I like writers who take risks in introducing their heroes. Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa sets this first book of The Nameless Republic series on the continent of Oon and its dominant country called Bassa. But unlike the image of the sleek figure on the cover art, the protagonist appears before us […]
Fables of Need: this census-taker by China Miéville and The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
I’m not sure what leads me to link these two books, as different and far apart in time as they are, but China Miéville’s this census-taker (2016)and Dino Buzzati’s The Tartar Steppe (1938) strike me as fables of human need. I’m not even sure what I mean by that, except that each book tells a […]
Lagoonfire and The Inconvenient God by Francesca Forrest
Here are the first two completely captivating Tales of the Polity: the novelette The Inconvenient God and the short novel Lagoonfire. Their author, Francesca Forrest, suggests there will be more stories in her interview with the Little Red Reviewer. And I hope to see them soon. Forrest has a uniquely fascinating imagination that blends charming […]
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
P. Djèlí Clark’s A Master of Djinn returns to the alternate Cairo of 1912 featured in A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. This time Clark has given us a full-length novel that offers much deeper insight into the richness of this remarkable world. Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the […]
New Atlantis by Lavie Tidhar: Dystopian Journey to Hope
New Atlantis is a beautiful novella by Lavie Tidhar that makes visual poetry out of the detritus of our own lost civilization in a future earth reshaped by vast climatic changes and disasters. It is the story of a journey by a young Mai, as told to us by her aged self. Like Tidhar’s Central […]
Parallel Worlds of Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams
In Liz Williams’ wonderful fantasy, Blackthorn Winter, sequel to Comet Weather, a lot can happen in the blink of an eye. A winter landscape can turn to summer, an ancient ruin can become a mansion full of dinner party guests, an empty auditorium a maze with a charging minotaur. For the four Fallow sisters, as […]
