The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden I enjoyed this book quite a bit for the fantasy elements, but especially for the vivid portrait of life in rural Russia back in the days when boyars still gave tribute to the khans to keep the horde at bay. Even Vasilisa, the daughter of a feudal …
Sep 18
Book Review: Unthinkable
Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World’s Strangest Brains by Helen Thomson This is a good book for any fans of neurology studies who has read about case studies of people with really odd brains and wondered what the people themselves were really like. From the woman who gets lost in her own home to …
Sep 10
Book Review: Hammered
Hammered by Kevin Hearne I first heard about this author at convention, where someone assumed that two urban fantasy authors from Tempe, Arizona must surely know each other. I’ve never met the author, but became curious about his books and picked this one up when I saw it on sale, not realizing that it was …
Sep 07
Book Review: The Orchardist
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin The first thing I noticed about this book is that the author did not use quotations to set off dialog. It made it feel to me as if the novel was silent, underwater, like watching a movie with the sound off. There is dialog, but it’s not in quotes, so …
Aug 28
Book Review: The Woman in the Window
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn If you like female-centric thrillers, where it’s all about the mystery and the tension and the veiled danger, this is a great example of the genre. It has an unreliable narrator who isn’t a very good person, more than one twist in the plot, and sufficient danger. …