The nitty-gritty: A stellar follow-up to one of my favorite books of 2020, The Trials of Koli is even better than the first book—unique, engaging, emotional and highly satisfying. The future rises out of the past like a fountain, and cannot be held back. Koli’s adventures continue in this excellent follow-up to The Book of […]
The nitty-gritty: Fascinating world building and interesting characters make The Bone Shard Daughter a solid debut fantasy. Book hype can be a double edged sword. On one hand, it can call attention to a debut author who might not otherwise get noticed, but it also sets up high expectations for the reader. The Bone Shard […]
The nitty-gritty: A sprawling, epic fantasy with plenty of exciting action, high stakes, and sparkling characters, Ashes of the Sun is a fantastic start to a new series. A race to find a powerful magical artifact, heists, deals, doublecrossing characters and much much more, I had a blast with Ashes of the Sun. This is […]
The nitty-gritty: Another fun entry into Ford’s Frost Files series, get ready for earthquakes, snarky characters, an evil genius child, and plenty of sh*t flying around. I had a blast reading last year’s The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, and I’ve been really looking forward to the sequel. Last week, when I […]
The nitty-gritty: Ambitious and complex, We Ride the Storm, although beloved by many readers, didn’t quite work for me. There has been a lot of hype surrounding We Ride the Storm, and tons of 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads. But this time the hype backfired for me, and I ended up really struggling […]
The nitty-gritty: Thrilling and atmospheric, The Bone Ships is a rollicking sea adventure with heart, humor and a very large sea dragon. I’m not sure why I waited so long to read this book, but I guess I have Wyrd & Wonder to thank for kicking me in the butt and finally giving me the […]
The nitty-gritty: Lam’s latest is harsh look at what our own future could be, full of thrilling action and interesting morale questions, but the uneven second half made this a mixed bag for me. Goldilocks has a fantastic premise and uses one of my favorite sci-fi tropes: leaving our dying Earth and striking out to […]
The nitty-gritty: A stellar start to a new series, The Book of Koli surprised me in just about every possible way. I’ve read every one of M.R. Carey’s books—or at least the books he’s written under the name M.R. Carey (he has an urban fantasy series written as Mike Carey that I’m dying to read!)—and […]
The nitty-gritty: A fast-paced mystery with plenty of creepy moments, Ghoster gets off to a strong start but ends up a little too WTF for my taste. This is probably going to be the most disappointing book of the year for me. I absolutely loved The Last Days of Jack Sparks, and I’ve been waiting […]
The nitty-gritty: A powerful and realistic portrayal of a near future civil war, Our War is a harrowing, emotional and ultimately uplifting story about the nature of war. “After we win this war, we can put away the guns for good.” Last year I was blown away by Craig DiLouie’s One of Us, a grim, […]