Reviews

This page aggregates reviews that I have written. I’ll mostly cover written stuff (especially stuff eligible for awards) but also whatever else catches my mood.

I have an account on NetGalley. Any recommendations?

Here are my thoughts on the 2026 Hugo Nominees for Best Novel

• A Drop of Corruption, by Robert Jackson Bennett
• Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Shroud, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• The Everlasting, by Alix E. Harrow
• The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh
• The Raven Scholar, by Antonia Hodgson

Here are my thoughts on the 2026 Hugo nominees for Best Novella

• Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
• Cinder House, by Freya Marske
• Murder by Memory, by Olivia Waite
• The River has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar
• The Summer War, by Naomi Novik
• What Stalks the Deep, by T. Kingfisher

Latest reviews:

• 
  My review: The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh
  I read this (epub) on 15 May 2026. This novel is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. Magic-school stories, which I suppose are a subset of boarding-school stories, are not my jam. Not anymore. I was a Harry Potter kid. Like,… Read more: My review: The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh
• My review: Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
  This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I first read this book in spring 2025, co-reading with one of my partners. This was the only book on the Hugo Novel finalists list that I had previously read. I saw… Read more: My review: Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
• My review: What Stalks the Deep, by T. Kingfisher
  I read this (epub) on 14 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I think this one takes my vote (sorry to Cinder House and Automatic Noodle, which also got this endorsement in their reviews). Honestly, I’ll… Read more: My review: What Stalks the Deep, by T. Kingfisher
• My review: The Raven Scholar, by Antonia Hodgson 
  I read this (epub) on 14 May 2026. This novel is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I really enjoyed this one, despite all the things I didn’t like. Stories about formal factions are fine but so often overdone. This one… Read more: My review: The Raven Scholar, by Antonia Hodgson 
• 
  My review: The River has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar
  I read this (epub) on 12 and 13 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I don’t like fairy tales. Funny, that I just said that in another review. It’s still an imperfect and inexact statement. Much… Read more: My review: The River has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar
• 
  My review: The Summer War, by Naomi Novik
  I read this (pdf) in two sittings on 12 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I don’t like fairy tales. Okay, that’s a vast overstatement that relies on an overgeneralization. That’s not fair. I really like… Read more: My review: The Summer War, by Naomi Novik
• 
  My review: Cinder House, by Freya Marske
  I read this (epub) in two or three sittings on 12 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. Fairy tale retellings, especially the ones Disney has already done, are always a bit of a miss for me.… Read more: My review: Cinder House, by Freya Marske
• 
  My review of: Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
  I read this (epub) in two sittings on 11 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. The truest sign of a book I love is my desire to share it with other people. Sometimes this can be… Read more: My review of: Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
• 
  My review of: Murder by Memory, by Olivia Waite
  I read this (epub) in one sitting on 12 May 2026. This novella is up for a 2026 Hugo Award. If you become a voting member, you can download the voters packet and read it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and immediately wanted to send copies to other people who I thought would also… Read more: My review of: Murder by Memory, by Olivia Waite
• What blog?
  I don’t kid myself to think I have any kind of audience, but anyone who stumbles into this site might wonder at the… 16 months since my last blog post, and the grand total of like 12 words published here. My day job involves being on a computer all day and at the then of… Read more: What blog?