Category: speculative fiction

The People’s Library by Veronica G. Henry (speculative Fiction)

Writing: 3.5/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5

An ambitious, somewhat dystopic, but certainly thought-provoking piece of speculative fiction, The People’s Library follows Echo London, a dedicated librarian whose job, like many others, has been replaced with AI. She’s lucky, though — she has been given a position in a virtual library where people check out virtual replicas of great minds to converse with, rather than books to read. Once that would have been anathema to London, but she finds herself drawn to the “virtus” as they are called, and becomes far more involved with them than with the flesh and blood people in her community. The action becomes intense with anti-tech rebels attacking the library, invisible puppet masters trying to bring about the next evolutionary step for humanity, and virtual AI beings that appear to have the capacity to suffer. This brings up many ethical dilemmas, and I admit that it wasn’t always obvious to me what the right answers should be, or even what the author thought the right answers should be.

The book explores some of my favorite science fiction questions: the nature of consciousness, the possibility of human-AI pairing, the evolution of the human species. While I’ve read quite a few stories that dabble in these areas, I did think this one captured more of a modern sensibility. The author is known for her African American fantasy, and I liked the African and African American slant the book took in its characters, designs, and references to Black history (e.g. one of the virtual beings was Jesse Cooper, one of the first Black enlisted men who were admitted to Naval officer training in 1944). Also some great Black literary references such as Helen Oyemi’s Icarus girl. I didn’t particularly enjoy some of the plot devices used — I never like plots that depend on one super-powerful and manipulative “bad guy,” and I didn’t really grok the mechanism that allowed the good guys to get out of a bad situation, but I did think the teaser at the end was a good way to leave us thinking about the book rather than simply feeling good about closure. Trying not to give away any of the plot and still let you know what you’re in for!

Worth reading.

Constituent Service by John  Scalzi (Science Fiction)

A short (152 pages) offering from master humorist and speculator John Scalzi about what it would be like to be the Community Liaison in an alien majority district. Fresh graduate Ashley Perrin is human, unlike most of the constituents she serves in the role. The variety of aliens with their shapes (one looks like a potted plant), sounds, behaviors, and preferences are legion and … somehow actually believable? I don’t know how Scalzi does that, but I’m happy he does. Our protagonist is calm, cool, collected and chock full of witty ripostes. I loved that I got to laugh out loud often — a lovely palate cleanser in a lot of bleak reading I seem to be doing these days. The action takes place over a few days. All of the various complaints Ashley handles in her first week at the office pipeline into one extra-terrestrial powder keg with some brilliant just-in-time intervention. The whole thing was (literally) a blast, with quite a charming ending.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 30th, 2025.

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead (Middle Grade Fiction)

Nathan has known from an early age that he and his parents are from another planet and that they are part of a secret experiment whose parameters are unclear. But things are starting to go wrong — some of the other alien families are disappearing, his family is being called back to the mothership, and his parents are looking pretty worried. What happens next is one twist after another in this absolutely satisfying middle grade science fiction story.

I love Rebecca Stead. She has that rare ability to write about topics with depth and make them equally accessible and appealing to both children and adults. Her books are all well-written (Newberry Award winner), weird in the best possible way, and never even close to trite or formulaic. The blurb likens it to A Wrinkle in Time and — as a long time and HUGE Wrinkle fan — I can lend my expert agreement! It’s a coming-of-age book about a young boy who is put into a very difficult situation and manages to be a hero because he can’t bear to not do the right thing regardless of the possible cost. There are no insipid moral messages (I’m sorry but “being kind” will not solve most real problems!), but there is plenty of (young boy) reflection, confusion, and eventual understanding to help grow a child into the adult they want to be. This is the kind of book that will both entertain and educate a young audience. And it was fun for this (much older) audience, too.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 16th, 2025.

The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Sci Fi)

Another fun Scalzi book — they don’t come any other way! Starts off fast and keeps up the pace. Plenty of humorous snark coupled with characters of strong principles who don’t shy away from getting into the tangle and making (good) things happen. Some pretty cool aliens with thought-provoking characteristics and some explorations of the kind of physics that might be uncovered when a superior race has had millenia to develop really advanced technology. I liked the fact that a lot of the story focussed on getting different species with wildly different characteristics and values to get along with each other. Humans were not the easiest. This is book seven in the Old Man’s War universe and I had to look up a few character and plot points that I didn’t remember (it’s been over a decade and how many brain cells can I keep devoted to the plot of every book I’ve read??). However, you can easily enjoy this book without having read the others.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 16th, 2025.

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (speculative fiction)

An Academic, a Hero, and a Wicked, Wicked, Queen who must be overcome — tumbled about via a magical book and a unique and somewhat poetic instantiation of time travel. Nobody can write like Alix E. Harrow and (most of) her characters are compellingly relatable as they come to terms with the barrenness and often hopelessness of their lives when closely examined. There is an insistent love story, which is both sweet and determined in the face of some pretty intense road blocks, and there is a very satisfying conclusion (thank goodness). The characters have real depth, and there is plenty of the reflection that I like. There is also plenty of action (the Hero is a fighter par excellence — demonstrated frequently lest we forget it!) and some nice twisty gender bending as your unconscious biases are challenged by the fact that the Academic is a man and the Hero a very strong and very believable woman. The story was well-paced with twists and explanations doled out to a curious and hungry reader brain.

I’m a long time fan of Harrow and have read (and mostly loved) everything she has written. This book is just as well-written as my favorites but I do have a few issues which make it not one of my favorites. It starts quite slowly — I almost gave up but read a few reviews which insisted that I get to the 35% mark before stopping and they were right — things got much more interesting at that point. My real complaint, however, is how bad the “bad guy” was — no complexity, just complete selfish evil — and how depressing and dystopic lives were across all of time. It’s a familiar and somewhat comforting (assuming a good ending) trope about the High Stakes, good vs evil, outcome, but I didn’t enjoy all the sadness, weariness, and hopelessness that comprised most of the pages. It may be that my tastes and needs are changing, but I prefer to read about people having the agency to improve their own lives, rather than the no-other-option need for rescue from the larger-than-life oppressor. Still — masterfully done by Ms. Harrow, as always.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 28th, 2025.

Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty (Sci Fi / Mystery)

The third in Lafferty’s Midsolar Murder series starring Mallory Viridian — one of the few human inhabitants of a sentient space station. Human murders tend to occur when Mallory is around (the reason explained in book one or two), which is why she made such an extreme relocation. Turns out that Mal is very good at *solving* the murders that occur and that provides a nice story to show off the fantastically quirky world Lafferty has created teeming with creative alien cultures, sentient mechanisms, and the “fun” everyone has trying to get along.

Each book adds more to the world — while I would recommend reading books one and two first, the author does a decent job of giving you the info you might need if you don’t. In this installment, a one-of-a-kind ship is making its way to the station with massive holodeck like capabilities and the physical embodiment of the entire Internet (including fan fiction sites — this is important!). And it is carrying … a mystery fan convention. What could go wrong?

I like Lafferty’s world building — more focus on alien cultures than alien tech which I find much more interesting. The mystery is a nice excuse to roam around meeting strange beings. I really like the bonding between sentient ships and stations with (often human) hosts. Plenty of action, but not the super stressful kind. Lots of fun to read — I always look forward to the next one, and I’m happy to say that she writes quickly!

Thank you to Ace and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 1st, 2025.

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Mystery / Speculative Fiction)

The first book in a brand new series from Elly Griffiths — one of my favorite mystery writers.
This book combines a mystery with speculative fiction (time travel). Ali Dawson’s cold cases are so cold they are frozen (thus jokes the team). Their secret? They can use time-travel to find out what actually happened. Now, to please a Tory Justice Minister whose grandfather was rumored (though never accused or brought to trial) of killing an artist’s model, Ali heads back to 1850 to see what she can find out. However, before she can return, a body turns up in the current day that is very much related to the case …

Griffiths is a great writer and brings all her powers of description and persuasion to the story, bringing the 1850s to life in exactly the way it would appear to someone born in our time. I liked the way Ali prepared for her “trip” — not just learning what to wear, eat, and say, but how to change the way she actually thought. A well-articulated differentiation between modern day and Victorian feminism ensued. I liked the cast of characters including Jones, the designer wearing communist physicist who is the time travel whiz (that’s the beauty of novels — characters don’t have to be internally consistent!). I’m sure they will be appearing in future books as there were some definite hints of stories left untold. Plenty of fun references — like using A Wrinkle in Time’s tesseract model (without actually stating such), and referencing the (real) match girls strike at the Bryant & May match factory (that’s how Christopher Fowler named his history obsessed, aged, detectives!). Lots of good history.

Really enjoyed this book — it won’t be available in the US until July 8th — I couldn’t wait and bought it on my (conveniently timed) trip to England. No regrets!

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (Science Fiction)

A surprisingly engaging sci fi story about an anthropologist sent to a planet that is host to a terrifying virus that kills all men and most women. A guinea pig for a new vaccine which should prevent her from catching it, Marghe gets to the planet and quickly leaves the tightly guarded military post in order to meet the natives who have somehow survived the virus and inexplicably managed to procreate in the absence of any men.

There is plenty of action and the “secrets” of this world are slowly revealed. There is a bad “Company” who cares far more about profits than people, but happily (for me) the Company really only appears as necessary to nudge the plot a bit. Far more focus on the evolving culture of the planet and its all female inhabitants.

The author mentioned in her notes that she was sick of books that generalized males or females to be all of one kind — aggressive males, nurturing females blah blah blah. She wanted to create an all female culture that had as many variations among its populace as it would have with two sexes. She did a great job. I appreciated how this all female world evolved without having to have any anger at or fighting with men. They just were irrelevant to the story.

I’m surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did —I think the character and culture centric nature of the speculation is what did it. I really do get bored with pure action 🙂

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Happy Magic Fiction)

I loved this light, uplifting, quirky and unashamedly magic book, just as I did her previous book “The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.” Sera Swan is a young and powerful witch who resurrects her recently dead great aunt (a big no-no) and is stripped of her magic and guild membership. Reduced to managing the highly and eccentrically enchanted Inn, she tries to find her magic again with the help of an oddball collection of Inn denizens — a scheming witch trapped in a fox body, a geriatric oddball and part time Hobbit, a would-be knight in somewhat shiny armor, some undead rooster bones to name a few. It’s really about family, doing the right thing even when it hurts, understanding your own vulnerabilities and shifting life goals. I was very impressed with that last bit — there aren’t many real happy ever afters in the world, but by understanding what is actually important you can be awfully darn happy (A Rolling Stones song comes to mind…)

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 15th, 2025.

Katabasis by R F Kuang (Speculative Fiction)

Plot: 3/5 Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4/5
When a Magick goes awry and her brilliant and cruelly demanding professor is dispatched to Hell in a particularly gruesome way, Alice Law follows him in an attempt to bring him back to Oxford, guided by ancient texts, paradoxical logic puzzles, and esoteric mathematics. Accompanied at the last minute by fellow magician-in-training wunderkind Peter Murdoch, the entire story is their “Katabasis” — the Hero’s journey into the underworld.

Kuang’s writing is always spectacular with vivid imagery, twisting plots, and an impressive inclusion of scientific, philosophical, and classical arcana woven together into a complete and warped world. It is one long adventure story — surprising in its twists and turns — but still a one-threat-after-another adventure story. Far too much for my taste. The characters had depth — but IMO with far more focus on the neurosis of genius and susceptibility to manipulation, and the (way too) slow unpacking of that neurosis to expose self knowledge and latent interpersonal gains. I am a huge fan of both “Babel” and “Yellowface” but I can’t say I enjoyed this book. I do think it will appeal to those who love adventure stories and are perhaps more interested in the kind of self discovery one makes in their twenties.

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 26th, 2025.