Fighting for a Future: A Review of Extreme Vetting, by Roxana Arama

            One of the most popular literary genres in the world is crime fiction, and one of the most specific subsets of that genre to come out of the United States is the legal thriller.  Most readers in the United States at least have heard of John Grisham, even if they have not read his novels, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is still taught in schools today.  Legal thrillers are a type of story focusing on some sort of investigation, with a particular focus on courtroom proceedings or the legal system of its setting.  More often than not, the best legal thrillers are also interested in examining social justice as it pertains to a legal system while its heroes fight uncover misdeeds or prove their clients innocence.  Our heroes tend to fight using legal means, working within the system with competency.  Meanwhile, villains tend to be corrupt, either working outside the legal system or taking advantage of the system through their corruption.  No matter the setup, this is a genre that is at its best when tackling real-world, timely issues.

Thank you to Ooligan Press for providing me with an Advance Review Copy of Extreme Vetting!

Throwback Review: Project Nemesis, by Jeremy Robinson

            Kaiju, or giant monsters, refers to more than just the enormous beasts and creatures we see in movies and fiction.  Rather, kaiju has become a genre all its own.  From classics like the Godzilla films to modern blockbusters like Pacific Rim, kaiju have captured audiences’ imaginations for decades.  While we normally consider the original 1954 film, Gojira, to be the first kaiju movie, featuring the original appearance of Godzilla, kaiju fiction actually predates that.  However, Gojira permanently changed the landscape of the genre by using monsters to address human concerns.  Instead of a creature feature or B-movie thriller, 1954’s Gojira was about the horrors of the atomic age and the aftermath of the United State’s nuclear weapons tests.  From then on, the best kaiju stories blended the action with engaging themes, a trend which continues to the modern day.

The Old Ways: A Review of Never the Wind, by Francesco Dimitri

            Few stories are more timeless than the coming-of-age tale, a genre which never ceases to be popular in the public consciousness.  These stories tend to feature younger characters, either pre-teens or teenagers, and follow them as they learn life lessons and mature throughout the course of the story.  It is not so much about becoming an adult by the end of the story as it is stories about the changes we all experience when we are younger.  There comes a time in everyone’s life when they gain a certain understanding about the world, commonly referred to as the loss of innocence. Children learning that their parents are not infallible, or teenagers learning that the world is vastly more complicated than they ever believed.  Many times, coming-of-age tales show the main character developing their personality and becoming their own person, outside of the projections of their parents.  While these stories may feature young characters, they are not normally considered YA fiction, as the target audience tends to be adults rather than other teenagers.  There is an element of nostalgia in reading a coming-of-age story, and thinking back to when you were the age of the characters.

The Gauntlet: A Review of Tear Down the Throne, by Jennifer Estep

            Romance is one of the oldest genres in the literary world, and remains one of the largest areas of publication, with multitudes of readers and books being published every year.  Romance is one of those genres that can be combined with so many others, resulting in some extremely creative and unique styles of writing.  While many books include romance, to call a book a romance is something completely different.  There may be a plot, but the main tension is a result of the story revolves around the love lives of the main characters.  By blending romance with a setting theme, such as fantasy, authors can create some fun combinations, brainstorming new romantic traditions and customs for their characters to engage with.  There is also something inherently romantic about using a fantasy setting, especially one with real world influences throughout history.  The idea of star-crossed lovers is extraordinarily popular, and what easier way to set that up than by pairing royalty from two enemy kingdoms?

Perseverance: A Review of Destiny of the Dead, by Kel Kade

            Apocalyptic fiction can be a tricky story format to get right, and it usually falls into two broad categories.  Post-apocalypse stories are actually very common, for a variety of reasons, where the apocalypse has already happened and we spend our time following characters surviving or rebuilding after the fact.  The tone of these can range wildly, from hopeless in the face of a terrible world, or hopeful as rebuilding is underway.  Conversely, there are also stop-the-apocalypse stories, where the heroes of the story work to avoid the end of the world, either preventing or reversing the oncoming apocalypse.  Much rarer are stories where the apocalypse seems inevitable, but has not happened yet.  Where readers, and sometimes even the characters, know that the end of the world is going to happen, but the characters struggle anyways.  Conventional wisdom tells us that if a character wants something enough, then the audience will want them to achieve it.  But how does a story avoid disappointing readers when it seems like the protagonists will not get what they want?

The Pull and the Take: A Review of Age of Ash, by Daniel Abraham

            Fantasy as a genre is incredibly varied, so much so that it is more accurate to say that fantasy has expanded well beyond a simple genre into a overarching category of fiction.  Fantasy can be combined with any other genre in existence seamlessly, and in fact often is.  Similar to science-fiction, calling something fantasy tells a reader very little about what to expect.  To help readers understand what they’re getting into, it is becoming more common to separate works of fantasy into two general categories: high fantasy and low fantasy.  High fantasy is the more traditional approach, with magic being very common within the setting and multiple fantastical creatures.  Low fantasy shifts that focus.  Magic may exist, but it is either rare or not understood.  The main characters are commoners rather than nobles or chosen ones.  By shifting the focus down, low fantasy can appear gritter or more “realistic” in some ways, while drastically changing what is important to the story from high fantasy.

Caffeinated Comfort: A Review of Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

            Not every story needs to have high stakes, or even high tension, to keep the plot interesting and the characters engaging.  There are entire genres of fiction dedicated to the small things in life, detailing the daily lives of people from all walks of life.  The most well-known of these genres is known as slice-of-life, which itself covers a wide range of storytelling methods.  More recently, there has been a new variation of this type of storytelling, simply known as “cozy.”  It started with video games that prioritized creating a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere for the player, and has since moved into books as well.  The hallmark of cozy is to make the reader feel safe and secure in the setting and among the characters.  A sort of comfort food of fiction.  The book’s setting, characters, and plot points all work in concert to create a special kind of reading experience, where there is still conflict, but the conflicts resolve in such a way that the main characters are allowed to be happy.  For obvious reasons, cozy fiction also draws a lot of queer readers, finding accepting and loving environments within a book’s pages.

End of an Era: Review of Leviathan Falls, by James S. A. Corey

            Ending a story is always difficult, a difficulty that is only increased when the story is spread across a series.  Whether is it a book series, television show, or movie franchise, the prospect of crafting an ending that will both satisfy and engage fans can be terrifying.  The danger is somewhat mitigated by going into a story already knowing your ending, just having to fill out in the middle sections in between the first page and the last.  In some works, readers or watchers can tell when the creator did not plan for an ending, a phenomenon mostly found in shows.  But, other times, it is clear that the author has a plan for the story, and it can be incredibly satisfying to see that author stick to the plan and deliver a satisfying ending.  However, even with a plan for an ending, every author knows that it can still be difficult to create a loved ending, especially when the story in question has risen to such great heights.

Sibling Bonds: A Review of Critical Role: Vox Machina: Kith & Kin, by Marieke Nijkamp

            The franchise tie-in novel is a staple of the entertainment business, often presented as a way to consume more of a given piece of media or provide more insight into certain characters and settings.  The larger the franchise, the more likely it is for tie-in novels to be commissioned, sometimes by truly talented authors.  While these types of novels, years ago, were not very good for the most part, overall, the domain of the tie-in novel has been getting better and better.  For example, the recent “High Republic” series out of Star Wars.  Dungeons and Dragons, commonly referred to as the most popular role-playing game in the world, is no stranger to tie-in novels.  From the very beginning, when Gary Gygax controlled the company behind the game, stories were being told in the various official settings, creating fan-favorite characters that still feature to this day.  Today’s book is not an official Dungeons and Dragons tie-in novel, but the game is baked intricately into its DNA, but elevated to the point of just being a great novel.

Chosen: A Review of Cast in Secrets and Shadow, by Andrea Robertson

            One of the oldest genres, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, is the coming-of-age story.  A tale concerned with the transitions between eras of life.  Child to teenager, teenager to young adult, young adult to adult.  People are constantly changing and, hopefully, maturing as they grow older, and we all have stories that exemplify these transitional spaces.  Within storytelling, there are so many ways to handle this story, and it has been handled by nearly every author throughout history.  Characters spend the arcs of their stories learning from their experiences, ending the story wiser than they began.  There can be starts and stops across the journey, as we are all familiar with the concept that we have become our perfect selves, only for that notion to be proven false very quickly.  Sometimes, there are even characters who believe to have found the correct path, only to require course correction from a trusted voice.