Genre-Defying, Genre-Defining: Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
Rakesfall breaks the mould and then your mind and refuses to put EITHER ONE back together.
Tag: five star reviews
Sea Serpents, Cake, and the Power of Laughter: Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland
What do you get when you mix pirates, a too-sexy monk, a supernaturally lucky trash-goblin, and the most priceless secret in the world?
A punch up that goes so hard the Establishment won’t know what hit them.
May DNFs
Garden of Delights, Keepers of the Stones and Stars, The Stars Too Fondly, and Cuckoo.
Flawlessly Horrifying: Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
A conversion camp is a horrifying thing BEFORE Felker-Martin gets her hands on it.
After??? Let’s just say I’m NEVER SLEEPING AGAIN.
Chillingly Awesome: The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
A 50yo detective is called out to rural Alaska to investigate what looks like a vampyre murder – and potentially sign off on a Cull.
Sweetly Shining: A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
Letters going back-and-forth across a water-bound world, in what will probably be the most charming book I read this year!
A True Pearl: A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rosie Sutherland
The (beautifully queer) take on the selkie myth I’ve been waiting all my life for!
Babadook Who? Meet Your New Queer Monster Icon: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
An intense, cosy, poignant comedy-horror-fantasy about a shapeshifting goo-monster who eats people.
A Queer Witches’ Bacchanal: The Feast Makers by H. A. Clarke
The perfect ending to the perfect series.
Or: time for Sideways and their coven to change the world.
Immensely Satisfying: City of Bones by Martha Wells
Politics and magic intertwine in a hunt for three mysterious relics – but the factions looking for them might not be quite what they appear.