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 […]
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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, […]
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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, […]
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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. […]
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Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 2: Legacy’s End by Charles Soule & Giuseppe Camuncoli Charles Soule’s DARTH VADER comics explore the character’s thoughts, decisions and actions in the immediate aftermath of The Revenge of the Sith, in which the Empire is still consolidating its power and Vader himself grappling with his new identity as […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Batgirl Vol. 2: Son of Penguin (Rebirth) by Hope Larson & Christian Wildgoose At the end of Volume One of Hope Larson’s take on Batgirl, a new face had arrived in Burnside, Gotham, who answered to the name “Cobblepot” at the airport. Turns out he’s Ethan Cobblepot, son of the Penguin, though has never had […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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The War Within by Stephen R. Donaldson I was sorely disappointed in Seventh Decimate, the first book in Stephen R. Donaldson‘s new series, THE GREAT GOD’S WAR. Luckily, the second book, The War Within (2019), shows improvement, but it’s a pretty low bar and so I can’t say it’s enough to convince me the series is worth starting […]
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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 […]
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Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell “You think you’ve had it bad? I’ve been on the run for ten years. Bounty hunters, hextrackers war mages…” He shook his head. “You steal one too many sacred books and all of sudden you’re an outcast.” Shadowblack (2018), by Sebastien de Castell, picks up shortly after Book One, Spellslinger. […]
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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 […]
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The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty I thoroughly enjoyed S. A. Chakraborty’s first book The City of Brass, which was at its core just a good story. I’m happy to report that the follow-up, The Kingdom of Copper (2019), is even better, continuing the captivating narrative but also deepening its exploration of the more […]
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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 […]
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