Speculative Fiction – Page 148

things that weren’t yours to lose

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

March 14, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

I felt the air being knocked out of my chest on more than one occasion while sinking into Arcadia. Lauren Groff’s prose is sparse and beautiful, and there’s no way for me to accurately describe it without further muddying it into oblivion. She tells only what needs to be told; moments are fleeting, endings are organic, and jumps through time are poignant and crushing. I felt the ache of nostalgia for things that I have never experienced. I felt long-gone youthful optimism harden and calcify into […]

Days of Future Past

A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers by Victor LaValle

March 14, 2019 by Classic Leave a Comment

FYI, the cover of this in person is so cool. You eventually can see the word “history” hidden behind “future”. Wow. What a great collection. I didn’t give any story less than four stars. Some stories resonated with me very much because some of them read as things that could totally happen in a year or less with the ways things are going on in the United States right now. Other stories had a very strong fantasy element (which I liked) but didn’t seem […]

Luke Cage meets noir meets The Diviners meets more please!

Abbott by Saladin Ahmed, Sami Kivelä

March 13, 2019 by cosbrarian Leave a Comment

Abbott is a brief, five-issue series set in 1970s Detroit about journalist Elena Abbott, lone black female reporter at the Detroit Daily. Abbott prefers to delve into the stories the paper’s board would rather not see printed. She’s recently getting heat for her piece on the death of a black teen at the hands of police, but so far she’s been protected by her loyal boss. She has a new case on the horizon and it’s a grisly one. A mutilated police horse is found […]

Bird Box – The Post-Apocalyptic Book that Dreams (Nightmares) Are Made of

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

March 3, 2019 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

I discovered this book all on my own, a little unknown unassuming book at the library. (Jk. This book is everywhere). Unless you’ve been gone in some remote location you have heard of this book, or at least, heard of the Netflix movie of the same name, starring America’s favorite FBI beauty contestant, the delightful Sandra Bullock. Sandra is having a pretty bad time though, in his post-apocalyptic dystopian nightmare, where the sight of something, some unknown creature, drives people almost instantly mad and violent […]

Still has exciting steampunk aerial combat but doesn’t recapture the joy of the first book

Arabella the Traitor of Mars: The Adventures of Arabella Ashby by David D. Levine

March 1, 2019 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

“The Adventures of Arabella Ashby” series starts off with a bang in Arabella of Mars. The second book, Arabella and the Battle of Venus, was not as ‘romantic and dashing’ as the first. The third, Arabella the Traitor of Mars, is a good conclusion to Arabella’s story but it doesn’t have the spark of the first book. I mentally groaned when the book started with Arabella and Captain Singh on Earth but then Arabella, once again, needs to race to the other side of the solar system, in as […]

“A curtain was drawn back in every man’s inner theater and their storytelling minds got to work.”

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

February 26, 2019 by narfna Leave a Comment

First things first, this book is a slow burn. I wish I would have known that going in, I would have started it sooner and read it over a longer time frame. The first half meanders along and nothing seems to be connected, and getting to know the main players is not a quick process. If you’re prepared for that going in, you will probably end up liking this book. And about halfway through, it picks up quite a bit, and keeps getting stronger until […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

Help Our Mission