Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rating: 4.5

Click on stars to FIND REVIEWS BY RATING:
Recommended:
Not Recommended:



testing

Aunt Tigress: A rich blending of traditions enlivens a Tam Lin Tale

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin

2025’s Aunt Tigress brings the reader a rich mix of cultures and folkloric traditions in a story rooted in the Scottish fairy tale of Tam Lin and Janet. Don’t expect a traditional telling of the story here. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin’s story takes place in modern-day Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tam is Canadian-Chinese, struggling to put some shameful acts behind her and finish college, but her new girlfriend, Janet, and Tam’s powerful, disturbing Aunt Tigress have other plans—especially once Tam is told that her aunt has been murdered,


Read More




testing

Quest for the White Witch: The exciting conclusion to an epic trilogy

Quest for the White Witch (aka Hunting the White Witch) by Tanith Lee

It would be hard to imagine any reader experiencing the first two novels in Tanith Lee’s BIRTHGRAVE TRILOGY – namely The Birthgrave and Vazkor, Son of Vazkor – who didn’t feel the overmastering desire to press on to Book #3 immediately after. In that first volume, which was initially released in June 1975, the reader had been introduced to a petite,


Read More




testing

Rose of Jericho: Eerie, beguiling fantastical Americana

Rose of Jericho by Alex Grecian

Rose of Jericho (2025) is a sequel to Alex Grecian’s wild and vivid Americana fantasy Red Rabbit. Several characters from that book appear here, as the action shifts from the 1880s Midwest to Ascension, Massachusetts, where people who die aren’t staying dead.

This review contains spoilers for Red Rabbit.

In the village of Ascension, Clarissa Sinclair is dying of cancer. Her self-centered, uncaring husband sent her to their summer home,


Read More




testing

Red Rabbit: Perfect blend of western adventure and wild magic

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian

2023’s Red Rabbit, by Alex Grecian, is a solid entry in a category of speculative fiction I call fantastical Americana. Set in the American Midwest a few years after the Civil War, the book starts when some men in a town in Burden County, Kansas, put a bounty on the head of the local witch. This brings all kinds of killers into the county. Meanwhile, farther south, two former union soldiers partner up with Old Tom, self-proclaimed witch-master, and the mute child,


Read More




testing

The Closed Worlds: Chane vs. Nane at Allubane

The Closed Worlds by Edmond Hamilton

In Edmond Hamilton’s 1967 novel The Weapon From Beyond, Book #1 of his so-called STARWOLF TRILOGY, the reader had been introduced to Morgan Chane, an orphaned Earthling who had been brought up and raised by the piratical Starwolves of the planet Varna. In that first installment, Chane had been forced to flee from the vengeful Varnans after having killed one of them in self-defense, and had gone on to work with a group of mercenaries,


Read More




testing

The Carnivale of Curiosities: A complex carnival story with an antihero protagonist

The Carnivale of Curiosities by Amiee Gibbs

This carnival book completely satisfied. 2023’s The Carnivale of Curiosities, by Amiee Gibbs, is set in 1880’s London. It’s a slow-burn, late-Victorian-styled literary novel, filled with magic, lies, secrets, and revenge plots, all centered around Ashe and Pretorius’s Carnivale of Curiosities, and its leader, Aurelius Ashe, who can grant anyone nearly any wish… for a price.

Unlike other circuses and carnivals of the day, Ashe uses real magic and many of his “freaks” have magical powers. Some are simply unusual-looking people,


Read More




testing

Days of Shattered Faith: The best in the series so far

Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Days of Shattered Faith is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS series, continuing that series’ strong run of quality. While each book is meant to stand alone, and this one certainly can, reading the others will allow for a richer experience given the reappearance of multiple characters.

As with the other two books, Tchaikovsky shifts to a new setting in this universe and introduces a new group of characters (with some old ones as noted),


Read More




testing

When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution’s Greatest Romance

When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution’s Greatest Romance by Riley Black

Riley Black’s The Last Days of the Dinosaurs made my top ten books of the years when it came out (if you haven’t read it, you absolutely should), so I was excited to read her follow-up When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution’s Greatest Romance. I’m happy to report that like its predecessor, it’s an impressive work of popular science marked by wonderful prose and an engaging voice.


Read More




testing

A Conventional Boy: A fun welcome-back to the LAUNDRY FILES

A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross

I haven’t read a LAUNDRY FILES story in at least a couple of years. Charles Stross’s latest, 2025’s A Conventional Boy, is a fun novella and a nice welcome back to the series. The book is filled out by two short stories, “Overtime” and “Down on the Farm,” featuring Bob Howard. It was great to spend time with Bob again, but Derek Reilly, the protagonist of A Conventional Boy, was the real star.

The charge of Britain’s “Laundry,” a part of their intelligence and security services,


Read More




testing

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales: Emily and Wendell fight to save a faerie kingdom

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

When the third book in Heather Fawcett’s EMILY WILDE series opens, the irascible scholar Emily and her lover, the faerie prince and erstwhile scholar Wendell Bambleby have entered his realm and intend to reclaim the throne, after Emily deposed his usurper stepmother in the second book. Emily is far from optimistic about this plan, since the court is filled with traitors and those still loyal to the usurper queen. When Wendell bests his uncle Taran in a contest,


Read More




Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8466 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Get notified about Giveaways:

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!
Try Audible for Free

Recent Discussion:

  1. Marion Deeds
  2. Marion Deeds
  3. Marion Deeds
May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031