I’ve been on a bit of a journey lately with my own reading schedule, trying to develop different reading projects to make sense of “the genre,” along with the world that the “genre” exists within. That’s a very vague way of saying “god I need something to read that I can talk about positively.” And…
Continue reading ➞ Sister Svangerd and The Not Quite Dead – Pray Like Hell
Ever since their debut novel, Leech, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Hiron Ennes next novel. As you may already know, The Works of Vermin fell into our top ten best of 2025 and for many very good reasons. The city of Tilliard is on the precipice. Its elite, though powerful, is facing stagnancy and rebellion. Its…
Continue reading ➞ The Works of Vermin – Producing Greatness
Listen, if you haven’t already bought into The Philosopher Tyrants series by Adrian Tchaikovsky, I don’t know what you’re doing. We at QTL put both of those books as #1 for 2023 and 2024 respectively. Go out there, dig into City of Last Chances, gobble up House of Open Wounds, and set a vigil for…
Continue reading ➞ Days of Shattered Faith – Piecing It Back Together
After discovering Caitlin Rozakis last year and finding her fantasy satire, Dreadful, utterly delightful, I immediately set my sights on her new book for 2025. In The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Rozakis takes us into an urban fantasy of sorts to tell a story of a mundane family suddenly thrust into the magical…
Continue reading ➞ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association – C+
A few years back, I reviewed a tantalizing novella called The Tower of Mud and Straw. The author kindly reached out requesting feedback and the tale intrigued me and dazzled me with its dreamlike quality. But Yaroslav Barsukov did not seem satisfied with ending the story there and released a full novel last year that…
Continue reading ➞ Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory – A Reoccuring Nightmare
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…
Water Moon, by Samantha Sotto Yambao, is not the kind of book I would normally pick up. I’m all for plots that revolve around choices and people having to reflect on whether they made the correct ones. But a story that centered on the romantic journey of two strangers as they wade through a world…
Yeah, the cat’s already out of the bag. House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky, was The Quill to Live’s book of the year. But what the hell does that even mean? What makes the sequel so damn good? Well, strap in, it’s going to get messy. The Pallaseen’s march to dominate the world continues,…
Continue reading ➞ House of Open Wounds – A Festering Greatness
Strap in because Metal From Heaven by August Clarke is one dark, mean, but spirited fantasy novel that takes a swing at capitalism and lands its fists. Marney Honeycutt just watched everyone she knew get cut down in the streets of Ignavia City. Industry Yann Chauncey heard the workers cry out for better conditions and…
Continue reading ➞ Metal From Heaven – Explosively Fantastic
I’ve always enjoyed looking for lesser-known books, but lately I’ve been hungering for them. I still enjoy the heavy epic stories that come out every month, but I need breaks. Enter A Country of Ghosts by Margaret Killjoy, a fantasy story about a collection of anarchist communities fighting for their survival against a larger empire.…
Continue reading ➞ A Country of Ghosts – Haunting, In A Good Way
