Book Review: EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE by Sarah Maria Griffin

The synopsis for Sarah Maria Griffin’s Eat the Ones You Love would understandably invoke thoughts of Little Shop of Horrors for most people. I also kept thinking about Sue Burke’s Semiosis trilogy, not in terms of the plot, but in the sentient plant character and point-of-view perspective.
Book Review: Death on the Caldera

I liked how grounded this book felt. The details of train service, survivors trying to recover after the wreck, the squabbling among various factions of train passengers, the differences between types of magic — all of these felt thoughtfully explored.
Book Review: COLD ETERNITY by S.A. Barnes

Following up on Dead Silence and Ghost Station, S.A. Barnes continues to solidify herself with Cold Eternity as a leading voice in SF Horror, particular within the theme of isolation in space.
Book Review: Murder by Memory, by Olivia Waite

The novella starts when Dorothy Gentleman wakes up and discovers she’s been uploaded off schedule and into the wrong body, and she finds out soon that someone else is dead. As one of the ship’s detectives, she shelves her personal feelings (that’s my little in-joke) and immediately starts investigating.
Book Review: The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar

The novella is a retelling of a reasonably well-known fairytale murder ballad, so alert readers may anticipate some of the story beats. There are two sisters, and a suitor, and a warning from beyond via music. But even if a reader has an idea of where the story is going, there are bends in this river of a plot.
Death of the Author: A Novel, by Nnedi Okorafor

I love the vivid characters in it, the way they face their challenges, the fiercely exuberant explorations of personhood and choice and negotiating relationships, and the sheer joy of life apparent in how Okorafor plays with ideas.