Erin Larson: Book Reviews & Essays

The Once and Future Witches By Alix E. Harrow   I received an ARC of The Once and Future Witches from Redhook Books in exchange for an honest review.   Alix E. Harrow’s debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, made it clear that she was a writer to watch. Her follow-up, The Once and … [Read More]

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V.E. Schwab   I received an ARC of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue from Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.   I love Faustian bargains. Adeline LaRue, a young woman living in early 18th-century France, desperate to escape her impending marriage, makes one with “a god … [Read More]

Ashes of the Sun By Django Wexler   I received an ARC of Ashes of the Sun from Orbit in exchange for an honest review.   When I read Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns series, I knew he was an author to watch: his writing was crisp, his storytelling was kinetic, and he put female and … [Read More]

The Best Books I Read in 2019   I won’t bother you with a lengthy preamble, but I would like to clarify a few things before I begin:   This is a list of the best books I read in 2019, not a list of the best books published in 2019 that I read. Although … [Read More]

New Releases: 2019, Part Three Four Mini-Reviews   Exhalation – Ted Chiang   I was perhaps the only person on the planet who was less than enamored with Ted Chiang’s debut collection of short fiction, Story of Your Life and Others (you are likely familiar with the title story because it was adapted into Denis … [Read More]

New Releases: 2019, Part Two Two Mini-Reviews   Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips   Disappearing Earth begins with the abduction of two young girls in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. Is it a mystery? Nope. Thriller? Nope. Each succeeding chapter takes place during one month of the following year; these chapters are self-contained stories, each told from … [Read More]

New Releases: 2019, Part One Two Mini-Reviews   Black Leopard, Red Wolf – Marlon James   Black Leopard, Red Wolf defies reviewing; it exists in its own world, far beyond the conventions of modern literature. It’s tempting to tear it down because it doesn’t do what you expect a novel to do, but it’s equally … [Read More]

I won’t bother you with a lengthy preamble, but I would like to clarify one thing before I begin: this is a list of the best books I read in 2018, not a list of the best books published in 2018 that I read. I tend to stay away from new releases because they oh-so-rarely … [Read More]

The Fall of Gondolin By J.R.R. Tolkien Edited by Christopher Tolkien with illustrations by Alan Lee   I’m going to start out by saying something which probably won’t encourage you to keep reading: this is a pointless review. It’s pointless because The Fall of Gondolin is a Tolkien deep-cut, targeted to the most die-hard of … [Read More]