James Nicoll Reviews

The Fallen by Ada Hoffman

From the immersive and intoxicating world of The Outside , comes the exhilarating sequel *from Philip K Dick and Compton Crook Award-nominated author, Ada Hoffmann.* 

The laws of physics acting on the planet of Jai have been forever upended; its surface completely altered, and its inhabitants permanently changed, causing chaos. Fearing heresy, the artificially intelligent Gods that once ruled the galaxy became the planet’s jailers.

Tiv Hunt, who once trusted these Gods completely, spends her days helping the last remaining survivors of Jai. Everyone is fighting for their freedom and they call out for drastic action from their saviour, Tiv’s girlfriend Yasira. But Yasira has become deeply ill, debilitated by her Outside exposure, and is barely able to breathe, let alone lead a revolution.

Hunted by the Gods and Akavi, the disgraced angel, Yasira and Tiv must delve further than ever before into the maddening mysteries of their fractured planet in order to save – or perhaps even destroy – their fading world. 

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

From TJ Klune, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, comes Under the Whispering Door, a new contemporary fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with.When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead. Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over. But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life. When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, this absorbing tale of grief and hope is told with TJ Klune’s signature warmth, humor, and extraordinary empathy. 

The Peculiarities by David Liss

“David Liss masterfully blends rich historical fiction with terrifying supernatural body horror. He stands with Robert Louis Stevenson and Bram Stoker. Highly recommended.” – Jonathan Maberry, author of V‑Wars and Ink From popular historical fiction author David Liss (A Conspiracy of Paper) comes the tale of a clueless young man embroiled in a deadly supernatural mystery in London. Rooted in strange conspiracies and secret societies, this absurdist comedic romp combines strange bedfellows with murderous creatures, resulting in an unexpectedly delightful consequences. All of his life, Thomas Thresher has been free of obligation and responsibility, but that is over now. He is a twenty-three-year-old man whose best days are behind him. Thomas’s older brother Walter has trapped him in a tedious clerical job at the family bank in London, and Thomas is expected to wed a wealthy young woman in whom he has no interest. But Thomas has more serious problems than those of a disaffected young man. There are irregularities at the bank he cannot explain. His childhood friend has mysteriously turned up dead. Worse, a verdant skin malady has infected him: leaves have begun sprouting on his skin. Thomas must conclude that it is due to the long-rumored Peculiarities. London’s famous grey fog has been concealing a rash of unnatural afflictions – and worse, the murderous Elegants. As Thomas grows leafier, the conspiracies surrounding him become more apparent. He cannot determine whom to trust: his own family; his banking co-workers and superiors; the beautiful widow of his companion; the woman he is to marry. Or perhaps a lycanthropic medium; the members of a secret occult society…or even Aleister Crowley. 

Dr. Marvellus Djinn’s Odd Scholars by B. Sharise Moore

The year: 1920

When famed magician, Dr. Marvellus Djinn, selects a motley crew of talented teens to tour her theme park of magic and mythological creatures, all are elated for the opportunity.

Once they arrive, the odd scholars realize Dr. Djinn is more than just a wealthy magician eager to provide Colored folks with an escape from Jim Crow. From cotton candy teleportation to haunted obelisks and swallowing monsters, The Motherland packs a thrilling, and dangerous, punch. 

Volk: A Novel of Radiant Abomination by David Nickle

The sequel to Eutopia is ​“a nailbiter … that is spooky as hell, a critical and sharp demolition of Lovecraft’s own romanticization of eugenics” (Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing).

In Eutopia , an orphaned farm boy and a black physician came face to face with monsters both human — American eugenicists — and inhuman — a parasite called the Juke. Volk is ​“another dive into the horrific … a dazzling horror novel that’s unafraid to ask questions and leave some of them unanswered” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review).
At the dawn of the twentieth century, Dr. Andrew Waggoner and Jason Thistledown made it out of the Idaho town of Eliada alive — but so did the Juke …

Now, in 1931 Europe, there are those who seek to resurrect the philosophy of the founders of Eliada. Deep in the Bavarian mountains, research has begun on the creature whose seductive poison can be used in the Nazis’ quest for a master race.

Still struggling with the aftershocks of their encounters with the Juke, Dr. Waggoner has become the head of a secret society in Paris dedicated to the monster’s destruction, while Thistledown is a veteran World War I pilot. Drawn back together to fight the evil that is brewing, they will be forced to confront the diabolical plans of those who will stop at nothing to reshape humanity — and the one being capable of destroying it completely …

Some Faraway Place: A Bright Sessions Novel by Lauren Shippen

Some Faraway Place , the third Bright Sessions novel from creator Lauren Shippen, features Rose, who has her humdrum life flipped upside down when she starts to travel into dreams. 

Rose Atkinson’s mother can see the future. Her father can move things he doesn’t touch. Her brother Aaron can read minds. And Rose, well, she makes a mean spaghetti bolognese. 

Everyone else in her family is Atypical, which means they manifested an ability that defies the limits of the human experience. At nineteen, well past the average age of manifestation, Rose is stuck defending her decision not to go to college and instead working in the kitchen of a local restaurant, hoping to gain the experience she needs to become a chef. 

When a rollerblading accident sends her to the hospital, she meets a girl she can’t forget and she starts to feel like maybe her life isn’t quite so small. But when she starts falling asleep mid-conversation, she thinks, then again maybe I’m doomed to never have good things.

Rose should be happy to learn that she’s Atypical after all―that diving into dreams makes her a part of her family in the way she always wanted. But the more time she spends in the dreamworld, the more complicated her ability becomes. Trying to balance her work, her power, and a girlfriend who doesn’t know about Atypicals, Rose seeks help. But she soon discovers that being Atypical comes with dangers she never could have imagined. Even her carefully constructed dreamworld isn’t safe. 

This is the story of Atypical Rose, who discovers that your dreams coming true isn’t always a good thing.

The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey by Shawn Speakman

“It’s a perfect post-apocalyptic mech-filled SF adventure―like Pierce Brown’s Red Rising meets Robotech.“ ―Aidan Moher 

Forever shamed for family actions a century earlier, Antiquity Grey is a young woman living in a far-future city of Erth. It is a life of danger and hardship, dragons and advanced technology. But when she discovers an outlawed and operational mech buried in the sands of her planet, she realizes its secrets hold the power to reverse her family’s dishonor while challenging the Imperium’s off-world oppressive might. The Imperium is not so willing to loosen its grip, needing Erth’s valuable titanium resources at a time when war spreads among the stars. In response, the Governor of Erth sends Star Sentinel―his mightiest mech, which nothing can stand against―after Antiquity. As she flees into the wilderness in a desperate attempt to uncover the secrets of her past and free an entire planet, Antiquity learns friendship can mean more than family, even the hardest heart of an enemy can soften, and adventure is not what she thought it would be.

Wendy, Darling by A. C. Wise

Find the second star from the right, and fly straight on ​’til morning, all the way to Neverland, a children’s paradise with no rules, no adults, only endless adventure and enchanted forests – all led by the charismatic boy who will never grow old.

But Wendy Darling grew up. She has a husband and a young daughter called Jane, a life in London. But one night, after all these years, Peter Pan returns. Wendy finds him outside her daughter’s window, looking to claim a new mother for his Lost Boys. But instead of Wendy, he takes Jane.

Now a grown woman, a mother, a patient and a survivor, Wendy must follow Peter back to Neverland to rescue her daughter and finally face the darkness at the heart of the island…