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 […]
Book Review
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 […]
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: The Pawns of Havoc by Dave Lawson
Synopsis: No Mercy, No Questions Asked. Cork has quickly made a name for himself among the Kosellan mercenaries, but now his boss has come to him with an unusual job. Cork’s erstwhile countrymen, the Winn, have hired him to travel into the barren Frozen Lands and destroy a convoy, leaving only one survivor. Cork isn’t […]
Review: Eyes of Empire (Hybrid Helix #5) by J.C.M. Berne
Synopsis A baby dreadnought is terrorizing two star systems. A new wormhole has been opened, a new planetary system revealed, populated by a strange and impossible race. A mad god is on the loose. The il’Drach have destroyed an entire planet. They are on their way to Wistful. Rohan just wants a peaceful day of […]
Review: Doril Song by William Burkhardt
Synopsis: On the Seventh Webway planet of Exteron, an unprecedented disaster wipes out two-thirds of the terraforming colonists. Two teams are sent to the pre-terrestrial world on behalf of the Galactic Human Alliance, mankind’s centralized governing structure, and FLORA, the terraforming super-conglomerate whose technology allowed mankind to inhabit new worlds. The prospect of future Human […]
Review: Lancelot by Giles Kristian
Synopsis: In Britain, Rome’s legions are but a distant memory. And Uther Pendragon is dying. Enemies stalk the land. Into this uncertain world a boy is cast – an outsider, plagued by memories of those he’s lost. Under the watchful eye of Merlin, the boy begins his journey to manhood. He meets another outcast, Guinevere […]
REVIEW: Feeders by Matt Serafini
SYNOPSIS When a video depicting the brutal murder of a former classmate leaks online, Kylie Bennington’s—whose dreams of becoming a successful influencer remain frustratingly elusive—curiosity gets the better of her, leading to the discovery of an off-the-grid social media app called MonoLife. As it turns out, there are certain cryptic rules in the user agreement […]
Review: Unfortunate by Ayrton Silva
Synopsis: Wealth, power, and an easy life. Vaz had it all, but nothing could satisfy him. He always wanted more. When one of his plans makes his boss finally decide he is a threat, Vaz finds himself with only two options: to roll over and die, or to roll the dice. Literally. Due to an […]
Review: Vampire Metropolis by Robin Brown
Synopsis: Hi, I’m Caiden, I look nineteen, but I’m actually a two-hundred-year-old vampire… and I’ve just been kicked out of a plane and dropped into a walled-off prison city for the world’s fantasy creatures. Welcome to Vampire City! A sprawling metropolis of segregated boroughs, desperate poverty and tyrannical vampire overlords who feed upon their lowly […]
Book Review: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
TL;DR Review: Razor-sharp dialogue, a wildly imaginative alt-history fantasy world, and wonderfully extravagant characters result in what may be Joe Abercrombie’s best work to date. Synopsis: Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds. Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his […]
Review: Canellian Eye: Prophecy (Book 1 of the Canellian Eye series) by Caroline Noe
Synopsis: Destiny can be savage The towering monolith of Erulia’s Prophecy stood for millennia in the watery paradise of Canellia, its dire warning unheeded. That time is long past. In the wake of dying twin suns, this generation faces extinction under the onslaught of an Ice Age. Then, in the depths of despair, a child […]