There’s something truly special about finding a novel that speaks to you, the words flowing from page to mind in a symbiotic creative fusion. That feeling of connecting so deeply with a book is priceless, something to be cherished, and it’s even better when that book becomes an author. For me, that author is P. Djèlí Clark. Ever since reading his short works A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015, I was enamored with his blending of the fantastical and historical. That connection deepened when I read some of his short stories, and then even more when I tore through last year’s Ring Shout. Count me lucky when his first full-length novel comes out a mere seven months later—in A Master of Djinn, Clark’s magically-infused Cairo is back and better than ever.
Tor Books
Review: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
aisle of a specific section in a library. You grab several large volumes to return to your table and your extensive research thesis you’ve been working on for years. You sit down and in front of you lays a thousand-book-pages book, and you sift through every page, drinking the excitement of investigation and glancing at sketches, pictures and schematics of times of old, slowly taking notes and drawing your own conclusions. This is how I felt while I was reading The Way of Kings. A rich study about an extensive world name Roshar with interesting characters and their history. Even after the first 1000 pages of this grossly engaging and epic adventure (4000-5000 pages total), I felt like I only scratched the surface.
Review: A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2) by Arkady Martine
A Desolation Called Peace is the second and last (for now, at least – the author has been quoted as wanting to return to this Universe, but this book does conclude the current storyline) installment in Arkady Martine’s award-winning Teixcalaani series. It resumes the story soon after the events of book 1, A Memory Called Empire, and continues following Mahit et al after the crowning of a new Emperor in Teixcalaan.
Review: A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine
A Memory Called Empire is Arkady Martine’s debut novel and first the author’s Teixcalaan series. I am here to tell you this book is a phenomenal read! There are so many aspects of it that are enjoyable that I cannot wait to rant them all. Let’s go!
Review: The God is Not Willing (Witness #1) by by Steven Erikson
Review & Author Chat: When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson
Review: The Last Watch (The Divide #1) by J. S. Dewes
Review: Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #2) by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth is the utterly full of mood sequel that we needed for the Locked Tomb; the prose sings old harmonies from an ancient turntable, the needle screeching in eloquent – but drawn out – screams that dig deep into a sense of misguidance, a sense of the unknown dipped into depression and coated in necromancy. This sequel takes the gothic laboratory in space, seeped in mystery and necromantic theorems and flips it upside down with planet-sized Beasts of the Resurrection, terrorist orgs with nukes, God himself, Necrosaints to the Lord Undying, and bones … lots of bones.
16 Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to be Excited About — June 2021
Hello all and welcome to FanFiAddict’s monthly list of books we think you should be excited about. We’re a little late in posting this month, but we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to hype you up on some great science fiction and fantasy releases coming your way. So, without further ado, here’s a bunch of books we think you need to check out this month.
Review: She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan
She Who Became the Sun is the first in Shelley Parker-Chan’s The Radiant Emperor series. Set in 14th-Century China, the books combination of war, politics, and gender identity exploration is certain to please fans of Chinese-inspired historical fantasy.
Review: Infomocracy (The Centenal Cycle #1) by Malka Older
It’s rare that I get fully engrossed in a fictional political narrative anymore. Sure, the vast number of Tom Clancy novels and movies deliver compelling, high-octane thrill rides, and The Manchurian Candidate (both the 1959 novel as well as the 1962 and 2004 films) still stands as one of the best election stories out there. But, when it comes down to it, the real world of politics (in the United States and elsewhere) is already rife with enough drama, deceit and decadence. Sometimes it’s just so damn tiring—and all of this coming from me, a genuine political junky. (On top of it all, most political stories just aren’t that good.) So, it came as a wonderful surprise when I read Malka Older’s debut novel, Infomocracy, that I found myself invested in a story so distinctly political again.