James Nicoll Reviews

Greg Van Eekhout’s 2021 Weird Kid is a stand-alone middle school science fiction novel.

Jake Wind is a student at Cedar Creek View’s¹ middle school. It’s his first day at middle school and it is going to be stressful. This is true for most of the new kids there but it’s extra-super-true for him. Like most kids his age, he’s experiencing unfamiliar physical changes. Unlike most kids, he is subject to transformations that are both rapid and extreme. Jake, you see, is a shape-shifting space monster from beyond the stars²!

Inadvertent shape-shifting aside, however, Jake is just a kid so it’s off to school for him.

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1999’s The Merlin of St. Gilles’ Well is the first volume in Ann Chamberlin’s Joan of Arc Tapestries series. 

Joan of Arc is a legendary figure; author Chamberlin has used her legend as a setting for a heroic fantasy. This story begins with a boy named Yann (by Bretons, Jean by the French) Le Dapier and his boyhood associate, Gilles de Rais.

The story begins with a violent incident in the woods.

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2020’s A Bride’s Story, Vol. 13 is the thirteenth tankōbon in Kaoru Mori’s historical manga, which is titled Otoyomegatari in the original Japanese. The English translation of this volume appeared in 2022.

Mr. Smith, his new wife Talas, guide Ali, and guard Nikolovsky retrace Smith and Ali’s earlier journey across Central Asia in reverse. Old friends await, as do untoward developments.

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1993’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection is the tenth volume in Gardner Dozois’ annual anthologies of noteworthy science fiction¹.

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Destinies, April-June 1979 was the third issue in the first volume of Destinies, the ​“paperback magazine of science fiction and speculative fact¹.”

As previously established, Destinies is a long-defunct magazine for which I have memories both fond and spotty. Those two characteristics may be linked. This is one of the issues for which I have no particular memories on looking at the cover. Enticement to look inside!

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Monstress, Volume 7: Devourer is the seventh volume in Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s ongoing secondary-universe cosmic-horror fantasy graphic novel series. Volume 7 collects Monstress issues 36 to 41.

The ongoing war between humans and Ancient-descended Arcanics has provided the humans with ample opportunity to show just how despicable humans can be. Now there’s an equal opportunity for the semi-divine Ancients to prove that they too are complete monsters to their own descendants.

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Electric Light Orchestra​’s 1981 Time is a science fiction concept album. To quote Wikipedia, ​“a concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually.” 

In the case of Time, that concept is time travel, or rather its impact on a person from the year 1981, as imagined by creator Jeff Lynne. 

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2017’s Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 5 is the fifth tankōbon for Ryoko Kui’s secondary universe comedic ecological fantasy manga. Originally published as Danjon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon appears in Enterbrain’s Harta. Volume 5 was translated into English in 2018.

Despite the long odds against success, Laios and his companions (half-elf mage Marcille, halfling security expert Chilchuck, and dwarf fighter Senshi) tracked down and defeated the red dragon that ate Laios’ sister Falin. Having retrieved the bits of Falin as yet undigested, Marcille has resurrected Falin. Victory all round, which may lead some readers to wonder why the series did not end with volume 4, rather than continuing for at least eight more volumes.

As Laios and company discover, there are some unforeseen complications.

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1989’s The Gate of Ivory is the first volume in Doris Egan’s cozy science fantasy, the Gate of Ivory trilogy. Rather unexpectedly, the trilogy consists of exactly three books. 

The human inhabitants of the planet Ivory are famous for their amusing delusion that magic works on Ivory. The chance to visit exotic Ivory was too enticing for cultural anthropologist Theodora (Theo) to pass up … although Theo might have been better off if she had turned it down.

Having been rolled by a cunning Ivoran, Theo missed her ship off Ivory. The Athenan ambassador declined to help an ID-less Theo. Having no other option, Theo has spent the two years since her failed flight making a meagre living reading Tarot cards. She is saving her pennies in the hope that one day she will be able to afford the small fortune required to return to Athena and her academic life. 

Ivory aristocrat Ran Cormallon has a use for a woman without friends, family, or wealth.

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1981’s Federation is a collection of novellas and novelettes set in H. Beam Piper’s star-spanning Federation[i].

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