A quick, easy read, Beyond the Atmosphere introduces into a complex setting of warring species, internal intrigues, widely distinct cultures. This setting, the variety of the cultures in particular for me, is the book’s strongest feature: from the insectoid Masters to the Founders who retreated to an entirely different dimension, it is an interesting setting […]
There is a good story in Into the Violet Gardens, dealing with government betrayal and the abuse of ‘others’/racism, but its prose and narrative composition make it difficult to enjoy and sometimes difficult to follow.On the subject of its prose, the book makes excessive, and most often weak, use of similes, sometimes as many as […]
Aerovoyant is a complicated review for me: it is well written, the characters are complex (Alphonse in particular) and the pacing is strong, making for an entertaining read from start to finish; but it is also driven by a message (the author expresses as much in the foreword) and there were many times during the […]
Bleeding Iris is a visually and conceptually strong book; there are several scenes throughout that were just cool to imagine and visualize, from the way the iris’ of those who accept their bargains rupture and bleed out, to more specific imagery like a woman dressed in a veil and all-black despite the heat passively pulling […]
While well-written, Hills of Heather and Bone is a fairly standard on a conceptual level with its magic system and core plot revolving around necromancy and magical persecution. There’s some neat bits of creativity where the bones house the memories of the dead, and the necromancers must record or honor those memories in exchange for […]
The Dragon Bone Chair is well written (if potentially a bit dry) with an excellent main character arc in Simon. Simon’s growth is slow and believable, with him starting out as dreamy and a bit scatter brained and evolving in more than just competence but in tangibly maturing as well.But I also found the book […]
I thoroughly enjoyed Foundryside. The magic system is complex in it potential (and spectacularly used in a variety of innovative and unique ways throughout the narrative) but simple to understand and with enough restrictions and rules to make for clever and enjoyable uses.The world building is strong, allowing a deep, tactile sense of the city […]
My thoughts on Up Jumps the Devil are complicated; The story is well written, sometimes beautifully so, with strong, complex characters, and a wonderful mystic/fairytale quality to many of its scenes and descriptions; it is also a mix of a longer narrative interjected with flashbacks and short-stories about the devil’s interactions with famous historical figures […]
Starfall is a book that will appeal to a specific type of reader; huge effort was devoted to developing the world in which the story takes place, both in the environment, the technological setting, and how the characters interact with these, the various subspecies, and the cultures of the various nations. The Soonayhin culture and […]
There is a lot of good in The Fall is All There Is. The prose and characters are solid, the fantastical elements of the world building are interesting and unique with their frakenstinian technology and the way it handles its ghosts/specters, and the book depiction of autism feels both immersive and authentic. But the book […]
If you liked the first book, which I did, you’ll like the sequel as the recipe is unchanged. Baincroft is a joy to read, and other other characters remain likable with their moments of comedy sprinkled throughout.There’s some more world building in this book, expanding our understanding of the setting, but its fairly superficial with […]
Murder at Spindle Manor is a solid little mystery. The setting, an old stately manor, is appealing and the cast being trapped there with a disguised monsters adds a simmering tension. I found that the monster became largely irrelevant to the story, however, overshadowed by the murder and subsequent investigation. This would’t be much of […]
The House in the Cerulean Sea is what I would describe as a cozy fantasy romance. It is just a soft fun book with bits of comedy, immensely likable characters, and an excellent pacing. There’s drama and conflict, but there’s also never a sense that things aren’t going to just end perfectly.The heart and soul […]
Underveil: The Awakening is unfortunately a book I struggled to enjoy, primarily due to the prose and the characters. The prose is weak, both heavily reliant on the passive voice, which saps the sentences and events of impact while often making those events feel simplistic, and on exposition both within the narrative and via the […]
Blood and Wonder is an interesting mix of fantasy and western in a post-apocalyptic like setting. This setting is well utilized and colors the entire narrative, even affecting the narrative in tangible ways. The desert, with its various environments and dangers, is vibrant and immersive, providing a striking backdrop to a narrative that revolves around […]