At some point in the year or two between my return to genre reading and my decision to start blogging, The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang became an r/Fantasy darling. It won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO, the elder sister to SPSFC), matching the highest score in the history of the competition, and there… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
Welcome to the biggest in my first year of magazine reviews. I’ve spent this year regularly reading three publications—Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction—but this month, I added a fourth, ending a year or so of swearing that I’d get to Asimov’s eventually. It made for one heck of a reading… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Four!): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, F&SF, and Asimov’s (November 2023)
At some point last year, Legends & Lattes went from fun, self-published cozy fantasy in a D&D-inspired world to one of the hottest books in the genre, riding the wave to Nebula and Hugo nominations and an Astounding Award nomination for author Travis Baldree. It was on my “look for a chance to get to… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
I find Alix E. Harrow’s writing style incredibly readable, with her debut novel being one of my favorite books from 2019, and her works second on my ballot for both Best Short Story (“Mr. Death”) and Best Novella (A Spindle Splintered) last year. Given her popularity, it was no real surprise to see her back… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
After my experience with The Calculating Stars and The Relentless Moon, I’m always intrigued by a new release from Mary Robinette Kowal. But The Spare Man came out at a time when I was feeling a little burned out on murder mysteries, and after seeing a few mixed reviews, I decided I’d let this one… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Regular readers of the blog will know that I’m a big short story guy, and I have much more patience with weirdness in short form than in novels. So when I was perusing the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist and saw Ten Planets by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman, I figured it was… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Collection Review: Ten Planets by Yuri Herrera
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. System Collapse will be released on November 14, 2023. The Murderbot Diaries have rocketed Martha Wells to genre stardom, and it’s easy to see why. They’re fast-paced and fun, with a part-mechanical, part-organic construct—the… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells
Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty was often discussed among the exciting new fantasy epics back in the late 2010s when I returned to genre reading. But it’s also very long, and the first book has a reputation (arguably undeserved) for being a difficult read. So I kept putting it off, even as I read more and… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
My judging team in the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3) has been given 24 books to whittle down to two semifinalists. In the first two months of the competition, each book in our allocation was read by at least two of us, and we have cut nearly three-quarters of them. Some of those… Continue reading Introducing Team Tar Vol On’s SPSFC3 Quarterfinalists
Team Tar Vol On has one more batch of eliminations in the first stage of the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3). We’ve already made two sets of unanimous cuts, and now it’s time to visit the split decisions. Every book eliminated today, like every quarterfinalist, had a full read and recommendation from at… Continue reading SPSFC First Round Eliminations, Batch Three
