James Nicoll Reviews

2024’s Magus of the Library, Volume Eight is the eighth tankōbon in Mitsu Izumi’s secondary-universe fantasy manga series (Toshokan no Daimajutsushi in the original Japanese). Magus has been serialized in Good! Afternoon since November 2017. The English translation of Volume Seven appeared in 2025.

Volume Eight begins with the heartening tale of how, when the continent was faced by an existential threat, the warring nations and their great magi united to defeat the threat. 

This is but a prelude to a crisis in which unity is very much absent, unsurprising as the inspirational tale related above is revealed to be a well-meant lie. 

Note: series protagonist Theo is present, but the plot is much less Theo-centric than in previous volumes.

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Renan Bernardo’s Disgraced Return of The Kap’s Needle is a collection of hard SF stories. All share a setting.

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Poul Anderson’s 1975 Homeward and Beyond collects nine science fiction stories.

This book was at one time one of my favourite Anderson collections. Alas, what motivates me to review this today are not those fond memories, but pure spite… spite not directed at Anderson.

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Nadia Afifi’s 2025 A Rebel’s History of Mars is an upcoming science fiction novel.

Orthodox Nabateans like Azad live happily constrained lives. Few choices burden them. Few find cause to complain… if only because those who do complain are efficiently whisked off to prison.

Azad’s cossetted life ends abruptly when a dying patient arrives at his workplace, Central Nabatean Hospital.

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Ann LeBlanc’s 2024 The Transitive Properties of Cheese is a stand-alone science fiction novella.

For almost twenty years, recluse Millions Wayland has focused on her beloved artisanal cheeses. This happy isolation is shattered by unhappy news: thanks to Wayland’s primary investor Miller, the asteroid Wayland uses to age her precious cheese has been diverted into the Sun.

Wayland is reluctant to confront Miller in person. Happily, Wayland does not have to, as Wayland is a mind running on a computer in a sophisticated robot body. Wayland duplicates her mind and emails the second Wayland to Lenaius Co-Op Station and Trans-Orbital Hub. The duplicate is to confront Miller and demand the asteroid’s orbit be restored. Having done all she could, Wayland returns to making cheese.

As for the second Wayland…

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2021’s After God, Volume One is the first tankōbon of Sumi Eno’s Japanese fantasy web manga series. After God (Afutā Goddo) has been serialized on Shogakukan’s digital manga services MangaONE and Ura Sunday since August 2021. The English translation was published in 2024.

Tokyo is just one of a number of Japanese¹ cities to enjoy the benefits of the Gods. Eye contact with a god delivers rapturous paralysis. Extended contact is usually fatal. Consequently, Tokyo is quarantined.

“Gods” is merely a slang term.

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John Brunner’s 1973 From This Day Forward is a collection of science fiction stories. Interior art is by Jack Gaughan.

The first thing¹ I noticed about this slender, 176-page collection is…

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Glen Cook’s 1972 The Heirs of Babylon is a stand-alone post-holocaust novel.

Two centuries earlier, Germany was reduced from one hundred million people to one hundred thousand. The survivors’ descendants are concentrated in the Baltic Littoral. Germany and the neighbouring nations were lucky. Some nations, such as China, were extirpated¹.

The Baltic Littoral’s people live hand-to-mouth. Little can be spared to rebuild. Blame the perfidious Australians.

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Mina Ikemoto Ghosh’s 2023 Numamushi is a stand-alone historical fantasy novella.

The great nameless snake calls the river home. When a badly burned baby human floats by, the snake’s first instinct is to put the infant out of its misery. Its second impulse, the one it acts upon, is to rescue the little human, treat its wounds, and raise it as the great white snake’s own child¹.

The snake names his foundling son Numamushi. Numamushi names the snake Father.

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2025’s The Witch Roads is the (just barely) upcoming first volume in Kate Elliott’s Witch Roads duology.

Deputy courier is a humble post. Its duties include spending two weeks of every month walking a circuit of towns and villages near Orledder Halt. Nevertheless, Elen is content with her life. She is quite aware that the Tranquil Empire and the world beyond offer far worse alternatives. After all, Elen and her late sister Aoving escaped two of those alternatives.

Elen’s comfortable life is swept away by two visitors.

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