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Book Review: CASUAL, by Koji A. Dae

Cover of Casual, by Koji A. Dae, in tones of brown and yellow, featuring a circuitboard with a stylized canine (a fox) embedded in the circuitry.

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

Cover of Soulstar, by C.L. Polk (The Kingston Cycle, Volume 3), featuring two female ice skaters, one with long hair and a scarf, and one with close-cropped hair), against a cityscape with a rising or setting sun.

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

Cover of Necrobane, Book Two of the Warden Series, by Daniel M. Ford, featuring a small dark-haired woman gesturing and holding a dagger, a larger redhead holding a rapier, and a faded figure behind them, holding a staff.

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

Cover of Death of the Author: A Novel, by Nnedi Okorafor, featuring a mostly silhouetted dark-skinned woman whose hair is in locs, against an abstract red, green, and blue pattern (rivers? blood? computer chips?).

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.

Book Review: We Lived on the Horizon, by Erika Swyler

Cover of We Lived on the Horizon, by Erika Swyler, featuring sand dunes and a purple sky, with a blue inset saying "A Novel".

An artisanal bio-prosthetist and her personal house AI become aware of growing data gaps in a post-cataclysmic city run by an artificial intelligence system, precipitated by the murder of an acquaintance and the subsequent erasure of facts about the victim and his death.

Book Review: SHE’S A KILLER by Kirsten McDougall

Cover of She's a Killer, by Kirsten McDougall, featuring a pineapple against a black background with a pink border.

“In She’s a Killer, Kirsten McDougall writes a near-future dystopia that does explore these layers of colonization and control, but the core of the novel rests on the personality/psychology of her protagonist and an overall satirical tone that balances the comedic and the disturbing.”