I’m a massive Jeff VanderMeer fan. His Southern Reach trilogy is one of my all-time favorite series, as are his Ambergris novels. That said, he’s not for everyone. I know that—I accept that. His brand of “new weird” can be pretty far-out a lot of the time, especially when he veers into a more literary writing style. So, when I heard of Hummingbird Salamander, I was surprised that he was leaning more mainstream with this near-future eco-thriller. I couldn’t help but think, how this was going to straddle the line between his longtime fans and those who were new to his work and/or intimidated by it? And the result? VanderMeer does manage to straddle that line effectively, telling an overall great story with a few hiccups and stumbles along the way.
Dystopian
Review: Road to Juneau by Liam Quane
Synopsis New York: two years after the Third World War. Humanity is rebuilding its cities brick by brick; the damage done to the people, however, is a lot harder to repair. Dan Hardacre is one of those people. An aspiring stage actor and experienced draft-dodger, Dan struggles to find his place within the Utopic rebuild […]
Review: Sinopticon by Xueting Christine Ni (Translator and Editor)
collection. Xueting Christine Ni has done an incredible job in translating and editing these stories. They showcase some incredible Chinese Sci-Fi talent that I would never otherwise get to experience.
Review: Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North
And what a solid package this was. Notes from the Burning Age sunk its hooks into me early on, grabbing my attention with an intriguing world, strange mysteries and a lead character that I could sympathize with. I was consistently curious to read more and more. And more. By the end, I was wholly enthralled and deeply invested in the rich, descriptive prose, geopolitical machinations, the backstabbing, the supernatural elements, the the history and lore—all of it. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Review: Trashlands by Alison Stine
Alison Stine’s debut novel Road Out of Winter was a great read, but Trashlands built upon that groundwork and ran with it in mesmerizing ways. In the desolate environs of a junkyard, Stine has evoked raw, honest humanity, the connective tissue of community, love, heartbreak, perseverance and the notion that optimism can exist in a place such as this.
Blog Tour and Review: The Offset by Calder Szewczak
Angry Robot always introduces me to the most unique novels, and The Offset is not the exception. No joke, this novel is brilliant, dark, and frightening.
Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a novella and the first in Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series. It is a lovely story about a monk and robot who meet under interesting circumstances.
Review: Wool (Silo #1) by Hugh Howey
If you like a superbly written, sci-fi mystery drama then this should be on top of your lists! Though the immediate plot is resolved, it has opened up a new puzzles that made me look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!
Review: Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene
The wasteland is stark but wonderful. The road is long, it’s unforgiving, but there’s a lot of beauty we can find along the way. Welcome to the park!
Review: A Strange and Brilliant Light by Eli Lee
A Strange and Brilliant Light in the political, thought-provoking debut from Eli Lee that poses the question of AI in a dystopia where humans are losing their jobs in tech advancement and puts it to several vastly different but interconnected POVs that answer in the way they move through the novel and navigate this new world.
Review: Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine
Alison Stine’s Road Out of Winter is one of those rare books that hits the serendipitous sweet spot of right time, right place, right mood—right everything. Almost. It’s a fairly short read, so I fired up my Kindle and went for it, pulled the trigger, ‘cause why not? A couple of days blurred past, and Stine pulled me through a story of rural landscapes full of climate-wrought confusion and dread, human nature’s ugliest sides, heartfelt friendships, physical and mental adversity, and, to my pleasant surprise, genuine hope.
Review: Day Zero by Robert C. Cargill
(Terminator anyone?), you’re left alone to take care of an eight-year-old kid as his parents were both executed by a robot-nanny-turned-evil. But wait, there’s one more thing, you are a robot too. That is the premise of Day One by Robert C. Cargill. A dystopian story of survival and the relationship between an eight-year-old kid and his best friend who turns out to be a cyber-plush-tiger.