• Book Reviews

    Meatworks by Jordan Castillo Price

    This showed up in my recommendations after reading a Jordan L. Hawk book, I think. They don’t really have anything in common except a first name and that they write m/m romances– also Meatworks is, if anything, a dystopian-ish[1. everything is super regulated and you basically have to sign in/out of every single building and the robots are always following you and the government is always watching.] scifi book set in an alternate universe where robotics evolved faster than anything else. So, like, people have robot limbs! But no smart phones. Meatworks reminded those really gritty late 1980s punk novels, the kind where you’re not entirely sure whether the protagonist…

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  • Book Reviews

    Stormhaven by Jordan L. Hawk

    All the wonderful things from the first two Whyborne & Griffin books are present in this third one, plus more. Action, adventure, romance! Spooky monsters! Stormhaven has a heavy Lovecraft influence, this time in a “dweller of the deep” kind of thing. Gods being summoned from the depths of the sea, (more) secret magic cults, insanity and possession all have a big part in the story; it’s super spooky and made me think of dark stormy nights the whole time. Wonderful atmospheric writing, as always! Not only is it another terrific blend of mystery, horror and romance, it doesn’t rest on its laurels re:its characters. My favorite thing about series…

  • Book Reviews

    One-Eyed Jack by Elizabeth Bear

    Things I have a soft spot for: gods (or something similar) trying to make it in America, odes to places not much oded to, boyfriends, personifications of cities gaining sentience. Things this book has: all that! Plus Elvis! Any book with American-grown gods is going to be compared to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, but what’s different about One-Eyed Jack is that they’re not so much GODS as personifications of cities (or certain genres of media!) given life. Their choices affect the city; the city in return affects them. So, for example, if a formerly-important city dries up and turns into a ghost town, the personification either dies, too, or they…

  • Book Reviews

    Peripheral People by Reesa Herberth & Michelle Moore

    I picked up Peripheral People because of the scifi MYSTERY angle, with the romance being a bonus. (I’m also always on the lookout for scifi books starring people other than straight white dudes. Especially ones with aliens! Just fyi.) Scifi mysteries are far and few and I desperately need to find more of them. Especially if they’re as good as Peripheral People! Admittedly, this one has a serial killer, a plot detail I’m not much into, but the rest of the story kept me occupied enough that I ended up not minding the serial killer so much. It was a twisty enough mystery that I didn’t even figure out who…

  • Book Reviews

    Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

    Things I like: scifi stories starring women characters; robots; self-aware spaceships; visions of the future which don’t focus on straight white males; societies which aren’t just a copy-paste of current American/European society; space aliens; people enacting long, drawn-out plans of revenge. Things Ancillary Justice has: all those and more! This is one of those books where I’m just so happy to have read it that I had hard time coming up with a coherent review explaining exactly WHY I liked it. (Which is why this review has been so delayed!) I liked the little details of the story, as mentioned above, but there’s tons more good stuff to pick through.…

  • Book Reviews

    Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall

    This is a very short novella or a long short story about a space prince who really likes mermaids (and one particular merman). It feels experimental, and not just because it’s set on a scifi world where mermaids are treated like trained whales in an aquarium. The writing is luxurious and dreamy, quite different from the other Alexis Hall books I’ve read. And the content is very thought-provoking. It’s not really a romance, except it is? Except nothing happens but a lot of longing looks and face-touching. Is it bestiality if one half of the romantic couple thinks the other is basically just a marine animal? Except then he starts…

  • Book Reviews

    Fighting Gravity by Leah Petersen

    I really wanted to like this more. It’s a scifi romance, with a space prince and a scientist! But the writing style just didn’t click with me. The worldbuilding was very light and character development was pretty much non-existent. Without those things as a solid foundation, the rest of the book fell apart. The first chapter has one or two mentions of aliens and how the space!empire is structured, and then it just tapers off to nothing. More details about, like, EVERYTHING would’ve been nice, especially when certain aspects of the world weren’t as advanced as you’d expect in a futuristic society. Medical care, for instance, is basically at the…

  • Book Reviews

    The Bone Key by Sarah Monette

    So apparently I have a thing for books about repressed introverts who’re plagued by the paranormal when they’re not working in a museum. I’m not really surprised. It combines my love of books, antiques, mysteries and the paranormal, plus there’s a character with the potential for some sort of clam situation if they have a cute enough sidekick. (Spoiler: Kyle doesn’t have a sidekick (or friends). He also doesn’t go anywhere in a character development sort of way. It’s the only downside to an otherwise wonderful book.) Sarah Monette is the lady who wrote The Goblin King (as Katherine Addison), one of my favorite books from 2014! This is the…