OLIVER K LANGMEAD Calypso. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Oliver K Langmead combines science fiction with poetry to deliver a fresh and thought-provoking take on the genre. Just when you think you have come across every possible version and trope of the generation-ship (taking hundreds of years to take colonists to a new...
JOHN WISWELL Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
John Wiswell gives an outsider’s view of human behaviour in this novel of a shape-shifting monster told with violence and dark humour. John Wiswell must be in the running for title of the year for his debut fantasy novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In. The title not...
TRAVIS BALDREE Bookshops and Bonedust. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
In Travis Baldree’s latest fantasy novel, his warrior’s quest is not to slay dragons but to save a failing bookstore. Travis Baldree’s second novel can be enjoyed as a standalone or as the prequel to his bestselling Legends and Lattes. If you don’t already adore Viv,...
MYKAELA SAUNDERS Always Will Be. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Mykaela Saunders’ stories imagine a future where the connection to land and culture is central. Mykaela Saunders won an Aurealis award for her exciting and thought-provoking anthology of First Nations speculative fiction This All Come Back Now. In the same year her...
JO RICCIONI The Rising. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
The conclusion to Jo Riccioni’s high fantasy series The Branded Season brings Nara and her sister Osha to the Shadow City of Reis. This exciting sequel to The Branded concludes a thought-provoking and fast-paced story about two sisters finding their place in a harsh,...
SHELLEY PARKER-CHAN He Who Drowned the World. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Shelley Parker-Chan’s award-winning tale of an alternate ancient China continues in He Who Drowned the World. ‘… the most dangerous person in a game is the one nobody knows is playing.’ Dive back into the fascinatingly complex alternate ancient China of Shelley...
TJ KLUNE Wolfsong and Ravensong: Green Creek Books 1 and 2. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
TJ Klune’s werewolves challenge gender roles and showcase love and understanding among the bloodletting. ‘… even one such as you cannot live on rage alone.’ In Wolfsong, the first of TJ Klune’s Green Creek series, Oxnard’s father walks out one day,...
NICK HARKAWAY Titanium Noir. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Nick Harkaway’s dystopian new novel features a classic noir detective. While it is always true to say genre is fluid, occasionally something magical can happen when crime fiction meets science fiction. This may be because the best crime fiction uses its tropes...
BRANDON SANDERSON Tress of the Emerald Sea. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
The first of Brandon Sanderson’s ‘secret novels’ delivers a resourceful heroine on an epic quest. During the pandemic, prolific fantasy author Brandon Sanderson found he had more time on his hands and, as he puts it, ‘Brandon + Time = Stories‘. He...
AK LARKWOOD The Unspoken Name and The Thousand Eyes: Books 1 and 2 of The Serpent Gates. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
AK Larkwood’s debut fantasy series combines a death cult, magical artefacts, and an accomplished assassin. ‘Only I am without end, for desolation is my watchword. Yet nothing is to be forgotten that belongs to me. All things that are lost come into my keeping.’...
JO RICCIONI The Branded. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
In the world of Jo Riccioni’s debut fantasy novel, surviving a plague carries a price. How I longed to be allowed to wield a sword, to fight, to kill the Settlement’s enemies when I trained with Brim in the Fornwood. Now I’d give anything not to. Acclaimed...
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