Down to Vorgossos
Cassandra Khaw is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I don’t know their specific writing approach, but everything of theirs is dripping with intentional vision that permeates down to the metaphors and similes. Theme isn’t just some intangible “je ne sais quoi” in their hands, but the mycorrhizal tendrils that support the structure of…
Continue reading ➞ The Library At Hellebore – Hellishly Good
