I’d heard quite a bit about Nghi Vo’s debut novella The Empress of Salt and Fortune when it came out last year, but it didn’t distinguish itself from an overstuffed TBR until it appeared on the finalist list for the Hugo Award for Best Novella. And, while I had been underwhelmed by some other finalists… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
I really loved Benedict Patrick’s Yarnsworld novelette “And They Were Never Heard from Again,” but I found the series’ first novel They Mostly Come Out at Night to be a disappointment. So I returned to the creepy forest of the Magpie King for a third Yarnsworld story with some trepidation, and again came out with… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: From the Shadows of the Owl Queen’s Court by Benedict Patrick
Seanan McGuire is one of those authors with the combination of popularity and prolific production that makes them hard not to hear recommended. And yet I hadn’t actually read any of her work going into this year’s attempts to read the Hugo finalists. Her Come Tumbling Down—the fifth installment in the Wayward Children series—was nominated… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
The Ruin of Kings opens Jenn Lyons’ five-book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons. Despite my love of epic fantasy, I hadn’t gotten to it when it came out. But Tor Books threw their considerable marketing muscle behind the opener—I couldn’t go anywhere in fantasy-leaning corners of the Internet in 2019 without hearing about… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
For the last couple years, I’ve regularly seen The Essalayien Series by Michelle West (an alias of Michelle Sagara, author of The Chronicles of Elantra) cited as an underrated gem for those who like character-driven epic fantasy. As I very much enjoy character-driven epic fantasy, I’ve had this one on my list for quite a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Hidden City by Michelle West
N.K. Jemisin may be the best there is in contemporary speculative fiction, and coming into last year, I’d read every single one of her solo-authored novels. But I had some reticence when she announced a novel-sized expansion of her Hugo-nominated short story “The City Born Great.” That story was heavy enough in unexplained New York… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Tyler Hayes’ debut has run under the radar, but the few reviews I’ve seen have been glowing, and the concept of The Imaginary Corpse was eye-catching enough to immediately put this one on my list. The Imaginary Corpse takes place in the Stillreal, where figments of imagination go when they are too real to disappear… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No Gods, No Monsters will be released on September 7, 2021. Urban fantasy is not my go-to subgenre, but the plot summary of No Gods, No Monsters caught my eye with “what looks… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
Back in March, a blogger friend advised me to read Sarah Gailey’s STET, which immediately became one of the best short stories I’d ever read. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for an excuse to read more of their work, and while a queerphobic dystopia styled after the Old West probably wouldn’t have been my… Continue reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novella Review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Tade Thompson’s first contact novel Rosewater was released by a small press in 2016 and quickly generated enough attention for a Nommo Award and an acquisition by Orbit, who rereleased the book in 2018 in advance of the trilogy continuing with a pair of 2019 installments. Like so many highly-praised novels, it’s been on my… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: Rosewater by Tade Thompson
