Book Review: Holy Sister

Reading Mark Lawrence’s Holy Sister is a bit like wandering around in a candy shop only to realize that what you gobbled up might just have been nutritious. The characters, politics, intricate plots, well-realized world mixing science fiction and fantasy elements are all so satisfying. It gives you what you want in terms of action, […]

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Ninth Step Station

One of the benefits of an anthology or collection is that the reader is exposed to different writers and gets the opportunity to discover a new diamond. Ninth Step succeeds in this regard. There were several really compelling episodes and watching how each author took on the cast, setting, and the past details left behind […]

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Spinning Silver

Before I get to reviewing Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, I thought I’d share an anecdote. When I was in middle school, our chorus teacher asked me to try out for the state choir. Part of this, I’m sure, was just because my voice had changed early and I could produce a strong baritone/bass which for […]

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The Rose Society

Marie Lu’s Rose Society picks up right where The Young Elites left off. Adelina and her sister are running for their lives and from betrayals in search of allies and a way to sate ambition. The Lead Inquisitor hunts for the Dagger Society and the path of our protagonist continues to whither from hero and […]

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Wanderling’s Choice

It’s always difficult to review a friend’s book. Do you read it with the same eye as you do other novels? Are you more critical? More forgiving? I’m struggling a little with what I want to say about McLaughlin’s novella. McLaughlin calls this book “Beauty and the Beast, but with dragons.” I think it’s a […]

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The Young Elites

The Young Elites by Marie Lu turns out to be the story not of the Young Elites, but Adelina, a survivor of a plague which mutated her such that she gained magical/mutant powers… In her case, the power of illusion, but not only illusion of sight, but smell, touch, etc. Lu’s exploration of perception reveals […]

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Book Review: Grey Sister

  I really like Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor series so far. The world building and the blend of dystopic sf with its religious/political backdrop is well done. Possibly because Lawrence never lets ideas take dominance over the characters themselves. Grey Sister is more of a split narrative than Red Sister. The story tracks […]

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Book Review: The Bear and the Nightingale

The Bear and the Nightingale is a soothing, familiar story. Katerine Arden tells her narrative with beautiful delicate phrases plucked from gossamer and fey. It leans, like the works of Charles DeLint, on folk tales and sets them into reality although Arden’s reality is a foregone Russia in the place of DeLint’s modern Ottawa. It […]

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Book Review: Wrath of Empire

In the weeks that pass between the conclusion of Sin of the Empire and the start of Wrath of Empire, the Dynize have been busy. They have staked holds on the continent and their forces are consolidating in search of ancient artifacts needed to birth or resurrect a god. Our heroes, in the meantime, are […]

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