Reviews and Comments

We learn more about post incident Poughkeepsie and the mysterious Spill Zone. Has the Spill been contained?

Steven Brust writes an excellent urban fantasy that asks: Are we the good guys?

Excellent, well developed characters in an engaging "huh, this kind of magic could be real" plot.

Good introduction to Brust if you've never read his writing. (Note that lots of his other writing is high fantasy with some scifi.) If, like me, you already like/love everything you've read by Brust then this should be something you enjoy.

A very engaging book on moral philosophy which makes a potentially difficulty topic interesting and fun to learn about. As noted in the introduction, the focus is on "western" moral philosophy just to limit the scope to a reasonable size.

Another really great juvenile/middle grade graphic novel that my daughter suggested I read. A nice story of how Aster works to be himself, makes a great friend along the way and shows his family that sometimes rules are wrong and need to change.

My daughter recommended this great story with excellent artwork. I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

Interesting, speculative shot fiction about Marie Curie's teenage years. Based upon known historical records of her youth in Poland under Russian occupation but with liberties taken for story telling.

A wonderful story interwoven with some very appropriate, not-so-gentle points about gender preconceptions.

A dying wizard unintentionally passes on his wizardness to 8th daughter of an 8th son (he thought it was an 8th son). As she grows lots of preconceptions about gender roles are examined, challenged and discarded.

Lore (and even law) can and should change as we all grow and learn together.

A great line: I can see you've been getting ideas below your station. - Granny Weatherwax to Eskarina when she forgot herself and blindly accepted there were ~any~ places she didn't belong because she wasn't a man.

This was a good continuation of The Final Architecture series. But as others have mentioned nothing really stuck or stood out as excellent like the first book. I still look forward to the third book to see where the story leads.

Start with a single planet orbiting a white dwarf star nicknamed the OnOff star because it is consistently dormant 215 out of every 250 years. Add in a sentient species that survives on the planet. Finally toss in two competing, space faring groups of humans come to investigate. Mix well and enjoy the result!

Interesting science fiction short stories blending elements of Japanese folklore, belonging and human value. Lots of twists and surprises along the way.

An excellent entry in the Laundry Files series. The tone and genre are a bit different for Charles Stross as a classic Romance, but there is still plenty of eldritch horror to go around.

A good collection of short stories exploring interesting ideas.

Interesting story about space nones (nuns) and corporate corruption.

An excellent story and premise.

Content warning: torture