Book #138 of 2024: Blitz by Daniel O’Malley (The Checquy Files #3) I have a lingering fondness for the Checquy, author Daniel O’Malley’s fictional and exceedingly dysfunctional British intelligence agency tasked with containing all threats of a magical nature, and I’m glad that this novel stands so apart from its predecessors, as it’s been over …
Tag Archives: fantasy
Book Review: Athyra by Steven Brust
Book #137 of 2024: Athyra by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #6) Given how the last volume in this series sort of blew up the overall premise, and how author Steven Brust has bounced around in the timeline before now, it would have been unsurprising for this sixth novel to be another flashback entry, taking place …
Book Review: Blackcurrant Fool by Victoria Goddard
Book #135 of 2024: Blackcurrant Fool by Victoria Goddard (Greenwing & Dart #4) I keep thinking that the Greenwing & Dart sequence is finally going to make the leap from good to great for me — in line with the other entries I’ve read in author Victoria Goddard’s sprawling Nine Worlds fantasy setting — only …
Continue reading “Book Review: Blackcurrant Fool by Victoria Goddard”
Book Review: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
Book #133 of 2024: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young This novel is largely fine, but I want so much more from it. The premise is convoluted in a River Song / The Time Traveler’s Wife sort of way, and it takes so long to get fully established that it seems like the …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young”
Book Review: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
Book #129 of 2024: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams (The Babysitters Coven #1) Given the title, I was expecting this 2019 series debut to be a smart and loving homage to The Babysitters Club, with some nice new witchy twist thrown in on top. Instead, it’s unfortunately more of a half-baked Buffy-meets-Labyrinth affair, with …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams”
Book Review: Phoenix by Steven Brust
Book #126 of 2024: Phoenix by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #5) I’m perhaps a bit biased, as this was the first Vlad Taltos book that I ever picked up back in the day, but I do think it’s a big step forward from the previous volumes and possibly a series-best entry. In typical bouncing timeline …
Book Review: The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman
Book #125 of 2024: The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman An excellent and appreciably queer new prequel to 2021’s The Blacktongue Priest, although the two stories are so standalone that they could probably be read in either order. Approaching them by release date, as I have, merely underscores the tragic nature of the present title: …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman”
Book Review: Stone Speaks to Stone by Victoria Goddard
Book #124 of 2024: Stone Speaks to Stone by Victoria Goddard A roughly-standalone prequel novella to author Victoria Goddard’s Greenwing & Dart series (which is itself just a smaller piece of her overarching Nine Worlds fantasy saga). I’ve chosen to read it after the first three G&D novels, which feels like the right choice, as …
Continue reading “Book Review: Stone Speaks to Stone by Victoria Goddard”
Book Review: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
Book #116 of 2024: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse (Between Earth and Sky #3) A satisfyingly epic conclusion to this queer and Mesoamerican-flavored fantasy trilogy. As expected, it doesn’t quite hit the heights of the first volume, while cementing the middle book as a fairly forgettable bridge towards this more eventful finale. But everything wraps …
Continue reading “Book Review: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse”
Book Review: Taltos by Steven Brust
Book #115 of 2024: Taltos by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #4) We’ve once again jumped around in the timeline for this fourth Vlad Taltos installment, though as usual, the context clues make it pretty easy to place the adventure in its proper spot within the protagonist’s personal lifespan. In this case, it’s his earliest outing …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 