Once upon a time, I would have said a doorstop was my favourite kind of read: a big chonk I could lose myself in. These days, I have shorter commutes (ahem) and less patience; consequently, I’ve come to love shorter-form. Last year, a third of my reads – and half my favourite reads – were novellas. Today and tomorrow I’ll be wrapping up my thoughts on a few I haven’t yet reviewed.
Category Archive: Reviews
One set of books that I failed to keep on top of reviews for this year was the Subjective Chaos shortlist. My focus ended up always being finishing the books on time; reviewing them was a bridge too far. Time to put that right – not least because this one went on to win our Blurred Boundaries category!
7 years ago, Alva’s world was shattered by murder. Ever since, she has lived in fear. Now, Alva has a plan for escape. She’s ready to start a new life. But nothing about Alva’s life is quite as it seems…
Orphan Black is one of my all-time favourite TV shows, a complete tale well-told in five seasons. Imagine my surprise and delight when Serial Box announced they had cooked up a sequel – narrated by none other than Clone Queen Tatiana Maslany herself.
My snarky fave is back with a new self-appointed mission. It’s not that Murderbot needs something to do, you understand, nor that it gets over-involved with its humans; it would just like to stop worrying about Dr Mensah. She looks tired.
Siblings Biran and Sanda Greeve are practically perfect Primes: one a gifted politician, the other a brave gunnery sergeant. Separated by an unforgivable act of war, they will uncover a conspiracy that will make them question everything – including their own loyalties…
Mark Spitz was the very definition of average, carried along unresisting by the currents of middle class life… until the dead started walking.
Now he’s a traumatised loner – sorry, seasoned survivor – sweeping up the remnants of the apocalypse so that the living can return to Manhattan.
Welcome to Zone One.
As bombs fall on London, the Natural History Museum’s collections are evacuated to the country. Hetty accompanies the mammals to Lockwood Manor, but its haunted halls hold their own threats – to the collection, and to Hetty’s peace of mind…
Princess Sun is the daughter of two royal lines, raised on war and politics. Bold and brilliant, she longs to lead the outmatched Chaonian forces against the Phene Empire. If her mother – ruthless, relentlessly calculating, perhaps even slightly threatened – will let her…
Daevabad has a new ruler with allies that make the blood run cold, willing to murder its people to hold the throne. All djinni in the city and beyond lost their magic when the city fell, leaving them defenceless. Nahri will face a terrible cost if she is to forge peace from the ashes…
Life finds a way, or so the saying goes. What if it found a different one? What if dinosaurs still ruled the world, or insects, or giant cats? What if doors between parallel realities began to open? Would you slam them closed or try to cross those thresholds?
Gideon Nav will do anything to escape the Ninth – even serve its despised Lady Harrowhark as she vies to ascend to the immortal ranks of the Emperor’s Lyctors. But the competition is lethal – even for necromancers…
Dan Mackmain has a new home, steady work and a fragile happiness… until he’s asked to go manage the renovation of a Cotswold estate. When the Green Man makes it clear Dan must go south, he packs his bags – but why is he needed at Brightwell?
Times are a-changing. Welcome to Jazz Age Mexico, where hemlines and haircuts are getting scandalously short and the lord of the underworld is about to be released from imprisonment…
A fanciful young woman with promise is being moulded into a lady – but her imagination strains against the fetters of what is considered proper. Can January find the doors that will let her escape to the other worlds she dreams of?
