Synopsis: A cozy debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning writer William Alexander, this story of found family follows a planetary courier training adolescent androids in a solar system grappling with interplanetary conflict after a devastating explosion on Earth’s moon. Captain Tova Lir chose a life as a courier rather than get involved in […]
About Will Swardstrom
Review: Making History by K.J. Parker
Synopsis: KJ Parker’s new novella is a darkly witty historical fantasy. A group of scholars are asked to do the impossible by a ruthless king. The cost of refusal being death, of course. History isn’t truth…it’s propaganda. Academics can be cocky. Atop their perches of authority high above the thrumming masses of the unquestioning world […]
Review: The Nga’phandileh Whisperer by Eugen Bacon
Synopsis: When a precocious Guardian in Sector Z in New Inku’lulu—an elite space outpost—misuses her sound magic, the Guardians punish her by stripping away her magical ability. Now Chant’L is exiled to Savage Mound, a sound island on planet Wiimb-ó, and grows increasingly vengeful—until she discovers that magic is inborn, never truly lost or taken. […]
Review: The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso
Synopsis: For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history. Enter the time space, a soaring library filled […]
Review: The Art of Legend (War Arts #3) by Wesley Chu
Synopsis: Once in a faraway kingdom there was a man prophesied to be the chosen one, who would defeat a great villain, the Eternal Khan, and save the kingdom. But then the Eternal Khan died . . . and the prophecy was broken. For Jian, the fated hero, this could have been a moment to […]
Review: Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton
Synopsis: What if you wrote a magic computer program? What if that magic computer program started summoning monsters? When twenty-something coder Seven Jones goes back to school at a community college in San Diego, the last thing she wants is to join some stupid club. And the last thing she expects is to walk into […]
Review: The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown
Synopsis: From the author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Doors, another fantastical, stand-alone novel in which a trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects—ordinary items with extraordinary properties. The world of unknowable objects—magical items that most people have no idea possess […]
Review: The L.O.V.E. Club by Lio Min
Synopsis: From the acclaimed author of Beating Heart Baby, an immersive novel following three estranged high schoolers who are pulled into a video game to pursue the disappearance of their friend Three years ago, Elle (the “E” in the self-proclaimed L.O.V.E. Club) disappeared from Calendula, an affluent Chinese American suburb in inland California. Soon afterward, […]
Review: The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi
Synopsis: Brimming with dark humor, violence, and mystery, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre is a blood-soaked slasher sure to keep readers cringing, laughing, and guessing until the very last page. Rose DuBois is not your average final girl. Rose is in her late 70s, living out her golden years at the Autumn Springs Retirement […]
Review: The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy #2) by James Islington
Synopsis: This highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and bestselling fantasy novels—follows Vis as he grapples with a dangerous secret that could change the course of history across alternate dimensions. OMNE TRIUM PERFECTUM. The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as […]
Review: The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller
Synopsis: The Palace of Illusions brings readers to a Paris breathless with excitement at the dawn of the twentieth century, where for a select few there is a second, secret Paris where the magic of the City of Light is very real in this enchanting and atmospheric fantasy from the author of The Fairy Bargains […]
Review: Flybot by Dennis E. Taylor (Narrated by Ray Porter)
Synopsis: Mysterious tech, a devious AI and a couple of scientists in over their heads collide in the latest sci-fi adventure from the number one best-selling author of the Bobiverse series. Physicist Philip Moray is having a good day. He’s chipping away at his big work project. The lunch in the cafeteria is at least […]