

Review of Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1) by Gail Carriger
The first in the author's young adult steampunk Finishing School series offers wonderful, typically strong Carriger women with unique...
Jul 9, 2025


Review of Silver Elite by Dani Francis
While I probably should stop reading "romantasy" because I prefer my fantasy and romance to remain separate, I was taken with the...
Jun 24, 2025


Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series
Royalty, Intrigue, and Magically Wonderful Stories It's tough to fall in love with the first book in a series and then twiddle thumbs...
Jun 20, 2025


Review of Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi
I was taken with the premise of conflicts and mystery in a post-colonial West African city, but I didn't feel very connected to or...
Jun 10, 2025


Review of Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
Eowyn Ivey offers elements familiar from her other two novels--a cold, unforgiving setting; magical realism; attempts to overcome...
May 28, 2025


Review of The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker
Walker offers an unreliable main protagonist, her dedicated new psychiatrist, increasingly inexplicable and complicated occurrences, and...
May 27, 2025


Review of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Harpman's slim novel poses a mysterious situation without promising concrete explanations. Our main protagonist knows little about her...
May 22, 2025


Review of Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman #1) by Olivia Waite
The playful tone and clever main protagonist in Olivia Waite's science-fiction novella make for an appealing mystery and lay the...
May 13, 2025


Six More of My Favorite Fantasy Reads of the Past Year
Six More Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read lots of entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough...
Apr 11, 2025


Review of The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
I loved the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy setting. I found...
Apr 3, 2025


Review of All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
Nonie is the young protagonist of this stark climate-change dystopian future, in which her small community fights to survive and to...
Jan 30, 2025


Review of Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1) by Sebastian de Castell
Kellen begins as a principled, headstrong young man lacking in the magic crucial for power, familial stability and social standing in his...
Jan 29, 2025


Six of My Favorite Fantasy Reads of the Year
Six Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read some entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough to make...
Jan 24, 2025


Review of The Blood of the Old Kings (Bleeding Empire #1) by Sung-Il Kim
In this first installment of The Bleeding Empire, Kim sets three characters on paths to discover their worth, their purpose, and their...
Jan 15, 2025


My Favorite Science Fiction Reads of the Year
My Favorite Sci-Fi Reads I love how science fiction stretches the way I think about what's possible, or explores issues like mortality,...
Jan 10, 2025


Review of Hum by Helen Phillips
The dystopian future of Hum is haunting in its familiar elements, its plausible, terrible climate-change effects, the extreme reliance on...
Jan 7, 2025


Review of Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
Frances White's debut is a locked-room mystery on a magical ship full of uncertain alliances, deadly vendettas, and a sassy and...
Jan 3, 2025


Review of The Last Hour Between Worlds (Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso
I may not have followed all of the echoes in time, creatures convincingly impersonating other creatures, or protagonists' complex,...
Jan 2, 2025


Review of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into...
Dec 19, 2024


Review of The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne
Gwynne's epic, Norse-inspired saga tracks three fascinating main protagonists through battles, shifting alliances, strengthened resolve,...
Dec 17, 2024
