Book Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

In a secondary fantasy world inspired by early 20th Century China, a young woman’s determination and drive to succeed and excel at any cost runs into the horrors of war, conflict and ancient, suppressed forces in R. F. Kuang’s  excellent debut novel, The Poppy War.

Book Review: Age of Assassins and Blood of Assassins by RJ Barker

RJ Barker’s Wounded Kingdoms Trilogy in its first two volumes, Age of Assassins and Blood of Assassins, combines a straightforward western fantasy world with deeper and more intriguing worldbuilding with a flawed and unusual protagonist to good effect. The two novels, together with the forthcoming third, tell a story of an apprentice assassin who slowly […]

Book Review: Bookburners Season 3

With the publication of an omnibus edition, the Bookburners, one of the serial stories from Serial Box, comes to officially cap its third season and prepare the ground for the fourth. Bookburners is hardly the only serial from Serial Box, as the release of this third omnibus joyfully coincides with the release of omnibus editions […]

Book Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee

In an alternate world where a small island carries both a magical material and the scions who can wield it, the aftermath of a world war that consumed and wrapped up even the island is a tricky and dangerous time.  The city of Janloon on the island of Kekon is a fraught place, with the […]

Book Review: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

Brooke Bolander jumps from stories to novellas with The Only Harmless Great Thing, her #Tordotcompublishing novella. The novella is a strongly affecting and moving story that proves that her emotional strengths in reaching an audience do translate from her short stories to novella length. Brooke Bolander first came to my literary attention with “Our Talons can […]

Book Review: The Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti is a prodigy among her people, the Himba, in a mid-future world constructed by author Nnedi Okorafor.  Binti’s desire to go  the finest University in the galaxy breaks all sorts of norms. Binti’s like that, though, breaking norms and boundaries as she finds her way to the University, back home, and what happens thereafter. […]