We Burned So Bright by T J Klune

 

I really love TJ Klune’s vibe even when I don’t love his work. When I saw Mr. Klune at NY Comic-Con a few years back, I remembered how cool I thought he was and how much I liked his style and sensibilities. I really enjoyed his Extraordinaries trilogy (although his strong pro- and anti- police stands in different volumes gave me whiplash), but I didn’t really vibe with Under the Whispering Door. I enjoyed the sentiments of House on a Cerulean Sea but felt the world building was weak in a way that took me out of the book, and I felt the sequel had a deus ex machina that felt cheap. Ultimately, I enjoy his takes on love and joy even when I don’t enjoy the stories they are in. 

So I decided to request from NetGalley and the publisher an eARC of We Burned So Bright, his newest book. The world is about to end due to a black whole moving through our solar system and an elderly gay couple tries to make a cross country trip before the end. Like many of his books, the meditations on love and the hearts of the characters is what shines in this piece. The world building, however, totally take me out of the story. The idea that society would be functioning enough in the weeks leading up to total annihilation to support a cross country road trip is ludicrous, and the physics does not seem plausible. It reminded me of The Last Policeman series, which was much better in just about every way. That being said, the character and relationship stuff was very moving. I sometimes wish Mr. Klune would write a nonfantastical story - I would read and enjoy it. I enjoyed this too, but with these quibbles I often have with his work.  

Rabbit Test and Other Stories by Samantha Mills

 

I first encountered Samantha Mills when her story, Rabbit Test, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I read it along side the other nominees and I loved that story so much - it was incredibly well written and was number one on my ballot. (Regardless of what we later learned about how the 2023 Hugo nominations were hijacked, that story was amazing and it will always be a Hugo winner in my mind.)

After reading that story, I was excited when I found out that Ms. Mills had a first novel, The Wings Upon Her Back coming out, and I was even more excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed it and said that I was excited to read more of Ms. Mills’s work in the future. So I was thrilled when the publisher gave me an ARC of Rabbit Test and Other Stories, what I hope is the first of many short story collections by this author, in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I often said that I much prefer single offer short story collections to anthologies because, among other things, the quality of the work is usually more consistent and there’s less tonal whiplash. But even in the best collections, there are often stories that are weaker or don’t work as well for an individual reader.  In this collection, however, every story slapped.  There was not a single dud in the bunch that I kept getting wowed over and over again.  My only complaint about this book was that it was too short.  When I got to the end, I just wished that there was more.  This was wonderful from beginning to end.  

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

We all love Murderbot, right? Murderbot is one of the absolute best characters to come out of SF in years. I remember when I read the description of Martha Wells’s All Systems Red and thought to myself “I’ve got to put that on hold at the library!”  And I was right - it was excellent. I have eagerly awaited each new Murderbot book and also have been reading some of Ms. Wells’s other fantasy books. I was thrilled to be able to meet Ms Wells at Worldcon last year and got her to sign my daughter’s copies of the first six Murderbot books. 

So I was overjoyed when NetGalley and tordotcom gave me an eARC of Platform Decay, the new Murderbot book, in exchange for an honest review. 

This was stupendous! Before this, Fugitive Telemetry and System collapse were my favorite Murderbot books, but this one now claims the top spot.  I love getting more Mensah family dynamics and this book did not disappoint. It was a road trip rescue mission in a fascinating space station environment and was a total page turner that I could not put down. 

This book is a must buy!!

River of Bones and Other Stories by Rebecca Roanhorse

 

I first discovered Rebecca Roanhorse when her short story "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™”, was nominated for a Hugo Award.  I loved it and her! Her writing style is crisp and it pulled me in right away.  When Trail of Lightning, her first novel, was nominated for awards the next year, I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I felt like it had some “first novel” roughness but was altogether enjoyable.  The sequel, Storm of Locusts, was even better! I enjoyed Black Sun, and I was excited to be at the Hugo Awards last year when she won best series. 

So I was thrilled when NetGalley and Saga Press gave me an eARC of her new short story collection, River of Bones, in exchange for an honest review. As I’ve said several times before on this blog, I love a single author short story collection very much, and this one was no exception! It was wonderful to revisit "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™” which was just as enjoyable and haunting as it was the first time I read it. “The Boys From Blood River” was great and “Falling Bodies” was heartbreaking. The title story, “River of Bones” was a new entry in the series started in Trail of Lightning and I really enjoyed it too. This is an excellent collection!

The Lost Daughter of Sparta by Felicia Day

Who doesn’t love Felicia Day? From Buffy to Dr Horrible to MST3K, she has been a part of nerdom for a long time. So when I saw that she had an upcoming graphic novel based on Greek mythology, I got very excited. (Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. )

This book tells the story of a sister of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra who seeks to break the curse on her family that she will betray her future husband. The art style is very evocative, with only red being used a an accent color - and also for the protagonist’s facial birthmark. This is a lovely love story that sometimes feels simple but always feels powerful. An enjoyable read. 

To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose

 

When I reviewed the first book in this series, To Shape a Dragon's Breath, I was angry at myself for waiting so long to read it. 

I never heard of this author until the 2024 Hugo Award nominations came out, and when the author won the Astounding Award in 2025, I finally got around to reading it and really enjoyed it.  I was excited for the sequel and quite pleased when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I also really enjoyed this sequel, but the pacing felt a bit off. I wanted to get back to school right away, not spend the whole summer on the protagonist Anequs’s island. This book kind of felt like middle book of trilogy setup stuff without a big plot of its own, but that’s a minor quibble since what it was setting up was very interesting. I liked the political stuff and I really enjoyed most of the new characters. I was a little miffed at the cliffhanger ending, but I’ll keep reading this series because I have to find out what happens next!

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

 

Sometimes it pays to just say “why the heck!”

I have been reviewing books I get from NetGalley on this blog for several years, but it is still rare that I get offered a book I did not request. So I was startled last month to get an email offering me an audio eARC of The Poet Empress, a book by a debut author with an interesting magic system - poetry could create magical effects and in order to craft a death spell you would have to live the target. Intrigued, I accepted the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

I really enjoyed this book. Don’t get me wrong, it is super grim, starting off with starved babies and moving on to ripped out tongues and torture,  but I really liked the voice of the protagonist and how she learns how to handle herself as a concubine striving to be empress. This was an engrossing audio book. I listened at 2x speed.