Language, loyalty and exploitation come under the microscope in RF Kuang’s alternate history of a magically-fuelled British Empire. In 19th century Oxford, Cantonese scholar Robin Swift is about to learn that his unwelcome differences are also his route to influence… if he’s prepared to accept the terrible costs of power.
alt history
The final week of The Fantasy Hive’s read-along of She Who Became The Sun sees Zhu and Ouyang come face to face once more as each throws caution and conscience to the wind in pursuit of their fate…
In our third week of The Fantasy Hive’s read-along of She Who Became The Sun, political conflict within the Red Turbans is the most immediate threat to Zhu’s fate; while Ouyang struggles with inner turmoil as he begins prosecuting his revenge…
In our second week of The Fantasy Hive’s read-along of She Who Became The Sun, events force Zhu to take her fate into her own hands. Great rewards require her to take great risks, for she must attract the notice of Heaven without Heaven noticing she isn’t Zhu Chongba…
I first read She Who Became The Sun last year. Shelley Parker-Chan’s devastatingly good debut reimagines a key period of Chinese history and I never marshalled my thoughts into a review that wasn’t vowels – but that’s okay, as The Fantasy Hive have come to my rescue with a read-along for their June celebration of trans and nonbinary authors.
WANTED FOR FOUL NUMERICAL ACTS
“Mad” Malago Browne has retired with a saddle-bag full of stolen gold, but she can’t resist a cry for help from across the border. Is she right to suspect the West is beginning to turn against the Capitol and its repressive regime?
“Mad” Malago Browne and Pierre “Polecat” de Fermat are wanted for the crimes of murder, arson, robbery and acts of pernicious arithmetic. Welcome to a re-imagined West that sets a new bar for being wild…
Patrick Edwards is a Bristol-based author of speculative fiction. I leapt at the opportunity to ask him a few questions (spoiler-free) to celebrate the release of his new novel Echo Cycle – and what a charming bloke he is!
When Muna loses her beloved sister in Fairyland, she turns to the Sorceress Royal for help. But the Fairy Queen is threatening to invade England if a stolen necklace isn’t returned. A missing sister is the least of Prunella’s worries…
Nobody expected a meteorite to wipe out the Eastern Seaboard, but we had as little chance as the dinosaurs of surviving the ensuing climate catastrophe. There was only one way out: the space program.
Marian put Robin of Locksley behind her years ago when he deserted her for the Church. Now the Merry Men are dying and Friar Tuck is convinced only Marian’s Craft can solve the mystery. The estranged pair must join forces to avenge their friends, but Robin’s fervent beliefs are as poisonous as his long-kept secrets…
Creeper wants to fly the skies in an air ship, but first she needs to earn a place on a crew. When she overhears conspirators plotting to unleash the Black God’s Drums, she might have found the leverage she needs… if she can save her city from the natural disaster about to overtake it.
Europe is little more than a myth. Even the Line has disappeared into its own pocket universe. Heathrow has moved to the Community. And a mathematician with the ability to unzip reality and deliver a dirty bomb through the rip may have fallen into the wrong hands…
A religious people on an epic journey, following their seer through the wilderness in search of a promised land. Sound familiar? It won’t be…