Book Review – Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology

Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology (edited by Wole Talabi) is a delve into a newly created shared world, a science-fantasy playground full of big events and small victories. Following in the footsteps of anthologies like Wild Cards and Thieves’ World, authors come together to write stories in a shared setting, this time one that spans a solar system of two stars, several planets and moons, and many millenia. Sauútiverse is unique in that it is written entirely by Africans and those in the African diaspora, with the rich culture, history and mythologies of the African continent as inspiration. It’s a bold anthology that sets the stage for thousands of potential future stories.

Book Review: The Spear Cuts Through Water

It is rare that I finish a book having so much to say about it, yet so little ability to express those feelings. Bear with me as I try to expound on why I found The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez to be so special.

Have You Read: Mosaic Novels?

If you read my 2024 Goals post, you’ll know that I’m hoping to read more mosaic novels this year. Last year I read and enjoyed several, and I wanted to explore this narrative genre some more. In this post I want to examine what a mosaic novel actually is, consider some of the different forms it can take, and think about why I’ve been enjoying the genre so much. As usual, this will be from the lens of speculative fiction.

So what is a mosaic novel? Let’s turn to the cliche of the dictionary definition:

a book of short stories that share a common setting or characters and which taken together form a larger narrative

Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

The Wikipedia entry is similar but expands this somewhat, ending with – ‘with the individual chapters, however, refracting a plurality of viewpoints and styles.’ I should warn readers now that this is the extent of the research I have done for this post – what follows is based on my personal understanding and reading experiences.

2024 Goals

As 2024 begins, I like to consider the year ahead, and specifically what I want my reading year to look like.

When it comes to goals there are a few things I consider. Firstly, I want goals that encourage me to read things I wouldn’t otherwise prioritize. On the other hand, it’s also helpful to have goals that remind me to read the things that bring me joy already. Finally, I don’t want the goals to get in the way of me enjoying books. There are no forced reads here – DNFing a book is as much a victory as finishing one, and I’ll never put a book or author on my goals that I don’t think I’ll like.

2023 End of Year Review: General Observations

Welcome to my End of Year Review, where I will muddle along about the books that I’ve read this year.

Top Ten Books Read This Year (2023)

It’s that time of year again! Where I go through all the books I’ve read this year and dig out my very best favourites, then relentlessly compliment those same books for making this year’s reading so great. This year was a particularly difficult one to narrow down, with five books being no brainers at the top of the list, and probably about fifteen or so more being really good.

What’s interesting this year is how many sci-fi books have made the list – I think it speaks to my shifting tastes that sci-fi is getting more and more priority as I’m finding a lot of fantasy failing to excite me quite as much. There are exceptions to this rule, as you’ll see further down the list. I’ve also found myself more interested in books that play around with narrative, with three mosaic-style novels making the list. I usually try not to include more than one book from a series, although this has not been necessary this year.

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Malazan: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – A Rant

Have you heard of Malazan: Book of the Fallen? If you frequent the fantasy subreddit you almost certainly have, since it will often get recommended for almost every imaginable request. Steven Erikson’s magnum opus is well known for being one of the most expansive and narratively packed series in epic fantasy, with over 400 POV characters, and action spanning several continents and magical dimensions across ten books averaging over 1000 pages each (not counting the several prequels, spin-off novellas, sequels and companion series, some written by co-creator of the setting Ian Esslemont).

I first started reading Malazan thirteen years ago, where I finished the first two books. Then again ten years ago where I managed to get to book seven. Finally, four years ago I read the series from start to finish in three months. Since then I’ve gone on multiple rants about the series to friends and anyone who cares to listen. There’s a lot to love in this series, but also a lot of off-putting elements that make the series hard to recommend. I’m going to try and collect the core themes of my rants together now, in the hopes that I get most of it out of my system (and have somewhere to point people if they want to know what I have to say).

Some things to say before I begin – this is not an exhaustive review of the series, nor is it an admonition of the writer or anyone who loves the series and it doesn’t present a coherent or well researched critique of the series from any literary viewpoint. This is a rant about how I feel about the books, nothing more or less. There will be varying degrees of spoilers, especially regarding the general fate of certain characters and the overall shape of the series.

Book Review: Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead

K.J. Parker leans into his niche with this witty low fantasy novel centred around a crafty battlefield scavenger with a complicated past.

Book Review: The Sword Defiant

The Sword Defiant by Gareth Hanrahan takes a simple premise and makes it dark. What happens when the dark lord is defeated and all the people who defeated him are slowly corrupted by the power he leaves in his wake. It didn’t always hit the mark for me, but I enjoyed the ride.

Book Review: And Put Away Childish Things

And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a witty and clever novella that subverts portal fantasy in the vein of Narnia.