BECKY CHAMBERS The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Reviewed by Chris Maher
Becky Chambers assembles an intriguing cast of species in a spacecraft on a mission into deep space. Compared in its publicity to cult TV sci-fi show Firefly, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is both more and less than that cowboy western in space. The...
TIM CLARE The Ice House. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Tim Clare’s second novel follows in the footsteps of other modern British fantasists like China Miéville and Jeff Vandermeer. In 2015 Tim Clare released his debut fantasy The Honours. That book felt like a reinvigoration of classic British fantasy. Set in the...
MELISSA FERGUSON The Shining Wall. Reviewed by Dasha Maiorova
In Melissa Ferguson’s imaginative and original debut, Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal clones inhabit a bleak and desperate dystopia. The Shining Wall questions the nature of humanity and compassion in a world bereft of both. The depiction of an unhappy future, societal...
SYLVAIN NEUVEL The Test. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Sylvain Neuvel’s novella The Test, about the demonisation of immigrants, packs a punch and could not be more timely. Canadian author Sylvain Neuvel’s new novella, The Test, is a long way removed from his engaging trilogy of novels about alien invasion and...
ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny (The Witcher series). Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
These two collections of stories introduce the fantasy series The Witcher, and have inspired a videogame and a Netflix series. Geralt of Rivia is a famous witcher, a trained mutant who fights monsters for a living. Considered a freak, Geralt is often despised by those...
BEN H WINTERS Golden State. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
In this new part-noir, part-dystopian novel, Ben H Winters imagines a world where the state records everything and lying is a crime. Ben H Winters has made a habit of writing what might be called crime fiction/dystopian mash-ups. His trilogy The Last Policeman...
ANGELA CHADWICK XX. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
This debut novel from Angela Chadwick is both speculative but also intensely topical, exploring gender, politics, science and the media through what becomes an intensely personal journey. XX starts with a day-after-tomorrow (or possibly even day-after-today) premise:...
LING MA Severance. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
In Severance the tropes of the post-apocalyptic genre are a jumping off point for an exploration of humanity that challenges and engages readers and exposes modern society. When Severance opens the apocalypse is underway and people are madly googling survival...
JAY KRISTOFF Lifel1k3. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Lifel1k3 is the first of a new series from internationally best-selling and prize-winning Australian author Jay Kristoff. Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. Your life is not your own. Humorous and profound in equal measure, Lifel1k3 is a...
JULIAN GOUGH Connect. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Connect is a big-ideas technothriller, with roots in cyberpunk and crazy artificial-intelligence science fiction. In 2010, Irish author Julian Gough created a stir when he called out the Irish writing establishment for not writing about anything contemporary. In 2018...
YOON HA LEE Revenant Gun: Machineries of Empire Book Three. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Revenant Gun delivers a deeply humanistic tale that furthers the concerns of the previous two volumes without being repetitive. Yoon Ha Lee wraps up his stunning Machineries of Empire trilogy with all of the style of the first two volumes. Both the...
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