Editorial Reviews

A lively illustrated story about the first two days of a family vacation to Istanbul, The Chaos Family (The Road Begins Book 1) by Saleh M. Hafeezullah is a delightful comic romp about the positives and negatives of visiting a foreign country. The family deals with airport losses, dead car batteries, and hectic taxi rides, but also takes enjoyable visits to a restaurant, a mall, and the Hagia Sophia mosque. Written by an impressively ambitious 10-year-old writer, the prose is both engaging and informative, and the amusing commentary on the family’s triumphs and mishaps is often laugh-out-loud funny. Some allowance […]

The veil between our waking and sleeping lives begins to fracture in The Slayer, the Seer, and the Dream Stealer, the first installment of Alan Frost’s new Dream Gate series, an energetic and inventive YA caper about a young physically disabled boy who becomes a hero in the Dreamworld. Matthew and his pals Amanda and Alex learn to lucid dream in order to fight the Ministry of Nightmares – an evil organization with the potential to destroy the real world. Sometimes Frost’s overly quick world-building can lead to confusion, but the gripping characters and high-stakes scenes of fantasy adventure […]

A pulse-pounding interplanetary adventure in the farthest reaches of space, Forgotten Evil is a gripping science fiction novella about balancing moral obligations with the corrupting force of power. Thirty-five-year-old Raith, a farmer who can only remember the past two years of his life, embarks on a daring rescue mission to save his kidnapped partner and ends up learning more than he bargained for about his shadowy past. Holland effortlessly balances tense action sequences with fast-paced dialogue, as Raith must wrestle with a dark voice in his head and decide where his loyalties lie, for an inventive work of visionary sci-fi, […]

A hard-nosed tale of grifters, dreamers, and the deadly risk of pushing a scam too far, A New Game by Frank C. Senia is a cross-border drama that bursts with tension. When an honorable white-collar thief gets caught up in the deadly maze of a Mexican drug cartel, it might be impossible to wriggle free without getting blood on his hands. Delivered with a matter-of-fact coldness, this is a relentless story of spiraling risk and sacrifices for the almighty dollar. The editing is notably lacking, as there are too many mundane passages of prose, as well as common errors and […]

A remarkable collection from a legendary Italian writer, Sardinian Stories by Grazia Deledda contains newly translated versions of a selection of her tales by Steve Amoia. Capturing the charm and tension of everything from pastoral versions of justice to magical mysteries in the mountain towns of Italy, these are engagingly varied stories of family tension, cultural expectation, and forbidden love, from the darkly romantic to the eccentrically surreal. The translations are strong, though certain phrases feel anachronistic, and not fully reflective of the mood or time period in which the stories are set. However, the prose is enrapturing, as each […]

A short but evocative novel taking place in biblical times, The Scribe by Liam Robert Mullen tells the story of major events immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus. Following a variety of characters, some from the Bible and some who are new, the reader is shown in vivid detail how religion and the world were impacted by the death of the Son of God. Working both as historical and spiritual fiction, Mullen excels at establishing the culture of the time, and providing background to tales many learned as a child. Though there are grammatical issues peppered throughout the text, Mullen’s […]

Teenage drama and supernatural hijinks abound in Wicked Blood, Margot de Klerk’s hugely original work of YA fantasy about mysterious curses, tangled webs of betrayal, and infighting between different factions of paranormal creatures. Cynthia, an eighteen-year-old shapeshifter who can transform into animals, is searching for her evasive dark mage father in Berlin when she gets mixed up in an investigation about missing monsters, and embarks on an unexpected, passionate romance that could be more risk than its worth. Chock full of exceptional world-building, unique characters, and jaw-dropping secret identity twists, Wicked Blood is more inventive than many works of […]

A sprawling sci-fi satire with a buffoonish hero at its heart, Captain Ellenshaw and the Broadsword Affair by Malcolm Finch is a wild ride through duty, drunkenness, and cosmic market expansion. A legendary captain turned lout is given a far-flung mission to keep him from embarrassing the Admiralty any further, but this semi-mythical madman can’t help but cause chaos wherever he goes. Packed with a crew of societal rejects, ridiculous hyperspace hijinks, and campy dialogue, this is far from a polished read, but it’s an entertaining binge nonetheless. A literary lovechild of “Spaceballs,” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, […]