I may not have been quite as wowed as the general public by the first two books of Naomi Novik’s award-winning Scholomance series, but I had a whole lot of fun with both A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate and was excited to return to the world for the trilogy closer, The Golden Enclaves. … Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Ten Percent Thief will be released on March 28, 2023. I’ve had Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s Analog/Virtual on my TBR for a couple years, after seeing it recommended on a list of underrated speculative fiction… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Lone Women will be released on March 28, 2023. Though he’s primarily a horror writer and I’m not primarily a horror reader, I was really impressed with the first two books I read by… Continue reading Historical Fantasy/Horror Review: Lone Women by Victor LaValle
After reading the entire Vorkosigan Saga and the three novels in the World of the Five Gods, I thought I may be turning into a Lois McMaster Bujold completionist. A few years later, I haven’t quite made it to her entire catalog, but she remains one of the most reliable hits on the shelf. And… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold
In a short fiction landscape with a staggering number of options for genre fans, it can be hard to beat back shiny object syndrome and consistently support a particular publication. But jumping around wildly leaves readers at the mercy of catchy titles and social media marketing, and it leaves the publications themselves undersupported. So in… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (January 2023)
Each of my teammates in the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) have evaluated their initial allotment and have made their recommendations for the quarterfinals, which consist in our collective top eight of the 28 books in our team’s slush pile. Four of those eight quarterfinalists had been in my scouting allotment, so I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The View From Infinity Beach by R.P.L. Johnson
Each of my teammates in the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) have evaluated their initial allotment and have made their recommendations for the quarterfinals, which consist in our collective top eight of the 28 books in our team’s slush pile. Four of those eight quarterfinalists had been in my scouting allotment, so I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Left Hand of Dog by Si Clarke
Each of my teammates in the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) have evaluated their initial allotment and have made their recommendations for the quarterfinals, which consist in our collective top eight of the 28 books in our team’s slush pile. Four of those eight quarterfinalists had been in my scouting allotment, so I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review–Syn City: Reality Bytes by Lewis Knight
Each of my teammates in the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) have evaluated their initial allotment and have made their recommendations for the quarterfinals, which consist in our collective top eight of the 28 books in our team’s slush pile. Four of those eight quarterfinalists had been in my scouting allotment, so I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Audacity by Carmen Loup
I started on Nghi Vo’s work with books one and three of the Singing Hills Cycle, and after a pair of five-star ratings, it was clear that I needed to give her novels a try. The only question was where to start. And in the absence of an overwhelmingly popular answer, I chose the new… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
