James Nicoll Reviews

After the Fall by Edward Ashton (February 2026)

Part alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, After The Fall by Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (inspiration for the film Mickey 17), asks an important question: would humans really make great pets?Humans must be silent. Humans must be obedient. Humans must be good. 

All his life, John has tried to live by those rules. Most days, it’s not too difficult. A hundred and twenty years after The Fall, and a hundred years after the grays swept in to pick the last dregs of humanity out of the wreckage of a ruined world, John has found himself bonded to Martok Barden nee Black Hand, one of the ​“good” grays. Sure, Martok is broke, homeless, and borderline manic, but he’s always treated John like an actual person, and sometimes like a friend. It’s a better deal than most humans get. 

But when Martok puts John’s bond up as collateral against an abandoned house in the woods that he hopes to turn into a wilderness retreat for wealthy grays, John learns that there are limits to Martok’s friendship. Soon he finds himself caught between an underworld boss who thinks Martok is something that he very much is not, a girl who was raised by feral humans and has nothing but contempt for pets like John, and Martok himself, whose delusions of grandeur seem to be finally catching up with him. Also, not for nothing, something in the woods has been killing people. 

John has sixty days before Martok’s loan comes due to unravel the mystery of how humans wound up holding the wrong end of the domestication stick and find a way to turn Martok’s half-baked plans into profit enough to buy back his life, all while avoiding getting butchered by feral humans or having his head crushed by an angry gray. Easy peasy, right? 

Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland (July 2025)

Some betrayals cut deeper than blades. The Blades were never supposed to survive this long. But after the battle in Quu Harbor, escaping is no longer enough. The most dangerous liars in the four realms have one last mission — return to Yusan and finish what they started. 

But now a usurper sits on the serpent throne. And he may be more dangerous than the god-king. 

With three relics of the Dragon Lord in their possession, the Blades will face the might of the four realms. Enemies will become allies. Allies will become traitors. And the ones they love most? They’ll be the ones to break them. 

Grief will carve the Blades into something ruthless and unrecognizable. But only by losing everything can they win this game of kings and crowns. 

Gemini by Jeffrey Kluger (November 2025)

From the bestselling author of Apollo 13 comes the thrilling untold story of the pioneering Gemini program that was instrumental in getting Americans on the moon.

Without Gemini, there would be no Apollo.

After we first launched Americans into space but before we touched down on the moon’s surface, there was the Gemini program. It was no easy jump from manned missions in space to a successful moon landing, and the ten-flight, twenty-month celestial story of the Gemini program is an extraordinary one. There was unavoidable darkness in the program — the deaths and near-deaths that defined it, and the blood feud with the Soviet Union that animated it.

But there were undeniable and previously inconceivable successes. With a war raging in Vietnam and lawmakers calling for cuts on NASA’s budget, the success of the Gemini program — or the space program in general — was never guaranteed. Yet against all odds, the remarkable scientists and astronauts behind the project persevered, and their efforts paid off. And later, with the knowledge gained from the Gemini flights, NASA would launch the legendary Apollo program.

Told with Jeffrey Kluger’s signature cinematic storytelling and in-depth research and interviews, Gemini is an edge-of-your-seat narrative chronicling the history of the least appreciated — and most groundbreaking — space program in American history. Finally, Gemini’s story will be told, and finally, we’ll learn the truth of how we landed on the moon. 

Cinder House by Freya Marske (October 2025)

Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske — a queer Gothic romance perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher.

Ella is a haunting.

Murdered at sixteen, her ghost is furiously trapped in her father’s house, invisible to everyone except her stepmother and stepsisters.

Even when she discovers how to untether herself from her prison, there are limits. She cannot be seen or heard by the living people who surround her. Her family must never learn she is able to leave. And at the stroke of every midnight, she finds herself back on the staircase where she died.

Until she forges a wary friendship with a fairy charm-seller, and makes a bargain for three nights of almost-living freedom. Freedom that means she can finally be seen. Danced with. Touched.

You think you know Ella’s story: the ball, the magical shoes, the handsome prince.

You’re halfway right, and all-the-way wrong. 

The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip (October 2025)

Patricia A. McKillip has been widely hailed as one of fantasy’s most significant authors. She was lauded as ​“rich and regal” (the New York Times), ​“enchanting” (the Washington Post), and ​“luminous” (Library Journal).

Within McKillip’s magical landscapes, a mermaid statue comes to life; princesses dance with dead suitors; a painting and a muse possess a youthful artist; seductive sea travelers enrapture distant lovers, a time-traveling angel endures religious madness; and an overachieving teenage mage discovers her own true name. 

The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed (September 2025)

After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracized within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle’s village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place — rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up — isn’t easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined.

This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse. 

Night Terror: A Bleak Haven Novel by Vincent Ralph (January 2026)

Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave…

The second nail-biting novel in the Bleak Haven series, in Vincent Ralph’s signature, terrifying style!

Who the hell holds up a bookstore? That’s what Noah asks when his favorite spot is suddenly targeted by masked attackers.

But these people don’t want a ransom. They are searching for Bleak Haven’s very own urban legend – The Burning Book.

When something with a thirst for flesh creeps from its pages, Noah must team up with the other hostages and try to escape the mall without turning their town into a bloodbath.