Aug 25 2026

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Book Review: Inheritance by Ilona Andrews

Title: Inheritance

Author: Ilona Andrews

Series: Breach Wars #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be. Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition…Risking her life became routine. She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach’s secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home. The future of humanity depends on it. –Goodreads

Niki’s Review:

Inheritance started out strong and for the most part remained a decent read the entire way through.

The beginning chapters of this surprised me in so many ways. I’ve come to expect certain things from these authors and the genre in general, so to have the story take a direction I wasn’t anticipating was particularly exciting. I suppose the stuff that happened wasn’t revolutionary, but it caught me off-guard enough that I rode the high of it through most of the book.

I can’t say that the entire thing knocked my socks off, though. It was fun – a typical IA read with interesting characters, great world-building, and an awesome animal companion. But I think I lost engagement because the book tried to do too many things. It contained an overwhelming amount of expansive world-building, with lots of very creative ideas packed into a small page count. There were a lot of “explain to the reader” passages as they conveyed the many cool things about this world and its magic systems. The story definitely needed to be longer to absorb that much detail. As it was, it got a little lost in the weeds for my tastes and left a lot less time for the actual plot progressing elements. The back half of the book felt even more crammed, which is no doubt why I finished it feeling a bit dissatisfied.

That said, everything they introduced was super interesting: cave-like portals, alien species, a monster-driven apocalypse, humans with a wide variety of special abilities, and did I mention the dog? It’s the kind of creativity that makes me love reading, and I’m definitely planning to pick up the concluding book when it comes out. As the series is planned as a duology, it might be a good place to taste test the authors if you’ve never tried them, as it’s a good approximation of what you can expect from their stories (if albeit a little compact).

IA are auto-buy, drop everything and read immediately authors for me, and this one definitely delivered on great atmosphere and a cool concept. If like me you thought the story was a bit too crammed in the back half but loved the world-building, I highly recommend their Hidden Legacy series as something more robust but with a lot of the same elements. Don’t let the covers scare you off. There is a love story in the books, but it’s not a full-blown romance. Think more along the lines of Mercy Thompson and Rachel Morgan.

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

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by Niki Hawkes

Aug 23 2026

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Book Review: Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Title: Green City Wars

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

The Overview: Philip Marlowe meets Redwall in this superior adult noir tale, where all the characters are animals, fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans. In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard. Meet Skotch. Racoon, P.I.—Yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn’t too illegal, whatever that means. A mouse has gone missing. Normally this wouldn’t raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is. The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down. If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he’s hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars. –Goodreads

Niki’s Review [2/5 stars]:

A mystery/crime noir Tchaikovsky fantasy novel that channels the Redwall series by Brian Jacques?! Freaking sign me up!

But alas, this is my second least favorite Tchaikovsky to date.

I had such high hopes for this book, but experienced a lot of issues with it. It was a very basic plot that relied on the main character meeting a series of creatures in his investigation to find this important mouse. I struggled with the repetitive nature (pun) of it as well as the slow pacing. And other than the fact that the creatures he met ranged from a loquacious pigeon to an anarchist toad (which sounds way more interesting than what was actually presented) the interactions all went the same and made up the vast majority of the book.

Additionally, Tchaikovsky withheld important information from the reader for far too long. I think it was meant to provide a motive to keep reading, extending the suspense of it all, but I found it frustrating to the point where I started to not care if I ever found out what the great big secret was. And actually, once it was finally revealed, I think knowing the secret the entire book could’ve gone a long way towards making it more engaging – because we’d know the stakes! We could get into the gritty politics of it all and actually know what all these different random animal players were hoping to achieve with their ambiguous actions. As it was, it kept me at a complete arms-distance the entire time, and I truly lost investment. Needless to say, I found it a major struggle to get through, and had it been anything other than a Tchaikovsky, I would’ve DNFed at about the halfway point.

Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t ALL bad. It is, after all, a Tchaikovsky and his baseline in storytelling is quite high. I thought the tone and the atmosphere of the story was particularly good. It delivered on the promise of a crime novel and had a very detective-y feel. The style of writing and voice also worked really well for the story, told in second-person, present-tense. The profiles of the characters, especially the MC, Skotch, were loads of fun, even if I wish more had been done them. The world-building and the concept for the story were unique – I always appreciate his take on futuristic, slightly dystopic narratives. And the entire premise for the story was wildly creative, which is something you can always count on from this author.

So overall, even though the book had a lot of really good components, I struggled with the execution. I consider myself a colossal Tchaikovsky fan, committed to reading everything he has written (I think I’m just about halfway through all of his works, but haven’t done an official count, so don’t quote me on that), so it pains me to review one of his books poorly. But this one just did not work for me. In general I’d say I’m struggling with his most recent releases, not having anything really knock my socks off in a few years. And I can’t help but wonder if the sheer number of projects he’s taking on is affecting his ability to make each one feel robust and cared for. I’m hoping to find another soon that hit those same amazing notes as his earlier works. I’ll be sure to share if I do. :)

I’d like to thank Adrian Tchaikovsky, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the chance to listen to and review an early audiobook copy of this book!

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

Dave’s Review [2/5 stars]:

The concept behind Green City Wars immediately caught my attention. The combination of its unusual setting, strange characters, and distinctive style should make for an entertaining story, and there are definitely moments where Tchaikovsky’s imagination shines through. A noir detective story with uplifted anthropomorphic characters from a proven author? How could this not be a win? Unfortunately, I found the actual experience of reading it much less interesting than the premise suggested.

The biggest problem for me was the repetition. The story repeatedly returns to similar situations and ideas, and after a while, what should have been exciting began to feel tedious. There is plenty happening, but I often found myself bored despite the fact that, on paper, this should be a pretty entertaining story. The novel feels like it needed another round of editing and revision to tighten the narrative and eliminate some of the repetition. The material might even have been better suited for a novella rather than a full-length novel.

Skotch is the main protagonist of the story, a private investigator who is also a genetically modified raccoon. He is interesting, distinctive, and certainly my favorite character in the book. If not for the fact that he is a raccoon, I would probably imagine him as Humphrey Bogart. Unfortunately, most of the other characters failed to make nearly as much of an impression. I never became particularly invested in them, which made the more repetitive sections of the story even more of a slog at times.

I listened to the audiobook for this one, and the narrator does a strong job, particularly with bringing the various characters and the unusual world to life. Unfortunately, even a good performance could not redeem a story that I found increasingly tedious.

There is certainly a good book buried somewhere in Green City Wars. The concept and style are both interesting, and Skotch is a strong character, but the repetition and need for further editing ultimately made this a disappointing read.

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Aug 16 2026

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Book Review: Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

Title: Forty Thousand in Gehenna

Author: C.J. Cherryh

Series: The Alliance-Union Universe

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overview: When forty thousand human colonists are abandoned on a planet called Gehenna for political reasons, and re-supply ships fail to arrive, collapse seems imminent. Yet over the next two centuries, the descendants of the original colonists survive despite all odds by entering a partnership with the planet’s native intelligence, the lizardlike burrowing calibans. –Goodreads

Dave’s Review:

Forty Thousand in Gehenna starts with a fascinating premise that hooked me. A group of humans is sent to establish a colony on an alien planet, only to find themselves increasingly isolated and forced to adapt to an environment that is very different from what they expected. Cherryh does a particularly good job of making the early portion of the story feel uncertain and compelling. There is a real sense of discovery as the colonists struggle to survive and understand their new home. There are many colonists who are named, but the few important characters to the narrative in the early chapters are simple enough to follow.

Unfortunately, my interest began to wane as the novel progressed. The story moves through multiple generations, and while I understand what Cherryh is trying to accomplish, the constant shifts in time and characters made it increasingly difficult to stay invested. The genealogy trees included with the book eventually become almost essential for keeping track of who is related to whom, but needing to consult them also highlights the problem. There are simply so many characters that it becomes difficult to form much of an attachment to any individual. Just as I began to become familiar with someone, the story would move on to another generation. As the story moves further away from the original colonists, that initial sense of discovery and interest begins to fade.

There is a lot to admire here, particularly the ambitious worldbuilding and the ideas about cultural evolution and adaptation. I have found Cherryh’s strengths to lie in creating vast worlds and universes with complex politics, sometimes at the expense of characters and narrative. Here I found the novel more interesting as a concept than as a story. The strong opening ultimately gave way to a book that I admired but left me just a little bit disappointed.

Aug 12 2026

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Novella Review: Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card

Title: Shadows in Flight

Author: Orson Scott Card

Series: The Shadows #5

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overview: PREVIOUS BOOK SPOILERS At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children–the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth’s scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten–a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth’s history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come. For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders–the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship’s colony. –Goodreads

The Review:

Shadows in Flight is a novella that’s worth reading for the sake of tying up loose ends, but didn’t really deliver a whole lot with the plot.

I’m totally into this series at the moment, liking it oodles more than I originally thought I would. And because of that, I’m willing to read ALL THE THINGS following an ultimate chronological reading order. Ender’s Shadow knocked my socks off, and ever since I find myself especially excited to pick up anything with “shadow” in the title. Even so, I wish this book had brought a slightly more robust plot. It felt more like a setup book, giving the reader a little more perspective on the overall series conflict before the dive into the next book (chronologically), Speaker for the Dead. I’m certain I know more about what the MC will face in that book because of some insights here. And I definitely understand the aliens a bit more.

It also felt like a setup for the characters in this book. Establishing their personalities and rivalries. I am definitely interested to see how they integrate into the narrative going forward. Given that these are younger kids, there was a bit more discussion about reproduction than I thought appropriate or strictly necessary given such a small overall page count (they were earnest discussions, also, which made it even more weird), but that was my only real complaint.

And that ending, though…

Yeah, after writing this out, I do think I’d recommend it for fans of the series. But for some reason it felt a little thin until the last 25% for reasons I just can’t pinpoint… still good though.

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

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Aug 9 2026

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Book Review: The City & the City by China Miéville

Title: The City & the City

Author: China Miéville

Series: N/A

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined. Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel’s equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights. –Goodreads

Dave’s Review:

The City & the City, like most of Miéville’s writing, is one of the most original novels I have read recently. The central premise is so unusual that it is difficult to describe in a cogent manner. Blending a noir detective story with speculative fiction, Miéville creates a world that is truly unique. Even when I wasn’t completely invested in the story, I remained fascinated by the ideas behind it.

The novel follows Inspector Tyador Borlú as he investigates a murder spanning two cities. The bizarre element is that these cities occupy the same physical space, while their inhabitants are conditioned to perceive them as separate. It may be difficult to describe, but the concept is brilliant, and the strange atmosphere of these intertwined cities is probably the book’s greatest strength. The mystery itself is fairly engaging, but it often feels secondary to the exploration of the setting and the social structure around it. I have said before that the setting is the most memorable character in a Miéville story.

For all of its creativity, however, the novel can also be frustrating at times. Although I found this to be one of the easier Miéville settings to wrap my head around, a good bit of effort is nevertheless required to understand the world. The complexity of the world ramps up in certain ways as the story progresses, to where I occasionally found myself struggling to follow exactly what was happening in the latter parts. Borlú is a competent detective and protagonist, but he never develops into a very memorable character, and many of the others blend together or take a backseat to the setting and the ideas. The ending also left me wanting a bit more, resolving the central mystery but without the emotional or thematic payoff I had hoped for.

Despite those shortcomings, The City & the City is well worth reading for its originality alone. It reminded me of Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup (which, coincidentally, I had read just prior to this book) in the way it uses an inventive speculative setting to elevate a detective story into something far more unique. Both books also won the Hugo Award for best novel, perhaps fitting given the way that they creatively blend speculative fiction and mystery. I may not consider it to be a perfect novel, but it will certainly stay with me for a long time to come.

Aug 7 2026

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Novella Review: To Blackfyre Keep by Anthony Ryan

Title: To Blackfyre Keep

Author: Anthony Ryan

Series: Seven Swords #4

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: Guyime – Demon Cursed wielder of the nameless blade – follows the trail of the fabled seven swords into the troubled northlands, a realm where he was once called king… and ravager. Magically guided to enlist in the retinue of a lovesick knight, Guyime and his companions journey to the haunted ruin of Blackfyre Keep, a castle legend tells cannot be held. But a far deadlier threat than mere ghosts awaits. An ancient evil has been conjured and to defeat it Guyime may be forced to become the monster he used to be—the Ravager reborn. –Goodreads

Niki’s Review:

Another entertaining installment! We’re at the point in the series now where momentum is starting to build and patterns are emerging – I’m thoroughly enjoying every step.

My favorite thing about the series is the incredibly expansive world-building. These rich settings have such depth, and all the books so far have made me feel like I’ve consumed a full-length series rather than a couple of meager novellas. It’s amazing to me that he’s able to pack so much into such a small page count. I’ve compared the first book to the atmosphere and expansiveness that I felt in my read of the first few Malazan books, and I still stand by that comparison. It has that X factor. And as world-building draws me to stories more than anything else, you can see why I’m enamored (even if my rating for this specific book is a bit conservative).

These books are more than the sum of their parts, and I’m there for all of it. This one in particular told a story I feel I’ve read before, missing a bit of the novelty from previous books. Also, as rad as I think the cover is, it does kind of let the cat out of the bag on this “great big mystery” of what’s going on around this keep. I read mostly for the discovery process, so knowing what was coming before it was revealed definitely affected my enjoyment (and therefore my rating) a bit. Even so, this is a highly recommendable little snack of a series, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

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