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All in Fiction
This is one of those books you can’t examine tooooo closely, but if you just go along for the ride, you’re going to have a really fun time.
Well, I did not expect this novel — about a (female) blob monster who falls in love with a (human) woman and decides she wants to lay her eggs in her body, after which her offspring would devour her from the inside out — to be one of my favorite reads of the year. And yet! What fun this was!
Adrian Tchaikovsky is trying to do a lot here, and insofar as his intentions go, I think he succeeded — Service Model is a funny, voicey book that hits its themes home. Unfortunately, the execution was just not for me.
This is masterful writing and an epic; beautiful story. It’s a slow-paced, aching, intimate, sweeping 700-page book that takes its time, and so must you.
What a moving exploration of youth, love, desire, and recovery from trauma. I’m intrigued to see what the sequel holds for these characters!
Ultimately, it’s like this book aaaaaalmost became what it was trying to be. A bit of a bummer, tbh.
Maybe I’ve read too many books with a similar setting, character archetype, and mood, but I didn’t feel like this one did anything compellingly new for me; it was just another well-written book in its subgenre.
It took me way too long to read The Tainted Cup — its Hugo nomination tipped the scales — because y’all, this was SO much fun and just so well done.
A wholly original and unputdownable sweeping, epic, magical story for the ages, this is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year and could easily maintain that #1 spot all the way through.
This book is a long adventure that takes its time, but I sank in and never felt frustrated by its pace. I also think this was my favorite Farseer book; the scope of the world and the story expanded so much!
I enjoyed my time with this deliberately, consciously slow-paced book about lives in orbit, love in all its forms, and what haunts us.
This is objectively good storytelling that is unfortunately not well aligned with my taste in books — I just don’t love hardcore alien world scifi. So it’s not a new favorite, but I enjoyed it enough to easily finish it!
The Art of Vanishing is a book about a woman who gets a night shift janitorial job at an art museum and, upon realizing she can somehow step inside the paintings, falls in love with one of the subjects. It’s a fast read and very fun — I think it would make a GREAT beach read this summer.
When the Tides Held the Moon was a fun, queer, found-family historical fantasy. I had a few quibbles with it, but ultimately I had a good time and would recommend it to anyone who felt drawn by the premise.
All my friends who read both literary fiction and fantasy — this is the one. It is SO for you. And if you are one who goes out of your way to read queer and trans stories? Please veer immediately.
WHAT an epic, heartbreaking conclusion to a truly excellently written fantasy trilogy. I’m so glad I read it. Hannah Kaner has written us the perfect blend of modern and classic fantasy — a classic, nostalgic, epic storytelling style with a modern approach to queerness and other social issues.
If you really love military romantasy candy like Fourth Wing, you should pick this book up. But otherwise my verdict is you can probably skip it.
Karen Russell writes exactly my flavor of weird literary magical realism, so it’s no surprise that I loved The Antidote. But it’s not the presence of those elements that does it here — it’s the way she weaves them together.
The River Has Roots is a slim novella — seriously, it’s short, the itty bitty little print edition also includes a bonus short story in the back — but it offers a truly beautiful reading experience.
