reviewsA collection of 17 posts

Marisa Crane's speculative fiction book I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is exactly as fascinating—and rather delightfully odd—as its title. Crane creates a story that creeps carefully beneath your skin and puts down roots by fusing speculative components with profoundly human vulnerability. Crane invites us to a universe where criminal punishment is demonstrated physically as extra shadows—visible reminders of guilt and shame—and she does so with language that moves between poetic tenderness a…

C. L. Clark's Faithless gathers the fragments of romance and revolution, building a story that cuts deep and clings on. Set once more in Clark's intricately spun North-African-inspired world, this sequel explores more complex loyalties, precarious alliances, and indeed—more heart-aching Sapphic yearning. Like an well-honed sword, Clark's prose is still sharp-edged and slick, driven in fast, clean and deadly effective. Characters Touraine and Luca return; their responsibilities are greater, thei…

Book Review: A Half-Built Garden Ruthanna Emrys's delicately strong near-future book A Half-Built Garden explores first contact via the prism of hope, sustainability, and thoughtfully rendered human (and extraterrestrial!) interactions. Emrys deftly combines ecological themes, subtle family drama, science fiction, and an underlying compassion grounded even in the most expansive ideas. Starlit Conversations and Familiar Rituals: Emrys writes with compassion, catching a personal warmth even in…

C. L. Clark's Unbroken is what happens when colonial revolt, powerful women with muscular arms, and Sapphic yearning crash together in a fiery fantasy epic.…

Rena Rossner's rich historical fiction The Light of the Midnight Stars is set in medieval Hungary, where three sisters inherit mystical abilities linked to the stars. Rossner deftly combines vividly developed family drama, Eastern European folklore, and Jewish myth into a gently magical and softly unsettling story. What's delightful? Rossner's writing is beautiful without being overpowering; it is dreamy and atmospheric, like telling tales in front of a fire on a chilly evening. The sisters’ re…