James Nicoll Reviews

Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker

For readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente’s Fairyland books, adventure and danger lurk Along the Saltwise Sea in this new book by Seanan McGuire’s latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker.Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road.

Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire takes our heroes Avery and Zib (and their friends Niamh and the Crow Girl) on a high seas adventure, with pirates and queens and all the dangers of the deep as they continue their journey through the Up-and-Under on their quest for the road that will lead them home.…Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire’s critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall.

Read more ➤

September 2021

22 works reviewed. 12 by women (55%), 9 by men (41%), 1 by a non-binary author (5%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (36%).

Year to Date

194 works reviewed. 105.5 by women (54%), 80.5 by men (42%), 5 by non-binary authors (3%), 3 by authors whose gender is unknown (2%), and 78 by POC (40%).

Grand Total to Date

1942 works reviewed. 1088 by women (56%), 810 by men (42%), 26 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose genders are unknown (1%), and 557.75 by POC (29%).

Read more ➤

Autonomy by Victoria Hetherington

In a near future ravaged by illness, one woman and her AI companion enter a dangerous bubble of the superrich.In 2035, a fledging synthetic consciousness ​“wakes up” in a lab. Jenny, the lead developer, determined to nurture this synthetic being like a child, trains it for work with people at the border of the American Protectorate of Canada. She names it Julian. Two years later, Slaton, a therapist at a university, is framed by a student for arranging an illegal abortion. She follows the student to America and is detained at the border, where she meets Julian in virtual space. After a week of interviewing, he decides to stay with her, learning about the world, the human condition, and what it means to fall in love. Meanwhile, a mysterious plague is spreading across the world. Only the far-seeing and well-connected Julian can protect Slaton from the impending societal collapse. Autonomy is an ambitious, philosophical novel about the possibilities for love in a world in which human bodies are either threatened or irrelevant.

Read more ➤

The Liar’s Knot by M. A. Carrick

Trust is the thread that binds us … and the rope that hangs us. In Nadezra, peace is as tenuous as a single thread. The ruthless House Indestor has been destroyed, but darkness still weaves through the city’s filthy back alleys and jewel-bright gardens, seen by those who know where to look. Derossi Vargo has always known. He has sacrificed more than anyone imagines to carve himself a position of power among the nobility, hiding a will of steel behind a velvet smile. He’ll be damned if he lets anyone threaten what he’s built. Grey Serrado knows all too well. Bent under the yoke of too many burdens, he fights to protect the city’s most vulnerable. Sooner or later, that fight will demand more than he can give. And Ren, daughter of no clan, knows best of all. Caught in a knot of lies, torn between her heritage and her aristocratic masquerade, she relies on her gift for reading pattern to survive. And it shows her the web of corruption that traps her city. But all three have yet to discover just how far that web stretches. And in the end, it will take more than knives to cut themselves free… 

Read more ➤

On this day, seven years and 1,928 reviews ago, James Nicoll Reviews went live. Thank you, Adrienne, for creating it, Karen for editing, all my patrons for funding it, and my readers for reading my reviews. 

Read more ➤

Giving the Devil His Due by Rebecca Brewer

Edited by Rebecca Brewer, formerly of Ace/Roc (Penguin Random House), this anthology will feature major names and rising stars in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror today including Angela Yuriko Smith, Christina Henry, Dana Cameron, Errick Nunnally, Hillary Monahan, Jason Sanford, Kaaron Warren, Kelley Armstrong, Kenesha Williams, Leanna Renee Hieber, Lee Murray, Linda D. Addison, Nicholas Kaufmann, Nisi Shawl, Peter Tieryas, and Stephen Graham Jones.

These sixteen authors will take readers on an unforgettable journey to alternative worlds where men who abuse and murder women and girls meet their comeuppance in uncanny ways. These sixteen stories will make you think about the importance of justice for the victims of gender-based violence, how rare this justice is in our own world, and why we need to end violence against women once and for all. 

Read more ➤

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021): Volume One edited by Oghenchovwe Donald Ekpeki

The first ever Year’s Best African speculative fiction anthology with works from some of the most exciting voices in Africa and the diaspora, published in 2020. 

Read more ➤

August 2021

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

172 works reviewed. 93.5 by women (54%), 71.5 by men (42%), 4 by non-binary authors (2%), 3 by authors whose gender is unknown (2%), and 70 by POC (41%).

Grand Total to Date

1920 works reviewed. 1076 by women (56%), 801 by men (42%), 25 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose genders are unknown (1%), and 549.75 by POC (29%).

Read more ➤

Glimmer by Marjorie B. Kellogg

This new cli-fi epic chronicles a future NYC wracked by climate change and follows the individuals who must make the most of what remains to survive. It’s 2110, the Earth’s glaciers have melted, and there’s no climate fix in sight. As refugees stream inland from the inundated coasts, social structures and national economies are stressed to the point of fracture. Food production falters. Pandemics rage. Rising sea level and devastating superstorms have flooded much of Manhattan and wrecked its infrastructure. Its residents have mostly fled, but a few die-hards have bet their survival on the hope that digging in and staying local is a safer strategy. As the weather worsens, can a damaged population of poor folk, artists, misfits, and loners work out their differences in time to create a sustainable long-term society? In a lawless city, where the well-armed rich have appropriated the high ground, can an ex-priest find a middle road between non-violence and all-out war? The lives of his downtown band of leftovers will depend on it. Sheltering among them, a young girl named Glimmer struggles to regain a past lost to trauma. As her memory returns, she finds she must choose who and how to be, and who and what to believe in, even if it means giving up a love she has only recently found herself able to embrace. 

Read more ➤

Trudvang Chronicles draws on Norse and Celtic myth. My interest in it has to do with the game’s lineage, which I understand to reach back to Drakar och Demoner. Drakar och Demoner began as the Swedish version of Basic Roleplaying, a system in which I have a great interest. Trudvang Chronicles is the English translation of the 7^th edition, Drakar och Demoner Trudvang. I gather the changes over the seven editions have been … dramatic. No idea how much, if any, relation the current edition has to BRP roots but it could be fun finding out.

Read more ➤