James Nicoll Reviews

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (July 2023)

The Saint of Bright Doors sets the high drama of divine revolutionaries and transcendent cults against the mundane disappointments of modern life, resulting in a novel that is revelatory and resonant.

Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy. He walked among invisible powers: devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader world where divine destinies are a dime a dozen. 

Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows. In this unknowable metropolis, Fetter will discover what kind of man he is, and his discovery will rewrite the world.

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James Nicoll Reviews – 2247 reviews and counting! – is funded by commissions and by my Patreon.

Many thanks to my existing patrons! If you enjoy my endless rambles through the brambles of speculative fiction, please consider supporting my Patreon.

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November 2022

22 works reviewed. 11.5 by women (52%), 10.5 by men (48%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 10 by POC (45%)

Year to Date

238 works reviewed. 131 by women (55%), 100 by men (42%), 7 by a non-binary author (3%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 93 by POC (39%).

Grand Total to Date

2246 works reviewed. 1255 by women (56%), 940 by men (42%), 33 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 667.75 by POC (30%).

Government Types October

Total 22, Not Applicable 3 (14%), Unclear 0 (0%), Anarchy 0 (0%), Pure democracy 1 (5%), Representative democracy 5 (23%), Oligarchy 11 (50%), Autocracy 2 (9%).

Government Type 2022 TD

Total 238, Not Applicable 38 (16%), Unclear 17 (8%), Anarchy 5 (2%), Pure democracy 2 (0.5%), Representative democracy 65 (28%), Oligarchy 89 (36%), Autocracy 22 (9%).

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Blade Runner: The Role Playing Game Core Rules by Tomas Härenstam & Joe LeFavi, with illustrations by Martin Grip (December 2022)

Walk the mean streets of Los Angeles 2037 in a new game from the award-winning team behind the hit ALIEN RPG.

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The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon (June 2023)

War machines and AI gods run amok in The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko Candon’s bold entry into the world of mecha fiction.

WHEN AN AI DIES, ITS CITY DIES WITH IT
WHEN A CITY FALLS, IT LEAVES A CORPSE BEHIND
WHEN THAT CORPSE RUNS OFF, ONLY DEVOTION CAN BRING IT BACK 

When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he’s seen. He’s run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines. 

The Archive Undying is the first volume of Emma Mieko Candon’s Downworld Sequence, a sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies. 

Come get in the robot.

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Mr. & Mrs. Witch: A Novel by Gwenda Bond (March 2023)

In Mr. & Mrs. Witch, the next novel from bestselling author Gwenda Bond, a couple discovers at the altar the surprising secret identities they’ve kept from each other. 

Savannah Wilde is a witch, a very powerful one — an identity that only her fellow witches know. Following a whirlwind romance that surprised herself and her family, Savvy is all set to marry the love of her life. But she isn’t the only one with a secret that needs to be kept, even from her soon-to-be husband. 

Griffin Carter is a top agent for a clandestine organization that, well, used to primarily hunt witches, but now mainly tries to shut down supernatural threats their own way. He can’t wait to lay his eyes on the woman he’s about to spend the rest of his life with. 

As Savvy walks down the aisle to Griffin, the wedding quickly goes from blessed day to shit show when their true identities are revealed. To say there’s bad blood between their factions is putting it mildly. Savvy and Griffin are tasked to take the other out, but when they discover a secret that could take down both of their agencies, they realize the only way to survive is to team up. With assassins hot on their trail, will Savvy and Griffin make it out alive to try again at ​‘I do’? 

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Promises Stronger Than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders (April 2023)

Promises Stronger Than Darkness marks the final installment of the international bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders’s absolutely heart-stopping YA series, Unstoppable. 

They’re the galaxy’s most wanted — and our only hope.

When Elza became a space princess, she thought she’d be spending her time at the palace, wearing gorgeous couture and soaking up everything there is to know — but instead, she’s on the run, with everyone hunting for her and her friends. 

Rachael followed her best friend Tina on the adventure of a lifetime — but now Tina’s gone, and Rachael’s the only one keeping her friends together, as they go on a desperate quest to save everyone from an ancient curse. 

Rachael, Elza and their friends have found one clue, one shining mysterious chance to stop the end of the world. And that takes them back to the second-to-last place they’d want to be: enlisting the aid of Captain Thaoh Argentian, the woman who stole Tina’s body (and who now seems to be relishing a second chance at teenage chaos and drama, instead of living up to her legacy of an intrepid heroic commander). 

With only a ragtag band of misfits, crewmates, earthlings, friends, lovers (and one annoying frenemy), the Unstoppable Crew are up against the universe – and they soon find that in order to survive, they may have to cross a line they vowed never to cross. 

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James Nicoll Reviews – 2224 reviews and counting! – is funded by my Patreon. Many thanks to my existing patrons! If you enjoy my endless rambles through the brambles of speculative fiction, please consider supporting my Patreon.

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October 2022

21 works reviewed. 12 by women (57%), 9 by men (43%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (38%)

Year to Date

216 works reviewed. 119.5 by women (55%), 89.5 by men (41%), 7 by a non-binary author (3%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 83 by POC (38%).

Grand Total to Date

2224 works reviewed. 1243.5 by women (56%), 929.5 by men (42%), 33 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 657.75 by POC (30%).

Government Types October

Total 21, Not Applicable 2 (10%), Unclear 2 (10%), Anarchy 0 (0%), Pure democracy (0%), Representative democracy 7 (33%), Oligarchy 10 (48%), Autocracy 0 (0%).

Government Type 2022 TD

Total 216, Not Applicable 35 (16%), Unclear 17 (8%), Anarchy 5 (2%), Pure democracy 1 (0.5%), Representative democracy 60 (28%), Oligarchy 78 (36%), Autocracy 20 (9%)

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