fter the Dragons is quiet, thoughtful, and, above all, kind. It’s not easy to do right by one another, especially when we’re put in hard places without clear answers. Death, and how we face it, matters. … More After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang
In The Salt Witch, Martha Wells explores the intersection between heritage and individuality within a patriarchal culture steeped in gendered expectations. Juana, a witch attempting to traverse the sea in a broken sailboat, instead finds herself washed ashore a ghost island filled with the victims of a hurricane and held captive by a malevolent force residing in its center. … More The Salt Witch by Martha Wells
This is a fast-paced novella chock full of intrigue, murder, and the fantastic. De Bodard thrusts the reader into her Dominion of the Fallen universe head-first and expects them to sink or swim to keep up. Personally, I found it to be an energetic experience; as this was my first introduction to her world, there was something new on each page to keep me eagerly flipping the page for more. An underwater Vietnamese dragon city below Paris? Crab shifters? Possible poisonings? I was here for it at every turn. … More Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders by Aliette de Bodard
The stakes have been raised, and the winds are changing. Joron will find himself flensed to the bone, losing everything he holds dear. He will be hammered and tempered into steel before he can live out his destiny… or reject it entirely and shape a different future from what has been foretold. … More Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker – A Lush, Nautical Epic Fantasy
As an introduction to Sarah Beth Durst’s works, you can’t go wrong with Race the Sands. This stand-alone epic fantasy adventure features hair-raising monster racing, an older woman as a protagonist, and found family elements all set against a backdrop filled with intense political machinations. … More Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes is hands-down the most imaginative, fresh, and kind book I’ve read this year. It is absolutely unlike anything else I’ve read, combining the innocence and creativity of a middle grade novel with the darkness and trauma of adult fantasy. At a glance, that makes it tempting to label this book as YA or middle grade, but upon reading it, that’s clearly not the case. It deals with loss of innocence, growing up, trauma, PTSD, identity, and abuse in a way that is both genuinely kind and genuinely heartbreaking. … More The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
R. F. Kuang returns to the world of The Poppy War with this stunning sequel, The Dragon Republic. Everything I enjoyed about The Poppy War is not only present once again in The Dragon Republic, but amplified. … More The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang
Part 3 in a Series of Bingo Challenge Themed Reviews & Suggestion Lists – Full List of Squares and Introduction Available Here. SFF Novella – works of fiction of between 17,500 and 40,000 words. HARD MODE: Novella is NOT published by Tor.com Publishing. – Reddit r/Fantasy Novellas are great bite-sized option when you’re not looking to … More Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas
The Only Harmless Great Thing is a story of cancer, a story of martyrdom, a story of stories. It’s about love of community, love of family, and righteous anger at those who would destroy those two precious things. It’s the story of a dying woman and the elephant who tried to stop humanity from killing one another for profit. It’s beauty in prose and pain. … More The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
The Red-Stained Wings is a delightful follow-up to Elizabeth Bear’s The Stone in the Skull. While my one complaint from the previous book still stands (LET ME SEE THE GAGE FIGHT dangit!), I was enthralled by the new events and plot points introduced in The Red-Stained Wings. Bear’s prose and worldbuilding is stellar as always, and it’s a joy to see characters you’ve been following for 500-odd pages across two books meet up and finally interact. … More The Red-Stained Wings by Elizabeth Bear
Black Forest Basilisks 