Wow. Just…wow. In a good way. In the best way. You want to know how to do horror and gore and also troubled family dynamics and colonialism in a single YA book? Look no further. Rebecca Schaeffer’s Not Even Bones is your dark remedy to the fact that Darkdawn got pushed back. This is one …
Unsurprisingly, SFF has been grim lately. The world is a dumpster fire, and it’s invading our art. Inevitable, of course, but if you need a break from The Handmaid’s Tale adaptation, here are three more unusual dystopias to check out. No rebel teen groups, no theocracies, and no zombie plagues. Plum Rains (Andromeda Romano-Lax) – …
The zombie- and magic-infused retelling of Romeo and Juliet that began with Bright Smoke, Cold Fire now finally has a conclusion in Endless Water, Starless Sky. It’s been hard to wait even the usual year for the sequel, since the blood-soaked cliffhanger was so heartbreaking. But Rosamund Hodge has not been idle. This is a …
Werewolves are usually stand-ins for the animal side of humanity, all the urges toward lust and death moderated by social convention. The unchecked id, free to roam about the moors, also contains absolution for these urges, since werewolves are often assumed not to be in control of themselves. The fantasy, then, is not just wanton indulgence …
In honor of the amazing Half-Witch having come out this month, here are five other titles doing things by half measure only in the title. (I am not sorry for the puns.) But first, here’s a bit about Half-Witch: Half-Witch (John Schoffstall) – Lizbet Linz is not a witch. Nor is her father, although he …
We were fortunate enough to snag an interview with Rebecca Roanhorse, author of the smash-hit debut Trail of Lightning. The book follows Maggie Hoskie in Dinétah, the post-global-warming former Navajo reservation, as she fights monsters arisen from myth. This is an #ownvoices title that emphasizes Diné heritage and culture, and a rollicking good read. Geekly, …
The Big Water came, bigger than anyone expected. Dire climate change warnings weren’t dire enough, and much of the world either drowned or descended into chaos. But the Diné—the proper title for the Navajo people—survived behind a vast wall made from magic as much as brick. The magic that had once only existed in whispers …
Archivist Wasp was one of my favorite books of 2015 and up there for one of my favorite new fantasy titles, period. It was such a rough, raw book, the literary equivalent of a rebel yell, and not just because it was a debut. Furious and dreamlike and achingly emotional, it was everything I never …
What’s the collective noun for books featuring ravens? A group of actual ravens is an “unkindness,” so maybe it’s a discourteousness, just to enhance the erudition? Anyway, Ann Leckie, author of the Ancillary Justice trilogy, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke awards, and all-around excellent human being, is delving into fantasy! Her new …
Bright We Burn (Kiersten White) – July 10 – WHY is this trilogy ending? I mean, I know it has to. It’s not a series. Also, it’s based on historical figures who are extremely dead. (Well, one of them is a reinterpretation of Vlad Tepes, basis for Dracula, so maybe it could go on a …