I read a lot of SFF and horror, leaning toward the weird, and I adore a good translation (to English) and small press book. I’m queer and I like to read books about queer people and by queer and otherwise marginalized authors. I tend to avoid things that are marketed strongly as YA.
I’m a former bookseller and I’ve never been able to let go on being way too aware of what’s coming out, so my tbr list is a very active living document (and being realistic, highly aspirational).
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Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off …
Gosh that was dark.
Known for her lush, intricate worlds and complex characters, acclaimed author Martha Wells has delighted readers with her extraordinary fantasy …
“A mysterious army known only as the Gardier has surrounded Ile-Rien, attacking in ominous black airships. When a magical spell …
A young shapeshifter has to learn to control her powers, while simultaneously using them to …
I enjoyed this overall, it reminded me of Howl’s Moving Castle but with crime families.
However, I’m a little bothered by the characterization of the one character as “nonbinary”. I know nonbinary has become a casual catch all phrase for everything outside of gender norms basically, and the author is themselves nonbinary, but the character being referred to changes back and forth between a shape that is unequivocally referred to as male and with he/him pronouns and one that is unequivocally referred to as a woman with she/her pronouns. This strikes me as very binary?? It’s literally just two gender options?? I guess I’d more accurately call the character genderfluid... I know this is a quibble, but it was uncomfortable for me to read expecting more exploration and rejection of gender binary, maybe more like my own experience, and then finding it so rigidly binary instead. :\
Despite his aversion to war, work, and most people (human or otherwise), teenaged Elliott, a …
This was extremely my fucking cup of tea. Magical secondary world, snarky loud mouth protagonist with social justice consciousness, well written dialogue, character who struggles to introduce diplomacy and get it prioritized over violence, charming but messy coming of age romances with an unambiguously bisexual protagonist... Is there any way we could get the author to write another one of these?? Surely more happens in Elliot, Luke, and Serene’s lives after this...
“Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human …
The Raven Tower is a 2019 fantasy novel by Ann Leckie. Her first fantasy novel, it is based on the …
Fairyland’s future lies in doubt . . .
The enchanted island of Janda Baik, in the Malay Archipelago, has long …
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous …
