Mary Robinette Kowal won a Hugo in 2019 with the excellent The Calculating Stars, an alternate history space race with plenty of hypercompetent women pressing against social prejudice (it spends more time on gender than race, but I’d recommend this for fans of Hidden Figures). But The Calculating Stars was itself a prequel to her… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
I’ve heard so many glowing reviews of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in the last year, but given my mixed results with literary-leaning novels, I hadn’t found the excuse to give it a read until its nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. And so I approached with a healthy mix of excitement and trepidation Although… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The praise for Raybearer has been impossible to miss since its release last year, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to squeeze it into a crowded reading schedule. When Jordan Ifueko’s debut joined an incredibly stacked list of Lodestar Award finalists, it gave me a perfect reason to move it to the top of… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
I’d heard quite a bit about Nghi Vo’s debut novella The Empress of Salt and Fortune when it came out last year, but it didn’t distinguish itself from an overstuffed TBR until it appeared on the finalist list for the Hugo Award for Best Novella. And, while I had been underwhelmed by some other finalists… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Ruin of Kings opens Jenn Lyons’ five-book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons. Despite my love of epic fantasy, I hadn’t gotten to it when it came out. But Tor Books threw their considerable marketing muscle behind the opener—I couldn’t go anywhere in fantasy-leaning corners of the Internet in 2019 without hearing about… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
N.K. Jemisin may be the best there is in contemporary speculative fiction, and coming into last year, I’d read every single one of her solo-authored novels. But I had some reticence when she announced a novel-sized expansion of her Hugo-nominated short story “The City Born Great.” That story was heavy enough in unexplained New York… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Back in March, a blogger friend advised me to read Sarah Gailey’s STET, which immediately became one of the best short stories I’d ever read. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for an excuse to read more of their work, and while a queerphobic dystopia styled after the Old West probably wouldn’t have been my… Continue reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
After reading and loving A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, I resolved to read more of T. Kingfisher (an alias of Ursula Vernon), a remarkably versatile writer with acclaimed children’s books, horror novels, fantasy romances, and fairy tale retellings. The Hollow Places may mark the first time I’ve ever read a novel primarily marketed as… Continue reading Fantasy/Horror Novel Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
The Vanished Birds is another book that I didn’t know much about before award nominations came out, but Simon Jimenez was nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer on the strength of this debut, so I thought it was well worth a shot. Before starting, I had heard that The Vanished Birds was… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
My journey through the 2021 Hugo Award ballot continues with an evaluation of the finalists for Best Novelette. While the Best Short Story finalists were very engaging but not especially ambitious, the novelettes saw more variation in quality and a pair of finalists with aims far beyond mere entertainment. While I saw a couple finalists… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Best Novelette
