Category Archives: Book Review

 

  • Massif: Garth Nix produces a book for adults, and it is a combination of cosmic horror and military SF

  • Tyrants and Traders: The archaeology of 5th and 6th century Britain is fascinating, but can it, as the media has been claiming, tell us anything about an historical King Arthur?

  • Last One Out in Lychford: Paul Cornell's Lychford novella series reaches a dramatic conclusion with, obviously, a cricket match. But will Rev Lizzie find love at last?

  • The Jewel and the Comet: The latest novel from Tim Melody Pratt begins at the Folsom Street Fair, the Bay Area's famous queer and kink extravaganza. What could possibly go wrong?

  • The Castle of Llyr: We reach part 3 of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, and Princess Eilonwy is in deadly danger

  • The End of Everything: The latest (last?) novel by M John Harrison is a near-future post-semi-apocalyptic story set in an England invaded by aliens where everyone keeps calm and carries on

  • Halcyon Years: The latest novel from Al Reynolds is a murder mystery set on a generation ship in which the detective is a reincarnated Yuri Gagarin, and part of the mystery is how the heck he got there

  • The Blue Book of Nebo: For Women in Translation Month, Cheryl looks at one of the most famous works of contemporary Welsh literature

  • Oath of Fire: Cheryl makes up for her mistake of last issue by reading the first book in K Arsenault Rivera's new series

  • All That is in the Earth: Andrew Knighton's novella is a solid piece of science fiction with surprisingly deep worldbuilding

  • Tolkien and Wales: How much influence did Wales, its language and its mythology influence the creation of Middle Earth? More than you might think.

  • Green City Wars: Adrian Tchaikovsky has ridiculous amounts of fun with this charming tale of uplifted animals running a city, and much besides

  • Outlaw Planet: This science fiction novel from Mike Carey reminds Cheryl a lot of one of her favourite Culture novels

  • Daughter of the Hunt: Did Iphigenia die at Aulis? K Arsenault Rivera is firmly in the "Hell, NO!" camp.

  • The Mabinogion Set: What does ancient Welsh poetry have to do with mathematical theory? More than you would think. They were sharp cookies, those bards.

  • The Queer Bookshelf: Layla McCay has set out to catalogue the world of queer fiction. It is an Herculean undertaking. Cheryl is impressed.

  • The Black Cauldron: Does Lloyd Alexander's book have anything to do with the Disney movie of the same name? Of course not.

  • What We Are Seeking: The new novel from Cameron Reed is here at last, and it is fascinating.

  • Shroud: Adrian Tchaikovsky creates yet another ridiculously inventive set of alien lifeforms. A worth Hugo finalist.

  • Radiant Star: A new Imperial Radch book from Ann Leckie? Take my money!

  • Was: Cheryl looks back on Geoff Ryman's legendary AIDs novel, with a Wizard of Oz theme.

  • Yoke of Stars: This Birdverse novella is available in this year's Pride Storybundle. Another good reason to pick it up.

  • Finding Albion: Can British folklore have meaning for our multicultural society? Zakia Sewell thinks it can.

  • Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead: On no, Loki is planning to bring about Ragnarök! Can a bunch of rag-tag kids stop him? Of course they can. And they cause dudebro tears along the way.

  • Platform Decay: Everyone's favourite SecUnit is back in a new adventure. It is a good job no soft and squishy humans are involved. Oh, wait... Children?!!

  • Oathbound: Tracy Deonn's Arthurian-themed YA fantasy trilogy has reached its conclusion.

  • Cynefin: What does Welsh nature poetry have to teach us about the world? Quite a bit, actually.

  • The Prince of Annwn: Cheryl embarks on reading the most famous adaptation of The Mabinogi: that by Evangeline Walton

  • Celtic Magic: A Practitioner’s Guide: Do you want to cast spells like an actual druid? Sadly historical sources tell us little, but Brigid Ehrmantraut does her best with what we have.

  • The Monster and the Clown: The second book in Mats Strandberg's children's series pits little Frank Steen against a deadly foe: A CLOWN!

  • Human Voices, Alien Conversations: A book of interviews from across the SF&F community. Lots of famous subjects, and also Cheryl

  • Project Hanuman: Stewart Hotston's debut novel bravely takes on The Culture and does something interesting with it

  • Y Dydd Olaf: The most famous Welsh science fiction novel starts off with the best of intentions and ends up in a horrifying dystopia.

  • Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd: The first science fiction novel written in Welsh was an advert for Welsh nationalism

  • The Orb of Cairado: What's that you say? A new novella set in the world of The Goblin Emperor? Take my money!

  • Welsh Witches: How many witches have there been in Wales? Here are the stories of 100 of them.

  • The Ghosts Who Sit Upon Imaginary Thrones: A whole book full of Anne Sudworth art? Catnip to Cheryl!

  • The Hymn to Dionysus: The latest Natasha Pulley novel does not feature Katsu the Clockwork Octopus, but Cheryl loved it anyway.

  • Epic of the Earth: These days we know that war is an environmental disaster, but that's nothing new. As Edith Hall points out, the Trojan War, as reported by Homer, came at massive environmental cost.

  • The Bacchae: Natasha Pulley's The Hymn to Dionysus is based heavily on an ancient Greek play by Euripides. What is the original like, and why is it more queer than Pulley's version?