I’ve now read two books back-to-back that I could not wait to read every night. First was Under Story, and now This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews. The book begins with the protagonist, Maggie, waking up in a the mud of a medieval city. This is odd because Maggie is from our … Read more
Simply put, Under Story is one of the best works of literary fiction I’ve read in a long time. I know I’m loving a book when I start to convince myself that I should go to bed a little early so I can read longer that night. I did that for Under Story for several … Read more
The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (author of the amazing Green Bone Saga) does something I’ve seen in very few novels. Isako is set in a distant cyberpunk future that features samurai and brain transplants (cyborgs, I think you’d call them?). The first half of the book is a series of misadventures involving … Read more
I’m smitten with The Everlasting by Alix Harrow. If you’re looking for literary fiction with a hint of the Arturian legend and a slightly speculative aspect, read no further. If you’d like to know a little more, keep going. Within the first chapter or so of The Everlasting, you know a few crucial things: One, … Read more
I love an interesting magic system in fantasy fiction, and Arcana Academy by Elise Kova has one that I haven’t seen before: Kind of like Magic meets tarot, talented arcanists can “ink” cards and use those cards for an escalating series of abilities, depending on the card number. There are a few parts of this … Read more
I read a total of 27 books in 2025, and today I’m going to share my top 10 favorites. In my opinion, every single one of these books is excellent, and I recommend all of them. I’ll mark them as standalone books, books in a series, or novellas, depending on what you’re currently looking for. … Read more
I’m currently reading the latest book in the Legends and Lattes series, Brigands and Breadknives. It’s an interesting departure from the first two cozy fantasy books, both of which centered around singular places (a café and a bookshop). I don’t mind at all—Travis Baldree weaves a great story no matter the setting. I happen to … Read more
The more I read The Strength of the Few, the follow up to 2023’s The Will of the Many by James Islington, the more I think it pulls off a really neat worldbuilding trick: It combines 3 almost entirely different worlds by exploring them through the eyes of the same character. I think many authors … Read more
When I read the description of Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf, I was hooked by “mech jousting tournament in space”. Then I started reading and realized that it was also a dystopian underdog transformation story ala Red Rising, and I was 100% on board. The book starts with the main character, Synali, killing her estranged father, … Read more
I’m enchanted by the first book of a duology by Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals. This is essentially a historical fiction novel, but with a dash of mythology and magic. Divine Rivals follows two competing journalists in the city of Oath with war as a not-so-distant backdrop to their lives…until one of them decides to go … Read more