Like many of my reads during this summer’s extended Hugo voting window, A.K. Larkwood’s debut epic, The Unspoken Name, is a book that I’ve seen widely praised, but not a book that moved to the top of my list until Larkwood’s nomination for Best New Author. But I do like epic fantasy, so between that… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
At long last, I’ve made it to Seanan McGuire’s Hugo Finalist. Well, this year’s Hugo Finalist. For Best Novella. Look, McGuire gets nominated a lot. At any rate, Come Tumbling Down, the fifth installment in the Wayward Children series, garnered a Best Novella nomination, and I figured I’d try to give myself the best chance… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby drew almost unanimous praise last year in my corners of the sci-fi/fantasy internet, being hailed as a powerful and timely exploration of race in America. Unsurprisingly, it garnered plenty of award consideration, and my journey through the Hugo Award Finalists for Best Novella proved a convenient time to pull it off… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Mary Robinette Kowal won a Hugo in 2019 with the excellent The Calculating Stars, an alternate history space race with plenty of hypercompetent women pressing against social prejudice (it spends more time on gender than race, but I’d recommend this for fans of Hidden Figures). But The Calculating Stars was itself a prequel to her… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
My attempt to read as many of this year’s Hugo finalists as I can had led me to several popular works that I had either not gotten around to or had actively avoided. One of the latter was The Poppy War, with its reputation for a jarring tonal shift and some absolutely brutal war scenes.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Gideon the Ninth is one of those books that has been incredibly popular in my online circles for the last year or two, but where I needed a push to actually move it to the top of my list. That push came in the form of its sequel being nominated for the Hugo Award for… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
I’ve heard so many glowing reviews of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in the last year, but given my mixed results with literary-leaning novels, I hadn’t found the excuse to give it a read until its nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. And so I approached with a healthy mix of excitement and trepidation Although… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Part of working through this year’s Hugo Award finalists meant catching up on some backstory. Seanan McGuire’s Come Tumbling Down—the fifth Wayward Children novella and a direct sequel to the series-opening Every Heart a Doorway (reviewed here)—was nominated, but I was advised by some bookish friends to ensure that I also read Down Among the… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
I picked up Sarah Zettel’s The Quiet Invasion last summer on the recommendation of Janny Wurts. And with under 200 ratings on Goodreads, it may be the most obscure traditionally-published book I’ve read since getting back into sci-fi and fantasy these last few years. It’s also absolutely tremendous, and I heartily recommend it to anyone… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel
The praise for Raybearer has been impossible to miss since its release last year, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to squeeze it into a crowded reading schedule. When Jordan Ifueko’s debut joined an incredibly stacked list of Lodestar Award finalists, it gave me a perfect reason to move it to the top of… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
