If you missed Rosalind’s Siblings when it was published in September 2023, please consider adding it to your reading list for the new year. It’s a very interesting anthology of speculative fiction and poems, containing some fascinating ideas and characters and some really beautiful language.
I’m sure I’ll continue to like the Harkers’ relationship, and although Uncanny Vows ties up most of its plot elements in a satisfying way, there are plenty of intriguing elements left to be explored in future books.
I really enjoy how A Death at the Dionysus Club builds out from Death by Silver, expanding the lives of the protagonists and connected characters as well as the worldbuilding. … the puzzles are intriguing, the perils are exciting, and it’s great how the lovers end up standing for and standing by each other.
There’s a huge variety of entertaining and illuminative content in New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine. Anyone who’s interested in the subject would be well advised to check the magazine out.
I have to give Leiber a pass on the fridging in Ill Met in Lankhmar. But I don’t have to enjoy it.
One of the many reasons I still love Saber & Shadow is that its women don’t get fridged, because they are the protagonists. Their lovers don’t get fridged, either, because these women are into each other. It’s a joyful romp, albeit with a lot of tense moments, and a few traumatic memories for one character.
I enjoyed reading Vampires of El Norte. The young lovers’ misunderstandings feel natural, not artificially belabored, and the problems they’re dealing with, of trying to negotiate societal and familial expectations and demands to find some degrees of choice, are depicted with understanding, compassion, and warmth. The monsters are scary, the action scenes are exciting, the love story is sweet, and I found the conclusion very satisfying.
