Format: Special Edition

Following an unlikely group of islanders finding their way under an authoritarian and oppressive magical monarchy, Katalina Watt’s Saltswept is a maritime focused fantasy novel featuring interesting narrative elements with folklore and flavor inspired by Southeast Asian culture. Fast-paced, straightforward, and as queer and colorful as the fruit section at a port of call market vendor stall, this book has all the right ingredients and promises a high seas heist and exciting adventure. While there is a heist and an adventure out at sea, the end result may not quite live up to that lofty pitch for most readers with the book feeling more like a collection of loosely connected ideas, lacking the development and details to solidify the tale it wants to tell. Described in the author’s acknowledgement, Watt set out to write a book that honors their Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander culture meshed with queer representation, and those ambitions clearly show as easily the book’s best features. While the chain of islands that make up Paranish are fictional, their real-world inspirations have clear SEA influences. While each island is varied in terms of climate, they all have wonderful visuals and atmosphere. The title of the book serves dual…

From the nomadic village plains, to opulent palaces, to soldier training grounds, Sarah Mughal Rana’s Dawn of the Firebird is a Middle Eastern inspired high fantasy story based around one’s loyalties, self-identity, and vengeful rage. With inspired folklore, distinctive magic system and strong conceptual ideas, this book has all the hallmark traits to be a sweeping epic tale and a start to a planned trilogy series. Unfortunately, despite having a lot of potential, numerous storytelling shortcomings and crucial plotting issues make this a potentially difficult book to enjoy. There appeared to have been some mild controversy or discussion surrounding this book and its author which resulted in quite polarizing early reviews, particularly the negative opinions that can be quite extra and dramatic. Though I wouldn’t have picked this book to read on my own if I hadn’t received it via FairyLoot’s adult fantasy book box subscription (also featured in Goldsboro’s Fellowship which I also am subscribed to but skipped), I went into this book with an open mind, expecting a more positive experience as I am generally more analytical and detailed reader/reviewer than the Goodreads norm who can be overly sensitive. Unfortunately despite its good ideas, I found myself unexpectedly…

Cyber warfare, citywide virtual reality recreations, AI applications, political and immigrant conflict, cadet academy and post-grade school placements, Chloe Gong’s novel Coldwire has a lot of fascinating elements going on. Marketed as a YA cyberpunk dystopian series debut, this book is full of excellent ideas with a story that mixes action with deeper social commentary. Though it possesses excellent material in theory, unfortunately the messy handling of its world-building and an assortment of storytelling shortcomings hold Coldwire back from being the exciting book by all accounts it should be. Set in a futuristic, technologically advanced world, the story has a dual-perspective presentation. Eirale is a contracted NileCorp soldier who is part of a response team firmly situated in Downcountry, aka the physical real world. Eirale’s team is assigned to capture an anarchist figurehead Nik Grant who is seen as a threat to both the country of Atahua as well as the NileCorp organization, a private business turned political asset who has developed a virtual reality recreation of the real world referred to as Upcountry. Meanwhile cadet-in-training Lia Sullivan attends the Nile Military Academy, a government mandated requirement for all orphaned children or wards from the opposing country Medaluo. The last…

There are many ways one could describe Matt Dinniman’s scifi novel Operation Bounce House, but what I’ve settled on is “refreshingly brilliant”. A self-contained standalone satirical epic that mixes Dinniman’s signature over-the-top absurdity with a lot heart, this book is what Dungeon Crawler Carl was to the LitRPG swapped for Apex Legends with parallel metaphors encompassing the political tension of the last several years. Despite having a premise that sounds like a fever dream on paper, Operation Bounce House is an excellent scifi book with a lot of depth and substance, easily one of my favorite reads of the last few years. At a first glance, Operation Bounce House is a book of seemingly endless contradictions that somehow works through sheer audacity and confidence. While its synopsis and book blurb has a lot going on, when stripped of its flashy styling and scifi jargon, the story is essentially one of government sanctioned genocide. If that is a turnoff, bear with me for a sec before throwing in the towel. Taking place on the distant planet of New Sonora, Oliver Lewis is one of many humble agricultural farmers whose ancestors several generations ago were sent as settlers to colonize the planet…

Set in a gothic and snowy city where its citizens put their trust in the church to protect them from dark forces held at bay, their faith is put to the test when a series of mysterious murders occurs. As the holy wards and seal appear to weaken, murder victims are found, and unrest within the city grows, the head inquisitor, a blessed izir, and a selfless church caregiver without a soul work to discover who is to blame for these seemingly unrelated disturbances. The first book of a planned duology also serving as Cate Baumer’s full length traditional published novel debut, the Faithful Dark is a tense and atmospheric dark fantasy book that features highly relevant themes that touch on faith, heresy, testing one’s loyalties, and what it really means to be blessed. Two of the most important elements when it comes to dark fantasy stories for me are the book’s sense of tone and sufficient world-building to ensure the stakes are set high. When it comes to ambiance and style, the Faithful Dark is a beast of a novel. Baumer’s fictional walled city of Silgard appears to be loosely inspired by a more urbanized version of the Vatican…