Cuckoo Song Frances Hardinge British Fantasy Award Winner 2015 Cuckoo Song is apparently a middle grade book. I would never have guessed that. Not, as they say, in a million years. I mean, yes, the protagonists are in that age range. But, the writing is dark, twisty, and… gorgeous. There are situations that are hair-raisingly terrifying…
How We Learn: A Book That Is More Fun Than It Sounds
Did you know that when it comes to learning, forgetting is good, but reviewing is bad? In his new book How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens New York Times science reporter Benedict Carey offers many such revelations, using the research on learning to challenge our assumptions about how…
‘Half A King’: Wholly Satisfying
Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) Joe Abercrombie Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book (2015) David Gemmell Legend Award Nominee (2015) Fantasy, particularly high fantasy – the type with kings and queens with swords and fiery steeds that takes place in some vaguely Medieval European setting – has been a really hard sell for…
‘Planetfall’ Is Deeply Flawed, But Likeable Nonetheless
Planetfall Emma Newman Gaylaxicon Spectrum Award nominee In the wake of the Trump election, I’ve decided to change the focus of my book reviews. From here on out, everything is going to be SUPER-DUPER, DOUBLE-PLUS QUEER. Much like myself. Only in book review form. That being said, I can’t say I found Planetfall to be…
Apex: Never Start With The Last Book Of A Trilogy
APEX (Nexus #3) Ramez Naam Philip K. Dick Award nominee 2016 Apex should have been the sort of book I love. It’s cyberpunk-y, a political thriller, and a lot of the action takes place in settings outside of the usual, which is to say, in China and India. This is a lot of what I…
‘The Lie Tree:’ Is Simultaneously Plausible, Outlandish, And Great
The Lie Tree Frances Hardinge Costa Book Award (2015) Time to start 2016 with a confession. You ready for it? I’m in LOVE with Frances Hardinge. Last year, I discovered Hardinge when I read Cuckoo’s Song, which won the British Fantasy Award in the YA/middle grade category. So, when I saw that her newest, The…
A Test of Humanity: Karen Joy Fowler’s ‘We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves’
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler Finalist for the 2015 Warwick Prize for Writing I’m going to start at the beginning, even though Karen Joy Fowler takes great pains not to. To start at the beginning, her narrator, Rosemary Cooke rightly points out, is to prejudice the reader. It is, I guess,…
Laura Ruby’s ‘Bone Gap’ Is Accessible Magical Realism
Bone Gap Laura Ruby National Book Award for Young People’s Literature 2015 Magical Realism is one of those sub-genres/genres that, when it comes up in my science fiction and fantasy classes, I usually struggle to describe it: “Um… like magic is accepted as everyday… or people eat angels wings? I dunno. It’s a Latin American…
A Lack Of Fire In ‘Creative Fire’
Creative Fire Brenda Cooper Canopus Award Finalist Despite what your English teacher said, there’s a reason that cliché and tropes work. There are certain types of stories that we, as readers, never tire of. It’s different for different people, of course. For me, type of story that almost always works for me is that one…
‘The Traitor Baru Cormorant’: Godd*mmit, Seth Dickinson
Here is my two-word review of Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant: Oh, fuck. This can be read on multiple levels. For instance: oh, fuck that was wrenching. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is set in two countries under the yoke of a colonialist empire, the Masquerade. The Masquerade is, on the face of it, an…
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