The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
It’s not that surprising to me that this perspective has been uncommon in fantasy, because the shininess of students learning magic is just so iconic and emblematic. But Tesh shows us that the space of teachers, adults, in a “magical school”, as front and center characters, is intensely interesting.
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: CASUAL, by Koji A. Dae
Dae does a great job of writing in Valya’s voice (first person, past tense) so that it’s easy to sympathize with the protagonist, without necessarily agreeing with her choices. She clearly cares deeply for “baby-girl” and is trying hard to make good plans and be a good mother-to-be; however, she’s had a hard life…
Book review: Soulstar, by C.L. Polk
Even though I have a heavy reading schedule of new books for Skiffy and Fanty, it was absolutely worth the time to go back and read Soulstar.
Review: Necrobane by Daniel M Ford
Some of the less than smart choices Aelis made in the first book, and in this book, really do come back on her. This is a book that is all about the consequences of personal actions, on scales ranging from Aelis’ health, to the fate of a friend, to the main plot, the wave of undead threatening the borderlands that she set in motion.
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.
