The Skald’s Black Verse by Jordan Loyal Short

Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository Publisher: Self-published Publish Date: 6 November 2018 Page Count: 337 pages Ask me to list a few of my favourite tropes in genre fiction, and I’d say things like space travel, complex magic systems, and possession. While I never expected an author to Frankenstein these elements together in a […]

Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive Publisher: Solaris Publish Date: 28 May 2019 Page Count: 140 pages Ever since I read Dogs of War and Children of Time, I’ve been a huge fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky. He’s an exceptional writer who comfortably flits between fantasy and sci-fi, and uses his interest in zoology […]

The Aggressive by Gem Jackson

Goodreads | Amazon Publisher: Self-published Publish Date: 31 August 2020 Page Count: 380 pages The Aggressive by Gem Jackson is a gut-wrenching explosion of a debut, and one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read this year. I first heard about it in this positive review, so I was excited when the author offered me a […]

What’s up, September?

– What Happened – Hello, bookfriends! I used a fair amount of annual leave in August, which meant plenty of extra reading time. I was able to get through the five books on my monthly To Be Read list, as well as a bonus two. The House of Styx was a stunning read and is […]

Afterland by Lauren Beukes

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive | Waterstones Publisher: Penguin Books Publish Date: 28 July 2020 Page Count: 411 pages A slow-burn story about a mother and son on the run, Lauren Beukes’ dystopian thriller Afterland contains some of the most impressive prose I’ve come across recently. It’s a feminist […]

Red Noise by John P. Murphy

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive Publisher: Angry Robot Publish Date: 9 June 2020 Page Count: 440 pages Red Noise by John P. Murphy has been described as an Akira Kurosawa and spaghetti western-inspired sci-fi romp. Having only a passing familiarity with either of those, I was hoping for some epic […]

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive Publisher: Tor.com Publish Date: 4 August 2020 Page Count: 512 pages This is one of those times I wish I’d read more reviews before jumping into a book because I certainly wasn’t expecting Harrow the Ninth to be such a challenging read. In this […]

The Phlebotomist by Chris Panatier

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive Publisher: Angry Robot Publish Date: 8 September 2020 Page Count: 345 pages As a trained phlebotomist, I’m fully qualified to tell you that this book is bloody fun. Chris Panatier’s upcoming debut novel has satisfied a thirst I didn’t know I had for a […]

The House of Styx by Derek Künsken

Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org (UK) | Book Depository | Hive | Waterstones Publisher: Solaris Publish Date: 18 August 2020 Page Count: 500 pages While aspiring authors are often told to “write the book you want to read”, booklovers are constantly on a mission to read the book they want to read. We search for […]

What’s up, August?

I just realised that it’s August tomorrow (yeah, I know) so here is my monthly round-up post! – What Happened – The Fantasy Hive’s #WomenInSFF event on Twitter and Instagram was an absolute blast and has put my TBR in a state of shock. Happily, I managed to get through my planned SFF reads from […]