I’m halfway through my year of being a regular with three sci-fi/fantasy magazines, and I have to say, I’ve been having a good time. As an even month, there was no new issue of F&SF in June, and this review is slightly shorter as a consequence, but I had no shortage of things to talk… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (June 2023)
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 what better place for me to start with a book that is simultaneously (1) the longest finalist, and (2) the… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review–Aestus: The City by S.Z. Attwell
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Deep Sky will be released on July 18, 2023. We’ve reached the end of Sky Week, which closes with the second consecutive space thriller review. Now I’m not usually one for space thrillers,… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Splinter in the Sky will be released on July 11, 2023. Sky Week at Tar Vol On marches on with The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa. Ashing-Giwa came onto my radar… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Surviving Sky will be released on June 13, 2023. It’s Sky Week at Tar Vol On, thanks to a trio of summer releases whose titles end with the word “Sky.” First on the… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao
The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams was released in the UK in 2017, promptly won the British Fantasy Award, and then went about three years before US publication—a sure fire recipe for finding itself on lots of “underrated treasures” lists. I grabbed a copy during some sale or another and then let it collect virtual… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams
The month before the Hugo Award nomination deadline always involves a mad scramble to read as much off the award-eligible section of my TBR as I can. This year, I was able to squeeze in three 2022 novels before the end of April, and my first priority was a first contact novel that seemed exactly… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
In January, I started a new series, which I hope to continue all year, in which I read and review sci-fi/fantasy magazines. I’ve settled on three publications to follow this year: my two favorites from 2022 and a third that has been a titan of the genre for decades. And after a solid-but-unexceptional April, May… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (May 2023)
The marketing of C.S.E. Cooney’s Saint Death’s Daughter did absolutely nothing to appeal to me. Queer coming-of-age? Could be good, but not a selling point in itself. Features necromancers? That’s probably a negative, to be honest. Comparisons to Gideon the Ninth? Absolutely a negative. But enough bookish friends liked it that I decided to give… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Witch King will be released on May 30, 2023. Between The Books of the Raksura and The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells has become one of my favorite character writers in the contemporary sci-fi/fantasy genre—especially… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Witch King by Martha Wells
