Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey

This book was just horrible (in the best way possible!) 

I think I first became aware of Sarah Gailey’s work when I read about their hippo riders in a review on tor dot com and thought “that sounds super fun!”  It was super fun, and after devouring River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, I have always looked for new works by this author. I loved Magic For Liars and the Echo Wife, and Just Like Home was terrifying in a wonderful way. Last year’s Spread Me was also quite enjoyable horror in a sexy John Carpenter’sThe Thing kind of way. 

I was intrigued when I got their new book Make Me Better from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed it but I wished there had been content warnings for pregnancy loss and dead babies. 

This book was so so so so creepy in a looming eldritch horror way where you’re not sure if the way humans treat each other is actually the scariest thing in the world. 

It follows Celia, a woman lost in her life, as she goes to an island cult to try to find herself and a friend who had used to live on the island. 

The book is intricately constructed with multiple timelines and some truly monstrous characters. Every time I turned a page I hoped that characters would realize what was going on and get out of their terrible situations. 

This wasn’t an easy read but I’m very glad I read it. 

Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis

I often request books from NetGalley based on the positive buzz I see on blue sky. So when a number of authors that I like started talking about this book, I thought to myself: hey, I should check this out. I enjoy a good fairytale retelling and I enjoy mermaids so why not? Sadly, after finishing this book, I failed to see what all of the hype was about. I found this book profoundly boring. The book is told from the perspective of a princess who is the granddaughter of Ariel (you know, the little mermaid) and her bodyguard/love interest. The fact that both are women is practically meaningless because neither of them has any character to speak of. It’s hard to imagine how the book would’ve been different if either or Both of them had been men (or cardboard boxes). The visit to the underwater realm was not interesting. The Struggle for power made me question why I cared whether the protagonist succeeded or failed. The answer ended up being that I did not care in the slightest. I wish I knew what everyone else kept seeing in this book. It was well written on a sentence and paragraph level, don’t get me wrong. But I just did not like the story.

The Many by Sylvain Neuvel

 

I remember picking up Sylvain Neuvel’s first book Sleeping Giants, from the library when it came out. The format was interesting (it was practically an epistolary novel) and I love giant robots, so I enjoyed it quite a bit, but as the series went on, it felt staler and I enjoyed the conclusion less than I enjoyed the initial mysteries. I never ended picking up his second trilogy, but I was intrigued enough by the concept of his new standalone novel The Many to request it on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

(By the way, I despise the title. No one will pick this book up based on the title alone). 

This book is an interesting twist on the zombie pandemic - a tick bite makes a woman bite people and who she bites she mind merges with. Whoever they bite merge minds with them ending in a Borg- like collective consciousness. 

I really liked some things about this book - the idea that people with merged minds would be obsessed with sex because they were sharing orgasms makes perfect sense, and the autistic police officer character was very well handled. But it is clear that this author doesn’t know any Jewish people in real life - his Jewish doctor character is full of unpleasant stereotypes and she also refers to the house of worship as a “church” which is laughably wrong as well as offensive. 

But problems aside, this book was a real page turner - I couldn’t put it down even when I should’ve been reading something else. It’ll be an excellent beach read or airport book (in the best possible ways). 

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

I had never before heard of Cameron Reed before this book, but I love a good first contact story and was intrigued when I got an advanced reader copy from Tor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book reminded me a bit of Hellspark by Janet Kagan, which I had just recently read for my book club at work, but What We Are Seeking was far superior (and I enjoyed Hellspark a bunch). 

What We Are Seeking follows John, a doctor from a human colony who joins another colony on a semi hostile planet populated by aliens referred to as “basket men” for their weaving capability. The distinction between plant and animal life on this planet is minimal, with the life cycles intertwined between the two. The human colonists are trying to learn to communicate with these aliens, as well as deal with an observer from Earth who seems rather posthuman in her development. John has to deal with the aliens and the Earther as well as with the hidebound anti gay pro marriage human colonists, whose background differs greatly from that of the liberal anti marriage society of his home planet. This book is a quiet, thoughtful novel with minimal action and a great deal of conversation in the best possible way. I highly recommend it and would not be surprised to see it on next year’s Nebula or Hugo shortlists. 

Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher (Audiobook)

 

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 2026 called Wolf Worm and I was even more excited when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was super creepy in the best ways! I will not be recommending it to my wife for that reason but to anyone that liked her other more horror-y books this is a slam dunk. The protagonist, like many in her recent novels, is a not young woman who reads as slightly neurodivergent who ends up in a creepy situation. She is a scientific illustrator in the post Civil War south who gets a job in a creepy house painting bugs for a creepy naturalist. I won’t spoil the big reveal but suffice it to say I was surprised and pleased by how the plot resolved. Very satisfying!

I enjoyed the narration by Mary Robinette Kowal very much. I listened to this book at 2x speed. 

Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos (Magic: The Gathering) by Seanan McGuire

 Where to begin? I never played Magic:The Gathering when it came out. I was in college and I loved D&D and my only thoughts of Magic when it came out was that it was like a dumbed down version of D&D and I snobbishly turned up my nose at it because it was for kids and its parent company bought D&D from TSR and was trying to ruin it with 3rd edition - I fully admit, I didn’t know anything about it, it was an opinion based on ignorance. My brother-in-law has been teaching me how to play Magic recently and I am realizing how wrong I was and how fun and complex the game is! 

From following her on social media, I was aware how much Seanan McGuire loved Magic, and I just adore 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). 

And ever since I was little, I loved books set in magical schools. I still have my dogeared copy of The Worst Witch and have read it to both of my children. So when I found out my favorite author was writing a magical school book based on a game I liked I preordered a copy right away! Then I was lucky enough to get an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher. 

I loved this book so much! You don’t need to know anything about Magic to enjoy it (which is good, because I still don’t know that much lore about the game). 5 students from different planes of existence are recruited to come study at a magical university and they learn about each other and themselves in this book. The characters feel very real - none of them are perfect and they still learning who they are and what type of people they want to be. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and hope it sells well so that Ms. McGuire can write all the sequels she wants to!

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

 

I love my wife very much, and I especially love talking books with her - we both enjoy reading but we do it in our own ways. My wife reads what she likes but doesn’t often engage with genre conversations. 

My wife has enjoyed reading and listening to Ilona Andrews books for years but I haven’t tried any until now. In fact, a discussion of their books is how I realized that my wife doesn’t like secondary world fantasy, which I love. If it’s not connected to the real world, she doesn’t usually connect to it. 

When we had heard that Ilona Andrews had a new book coming out with Tor we were both excited to see what the they would come up with, and I was so happy when I got an advanced copy of the audiobook on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

My wife started listening to it first - and she noped out before she got halfway through. She didn’t care for the setting and was bored. Undeterred, I began to listen to it. I enjoyed it much more than my tie did, but I found it rather uneven. When a book is cowritten by two people, I shouldn’t be able to see the seams, but in this book there were sections that really felt like they were not written by the same person - there were some wild tonal shifts. The protagonist is from earth but someone got transported into the world of her favorite fantasy series. She has reread it so many times that she knows much of it by heart and starts to try to use her knowledge to cash in and make a name for herself as an information broker. 

The protagonist is by far the weakest and least interesting part of this book - the world she is in is much richer and three dimensional, and she is so boring and forgettable. Other than that, it is a fun book with excellent side characters. (Several of them had similar sounding names, which didn’t work well in audio.). 

One other minor complaint- this book doesn’t have an ending - it just stops. It is clearly the first part of a series, but instead of feeling like an exciting cliffhanger the ending feels like their typewriter just ran out of ribbon. 

I enjoyed this enough to look forward to book 2. But I’d borrow it from the library instead of buying it. 

Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire

 

Yes! Yes yes yes! This is the book I have been waiting for for years!

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). 

I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of the latest Incryptid book, in exchange for an honest review. 

The book picks up with Sarah’s story, her first stint as narrator in several years - but interestingly, she is not alone. Several chapters are also from Antimony’s perspective, splitting up the perspectives in what I think is a first in this series.

After Artie was shattered and put back together again, I have been very sad. I loved Artie and my heart was broken when he and Sarah finally realized their loves for each other were not unrequited only to have Artie effectively die. Knowing how Seanan McGuire writes, I was not expecting a happy ending for those two. So imagine my surprise when I got to read this book! I won’t spoil any details but I was overjoyed at how Ms. McGuire deftly handled these plot threads and I was very happy with how things turned out.

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I listened to this audiobook at 2x speed. 

Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison

 

I read The Pill by Meg Elison when it was nominated for the Hugo Award a while back - it was one of the best stories I have read in years and it still haunts me to this day. I read her novel Number One Fan a few years ago, but it was too rapey and unrealistic for me to fully enjoy. But when I saw her new book by Ms. Elison on NetGalley, I eagerly requested an eARC in exchange for an honest review because of the description - Foundling Fathers sounded like a spiritual sequel to Clone High, a delightfully weird cartoon that I loved many years ago. 

In this book, we quickly learn that Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington were cloned somehow in a near future and raised as brothers on an isolated island and were taught that it was still the 1700s. The plot kicks off when Franklin finds someone’s cell phone in the bathroom. 

I really enjoyed this book, but my only complaints felt like it was too short - it felt like it could’ve been the first third of a much longer book, and I felt the ending was too abrupt. But I really enjoyed the style and the characterization. A fun read for our bisesquicentennial!

Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall

 

I will totally pick up a book because it has a cool cover. I may not read it right away, but I will pick it up. That’s what I did with Hell’s Heart. There is a cute independent bookstore in my town that has a little free library outside of it in which the bookstore owners often put out advanced reader copies they are done with. I found Hell’s Heart there a few months ago and liked the octopus/tentacle monster/eldritch horror vibe of the cover so I picked it up. When I saw the audiobook on NetGalley a few months later I requested it because that cover still slapped and I hadn’t had time to read it yet. And I’m so glad that I did!

I will NOT tell you how deep I was into the book before I realized it was a version of Moby Dick (but in space with Jovian leviathans and sapphic romances). I probably should have realized it sooner. But that doesn’t matter because this book was amazing! I couldn’t stop listening to it, I was so into the characters, and I really enjoyed the writing style with faux authorial asides to the reader. Highly recommended!

This Will Be Interesting, by E. B. Asher

 

I hate deckled edges and I love sprayed and painted edges. Deckled edges are when the pages of a paper book don’t all evenly line up. it’s how books used to look a long time ago but nowadays it’s just an obnoxious affectation, in my opinion. I have repeatedly refused to buy a physical book in a bookstore because of deckled edges - the tactile experience is so incredibly unpleasant that I’d rather not read the book. 

Sprayed edges, however, are a trend I wholeheartedly endorse. I love going into a bookstore and seeing a book pop with color on the top and side! I don’t know what it is that makes it seem so fun and enticing! I first found E.B. Asher’s first book, This Will Be Fun, at a local bookstore because of the sprayed edges. Something about the title and cover and design called to me so I bought it on impulse, and I enjoyed it! I didn’t love how much of the high-magic world replicated 21st century technology but I really enjoyed the characters and the quest. So I was quite pleased when I got an eARC of the sequel, This Will Be Interesting, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This sequel was much better than the first novel! Like the first book, this novel traded chapters between its 3 POV characters (which I think map onto the 3 different coauthors who make up the pen name of E.B. Asher, but I’m not 100% sure of that).  But these characters felt much more interesting and well rounded than the ones in the first book. The plot was fun and the romances felt believable (in a fantasy romance novel kind of way). I would totally read another book by this trio again!

Your Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin Feinstein

As I’ve said recently, Tachyon has become one of the publishers I seek out work by - they have a really good track record of publishing books I enjoy. When I was requesting ARCs of their recent stuff, they also sent me a copy of this book - and I’m really glad they did! This is a first novel by an author I’m going to be looking out for in the future. It is not quite an epistolary novel but it is similar- it is comprised of messages and chat logs and similar things. It is a near future novel set at an AI tech company that is working on creating an AI that makes targeted personal commercials. It was a breezy quick read that always made me want to read just a few pages more, and the ending was pleasantly surprising. Very enjoyable!

Wolf Worm 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 2026 called Wolf Worm and I was even more excited when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was super creepy in the best ways! I will not be recommending it to my wife for that reason but to anyone that liked her other more horror-y books this is a slam dunk. The protagonist, like many in her recent novels, is a not young woman who reads as slightly neurodivergent who ends up in a creepy situation. She is a scientific illustrator in the post Civil War south who gets a job in a creepy house painting bugs for a creepy naturalist. I won’t spoil the big reveal but suffice it to say I was surprised and pleased by how the plot resolved. Very satisfying!

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu

 

Ever since I started voting for the Hugo awards, I have tried to be more mindful of the names of authors that I enjoy so I can seek them out again. Hugo reading is where I first discovered John Chu. I rarely read short stories except when I am reading for the Hugos so I hadn’t encountered him before, but I enjoyed his stories and looked forward to seeing what else he wrote. I was very happy when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an advanced copy of his debut novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space. This is a family drama in an sff setting. The protagonist is coping with the impending death of her mother and the disdain of her much older sister while studying for her PhD. She and her family are also part of a secret organization that helps maintain the universe. I really enjoyed this book, but much more for the family and character work than for the sff aspects. They weren’t bad, mind you, but what the author does with character is so much more powerful. It reminded me of how I felt reading 11/22/63 by Steven King - I enjoyed it but I wondered how great a non-sff book by the author would be. I look forward to his next book!

Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman

 

Tachyon has become one of the publishers I seek out work by - they have a really good track record of publishing books I enjoy. Now, I hadn’t heard of the author ADA Hoffman before, but I was perusing Tachyon’s offerings on NetGalley and I was intrigued by this book. I’m a sucker for a story set on a Jovian moon so I requested a copy in exchange for an honest review. Boy was I glad I did! This book was wonderful and powerful and sad and kind in so many ways! The protagonist is a neurodivergent woman who works as a script supervisor for an AI generated tv show and she gets caught up in her ex’s heist hijinks when he comes back into her life.  There is humor and love and pathos and sadness and I just could not put this book down. I am so glad I read it and I know you will be too. 

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.