Books

A murder mystery set in a post-apocalyptic world, The Last is a novel that surprises with its blend of genres, featuring a main character who is both infuriating and fascinating in the way he’s tied to the story’s central themes. You know the drill. A bunch of people are stranded in a faraway place – in this case, a hotel …

The Time of Contempt, the fourth volume of The Witcher saga, shows the best and worst the series so far: on the one hand, here is another story full of intriguing characters and complex social relations; on the other, our… contempt for the constant repetition of ideas and severe structure problems has just increased. The story begins shortly after the …

Written by N. K. Jemisin, The Killing Moon is a compelling page-turner: a fantasy novel with big ideas, strong narrative arcs, and good character development. It introduces us to a fantastical world, based on dreams and religion, where war and corruption are supposed to be extinct. Its main characters, however, start to discover that those are elements intrinsic to human …

There is a note at the start of Night of Knives, written by Gardens of the Moon author Steven Erikson, stating categorically that the work of Ian C. Esslemont is not to be considered simple fanfiction for taking place in the same rich universe introduced by his series of novels: Esslemont’s “the Malazan Empire” series is a canonical, integral part …

The Fifth Season talks about revolt with remarkable fury and finesse, building a bold and challenging narrative that uses the second-person in a meaningful way while presenting us a trio of main characters who are as fascinating as they are tragic. The book starts with the world ending twice. On a microscale, there is the world of the woman Essun, …

The Goblin Emperor is a steampunk novel that is primarily interested in its characters, relegating plot and action to the sidelines – and, in that sense, it’s a breath of fresh air. However, the book’s focus exacerbates its most glaring flaw: its characters are not complex enough to sustain the constant gaze directed towards them. The narrative follows the ascension …

Written by Dan Chaon, Await Your Reply is a novel that tries to raise questions about identity but keeps forgetting to develop them, deciding instead to focus its attention on a boring group of static, shallow characters. The story is told through the eyes of three main characters: we follow Lucy, a student who ran away with her history professor, …

The Fireman is a suspenseful thriller deeply concerned about the ambivalence of tribal behavior, with its fantastical elements amplifying the alluring side of its powerful feeling of belonging, while also warning us of its many dangers: the things we do to be part of a group, after all, can be terrifying. The story revolves around an apocalyptic pandemic. There’s a …

Written by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines builds a preposterous but intriguing world, telling a story with lots of ups and downs, but that ultimately delivers with its great set of characters and surprising worldbuilding. In the world of Mortal Engines, cities exist on wheels. They’re moving entities that are always looking for prey: here, one city can eat another with …

The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first book of the Gentleman Bastard series written by Scott Lynch, is a novel that successfully mixes heist stories with the fantasy genre, only failing when it starts to treat us with the same condescension with which the protagonist tries to deceive his victims. Locke Lamora is an orphan boy who, after being recruited by …