Corey J. White’s Static Ruin and Spencer Ellsworth’s Memory’s Blade each willingly bring to a conclusion a space opera trilogy started in the flush of Tor.com’s season of space opera two years back.
When I was a kid, my primary school teachers thought I might have hearing problems, but my paediatrician determined that I was actually just a ‘selective listener’. That was the accepted explanation for a long time. I was scatterbrained, away with the fairies, head in the clouds. These things were (and still are) true, but eventually it got to a point where none of those things could adequately explain why I couldn’t always control the beehive in my head. So earlier this year, and after a lot of thought on my part, I made myself some appointments and was formally diagnosed by a professional as having Attention Deficit Disorder on the Inattentive spectrum. ADD is, in two words: A Trip.
“Don’t forget, a believing is your magic!” —Shiny Chariot In this world, magic and witches are no secret, nothing is ordinary. For Akko, being a witch is what she has always dreamed about. Being the first human to enter the prestigious witch academy of Luna Nova, Akko faces many challenges to become a great witch, just like her beloved idol, Shiny Chariot. Making friends and changing hearts, Akko goes through her school years always with a smile and with the belief that she will meet Chariot again one day. (Caution: some spoilers ahead – read at your own discretion)
The minute you dive into Alphaland, you’re transported to a surreal world swirling with mystery, terror, and the inexplicable. Dead fathers come back to haunt their tortured daughters; prostitutes turn out to be horrifying, human-devouring alien intelligences; spaceships function as nurturing mothers. Basically, when Cristina Jurado is telling you a story, you should really listen.
Nicky Drayden’s second novel, Temper, is a skillfully crafted twist of virtue, vice, and tense sibling relationships. I devoured it in a single day, scrolling through the pages on my Kindle as fast as I could read them. Drayden’s engrossing world pulled me in and left me reeling from a vivid world filled with fascinating characters and a complex and engaging universe. There are twists and turns in Drayden’s intricate plots, but there are no dead-ends in this maze.
My mother tells me all the time that if you don’t trouble trouble, then trouble won’t trouble you. When I originally decided to start reviewing books from my childhood, I don’t think I was quite aware of how white my reading was. I mean, I did in an ephemeral sense, in the sense that publishing has long been dominated by white voices, but it wasn’t an immediate thing.
