Ann Leckie expands the universe of the Imperial Radch series (first introduced in the best-selling and Hugo-Award winning Ancillary Justice) in her latest novel Translation State. Three entirely separate lives intersect in a story about finding purpose, finding family, and finding out what it means to be human. We start with Enae Athtur; the book-jacket
This year, the first two of the Hugo Novelettes I read consisted of cozy and light-hearted ways of looking at how society can treat its vulnerable members versus how it actually does. I followed those up with a story in the form of a scientific treatise that illustrates how one piece of technology can change
“Your father abandoned us. We were unchosen, cast out of his eschatology. We are going to destroy your father’s cult and salt the earth where it falls.” Fetter’s mother rips off his shadow immediately after birth, and almost as immediately starts his training. He commits his first killing at age eleven (a grand-uncle on his
WELL. The gigantic trash fire of last year’s nominating process sure was a thing, wasn’t it. It sounds like there’s been a house-cleaning in the committee, and maybe we can hope that all the votes are fairly counted this year, and no one’s getting unfairly disqualified, yes? This year will also be slightly different in
“If a civilization is not capable of keeping a book from burning then perhaps it wasn’t ready for whatever knowledge was held within.” Livira is a little girl living in a tiny, unprotected village in the dustlands. Evar Evantari is a young man who’s lived his entire life trapped in one library chamber with four
Children of the Doors know about being mislaid… Antoinette Ricci, better known as Antsy, returns to the world of the Wayward Children. Only this time she’s dragging along most of the main characters of the previous stories as they break the “No Quests” rule of their school for former fairy tale adventurers. People who have
“I have returned. I am one known to you. Please allow me safe passage to bring back those who are lost.” Author Premee Mohamed takes a new look at a familiar fairy tale trope (two children lost in the woods) in her new book The Butcher of the Forest, a frightening combination of horror and
He should be the Iron King, and I should be the Iron Queen. Yet Iron Demon and Iron Widow is all they’ll let us be. It’s back to my reviews of Books I Really Should Have Read Ages Ago, and this week’s review is for Xiran Jay Zhao’s debut novel, Iron Widow. In Huaxia, the
Before February ends I wanted to review a collection I’ve been meaning to read for years: N. K. Jemisin’s How Long ’til Black Future Month? I love a good short story collection, and I’ve loved every Jemisin work I’ve read (her Far Sector Green Lantern series from DC was amazing) so I had high hopes