James Nicoll Reviews

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (June 2025)

A brand-new entry in the Hugo, Nebula, and Ignyte Award-nominated sapphic, cozy space-opera mystery series The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, which Charlie Jane Anders calls ​“an utter triumph.”

When a former classmate begs Pleiti for help on behalf of her cousin — who’s up for a prestigious academic position at a rival Jovian university but has been accused of plagiarism on the eve of her defense — Pleiti agrees to investigate the matter.

Even if she has to do it without Mossa, her partner in more ways than one. Even if she’s still reeling from Mossa’s sudden isolation and bewildering rejection.

Yet what appears to be a case of an attempted reputational smearing devolves into something decidedly more dangerous — and possibly deadly. 

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I regret to report representative democracy did not in fact catch up with autocracy in November. Good thing nothing I review here has anything to do with real life or we’d be screwed. 

November 2024

21 works reviewed. 11.5 by women (55%), 8.5 by men (40%), 1 by non-binary authors (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (5%), and 10 by POC (48%).

2024 to Date

240 works reviewed. 131 by women (55%), 103 by men (43%), 4 by non-binary authors (2%), 2 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 99.5 by POC (41%).

Grand Total to Date

2769 works reviewed. 1543 by women (56%), 1158 by men (42%), 44 by non-binary authors (2%), 24 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 871.25 by POC (31%).

Government Types November 2024

Total 21, Not Applicable 1 (5%), Unclear 2 (10%), Anarchy 0 (0%), Pure democracy 1 (5%), Representative democracy 7 (33%), Oligarchy 10 (58%), Autocracy 0 (0%).

Government Type 2024 TD

Total 240, Not Applicable 26 (11%), Unclear 17 (7%), Anarchy 6 (3%), Pure democracy 2 (0.5%), Representative democracy 78 (33%), Oligarchy 105 (44%), Autocracy 6 (3%).

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A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (April 2025)

The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air — vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside. 

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder — and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost. 

Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn. 

Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat. 

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A Simple Twist of Fate by April Asher (May 2025)

A witch and a shifter get a second chance at love in this new paranormal romantic comedy from USA Today Bestselling author April Asher.

At the bright-eyed age of eighteen, witch Harlow ​“Harry” Pierce attended her first Fates Haven Finding Ceremony certain the Blue Willow Wisp would lead her to her Fated match, her cougar shifter boyfriend, Jaxon Atwood. But Fate had other plans, guiding her best friend to him instead. With a broken heart, all her belongings, and a vow to never return, Harry did the only thing a broken-hearted witch could do. Run.

Thirteen years later, she returns to her magical hometown — with her half-human, half-shifter goddaughter in tow — hoping that not only would the town work its magic on the troubled teenager, but that the local Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack could help Grace identify — and control — her fiery abilities.

Jaxon Atwood was a shifter of few words and even less patience… until his mother retired as Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack and left the running of things to him. It’s a headache he didn’t need, and one that brought the witch who’d ripped his heart from his chest knocking on his door.

Ever since the disappearance of the town’s Fate Witch over a decade ago, Fates Haven’s magic has been slowly going haywire. There hasn’t been a Fated Match made in thirteen years, putting the town in serious jeopardy of losing its title of Most Fated Mates Per Population. But now, something is stirring in Fates Haven, Colorado, and it smells like the past, tastes like change, and looks like A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE. 

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Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey (March 2025)

Presenting an enthrallingly dark medieval fantasy – a fable of twisted folklore, macabre magic and the strangest of found families – from M. R. Carey, author of the million-copy bestseller, The Girl With All the Gifts.

Eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England, I, Once Was Willem, rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham. The words enclosed herein are true.

I speak of monsters and magic, battle and bloodletting, and the crimes of desperate men. I speak also of secret things, of that which lies beneath us and that which impends above. By the time you come to the end of this account you will know the truth of your own life and death, the path laid out for your immortal soul, your origin and your inevitable end.

You will not thank me. 

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That was certainly not the electoral news I wanted to wake up to. My sympathies to all who will suffer because of yesterday.

It is not in my nature to be a supportive, socially-engaged ray of sunshine but despair in these circumstances would only facilitate the descent of society further into darkness, I guess I will have to do my best to fake being the sort of responsible person needed at this time. As long as James Nicoll Reviews prevails, I will seek out ways in which to use my platform constructively.

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Chaos King by Kacen Callender (April 2025)

WHEN THE WORLD BURNS, ASH WILL RISE.

The explosive sequel to instant New York Times bestselling YA debut Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender.

The hardcover edition features a beautiful jacket with silver foil, a case stamp, an in-world map and illustrated endpapers.

Ever since he rose up against his father and saved New Anglia from destruction, Ash has been struggling to adapt to his new life. He has nightmares every night, haunted by strange black orbs and his screaming dead mother. Ash is sure she’s trying to warn him that the world is still in danger, and becomes determined to find a way to speak to her again — but communicating with the dead isn’t easy, even for an alchemist as powerful as Ash.

It doesn’t help that violent anti-alchemist sentiment is spreading across New Anglia. When Ash is captured by a radical alchemist group, inspired by his father’s legacy, he must decide if alchemist rights can be trusted in the hands of the Houses, along with his partners Callum and Ramsay — or if Ash must follow the path his father laid for him, and become the leader of an alchemist revolution. 

Can Ash keep his relationships together and stop the world from falling apart? 

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I just realized I used my Patreon boost image on my monthly stats round-up, so you’re getting the image I should have used yesterday even though it makes no sense whatsoever to use that painting in this context. I like that painting and want it to get all twelve uses here. 

James Nicoll Reviews is supported in part by Patreon subscribers, to whom I am very grateful. You can join my Patreon here. You too can have ongoing say in which books I review! 

For more immediate gratification, consider commissioning a review. Please see my guidelines here. Note that The Number of the Beast (under both titles) is a special case. 

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