Synopsis In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard. To solve the […]
Reviews
Review: Becoming a Druid (Protectors of Pretanni 1) by Mike Mollman
Synopsis Grahme has wanted to be a druid for as long as he can remember. Talented but headstrong, he runs afoul of a despotic, mind-controlling mage during his initiation quest. The price of failure is death. Intrigue and distrust has turns his order against him. Haggard, hunted and without his magic, Grahme must make impossible […]
Review: Exodus — The Archimedes Engine (Book #1 of the Archimedes Engine Duology) by Peter F. Hamilton
Synopsis Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. They travelled into space on arkships and found a new home. When the first arkship arrived, it signalled for the others to follow. Those from that first ship evolved into Celestials, establishing themselves as rulers over mankind’s new home. Now, as new arkships arrive, people […]
Review: Death of a Clown by Catherine McCarthy
The joke’s on him… Synopsis Born and raised into the Sacred Order of Tragicomedy, Chester Brown’s path is written in stone. The bulbous nose and gigantic feet define him physically, while The Sacred Church of Razzmatazz ensnares him in its grip.For Chester there can be no escape…or so he believes.But Chester Brown has a secret […]
Book Review: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi #2) by Django Wexler
TL;DR Review: Beautifully balanced between epic and cozy, it’s an adventure as action-packed as it is heartwarming. Synopsis: Dark Lord Davi rules the kingdom, but she must now break the time loop that binds her in this hilariously bloody conclusion to the Dark Lord Davi duology. After countless failures (let’s not dwell on it), Davi […]
Review: Bee Speaker (Dogs of War #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Synopsis: From the Arthur C. Clarke award winner, Adrian Tchaikovsky, comes the third instalment of the DOGS OF WAR science fiction series, a future where genetically engineered “Bioforms” have inherited not the Earth, but the Solar System. The end of the world has been and gone. There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming […]
Review: MEATSHIP by Sam Rebelein
Synopsis: Captain Evangeline Coarse is halfway through her journey home from war when her ship loses power and she’s left floating in the dark. Now, she must find a way to survive not only the cold loneliness of space, but also the maddening stink of one hundred thousand war-corpses in the hold. Review: I’ll level […]
Book Review: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
TL;DR: Van Helsing, but as played by a Murderbot-style ship’s AI, with the delightfully cozy and heartwarming flavor of Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Synopsis: Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception. Demeter just wants to do her shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha […]
Review: Cathedral of the Drowned (The Lunar Gothic Trilogy Volume 2) by Nathan Ballingrud
Synopsis: The sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, Cathedral of the Drowned is a dripping, squirming, scuttling tale of altered bodies and minds. There are two halves of Charlie Duchamp. One is a brain in a jar, stranded on Jupiter’s jungle moon, Io, who just wants to go home. The other is hanging on the wall of Barrowfield […]
Review: Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Synopsis: On a planet shrouded in darkness, a stranded crew must fight for survival. But, the darkness may have plans of its own in this wildly original story from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning author of Children of Time. They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . . […]
Book Review: Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase
TL;DR Review: Rapunzel meets Man in the Iron Mask. A helpless, naïve prisoner becomes a cunning, revenge-driven queen. Synopsis: “Vita’s rage overflowed until she was prepared to drown in it, and she knew that she would never again dam this anger to please another.” After nine years as the people’s beloved princess in the sun-soaked […]
Review: Firebird (The Fire That Binds #1) by Juliette Cross
Synopsis: House of the Dragon meets From Blood and Ash in this epic, scorching dark romantasy. A conqueror captivated…A witch prophesied to save them all…A world where dragons rule Rome. From the moment Roman general and nephew to the emperor Julianus Dakkia laid eyes on Malina, he was enthralled by the Dacian dancer. Years later, the fierce beauty […]