I’ve openly complained about how getting too aggressive with this year’s reading challenges has prevented me from doing much mood reading. But with this book, Bingo has led to another winner. I read Bethany C. Morrow’s A Song Below Water last year and generally enjoyed it. I thought it tried to do too much, and… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow
Kate Sheeran Swed’s Bypass the Stars holds the distinction as the first book I read in full in my capacity as SPSFC judge. It was one of 30 books randomly assigned to my team, and we collectively voted it as one of ten to continue past the first 20%, so reading this book was decided… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Bypass the Stars by Kate Sheeran Swed
Lobizona, Romina Garber’s Spanglish love letter to Harry Potter, was one of my biggest (pleasant) surprises of the year. I likely would have never read it if not for Fantasy Bingo, and I liked it well enough to rate it ahead of two-thirds of the Lodestar Award finalists. Needless to say, I was very excited… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Cazadora by Romina Garber
I was blown away early in 2021 when I read Sarah Gailey’s short story “STET,” and while I didn’t love the ending of Upright Women Wanted, the quality of the prose, coupled with my feelings about their short fiction, was enough to convince me to read more of Gailey’s extended work. And when The Echo… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
S. Qiouyi Lu’s debut novella, In the Watchful City, came across my radar in late summer and immediately caught my attention with the unusual combination of (1) a few glowing reviews from other readers who significantly overlap my tastes, (2) a perfect fit for a bingo square I hadn’t hit (2021 debut), and (3) easily… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
If you’re not on the fantasy subreddit, or if you’re not a follower of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, you may not know the story of Senlin Ascends, a book that languished in obscurity for years before a last-ditch entry in SPFBO sparked a chain of events that turned it into something of a cult classic… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
There may not be a book with more hype in my online circles this year than Tasha Suri’s epic series-opener The Jasmine Throne. It promised pretty much everything I like in a book, with a character-focused slow build and layers of intrigue in a non-Western setting. The only question–depending mostly on my library–was whether I’d… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Andy Weir is one of those authors that seems to have burst onto the scene and become a big name in sci-fi spaces but somehow rarely gets mentioned in my corners of the SFF Internet. Maybe that’s because I’ve been primarily a fantasy reader, or maybe that’s because I prefer slower and more character-driven books… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Elder Race will be released on November 16, 2021. I knew absolutely nothing about Elder Race when I saw it come available on NetGalley, but I liked Children of Time enough to give… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Far from the Light of Heaven will be released on October 26, 2021. Earlier this year, I read my first book from Tade Thompson, the Nommo Award-winning Rosewater (full review). While it didn’t click… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson
