Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is one of those acclaimed works of juvenile fantasy that I’d missed when I was a kid and have spent years meaning to circle back to. And as this year’s fantasy Bingo board felt like a two-handed shove in its direction, I finally pulled it off the shelf… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
R.F. Kuang seems to be a divisive author, but while I understand and agree with many of the criticisms, her engaging prose style and hard-hitting thematic work has consistently drawn me in enough to leave me with overwhelmingly positive impressions. So while a quest into Hell is a little bit outside my wheelhouse as a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
I’m not much of a horror person, but I do have a soft spot for “people are the real horror” historical pieces, with Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory and Victor LaValle’s Lone Women among my favorites of the last few years. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter seemed another entry along those lines, and given some glowing reviews… Continue reading Horror Novel Review: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Colson Whitehead’s acclaimed The Underground Railroad has been on my TBR for quite some time, and when it got picked up by one of my book clubs, I was excited to finally give it a try. Anyone who’s the least bit familiar with the book will probably know the central conceit: the historical Underground Railroad… Continue reading Alternate History Novel Review: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
House of the Rain King by Will Greatwich is one of the few self-published novels that I’ve actually picked up in its publication year. A glowing review from someone who likes a lot of my favorites and a selection for an online book club was enough for me to take the plunge and see what… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: House of the Rain King by Will Greatwich
We’ve reached the finals of the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4), and the three finalists chosen on my team’s side of the bracket have been joined by three more from the other side. Over the course of the summer, we’ll be reading and scoring these three books that came with such glowing recommendations from Peripheral Prospectors and Ground Control to Major Tom.… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Yours Celestially by Al Hess
We’ve reached the finals of the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4), and the three finalists chosen on my team’s side of the bracket have been joined by three more from the other side. Over the course of the summer, we’ll be reading and scoring these three books that came with such glowing recommendations from Peripheral Prospectors and Ground Control to Major Tom. And… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Saint Elspeth by Wick Welker
V.E. Schwab has a huge readership, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was all over the place in 2020, but it passed me by at the time, and didn’t give much thought to circling back until it was picked up by my in-person book club this year. My online friends had wildly disparate responses,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
T. Kingfisher has been popular for a while, but her popularity has grown immensely in the last two years, where her Hugo wins for Best Novella and Best Novel has made her just the fourth person ever (and second named Ursula) to win Hugos in the Novel, Novella, Novelette, and Short Story categories. She also… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Inner Space will be released on July 15, 2025. Jakub Szamalek wasn’t an author I’d heard of before this year, but I’m always looking for intriguing books from outside the US, UK, and Canada,… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek
