Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd by Delilah S. Dawson

 

When I was younger, I read a lot of tie-in fiction. I became a huge Star Trek fan in the late 80s, and once I was all caught up on TOS and TNG, I turned to the novels. I read all the ones that had existed at that point and then bought them when they got released. That is how I found authors like Diane Duane and Peter David. I also loved the Dragonlance books. When they started coming out with D&D novels in other campaign settings, I bought the spelljammer and Ravenloft books too. So I was very excited when I saw that there was a new D&D tie in novel available on NetGalley. I got an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was so much fun! It really had the feel of a modern adventuring party that did not optimize themselves for anything besides fun. There was a cleric, a Paladin, a wizard, an artificer, and a barbarian. They all got captured by the mists and ended up in Barovia where they get invited to Castle Ravenloft to meet Count Strahd. 

Reading through this book and seeing some of the classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters and spells really gave me a warm feeling inside.  The characters in this book are quite interesting; although some of them seem flat at first, they all have hidden secrets. Sometimes I thought the manner in which the secrets were revealed was a little heavy-handed, but that is a minor complaint. I really enjoyed this book, including a late shift in location that was unexpected but delightful.  The final twist was something I bounced off of initially, but after sitting and thinking about it for a few days, I think I’m OK with it.  This was a fun read!

Observer by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress

 

Very interesting book, but I would have preferred a new solo Nancy Kress novel. 

I first (re)discovered Nancy Kress a few years ago when I was in an reading dry spell. I was listlessly perusing the library shelves feeling like I had nothing to read when I came across a copy of her then-just published novella After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall. I recognized her name from having read Beggars in Spain years before so I picked it up. 

It blew me away. The book was a masterpiece. The author created a fully realized world, She didn’t need a thousand pages to do it. Up until that point I had been disdainful of shorter works; Nancy Kress made me realize just how much hard work and talent was needed to excecise economy when world building. 

However, this book isn’t just by Nancy Kress Here she has coauthor Robert Lanza, a scientist who seemingly wanted to get his ideas into the form of a novel. 

There is alot of awkwardness in the book. I almost stopped reading halfway through the prologue- it was boring and dull and every character’s name started with a W and I couldn’t tell them apart and I didn’t care about any of them. 

Am I glad I pushed through that! Even though some parts of the book read like a dry, poorly written physics textbook (during which I kept muttering to myself that Lanza should’ve let Kress write this alone) those dull clunky sections were massively overpowered by the well drawn characters and the very real emotions that jumped off the page down my throat and lodged in my sternum. 

I wish the book had had content warnings for child disability and child death. 

I understand from some cursory internetting that Lanza may believe in the observer-created reality that the characters believe in in the novel. I can’t say that I’m convinced myself. It sounds a lot like wish fulfillment to me. But it sure has given me a lot to think about . . . 

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Annalee Newitz is a favorite author of mine - I have enjoyed both her fiction and nonfiction in the past, and I also enjoy her podcast with Charlie Jane Anders. 

After the masterful job she did creating the robot protagonist Paladin in her debut novel Autonomous, I was very excited to see what she would do in her newest book, Automatic Noodle, and I was pleased when I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not disappointed! 

This is a near future story about a group of robots that just want to open up a restaurant together.  I wished the book had been longer because the ending felt a tad too abrupt, but I often feel that way with novellas. Although the plot isn’t particularly wild or groundbreaking, this story is rich and full of heart and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi

I met Tochi Onyebuchi at New York Comic Con a few years ago and got him to sign a copy of Goliath for me. I really enjoyed that book, and, although I hadn’t loved his earlier book Riot Baby, I was always on the lookout for more stuff by him. I was excited to find out that he had a new book coming out, and even more excited when I learned it was like a noir detective story that was also a fantasy. I got an audiobook eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I really enjoyed it! It was cool and atmospheric like the best noir stories. It reminded me of the Maltese Falcon and also Even Though I Knew the End in the best ways. I also really enjoyed the narrator of this audiobook. I appreciated it that, when the first person protagonist was winded our out of breath, the narration reflected that as well. 

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear

I had heard good things about Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels but hadn’t ever read them before, but I had a hankering for good space opera. I wanted space ships and aliens and galactic civilizations! So I was excited when I got an eARC of her latest novel in the series, The Folded Sky, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. But first I had to read Ancestral Night and Machine, the first two books in the universe, which I enjoyed (Machine much more than Ancestral Night). 

When I dove into The Folded Sky, it was everything I had hoped for! Although the motivation behind the pirates felt a little underdeveloped, everything else about this book was a delight. Our protagonist is a data historian/achivist, and she is on her way to a rickety space station to research an old alien artifact before its star goes supernova. Her wife (who is a wonderful nonhuman character) and her kids end up on that station, along with her chief rival (and exgirlfriend). There is a mystery, parenting drama, and fun first contact stuff. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to diving into the author’s back catalog. 

Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher

 

In the past 4 years, or so, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). I even backed the kickstarter for the rerelease of Digger, which was wonderful. 

I was very excited when I heard she had a new book out in 2025 called Hemlock and Silver and I was even more excited when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This new book is loosely based on the Snow White fairy tale, with some Rose Red in there too. Our main character is reminiscent of other Kingfisher protagonists - a somewhat awkward older (but not old) woman who is brilliant and skilled and in a bit over her head.  She is an expert on poison and is recruited to try to figure out what is making the princess sick. Without spoiling things too much, I can tell you that you may never look at a mirror the same way again after this novel. 

This book was wonderful and was a story I could have lived in forever. 

This was the one of the best new releases I have read in 2025 so far and it will probably be on my Hugo ballot next year! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

 

I unabashedly love the Golden Girls. I grew up in the 80s and watched it in its original run with my mom. We also used to watch the reruns all the time on Lifetime. I own the entire series on DVD. And I always get compliments when I wear my “Stay Golden” t shirt with the girls on it. (FYI, Dorothy is my favorite, hands down). 

But I still couldn’t believe it when I found out that they were publishing a Golden Girls tie in series of cozy mystery novels! What a ridiculous,0 wonderful concept! I was very excited when I got an eARC from the publisher and NetGalley right before a family vacation to Miami and the Florida Keys. 

This book was so much fun! Some parts of it were a tad clunky, but the author really knows the characters and was able to find their voices. The murder mystery wasn’t bad, but I was mostly just along for the ride. I got a paper copy of the book and gave it to my mother to read - I think she’ll enjoy it too. Can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Incandescent by Emily Tesh

 

I loved this book and it’s going to be on my Hugo ballot next year!

I picked up Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh last year when it was nominated for the Hugo Awards and I loved it! I suggested it to a friend who didn’t know what to have our SF Book Club read next, and our entire book club ended up enjoying it. So I was very excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC of Tesh’s next book, The Incandescent. 

It was billed as dark magical academia, which is a genre I love. It reminded me a bit of Magic for Liars (which I also loved!) in that it was set at a school and focused more on faculty than on students. 

I loved Doctor Walden, the professor who is the protagonist. I felt we really got to know her in an intimate, visceral way. I was very surprised at the late twist in the book and enjoyed everything immensely. I may need to reread it, because I felt like I may have missed the motivation behind the ultimate antagonist (being vague here to avoid spoilers) when I was so wow’d by the twist. 

Definitely this will be on next year’s Hugo ballot. 

I listened to this audiobook at 2x speed. 

Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold

 

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I was late to the Lois McMaster Bujold party and only discovered her when she was nominated for Best Series for the Vorkosigan saga. I think it was the Baen book covers that turned me off. But I’m on board now! 

She definitely deserved the best series Hugo award for the Vorkosigan Books, and also deserved it equally for the World of the Five Gods series. I have still not read any of the novels in that series yet, but once I started reading the Penric and Desdemona novellas, I couldn’t stop. I was hooked instantly and binged my way through the series. Thankfully, Ms. Bujold is still writing more Penric stories. 

I was thrilled to get a copy of this new Penric novella - Thank you, Subterranean Press, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. As usual for a subterranean press edition, there is a new cover with gorgeous cover art. 

This book was a joy, like all the Penric stories are. Unlike the last volume, this is story of Penric on the road and not at home. We get a number of sections from the point of view of the titular bandit, who severely underestimates Penric and his capabilities. This book is a delightful read from start to finish. 

Can’t wait for the next one!

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

 

I picked this book based on the cover, mostly. It looked like it might be fun and cool. Sadly, it was neither. A boring story of mercenaries with fairly non-alien aliens, this felt very paint by numbers to me. The sudden addition of a previously-unmentioned child at the end really felt out of left field. Skippable. 

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang

 

I met Neon Yang at New York Comic Con a few years ago - they were very cool, and helped change the name on the book cover of my copy of The Black Tides of Heaven that I brought to get signed, since it had been published under their former name. I enjoyed that book, and I also believe that I enjoyed The Genesis of Misery (although, to be frank, I cannot remember much about it). 

I very much enjoyed their new novella, Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame, which Tor and NetGalley gave me an eARC of in exchange for an honest review. 

To be fair, the first time I tried to read it, I bounced off the first page and couldn’t get into it. However, I realize that I was clearly in more of a science fiction than fantasy mood at the time, because a few weeks later, I restarted it, and did not want to put it down. It tells the story of an imperial dragon hunter who is sent as an emissary to another country where she meets the monarch and uncovers her secret (which I will not spoil here). Even though I saw the reveal coming a mile away, I still really enjoyed this book! (Also, I think I was supposed to figure out what was going on before the protagonist did).  This was a delightful book that I highly recommend. 

The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix Harrow

I first heard of Alix Harrow when her short story “A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” was nominated for a Hugo Award. I read it, and I loved it. When her first novel came out, The Ten Thousand Door of January, I read it right away, and was a little disappointed. The book felt disjointed, and I didn’t care for the protagonist or her struggles very much. I felt like the author didn’t successfully make the leap from short story to novel.  I read Ms. Harrow’s two fractured fairytale novellas when they were nominated for the Hugos and I enjoyed them, although they felt a bit glib.I think I’m part because I’m getting a little tired of the hard-drinking, Devil-May-care protagonist trope. 

Starling House, however, was a massive leveling up - one of the absolute best books I read the year it came out. I loved it so much!!!

So of course I was excited when the publisher and NetGalley granted me an eARC of a new work by Ms. Harrow in exchange for an honest review. The Knight and the Butcherbird was a wonderful post apocalyptic short story about the lies we tell ourselves and the choices we make to survive. It was wonderfully engrossing and my only complaint was its brevity. I sure hope that the author revisits this world in another work soon.

Installment Immortality by Seanan McGuire

 

An excellent follow up to the last volume!

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work.  (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person. 

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. When Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018, I dove into that and I loved it! It is probably my second favorite series by McGuire (Velveteen Vs. holds a special place in my heart). 

This is the first Incryptid book since the series switched publishers from DAW to Tor, and I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be granted and advanced reader copy, I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of the latest Incryptid book, in exchange for an honest review. 

The book starts with what seemed like a recap for new readers, but it was incredibly well done and did not ostracized me, a long time reader of this series.

The book picks up with Mary’s story, not too long after the conclusion of the last volume. We get to visit with several other family members before the story kicks in into high gear.

One of the most wonderful things for me in this book was to get more with some characters that have not had a lot of narrative time until now. We get to spend more time with Elsie and with Arthur. After Artie was shattered and put back together again, we have not spent a lot of time with him, and I am so glad that we did, even if the more we learned about him the sad I get about his fate.

The actual plot of this book is a lot of fun, and it advance sis the overall fight-with-the-Covenant storyline in a satisfying way. 

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee

 Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee 

I was really looking forward to this book, and I was so disappointed because this was not the book that I wanted it to be.  I have read a number of by Fonda Lee, and I have enjoyed each and every book of hers. I have been waiting for a long vacation to read the Green Bone Saga, but I absolutely loved Untethered Sky. So, when I saw that she had a new book available on NetGalley, I requested it. I didn’t know who the Shannon Lee was that she coed with, but I figured I would give it a go. I really enjoyed the prologue - it set up a pair of twins, one of whom was thoughtless and doomed his family to a separation. Then chapter one began with the thoughtless child being a whiner, and a complainer, who only cared about martial arts while his father wanted him to get a nice respectable government job. I was really hoping that the book was going to alternate chapters so we could see the point of view of his twin brother and mother. As I read, it slowly dawned on me that we were not going to switch and see what was going on with the more interesting brother, but we were going to be stuck with the stupid, thoughtless, selfish brother throughout the book. About a third of the way through, I realized that Shannon Lee is the child of Bruce Lee, and that this book was going to be a boring slog of a martial arts competition. I’m sure there are people out there for whom this is a great book, but I am not one of them. 

Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler

 

I read this book at the wrong time.

I had never heard of Ray Nayler until I saw his book The Mountain and the Sea on the nebula nomination list. (It’s still on my TBR pile!) 

When I saw a new book by him on NetGalley, I decided to give it a go. This book was hard. It’s set in a world with an incredibly brutal fascist regime where the leader’s mind keeps getting transferred into new clones bodies when the body degrades. Some of the imagery was evocative and some of the language was beautiful, but reading about this brutal government as my own country descends further into fascism was not the diverting SF novel I was looking for. I also felt like many of the characters were ciphers with no interiority. 

An interesting book, but not for me at this point in in time. 

Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington

 This was a very promising debut! 

I have been trying to read outside my comfort zone - I try to make sure I don’t get into a rut where I only read the same authors all the time. Also, I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately and I decided to more actively seek out more science fiction books. 

So a few months back, when I got an email from NetGalley telling me I was auto-approved for a bunch of books by authors I had never heard of, I decided to say “what the heck!” And I downloaded all of them, thinking maybe I’d find something good, maybe I wouldn’t. So I was very pleased when I started reading and realized/remembered that this was a time traveling archeologist book!

In premise, this book felt like it was trying to be Connie Willis mixed with Indiana Jones. 

Now, I absolutely adore Connie Willis and her Oxford time traveling historians, and the premise revealed in To Say Nothing Of The Dog that items about to be destroyed in history can be removed from their original time and brought back to the present/future. At first I thought this book might be in conversation with that book, but I don’t think so. I don’t think this author is that familiar with a lot of other SF books, because this book often felt like a trope-fest crossed with a Byzantine history course - But fun! I’m not adequately conveying how much fun this book was or how much of a page turner it was. Even though the main character was too morose and too good at everything, and the twist was able to be seen a mile away, and the science of the time travel did not seem well thought out, I didn’t want to put this down! I really enjoyed it, flaws and all, and look forward to the next book in the series. 

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses Malka Older

I am really enjoying this series! I first started reading this series of novellas when the first one was nominated for a Hugo Award. I really enjoyed it and checked the second one out of the library shortly after I finished it and liked that a lot too! I’m all for a Holmes/Watson framework for a mystery, and I have loved SF mysteries since I discovered the Caves of Steel in junior high. I was excited when I got an eARC of this third volume from Tor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The mystery in this book is not quite as fun as in the first two - frankly, by the time of the solution I had forgotten who several of the suspects were. I love the world building and the setting of these books, and the characters are the reason I keep coming back. I understand why the narrator is infatuated with Mossa- I love Mossa as a character- but Mossa is a terrible person to be in a relationship with and it shows (as, presumably, Sherlock Holmes would be a dreadful boyfriend).  I enjoyed how academic research was key to solving the mystery. And I enjoyed just how terrible an investigator/interviewer the narrator was (I was also taking a science-based interviewing course for law enforcement while reading this book).  

Bottom line - I will happily keep reading these as long as the author keeps writing them. 

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

This was an excellent book but possibly the worst audiobook I have ever encountered. 

I really enjoyed This is How You Lose the Time War (I read it when it came out, years before Bigolas Dickolas) so I was excited when I heard that Amal El-Mohtar had her first solo book coming out. I didn’t get an eARC from the publisher but I did get an audio ARC. I love audiobooks - I’ve had an audible membership since before Amazon bought them - and I listen to audiobooks all the time. I almost never listen to music. I want to listen to a book. What I don’t want is to listen to music when I’m trying to focus on a story. What I want even less is to listen to running water when I’m listening to an audiobook. Do you get where I’m going here?

This is a delightful, if slight, story. (The hardcover is less than 150 pages - I’m read longer novellas so I don’t know why it’s being advertised as a novel). It’s a tale of 2 sisters in a fantasy realm where people can cross over to sort of a fae realm but the villian ( a needy incel) is sadly much more based in reality. 

I enjoyed the sisters and their story. But the audiobook production was atrocious! You could barely hear the narrator some times due to the music or the running water sounds. They were just dreadful. And the producers obviously didn’t think about what listening at higher speeds would do to their sound effects. Like many people, I listen to audiobooks at around 2X speed. I find many narrators are too slow and this way I can enjoy more books. But at an increased speed, the sound effects and the singing, and the music were just intolerable.

Do yourself a favor, get this book in hardcover or e-book formats. It was an excellent story and I will happily read anything else this author writes. Don’t get the audiobook.