James Nicoll Reviews

Tonight, I Burn by Katharine J. Adams (November 2023)

A thorn witch with the power to walk between the realms of Life and Death finds herself at the center of a magical rebellion — and a dangerous romance — that could destroy her coven and her soul in this dark and decadent debut. Thorns, Tides, Embers, Storms, and Ores. All five covens are bound in servitude to the tyrant High Warden of Halstett. Penny Albright is a daughter of the thorn coven, forced to patrol the veil between the realms of Life and Death. Each night, one thorn witch — and only one — must cross the veil by burning at the stake. Each morning, that witch draws on their magic to return. Failure to follow the rules risks the veil and risks them all. But one morning, Penny’s favorite sister Ella doesn’t return. And that night, determined to find her, Penny breaks the rules. She burns in secret. And she discovers that all isn’t as it seems in Life or Death. Her journey leads her to Malin, a devastating lord with too many secrets; to Alice, a mysterious captive prophet; and to a rebellion brewing in the shadows beneath the city. And as Penny’s world splits, she’ll face a devastating choice. Because it’s not just her sister’s life that hangs in the balance. It’s the fate of all magic. All it takes is one witch — and one spark — to set the world ablaze. 

The Corset & the Jellyfish by Nick Banktock (November 2023)

Little is known of the fascinating manuscript that Nick Bantock has come to possess. It was discovered in an attic in North London, stuffed into a battered cardboard box, and unceremoniously delivered directly to Nick’s doorstep. Inside the package lay one hundred evocatively absurd stories, one hundred humorous drawings of strangely familiar, quirkish glyphs, plus a cryptically poetic note signed only as ​“HH.” (Possibly the well-known, eccentric billionaire, Hamilton Hasp?)

In these stories-each consisting of precisely 100 words-strange creatures slip through alleyways, and eerie streets swallow people whole. Taken altogether, they may constitute a puzzle that no one has been able to solve thus far. Could there be one missing story?

For those perceptive readers with a curious mind, the celebrated author of Griffin & Sabine cordially invites you to find your own path through his beguiling conundrum of drabbles — or even to contribute one of your very own. 

Exordia by Seth Dickinson (January 2024)

Anna Sinjari — refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker — has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, she must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world.

The Graveyard Shift by Maria Lewis (September 2023)

When a horror-loving radio show becomes the stage of a gruesome murder, its host Tinsel Monroe is put next on the killer’s list…A fast paced, thrilling murder mystery novel, paying homage to slasher films of the 90’s, The Graveyard Shift is the perfect Halloween read for fans of Riley Sager and Grady Hendrix. 

Tinsel Munroe has busted her guts to get where she is. Yet her dream of working in radio hasn’t turned out to be everything she hoped it would. Sure, she has her own show – aptly titled The Graveyard Shift – where she celebrates the sounds of cult-cinema, but the wage is barely enough to cover her rent and the midnight hours are putting a strain on her relationship with her boyfriend. Even after three years at Melbourne’s coolest station, she’s seemingly no closer to a prime-time slot. 

That is, until someone is murdered live on air. Mistaking it for a Halloween prank, a visit from police informs Tinsel that the hysterical call was – in fact – the real deal. She’s freaked out, but her true-crime obsessed sister Pandora is fascinated. While detectives assure them the killer will soon be caught, the bodies continue to drop with the killer striking in increasingly gruesome ways. With a growing, macabre audience to her radio show, that potentially includes the killer, Tinsel begins receiving strange messages over the text-in lines. Her workplace, and even her home, are suddenly not the sanctuaries she once thought. Tinsel and her sister are left with no choice but to team up with Detective James as they race to find the connection between her and the culprit. The people she thought she could trust are now those she should fear the most. In order to survive, Tinsel is going to have to listen to more than just the airwaves… 

All the Hidden Paths Foz Meadows (December 2023)

The follow-up to Foz Meadows’s A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, All the Hidden Paths is a sultry political & romantic fantasy exploring gender, sexuality, identity, and self-worth. 

With the plot against them foiled and the city of Qi-Katai in safe hands, Velasin and Caethari have begun to test the waters of their relationship. But the wider political ramifications of their marriage are still playing out across two nations, and all too soon, they’re summoned north to Tithena’s capital city, Qi-Xihan, to present themselves to its monarch. 

With Caethari newly invested as his grandmother’s heir and Velasin’s old ghosts gnawing at his heels, what little peace they’ve managed to find is swiftly put to the test. Cae’s recent losses have left him racked with grief and guilt, while Vel struggles with the disconnect between instincts that have kept him safe in secrecy and what an open life requires of him now. 

Pursued by unknown assailants and with Qi-Xihan’s court factions jockeying for power, Vel and Cae must use all the skills at their disposal to not only survive, but thrive – because there’s more than one way to end an alliance, and more than one person who wants to see them fail. 

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (January 2024)

When you bring back a long-extinct species, there’s more to success than the DNA. Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again. The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth. Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold? And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back? A tense eco-thriller from a new master of the genre. 

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older (February 2024)

Investigator Mossa and Scholar Pleiti reunite to solve a brand-new mystery in the follow-up to the fan-favorite cozy space opera detective mystery The Mimicking of Known Successes that Hugo Award-winning author Charlie Jane Anders called ​“an utter triumph.”Mossa has returned to Valdegeld on a missing person’s case, for which she’ll once again need Pleiti’s insight. Seventeen students and staff members have disappeared from Valdegeld University — yet no one has noticed. The answers to this case could be found in the outer reaches of the Jovian system — Mossa’s home — and the history of Jupiter’s original settlements. But Pleiti’s faith in her life’s work as scholar of the past has grown precarious, and this new case threatens to further destabilize her dreams for humanity’s future, as well as her own. 

Epic of Helinthia by M. J. Pankey (October 2023)

When a madman seized the throne, the gods on Olympus fell silent, and the island of Helinthia withered into decay…Dargon is sure these events are no coincidence and convinces Kelric and Gadnor to join him in a rebellion against the king, hoping to incur favor with the gods and restore prosperity to their ravaged lands. Confident of their purpose, they embark on a journey to rally support for war, leaving Dargon’s sister Gonivein safe behind the walls of Shallinath. But the king’s spies have been watching, waiting for the right moment to strike and make them an example for their treasonous ideas. 

Turmoil follows their footsteps, and they’re confronted with the terrifying truth that not all who dwell on Olympus want the island to recover, and some will stop at nothing to ensure Helinthia spirals deeper into chaos. Just when all hope seems lost, one emerges with a dark secret that could bring peace to the island, but at what cost?Fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe and Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne will delight in this original epic fantasy as they are transported to a vivid world of myth and majesty, danger and deception, to experience the wrath of both gods and men. Imbued with the essence of Homer’s original epic, the Iliad, MJ Pankey’s gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines come alive in all of their flawed complexities to deliver a page-turning narrative that will keep readers on the edge of their seat ​’til the very end.

Red River Seven by A. J. Ryan (October 2023)

Seven strangers. One mission. Infinite horror. A man awakes on a boat at sea with no memory of who or where he is. He’s not alone — there are six others, each with a unique set of skills. None of them can remember their names. All of them possess a gun. When a message appears on the onboard computer — Proceeding to Point A — the group agrees to work together to survive whatever is coming. But as the boat moves through the mist-shrouded waters, divisions begin to form. Who is directing them and to what purpose? Why can’t they remember anything?And what are the screams they can hear beyond the mist?