Category Archives: Reviews

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan

Last year’s A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan was a pleasant surprise for me: the first volume of the fictional memoirs of Isabella, Lady Trent, who some thought to be a mere “ink-nosed girl” at the time of … Continue reading

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Irenicon by Aidan Harte

The city of Rasenna is divided, in more than one sense of the word. Geographically speaking, the city is split in two by the river Irenicon, which was blasted straight through the middle of the ancient city using Wave technology, … Continue reading

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Truth and Fear by Peter Higgins

Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins (review) was one of last year’s strongest debuts, a unique dystopian fantasy set in an alternate Stalin-era USSR with Russian mythological elements and vague hints of something science fictional happening out in space. The story of … Continue reading

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Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

Toby is the seventeen-year-old scion of the McGonigal family, which is in the process of colonizing Sedna, one of the countless unclaimed orphan planets that can be found in interstellar space, far beyond Pluto but light years away from the … Continue reading

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Her Husband’s Hands and Other Stories by Adam-Troy Castro

I came to the works of Adam-Troy Castro quite late. Specifically, the first story I remember of his is “Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs” in the excellent dystopian anthology Brave New Worlds, edited by John … Continue reading

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The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron

Despite some minor misgivings, I absolutely loved Miles Cameron’s debut fantasy novel The Red Knight, the gritty and stirring story of a mercenary company, led by the titular Red Knight, who gets drawn into an epic battle that turns out to … Continue reading

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The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski (reviewed with Liz Bourke)

Kestrel is the daughter of General Trajan, the Valorian general who conquered the Herran peninsula and enslaved its people. She leads a comfortable, even pampered life in the subjugated Herrani capital. Her real love is music, but with her eighteenth … Continue reading

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Empress of the Sun by Ian McDonald

I don’t usually get this effusive about books, but I’ve rarely had as much fun with a Young Adult SF series as I have with Ian McDonald’s Everness—now up to three books with the brand new, shiny addition of Empress of … Continue reading

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A Natural History Of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons is presented as the (fictional) memoir of Isabella, Lady Trent, who is the world’s preeminent authority on dragons. In these pages, Lady Trent looks back on her early life and career from the … Continue reading

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Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman

There are two unusual things about Jessica (“Jesse”) Drake, the teenage protagonist of Dreamwalker, C.S. Friedman’s first foray into Young Adult fiction and the start of what’s billed as a new, “open-ended” series. First of all, Jesse has bizarre dreams … Continue reading

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