Book #23 of 2024: In the Company of Gentlemen by Victoria Goddard I’ve been bouncing around the timeline of author Victoria Goddard’s Nine Worlds cozy fantasy series, the volumes of which are interconnected but pretty forgiving of any specific reading order. This novella recounts one particular tale of the Red Company, her infamous band of …
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Book #137 of 2022: Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #1) Detective Renée Ballard has only appeared in one Michael Connelly book before this, but there’s still a frisson of crossover thrill when she encounters the author’s more established hero Harry Bosch early in this volume. After cautiously feeling one another out …
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Book #108 of 2022: Defunctland: Guide to the Magic Kingdom by Kevin Perjurer This first written spinoff of the eponymous Defunctland YouTube channel presents the same focus on change within theme parks and attractions that are no longer operational, but in the specific context of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom as it exists in the present. …
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Book #30 of 2022: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman (Tess of the Road #1) My original review from when I read an Advance Reader’s Copy of this book in 2018: Practically from the start, I’ve been reeling over the emotional journey that the heroine makes in this intensely personal fantasy novel. Largely eschewing …
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Book #303 of 2021: Opal by Maggie Stiefvater I’ve heard author Maggie Stiefvater refer to this Raven Cycle sequel as a novella, but at 38 pages, it’s probably scraping the lower limit of what could fairly be given that designation. It’s really more of a quick interlude in the lives of her heroes Ronan Lynch …
Book #161 of 2021: The Descent of Monsters by Neon Yang (Tensorate #3) I think this is my favorite Tensorate novella yet, although it’s a bit of a departure from the previous stories. There’s a brand-new protagonist, a Ministry of Justice official tasked with rubberstamping that a scene of slaughter was caused by arrested rebels …
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Book #149 of 2021: How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t by Lane Moore Somewhere between essay collection and memoir, this debut title from comedian Lane Moore covers a lot of ground with a few puzzling omissions. The author tells us her childhood dream was to write for The …
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Book #147 of 2021: Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older (Dactyl Hill Squad #1) This is a fun little historical fantasy romp. Dinosaurs in the Civil War era! A mostly-POC cast including a protagonist who can control the animals with her mind! But as with many middle-grade projects, the characters don’t always feel like …
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Book #112 of 2021: Provenance by Ann Leckie This space-opera comedy of manners takes place in the same broad continuity as author Ann Leckie’s earlier Imperial Radch trilogy, but it largely stands apart from that narrative, focusing instead on a few civilizations along the periphery of Radchian influence. It’s also a new tone for the …
Book #107 of 2021: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark This 2018 novella is short enough that it feels more like a proof-of-concept for the setting than a full story, and while that worldbuilding has cool potential — a steampunk Afrofuturist historical fiction version of New Orleans that’s neutral in a Civil War …
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