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Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Apocalypse now

Review by Gerry Paige Smith

Special Agent Shannon Moss is assigned by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to help solve the brutal murder of a Navy SEAL’s family—but that’s not her only mission regarding the crime. Embedded in the NCIS, Moss is also part of a black ops program that travels to deep space and potential future timelines. The prime suspect in the family’s ritualistic slaying (and the potential kidnapper of a child missing from the murder scene) has been presumed dead for years, his ship destroyed during an early intergalactic mission. Essentially, Agent Moss is searching for a man who shouldn’t exist.

Armed with Navy technology that can propel agents into possible futures, Moss ventures forward in time, searching for clues to solve the 1997 murders. Looming over both her investigation and the time travel program is the revelation that an apocalyptic event designated Terminus is moving closer in history, approaching the present. Agent Moss’ excursions into potential timelines reveal grim domestic terror events evolving from the original murder, as well as an unexplained acceleration of the Terminus cataclysm.

Tom Sweterlitsch has crafted a powerful and compelling protagonist in Shannon Moss, a female amputee navigating the military and law enforcement structure of the 1990s. Her stamina and versatility in the face of shifting possibilities and loyalties stem from a life spent overcoming the odds. She battles mounting physical and emotional scars beneath an unflinching facade as allies evolve into enemies, victims become suspects, and the future threatens everything that came before it.

Built on the solid foundation of a mystery novel, The Gone World displays the mesmerizing power of rich speculative fiction, which drives the investigation forward (and backward) in time. Transporting readers to increasingly hostile timelines, Sweterlitsch delivers visceral and unflinching action in this dynamic merger of murder mystery and futuristic vision.

Built on the solid foundation of a mystery novel, The Gone World displays the mesmerizing power of rich speculative fiction, which drive the investigation forward (and backward) in time. Transporting readers to increasingly hostile timelines, Sweterlitsch delivers visceral and unflinching action in this dynamic merger of murder mystery and futuristic vision.

Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

Survival of the fittest

Review by Chris Pickens

On the mountain of Fireach Speuer, only the strong survive. Warring tribes raid one another for food and slaves. The winters are harsh, and when the blood moon rises, a demon creature hunts the living with ravenous fury. It’s a harsh setting, but Aoleyn, the fiery and engaging female lead of R.A. Salvatore’s Child of a Mad God, makes each moment spent in this world a treasure.

Aoleyn dreams of joining the Usgar tribe’s coven of witches like her mother before her. But as she grows up, she can’t ignore the brutality of the society in which she lives. The physical savagery visited upon slaves, the hollowness of marriage and myriad other abuses prime Aoleyn for an awakening. When her immense magical powers manifest in her 18th year, she finally discovers a way to break free of the tribe’s iron grip and confront the evil presence infecting her homeland.

This challenging environment is made all the more daunting by the sense of remoteness that permeates the book. Salvatore regularly reminds the reader how far away these tribes are from the rest of his world, using places and people familiar to readers of his other Corona novels as anchors to the larger universe. It’s skillfully done—hints of his other novels shine through, but past references never bog down the story at hand. And intercut with Aeolyn’s story is the perspective of the demon creature, which constantly reminds the reader what lurks in the darkness.

Aoleyn’s metamorphosis from stubborn child to powerful witch propels the reader through this harrowing story, as we feel her fear, frustration and, ultimately, resolve. Never satisfied with the narrow life her tribe offers her and willing to endure painful trials to get what she wants, Aoleyn captivates from the very first line, and is sympathetic and centered throughout.

Salvatore should be commended for cutting a new path here, and as this is the first book in a series, readers will reap the benefits. Grand palaces and shining swords are traded for roaring fires and whistling peaks. This is fantasy refreshed, with familiar concepts reconfigured for a new arc. Luckily, we’ll have a wonderful heroine to pull us along for the ride.

On the mountain of Fireach Speuer, only the strong survive. Warring tribes raid one another for food and slaves. The winters are harsh, and when the blood moon rises, a demon creature hunts the living with ravenous fury. It’s a harsh setting, but Aoleyn, the fiery and engaging female lead of R.A. Salvatore’s Child of a Mad God, makes each moment spent in this world a treasure.

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

An epic set in the aftermath

Review by Laura Hubbard

What remains after you change the world? That is the central question of Iron Gold, the first installment of Pierce Brown’s new trilogy set in the Red Rising universe. The revolution is over, and a new Republic has risen from the ashes of the oppressive empire that ruled for generations. However, war still looms as the now-legendary hero Darrow struggles to bring the inner planets—still under the control of the brutal Ash Lord and the Society—under the Republic’s dominion. But endless battles come with a cost. His crusade costs millions of lives, threatening not only the new Republic but also Darrow’s place in it. The Reaper’s new world is moving on, and new stars are rising. The heir of the deposed au Lune family, raised in obscurity, makes a discovery in the Gulf. A soldier-turned-thief struggles with his grief after the Rising. A Red girl, now free from the mines, tries to rebuild after she loses everything.

While the Red Rising trilogy primarily focused on Darrow’s struggle, this new chapter spends as much time on the consequences of his actions, past and present, on those around him. The book still contains many of the kinetic fight scenes that were a hallmark of the first series. Golds still cross razors in painfully visceral duels, and armies still clash in grand fashion in the skies. However, it is in the stories of his new characters that Brown shows real mastery. We feel their confusion as they struggle to adapt to their changing worlds. We sympathize with their frustration with the way things are—even when their frustrations are at odds with one another. As he tells their tales, Brown reminds readers that within the small and specific, there is something universal.

If there is one drawback to Iron Gold, it is its length. While no single scene in its nearly 600 pages is superfluous, there is a lot of setup—especially in the first few hundred pages—that takes a while to pay off. Impatient readers may wonder why we care about our newest characters, why Brown spends so much time on them rather than focusing on our hero. But it’s worth the wait. Without those careful chapters at the beginning, the book itself would be much less satisfying.

Iron Gold makes us come to terms with ourselves as readers. It is satisfying to watch a protagonist bomb an entire world to bring about a new order. It is satisfying to watch them tear it all down, to free the oppressed. But as readers, we aren’t often asked to sit through the pain of what comes next. We aren’t asked whether our heroes can decide that they’ve done enough or whether they will always be fighting—whether they can turn instead to raising a family or rebuilding a society. Iron Gold asks us those questions, and some answers aren’t what we want to hear. However, it’s those uncomfortable answers that make Iron Gold such a refreshing and impressive read.

Iron Gold is a book that makes us come to terms with ourselves as readers. It is satisfying to watch a protagonist bomb an entire world to bring about a new order. It is satisfying to watch them tear it all down, to free the oppressed. But as readers, we aren’t often asked to sit through the pain of what comes next.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Tales from my grandmother

Review by Norah Piehl

It’s no exaggeration to say that The Hazel Wood is one of the most anticipated books of the year. Fortunately, this is one of those cases where the hype is justified. Readers, especially those with a fondness for dark fairy tales, won’t want to miss this brilliant combination of realistic fiction and fantasy.

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother, Ella, have spent years living as nomads; they never seem to be able to outrun their bad luck or avoid the obsessive fans of the hard-to-find fairy-tale collection Tales from the Hinterland, written by Alice’s grandmother, whom she’s never met. But when Alice’s mom is mysteriously kidnapped, Alice and her classmate (and die-hard Hinterland fan) Finch set off to find her in the supernatural Hazel Wood. Along the way, the two encounter dangerous situations and memorable—and sometimes terrifying—characters.

Readers may wish they could get their hands on an elusive copy of Tales from the Hinterland, and they’ll be more than happy to stay up late to accompany Alice on her perilous journey.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s no exaggeration to say that The Hazel Wood is one of the most anticipated books of the year. Fortunately, this is one of those cases where the hype is justified. Readers, especially those with a fondness for dark fairy tales, won’t want to miss this brilliant combination of realistic fiction and fantasy.

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Gnomon

Review by Chris Pickens

The mind is a mysterious thing. It keeps our secrets safe, imagines distant futures and stores our memories. What if your mind was recorded so that, in the event of a crime, someone could play back its memories like a cassette tape? Would doing this make society safer? Or would our perception of ourselves cease to exist? Gnomon, Nick Harkaway’s kaleidoscopic, mind-bending novel, pulls the reader into a mental vortex and never lets go.

In a society controlled by an advanced AI, everything is recorded, right down to individual thoughts. When Diana Hunter, a suspected revolutionary, dies in government custody, intrepid state investigator Mielikki Neith combs through Hunter’s memories to discover why. She finds memories not from one person but several, including an Ethiopian painter, an alchemist from ancient Carthage and a violent pseudoconscience from the distant future. The investigation propels Neith on a journey to discover the true identity of Diana Hunter, all while trying to maintain her own sanity.

Reading Gnomon is a bit like driving a car at high speed—at some point, you’re just trying to hold on. The narrative barrels forward, building feverishly with the multilayered dimensions of Hunter’s mind. Neith serves as the reader’s safe harbor, a calm and determined truth-seeker who balances the book’s many perspectives.

The deep forays into Hunter’s memories give the story incredible potency. The personalities Harkaway builds leap off the page, bringing full color to a string of existential quandaries with which the author challenges the reader. At every turn, we find ourselves considering the philosophical depths of the mind, the limit of consciousness and whether coincidences are in fact universal patterns.

With Tigerman and The Gone-Away World, Harkaway gave a glimpse of the confidence and fearlessness he delivers here in spades. With Gnomon, he has landed in the sci-fi pantheon. Glimpses of William Gibson, Ridley Scott and Alan Moore abound, but in the end, Harkaway has found a deep, sometimes terrifying future-scape all for himself, one that surprises and challenges right to the last firing synapse.

Gnomon, Nick Harkaway’s kaleidoscopic, mind-bending novel, pulls the reader into a mental vortex and never lets go.
Science Fiction & FantasyHistorical FantasyFantasy

Come fly with me

Review by Ian Schwartz

Part thriller, part romance, part coming-of-age fantasy, The Philosopher’s Flight by debut novelist Tom Miller has already set a high bar for any book vying to be the most entertaining novel of 2018.

In this alternate history, the United States has just entered World War I, and the science behind unaided human flight, known as empirical philosophy, is as controversial as ever. Much of that fuss comes from the fact that, with rare exceptions, only women can fly. Anti-philosophy activists, known as Trenchers, are gaining traction, and extremists on both sides have participated in riots, attacks and even assassinations.

Into this whirlwind leaps Robert Weekes, an 18-year-old Montanan who lives with his mother, the legendary Major Emmeline Weekes, philosopher, war hero and vigilante. Robert, one of the few men capable of flight, dreams of following in his mother’s footsteps and joining the U.S. Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service, an elite, women-only group of philosophers who swoop onto battlefields under heavy fire to fly the dead and wounded to safety.

When a daring rescue after a deadly Trencher attack makes him a minor hero, Robert wins a scholarship to Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school, to study empirical philosophy. After a chilly welcome, Robert pushes his flying to new—and reckless—levels to win the respect of the Radcliffe women. He improves so rapidly that his absurd dream of Rescue and Evac is within grasp, especially after a sparkling performance at the General’s Cup, the annual flying competition showcasing the best of the college philosophers.

His future becomes less certain when he meets and falls for Danielle Hardin, a bitter war veteran disillusioned by her service at Gallipoli. When the outspoken philosopher takes on the Trenchers, she and Robert draw the attention of a fanatical anti-philosophy group, with deadly consequences.

The wild and soaring The Philosopher’s Flight is as fun a read as you’ll come across. Miller appears to have left room for more at the story’s end; let’s hope this is the start of a new series.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Part thriller, part romance, part coming-of-age fantasy, The Philosopher’s Flight by debut novelist Tom Miller has already set a high bar for any book vying to be the most entertaining novel of 2018.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Where time is money

Review by Annie Metcalf

Jules Ember lives in Sempera, a land where time and blood are bonded into currency. Debts are paid with blood coins, leeching actual time from the lives of the poor and making the wealthy virtually immortal. Jules wants to help pay her father’s debts, but Papa is adamant that she not sell her blood for him. Desperate to save her only parent, Jules takes a job at Everless, the estate where she and Papa lived as servants until she was 7 years old. At Everless, Jules is back in the orbit of the owners, the noble Gerling family, especially the two Gerling boys, Roan and Liam. Roan and Jules were once playmates, and Jules believes Liam is the reason she and Papa were forced to flee Everless after a dramatic accident.

The estate bustles with preparations for Roan’s wedding to the queen’s ward, Ina Gold, an event that will bring the powerful queen of Sempera to the estate. Despite Papa’s cryptic warnings that Jules isn’t safe near the queen, inklings of a hidden past urge Jules into a tangled web of secrets among Sempera’s wealthy and powerful. As Jules discovers more about Ina Gold, the two Gerling brothers and her own past, she comes closer to a truth with far-reaching consequences for all of Sempera.

Author Sara Holland’s cliffhanger conclusion makes it clear there’s more to come in this story, which is exactly what readers will want. This fascinating world, built on the concepts of time and inequality, supports compelling characters in Holland’s intriguing—and sometimes chilling—debut novel.

 

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Jules Ember lives in Sempera, a land where time and blood are bonded into currency. Debts are paid with blood coins, leeching actual time from the lives of the poor and making the wealthy virtually immortal.

Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

Once more into the breach

Review by Gerry Paige Smith

After years of steering the crew of the attack ship Rocinante through the heart of conflicts and intrigues that affected humanity on a galactic scale, Captain James Holden is ready to retire. Pulling in his wake an unconventional crew that includes a dangerously volatile mechanic, a physically deteriorating former foe, former Martian military officers and a Belter with reasons to hate them all, Holden’s team has nonetheless evolved over decades into a close shipboard family, albeit a dysfunctional one.

Holden’s sudden plan to exit leaves the crew members with little time to adapt to a changed hierarchy and someone new in the captain’s chair. Before moving on to the next stage of their lives, Holden and his partner Naomi, the Rocinante’s engineer and Executive Officer, arrange to say their goodbyes to their crew family at Medina station, the central point of transit and departure through the vast ring of gates to new planets and solar systems. But before the Roci crew can fully part ways, unfinished business from a decades-old conflict boils through the Laconian gate.

Armed with new ships and troops fanatically loyal to a protomolecule-enhanced leader, the long-absent Laconian navy returns to occupy Medina Station and seize access to the gateways that are humanity’s only access to the broader galaxy. Equipped with frightening protomolecule technology and scavenged alien resources, the invading force acts with dangerous unpredictability in their quest to control the vital trade and travel nexus. Their complete domination of the station and ring emboldens the returned renegade navy to subdue the perceived core of humanity’s governance, the Sol system.

Stranded on Medina and threatened by an increasingly brutal occupying force, the Rocinante crew joins old adversaries from Mars, Earth and the Belt in uneasy alliances. With limited resources, they assemble a fractious underground resistance as they race to salvage any capability of fighting back. Unmoored from their ship, unbound by governance and uncertain about their leadership, the Rocinante crewmates are thrust into changing roles that reveal difficult truths about them. Even Holden, whose retirement hasn’t even begun, recognizes that when disaster strikes, he doesn’t know how not to be in the middle of it.

Following the crew as they’re divided and forced into close quarters guerilla action, Persepolis Rising offers some of the most intimate exploration of the series’ beloved characters to date. While Holden has a part to play, this book allows more room for the perspectives of other crew favorites, giving their distinctive and entertaining dialogues room to really breathe. James S. A. Corey’s talent for painting the crew’s intimate stories against the vast landscape of space is on full and fantastic display here.

This explosive opening salvo for the third trilogy in the Expanse series promises shocking change as longstanding powers are swept from the field and new players emerge from the violence. The protomolecule horror that ignited the pace of this series in Corey’s first book is back with provocative and terrifying potential. With whole systems disarmed and fighters in flight, Persepolis Rising prepares humanity for its greatest test of resilience—and resistance.

This explosive opening salvo for the third trilogy in the Expanse series promises shocking change as older longstanding powers are swept from the field and new players emerge from the violence. The protomolecule horror that ignited the pace of this series in Corey’s first book is back with provocative and terrifying potential. With whole systems disarmed and fighters in flight, Persepolis Rising prepares humanity for its greatest test of resilience—and resistance.

Science Fiction & FantasyHistorical FantasyFantasy

An immortal hero rises again

Review by Laura Hubbard

Nearly 30 years ago, Anne Rice promised the world that the adventures of her immortal pharaoh, Ramses, would continue. With the release of Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, she has finally kept this promise with the help of her son, Christopher Rice. This new installment is complex, sensual and thought-provoking. Although it takes place only weeks after the events of The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned, this book is easy for new readers to pick up even if they haven’t read the 1989 novel—Anne and Christopher Rice have included a prologue with all the information you need.

The book opens days after the monstrous Cleopatra’s supposed death in a fiery collision with a train. Julie Stratford and Elliott Savarell, Earl of Rutherford, celebrate their new immortal life in Venice with Ramses. Far away in North Africa, a mysterious woman awakes, startling her nurses and doctors. Cleopatra survived, but she is losing her memory. Her only hope of recovery it is to coerce Ramses into giving her more of the elixir that made her immortal. In the background, greater forces are at work as an ancient queen and her advisor-turned-adversary take notice of the new immortals and pull them into an age-old struggle over just who should have control over the miraculous elixir. These disparate threads come together to make a story far grander than Ramses’s debut, but just as compelling.

Like any good book about immortality, Ramses the Damned leaves us with unanswerable questions. What does it mean to have a soul? Is it power that corrupts, or does power simply expose those who were already corrupt? How could any person bear the loneliness of being immortal? These questions work best when Anne and Christopher Rice make the reader struggle with the complications of immortality and power. In the few moments they try to more directly explain, some of the magic of what a book like this can do is lost, but not for long. The authors are adept at hanging the answer just out of reach. Even when you think you have been given an answer, they leave you room for doubt.

Anne and Christopher Rice have set up a new world to explore in this sequel. And if you are willing to take your time and appreciate the that world’s complexity, you will be rewarded. Ramses’ world is so much wider than it was first imagined, so much deeper. This second entry into their universe makes it clear that Ramses, Julie and their new, mysterious companions have much more to offer.

Nearly thirty years ago, Anne Rice promised the world that the adventures of the immortal pharoah Ramses would continue. With the release of Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, she has finally kept this promise with the help of her son, Christopher Rice. This new installment is complex, sensual and thought-provoking.

Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

A bleak, beautiful beginning

Review by Chris Pickens

Winters in Rachel Neumeier’s Winter of Ice and Iron can get pretty rough. As snow and ice blanket the Four Kingdoms, the obsidian winds rip down from the mountains, the night lasts for days and massive winter dragons terrorize commoners and nobles alike. Fortunately for us, the characters that Neumeier weaves into her tale of ambition, duty and family are more than ready to face it all.

When the Mad King of Emmer threatens her native Haravir, Princess Kehera rides to the border to avert all-out war. On the way, she discovers there are forces and powers at play far beyond her understanding, and she is forced to go on the run. In the forbidding mountains of Ëaneté, she is scooped up by Innisth, the Wolf Duke, a man as forbidding as the land he rules. Though he is cold and strict, Kehera senses something powerful in him. Innisth, in turn, conceives of a way Kehera can help him realize his close-guarded ambitions.

The reason they sense something in one another is that both Kehera and Innisth hold ties to Immanent Powers, one of Winter of Ice and Iron’s most inventive elements. These magical, non-sentient elementals naturally form over generations, drawing power from the earth, the creatures and the people that inhabit their realm. Neumeier confidently employs these Powers, lending an ethereal and whirling grace to every appearance they make in the narrative. They are both the paint used to color this world and a reflection of the people that wield them.

And Kehera and Innisth are just as enthralling. The two ricochet off one another, giving each a sense of purpose and forward motion. Even with other memorable characters throughout, Kehera and Innisth command the reader’s attention from the moment they meet.

Neumeier’s experience in the fantasy space, borne out in works like The Griffin Mage Trilogy, shines in this latest work. Winter of Ice and Iron is dark and unflinching, but also surefooted and heartfelt. From their first meeting through the gripping final sequence, real emotion and real history drive Kehera and Innisth’s ever-evolving relationship. What a welcome way to bear out the winter.

Winter of Ice and Iron is dark and unflinching, but also surefooted and heartfelt. What a welcome way to bear out the winter.

Science Fiction & FantasyScience FictionHorror

Here there be monsters

Review by Gerry Paige Smith

While filming a mockumentary about purported mermaids in the Mariana trench, the Atargatis is overwhelmed by deadly creatures swarming up from the deep. Climbing over the deck rails, revealing mouths filled with sharp teeth, the humanoid aquatics tear the passengers apart, all while the cameras roll. The gruesome footage later recovered from the abandoned vessel is largely discounted as a hoax, but remains a driver of debate about the existence of mermaids.

For Tory Stewart, the loss of her sister aboard that doomed ship leads her to devote her life to marine studies in order to learn more about her sister's death. Seven years after the tragedy, Tory gets her chance when the network mounts a return expedition to the trench to search for the truth of what happened to the Atargatis. Tory joins a diverse team of scientists ready to plumb the depths for answers. But as hunters, media personalities and corporate players are added to the team, the real motives of the expedition become blurred. And when the sea bares its teeth, Tory and the crew are thrown into a frantically shifting mission. While everything else is coming apart, greed, revenge and grief coalesce to spark a violent descent into madness that will unnerve and enthrall even seasoned horror fans.

Author of the popular Newsflesh series, Mira Grant masterfully ratchets the tension up and down, holding readers firmly in her grip as the mysterious and the monstrous collide. Stirring up a chilling, claustrophobic undercurrent in the dark world of unexplored deeps, Grant keeps a firm grip on the wheel as the story turns its bow into rougher water. Outside the norm for this genre, fully developed and diverse female characters are at the fore of this title and anchor the odyssey as ideal adversaries of the threat below the surface. Fleshing out her near-future feast with fascinating marine science and modern cryptozoology, Grant's Into the Drowning Deep is a delicious dive for readers with an appetite for original oceanic horror.

Fleshing out a near-future feast with fascinating marine science and modern cryptozoology, Mira Grant's Into the Drowning Deep is a delicious dive for readers with an appetite for original oceanic horror.

Science Fiction & FantasyFantasy

Family first, family forever

Review by Chris Pickens

Janloon, the glittering metropolis that serves as the battleground for waring mobsters in Fonda Lee’s Jade City, feels both familiar and foreign. The silent temples, towering skyscrapers and mountain strongholds remind the reader of east Asian cities like Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. One thing, however, makes Janloon stand apart—Janloon is a war-zone dominated by magic.

In a period of uneasy peace, tensions between two of the city’s largest crime families begin to escalate just as Shae, the youngest daughter of the powerful Kaul family, returns home to Janloon after years spent abroad. Her brothers Lan and Hilo, leaders of No Peak clan, are struggling to consolidate their family’s holdings. Shae is determined to forge her own path outside the clan, and tries to stay out of the violence and intrigue. But when the Mountain clan assassinates one of her family members, she is honor-bound to rejoin the clan and avenge her loved ones.

Fonda Lee might have found a home in the young adult arena with Zero Boxer and Exo, but her debut in the adult fantasy world makes an ambitious statement. In Janloon, Lee has created a fully realized universe in which to expand, with a solid magic system and boatloads of history and gravitas.

And what about that magic? Clan members carry jade, which gives them access to powerful abilities. Imagine if Michael Corleone could bend bullets, make himself feather-light or hard as steel. Lee choreographs jade-fueled battles with precision and white-knuckle tension. Jade City’s fights flow with a sense of purpose, visceral brutality and dizzying spectacle.

It’s impossible not to see the influence of modern gangster cinema in Jade City. A secret dockside rendezvous, dimly-lit back alleys and the rattle of machine gun fire seem to nod directly to a slew of famous mafia films. But Jade City is more than simple homage. It’s characters have not stepped out of a time capsule, but instead are actively confronting how their ancient traditions and magic fit into a modern, unforgettable world.

Janloon, the glittering metropolis that serves as the battleground for waring mobsters in Fonda Lee’s Jade City, feels both familiar and foreign. The silent temples, towering skyscrapers and mountain strongholds remind the reader of east Asian cities like Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. One thing, however, makes Janloon stand apart—Janloon is a war-zone dominated by magic.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAScience Fiction

A dark yet humorous dystopia for our tech-obsessed world

Review by Jon Little

Take an experimental technology that allows comatose hospital patients to walk and talk again. Merge that with a virtual reality video game so life-like and addictive that grown men would rather wet themselves than log off. Throw in the most powerful corporation in the world. Have it manufacture an epidemic of “accidents” that creates a large population of unconscious patients to test the new technology upon. Add two teenagers and a blossoming love into the mix, and what do you have? Otherworld, the YA debut from the writing team of New York Times bestselling author Kristen Miller and actor, screenwriter, songwriter and author Jason Segel, perhaps best know for his acting in the acclaimed TV series “Freaks and Geeks” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

Mimicking the hybrid contours of our lives, which are increasingly lived online, Otherworld toggles between the world of social media, subdivisions and tech billionaires and the Otherworld, a virtual realm where our darkest desires rule—and murder and mayhem are just part of the game. Though this story provides ample thought candy for die-hard science and speculative fiction fans, Otherworld’s appeal is more than cerebral. Like the best dystopian fiction, the human element remains firmly enthroned at the center of the story, driving its action and adding depth and resonance to the questions it raises.

With its intriguing take on our tech-saturated world, its engaging love story and plenty of comic asides, Otherworld is a smart and thoroughly enjoyable novel.

Mimicking the hybrid contours of our lives, which are increasingly lived online, Otherworld toggles between the world of social media, subdivisions and tech billionaires and the <Otherworld, a virtual realm where our darkest desires rule—and murder and mayhem are just part of the game.

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