James Nicoll Reviews

Makana Yamamoto’s 2025 Hammajang Luck is a (thus far¹) stand-alone science fiction heist novel².

Former aspiring criminal Edie has spent eight long years in Kepler System Penitentiary contemplating what happens when you trust the wrong person. Unexpectedly paroled, Edie soon discovers that time invested considering misplaced trust was time well-spent… but perhaps not as useful as one might expect in charting Edie’s post-prison life.

Angel and Edie used to be as close as siblings, but when Angel had to choose between prison time or flipping on Edie, Angel chose to betray Edie. That makes Angel’s current offer of a job a bold choice on Angel’s part.

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David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021’s The Dawn of Everything is, as its subtitle proclaims, a non-fiction book presenting A New History of Humanity. Although really, what they offer is a new interpretation of history. Which would not be as snappy a subtitle.

There is a standard version of the progression of technology and civilization that many of us learned in school: a long uncharted stone age of wandering tribes leading simple, boring, uniform lives, the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of towns and cities, the creation of centralized states, and finally after some fuss, Canada. Whether or not all that was good is open to debate, but there is a certain degree of inevitability about it all. A leads to B leads to C and so on, each stage bringing additional complexity and challenges.

It would be disturbing if the facts did not to line up nicely with the model. Graeber and Wengrow suggest that they don’t.

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2016’s Ansuz is the first volume in Malene Sølvsten’s Whisper of the Ravens teen contemporary fantasy series. The 2023 English translation is by Adrienne Alair.

Black-haired Danish teen Anna Sakarias’ life thus far has been less than ideal. Abandoned by her parents as a baby, Anna has been handed from foster-parent to foster-parent, finally ending up living on her own under the watchful eye of caseworker Greta. Although she saved one set of fosters from a fire, she was then blamed for the fire. When she defended herself from the local bully, Anna was the one who faced charges. If the preceding were not bad enough, Anna dreams of terrible murders.

Now Anna’s life will be utterly transformed… but not for the better.

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Walter Jon Williams’ 1985 Knight Moves is a stand-alone¹ science fiction novel.

Eight centuries ago, Doran Falkner saved the world. Falkner Power Systems provided abundant power, which (as science advanced) could be used to build nuclear dampers and relativistic star drives. Thus, the energy crisis, the threat of nuclear war, and access to the rest of the universe, all solved all thanks to one man.

Prudent investment allowed Falkner to deliver another miracle to the world: vastly extended life. This came with a steep price-tag: any would-be immortal would have to surrender their terrestrial real estate to Doran Falkner and move to another star system.

Today, Doran is the proud owner of most of the Earth and very large, very dirty secret.

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“Breakaway” was the debut episode of the first season of the science fiction television show, Space 1999. Directed by Lee H. Katzin and written by George Bellak, ​“Breakaway” aired 4 September 1975.

John Koenig (played by Martin Landau) is dispatched by the World Space Commission to Moonbase Alpha to ensure that the upcoming Meta probe is launched on schedule. The rogue planet Meta will not be in reach of terrestrial spacecraft for long, and certain telemetry signals demand investigation.

The impediment Koenig has sent to resolve is a viral outbreak. As he will soon discover, the problems plaguing the Meta program are far more serious than a simple disease outbreak.

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2023’s The Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery is the seventh volume in Ovidia Yu’s Crown Colony mystery series.

Imperial Japan has been crushed. Singapore has been liberated from the rapacious Japanese. Those who survived occupation begin to rebuild their lives. Su Lin’s friend Parshanti plans marriage despite qualms¹. Su Lin’s Chen clan adapts to new business realities. As for Su Lin, the future is less clear.

Japan’s defeat only changed the identity of Singapore’s colonial masters, not the fact of colonial rule. The British have returned.

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Robert Swindells’ 1984 Brother in the Land is a stand-alone post-apocalypse novel.

Caught in a sudden downpour, teenager Danny Lodge takes shelter in a convenient World War Two-era bunker. Not only does this protect Danny from the rain, it protects him from the Soviet nuclear warhead that detonates in nearby Branford.

Well, the bunker protects Danny from the immediate effects.

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2024’s Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 13 is the thirteenth tankōbon of Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier fantasy manga series. Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Bōshi no Atelier in the original Japanese) has been serialized in Kodansha’s Monthly Morning Two magazine since July 2016. The English translation of Volume 12 first appeared in 2025.

Imprisoned and stripped of his rank for misusing magic, cunning old Engendale orchestrated his escape by unleashing a vast, blood-sucking monster to distract his jailors while he fled. This very nearly perfect plan would have succeeded, were it not for plucky young Coco and her mentor, Qifrey.

Intercepting and confronting the old reprobate is easy enough. Surviving the encounter is another matter.

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2006’s Empire is the first volume in Orson Scott Card’s Empire series.

America! The greatest nation to have ever existed, with the greatest president ever. Not that you’d know that if you listened to unpatriotic liberals or ungrateful latte-sipping French intellectuals, all of whom would have been speaking German or maybe Russian if it weren’t for America.

Having served bravely in The War on Terror, TWOT-warrior Reuben Malek is reassigned to stateside duty in the Pentagon. There Malek will face new challenges, not least of which is workplace friction.

Oh, and also the Second American Civil War. That’s important, too.

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1977’s Some Summer Lands is either the fourth or the fifth book in Jane Gaskell’s Atlan series^1. Either way, Some Summer Lands is the final book in the series².

Cija! As alluring as Helen of Troy, innocent and ignorant, she is fated to be her kingdom’s doom. So far in this series, doom hasn’t arrived.

At least not until this volume.

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