The nitty-gritty: A bleak futuristic pandemic story that felt a little too familiar for comfort and lacked emotion and drive. I’m sorry to say this book just didn’t work that well for me, which is a shame because I loved Burke’s Semiosis. It took me a solid two weeks to read it, as I picked […]
The nitty-gritty: An inventive retelling with a pop music beat, The Album of Dr. Moreau is a funny, heartwarming surprise. I once made the mistake of telling an Englishman my story, and he turned it into a novel. What do you get when you mash together The Island of Doctor Moreau, a famous boy band […]
The nitty-gritty: Thrilling, emotional and very funny, Project Hail Mary is a winner! *Spoiler free review This is a tricky book to review, because as you might have heard, there is a spoilerific element to the story that should be kept under wraps at all costs. I have to admit I went into Project Hail […]
The nitty-gritty: Tim Pratt brings his readers three stories that focus on the side characters from his Axiom series, and while I enjoyed the stories overall, I really loved the last one in particular. Tim Pratt mentions in his forward to The Alien Stars that he wanted to revisit some of his favorite characters from […]
The nitty-gritty: I enjoyed the mystery and Scalzi’s cool concept of “dispatching,” but overall I wanted more from the story. After my debacle of unintentionally rereading The Dispatcher, I finally downloaded the correct document and was able to knock out Murder By Other Means pretty quickly. This is the second novella in John Scalzi’s The […]
The nitty-gritty: Come for the characters, stay for the pulse-pounding action! The Last Watch is an excellent debut with heart, humor and thrills galore. A scrappy band of misfits sent to the outer reaches of the galaxy to protect humanity from a dangerous enemy; a newly recruited member of the team who is trying to […]
The nitty-gritty: More over-the-top, batshit crazy fun from Jackson Ford, and I loved every second of it! Do I feel bad about hitting so many people on the head? Leaving a trail of concussions and possible brain injuries? Sure. But they started it. And besides, no one gives Batman shit when he beats up a […]
The nitty-gritty: A peculiar, melancholy but ultimately uplifting futuristic story, beautifully written. Composite Creatures is a strange, heartbreaking story that completely took me by surprise. I want to make sure my review is spoiler free, because this is one of those books where you should discover its secrets for yourself. And in fact, it wasn’t […]
The nitty-gritty: A strange, sad, claustrophobic tale, with unexpected moments of beauty and hope. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything quite like We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep. This is a dark, atmospheric tale—verging on oppressive—that weaves together several unusual elements: a submarine called the Leviathan commanded by a religious zealot […]
The nitty-gritty: A thrilling, heartbreaking and satisfying end to one of my favorite series, The Fall of Koli is one of the best books of 2021. Jon stroked my cheek with one finger, a thing he did oftentimes to gentle me into sleep. “What do people look for out of a story, Spin? You told […]