This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Moon of the Turning Leaves has been released in paperback and will be released as an ebook on February 27, 2024. I’ve had Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice on the vague… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
While Chain-Gang All-Stars doesn’t seem to be generating much buzz in genre-centric circles, it seems that one can hardly read a “Best of 2023” list in more literary-leaning outlets without seeing it listed as an absolute must-read. Throw in a couple recommendations on social media and my own penchant for survival games, and Nana Kwame… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
M.L. Clark wrote one of my favorite novelettes of 2022, so when I saw that she was releasing a deeply philosophical indie space opera, I figured it was well worth checking out. Might’ve taken me a while to get to it—the TBR never sleeps—but I finally was able to make a hole in my schedule… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Children of Doro by M.L. Clark
It’s that time of year again. People are buying holiday gifts, Nebula nominations are open, the New Year is just around the corner, and bookish spaces are being flooded with “best of the year” lists. It’s one of my favorite times of the year for finding new things to read, and it’s a wonderful time… Continue reading Tar Vol’s 2023 Recommended Reading List: Holiday Edition
I’m wrapping up my first year of regular magazine reading with a short review of the December 2023 issues of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. Both publications were well worth reading all year, and this month is no exception. Stay tuned for a deep dive into my favorite stories of the year—hopefully to be posted this week—and… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (December 2023)
The elevator pitch for Shannon Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is almost perfectly tailored to make me skip it. It’s an action-adventure tale on the high seas, with all manner of demons and demigods causing chaos at every turn. As a reader who doesn’t much care for action-heavy fantasy, nautical settings, or demigods, it… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
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)
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
