speculativefiction | Bossy Bookworm

Review of Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel

In Mandel's newest dystopian novel she presents two worlds, one lawless and one bound by constant surveillance, and she drops characters and their doppelgängers in and out of each. I was fascinated by this melancholy, layered story and its irresistible main protagonist. It's the year 2030 and the United States has collapsed. Ari Waker has just been released from prison after serving a decades-long sentence, and she emerges to a nation in turmoil where many scrape and scramble

Oct 8

Review of Under Story by Chloe Benjamin

Benjamin's speculative fiction sets two members of a heartbroken couple in an unforgiving climate, facing an unexplained phenomenon, and seeking the impossible: to turn back time and undo a tragedy that upended their lives. This is intriguing--as well as science-heavy, unique, patiently paced, and without a neat and tidy ending. In Chloe Benjamin's haunting, beautiful novel Under Story, Laurel is a biologist who studies fungi and is running from her past. She's hurting, and s

Sep 24

Review of Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei

Kitasei's stark dystopian science fiction sets sisters adrift in a future world where oceans have risen and consumed much of the earth. Leaving a stressful daily life of scarcity, two sisters embark on a far-fetched rescue mission for the third in this messy, danger-filled journey that tests each of their mettle. In a near-future world reeling from environmental catastrophe, oceans have risen and destroyed the cities along the world's coasts. Skipper and Carmen are sisters ge

Mar 12