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Set far into the future during a time called the Traction Era (T.E.), Thunder City by Philip Reeve will enchant readers who are fascinated by video games or by the prospect of technomancers reanimating dead warriors. Reeve’s novel features a plethora of characters who share a common thread: They all connect to Miss Lavinia Torpenhow, a rescuer and history instructor known as Miss T. When the town of Thorbury is taken hostage by Gabriel Strega and its mayor murdered by the Architect, a dreadfully brilliant young man with an inquiring mind, Miss T must find a way to bring Max Angmering back to Thorbury fromRead More →

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Set in Boston where LifeCorp promises “everything you’d ever want if you’re willing to work for it” (93), The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew tells the story of the Lowers who toil for the privileged Uppers as mindless zombies hunting for their next fix of Mean. Brainwashed to believe that working hard and increasing their productivity scores will ensure “a world of value,” the Lowers find their escape in the Arcades where their brains are “seduced with oversaturated snippets to distract them from their monotonous realities” (80). Enter eighteen-year-old Liv Newman who serves as an EmoProxy, a technological oddity with the ability to record emotionalRead More →

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S.K. Ali writes a powerful story with her science fiction fantasy Fledgling. Told in eleven parts, this first book in a promised duology is about colonization, oppression, rebellions, and politics. However, it isn’t didactic, as Ali entices readers by sharing just enough to lure them in as they form their own opinions about pervasive attempts to manipulate minds with propaganda and as they form attachments to intriguing characters. Thematically, Ali develops ideas similar to George Orwell’s Thought Police and Aldous Huxley’s class system and lab-controlled intelligence while weaving in tropes from M.T. Anderson’s Feed to reveal how thinking threatens those in power and how technologyRead More →

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Reminiscent of Eragon and the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini, The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen describes mankind’s attempt to settle on Mars, a planet that never wanted people in the first place. The planet is dying, and those left behind are picking treasure from the sand in an effort to survive. According to lore, each planet in the solar system is occupied by dragons. “[Ares] was the last dragon of Mars. His death was supposed to transform Mars into a paradise. A second version of Earth. But it didn’t work” (15). Because the planet is cursed, everything on Mars is “dead setRead More →

Cover for book Heir

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Fans of Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes series will love this spinoff duology. Full of all the elements which Tahir’s fans are used to (stunning prose, enthralling mythology, and deeply relatable characters) this book easily grabs the readers’ attention and holds on to it. Set 20 years after the conclusion of the Ember series, this novel follows Quil (the baby Ember fans saw born in that quartet) now as a grown man ready to take the throne of the Martial Empire. A series of events force Quil and his best friends Arelia and Sufiyan (another descendant of characters from the last series) to travelRead More →

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Ruby Hale, who avoids confrontation and spiders, hopes to be a travel influencer. Given that interest, she films, edits, and posts content to her YouTube Show, Ruby’s Hidden Gems. Seeing the feats other cultures have achieved and the architecture that they’ve built all speak to Ruby’s soul. So, when her French class schedules a trip to France, Ruby is beyond excited. She wants to soak in as much of the world as she can in order to earn her way to exploring more of it. Once Ruby reaches Paris, her adrenaline junkie friend Valerie Moreau encounters a young man named Julien who offers a tourRead More →

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A.A. Vora has written a clever and creative allegory with her novel Spin of Fate. Vora bases her fantasy on Indian philosophy and lore, including a glossary “Of Language and Nomenclature” to assist readers. She also tackles some relevant social topics like borders, poverty, bigotry, prejudice, and religion. In this first installment of what promises to be a series, readers meet sixteen-year-old Aina, who lives in Malin until—against all odds—she inexplicably ascends to Mayana. “Mayana is an idyllic realm, free of Malin’s monsters and violence and corruption. Free from the tyranny of Kaldrav’s reign, from being hunted by his soldiers. It is a realm protectedRead More →

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Those who favor fantasy literature laced with an apocalyptic zombie thread will likely enjoy Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley. The plot revolves around seventeen-year-old Isidora (Sid) Spencer who claims to have no best self; she is one self without a qualifier. This adopted Korean girl has an adopted brother, Matt Spencer, whom she loves deeply but doesn’t know completely. Matt has a secret: he is a Guardian of the fault-line in Llewellyn (Wellsie) where the ghosts look like rainbows made of smoke. People come to Wellsie “to stand where magic lies sealed beneath the earth” (1). The fault line hasRead More →

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In Kingdom of Without, Andrea Tang pens a story about socioeconomic class differences and the challenges that those in the lower classes face just to survive. To tell her story, Tang creates an allegory that bumps up against truth and gives the reader ample food for thought. Set in Beijing, nearly 150 years since General Yuan Shikai successfully declared himself the Emperor of China in 1915, the story opens in the Sixth Ring, where a seventeen-year-old street urchin is getting new prosthetics from Ge Rong. An art and engineering savant who is talented not only with biohacks, Ge Rong engineers tools and techniques for aRead More →