Tag: 2026

Review: Earthly Playing Field

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Title: Earthly Playing Field
Author: Radhika Singh
Pages: 320
Release: May 5, 2026

An engrossing and vibrant novel about family, love, revolution, and a strange plant growing in a basement in Queens.

Singh’s impressive debut is a timely and gripping tale about a woman caught between her life in America and the ripples of revolution abroad. Roma is swept into a multi-dimensional entanglement as the revolution gathers force. She longs to contribute while fighting off a deep infatuation for someone just out of reach.

It takes stock of our geopolitical present with a speculative twist, weaving big ideas about faith, homeland, and resistance into an intimate, character-driven story. I found it thoughtful and compelling from start to finish.

★★★★¼

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Ode to the Half-Broken

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Title: Ode to the Half-Broken
Author: Suzanne Palmer
Pages: 416
Release: April 28, 2026

A dyst-hope-ian novel about a robot outrunning their past, which is hard to do when someone has stolen your leg! Suzanne Palmer moves main character Be around the post-apocalyptic landscape, slowly building a ragtag found family along the way. A wise-cracking cyborg dog, a human mechanic, and a speechless drone all join the fray.

I enjoyed much of what Palmer is doing here. The writing is accessible and the pacing is swift. The plot is convoluted at times and the flashbacks halt narrative momentum, but the heart and humanity at its core make it a refreshing and winsome read.

★★★½

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Rabbit Test and Other Stories

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Title: Rabbit Test and Other Stories
Author: Samantha Mills
Pages: 256
Release: April 21, 2026

A diverse array of stories, each engaging and lively, brimming with heart and an urgent sense of purpose. In “Strange Waters,” a fisherwoman is lost to time. The currents sweep her centuries beyond her known present day. She seeks out new “timestreams” that might return her to what she understands as the present, while her arrivals and departures create ripples across time.

“Laugh Lines” is a lean tale about a translucent rabbit-baby, adopted by a spider-mother, which examines adoption and disability advocacy. “The Limits of Magic” explores, well, the limits of magic. It’s a beautifully constructed high fantasy about a woman bearing the weight of expectation amidst the tumult of war.

Samantha Mills’s stories run the gamut of SFF genres and subgenres. Not every story worked or kept me fully hooked, but the ones that did were truly fantastic.

Favorite stories: “Strange Waters,” “Rabbit Test,” “The Limits of Magic”

★★★½

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.