James Nicoll Reviews

Extremity by Nicholas Binge (September 2025)

A time-traveling, end-of-the-world police procedural, Extremity is True Detective if written by Philip K. Dick. 

When once-renowned police detective Julia Torgrimsen is brought out of forced retirement to investigate the murder of Bruno Donaldson, a billionaire she worked with whilst undercover, she doesn’t expect to find two bodies. Both are Bruno — identical down to the fingerprints — and both have been shot. 

As the investigation sucks her back into the macabre world of London’s rich elite, she finds herself on the hunt for a mysterious assassin who has been taking out the wealthy one by one. But when she finally catches up with her quarry, she unveils an entire world of secrets: impossible documents about future stock market crashes, photographs of dead clones, and a clandestine time-travelling conspiracy so insidious it might just mean the extinction of the entire human race. 

If Julia is to have any chance of preventing this terrible future, she’ll have to revisit her own past, the terrible choices she made undercover, and the brutal act that destroyed her once legendary career.

Haze by Katharine Kerr (August 2025)

Three thousand years in the future, a starship pilot battling addiction becomes the unexpected key to unraveling a mystery that threatens the very foundation of space travel.

In the tradition of Kim Stanley Robinson’s deeply researched science fiction and Lois McMaster Bujold’s thrilling space opera adventures, Haze transports readers to a multi-alien society governed by the Rim Council, a loose republic of planets protected by the formidable military force known simply as The Fleet. Interstellar civilization hinges on the use of hyperspace ​“shunts” for travel, but alarming rumors suggest that this crucial system is under threat.

In response, The Fleet deploys a reconnaissance team from its Special Ops branch to investigate. This team includes a washed-up, drug-dependent star pilot with a talent for finding hidden paths in hyperspace, an AI wrangler with an extensive network of artificial intelligences, a soldier gifted in detecting patterns in time and space, an alien gunner with impeccable aim, and a steadfast female captain who keeps them all in line. Together, this motley crew of space misfits discovers far more than they bargained for, uncovering secrets that could shake their society to its core.

Haze is a character-driven novel featuring a diverse cast of POC and alien characters, set in a future where humanity embraces bisexuality and polyamory, adding layers of complexity to an already captivating narrative. 

Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry (May 2025)

If you’re not terrified, you’re doing it wrong.

Long ago, the gods unleashed monsters upon the five kingdoms of Calandra to remind us that humans are insignificant — that we must pray to the gods for mercy throughout our fragile, fleeting lives. 

I didn’t need a deity to remind me I was powerless. Being a princess had never been more than a performance — twenty-three years of empty titles and hollow traditions. My sister revels in the spectacle, basking in the attention and flawlessly playing her part. I was never asked to be part of the charade. 

Until the day an infamous monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince walked into my father’s throne room and ruined my life. The day I married a stranger, signed a magical treaty in blood, and set off across the continent to the most treacherous kingdom in all the realm. 

That was the day I learned that not all myths are make-believe. That lies and legends are often the same. And that the only way to kill the monsters we fear was to become one… 

Point of Hearts by Melissa Scott (March 2025)

Secrets and danger stalk the streets of Astreiant…

Point of Hearts, Astreiant’s pleasure district, is being disrupted by an influx of scheming nobles who have descended upon the city for an aristocratic wedding. Mysterious carts smuggling something unknown through the night time streets and civil unrest are creating suspicion and turmoil. Adjunct Point Nicolas Rathe and his lover, Philip Eslingen, captain in the City Guard, are keeping an eye on an aristocrat under self-imposed house arrest when Rathe is injured during a riot. Pursued by false accusations, Eslingen takes him on the run to Point of Knives while they try to unravel a plot against the queen and her government that could destroy the city they love. Can they count on alliances from their pasts to keep them safe long enough to solve the mystery? 

Minds in Transit by Joan Slonczewski (July 2025)

An artist’s brain rules a team of a million microbial minds – from the Campbell Award winning author of A Door into Ocean. 

In the hundred-level city of Iridis, human lords recycle diamonds and emeralds down to the Underworld while sentient machines pilot lightcraft and perform surgeries. Microbial minds expand the brains of scientists and artists. The artist Chrys directs her microbes to paint startling installations, design smart buildings and fix quantum networks. A world-size virtual intelligence called Transit commissions Chrys to create a whole new city on another planet. But unexpected flaws fracture her designs. Microbial criminal gangs invade Chrys’s brain to kill off her own micros and take control. In Iridis, the roots of buildings grow cancers that escape the Underworld and cause earthquakes. Outlawed machines shake down shops and kidnap human lords for ransom. The city’s rulers ignore the signs of collapse, then face a new threat that no mind foresaw. 

Atlas of Unknowable Things by McCormick Templeman (October 2025)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets Modern Gothic in this smart and upmarket horror novel.

THE ATLAS OF UNKNOWABLE THINGS begins when a young college professor writing on the occult joins an isolated research think-tank on a sprawling estate high in the Rocky Mountains. Her colleagues are a group of stand-offish fellows and the estate full of references to the occult. She slowly becomes plagued by nightmares and bouts of sleeping walking when she discovers a previous attendee had mysteriously disappeared — who seems to be leaving her clues on the true purpose for the research center.

As she delves deeper into the mystery the more she becomes confused and questions reality. It’s only after she discovers her personal connection to the facility, and the real reason why the former researcher left, that the true monstrous horror of the research center is unleashed…literally.

Powerless by Harry Turtledove (July 2025)

When does silent compliance with an oppressive regime become unbearable? For Charlie Simpkins, the manager of a small vegetable shop in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, part of the West Coast People’s Democratic Republic, the breaking point comes when he is asked to display a meaningless propaganda poster in his shop window. 

It is a seemingly insignificant act in a lifetime of obedience. But Charlie just can’t bring himself to doing it. This minor act of defiance, however, show too much independent thinking on Charlie’s part, setting off a chain of escalating consequences for Charlie and his wife and two children. 

Powerless is a haunting dystopian tale of how even the smallest act of defiance can spiral into disaster in a society that demands total conformity. It serves as a chilling reminder of how easily standing up for one’s principles can lead to crushing consequences, erringly echoing the challenges we face today for speaking our truth, even in societies that claim to uphold freedom. 

The novel is inspired by the historical model of Alexander Dubcek’s ​“socialism with a human face” in 1968 Czechoslovakia, though a few echoes of Ukraine as well. It poignantly illustrates Charlie’s increasing disillusionment and the toll that living under such a regime takes on him and his loved ones. In his search for like-minded individuals who share his dissatisfaction, Charlie’s actions become more deliberate and dangerous, symbolizing the quiet acts of defiance that signify hope and resistance in a world where the powerful seek to crush any form of dissent. 

Queen Demon by Martha Wells (October 2025)

From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes the remarkable sequel to the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling novel, Witch King. A fantasy of epic scope, Queen Demon is a story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose. 

Dahin believes he has clues to the location of the Hierarchs’ Well, and the Witch King Kai, along with his companions Ziede and Tahren, knowing there’s something he isn’t telling them, travel with him to the rebuilt university of Ancartre, which may be dangerously close to finding the Well itself. 

Can Kai stop the rise of a new Hierarch?And can he trust his companions to do what’s right?Follow Kai to the end of the world in this thrilling sequel to the USA Today-bestselling Witch King.