I read fantasy and science fiction almost exclusively, and occasionally horror with supernatural elements. Please at least skim through my reviews to see if your book and I might be a good fit before contacting me. I’ve also made a quick list to help you decide quickly whether your book and I might get along. Mandatory = must haves; Pros = preferred; Cons = things I generally don’t enjoy, but surprises happen/things I’ll put up with if the book has enough good things going for it; Absolutely Not = absolutely not, hard no, will not read under any circumstances.
Mandatory
- Diversity. Your main cast must include characters who are queer (including the ace spectrum) or BIPOC or neurodivergent or disabled/chronically ill or, at absolute minimum, cis women – preferably some combination thereof. If your book has an all-white, all-ablebodied, all-nuerotypical, all-cishet male cast, don’t bother
- Correct formatting. If your e-book is full of formatting errors, I can’t focus on the story
- SFF. Your book must be Fantasy or Sci Fi or Science Fantasy. Horror is only acceptable if it contains fantasy/supernatural elements.
Pros
- Past-tense third-person PoV
- Detailed worldbuilding
- Secondary-world setting
- Lyrical/beautiful/descriptive prose
- Queer/LGBTQ+ main characters
- Dragons
- Unicorns
- Found-family
- Humour/snark
- Strong friendships
- Matriarchies
- Queernorm settings
- Hopepunk
- Morally grey characters
- Villainous main characters
- Reimagining/reinterpretations of mythology/religion
- Queer wrath
Cons
- First person PoV
- Hard magic systems
- Gender-based magic systems that do not acknowledge gender as a spectrum
- Greek gods
- Norse gods
- Medieval Europe-esque setting
- YA
- Coming Out stories
- Ghosts
- Heists
Absolutely Not
- Violence towards animals – I don’t care how minor or brief an instance it is, it’s still a dealbreaker
- Paranormal Romance
- Grimdark
- Graphic gore
- Sexual violence
- Military SFF
- Queerphobia – this does not apply if members of the main cast are queer, so long as your story does not become misery-porn. If you do not have queer MCs, then I don’t care if it’s a single comment made by a nameless character just once in the whole entire book, I’m not interested in any expressions of queerphobia. No, not even when it’s ‘culturally/historically accurate’.
- Misogyny. I’m capital-t Tired of stories where women have no rights or power and/or have to deal with sexism. (Occasional sexism, I can deal with, but not when it’s a central theme of the story.)
- Racism. I’m white; I’m not the right reader for books exploring race/racism, and books that aren’t exploring it but are including it Just Because don’t interest me. (This does not apply to Fantasy/Sci Fi speciesism, which can be interesting when done right.)
- Personal growth for bigots. If your main character starts out as a bigot but learns better over the course of the story? I don’t have the patience for that.
Due to my fibromyalgia and complications, I can’t hold paper books, nor comfortably read PDF files. If your book isn’t available in ePUB, MOBI or AZW3 formats, then I must decline. I also require the book to be listed on Goodreads. I am equally happy to read traditionally-published books, self-published books, and books from small or indie presses.
Long, big books are marvellous; please don’t hesitate to send me your doorstoppers! Length will never put me off. Novellas may consider themselves welcome, but I do prefer longer works.
If you want to contact me about potentially reviewing your book, please email me at siavahda@everybookadoorway.com