In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan, is a conundrum of a book. It is a standalone fantasy with a number of traditional tropes and elements I can’t usually stand. It’s a portal fantasy, YA, a coming-of-age story with a love triangle, and has an unlikable protagonist, among other things. In the dedication, Brennan seems…
Continue reading ➞ In Other Lands – Young, Dumb, And Full Of Adventure
A little side project I have been pursuing is diving into fantasy series from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, to see if I can dredge up some hidden gems to recommend. I don’t often see many series from these decades recommended to me and I thought I might do the generous work of sifting through…
After a jolly good time with The Last Binding series, I jumped at the chance to read a new Freya Marske book. Her latest novel, Swordcrossed, takes us into a new world of rich merchant houses trying to keep a competitive edge whether through goods or political marriages. This story takes a big departure from…
After finishing book two in The Last Binding series, I couldn’t wait for Robin and Edwin to return triumphantly in the final book. While both men are present in A Power Unbound, they once again step to the side and let other characters lead the charge. Our two new but familiar leading men, Lord Jack…
What an absolute Pandora’s Box of despair today’s book is. Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh, is a stand-alone science fiction thriller about a cell of radical Earth terrorists looking to avenge the death of the blue marble by taking out some alien civilians. It is a strange and brilliant reversal of many classic first-contact…
Continue reading ➞ Some Desperate Glory – Infinite Last Stands
Me and A Restless Truth by Freya Marske did not get along. After an enchanting frolic through book one in the series, my expectations were high, and they came crashing down quickly. Our original characters, Robin and Edwin, set the standard, and I found that this adventure could not live up to the first magical…
Ocean Echo, by Everina Maxwell, is a pseudo-sequel to the very popular Winter’s Orbit from last year. It isn’t really a sequel, despite being set in the same universe, because it has zero overlapping characters. But Ocean’s Echo definitely embodies the same spirit as Winter’s Orbit. It’s another gay romance with two very different men…
Back in 2020, Simon Jimenez released his first major book, The Vanished Birds. I actually read it then and declined to review it despite all the buzz surrounding the release. My reasoning for this was simple: despite being one of the best books I had read that year, the subject matter (the torture and death…
Right off the bat, I would love to take a moment to recognize how good Alex White is at naming things. Everything in their books has such fantastic and memorable names; whether that's the long evocative titles, the cool nomenclature of the magic system, character names/nicknames, or the locations/settings. Everything White touches comes away with…
Continue reading ➞ August Kitko And The Mechas From Space – Punching, Feelings, And Robots
I am left with a lot of questions after finishing Neon Yang’s The Genesis of Misery. The primary one being, “so what?” Described as a combination of Neon Genesis Evangelion meets retelling of Joan of Arc, I would say that Misery lives up to its promises. Yet, while I think this is an imaginative and…
