Child of an Ancient City by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a remarkably good little book. It tells the tale of an ill-fated caravan journey between Baghdad and Armenia, and how the book’s protagonist and narrator, Masrur al-Adan, manages to survive bandit raids and the attentions of the vampyr stalking them.
The Humans by Matt Haig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is one of those books where an alien tries to understand humanity by walking a mile in our shoes, figuratively speaking. It’s not a bad book, but nor would I consider it a great book.
The Evolution of African Fantasy and Science Fiction by Francesca T Barbini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have to say, this one’s given me a lot to think about. It’s a small book, physically speaking, but it has some pretty big things to say about where African F/SF has come from, where it currently stands, and maybe even where it’s going. The book itself is a collection of academic papers on aspects of F/SF created in Africa or by African authors and makes for some interesting and eye-opening reading.
Continue reading Book Review: The Evolution of African Fantasy and Science Fiction
Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting read, albeit one which requires a fair bit of work from the reader. It’s a weird mix of cyberpunk meets colonial sci-fi meets social commentary, held together by some fantastic prose. Right from the first paragraph the writing comes across as a strongly jazz-influenced melange of images and ideas and perfectly sets the stage for what quickly becomes a confusing journey through an alien ecosphere, as seen through the eyes of our protagonist, Kalypso Deed.
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Generally speaking, most people think of fantasy as being some analogue of western history with the occasional decidedly anthropocentric non-human races and some variation on a theme of dragons. At least, that’s how it used to be, up until a few years ago. These days, fantasy is a much broader and much more diverse playground, and Tasha Suri’s marvellous debut novel does more than its fair share to add to that diversity.
So here it is. 2019. The first day of a new year. The time when traditionally we’re supposed to make a list of all the things we’re going to do over the next twelve months to better ourselves in some way. Well, who am I to fly in the face of tradition?
Continue reading In The Beginning
