Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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]: 2023.01

The Mountain in the Sea: Science, ethics and meaning in a meticulously developed future world

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Against a global backdrop that seethes with cyberpunk-style action, Ray Nayler’s 2022 Locus Award winning debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, gives us a philosophical and deeply thoughtful story about science, specifically first contact.

Sometime in the 22nd century, global corporations run huge AI-managed fishing boats that are scraping the last bits of protein from the planet’s oceans. At the same time, the world is exploring in-system planetary colonization, and the advancement of android tech. Governments have changed and much of the world answers to the UN Directorate Governance.

The Deep Sky: A promising debut

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Yume Kitasei’s debut novel, The Deep Sky, is half a sci-fi mystery aboard a troubled spaceship and half a boarding school story set some years beforehand during the training/selection period for the crew. The sci-fi section moves along at a fast pace while the school segments slow down to delve more into character and also provide backstory so as to better understand motivations and actions in the present. The premise and structure are good ideas, but unfortunately issues with execution, pace,

July 11th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Yume Kitasei | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge: Magic simmers in this action adventure

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato

Set in a solidly defined second world, Beth Cato’s A Thousand Recipes For Revenge (2023) gives us political intrigue, rising stakes and a bubbling action adventure steeped in a new, culinary magical system.

Adamantine Garland, who goes by Ada, is—or was—a chef, a magical adept who was part of the army of Verdania. When the king of Verdania betrayed her (and others) and disavowed her marriage, Ada deserted, holding a secret close to her heart.

June 26th, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Beth Cato | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Malevolent Seven: Bitterness needs nuance

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell

Sebastien de Castell’s 2023 antihero novel The Malevolent Seven has good magical action and lots of sarcastic banter. It has an emotionally tortured male main character in a world that is filled with suffering, death, betrayal and a sense of hopelessness that swamps every action. Generally, I enjoy de Castell’s work, but while this book had enough to keep me reading, ultimately, it doesn’t rank among my favorite works of his.

I say, “enough to keep me reading,” because I very nearly put this book down during the first 50 pages.

May 26th, 2023. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5, 3 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn: If you’re a reader, you’re bound to love it

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

A topical, deeply thoughtful, and wonderfully written love letter to books, to libraries, to the power of storytelling, to fantasy, and to epigrams, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence will be appearing on my best of 2023 list at the end of this year. That’s not to say it’s perfect. After all, I now have to wait for book two in this new series. And, well, I don’t wanna wait. Me want. Me want now.

At nearly 600 pages,

May 16th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Darkness Below: A romp through dark academia with tentacles

Darkness Below by Barbara Cottrell

2023’s Darkness Below is the first book in Barbara Cottrell’s new THE SHADOWS OF MISKATONIC series. We’re heading into warmer weather, with the promise of road trips and vacations. Here’s a shivery tentacle-horror story for fans of Lovecraftia, complete with a sprinkle of dark academia on top, that’s perfect for the road or that lounge chair by the pool.

Ellen attends Miskatonic University and lives in the town of Arkham with her guardian, Uncle Joshua (who probably isn’t her uncle.) Ellen is a strong psychic whose past is a mystery.

Dead Country: A perfect place to enter this universe

Dead Country by Max Gladstone

Dead Country (2023) is Max Gladstone’s seventh title in his highly recommended CRAFT series (OK, technically, it’s the start of a new trilogy entitled CRAFT WARS), which might make some readers who sadly have yet to wade into the series hesitant to pick it up. But in some ways, Dead Country is oddly a perfect place to enter this universe. Let me explain.

No, there is too much.

April 5th, 2023. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Max Gladstone | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Lies of the Ajungo: A powerfully evocative novella

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

The Lies of the Ajungo (2023), by Moses Ose Utomi, is as close to perfect a modern parable as I’ve read in some time, with prose as sparse as its desert setting and lessons just as unforgiving. I loved pretty much everything about it from its opening line — “There is no water in the City of Lies” — onward.

The novella opens with a brief bit of worldbuilding history: Long ago when the City of Lies suffered greatly from its lack of water,

March 17th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Moses Ose Utomi | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi: The start of a promising new series

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Shannon Chakraborty, author of the recommended THE DAEVAVAD TRILOGY, is back with the start of a new series, and if the first book, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, is any measure, it’s sure to be as fun and magic filled as the first (sharp-eyed readers will at one point note it’s actually set in the same universe as the first as well, albeit much earlier).

Some years ago Amina Al-Sirafi was a famed smuggler and pirate before going into retirement to care for her daughter,

March 3rd, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | S.A. Chakraborty | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Eidolon: Will probably be banned

The Eidolon is billed as Book One of the MAGNUS ACADEMY series, part of K.D. Edwards’s TAROT SEQUENCE world. It is a companion piece to the third book of his first trilogy, The Hourglass Throne. It you haven’t read The Hourglass Throne, it’s not likely you’ll understand what’s going on here. Mild spoilers for The Hourglass Throne may follow.

Rune St. Nicholas was the sole survivor of the murderous attack on his Court,

March 2nd, 2023. Marion Deeds | K.D. Edwards | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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