Low Town Review

Daniel Polansky's debut novel Low Town tells the story of the Warden, a former officer of the law turned drug dealer, as he struggles to chase down a child murderer: "The Warden will follow a trail of violence and rumor from the broken-down streets to the gated communities of the rich and powerful [...] but the truth is far darker than he imagines." That's from the back cover which also goes on to say that Polansky is a "fresh voice in the tradition of George R.R. Martin." I can't say I agree with that. For all intents and purposes, Low Town is a novel that goes through the motions, checks the right boxes, but ultimately fails to make a huge impact.

Cursed Review

How do you define Jeremy C. Shipp's Cursed? Is it supernatural horror? A thriller? I don't really know, but I do know one thing: it's delightfully weird. Cursed tells the story of Nick, a recovering alcoholic with severe abandonment issues and self-destructive tendencies. Oh yeah, he also gets slapped in the face once a day like clockwork. Read on for the full review.

Fuzzy Nation Review

I knew John Scalzi was an author I would want to keep track of the minute I finished Old Man's War and its follow up The Ghost Brigades. So imagine my surprise and delight when I found an ARC of Fuzzy Nation sitting on Saturday. Fuzzy Nation is a 2011 reimagining of an older novel, Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper.

I was a little hesitant when I first heard about this project. It looked like Scalzi was trading writing about genetically enhanced super soldiers for cute little critters. So did the high cuteness levels hurt my enjoyment of the novel? Absolutely not. Fuzzy Nation is an engrossing read that made me stay up until 3:00 am to finish it. Read on for the rest of my thoughts about Scalzi's latest winner.

The Company Man Review

I received a copy of Robert Jackson Bennett's The Company Man on April 16th and I finished it around 2:30 AM last night. That should tell you something about how good it is. Even though it's set in 1919 and 1920, the city of Evesden strongly reminded me of the underwater dystopia of Rapture from the video game Bioshock. Read on to hear more about this noir thriller with a sci-fi flair.

Imago Chronicles Book One: A Warrior's Tale Non-Review

I'm back again with a non-review. I don't like writing these, but sometimes they're a necessity. This time it's L.T. Suzuki's Imago Chronicles Book One: A Warrior's Tale. Like all my other non-reviews, I'll preface this by saying I wasn't able to finish the book. The characters failed to grab me and I couldn't ignore the editing errors. Read on to find out more about why I couldn't finish A Warrior's Tale.

Mr. Shivers Review

I find it hard to believe that Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett is a debut novel. It's too good. While there are some bits that are rough around the edges, the book is damn good. I finished Mr. Shivers in two days. I haven't done that in a long time. Read on to hear my thoughts about the mysterious and murderous Mr. Shivers.

mpStation_4 Non-Review

Let me say right off the bat that this is going to be a non-review. I couldn't finish mpStation_4 by Thadd Evans. Here's my impressions of what I did read and why I had to stop.

Fraterfamilias Review

"Templar knights, shamanism, Russian mobsters, and immortality." Those are the things Fraterfamilias by Judith Doloughan and Paula R. Stiles promises. Sadly, the book only delivers on one and a half of them. Fraterfamilias tells the story of two seemingly immortal brothers--Paul Michel Farrell aka Pavya and Alan Kedward aka Alain aka Alexei Bakunin aka Ayanke--and their story...No really that's about it. The biggest problem I had with Fraterfamilias is that it is almost 100% set up for a sequel. Read on for more.

Queen of Candesce Review

Note: I'm attempting a new way of titling these posts. Just letting you all know.


I know that Queen of Candesce is a couple of years old, but I just finished rereading it, and I wanted to post my review. Who knows? You might discover something new.

Karl Schroeder's Queen of Candesce picks up practically where the first novel in the series, Sun of Suns, left off. Venera Fanning and Hayden Griffin were falling through the air near Candesce, Virga's "sun of suns." Queen of Candesce follows Venera Fanning after she abandons Hayden and finds herself on the strange, ancient, cylindrical nation of Spyre.

Does the change in protagonist and location help or hinder Queen of Candesce? Can Venera make a convincing protagonist, especially considering how off-putting some readers might have found her in Sun of Suns? Read on to find out.

Review -- McCambrie's Army by Kalifer Deil

Lately I've felt like I've been reading a lot of fantasy novels and novels belonging to fantasy's many subgenres. But lately, I've been yearning for some good sci-fi, preferably space opera. Maybe my craving started when I saw the announcement that the full series of Firefly is going to be shown on the Science Channel starting March 6.


Whatever the reason is, I was thrilled when author Kalifer Deil approached me on Twitter to tell me about his sci-fi/space opera novella McCambrie's Army. Not one to pass up reading sci-fi by an indie author, I downloaded the e-book. Did McCambrie's Army satisfy my space opera craving? Read on to find out.

Review -- City of Dreams & Nightmare by Ian Whates

I just finished the highly recommended City of Dreams & Nightmare by Ian Whates. For the longest time I kept wanting to call it City of Dreams & Nightmares (plural). Sadly, I'm conflicted about this book. Reading it created such a strange mixture of joy and tedium. City of Dreams & Nightmare is one of those weird class of books where the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts. Read on to find out what I mean.

Review -- World's End: Book one of the Age of Misrule Trilogy by Mark Chadbourn

World's End by Mark Chadbourn promised to be a high energy, dark fantasy novel about what would happen if ancient Celtic gods suddenly returned to our world. It only delivered on half of that promise. While there are plenty of references to Celtic mythology and folklore, they weren't enough to carry this novel. It's funny because the mythological references felt as "alien and unknowable to me" as the gods did to the main characters. Read on to hear why this book failed to hold my interest despite the praise surrounding it.

Review -- Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

I almost didn't read Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. I read his First Law Trilogy in the past, and I wasn't terribly enamored with The Blade Itself or Before They Are Hanged. I was wary when I saw that Best Served Cold was a standalone novel set in the same universe as the trilogy. However the blurb and the glowing reviews on the back cover changed my mind. Does Abercrombie's latest dark, gritty fantasy novel about a mercenary leader seeking revenge work? Read on for the rest of the review.

Review -- Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell

This might not be the most timely review, considering that Tobias S. Buckell's debut novel, Crystal Rain, originally came out in hardcover in 2006. But that's how my site works. I read the books I want to read, and then I review them. Crystal Rain has been on my wishlist for a while mostly because according to its Wikipedia page it's a "Caribbean steampunk novel." Now that I've finished the novel, I can say that that descriptor is only half accurate. Read on to find out what other genres Cyrstal Rain dabbles with.

Review -- Past Continuous by Tony Bayliss

Past Continuous was inspired by the suicide of the author's [Tony Bayliss'] son. That's the first sentence on the back cover of the book. But the summary ends with references to top secret research and robotics. So how do I categorize Past Continuous? Part semi-true story and part science fiction tale? Does it work as something of a confessional, and of course more relevant to my interests, does it work as a science fiction novel? Read on to find out my thoughts about Past Continuous, published by Sparkling Books.

Review -- Scar Night by Alan Campbell

Here's another older review to tide you all over while I deal with some personal issues. They're definitely cutting into my reading time, so I don't know how quickly I'll be able to post a "new" review.


I love stories that include angels in them. I'm not even a particularly religious person, but I do think that as characters and in religious ideology, angels are absolutely fascinating. Wayne Barlow's God's Demon was a book I bought even though it was a hard cover because it had to deal with fallen angels (but that's a review for another day). Naturally, when I read the back of Alan Campbell's Scar Night and saw that it contained angels and a city suspended by chains over an endless abyss, I had to buy it.

Review -- Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

It's been a while since I've written a review, but here's an older one from 2009. I read Jeff VanderMeer's Finch, the conclusion to his Ambergris series that began with City of Saints and Madmen. Read on to find out how well Finch fits in with the rest of the series.