by Barbara the Bibliophage | Apr 22, 2023 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Justin Cronin delivers a compelling and fantastic book with his new release, The Ferryman. He seamlessly blends psychology, action, character study, and dystopian elements. Plus, the twists kept coming during the entire second half. If that’s not enough, I can’t wait...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Mar 7, 2020 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
I never thought about Nora Roberts as a fantasy author until she published Year One in 2017. When I finally listened to the audiobook last fall, I thought it was a gripping 4-star combination of post-pandemic survivalist epic and magical (or magickal as Roberts spells...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 2, 2019 | RELAX: Other Relaxation
I wanted to love the new Gilead book from Margaret Atwood. I wanted that so much. And it didn’t happen for me. She tells a tale that pales in comparison to both The Handmaid’s Tale book and television series. It’s not gritty, suspenseful, or driven by compelling...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Sep 28, 2019 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Rebecca Roanhorse crafts a unique fantasy tale in Trail of Lightning. The world she creates is in the near future, but has undergone some big physical and metaphysical changes. Heroine Maggie Hoskie survives The Big Water (catastrophic flooding caused by climate...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Aug 14, 2019 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Year One by Nora Roberts is an interesting choice to follow my recent reads by Tosca Lee and J. D. Horn. It combines elements of each book into a satisfying post-pandemic adventure with a magical twist. It’s more about escaping the big city than Lee’s focus on the...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Feb 14, 2019 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, RESIST: Feminism
A biographer, a wise woman, a wife, a daughter, and an explorer form the core of Red Clocks, from author Leni Zumas. They seem to have only one thing in common—being women living in a country where reproductive rights are more and more limited.Susan is a wife and...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jan 1, 2019 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, RESIST: Feminism
Christina Dalcher writes about a woman not unlike herself in her debut novel, Vox. Her main character, Dr. Jean McClellan is a PhD nuerolinguist working on research about aphasia. Well, she formerly researched language changes after brain injury. But in Dalcher’s...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Nov 27, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Often an author’s first novel isn’t especially good, but Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is an exception to that general rule. Cline creates a future world with likable characters, plenty of action, and a noble quest. What more could a reader want? It also helps if...
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