15 Sep, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
Jade Song’s 2023 Chlorine is a stand-alone coming-of-age novel.
Ren Yu has a singular talent: swimming. All she needs is an abusive, domineering coach like Jim to invest years into brutally reshaping her as the athlete she could be. What could go wrong?
8 Sep, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
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Sons of Darkness is the first volume in Gourav Mohanty’s The Raag of Rta epic historical fantasy series.
Muchuk Und is a hero, which as he would say is “an honour bestowed upon you when you had killed all those who would have called you a mass murderer.” Employed by the Daevas1 to smite their enemies, Muchuk performed, if not admirably, then effectively. Having served, he expects to be paid before returning to the human realm a nigh-demigod.
The Daevas withheld one or two details of their arrangement. The first is that while Muchuk has spent ten years serving his masters, a hundred years passed in the mortal world. The second is that the Daevas have no intention of letting their bloodthirsty servant run amok on Earth. An irate Muchuk is cast into sleep everlasting. Or almost everlasting.
Twenty thousand years later.…
1 Sep, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
Anya Ow’s 2016 The Firebird’s Tale is a stand-alone Russian-themed fantasy novel.
Having decreed that grim-faced Tsarevich Aleksei would marry the first person to make him smile, the Tsar proves a man of his word. Aleksei’s poorly timed smirk earns him betrothal … to Nazar, the man Aleksei saw picking the Tsar’s pocket.
There is more to Nazar than Aleksei perceives. Indeed, there is more to almost everything than Aleksei perceives.
25 Aug, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
Nisi Shawl’s 2019 Talk Like a Man Plus Women of the Doll Plus an Awfully Big Adventure and Much More is a collection of speculative fiction.
18 Aug, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
The Everlasting Road is the second volume in Wab Kinew’s Floraverse young adult fantasy. The first volume is reviewed here.
Anishinaabe teen Bagonegiizhigok “Bugz” Holiday has vanquished her Clan:LESS rivals, but has not been able to restore her position (and income from said position) in the online Floraverse. Personal tragedy has distracted her: her brother has recently died of cancer.
Bugz has come up with a bold coping mechanism for grief. It is one a certain Doctor Frankenstein would recognize.
11 Aug, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
2023’s Octavia E. Butler: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations is a collection of interviews by various interviewers with the late author Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006). Octavia E. Butler: The Last Interview is part of Melville House’s Last Interview series. The collection includes an introduction by Samuel R. Delany.
4 Aug, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
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Deena Mohamed’s 2022 Shubeik Lubeik is a stand-alone modern-fantasy graphic novel.
Cairo kiosk-owner Shokry sells papers and cigarettes to passers-by. Recently, Shokry has added some new offerings: three first-class wishes.
First-class wishes are expensive, not something one would expect to purchase from a news agent. Surely, this is some sort of confidence game. However, Shokry is as honest as he is pious. The wishes are very much real. Of course, there is a catch. Several catches.
28 Jul, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
S. L. Huang’s 2023 The Water Outlaws is a fantasy reimagining of the classic Chinese novel, The Water Margin.
Lin Chong is a Master Arms Instructor for the Guard. One of very few women to be deemed sufficiently talented that she could teach despite her lamentable choice of gender, she has served the (Northern) Song Dynasty loyally.
She will be repaid very badly for her service.
24 Jul, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
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2023’s Abeni’s Song is the first volume in P. Djèlí Clark’s Abeni’s Song fantasy series.
Young Abeni’s village lies deep in the forest. News about the outside world is intermittent and as far as the villagers are concerned, irrelevant. Disturbing dreams and warnings from the local wise woman can therefore be ignored.
They are wrong. Their next Harvest Festival will be the last.
14 Jul, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
Moniquill Blackgoose’s 2023 To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is The First Book of Nampeshiweisit.
The author has imagined a world in which dragon-riding Norse thrived at the expense of other cultures. Every land had its dragons, but so far as the Masquapaug islanders know, their dragons, the Nampeshiwe, died out centuries ago. Anequs’ encounter with a broody Nampeshiwe and her decision to collect the egg it leaves behind transforms the girl’s life and quite possibly dooms her people.