Jessica Strider

Pros: beautiful photographs, incredibly detailed descriptions of all of the paintings, good background information

Cons: not enough photographs

This is a photographic travelogue of a series of remote churches in Ethiopia. The first three chapters are background information: The Architecture of the Churches, Ethiopian Christianity and Saints, and The Jesuit Interlude. These help you understand the context and material discussed in the following three chapters: The Churches of Tigray (detailing eleven churches), The Gondarine Churches (three churches) and The Churches near Lalibela (three churches). As appendices the book has a chronology of Ethiopian royalty and the Ethiopian calendar (which differs significantly from the Gregorian calendar the Western world uses).

When I bought it I wasn't sure what churches were covered, so I was disappointed that some of the ones I was looking for (like the main Lalibela complex) did not appear here.

Ethiopian Christianity is practiced differently than Christianity elsewhere in the world, having closer contact with Judaism before being effectively cut off from other Christian nations for centuries. This allowed it to remain largely unchanged until the present day, despite efforts by Jesuits to convert them to Catholicism and Muslim invasions. I greatly enjoyed the first chapters of the book, which taught me a lot of useful terms as well as stories of local saints I was unfamiliar with.

For the churches, if there's significant paintings, the authors put in numbered diagrams with explanations of what image is where for each wall, then more detailed information - including Biblical quotations and more descriptions of saints lives - in order to understand the stories being presented. There's a wealth of information here that's sadly lessened by the fact that there are so few pictures. Quite often I would read a description and want to see the painting only to find it wasn't included in the handful of images each church received.

The pictures that are included are gorgeous and cover a wide range of religious subjects (so you're not getting only Virgin and Child pictures from each church). I was very happy to discover that for a few churches the authors included images and descriptions of a few of that churches' treasures, publishing photos of a few manuscript photos, one fan, some metal processional crosses, etc.

On the whole it feels like this book is designed to be used in situ, with each chapter explaining how to get to the church in question. Alas, most readers will never have the chance to visit these edifices, though if you can find a book with more photos of the interiors, this book would be indispensable for identifying the subjects in question.

Pros: excellent introduction, full translation, lots of end notes

Cons: some quotes left untranslated

Translated in 1979 and reissued in 2009, this was the first full English translation of the Greek manuscript, Physiologus. The manuscript took stories of animals and gave them Christian allegorical meanings. These stories were used in later bestiary collections and by encyclopedists - with and without their allegories - greatly influencing the medieval mind.

The book begins with an introduction that gives background on the Physiologus and the questions surrounding when it was written and who it was written by. It is then followed by translations of the 51 chapters, most of which deal with animals though there are also a few plants and stones.

The information in the introduction is fantastic and really helps you place the Physiologus in history while not being too academic and dry. My only complain here - and also with the notes at the back of the volume - is that neither Greek nor Latin quotations are translated for those who can't read them.

The manuscript itself is rather dry. More time is given to the moral than to describing the animal. If you're unfamiliar with these types of works, you'll be confused by a lot of the ‘natural' behaviours described. Very little of this is true animal behaviours. Consider them more morality tales like Aesop's fables rather than a treatise on natural history. However, remember that as many of the animals described were not native to the lands where the tales became popular, they did influence beliefs in mythological creatures and many in the past believed the stories depicted actual animal behaviours.

The book includes black and white woodcut images from the 1587 G. Ponce de Leon edition of the book. I had expected there to be an image per chapter but there were only 21 images in total and a few of the listings had more than one image (the serpent has a series of 4 images).

If you're interested in medieval thought and art, the bestiary by way of the Physiologus was hugely influential. This book is a glimpse into the medieval mind, both with regards to how they saw the natural world and how they believed the natural and spiritual worlds overlapped.

Pros: lots of gorgeous full colour illustrations, essays on a variety of topics, thorough discussion on the evolution of bestiaries

Cons: some of the essays are dense

This is the guide that accompanies the exhibition “Book of Beasts” at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit runs from May 14th to August 18th. (http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/bestiary/inner.html)

The book is divided into three parts. Part one is an introduction plus images and text for the 15 best known bestiary animals. Part two: Exploring the Bestiary is subdivided into The Bestiary in form and function (consisting of 6 essays and the first 28 catalogue listings) and The Bestiary Reimagined (two essays and 5 listings). Part three: Beyond the Bestiary is again subdivided, with catalogue listings after each essay. It's sections are: Church and Court (3 essays) and Bestiaries and Natural History (4 essays). The epilogue is followed by the final catalogue listings and four appendices.

I found the first few essays of part 2 boring due to their dry and somewhat dense prose. There's a fair amount of repetition in that most of these essays opened with similar background paragraphs on Bestiaries and their origins in the Greek book Physiologus. For me, the most interesting essay of this section was “Accommodating Antlers, Making Room for Hedgehogs, and Other Problems of Page Design in the Medieval Bestiary”. It was interesting learning how scribes and illustrators may have been working from different manuscripts and so their work didn't always line up.

The later essays were much more interesting, both in style an content. There's less minutiae about the manuscripts making them more accessible and I enjoyed learning new things about how bestiaries influenced other forms of art like maps and sculptures. I also appreciated that there were separate essays on Jewish and Muslim uses of animals in manuscripts. Those essays all felt too short, given the amount of information being discussed.

I liked that there are occasional ‘notes to the reader' explaining some of the terms so that even those who haven't studied manuscripts can understand the more scholarly language used. The notes for catalogue listings generally mentioned if a manuscript has been fully or partially digitized and is available online for further study. Unfortunately these notes are in such small text I'm afraid some readers will miss this information.

Catalogue images are all reproduced in colour and there was a good variety. I loved seeing the evolution of the genre and how the stories were reinterpreted in later works. I was surprised that some of the images were duplicated though. A page would be used to illustrate an essay and than that same page would be one of the images used to illustrated the catalogue listing for that manuscript. Given the fact that each manuscript only got one or two images, I would have expected different pages to be used each time in order to maximize the number of different images shown.

If you're new to bestiaries this is an excellent primer, though you'll have to work a bit to understand some of the terms. For those with some knowledge, it will increase it and suggest other works to examine. If you're well versed in the subject the later essays don't go far enough to suggest new avenues of study, though the earlier ones do an excellent job of showing what scholarship has been done and what still needs examination.

This looks like an excellent exhibit and I wish I could attend and see all of these manuscripts and artworks in person.

Pros: gorgeous artwork, interesting story, great costumes

Cons: depressing ending

Lady Mechanika's quest to discover her past is sidetracked when Mr Lewis's depression suddenly dissipates and he announces his engagement to a mysterious woman.

This volume collects the three comics that make up this storyline. It references some of the earlier volumes, but as situations and people are given enough reference, you can follow along even if you haven't read those.

As with the other volumes, the artwork is gorgeous with some great steampunk costumes and a Victorian style setting. There are a few fight scenes with good action and a new female bad guy.

I found myself conflicted by the depression plotline. On the one hand I think the team did a great job of showing that it can take a long time for people who have suffered lost to recover. On the other hand, Lady Mechanika seems to have reached a point where she's tired of Mr Lewis's grief and just wants him to go back to being her occasional sidekick. I could actually understand his choice for marriage at the end of the volume and felt that Lady Mechanika took something from him and then left him alone to deal with the fallout at a point when he clearly needs intervention. The idea that he'll just recover on his own - given enough time - is unfortunately rarely true in real life, and it would have been nice to see this acknowledged in the comic, maybe by sending him to a convalescent home or giving him a pet to care for (it's possible this will be addressed in the next issue). But that last page with him is very depressing to read.

On the whole though, I thought it was a great volume.

Pros: interesting new characters and settings, Oichi develops more as a person

Cons: lots of new players and it can be hard to keep them all straight

Oichi's world has changed with the overthrow of the Executive class and the mass joining of medusa units. It's time for the inhabitants of Olympia to engage with the outside world, starting with a messenger from the weapon's clan ship that's following them, and ending with meeting the three on the planet Graveyard. But how does someone who's used to executing opponents learn to negotiate? And why doesn't Medusa agree with her chosen path?

If it's been a while since you read Medusa Uploaded, there's so much going on that it's worth giving that a reread before starting this one. Medusa in the Graveyard picks up roughly one year after the first novel ends, and there's little recap.

Unfortunately I had a number of tasks I had to accomplish while reading this so it was a disjointed experience of a few pages here, a chapter or two there. This book requires some measure of concentration as there are a lot of new players that come in briefly and then don't show up again until later. And it's easy to forget who is who.

Having said that, I loved seeing the new groups the Olympians would have to trade/negotiate with and just how big their universe is. There are belters, aliens, a variety of ships on Graveyard created by vastly different intelligences. The actual trek to see the ships was quite interesting and a little trippy.

I liked that Oichi had to go through a lot of personal development. It makes sense that she's not the best suited for negotiating given her past, and I thought the trials she went through as a result were realistic.

I'm not sure if there's more to this series, but the book had a satisfying ending that wrapped up a lot.

Pros: summarizes a large stretch of history, lots of detail in some areas

Cons: only a few black and white photo, some illustrations reproduced from earlier works, very dense

The book consists of 18 chapters starting with an introduction followed by 3 parts: 1) Before Aksum (2 chapters), 2) The Kingdom of Aksum (13 chapters), After Aksum (1 chapter) and an epilogue. There's also an extensive bibliography.

In the introduction the author mentions that he wrote the book to be both a scholarly work and something accessible to every day Ethiopians wishing to know more about their past. He definitely achieved the former, while I'm not Ethiopian I had trouble with several sections that were quite dense. There's a fair bit of repetition in sections where the author refers you to another chapter where a particular issue is dealt with in greater detail.

There are only a handful of photos, all of which are black and white. The author also used illustrations of floor plan/layouts, etc. from older books.

I was disappointed that the Zagwe dynasty only rated one chapter but the book did make me want to read what happens after 1300 when the Solomonic dynasty took over.

While I came away knowing more about the Aksumites, the writing is so dense that I can't really recommend this book for casual readers interested in Ethiopian history.

Pros: complex protagonist, slow moving romance, political commentary

Cons:

Sophie Balstrade's unique skill of sewing charms into garments has given her shop steady business, but she's hoping to catch the eye of noble ladies. She's overjoyed to receive a commission from Viola Snowmont as well as an invitation to the lady's salon, both of which propel her into a higher class of clientele and a potential love affair. But her brother's a leader in the Laborer's League, and as tensions build among the disaffected lower classes, she finds herself torn between his goals and her own. When he disappears, she's blackmailed into helping the League by doing something against her moral code - sew a cursed object.

I really enjoyed this book. While I wouldn't say it's cribbed from the French Revolution, the salons, the court fashions, the presence of guns and the social tensions did remind me of that period of history.

I loved Sophie, especially the fact that she actually works at her shop and when she takes time off she either has to make up the work later or rearrange the schedule so everything is done on time. I appreciated that she had goals and that she'd considered the consequences of marriage (her husband and his family would gain control of her shop) and decided it wasn't for her.

The romance thread was slow paced, which I appreciated. The couple actually talked about the realities of their situation and acknowledged that due to their stations things could only go so far.


The magic - attaching charms via thread into garments - was very original. Sophie has to learn how to do curses and there's a physical cost to her for doing them.

There was just enough of the politics to keep things interesting without slowing the pacing. Through Sophie we see that the nobility have duties to perform and that their lives aren't all given to leisure, while the workers have legitimate grievances.

This is a fun read and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Pros: in depth discussion, full translation, summaries are useful for quick reference

Cons:

Note: I received a copy for review from the publisher via NetGalley. My copy did not include the manuscript reproduction pages for the illustrations, therefore I cannot comment on the images or their quality.

The book gives the historical background of the Splendor Solis and then a new English translation of the Harley manuscript 3469 version, currently held by the British Library (and viewable online here: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3469 Click on the image below ‘view bindings' to see the pages).

There is an introduction and four chapters, followed by a glossary of alchemical terms and other alchemical works the Splendor Solis refers to. The chapters are: History and authorship of Splendor Solis, Inventing an alchemical adept: Splendor Solis and the Paracelsian movement, Commentary on the text and plates of Splendor Solis and finally Translation of the Harley manuscript.

The chapter on the history of the manuscript is very scholarly and quite dry. I appreciated that Prinke mentioned the history of scholarship regarding the Splendor Solis, in terms of printed volumes, manuscripts, the illustrations and attempts at discovering the author and illustrators. He even includes recent scholarship on the topics. I was disappointed that there was such a limited discussion on the antecedents of the artworks, the topic that most interested me. Instead of showing examples of where the Splendor Solis' illustrators received inspiration, he simply offhandedly mentioned the works with little to go in if you'd like to research this topic yourself. When discussing the Aurora Consurgens's artistic lending he merely cites the page of an English translation that got a 200 copy print run in 2011 and is quite difficult to find. I did find an older reproduction of the Aurora Consurgens online (digitized by Zurich's Zentralbibliothek https://archive.org/details/AuroraConsurgens), but Prinke gave so little descriptive information that I found it difficult to identify which images he was comparing.

I really enjoyed the essay on the Paracelsian movement. There was a lot of information here I was unaware of and it was fascinating to learn about.

The next chapter summarizes all of the passages in the manuscript and gives a thorough description of the illustrations and their meanings. It is here that the reproduced manuscript pages are found. The information is in clear language with translations of any text that appears in the images.

I was a little surprised there was a summary of the text followed by a full translation, but the translation's fairly dense, so it's actually quite useful to have read the summary and explanation before digging into it. It meant I came away with a much better understanding of what I read.

As stated above, I can't judge the quality of the images included in this edition, but the text alone is definitely worth the price. It's a deep dive into the Splendor Solis and a worthwhile addition to your collection if you're interested in alchemy.

Pros: interesting characters, great melding of history and myth

Cons:

Fatima is one of the sultan's concubine's in Alhambra, 1491AD. Amid the siege and her anger at her lack of freedom, her only comfort is Hassan, a gay scribe who can create maps to places that don't exist. When a delegation from the Spanish monarchs arrives, Hassan's life is put in danger and Fatima flees with him, hoping to escape the inquisitorial eye and find a better life.

I loved the blending of history and myth and the clash of beliefs that form the foundation of this novel.

The author has a solid grasp on the events and world of 1491, including a lot of minor details that bring the world to life.

I loved her depiction of jinn, which was different from any I've read before and made them fascinating. The island being a part of both Islamic and Christian myth was a nice touch, showing that some things are universal.

Beyond the jinn, there's the magic associated with Hassan's maps. It's subtle and beautiful and while the plot hangs on it, it's sparingly used.

The characters questioned their actions at every point in the book, which made them feel real. They blamed each other for bad decisions. They forgave each other for outbursts they regretted. Fatima is so full of anger and so unaware of the world outside the palace that her growth arc was huge. She's very passionate and her reactions run the gamut. Luz was absolutely terrifying and I loved that the author played on a modern understanding of what the inquisition was to avoid graphic descriptions. There's a little information but mostly the book relies on hints of what happens to those put to the question.

The book is fairly fast paced, with the characters constantly running into trouble.

If you like history with a hint of magic, this is a great read.

Pros: great romance, optimistic, inclusive

Cons: tenses changes often bumped me out of the story

A year after successfully using the godsgem to defeat the Old God, the seven questers returned to their lives. Sir Erris Quicksword married the King. Mage Ladros took the gem to the Mage Keep in case it's needed again. Their thief, Olsa Rhetsdaughter paid off her debt but keeps getting picked up by the guards for thievery, which is becoming a problem as the king can no longer intercede on her behalf. Her lover, the apprentice knight Kalanthe Ironheart has also interceded several times, but her own problems - finding a rich husband before she's knighted and her own debts come due - can no longer be ignored.

This is the story of what happens after the quest is over.

The novel alternates between scenes from the quest - which detail the quest itself and the burgeoning romance between Olsa and Kalanthe - and what's happening in the present. Oddly, the present scenes are written in the past tense third person viewpoint whereas the past scenes are told from a first person present tense from either Olsa or Kalanthe's point of view. On the one hand, this makes it very clear what period you're in, on the other hand, it can be jarring going from one tense to the other.

I loved the characters. Seeing five female knights on a quest was great, especially when one was asexual and another was transgender. The romance between Olsa and Kalanthe developed organically in the flashback scenes and you can see them trying to come to terms with their choices - imposed and desired - in the present and how their circumstances and pride cause problems.

It was refreshing to read a quest story that shows how characters move on from the disruption to their lives and one that's so unabashedly positive. There's no shame around sex (or any of the pairings - all of which happen off screen, there's no graphic content here), nor is race an issue (several characters have dark skin, and among them different hair care is required). There is a desert dweller who faces ridicule due to her background by side characters, but the questers accept her without question.

This is a fantastic standalone novel, perfect for the YA crowd and adults looking for more optimistic stories.

Pros: thought-provoking, interesting characters, good social commentary

Cons: lots of adult content

In a future America, the hit reality TV show is Vigilance, where active shooters are sent into unprepared locations to see if the people there have what it takes to survive.

This novella is told through the perspectives of two people. First is John McDean, a marketing man and head of Vigilance's production team. The second is Delyna, a bartender whose patrons are hyped to watch the next episode of their favourite show.

Don't pick this up if you don't want to read the following: mass shootings, excessive swearing, and masturbation. While not as violent and profane as some books (possibly due to its shorter length), there's a lot of adult content here.

What's also here is some actual reasons behind why such a show is popular and what that says about the people who would watch it. Murder as reality TV (or just people being hunted for sport) isn't new in the SF field. But quite often the violence is left unexamined. Yes, there's often a vague hand wave to the fact that it's a form of oppression, but Battle Royale is one of the few stories I can point to (and I've read/seen quite a few of these in long and short form) that actually posits a reason for why such a show is put on in the first place (though Battle Royale had a very different reason for it than Vigilance). Not only does Vigilance make you think about the story and society in general (especially today's gun culture in the US and all of its mass shootings), it works to make the violence in the story - which could otherwise be gratuitous - deeply uncomfortable and horrifying instead of entertaining. These aren't characters in a book fingering their guns. These are your neighbours, your friends, your family members.

Delyna's got some great scenes, especially once the TV show starts. Her story is where the social commentary really shines, in several ways.

It's short enough to read in one sitting, but will stick with you long after.

Pros: very feisty women, lots of history, clever integration of the hellbeast

Cons: writing was a little dry at times

When her revenant husband returns to the besieged city of Bruges and reveals he's hidden a fortune, Margriet de Vos demands her rights: a third of that wealth belongs to her, the rest to their daughter. Her husband now serves the Chatelaine of Hell, and intends to give her this gold. But Margriet won't be deterred. Neither war, the King of France, nor Hell itself will keep her from getting her due.

Meanwhile, Claude a transgender man-at-arms and former guest of the Hellbeast also wants the de Vos treasure, or rather, a mace he unwisely sold to Margriet's husband and now needs back.

The story is mostly told from Margriet's point of view, though there are a few scenes from her daughter and Claude's viewpoints as well. Margriet is very feisty, willing to fight over a sou if she feels she's owed it. Her daughter's much kinder but has little agency, as her mother's overprotective and often overbearing. Margriet supported the family by working as a wet nurse, which isn't something that comes up often, though historically it was a common thing. It was also nice seeing a middle aged woman as the protagonist, especially one who is near-sighted in an age where glasses can only be afforded by the elite.

Claude was a great character. It's awesome to see often overlooked people in history and, while misgendered through a good part of the story, the author always maintains his understanding of who he really is. Though they were short scenes, I really enjoyed the revelations regarding aspects of womanhood he's missed (like breast binding) and how he survived in a soldier's camp.

The author cleverly integrated her mythological aspects into actual history. At the end of the book she cites a Flemish painting that was her inspiration for the book, and it added an entire new layer to the story itself.

The writing can be a bit dry at times, in that it's not a particularly fast paced or adventurous tale. There's a lot of sitting around and talking or walking between cities.

If you like medieval history or want a historical fantasy that's different from the norm, this is an interesting read.

Pros: great depiction of trauma, compelling story, interesting characters

Cons: not sure I believe the ending

Acting Commander Catherine Wells is the sole survivor of the presumed lost Sagittarius mission to TRAPPIST-1f, a planetary system on the other side of a warp hole. Her sudden return to Earth means NASA can better prepare the soon to depart Sagittarius II crew. Or it would, if she could remember what happened on the alien planet.

This is a quick read. The characters are all interesting, with the majority of the story focusing on Catherine returning to a husband and daughter who believed she was dead the past 6 years. There's a lot for the book to unpack and the author does an excellent job of showing Catherine's trauma regarding memory loss, extreme isolation for an extended period of time, survivor's guilt for being the only member of her crew to survive, as well as the guilt over having been away from her family for so long.

The current memory lapses she has makes for a compelling storyline and I found myself rushing ahead to find out what was going on. I loved the periodic flashbacks to what happened on the Sagittarius I mission.

Once I found out what was happening some of that compulsion to finish the book dissipated. The closer the book got to the ending the less I believed how the higher ups at NASA were acting. The final acts of the protagonists seemed highly implausible and I had trouble believing NASA would go along with it considering the cost and time involved in implementing their plan.

On the whole it was an entertaining read, with some interesting twists though a somewhat unsatisfying ending.

Pros: detailed examination of the subject matter, lots of minor details

Cons: could have used more maps

After the introduction the book has eight chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are:

Spices and Medieval Cuisine

Medicine: Spices as Drugs

The Odors of Paradise

Trade and Prices

Scarcity, Abundance, and Profit

“That Damned Pepper”: Spices and Moral Danger

Searching for the Realms of Spices

Finding the Realms of Spices: Portugal and Spain

The book is fantastic. It examines spices as food enhancements, medicine, trade items from exotic locales, and more. I loved that the author often made asides that filled in information of what was happening in other parts of the world so as to better understand Europe's place in it.

I especially loved learning about the myths and legends surrounding India and Asia, and the snakes that guard the pepper plants and diamonds.

I find it fascinating the amount of spices used in the middle ages, especially in food, compared to today. Some of the combinations seem so bizarre I want to try them, just to see what they were like. Did they know something we've forgotten about spice blends?

The book has a few black and white illustrations and maps, but given the subject matter, more would have been appreciated.

If you're interested in spices and/or the middle ages, this is a worthwhile read.

Pros: wide variety of stories, some excellent artwork, inclusive stories

Cons: often abrupt endings, not hard SF, some artwork I didn't care for

First off, reviews are subjective. Everyone likes different things. This is even more apparent when it comes to artwork. So while some of the stories and some of the artwork didn't appeal to me, that won't be true for everyone. There's quite a variety of both stories and artwork here, and the ones that didn't work for me might turn out to be your favourites.

I was surprised by how many stories had retrofitted cars as spaceships. In fact, don't think too much about the science in most of the stories as they generally don't deal with the practicalities of space (like oxygen, radiation shielding, gravity, food, water, waste). The few that did, stood out, and I really enjoyed them.

There are 21 stories in this collection, and some of them are very short, almost more vignettes than full short stories. Some of them end abruptly, which I didn't like.

The black and white artwork was varied. Some of the stories were gorgeous, some had artwork I couldn't stand.

I loved the inclusive nature of the stories. There was a variety of characters from different racial backgrounds and sexual identities.

On the whole the collection is a good mix. There are some real knockout stories and some I personally didn't care for, but it's worth the read.

“M.S.P.I.P.S.P” by Kay Rossbach
** Louanne Davis navigates the spaceport with her daughter before their flight to Mars to reunite with her wife. - I enjoyed the artwork. Anyone's who's flown will sympathize with Louanne's plight as one thing after another goes wrong.“Lia” by Alexxander Dovelin ** A woman's life work is used to capture experiences of space as viewed by androids. - The artwork seemed a little more realistic in style. I liked the story. It's about finding people who believe in you, as you navigate a world where profit is everything.

“Microwave” by Jay Eaton
** Rowan's on her way to use a warp pod to travel to Seatle, but her uncles are driving her nuts with their talk of safety issues. - Not my favourite art style, but an interesting short story about being prepared to act when things go wrong.“Cabbage Island” by Mulele Jarvis ** Yu's dream is to build a car that can warp through space in the hopes of finding a new planet to live on, as the world gets worse and worse. - I liked the artwork and the story was engaging. Not sure when Hondo had time to bake the cookies, and the ending wasn't to my taste.

“Passing Through” by Jamie Kaye and Sunny
** Two friends chat about what they're up to now. - There were a few panels (the ones in the bar) where I wasn't sure what was going on. I do love the idea of having a personal transporter though, and being able to tour the world/galaxy. I was left wondering how the phone didn't cut out each time the man teleported.

“Last Exit” by Christine Williamson and M. Kennedy
* Mary runs away from home to space and gets caught by the predatory bureaucracy. - I was not a fan of the artwork. I found the small script crowded and hard to read. Changing the engine's not enough to make a car space worthy and she was woefully unprepared for the trip considering she left when she did out of pique rather than need.

“Ignition” by Iris Jay and Skolli Rubedo
* Rhea and Imogen are a salvage team hired by a fascist leader to recover the Discovery shuttle. - I didn't like the artwork for this story and the story left me with a several questions.

“Wayhome” by Evan Dahm
* A family makes a home in a new place, leaving the city behind. But isolation breeds paranoia. - I liked aspects of this story. The artwork was interesting and there's a great paranoia reaction at one point. The ending was strange. “Space to Grow” by N.N. Chan * A young astrobiologist blogging about her first solo assignment is beset by internet trolls. - I liked the artwork. I also appreciated that it depicts a common problem for internet creators. Negative comments can really bring you down, even if you're doing what you love.“Soft Physics” by Blue Delliquanti * People in disparate communities await packets of info, some of which contain the exploits of Phoney and Mandy. - The artwork wasn't quite my style. The story was interesting but didn't have much of a conclusion.

“Brilliant + Handsome” by C.B. Webb
* Two boys build ships to go to Mars, one in a car, the other in a washing machine. - Didn't like the artwork. I had to read the ending twice to understand what happened, but really liked it once I got it.“Failsafe” by Rachel Ordway A pilot tries to commit suicide via black hole. - More of a vignette than a story, it does portray frustrated despair very well.

“I Want to Be Alone” by Seren Krakens
* Fed up with life among slobs, the protagonist takes off alone to find the perfect planet where they can be alone. - I found the artwork very confusing and had a difficult time understanding what was going on.

“Finders Keepers” by Ahueonao
*** Three friends attempt to loot an abandoned luxury space station whose AI killed the previous guests and crew. - Loved the artwork and the story was a lot of fun. “Prodigal Sunset” by Sara Duvall and James F. Wright* A group of teens from various planets try to find a cure for the strange illness they share. - Nice artwork. I was left with a lot of questions.

“Words From the Dead” by Jonathon Dalton
** Two archaeologist study the remains of the long dead Taucetian society. - I appreciated that the author paid some attention to science in this story. The artwork was ok. Loved the story's ending. “Story of a Rescue” by Nathaniel Wilson * Two kids and their pilot are heading out to find their dead beat step-dad. - The kids told a lot of back story, which seemed a bit odd as the pilot was older than them and I'd have expected him to have a better sense of current affairs. Loved the ending.

“Solitary” by David Andry and Paul Schultz
** A prisoner's sentence is commuted provided he sign on to a new program. - Interesting story that was well executed.“Graddad's Second Wife” by Cheez Hayama and Earl T. Roske ** Sergio's granddad needs help keeping his new wife - an alien - from ICE. - The alien was kind of disturbing, but the story was otherwise fun.

“The Senior Project” by Maia Kobabe
** While other kids work on FTL thesis projects, Willow cultivates a fast-growing crop of Adzuki beans. - I liked the relationship that formed between Willow and Kai, as they both worked on their projects. I also liked the practical applications for Kai's teleporter.“My Stars and Garters” by Ainsley Seago ** A couple builds a spaceship so they can live their most authentic Victorian lives away from people who find them strange. - I suspect people who live differently would be among the first to leave Earth should an FTL drive become cheaply available. An enjoyable end to the collection.

Pros: compelling, thought provoking

Cons: limited tension

The world believes that 10 years ago Zahra's father killed everyone aboard the House of Wisdom spaceship using an old virus. Zahra now belongs to a wasteland ‘family' that plans to hijack the ship and use it as a new home, escaping the reach of the United Councils of Earth. To access the ship Zahra and a small group kidnap the only surviving member of the House of Wisdom massacre, Jaswinder Bhattacharya. But the Councils were wrong about what happened on the ship and Zarah's small infiltration group is about to learn the horrifying truth.

This is a very compelling read. I had a hard time putting it down and finished it in one day. This did have the unfortunate side effect that I didn't really have time to fear for the characters' lives or feel any emotional connection with any but the point of view characters. There was only limited tension built up before bad things happened.

The story is told from the alternating points of view of Zahra and Jaswinder, with occasional transmission logs in between giving information from the time of the original massacre. Both protagonists were in many ways broken people with tragic pasts and complicated presents. They were interesting to learn more about and easy to sympathize with.

The book occasionally had characters point out the racism and politics of their world, especially with the treatment of Jaswinder's best friend, Baqir, who immigrated to the Councils but lost family members and an arm to a disease before their application was processed.

The mystery on the ship was handled well, with information being revealed at a satisfying rate.

It's a great, quick read.

Pros: interesting characters, excellent worldbuilding, fast paced

Cons:

Jane McKeene is in her final year at Miss Preston's School of Combat for Negro Girls. At 17 she's trained to become an Attendant, to protect a white young lady from shamblers - the undead - and protect her modesty from amorous young men. But what she really wants is to return home to Rose Hill and her plantation owning Momma.

Though the war between the North and South was set aside to deal with the undead as they rose, racial tensions haven't eased, and some people believe the shamblers are God's punishment for trying to make all men equal. These men build communities behind walls. But can walls really keep the monsters of the world out?

When a friend of Jane's asks for help finding his missing sister, Jane stumbles into trouble even her combat training hasn't prepared her for.

I absolutely loved Jane and was astonished at how self-aware she was for a seventeen year old. She recognizes that she lies a lot and acknowledges her other faults, even as she often revels in rule breaking. She's impulsive and often later regrets her actions but can't stop herself from acting first and thinking later, a trait that actually saves her life on occasion. She's also really smart, though realizes that there's often safety in appearing to be less intelligent than she is.

Katherine was also great. I liked that her animosity with Jane was due to superficial things, so it didn't feel manufactured when they started becoming friends.

As a Canadian, I don't know much about the American Civil War or it's immediate aftermath, so I don't know to what extent things have been twisted here, though I did recognize the names of a few of the Generals referenced. There's an author afterward talking about the Indian residential schools that come up in the book and how she used them as a template for her training schools.

I thought the author incorporated the zombies into the history quite well. Due to the period in which the book is set, some offensive language is used. The 'n' word is not, but other slurs do appear. This made parts of the book uncomfortable to read, but it's the discomfort of how horribly some people treated others.

This is a brilliant book and I highly recommend it.

Pros: political intrigue, interesting characters, fantastic worldbuilding

Cons:

Baru Cormorant's actions on Aurdwynn have numerous consequences. She is now Agonist, a cryptarch, one of the secret lords of the Imperial Throne of the Imperial Republic of Falcrest. She has also made a lot of enemies, one of whom is a navy admiral, who decides to mutiny in order to bring Baru to a form of justice.

Baru believes she's one step further towards destroying Falcrest and freeing her homeland, but cryptarch rivals Hesychest and Itinerant have a job for her and two of their other proteges.

This book picks up immediately where the previous one ended, and if you don't remember all of the characters and subplots of the first book, I'd highly recommend giving it a quick reread. I was very happy that an issue I had with that book's ending was dealt with pretty heavily in this one.

There are plots within plots, and two main points of view, that of Baru (told in third person) and Xate Yawa (told in first person). The switch was a bit jarring at times, but insured you didn't mistake who's thoughts you were observing. There are also flashbacks to a previous war from the viewpoint of Tau-indi, a prince of the Oriati Mbo, which gives cultural and historical information for the continent and for the war of ideas between the cryptarchs.

The worldbuilding is incredibly intricate. Everything is connected and the language recognizes differences from our own world - like ‘matronizingly' instead of 'patronizingly', because some cultures have a matriarchy as a system of rule. I loved the attention to detail.

While Baru is often - though not always - able to avoid personal consequences for her actions, once again it's clear how she causes serious fallout in her wake, particularly with regards to trade and the economics of some of the islands she visits. Very serious consequences, for what seems like limited gains on her part. This makes her an increasingly hard character to like or sympathize with. Which I believe is the point.

A lot of the action is set-up for the next book, so the plot here feels scattered at times. Having said that, the level of intrigue is high and I never felt bored.

Be prepared to remember a lot of names and get lost in intrigue. If you like morally dubious characters, this book is for you.

Pros: lots of action, fast paced, compelling characters, interesting setting

Cons: romance felt somewhat out of place

Flynn is an engineer framed for murder, being sent to the most dangerous prison planet that exists: the Razor. Half of the planet is frozen, the other half boiling, and in the middle, there is a small strip of liveable ground. The planet is home to the purest form of Xytrilium in the galaxy, and whoever controls that power source, controls the galaxy. So when a strange beam lights up the sky and all the guards evacuate, Flynn knows something bad is happening. He'll have to team up with a group of dangerous misfits if he wants to survive, and get off the planet before it's too late.

The book opens with Flynn's arrival on the planet and while it take several chapters before things start to go wrong, the characters and setting are quite fascinating and carry the book easily. Short chapters and a lot of action makes this a quick read.

The characters are an interesting mix. Flynn is book smart but that won't save him in with the general population of inmates. Key is street smart but feels the weight of the people she's let down, and tends to cover her fear with bravado. Maddox is an ex guard, turned prisoner, who faces a rough welcome from his previous squad members. He's also got a guilt complex for the people he couldn't save. Raelyn is a doctor who made some bad decisions and is living with the consequences. Zane was probably my favourite character, a man who was experimented on and is now super strong, with the ability to absorb metal.

The romance between Maddox and Raelyn made a kind of sense, with him using saving her as motivation for living. It still seemed somewhat out of place considering the severity of what was happening. The romance between Key and Flynn felt like something that might burn hot and die out quickly as they have nothing in common to keep them interested in each other after the adrenaline rush of staying alive is over. It also seemed a bit odd that all the main characters paired up. I did like that neither pairing felt rushed. They both developed fairly slowly and organically.

The Razor is a fun read with good set-up for the sequel.

Pros: delightfully creepy and/or unsettling vignettes, real photographs, fascinating mythologies

Con: no frame story to bring the disparate bits together

This is a collection of vignettes by people who have had supernatural experiences of some sort or are themselves supernatural creatures. Each story shows a snippet of life. There's little description or detail, but it's not required. I enjoyed piecing some of the stories together as the collection went on, though there's no frame story giving them the feeling of being a cohesive whole. The publisher's synopsis for the book is basically the frame story the book itself lacks and needs in order to give a sense of cohesion to the collection. I read this in ebook format and hadn't read the synopsis in months, so wasn't able to benefit from the information it gave. At the very least there should have been a wrap up story that tied things together better.

Most of the stories are fronted by a real photograph from the Costica Acsinte Archive. A few stories have hand drawn illustrations instead.

While I was familiar with a few of the creatures described, most of them were new and quite fascinating. It would have been cool to get more details about them, but again, the stories are more about ambiance and the feeling of dread than about describing things in detail. In this way, not knowing what the creatures were in some ways enhanced the horror based on the limited descriptions that were given.

Several of the stories are by people who grew up and lived in the three Eastern European villages, the rest are by their descendants. At least one story took place in Canada, and another in the United States.

On the whole I enjoyed the collection. A few of the stories were genuinely terrifying, while most were joyfully creepy. I would have liked a proper conclusion or frame story tying everything together better, but it's definitely worth picking up.

Pros: unique magic and monster system, interesting characters

Cons: pacing issues, slow opening

The city of Amicae is built as a 6 tiered structure with an outer wall. It citizens believe the wall keeps magical infestations at bay but that's a lie. Infestations from broken or improperly cared for amulets happen all the time, and when they do the cops call in the experts: the Sinclair Sweepers.

Laura is Clae Sinclair's only apprentice in the dangerous work. She wants to prove she has worth as a person in a society that sees her as more of a walking womb. When they acquire a second apprentice and infestations start to increase, she gets her chance.

It took me a while to get into this. First because the world started out feeling very medieval fantasy despite its bicycles and robots. The worldbuilding was alternately slow and full of info dumps in the opening chapters.

Clae is acerbic and rude and while I liked him, he takes some getting used to. For the most part I liked Larua, though I was surprised by her age when it was finally revealed, as I ended up picturing her younger given how she treats Okane.

As a master teaching a trade, Clae's a mixed bag. On one hand he does teach weapons and technique, but I was astonished by how little Laura knew about kin and its creation. As the main weapon against infestations, I would have thought learning how to make kin would be vital to a sweeper's job.

I loved the monsters and how the sweepers fight them. It's very original. I also liked that another city is visited and there's some information on how the various cities operate and that sweepers use different tactics and that they share ideas through meetings and letters.

The last half of the book was quite fun and the pacing was much better as the tension worked up to the climax.

While it's a bit uneven, it's a good debut and I'm curious to see what's next.

Pros: interesting characters, great setting, unique mystery

Cons: more details of bodily functions than I needed

Kaaro's criminal past and his abilities as a sensitive have trapped him in the role of government agent. His assignment is to live in Rosewater, a city surrounding a mysterious alien biodome that once a year heals those that stand within a certain area, and learn what he can about it. When the sensitives around him start getting sick, he realizes that change is coming, and tries to finally uncover the mystery of the alien, his abilities, and what they mean for the future.

The book mostly takes place in Nigeria in 2066, with flashbacks of Kaaro's life, particularly around 2055, when he was first recruited by S45 and Rosewater was founded. I don't know much about Nigeria, so it was great reading about how it might look in the future, with several chapters taking place in Lagos and neighbouring areas. There were food and religious references and translated lines in some of the regional languages.

Kaaro's an interesting character. He starts out apathetic to what's going on around him and slowly comes alive as he falls in love during the course of the book. He's an avowed coward and thief, so he's not the easiest protagonist to like, but his life is very different and so carries the book well.

While you don't learn too much about the aliens they are unique and make the mystery compelling. Some early information doesn't make much sense (like using anti-fungal cream to reduce psychic abilities) but they are explained in time. As the story progressed I found it harder to put the book down.

I could have done without some of the mentions and descriptions of bodily functions. While the sexual ones at least gave character information (even if I didn't feel I needed to know about every erection he had), on a few occasions bowel movements were also mentioned.

If you're looking for unique science fiction, pick this up.

Pros: fun characters, great romance

Cons: minor issues

Aliza Bentaine's life at Merybourne Manor changes when gryphons invade the nearby wood and kill her youngest sister. It changes again when the Riders they hired to hunt the gryphons show up and include the handsome but arrogant Alastair Daired. But more than gryphons stalk the land, and other mysteries darken Aliza's world.

This is a close retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in a world where monsters roam and dragons fly. There's no recycled dialogue and the motivations for why characters act as they do have been adjusted to fit the realities of this world. I found that Aliza's reasons for disliking Daired were more substantial here, making their eventual reconciliation a bit harder to accept. The ending has several major deviations from the source material, which I enjoyed. I especially liked that Gwyn (Charlotte in the original)'s marriage is for different, more mysterious reasons and that their marriage seems better matched. I did wish the mystery regarding her father had received more of a resolution though.

The addition of a wide variety of monsters was fabulous. I didn't always know what creatures were, but it was fun seeing new and lesser used beings intermixed with the more familiar gnomes, wyverns, and dragons. The use of monster heartstones as engagement/wedding tokens was interesting. I also liked that different creatures spoke different languages, and not all humans understood all languages.

If you like Jane Austen and fantasy, it's a fun retelling.

Pros: very unique world, interesting characters, intrigue

Cons: body horror

Years ago Zan and Jayd came up with a plot to save the worlds from their inevitable slow decline. When Zan wakes up from her most recent attempt to retake their neighbouring world, Mokshi, she has no memory of who she is. Again. Jayd's manipulations are getting them closer to achieving their goal, but her betrayals are catching up to her and others aren't playing their roles the way she expected.

This is a very unique novel. I have never read of a world, or rather a series of worlds, so... bizarre. They're things of flesh, orbiting a sun and populated solely by women who birth the components the world (ships?) require. While each world is unique, the lords of some of the worlds discovered that they could prolong the lives of their worlds by sharing flesh, though this causes other problems. I was a little concerned going into the book as I heard it was body horror. While there's some disturbing imagery around birth, cannibalism, flesh, etc., it wasn't as bad as I feared.

The narrative is told from the viewpoints of Jayd, who knows what's going on but isn't very forthcoming, and Zan who's trying to navigate situations she no longer understands. It's clear that she can't necessarily trust Jayd, though it's also clear that she loved Jayd deeply at one point.

The plot is fairly straightforward, despite it's being drawn out. The book itself is a quick read as you're anxious to find out who Zan really is, what Jayd's plan is, and why the Mokshi is so important.

If you're looking for a good book outside the ordinary and you have a strong stomach, give this a try.

Pros: fast paced, protagonist is ‘good at math', interesting characters

Cons:

When Cas Russell takes the job to ‘retrieve' Courtney Polk from a drug cartel, she assumes it will be a simple job. Because she's VERY good at math, able to calculate vectors on the fly, making her dangerous in a fight. But she didn't expect her mentor Rio to be working for the cartel. And when the woman who hired her turns out to be more than she seemed, Cas discovers she's become a target of a mysterious organization, one with people who also have super powers.

This is a fast paced read that took me two days to get through. There are so many twists that it was hard to put down.

It's an interesting cast of characters, as none of them are really ‘nice' people. They've each got their good and bad qualities. Cas is a morally grey individual, who has no problem killing but also has some lines she won't cross. Despite being a psychopath I mostly liked Rio. There's a Dexter feel to him, as a man who's using his baser urges for what he perceives is good. Arthur Tresting balances Rio on Cas's other side, being mostly moral, but willing to bend the law when necessary and pretending he doesn't know about or see most of Cas's casual crimes.

I loved that Cas's ‘superpower' is that she's just REALLY good at math. Like, so good she can do multiple calculations at once and so dodge bullets and make fancy trick kicks to take out opponents. The fight scenes are surprisingly entertaining.

I thought the rabbit hole of secret organizations was handled well, as was all the self doubt brought on by Dawna's influence.

I really enjoyed the book.