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Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

The Kaiju Preservation Society

Review by Chris Pickens

John Scalzi had lofty goals for his next book, but like many of us, he found that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted even the best-laid plans. He found himself looking for a release, something to keep his mind off the unmitigated disaster that was 2020. Writing the funny and endearing Kaiju Preservation Society turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.  

Food app delivery driver Jamie Gray has just about had it—with work, New York City and the pandemic. But a chance encounter leads Jamie to Tom, an old friend who offers Jamie a job working for a mysterious animal rights organization called the KPS. Eager to do anything to get out of town, Jamie jumps at the chance. But this job is unlike anything anyone could have imagined. On another Earth, one warmer and devoid of humankind, gargantuan creatures called Kaiju roam. It’s up to the Kaiju Preservation Society to make sure the incredible, powerful monsters don’t hurt anyone—and that no one tries to hurt the Kaiju.

Why writing ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ was the most fun John Scalzi’s ever had as a writer.

It’s impossible to read this book without sensing how much fun Scalzi was having while writing it. The Kaiju Preservation Society revels in its own nerdiness, joyfully calling out the absurdities that Jamie and the other new KPS employees experience in their journey to the other Earth. The dialogue practically skips along, with jokes and minor insults pinging off each character at a near-constant pace. And the richness of the alternate Earth, with all its odd flora and fauna, is clearly the result of a creative mind let loose.

The camaraderie formed among the hodgepodge group of scientists and explorers entertains throughout. Jamie’s optimism and enthusiasm for the mission provide the focal and entry points, from which readers can track how tightknit the group becomes. No one character is too unlikable or outright obtuse all of the time, and everyone gets a good line, a heroic moment or a chance to shine. 

What better way to escape the feeling of being trapped inside, from pandemic-related reasons or anything else, than to go somewhere vibrant and unique, where you can feel loved by your friends, valued by your job and morally unassailable as you fight to preserve vulnerable wildlife? It certainly works for Jamie, and it will work for anyone lucky enough to pick up a copy of The Kaiju Preservation Society.

Feeling trapped? Go to another Earth and take care of some monsters in John Scalzi’s totally endearing new sci-fi novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society.
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Review

Review by bookpagedev

King Louis XIV of France seems popular in science fiction these days. He is the subject of both a new movie, The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Vonda McIntyre’s most recent science fiction novel, The Moon and the Sun. Now J. Gregory Keyes, author of the new classic, The Waterborn, mixes Sir Isaac Newton, King Louis XIV, King George I, and Benjamin Franklin in a philosophical, fantastical search for truth, beauty, power, and fabulous wealth. In Newton’s Cannon, it’s 1681, and scientist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton has turned his talent to his first love the ancient art of alchemy. Newton achieves the impossible by unleashing Philosopher’s Mercury, a source of matter and a key to manipulating the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. King Louis and King George battle for its control, and as English armies march on Paris, King Louis calls for a new weapon, a device known only as Newton’s Cannon. It is a machine whose secrets the beautiful and talented Adrienne de Montchevreuil labors to unlock before it’s too late.

Meanwhile, in Boston, a young apprentice named Benjamin Franklin discovers a deadly enigma. Pursued by his enemies, Ben furtively makes his way to England. Only Newton can save him, but Newton needs saving himself. This scintillating and brilliant new novel confirms Keyes as a rapidly rising star in the science fiction firmament.

Reviewed by Larry Woods.

King Louis XIV of France seems popular in science fiction these days. He is the subject of both a new movie, The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Vonda McIntyre's most recent science fiction novel, The Moon and the Sun. Now J.…
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Review

Review by bookpagedev

When L.

E. Modesitt’s The Magic of Recluce hit the bookstores in 1991, Gordon R. Dickson praised it as “Fascinating! A big, exciting novel of the battle between good and evil, and the path between.” Now, seven years and seven novels later, I’m tempted to say that Dickson woefully understated the case. Modesitt’s Recluce series set in a parallel earth-like world where magic and technology conspire and conflict in a constant struggle between chaos and order is more than a story about the battle between good and evil. The saga of Recluce is as rich and complex a creation as Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. If you are just tuning in on Modesitt’s work, The White Order (eighth volume in the series, with at least one more, Colors of Chaos, upcoming) may pose a bit of a puzzle to you. Its major storyline seems painfully simple: Young Cerryl, orphaned when white mages from Fairhaven killed his amateur-magician father, discovers that he has inherited his father’s talent. But the powerful White Order of magicians keeps a close watch on those who experiment with the white magic of chaos, and when Cerryl attempts to find out more about his powers, he is apprehended and brought before Sterol, High Wizard of the Guild. Sterol decides that Cerryl deserves training rather than death although as Cerryl learns during the course of his studies, training in white magic may result in death, if the student mage is not careful. Underneath this story of initiation, however, the novel resonates with echoes of an elusive past and foreshadowings of an uncertain future. Cerryl’s education both in magic and in the art of survival offers the first-time visitor a tantalizing, but incomplete, glimpse into a world where much more is happening than appears on the surface.

However, if you are already familiar with Modesitt’s Recluce saga, then The White Order is one more fascinating piece to the jigsaw-time puzzle which Modesitt is painstakingly assembling. Indeed, as those who have read at least as far as The Magic Engineer (volume three) have already encountered, in that flashforward episode in the series, an older, more adept Cerryl is one of the council of White Magicians seeking to destroy Recluce. Up to now, both in flashbacks and flashforwards, the conflict in this parallel world has seemed to be between “good” order and “evil” chaos.

With the present novel’s focus on Cerryl’s training in White Magic, Modesitt changes this emphasis. In doing so, a brilliant new facet appears, best expressed in this passage: “All life composes itself of chaos and order. Yet too many forget that without chaos there is no life. . . . The very light of the sun is white chaos. . . . Within the very sunlight are all the colors of white, the pure chaos from which springs all life. . . . To claim that order is the staff of life. . . is not only false but folly, for the sole perfect order in life is death.” I suspect that the saga of Recluce has many more puzzles to solve not least of which is whether, in Modesitt’s parallel world, chaos and order will survive in a delicate balance or annihilate each other in one final, agonizing confrontation. Reviewed by Robert C. Jones.

When L.

E. Modesitt's The Magic of Recluce hit the bookstores in 1991, Gordon R. Dickson praised it as "Fascinating! A big, exciting novel of the battle between good and evil, and the path between." Now, seven years and seven novels later,…

AudioFantasy

The Eye of the World

Review by G. Robert Frazier

The success of Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is enticement enough to revisit his epic fantasy novels, which debuted in 1990. But even more exciting is listening to the new audiobook of book one in the series, The Eye of the World (33 hours), narrated by Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning British actor Rosamund Pike. Pike stars in the series as Moiraine Damodred, whose quest is to find a hero to defeat the Dark One, and she brings a unique familiarity to the characters and storyline.

Previously recorded by narrators Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for the 2004 audiobook, The Eye of the World benefits from Pike’s smooth voice and dramatic, slower-paced rendering, which extend the length of this edition by almost three hours. She gently invites the listener into Jordan’s richly detailed world before powerfully amplifying the high stakes and tension.

Through her smooth, dramatic performance, award-winning actor Rosamund Pike amplifies the new audiobook of book one in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.
Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Rome in the Dark Ages: squalid, vulgar, ragged, former glory long gone. It’s a wonderful setting, rich in irony. As one raised in the seaport of Genova, in the shadow of medieval structures city gates, castle walls, ruined watchtowers I was fascinated by the tarnished splendor of a once-great empire and the intrigue within.

Alice Borchardt, Devoted, Beguiled, masterfully places the reader squarely amidst a Rome devastated by invasion, inflation, poverty, decadence, and religio-political squabbling. In this drab, open-sewer city, crass Gundabald and his stupid son Hugo have come to wine and wench away the last of their money. Amidst their decadence, they are to arrange a marriage for Regeane Gundabald’s niece, left in his “care” since the death of her mother. They hope to score big, since Regeane is distantly related to King Charlemagne.

Beautiful but coarse, given her barbarian background, Regeane is naive yet incredibly intuitive. She bears the burden of a supernatural gift that is more often a curse. Like her murdered father, Regeane is a shapeshifter woman by day and wolf by night and therefore also able to benefit from the wolf’s senses and instincts. Afraid of her lupine form, the louts Gundabald and Hugo keep Regeane collared in a cell, beating her into submission over and over. While the wolf can miraculously heal her physical injuries, her psyche is bruised and battered, and she believes herself the freak Gundabald accuses her of being.

On the few, brief occasions Regeane is able to escape the clutches of her hung-over relatives, she finds her freedom on the wooded hills of Campagna, learning about herself under the light of a sympathetic moon. It is during one such excursion that she becomes embroiled in the politics of Rome. Regeane’s subsequent betrothal to Maeniel, a barbarian lord who commands a key mountain pass, is caught up in the heart of the conflict between Pope Hadrian and the Lombards. Pope Hadrian himself sponsors the marriage, while the Lombards want Regeane dead. After a murder attempt made by a Lombard hireling, Regeane is rescued and sheltered and educated in love and sex by Lucilla, Rome’s foremost madam and procurer (whose mysterious connection to the pope becomes important to his enemies). Borchardt only falters when the narrative sags somewhat in the middle and by choosing to present several key scenes offstage. Otherwise, her tale of lycanthropy, papal politics, and romantic encounters blends as well as any of her lovingly cataloged Roman menus. High melodrama indeed, and heady reading. Reviewed by Bill Gagliani.

Rome in the Dark Ages: squalid, vulgar, ragged, former glory long gone. It's a wonderful setting, rich in irony. As one raised in the seaport of Genova, in the shadow of medieval structures city gates, castle walls, ruined watchtowers I was fascinated by the tarnished…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

A distinctly different alternative kind of future is depicted in The Innamorati by Midori Snyder. This fantasy novel establishes an alternative Renaissance movement centered in a fictitious Italian city called Labirinto. Four companions, the innamorati, band together in this land alive with magic and seek the great labyrinth which is at the heart of Labirinto. Their adventures are replete with mystery, comedy, and imagination as they follow their heart’s desire through the Maze. Reviewed by Larry D. Woods.

A distinctly different alternative kind of future is depicted in The Innamorati by Midori Snyder. This fantasy novel establishes an alternative Renaissance movement centered in a fictitious Italian city called Labirinto. Four companions, the innamorati, band together in this land alive with magic and seek…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

A fantasy world is artfully described in Otherland by Tad Williams. This is a near future thriller in virtual reality. Otherland is a multi-dimensional universe built over decades by the most agile and creative cyberspace minds of the 21st century. It is the key to a universe of possibilities for the human race, but it is controlled by The Grail Brotherhood inhibiting a group of outsiders who intervened and now seek to return. To do so, much like Philip Jose Farmer’s World of Tiers novels, they must encounter and survive a series of strange worlds inhabited by exotic creations, alien powers, and carnivorous monsters.

Reviewed by Larry D. Woods.

A fantasy world is artfully described in Otherland by Tad Williams. This is a near future thriller in virtual reality. Otherland is a multi-dimensional universe built over decades by the most agile and creative cyberspace minds of the 21st century. It is the key to…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Melissa Scott’s The Shape of Their Hearts presents readers with an all too easily imagined future in which the desire for information has become the driving force at all levels of society. Power rests with those who have the ability to access and harness data, regardless of their motivations.

In a world where religious cults abound, it should be no great stretch to imagine an artificial intelligence (AI) as a deity. It is easy to envision an army of believers who accept their deity’s command to convert others to their beliefs by whatever means necessary including violence. In The Shape of Their Hearts, the will of the Deity is interpreted by its priests, and commandments are handed down to the faithful. The Deity and its followers have made the planet Idun (also called Eden) a risky place to leave unguarded, and the Territorial authority responds with a complete blockade to the planet. To complicate matters, there is a programming bug in the Deity that threatens to destroy all computer systems on Eden and anywhere else it can spread. Someone or something must purge the virus from the huge network, and only Anton Tso, blackmarketeer and software genius, has the expertise to repair the damage a task that threatens both Tso and the Deity.

Scott has created an alien world with characters that readers will recognize, and a society that is almost too familiar. The true terror comes with realizing what little separates our world from a world such as Eden. The Shape of Their Hearts is entertaining and chilling. Scott has the talent to bring her imaginings to life with insights into human nature that will surely cause her audience to examine their own lives more closely.

Reviewed by Lisa DuMond.

Melissa Scott's The Shape of Their Hearts presents readers with an all too easily imagined future in which the desire for information has become the driving force at all levels of society. Power rests with those who have the ability to access and harness data,…

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

The science fiction genre has long been noted for themes such as exotic exploration and alternative futures. Some of the best writing in the field extrapolates today’s social, economic, and political trends into the near-term future, and examines their impact on the quality of human and alien life. Joe Haldeman in Worlds; Robert Heinlein in The Sixth Column; Arthur C. Clarke in 2001, and certainly Kim Stanley Robinson in his Gold Coast series and Mars trilogy, mastered this school of futuristic fiction. Robinson continues his recent near domination of this sub-genre in Antarctica. In Robinson’s panoramic saga, a radical environmentalist political group plots an “ecotage” their form of sabotage used to protest the corporate pillage of Antarctica as they cut off communications for explorers, scientists, and commercial interests in Antarctica, and as they destroy oil exploration encampments who are attempting to engineer the drilling and export of 50 million barrels of untapped oil. As you might anticipate, these eco-saboteurs have the best of intentions, but in this harsh environment, even organized plans may not be realized and small mistakes produce large and terminal disasters. Their illicit purposes are much like the continent that Robinson writes so eloquently about: “First you fall in love with Antarctica, and then it breaks your heart.” Robinson depicts Antarctica itself so well that it seems almost like an alien world. Intrigued by the fact that Antarctica is the part of earth most like his beloved Mars, Robinson took literary research to new heights in this book with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation, which afforded him a six weeks adventure in Antarctica.

Reviewed by Larry D. Woods.

The science fiction genre has long been noted for themes such as exotic exploration and alternative futures. Some of the best writing in the field extrapolates today's social, economic, and political trends into the near-term future, and examines their impact on the quality of human…

AudioFantasy

Good Omens

Review by Anna Zeitlin

Good Omens (12 hours) is the most fun you’ll have at the apocalypse. Amazon adapted the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett into a TV series in 2019, and while fans wait for the second season, they’re rewarded with this audiobook update featuring an all-star cast, including the show’s two lead actors. David Tennant reprises his role as Crowley, a demon tasked with overseeing the end times but who is rather enjoying life on Earth. His portrayal comes off as part sardonic badass, part buffoon. Likewise, actor Michael Sheen returns as foppish and erudite Aziraphale, the angel who is happy to help Crowley thwart Armageddon despite their supposed enmity. Both actors have a long list of Shakespearean stage credits to their names, and their performances here are some of the best character work ever recorded on audiobook.

Rebecca Front, known for her BAFTA-winning role in the British comedy series “The Thick of It,” provides the perfect narration to balance the weight of the topic with the silliness of the execution. An ensemble cast rounds out the other characters.

Good Omens would make great listening for a road trip, especially for families with precocious tweens and teenagers.

An updated audiobook with an all-star cast, Good Omens is the most fun you’ll have at the apocalypse.
Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

A River Enchanted

Review by Laura Hubbard

A River Enchanted, Rebecca Ross’ adult fiction debut, is an elegant fantasy novel of homecoming and mystery. With its lyrical prose and tight world building, this story is both modern and timeless, drawing from the traditions of genre greats like Steven Lawhead and marrying them to the sensibilities of modern works like Genevieve Gornichec’s The Witch’s Heart and Tana French’s In the Woods.

The novel opens with the prodigal Jack Tamerlaine’s return to Cadence, the isle of his youth, a land where magic and spirits run free and gossip is carried on the wind as easily as smoke. He soon learns that young girls are going missing on Cadence, seemingly plucked from the air by a formless spirit, leaving no trace of them behind. Adaira, heiress to the laird and Jack’s childhood nemesis, has summoned Jack back to the island to help her find out exactly what has happened to the girls—and to get them back before it’s too late. She wants him to sing down the spirits as her mother once did so that Adaira can ask them what matter of mischief is afoot. But as Jack and Adaira delve deeper into the mystery, the spirits begin to suggest that a far darker secret lies behind the loss of the girls.

Already known for her young adult fantasy novels, Ross has created a world both rich and wonderful in Cadence. The island is full of so much magic, so many feuds and stories—enough that capturing them all in one novel, even a nearly 500-page one, seems a difficult task. But somehow Ross succeeds, guiding readers through the intricate warp and weft of the island and its traditions and creating a brilliant tapestry full of mystery and wonder. And while Ross does revel in world building, she doesn’t tell her story at a remove. The four characters that the book centers on—Jack, Adaira, guardsman Torin and healer Sidra—are vibrant and fully realized, keeping the myth-making quality of the book at bay and instead grounding the story in these characters’ heartaches and fears, their desires and attractions. A sublime mix of romance, intrigue and myth, A River Enchanted is a stunning addition to the canon of Celtic-inspired fantasy.

A sublime mix of romance, intrigue and myth, A River Enchanted is a stunning addition to the canon of Celtic-inspired fantasy.
Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

Last Exit

Review by Ralph Harris

Max Gladstone spins a story from the perspective of several unreliable narrators in Last Exit. That unreliability is the point in this standalone fantasy, which is intentionally cerebral and difficult to follow. The dynamics of alternate dimensions and conflicting viewpoints are not background to the plot: They are the plot.

Set in modern-day America, Last Exit revolves around alternate dimensions, nicknamed alts. Alts can only be visited with the help of spin: an individual’s understanding of possibility. If someone has a limited belief in what is possible, then they will only see what is currently in front of them. But if you can overcome skepticism and accept various possibilities, you can force possibilities to materialize. A door that should be locked just happens to be unlocked.

Zelda, Ish, Ramon, Sarah and Sal were once a dimension-hopping fellowship, fighting a mysterious rot that corroded worlds. The group imploded after the loss of Sal, and Last Exit begins as Zelda, convinced that Sal isn’t lost forever, tries to get everyone back together to save Sal and defeat the rot once and for all. The realistic rifts between characters, conveyed via broody monologuing from each unique perspective, allow readers to compare each person’s opinions, providing a rich depth of relationships for readers to explore despite the relatively limited core cast. Last Exit has a relentlessly oppressive atmosphere, with the rot barely giving Zelda and her companions room to recover, but the compelling protagonists keep things engaging.

Gladstone avoids in-depth detail, leaving the reader to conceptualize a scene by leaning on their imagination (their spin, you might say) to flesh out the details. For example, Gladstone uses the phrase “cracked the sky” with no description of the crack’s appearance or its effect on the rest of the skyline. He then reuses the phrase multiple times, challenging the reader to recall their own mental imagery. As a result, Last Exit is a book enriched through sharing; it’s easy to see a book club discussing their varied interpretations of this phrase.

The beginning of Last Exit feels like the start of an archeologist’s excavation: new clues are popping up in unexpected places and nothing makes sense. But that process of discovery and excavation is where Gladstone’s novel shines, as each chapter revises and adjusts the reader’s understanding. By the end of the book, their individual vision of Gladstone’s world reaches something like clarity, enough for the intrepid archeologist to piece together most of the picture. While not a light undertaking, Last Exit is a satisfying read for those with a lot of imagination—and a little spin.

While not a light undertaking, Last Exit is a satisfying fantasy read for those with a lot of imagination.
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Manhunt

Review by Mya Alexice

In Manhunt, author Gretchen Felker-Martin highlights the people that gender-based dystopias (think Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go or Naomi Alderman’s The Power) generally gloss over. When a new plague washes over the globe, it specifically targets those with high levels of testosterone, turning them into uncontrollable creatures who only live for sexual violence and murder.

Fran and Beth are trans women who’ve been surviving by mutilating these creatures and eating their organs, which are valuable sources of estrogen that keep the deadly testosterone at bay. This way of life is risky business, and if not for Robbie, a trans man who Beth quips is “the last man on earth,” they would have met certain death at the hands of a ravaging pack of feral men. Together, the three of them find a sanctuary from the apocalypse that looks a little too good to be true: an underground bunker ruled by an eccentric billionaire with ulterior motives. If only a militant and well-armed group of TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) would stop trying to gun them—and everyone else who doesn’t fit into a biologically essentialist narrative—down.

Felker-Martin’s prose thrives in this world of intense bodily preoccupation. She describes everything from the DIY removal of a character’s broken tooth to an enthusiastic sex scene with a character on their period. Consider this description of the feral creatures at the book’s center: “Seams of [raw flesh] glistened like meaty lava flows between the shifting tectonic plates of their hides.” Felker-Martin revels in both the disturbing and the erotic, crafting a picture of a dangerous world where one’s own body can either kill you at any moment or give you intense catharsis in the midst of a crumbling society. Manhunt explicitly depicts harrowing scenes of rape and bodily harm, but it is also at times incredibly tender, as in this line where Robbie contemplates the fate of other trans men in this dystopia: “They were out there, making their own manhood in the wreckage of the world.”

Original and unabashed, Manhunt is unafraid to be messy as it cultivates a flawed and intriguing cast of characters, centering voices that have been previously unheard in dystopian fiction.

Original and unabashed, Manhunt is unafraid to be messy as it highlights the people that gender-based dystopias generally gloss over.

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