“God bless the man who first taught the world how to cure olives. He and the man who invented cheese are two unsung pillars of civilization.”
“They were probably women,” muttered Fatima, fanning her face with the sleeve of her robe. “If they were men, we would remember their names.”
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson is a historical fantasy novel about a concubine, a gay Muslim “sorcerer” (for lack of a better word), and a jinn fleeing the Inquisition after the fall of Granada. It’s good!
The library at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages was silent save for the whisper of the books in the Theoretical Magic section. Honeyed sun poured through two tall windows onto rows of empty study tables, which still gleamed with the freshness of summer cleaning. It was a small library – each section took up only a row or two of tall metal shelves – but it was big enough to hide in. Sunlight from the windows along one wall of the library spilled between the shelves, casting long shadows.
I didn’t know what to expect from Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars. Not when I purchased it. Not when I began reading it. And not on page 100, nor 200, nor 300. It’s safe to say that I haven’t been this continuously surprised by a book in quite a while.
There are so many different things at play in this book. It hits on so many familiar themes, it feels like it should be completely cookie-cutter. But it isn’t. Gailey brings so much more to these pages than just that. Somehow, though, even at that last page turn I couldn’t quite shake those cookie-cutter expectations.
This story is nominated for both a Nebula and a Hugo award, to be announced on May 16th and August 18th, respectively. Click the links above to view the other nominees, and to keep track of the awards themselves.
“You’re all right, dushenka? He didn’t hurt you?” She was safe for another moment, one more moment, and all of life was only moments, after all.
Spinning Silver is the latest standalone fantasy story from acclaimed author Naomi Novik. As a fast fan of her 2015 award-winning Uprooted, I had very high hopes and clear expectations for this book – and Novik shattered each and every one of them.
The 2019 Nebula Awards will be announced at the SFWA Nebula Conference in Los Angeles, CA, on (or around) May 18th. Over the past few months, I’ve been working to read and review all of the nominees in the Best Novel category. As theVerge.com describes:
The Nebula Awards are issued annually by SFWA to the best works in genre novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories published in the last year, alongside the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Nebulas are a sort of industry award, determined by professional authors.
Over the coming months, I will be reviewing each finalist in the Best Novel category and linking those reviews here. As I have in years past, I will circle back to this post once the Nebula Award winners are announced in May to record the winner.
Be sure to follow this page for the latest updates to this review series, and as always don’t hesitate to read along with me and let me know what you think of these nominees (or the Nebula Awards) in the comments!
The 2019 Hugo Awards will be announced at this year’s WorldCon 77 in Dublin, Ireland, on August 18th, 2019. Often considered “among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing“, the Hugo Award for Best Novel is the central event of each year’s Worldcon. Any work of fiction 40,000 words or more and published or translated into English during the previous year is eligible.
Over the coming months, I will be reviewing each finalist in the Best Novel category and linking those reviews here. As I have in years past, I will circle back to this post once the Hugo Award winners are announced in August to record the winner.
Be sure to follow this page for the latest updates to this review series, and as always don’t hesitate to read along with me and let me know what you think of these nominees (or the Hugo Awards) in the comments!
Magic is forgetting the world was ever other than as you willed it.
A couple of years ago, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katharine Arden was featured by Amazon as a “Best Book of the Month” or “Best Debut” or some such thing. It was advertised as a kind of literary Russian fairy tale, set in the actual historical medieval Russia. I love fairy tales. I like Russia; I took a few semesters of Russian language in college (don’t remember a thing). It sounded neat, so I gave it a shot.
I’m so glad that I did. I adored that book. It was billed as the first part of a trilogy (The Winternight Trilogy), so I waited not-so-patiently for my next fix of goodness. The sequel, The Girl in the Tower, came out last year, and I loved it too.
The third and final book of the trilogy, The Winter of the Witch, was recently released. I bought it quickly and finished it in a weekend. It’s wonderful.
You may call me Mogget. As to what I am, I was once many things, but now I am only several.
In 2016, George RR Martin’s blog linked to this speculative cage match fight between a couple of characters from his Song of Ice and Fire series (Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth) vs. a couple of characters from Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series (Sabriel and Mogget).
“Who in the world is Sabriel?” I thought, stupidly. Apparently, she is a character in a major fantasy series that I somehow had never heard of before. Intrigued, I bought the first book in the series, Sabriel, and then promptly let it sit unread in my iBooks app for two years.
I finally got around to reading it last year. I really should have done that sooner. Sabriel is one of the most surprising, interesting, unusual fantasy books I’ve ever read.
In 2018, Leigh Bardugo released her novel Six of Crows. It’s the first story in a new series, taking place in her previously-established universe known as the Grishaverse. Six of Crows has been very well-received, and I know first-hand that there’s a lot for a discerning book club to discuss in this book. Whether your book club is preparing to discuss it, or you’ve read it on your own and are looking for more, I hope the questions below will help guide you.
Note: If you haven’t read Six of Crows, you can read my review of it here.
Please let me know if you use these questions, find them helpful, or think I missed something. And of course I would love to see your answers to any (or all) of these questions in the comments. Happy discussing!
Of course, MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS below:
The collection The Book of Magic, edited by Gardner Dozois, is a very nicely-curated collection of short stories all having to do with (you guessed it) Magic.
Of the 17 of short stories included in this collection, I gave five of them four or five stars, three of them three or fewer stars, and DNFed the remaining five. Clearly, much of this collection simply wasn’t for me. However, I cannot deny that most (if not all) of the included works are superb examples of their genre.
Inej would find her own way in. The rules of fair play along the gangs were from Per Haskell’s time. Besides, she was the Wraith – the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.
Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows is a new story in her well-established fantasy universe known as the Grishaverse. Having not read any of her previous works in this universe, I was surprised and pleased to find that this book did an excellent job of introducing the unique magic system her universe hinges on (and is named for) without dipping into any textbook or encyclopedia-style descriptions. Readers new to Bardugo need not fear – Six of Crows is an excellent place to begin.
As a typical heist story, Six of Crows hits every mark. It has the large cast of rich characters each with their job to do and each with their private motivations – which Bardugo links together artfully and entertainingly as the story unfolds. It has the high stakes, the bad guys, the complicated plots and machinations. It has the breath-baitingly, nerve-wrackingly difficult tasks. And it has plenty of well-timed comedic and touching moments to wrap it all into one lovely narrative.