James Nicoll Reviews

James Nicoll Reviews – 2204 reviews and counting! – is brought to you by my Patreon, the funds for which permit me to survive while tracking down works whose reviews to surprise and delight you. Supporters are provided with a variety of benefits, not least of which is the impetus to add to their strategic to be read reserves sufficiently to test the load-bearing abilities of their residential floors. If you’re enjoying James Nicoll Reviews, please consider supporting my Patreon.

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September 2022

22 works reviewed. 12 by women (55%), 9 by men (41%), 1 by a non-binary author (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%)

Year to Date

195 works reviewed. 107.5 by women (55%), 80.5 by men (41%), 7 by a non-binary author (4%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 75 by POC (38%).

Grand Total to Date

2203 works reviewed. 1231.5 by women (56%), 920.5 by men (42%), 33 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 649.75 by POC (29%).

Government Types September

Total 22, Not Applicable 4 (18%), Unclear 3 (14%), Anarchy 0 (0%), Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 6 (27%), Oligarchy 8 (36%), Autocracy 1 (5%)

Government Type 2022 TD

Total 195, Not Applicable 33 (17%), Unclear 15 (8%), Anarchy 5 (3%), Pure democracy 1 (1%), Representative democracy 53 (27%), Oligarchy 68 (35%), Autocracy 20 (10%)

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It Walks in Beauty: Selected Prose of Chandler Davis Chandler Davis (September 2010)

It Walks in Beauty: Selected prose of Chandler Davis, edited and with an introduction by Josh Lukin, collects several of Daviss science fiction stories, which probe deeply into such social and political issues as nuclear escalation, gender roles, and eugenics, as well as a selection of his essays, originally published in venues ranging from The New York Review of Books to the Waging Peace Series of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The volume also includes a lengthy interview of Davis by Lukin, a speech Davis made at the February 1995 meeting of AAAS, as well as three essays by Lukin, taking a long view of Daviss work.

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Rubicon by J. S. Dewes (March 2023)

J. S. Dewes, author of The Last Watch and The Exiled Fleet, returns with another science fiction space opera, Rubicon, that melds elements of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War with Edge of Tomorrow. 

Sergeant Adrienne Valero wants to die. 

She can’t.

After enduring a traumatic resurrection for the ninety-sixth time, Valero is reassigned to a special forces unit and outfitted with a cutting-edge virtual intelligence aid. They could turn the tide in the war against intelligent machines dedicated to the assimilation, or destruction, of humanity. 

When her VI suddenly achieves sentience, Valero is drawn into the machinations of an enigmatic major who’s hell-bent on ending the war―by any means necessary. 

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On this day, eight years and 2,189 reviews ago, James Nicoll Reviews went live. Thank you, Adrienne, for creating and maintaining the site, Karen for editing, all my patrons for funding it, author for giving me books to review, and my readers for reading my reviews. 

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Meru by S. B. Divya (February 2023)

One woman and her pilot are about to change the future of the species in an epic space opera about aspiration, compassion, and redemption by Hugo and Nebula Award finalist S. B. Divya. For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations. For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe. For Vaha, Jayanthi’s alloy pilot, it’s a daunting yet irresistible adventure to find success as an individual. As the journey challenges their resolve in unexpected ways, the two form a bond that only deepens with their time alone on Meru. But how can Jayanthi succeed at freeing humanity from its past when she and Vaha have been set up to fail? Against all odds, hope is human, too. 

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August 2022

22 works reviewed. 11 by women (50%), 10 by men (45%), 1 by a non-binary author (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%)

Year to Date

173 works reviewed. 95.5 by women (55%), 71.5 by men (41%), 6 by a non-binary author (3%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 66 by POC (38%).

Grand Total to Date

2181 works reviewed. 1219.5 by women (56%), 911.5 by men (42%), 32 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 640.75 by POC (29%).

Government Types August

Total 22, Not Applicable 3 (14%), Unclear 2 (9%), Anarchy 1 (5%), Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 3 (14%), Oligarchy 10 (45%), Autocracy 3 (14%)

Government Type 2022 TD

Total 173, Not Applicable 29 (17%), Unclear 12 (7%), Anarchy 5 (3%), Pure democracy 1 (1%), Representative democracy 47 (27%), Oligarchy 60 (35%), Autocracy 19 (11%)

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Crusaders by Oliver Legrand (August 2022)

CRUSADERS, the roleplaying game of superheroic action, takes you back to the 1980s, at the time of some of the most awesome comics epics ever published – but with a far simpler system than the great superhero RPGs of this glorious decade.

Leaving behind superfluous stuff like sub-stats, complex calculations or real-world physics, CRUSADERS combines genre emulation with old school spirit, using a simple, robust yet elegant D100-based core mechanic.

This 100-page rulebook includes (among other things) the description of more than 40 powers (with a myriad of options and possible refinements), GM-ing tips on how to create your own setting, sample villains and even some elegant optional rules for those who want to make their game grittier or more four-color! 

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Empire of Exiles by Erin M. Evans (November 2022)

Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared. The empire moved on. Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he’s on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He’s always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren’t just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup. Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire — or destroying it again. 

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The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (April 2023)

Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend in the vein of Alien and Event Horizon. 

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears’ failed colony on a distant planet. 

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn’s crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion. 

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive. 

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