Like last year, I started my journey through the Hugo Awards with the Best Short Story finalists. Also like last year, two of the finalists were on my own nominating ballot, so whatever became of the pieces I hadn’t previously read, I was guaranteed to have a pair of strong choices at the top. Every… Continue reading 2022 Hugo Awards Ballot: Short Story
Sometimes there’s a book that comes out to such acclaim that I feel like I don’t have to rush to read it, because it’s bound to appear on my Hugo reading list. In 2021, no book fit that mold better than Shelley Parker-Chan’s historical fantasy debut She Who Became the Sun. I didn’t read it… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
In about a month, I’ve gone from never having read anything by Becky Chambers to having read two novels and a novella. While neither of the other two hit the five-star threshold, I could see clear progression as a writer from her debut to her Best Novella finalist. And so I was looking forward to… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
Carol Berg’s Lighthouse Duet is one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read, and is in many ways responsible for my commitment to picking through the backlists of fantasy authors who never really captured the popular imagination. As it turns out, a lot of my favorite books fall into that category. And yet I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Sanctuary Duet by Carol Berg
I read Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time before I started blogging, and it played a huge role in getting me to reconsider my generally negative stance on hard sci-fi. It’s absolutely tremendous work. Ever since, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get to the sequel, Children of Ruin. And, now that I have, I’ll… Continue reading Sci-fi Series Review: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I read Peadar Ó Guilín’s The Call before I got into blogging, but I circled back to the sequel when I found myself struggling to fill the Gothic Fantasy square on my all-sequel themed Bingo card. As it happens, a lot of Gothic fiction seems to be standalone. But while I’m not sure the Grey… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Grey Land by Peadar Ó Guilín
I tend not to read many non-fiction books. Without an overarching narrative to sustain me (or a consistent reading time, like with my lunch-break short stories), I’ll read a chapter, find it interesting, and then set down the book to be forgotten for weeks. Essays are no problem—I’ll see those linked somewhere online, read them… Continue reading Essay Collection Review: Appropriately Aggressive by Krista D. Ball
How do you review Lafferty? I asked myself a similar question when I wrote an Author Spotlight post about him last year, and it returns as I consider the short story collection The Best of R.A. Lafferty. Because this isn’t a novel, there is no plot to summarize, but even if there were, it wouldn’t… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Collection Review: The Best of R.A. Lafferty
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Ogres will be released March 15, 2022. Adrian Tchaikovsky has only come to my attention in the last couple of years, but he’s quickly becoming a must-read author. After loving a pair of… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Age of Ash will be released February 15, 2022. The most recent addition to my all-time top five list was Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, which tells a series of intimate, personal stories… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham
