She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
I felt like a bit of a dumb-arse after picking up She Who Became the Sun. I don’t know if it was just me stumbling around blindly perhaps, but it took me a good long time to realise that the this book was a reimagining of the Ming Dynasty’s rise to power. The ebook version of the book didn’t have a blurb on the back cover, true, and that might have helped. But it did have a map of north east of China on one […]
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Caution, mild spoilers ahead. I have tried not to explain too much beyond the blurb in this review, but I don’t think I can talk about Project Hail Mary properly without pulling back the curtain—just a little—on one of the major plot points. It probably won’t be a huge deal as this book has been out a while, and I suspect most people are probably already conscious of the little point I want to reveal, even if they haven’t read the book. But I just […]
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
I was pretty excited to finally pick up and find the time to read A Master of Djinn. I had previously been delighted by P. Djèlí Clark’s alternative, magical steampunk 1910s Cairo. The setting is just so damned fun. The novellas I had read before Master of Djinn—The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Dead Djinn in Cairo— were masterful in how they managed to be so descriptive for short form works, so was I curious as to how he would adapt an entire novel into this […]
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series have been a real balm for the troubled soul. If anyone can serve up hopeful and joyous fiction in the manner of a good cuppa tea and scones, its Chambers. So it is slightly sad that find that The Galaxy, and the Ground Within will be the last of the Wayfarers books. Like the previous books in the series, The Galaxy, is a story about how people from different walks of like can all band together and learn off each other. […]
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Good Lord, I got all excited over the bingo thing, and wouldn’t you know it, I get hammered by work commitments! So it looks like this year I’ll be posting bingo-reviews late, and my reviews for the Hugo Best Novel noms after I voted Oh well, oh well. A Desolation Called Peace was one of those books up for the Hugo Award for Best Novel this year. And just like A Memory Called Empire before it, I think it’ll take home the top gong. […]
Finna by Nino Cipri
Oh, there’s always been something a bit sus about that certain Swedish furniture store, hasn’t there? Just a little? About how once you go in, there’s no telling how long it’ll take you to get back out again. Whether or not it’s a new throw rug or some nice meatballs, there’s always something that keeps on trying to draw you away from the exit It’s this feeling that made me pick Finna first out of all the Hugo-nominated novellas to read, as the premise of […]
