Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 2017.02

testing

Twice Magic: A strong follow-up to the first story

Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell The second book in Cressida Cowell‘s WIZARDS OF ONCE series does everything a good sequel should: expand the world, develop the characters, and deepen the story. As we discovered in The Wizards of Once, Ancient Britain is inhabited by two distinct races: the Wizards, who live among the magical creatures […]

Read More
testing

Artificial Condition: Murderbot’s search for answers

Reposting to include Jana’s new review. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells The illicit adventures of Murderbot continue in Artificial Condition (2018), the terrific sequel to Martha Wells’ 2017 Nebula award-winning novella, All Systems Red. Murderbot, a deeply introverted cyborg security unit, or SecUnit, who previously hacked the governor software that forced obedience to human commands, […]

Read More
testing

Silence of the Soleri: Stopped halfway through

Silence of the Soleri by Michael Johnston I gave a 2½-star rating for Michael Johnston’s Soleri, and was hoping to see some improvement in the sequel, Silence of the Soleri (2021). Unfortunately, the book tipped in the other direction, so much so that I gave up at the halfway point. As usual with DNF reviews, […]

Read More
testing

The Rightful Queen: An improvement over the first book

The Rightful Queen by Isabelle Steiger The Rightful Queen (2020) is the sequel to 2017’s The Empire’s Ghost and the second in Isabelle Steiger’s PATHS OF LANTISTYNE series. It continues the story of the many aristocrats and commoners who oppose Imperator Elgar, who is trying to reunite the old Elesthene empire under his own rule. […]

Read More
testing

Creatures of Want and Ruin: A sheer pulpy delight

Reposting to include Marion’s new review. Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer At first glance, based on the title and cover art, Molly Tanzer’s Creatures of Want and Ruin (2018) looks and sounds like it’s a sequel to her earlier novel Creatures of Will and Temper, but it’s not. The stories have different […]

Read More
testing

Jade War: An Asian-inspired mob drama

Jade War by Fonda Lee Jade War (2019) is the second book in Fonda Lee’s GREEN BONE SAGA series and a finalist for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It follows Jade City, which won the World Fantasy Award, and which you’ll need to read first (this review will contain some mild spoilers […]

Read More
testing

The Iron Flower: Battling bigotry and oppression

The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest When Laurie Forest’s debut YA fantasy novel The Black Witch was published in 2017, there was a massive explosion of outrage in the Twitterverse and elsewhere online. Accusations of various types of prejudice — racism (albeit based on fantasy races), homophobia, white saviorism, ableism, lookism and more — were […]

Read More
testing

A Blight of Blackwings: Deploy the tactical moths

A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne A Blight of Blackwings is the second novel in Kevin Hearne’s SEVEN KENNINGS series, following A Plague of Giants which you’ll need to read first because this novel jumps in right where the first one left off. Hearne uses the same structure and frame story, with Fintan the […]

Read More
testing

Terminal Uprising: Janitors save the day again

Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines Terminal Uprising (2019) is the second novel in Jim C. Hines’ JANITORS OF THE POST-APOCALYPSE series. It follows Terminal Alliance, which should be read first. There you’ll meet “Mops” Adamopoulos, the boss of a human janitorial crew that works for the Krakau aliens. These friendly aliens saved humanity by […]

Read More
testing

The Secret Commonwealth: It’s complicated

Reposting to include Marion’s new review. The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (Ray  Jana) With the release of La Belle Sauvage, readers were finally able to return to the universe of Philip Pullman‘s HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy after a seventeen year wait. The story was a prequel to the original trilogy (though Pullman described the […]

Read More
testing

Dead Astronauts: A stellar work

Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer Jeff VanderMeer has been on a hell of a roll lately. His SOUTHERN REACH trilogy is on my personal list of best series in the past quarter-century, Borne (I argued) was both an imperfect book and a great one, and now his newest, Dead Astronauts — set in the same […]

Read More
testing

Dreadful Company: Greta goes to Paris

Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw Dreadful Company (2018) is the second book in Vivian Shaw’s warm-hearted DR GRETA HELSING series. It follows Strange Practice which, for best results, I’d recommend reading first. The stories are self-contained, but the characters’ relationships with each other evolve a bit throughout the series. Greta has been asked to present […]

Read More
testing

The Queen’s Advantage: Another jaunty space opera

The Queen’s Advantage by Jessie Mihalik The Queen’s Advantage (2019) is the second story in Jessie Mihalik’s ROGUE QUEEN series. These are short and entertaining science fiction novellas. I enjoyed the first one, The Queen’s Gambit, because it’s fast-paced, has a strong female protagonist, an appealing love interest, and a nice sense of humor. You’ll […]

Read More
testing

Knight: This series is not recommended

Knight by Timothy Zahn Knight (2019) is the second book in Timothy Zahn’s SYBIL’S WAR series. You need to read the first book, Pawn, before starting Knight. However, I really don’t recommend either one of these books. When we left Nicole, Bungie, and Sam in the last book, Nicole had been named Protector of the […]

Read More
testing

The Wonder Engine: Trying to beat the clocktaurs

The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher The Wonder Engine (2018) is the second half of a fantasy duology by T. Kingfisher that began with Clockwork Boys, and it’s absolutely necessary to read that book first (a few minor spoilers for that book are in this review). Clockwork Boys relates how a company of condemned criminals […]

Read More
testing

If Tomorrow Comes: Pretty balanced between positive and negative aspects

If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress Nancy Kress’ Locus finalist If Tomorrow Comes (2018) follows up on Yesterday’s Kin, though works fine as a stand-alone. I hadn’t read Yesterday’s Kin, and thanks to the independent nature of If Tomorrow Comes, and some efficiently economical backstorying by Kress, I didn’t feel that lack at all. Millennia ago, […]

Read More
testing

Deep Roots: A successful sequel

Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys Deep Roots (2018), a finalist for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, is the sequel to Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide. This Lovecraft-inspired story is about a race of Americans living in the 1940s who worship, and are related to, the eldritch gods. They are long-lived and, when they eventually […]

Read More
testing

Thornbound: A Regency magic school for women

Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis “For over seventeen hundred and fifty years, ever since the great Boudicca herself had sent the Romans fleeing Angland with the help of her second husband’s magery, a clearly defined line had been drawn in the public arena, never to be broken. The hard-headed ladies of Angland saw to the practicalities […]

Read More
testing

Archenemies: Convenient tensions that irritate but don’t penetrate

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer Archenemies (2018) is the second installment in the popular YA trilogy RENEGADES, by Marissa Meyer. The story revolves around a team of superheroes who police Gatlon City against crime. In Gatlon, superhuman powers abound and their possessors have polarized int two antagonistic groups — The Renegades and The Anarchists. With names […]

Read More
testing

The Consuming Fire: A pure delight

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi In The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi introduced us to an interstellar empire called The Interdependency, a collection of far-flung human habitats connected by a quantum event called the Flow. The Interdependency is ruled by an Emperox, and a new Emperox, one who never considered herself in the line of […]

Read More
  • 1
  • 2
We have reviewed 8040 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Under ConstructionWe’re updating our theme, so things may be a little messy or slow until we’re finished. Thank you for being patient with us!

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS

You can subscribe to our posts via email, email digest, browser notifications, Twitter, RSS, etc. You can filter by tag (e.g. Giveaway), keyword, author. We won't give your email address to anyone. Enter email to subscribe:

SUPPORT FANLIT

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:
You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US   UK    CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!