Speculative

Review: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

In all the stress of the world right now, I’ve needed some comfort reading, and near-future science fiction is exactly my kind of comfort reading. Any book that starts with the premise of impending environmental collapse will almost certainly make my reading list, but one that also has a space travel plot and feminist themes will shoot right to the top of that list. Goldilocks by Laura Lam just so happens to have all of these elements, so it’s no surprise that it made it to my Spring 2020 TBR top ten list! I mean, any book described as a “high concept feminist dystopian thriller” is poised to be one of my favorite books of all time.

Review: Dust by J.R. Devoe

Dust is the first installment in a new YA post-apocalyptic fairy-tale series by J.R. Devoe. I really love genre-bending stories, and this is one of the better YA versions that I’ve read. It’s fantasy and dystopian and science fiction all wrapped up with a lovely fairy-tale bow.

Review: The Companions by Katie M. Flynn

The Companions is a sweeping near-future dystopian that spans many years and explores the connections between many characters, creating a beautifully earnest vision of a future that feels all too real right now. This story hit me in a way that I haven’t experienced since I read Station Eleven, and I love this slow, deliberate style of story-telling. What Station Eleven did with the post-apocalyptic genre, The Companions does for science fiction, melding and mixing literary fiction with the speculative genre in a very sincere and realistic way.

TEN FREE SFF BOOKS TO GET YOU THROUGH SELF-ISOLATION

This has been a tough week for everyone. So much of the world is in quarantine, self-isolation, or participating in intense social distancing. Like a lot of people, I’m choosing to isolate myself while COVID-19 is so active. Lucky for us, there are some awesome authors in the science fiction/fantasy book community who are making some of their works free for all of us to enjoy. This list includes these free works from a lot of prolific writers, and also some other free SFF reads to enjoy right now.

The Hunger Games Reread and Analysis – Intro

I had great intentions to post this when I woke up this morning. Alas, Animal Crossing: New Horizons released and took away most of my day. However, I really wanted to write this and tell you guys what I have up my sleeve for the upcoming few weeks.

The Hunger Games was a pretty foundational series for me early on in my reading journey. It was my first experience with speculative/dystopian literature, and was the first YA series that I read and enjoyed as an adult. I absolutely devoured this series, and I annotated every book. Best of all, the series still holds up so well! With the new prequel to the series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, coming out on May 19th, I’m gearing up to dive back into the series head-first.

Review of The Walking Dead: Typhoon by Wesley Chu

Given my love for speculative fiction, it shouldn’t come at any surprise that I am a fan of zombie stories. Even though zombie stories aren’t my favorite flavor of the Post-Apocolyptic subgenre, I still usually really enjoy them. When I heard that Wesley Chu wrote a story bringing the world of The Walking Dead to China, I was absolutely interested.

And, yeah, that’s pretty much the summary for The Walking Dead: Typhoon- it’s zombies in China. And I really liked it! My favorite thing about this book is how lived in the world feels. You can feel how much grime and gunk and dirt is in this world, and it really sets the stage for a good zombie story.

Review: Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir

Camp Spirit is a YA graphic novel set in the 1990s in Ontario, where high-schooler Elodie has been appointed as a camp counselor for the summer. Elodie is very 90s grunge, is not at all interested in camping or the outdoors, and is the opposite of excited for her summer job. What starts as a frothy, pulpy sort of story takes a sharp turn about mid-way through, and turns this summer romance into a a graphic novel full of intrigue, mystical nightmares, demonic presences, and urban legends. Even through this shift, though, the book never loses its center- the growing friendship (and maybe more) between Elodie and camp counselor extraordinaire, Catherine.

Mini Review: Anthropocene Rag by Alexander C. Irvine

When I read the synopsis for Anthropocene Rag, months ago, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. Dystopian setting, roaming monsters, sentient AI, religious themes– these are things I love most in speculative fiction!

Review: Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler

Here’s where I have to admit something that’s embarrassing as a science fiction blogger and former English major: I had never actually read any Octavia Butler works before now, and I am honestly pretty ashamed of myself. I have known of Butler for years, but for one reason or another, hadn’t ever made time for her books. When I was given an eArc of Subterranean Press’s forthcoming collection, Unexpected Stories, by the one and only Octavia Butler, I knew it was time to finally dig into some of her work.

Girls with Sharp Sticks & Girls with Razor Hearts Review And Discussion

When I read Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young earlier this year, I was blown away by how much I actually enjoyed it. As much as I love speculative fiction and Sci Fi, I find few YA titles in the genre to be compelling or successfully-crafted. That is not the case with Suzanne Young’s Girls with Sharp Sticks and, its sequel, Girls with Razor Hearts.

Girls with Sharp Sticks follows Mena and her friends, all of which are students at the exclusive and secretive girls-only boarding school, Innovations Academy. When some girls at the school start acting differently and disappearing, Mena begins questioning everything. Such as, why does she never see her family outside of school? Or, what goes on in all those therapy and “impulse control” sessions? And, what exactly happens to the girls after graduation?