Title: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021)
Author: Becky Chambers
Pages: 160
Series: Monk & Robot #1 (Series Tracker)
While there’s nothing groundbreaking here, I breezed through this novella and it made for a very pleasant reading experience.
Chambers storytelling style is straightforward and without frills, but the overall result is quite affecting. I’m eager for future adventures with Dex and Mosscap and learning more about the world of Panga.
★★★★
Title: Stone of Farewell (1990)
Author: Tad Williams
Pages: 771
Series: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #2, Osten Ard Saga #2 (Series Tracker)
This was a bit of a letdown after a really enjoyable opening novel. Folks knock the first book because the first 200 pages are interminably slow. No one ever mentioned that the second book takes about 500(!) pages to really get going.
While The Dragonbone Chair raised many questions and provided few answers, Stone of Farewell raises very few questions and answers even fewer. Here’s hoping the final doorstopper in the trilogy is packed to the brim with with action and plot development!
★★★
Title: Notes from the Burning Age (July 20, 2021)
Author: Claire North
Pages: 401
This is a book of loss and devastation, what remains, and what grows from the ashes of a broken world. North brings this plausible dystopian world to life with stark imagery and elegant prose. Although the premise has the components of a spy thriller, the story is definitely a slower burn.
The overarching narrative never quite grabbed me, but the cat and mouse interplay between Ven and his on-again, off-again adversary/captor was really intriguing.
I had not read any of Claire North’s work prior to this novel, but I’ve come away impressed and excited to see what she writes next.
As an aside, I hope Orbit sticks with Leo Nickolls and Siobhan Hooper for the cover art/design on future books. They did an outstanding job with this one.
★★★★
My thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Jade City (2017)
Author: Fonda Lee
Pages: 496
Series: The Green Bone Saga #1 (Series Tracker)
Reading Jade City provided a welcome respite from more traditional (and generic) epic fantasy fare. Fonda Lee has crafted a compelling family drama, situated within an intriguing world, with an awesome magic system to boot. There’s plenty of war and conflict to be had here so I’m curious to see how things escalate in the ominously titled sequel, Jade War.
★★★★
Title: Idols Fall (April 21, 2021)
Author: Mike Shel
Pages: 614
Series: Iconoclasts #3 (Series Tracker)
Shel is a truly gifted storyteller and he’s woven a trilogy-capping book that is dark, twisty, funny, wholly satisfying, and bloody brilliant…major emphasis on the “bloody.”
Sometimes the third book in a series starts to feel stale if it’s not charting new ground, but Shel has injected enough fresh energy into this story and its characters to pay off this final adventure splendidly. There’s so much fantasy goodness packed into the pages here: demonic possession, talking swords, beasts from hell, false gods, geopolitical conflict, cults, and of course, a dangerous expedition into an ancient cursed ruin. It’s all rendered beautifully on the page by Shel’s delightful prose. Bump this trilogy up your TBRs folks. This is a masterful conclusion to an outstanding series.
★★★★½
My thanks to the author for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Under the Whispering Door (September 21, 2021)
Author: T.J. Klune
Pages: 384
Having read The House in the Cerulean Sea (which I loved) and now Under the Whispering Door, I’ve noticed a certain Pixar-esque sensibility to T.J. Klune’s writing – there’s a dynamic premise, a gentle touch, a colorful cast of characters, and a thoughtful message. The tone borders right on the edge of being too syrupy sweet, but Klune injects enough turmoil and heft into the proceedings to never cross over into cloyingness.
I did have some difficulty getting behind Wallace’s redemption arc here, as his introduction paints him in such a vile light that it made it hard to believe his personality could undergo such a 180 in such a short time. As such, I did not find this book to be as effective or affecting as The House in the Cerulean Sea, but it is still well worth your time. I really enjoy Klune’s writing and I look forward to reading whatever he pens next.
★★★½
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title: We Have Always Been Here (July 6, 2021)
Author: Lena Nguyen
Pages: 368
We Have Always Been Here is a gripping sci-fi thriller that twisted in unexpected directions and kept me hooked all the way to the end. There’s a real palpable tension and delirium infused into Nguyen’s writing that enhances what could have been a straightforward thriller into something much deeper, sharper, and stranger. I’m excited to see what Nguyen writes next, as this was an excellent debut.
★★★★½
My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Fugitive Telemetry (April 27, 2021)
Author: Martha Wells
Pages: 176
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #6 (Series Tracker)
Fugitive Telemetry has all the trappings of a classic Murderbot story – trademark snark, funny situations, a compelling murder mystery, and a seemingly unfeeling security robot that feels feelings. Murderbot is back and just as good as ever.
★★★¾
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (2019)
Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Pages: 130
Series: Fatma el-Sha’arawi #2 (Series Tracker)
Clark has imagined an incredible world here. Everything is so richly detailed and vivid. Although the mystery at the heart of this novella was not as compelling as the one in the original short story, A Dead Djinn in Cairo, the sharp writing and unexpected twists and turns will keep me coming back for as long as Clark keeps writing stories in this setting.
★★★¼
The Speculative Shelf 