Elysium, Jennifer Marie Brissett, 2014. This one has been on my to-read list for awhile (about 5 years, says the list) and it's interesting stuff. I suggested it for book club which succeeded in getting me to finally read it but means I now have to write about it for book club, which I am stalling on by writing about it here. [SPOILERS] ( Read more... )

The Devil Comes Courting, Courtney Milan, het romance. I'm considering a plan where I read a romance novel every time I have to covid-test one of the kids. (Kid was negative.) The couple in this one was an easy sell for me: the heroine is terrible at names, the hero realizes this, and smoothly starts covering for her. Talk about your wish- ( Read more... )

Major spoilers for the entire book! ( Read more... )

The Unraveling, Benjamin Rosenbaum, 2021. This novel is outstanding and it is my new favorite book of 2021. If you like Greg Egan or Madeline Ashby's transhuman/posthuman stuff, if you liked Charles Stross's "Lobsters" or Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom or Catherynne Valente's gonzo worldbuilding in Space Opera, if you like ( Read more... )

Unnatural Magic, C.M. Waggoner, 2019. I was told I would like this book and I totally did, thank you recommenders! Second-world fantasy with fun, appealing characters - a math genius wizard girl! a half-troll lady who is very sure she is the "boss" gender in the troll gender system even though her mother disagrees! a sharpshooting soldier dude ( Read more... )

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, 2021 novella from Aimee Ogden. I nominated Ogden's novelette Blood, Bone, Seed, Spark in 2020 and her short story Never a Butterfly, Nor a Moth With Moon-Painted Wings this past year, so I was excited to see what she did with a little more space. This novella is a science fiction Little Mermaid retelling, and I did ( Read more... )

Black Water Sister, Zen Cho. I've been a fan of Zen Cho since I was blown away by the Malaysian vampire story a decade or so ago ("House of Aunts"), so it's not surprising I liked this, but, look, it's so good. Hooked me immediately and never lost me. I really enjoyed her Regency duology but this is a more serious book, with more emotional ( Read more... )

Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World, Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Behind cut for major spoilers. ( Read more... )

A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark. Novel in the same world as "Dead Djinn in Cairo" (available online here) and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (my review here). This was so much fun - detective story meets pulp-action-adventure. Clark has a real talent for writing cinematic action sequences, leading to the Scott-Westerfeld-esque experience of ( Read more... )

In the Watchful City, S. Qiouyi Lu. Novella consisting of a frame story and four short stories in varying genres and styles (five if you count the protagonist in the frame story relating aer own story). I had mixed feelings about it - I thought the frame story was very strong, a lot of vivid imagery and interesting ideas, and two of the four ( Read more... )