• The Haunting Of Tram 015 – by P. Djèlí Clark


    Once again, let’s talk about to the Dead Djinn Universe. If you’ve read my previous posts, you’re already familiar with its setting and core concepts. The Haunting Of Tram 015 takes us back to the world of supernatural investigations, in the same spirit as A Dead Djinn In Cairo; this novella, indeed, shares some similarities with the first work of the series, and while it has a different main character and an entirely independent story, it does make open references to its events. Now, let’s see how the concept fares in a slightly longer format.

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  • Black Leopard, Red Wolf – by Marlon James


    Black Leopard, Red Wolf has been commonly advertised as “an African Game Of Thrones“. Now, the African setting is indisputable. As for the comparison with A Game Of Thrones – technically, I admit I can see some similarities, after all they both belong to the fantasy genre, both feature sex and violence, and, well, both are novels that belong to a series. Also, they both exist, right? But seriously, it takes very few seconds of reading to figure out the two works are very different in style, scope, target audience. Let’s see what we’re actually talking about.

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  • Randomize – by Andy Weir


    After reading Emergency Skin I decided to take a look to the other stories of the Forward series. I already knew Andy Weir for his deservedly popular The Martian, where he had managed to squeeze an engaging plot out of a manual on space survival – so, how well is he doing in this different format?

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  • The Angel Of Khan El-Khalili – by P. Djèlí Clark


    Second entry dedicated to the Dead Djinn Universe! Today I’ll be talking about its shortes that is to say The Angel Of Khan El-Khalili, a story originally published as a part of the anthology Clockwork Cairo, and now available for free at Tor.com.

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  • The Blade Itself – by Joe Abercrombie


    The Blade Itself – first book of the First Law series, mile- and cornerstone of the grimdark subgenre – has been in my reading list since time immemorial. Why hadn’t I read it yet? Perhaps because I have always seen it as something I had to read, something to get done, rather than something I’d particularly enjoy? Finally, I found myself in the mood for some gritty medieval fix and I decided to give it a go.

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  • Drowned Country – by Emily Tesh


    As I mentioned in its dedicated review, my overall impression of Silver In The Wood was something along the lines of: nice, entertaining, but nothing memorable. So what did I expect from its sequel, Drowned Country? Well, basically more of the same? I just wanted to see how the story moved on.

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  • Ancillary Sword – by Ann Leckie


    After the rightfully celebrated Ancillary Justice, I was both thrilled and cautious to see what else the trilogy had to offer; the first book had left a lot of threads hanging, a lot of topics still worth exploring – but could its sequel live up to its quality? Well, I read the second book and I was not disappointed; Ancillary Sword is in surely different in scope, mood, impact, but equally interesting and an absolutely noteworthy development.

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  • A Dead Djinn In Cairo – by P. Djèlí Clark


    Ever heard about the Dead Djinn Universe? I’m talking about the fictional world created by P. Djèlí Clark, combining steampunk and Middle Easter folklore. Its longest and perhaps most famous work is A Master Of Djinn – but you know me, and even if you don’t, I know myself… What I am trying to say is that, once the concept got my attention, I had to start from the very beginning. So here we go.

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  • The World We Make – by N.K. Jemisin


    Just as planned! Soon after publishing my post about The City We Became, I got my copy of The World We Make and proceeded to read it with voracious excitement. Did it satisfy all my hopes, curiosities, cravings? We’ll talk about it in a second, although my unrestained enthusiasm is probably a spoiler in itself.

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  • The City We Became – by N.K. Jemisin


    I first read The City We Became one year ago. Nor really surprisingly, I loved it: even though on surface the topic didn’t look like something I would normally enjoy, and even if some elements indeed elicited my irresistible desire to nitpick, Jemisin’s writing managed once again to carry me away, building a captivating story around an admittedly bizzare premise.

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