Book Review: Gate Crashers by Patrick Tomlinson
In Patrick Tomlinson’s Gate Crashers, the author takes the worldbuilding, dry sense of humor and relatable characters of his previous series to a new universe where First Contact has gone far wilder than expected. The Magellan, state of the art spacecraft for the American-European Union, is thirty light years from our Solar System, the furthest any human spaceship has voyaged into space, in the mid 24th century. More than a half century of travel, the Magellan’s crew is on ice, the AI of the Magellan guiding the ship toward the star it is targeted toward. However, a chance encounter with a stationary alien probe launches humanity into a first contact scenario that it is not prepared for. And, frankly, neither are the aliens.
Book Review: Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach is Kelly Robson’s successful leap from shorter fiction into novella format, combining new ideas on the uses of a time machine with a strong character-focused milieu and story. Time Travel is one of the seminal ideas in all of science fiction. Going all the way back to Mark Twain and H.G Wells, traveling outside of one’s own time frame is an idea that has been done and done innumerable times. There have been plenty of novels, stories and movies that explore the idea of time travel, to the past, to the future, to parallel timelines, to alternate worlds. It seems that any long-running science fiction series on television must have a time travel episode. And of course, the longest-running science fiction series in television history is…a show about time travel.
Book Review: The Green Man’s Heir by Juliet McKenna
The story of Daniel Mackmain, son of a Dryad, inspired by Juliet McKenna’s 2012 story “The Roots of Aston Quercus”, is told in her new novel, The Green Man’s Heir. The Green Man’s Heir combines a strong sense of place with a confident use of rural fantasy to create a strong character and excellent worldbuilding.
Book Review: Born to the Blade by Mike Underwood, Cassandra Khaw, Marie Brennan and Malka Older
Imagine a place where diverse and very different polities come to meet, to trade, to conduct diplomacy, to intrigue. Amidst large and scheming powers in a world on the edge of conflict and war, this is a shining beacon, all alone in the night. Imagine a group of ambassadors who come to meet at this place. They have agendas, factions, goals, hopes, fears that they bring with them from across known space. And what they do will not only change their lives, but the destinies of worlds far beyond theirs. No, this is not Babylon 5*. For this place is a trio of islands in the sky; the diplomats and ambassadors are skilled with swords and blade-based magic. Welcome to the world of Serial Box’s latest serial, Born to the Blade.
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 emerges into a figure that helps shape the destiny of an entire kingdom.
