Review -- Lady Mechanika No. 0 by Benitez & Steigerwald

For most of my life, comics have been looked down upon as something "nerds read." In my younger years, I admit that I held that opinion. As I got older, I learned to see comics as a way of adding a visual aspect to storytelling. Not every comic has to be about superheroes in ridiculous leotards. Hell there's even a category out there called "graphic novels" which are basically novels with well-crafted pictures to augment the narrative. So I went out on a limb and bought Issue 0 of a new steampunk comic called Lady Mechanika. This is a first for me. I've never reviewed a comic before, and I've never actually read a comic that wasn't collected in trade paperback form either.

Review -- Neuromancer by William Gibson

William Gibson's Neuromancer felt more like an experience than anything else. I'm not even sure what that sentence means. For me, it became one of those rare, strange pieces of literature where I can appreciate its artistic merit, but not actually enjoy it. Read on to see if I can even attempt to explain what I mean.

Review -- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

I know this book is over a year old, but I just have to talk about it. I can't help myself. With all the recent drama going on about steampunk's status as a literary subgenre or as an aesthetic movement, and the oversaturation of zombies in popular culture, some people may be wondering, "Is Boneshaker worth my time?" The answer is yes.

Review -- River of Gods by Ian McDonald

Ian McDonald’s River of Gods is a huge science fiction novel because of the scope of its plot and the number of characters in it. Of course the question is, is it worth your time? Well considering the number of awards it won and was nominated for, the answer is likely yes, though it may not be for everybody. Read on after the break to find out more.

Review -- The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan

The back cover blurb of Michael J. Sullivan's The Crown Conspiracy is what drew me in: "There is no ancient evil to defeat, no orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time." That sounds awesome. How many times has an epic fantasy novel been weighed down by the same tropes and clichés? More than I can count. So it was refreshing to see a book that promised to do away with those things. Was the back cover lying to me? Did it completely live up to its promise? Read on after the break to find out.

Review -- Iron Council by China Miéville

Iron Council by China Miéville is the third novel in the "Bas-Lag Trilogy." Trilogy is a little bit misleading however, because while Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council share a setting, they can be read independent of each other. All three novels share characteristics including grotesque imagrey and bizarre creatures, Iron Council is at once the most focused and the least focused of the three novels. However, I am going to call it the most cerebral. Read on to find out where I think the novel works brilliantly and where its shortcomings are.

Non-Review -- The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop

Note: This is something of a non-review, because I did not finish the entire trilogy. However, seeing how I got over 700 pages into the tome, I believe I've read enough to make my judgements not sound completely unfounded.

I've never felt so conflicted about a book, or series of book, before. The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop is an anomaly on my reading list. If I don't like a book, I will stop reading it, but I have a confession to make. I've stopped and restarted this trilogy twice. I don't understand these books at all, and I continued to read them in the hope

Review -- Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake

Note: This is an older review, but I thought it was a good place to start.


My expectations going into Jay Lake’s Trial of Flowers were extremely high. The front cover has a quote from Jeff VanderMeer, author of one of my favorite books City of Saints & Madmen. Awesome. The summary on the back cover compares this book to the likes of the aforementioned City of Saints & Madmen, one of my other all time favorite books, Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, and The Etched City (which sadly I haven’t read yet). Awesome yet again. Maybe my hopes were too high going into this? I don’t know. Let’s do a little examining.

First Post

Hello! I'm the Novel Hunter, and like my name implies, I hunt down novels and tell you what I think about them. Because my interests mainly lie in the genres of: science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction, my reviews will cover books in those genres. I might occasionally talk about other books I like that fall outside those genres.


I have some old reviews that I might post, but they are from over a year ago. Who knows, some people might enjoy them.


Happy hunting!


-The Novel Hunter