This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thornhedge will be released August 15, 2023. I’ve dipped my toe into T. Kingfisher’s middle grade work and her horror, but despite the best of intentions, I hadn’t yet made it to her fairy… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Tigerman is a book that had come highly recommended by a blogging friend, and I’d certainly heard a fair bit of praise of Nick Harkaway. But it’s nearly a decade old and isn’t the sort of book that gets recommended all too often in the wild, leaving it to languish on the fringes of my… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon will be released August 8, 2023. Every once in a while, an author I’ve enjoyed immensely writes a book that doesn’t really sound like my thing, and… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi
As I open the second half of my year as a regular with Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, I can say pretty confidently that this won’t be my last year with Clarkesworld. Which isn’t to say there hasn’t been a fair bit of good from the other two, including some… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (July 2023)
Lois McMaster Bujold was one of the first authors I read when I got back in genre fiction as a grad student, and I’ve liked her work enough that I’ve come pretty close to reading all of it. But one gap on my list has been her Penric and Desdemona novella series within the World… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Blade of Dream will be released July 18, 2023. After The Long Price Quartet soared up my all-time favorites list, Daniel Abraham became a must-read author. And I sure wasn’t disappointed with Age… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham
We’ve reached the finals of the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2), and my team will be reading all four of the seven finalists that we had not previously reviewed in the semifinals. And last on my list was an entry in one of my favorite subgenres: first contact. With my enjoyment of the… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Melody by David Hoffer
We’ve reached the finals of the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2), and my team will be reading all four of the seven finalists that we had not previously reviewed in the semifinals. And in an ironic twist, given the typical polarizing reactions to the subgenre, one of the few books that all three… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novel Review: Percival Gynt and the Conspiracy of Days by Drew Melbourne
If you’re reading a speculative fiction blog, there’s a very good chance you’ve read more Discworld than I have. I keep meaning to circle back around, and then I get distracted by a new release and put them off a little longer. But Mort by Terry Pratchett happened to be one of the few books… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Mort by Terry Pratchett
We’ve reached the finals of the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2), and my team will be reading all four of the seven finalists that we had not previously reviewed in the semifinals. After opening with a true epic, I shifted gears to the fast-paced sci-fi thriller Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper. Hammer… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper
