We’re back from the Holidays. Happy New Year. We list what we think are the best books we read in 2025, which are not limited to but do include a lot published in 2025. Christina’s Books Steph’s Books Josh’s Books Your hosts are Steph Kingston (@StephOKingston), Christina Ladd (@christinaladd), and Joshua MacDougall (@FourofFiveWits). You can …
We discuss what is up with Ianthe, Ianthe’s weird room, the unserious Emperor’s decor, Harrow and John’s conversation about her birth, and hints about what BoE is. We are also wistful for Harrow’s door diary. Your hosts are Steph Kingston (@StephOKingston), Christina Ladd (@christinaladd), and Joshua MacDougall (@FourofFiveWits). You can find us all on Bluesky. …
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is about a group of robots in an unidentified dystopian future of California who discover not only that they have been offline for months, but also that the owners of their restaurant have fled the country. They decide, instead of serving the mix of all the hodgepodge of food their …
We start by discussing the Locked Tomb story, “The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex,” and then move on to Harrow the Ninth, where we explore the confusion of reading this for the first time compared to now, pointing out the small details that went over our heads amidst the chaos. Your hosts are Steph Kingston …
On this bookling, we’re talking the science fiction novella Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon. This was a fun one to talk about the cool technology used, dystopian futures run by corporations, setting boundaries, and the intimacy of the two main characters, so be sure to check it out. An advance reader copy of this book …
The Blighted Stars by Megan O’Keefe is a mix of the horror of human expansion, the fear of limited resources, and humanity’s resolve. Her characters are engaging with conflicting motivations in a situation where they must work together. The first book in The Devoured Worlds series is full of action and small character moments that …
Do you like violence? Alexander Darwin’s The Combat Codes is about a world where society has traded war for hand-to-hand combat bouts. Where the Grievar are trained, given performance-enhancing stimulants, and all sorts of experiments by the Daimyo in order to win their newfound way of waging war. Murray, who used to be a knight …
Since the release of her novella Silver in the Wind in 2019, I’ve been a fan of Emily Tesh, so her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, was high on my anticipation list for 2023. In this science fiction thriller, contact with aliens has happened, and it ends with the destruction of Earth. Now Valkyr is …
Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor reads as a tall tale told around the campfire–or the equivalent of a campfire in near-future Ghana, a tablet playing a video of a campfire. In the story, a child named Fatima encounters a seed that falls from the sky, which makes her no longer feel ill from malaria, able …
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