Anthony Ryan has a gift. A gift for writing war and mysticism then entangling the two together so you cannot have one without the other. In the fantasy genre, war has become rather tiresome. Yet, whenever Ryan writes a new battle, he has me intrigued, glued to my book until the battle is won or …
Along with my list of books read, I keep a list of particularly excellent quotes from those books, insights or particularly poetic turns of phrase that I know I’ll want to revisit. I don’t record things from every book; some novels have great plots or characters without ever really hitting that point where brilliant insight …
Sarah Gailey’s upcoming book Just Like Home hits a perfect sweet spot between true crime vibes and creeping gothic horror. Normally I try to read about one book to review a month; this book I finished in a week. It was so compelling I read the entire first half in one day. In Just Like …
Perhaps it’s the times, or perhaps it’s my specific brand of pessimism, which I don’t wish on anyone, but A Prayer for the Crown-Shy made me sad. Not tragically so, and not also without making me think, making me smile, and ultimately making me glad, but this second entry in the Monk and Robot series …
Good horror is scary, but great horror is tender. It does not always speak at a scream, but tells you, very softly but very firmly, what is about to happen. It does not gloat, but likewise does not flinch. It is—inevitable. I wish that all novellas were as inevitable as Helpmeet, the exquisite new offering …
I confess that I had never read “The Fall of the House of Usher” until What Moves the Dead came out. (Other Poe, yes, but I prefer his poetry.) But I could not in good conscience review this novel without reading the story it is directly and explicitly commenting upon, and so to The Collected …
Samit Basu’s latest novel The City Inside is a bleak near-future dystopian exploration of Indian culture, social media, capitalism and all those other fun bits of facism that have been building in our world. It might have the honor of being the book that had myself and fellow No Page Unturned hosts Christina and Josh …
We decide what is the way of the world. Us. People. – Uspa Whoever told the people of John Gwynne’s series The Bloodsworn Saga that the gods would stay fallen after the Guðfalla may have spoken too soon. The Hunger of the Gods, the follow-up to The Shadow of the Gods, picks up right where …
Dolly Parton, a woman who we can all agree is unequivocally herself (and her best self, at that), once advised to “find out who you are and do it on purpose.” I mention this not because Little Bird is about country singers or Tennessee, but because author Tiffany Meuret has so completely embodied this advice. …
I realized part of the way through A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow’s follow-up to her 2021 A Spindle Splintered, that this was only sort of taking its inspiration from portal fantasy. Its true parentage, though? Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. A Mirror Mended doesn’t map on to any of the films perfectly, but the spirit …