Like Novik’s Temeraire novels, which rewrite the Napoleonic Wars for a world with an entire field of aviation built around dragons, or her standalone novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, which build on existing fairy tales, 2020’s A Deadly Education and the new sequel The Last Graduate are as much works of scholarship as works of fantasy. But the big emotions of high school are still present, as a protagonist who isn’t her school’s Chosen One - she knows that guy, and thinks he’s annoying - tries to navigate a lethal environment where kids frequently murder each other for power, if monsters don’t get them first. Its sheer viciousness, its grim humor, and its complicated interpersonal politics are an immediate draw. But Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, about kids at a preposterously deadly magical school, stands out in a ridiculously crowded field. At this point, so many books have been described as “Harry Potter, but for adults” that it’s easy to glaze over when the description comes up again.
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A priceless, no-nonsense, step-by-step guide. ( THE NEW YORK TIMES ), Hill writes in a down-to-earth style. the letters stress the importance of having options and working smart, not just hard. ( Black College Today ), In a direct and often colloquial tone. ("Black College Today"), Filled with heartfelt wisdom and solid step-by-step strategies for cultivating self-respect, Letters to a Young Brother is an inspirational guidebook to a better life and a book that will change lives. (Jabari Asim, "The Washington Post"), Filled with heartfelt wisdom and solid step-by-step strategies for cultivating self-respect, "Letters to a Young Brother" is an inspirational guidebook to a better life and a book that will change lives. With frank, loving advice about relationships, careers, sex, education, spirituality, and money, Harper helps young readers take that first step toward fruitful change. In clear, accessible language, Harper encourages his youthful readers to maintain productive values and never give up hope. Ma ( Severance) opens with an interlinked pair of tales: “Los Angeles,” in which a woman lives with her husband, children, and 100 ex-boyfriends, including violent Adam, who resurfaces as a serial partner abuser in “Oranges.” A childhood friendship on the verge of severing in adulthood turns literally toxic with a drug called “G.” A troubled married couple travels to the husband’s birth country seeking renewal in “Returning.” In “Office Hours,” a professor and his student share the same office – many years apart – which houses a mysterious portal. But the bliss for fortunate audiences is to discover these gems gathered in a brilliant montage that begins with a story about Adam and concludes with one about Eve. “They can just read them for free somewhere else?” a skeptical mother remarks to her about-to-be-published daughter over lunch in “Peking Duck,” arguably the collection’s standout story. Six of the eight stories in Ling Ma’s debut short story collection, Bliss Montage, have already appeared in the usual prestigious publications (the New Yorker, Granta, the Atlantic). ‘When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. The plot is thus, to quote the back of the book: It makes its point, leaves an imaginative impression and then leaves. Like Fritz Leiber’s equally brief Award-winning novella The Big Time (won in 1958 and reviewed HERE), Forest does not outstay its welcome. The Word for World Is Forest is an unusual addition to the Gollancz SF Masterworks series, yet a terrific one.īeing little more than 100 pages (and that includes a three-page Introduction by Ken MacLeod and a six page Introduction by the author herself) it was the winner of the Hugo Award in 1973 for Best Novella.ĭespite its brevity, it is a masterclass in the case of the adage that sometimes ‘less is more’. |