Neom by Lavie Tidhar In Neom, Lavie Tidhar, returns to the universe of Central Station, his wonderful collection of linked short stories, though not to Central Station itself, which is only name-checked a few times. Instead, the setting is the titular city, an extrapolation into the far, far future of a city that today exists […]
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Reposting to include Marion’s new review. Call of Fire by Beth Cato Call of Fire (2017) continues the adventures of Ingrid Carmichael, introduced in Breath of Earth as a secretary at a geomancy school with tremendous hidden powers and who, in this second BLOOD OF EARTH novel, is on the run from an ambitious ambassador […]
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The Fire Opal Mechanism by Fran Wilde Of course I’d be a sucker for any book with a brave librarian, and Fran Wilde’s 2019 novella, The Fire Opal Mechanism, has one such, along with a resourceful thief and a time travel device. This short book is an enjoyable read. I haven’t read The Jewel and […]
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Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds Shadow Captain (2019) is the second novel in Alastair Reynolds’ REVENGER series for young adults. You’ll need to read Revenger first, and this review will have some spoilers for that first book. It’s been three months since Revenger ended, and Adrana and Fura Ness are back together after Adrana was […]
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Warrior Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino Warrior Genius (2018) is the sequel to Rebel Genius, the second in a planned trilogy by Michael Dante DiMartino, one of the co-creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender. There are plenty of similarities between the two tales: a gang of four precocious kids and their exotic pets, a richly […]
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Reposting to include Rebecca’s new review. Black Light Express by Philip Reeve Black Light Express (2017) is Philip Reeve’s just-as-good-as-the-first-book follow up to Railhead, continuing the exhilarating romp while expanding the universe and its inhabitants, as well as digging a bit more deeply into the hidden history of the created world and offering up some […]
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The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin The Invasion (2018), a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Young Adult Novel, is the sequel to Peadar O’Guilin’s The Call, which you’ll need to read first. (This review will spoil some of the plot of that first novel.) Once again I listened to the audiobook version (Scholastic […]
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The Call by Peadar O’Guilin I picked up Peadar O’Guilin’s The Call (2016) because its sequel, The Invasion, is a finalist for a Hugo Award this year (Best YA Fantasy Novel). Though I often enjoy Young Adult fiction, this book is probably not something I would have noticed had it not been for the Hugo […]
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Star Wars: Poe Dameron Vol. 2: The Gathering Storm by Charles Soule & Phil Noto This is the second in Charles Soule’s ongoing comic book series focused on Poe Dameron, though I didn’t know that when I read it, and thankfully didn’t feel like I needed anything catching up on anything. Set in the period […]
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A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay I confess that I always dread just a little bit reviewing a new Guy Gavriel Kay novel. Not because I’m concerned it won’t be any good; Kay writing a bad book would have to be on anyone’s list of Impending Signs of the Apocalypse. But because what […]
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The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson Tade Thompson’s The Rosewater Insurrection (2019) is the sequel to Rosewater (2016), a stunningly imaginative, structurally complex, and beautifully written novel that Kate and I loved. It’s about an alien presence called Wormwood that tunnels under the surface of our planet and has sprouted a dome in Nigeria. Because […]
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In Evil Times by Melinda Snodgrass In Evil Times (2017) is the second book in Melinda Snodgrass’s IMPERIALS saga. You’ll want to read The High Ground first. (Expect spoilers for that novel in this review.) At the end of The High Ground we left Tracy (smart low-class scholarship student) in despair when his friend/nearly lover […]
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Demon: Volume 2 by Jason Shiga In the second volume of Jason Shiga‘s Demon, we find Jimmy Yee pondering his options. As he found out in the previous book, he’s a demon who possesses the body of the closest physical person to him every time he takes his own life. Across the course of that […]
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Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel Remnants of Trust (2016) is the second novel in Elizabeth Bonesteel’s CENTRAL CORPS trilogy. If you haven’t yet read The Cold Between, you should read it first. This review may contain spoilers for that first novel. Elena and Greg were appropriately court-martialed for their actions in The Cold Between […]
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Realm of Ruins by Hannah West Though billed simultaneously as a stand-alone companion novel and a sequel to Hannah West’s Kingdom of Ash and Briars, I would strongly recommend reading Realm of Ruins (2018) after that novel, as many of the events and characters from the first novel are mentioned in the second, and not […]
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Lipstick Voodoo by Kristi Charish Kincaid Strange is a 27-year-old woman who’s one of the only “zombie practitioners” in the Seattle area. She can temporarily (or permanently, for that matter) raise people from the dead, which is clearly handy when you want to temporarily raise a rich old man and ask him to amend his […]
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The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis Stephanie Burgis follows up last year’s award-nominated middle grade fantasy The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart with The Girl with the Dragon Heart (2018), the second book in her TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart followed the escapades of Aventurine, […]
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The Wizard’s Daughter by Jeff Minerd This YA novel is a steampunk adventure filled with deft airship handling, daring mid-air rescues, and the dauntless search for long-estranged family ties. The Wizard’s Daughter (2018) is the second book in the SKY RIDERS OF ETHERIUM series, and I haven’t read the first, The Sailweaver’s Son, but nevertheless found […]
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Paternus: Wrath of Gods by Dyrk Ashton Paternus: Wrath of Gods (2018) is the second book in Dyrk Ashton’s PATERNUS series, following Paternus: Rise of Gods. In that book Fiona Patterson and her would-be boyfriend Zeke were wrenched out of their fairly ordinary Ohio teenager lives and thrust into a war of gods — small […]
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The Dragon Lords: False Idols by Jon Hollins I rather liked Jon Hollins’ 2016 novel The Dragon Lords: Fool’s Gold. It was fun, it had heart, it was surprisingly insightful, and it was chock-full of wordplay and schemes in addition to epic battles and blood. Its 2017 sequel, The Dragon Lords: False Idols, inherited a […]
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Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee In the second installment of Yoon Ha Lee’s MACHINERIES OF EMPIRE series, Raven Stratagem (2017), Captain Kel Charis finds herself possessed by the 300-odd year old General Shuos Jedao. Naturally, Jedao’s existence isn’t good news for anyone nearby, which a Kel fleet soon discovers when Jedao (posing as Charis) […]
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Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman Neal Shusterman follows up Scythe, which introduced readers to a mostly-perfect futuristic world in which death isn’t permanent (until it very much is) with Thunderhead (2018), the second installment in his ARC OF A SCYTHE trilogy. Regrettably, I won’t be able to discuss anything about Thunderhead without spoiling some of Scythe’s […]
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Deadhouse Landing by Ian Cameron Esslemont Because it occurs not that far along into Deadhouse Landing (2017), I don’t feel bad about revealing that at one point our erstwhile heroes Wu and Dancer are forced into confronting one of the most dire threats of the Malazan Universe — being taken by an Azath. A revelation […]
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Paper Girls (Vol. 2) by Brian K Vaughan (writer) and Cliff Chiang (artist) This is the second volume of Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls, and takes up the story right where it left off in volume one. The four paper girls from 1988 have found themselves in 2016, but still in the sleepy suburb of Stony […]
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Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer War is coming. That’s the plot premise of Seven Surrenders (2017), the second book in Ada Palmer’s TERRA IGNOTA series. War is coming, and the many characters in this intricate tapestry of a series can’t stop it. Along the ways alliances are broken, people are betrayed, and secrets revealed. Jason […]
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