Calen Bryer is coming of age in the village of Milltown, and that means The Proving is just around the corner. He and the other young men around his age will be split into teams and sent into Olm Forest for three days and nights, and the team that emerges with the head of the most dangerous prey animal will be declared the winner, and grow in status within the village. This is a test of courage, fighting skill, and teamwork that not everyone survives. Calen enters the forest teamed up with his good friends Dann and Rist, but none of them are prepared for what they find. Their discovery kicks off a series of events that eventually puts his entire village at risk, and results in all 3 of them becoming embroiled in a centuries old war. A war fought between Jotnar (Giants,) Elves, Dwarves, Uraks, and even Dragons. We've seen most of this before, so does this all add up to another great epic fantasy series or is this just another fantasy series in a crowded genre?

The world as we know it is gone. Eli ‘Nacho’ Naches finds himself involved in a new reality with the rules of a video game, the Juxtaposition. Levels, skills, stat points, monsters, and dungeons are all part of this new reality, and it becomes obvious that he and the other humans fighting for survival in this world didn't grasp the rules well enough when they made their initial choices. Food and water are poisonous without proper processing, yet nobody chose the class or skills needed to make it edible, and all human players have become reliant on the game store for sustenance. An unsustainable situation. As players level up, they must eat higher tier food, and the prices increase beyond their ability to pay. Eventually they discover the only source of food they can afford that doesn't make them sick.....each other. That's when the game world turns into a living hell of cannibalism and eventually Nacho finds himself on the menu. That's when Nacho's patron gives him a boon, and grants him the opportunity to start over with his memories intact. Thus Nacho finds himself back in the normal world with six months to prepare for the Juxtaposition, and his best friends think he has lost his mind.

What does Ann Leckie get when she combines the deep character and history of The Raven Tower with her complex Imperial Radch sci-fi universe? I really anticipated finding out with Radiant Star. Ooioiaa is an ice planet on the fringe of settled space where it’s single city has only a single export; the cult-like worship of the Radiant Star which is supposedly a temporal anomaly the blesses its followers with visions of the future. Each sect of worshippers is convinced that the others are heretics but they all agree that there is good money to be made from the visions with pilgrims coming from nearby worlds. For the Colonial Governor, it’s just a big headache until they lose all contact with the with the Radch empire and it’s interstellar supply lines. As food runs low, and religious quarrels flare up, the story focuses on a diverse cast of characters as their lives are changed in surprising ways.

There are many reasons you could be enjoying this series. You might like the story of magic returning to our world and learning about how it works along with the protagonist, Kaz. You might like some of the other human characters and the odd mix of time travelers and secret agents, or more likely, it's the talking dog, demigod cat, and/or the djinn. Or maybe it's a combination of all these things that result in entertaining stories that don't take things all too seriously. No matter, you know the formula already, and you also know that the main plot is moving along rather slowly. So does this book finally pick up the pace and move us towards some meaningful plot progress? Not really.

Hadrian Marlowe started telling us his story 6 books ago, and it is finally time to find out how it all ends. Hadrian finds himself a fugitive, from pretty much everyone, due to multiple betrayals, in both directions. This book starts with Hadrian hiding beyond the borders of human space, waiting for the only remaining friend he has in the universe, the Jaddian Prince. He wants to share his mad plan with someone other than his daughter, and this sets the stage for the final battle of the series. The Cielcin vanished over a hundred years ago, but Hadrian knows how to find them. He is also certain they are preparing for a final assault against humanity, and he stands ready for them. The ancient war machine known as the Demiurge is at his command, as well as the legendary weapons within, one of which was designed to kill gods. The same gods who are rallying the Cielcin against humanity. It's a good thing we are finally ready to put aside the petty politics and help Hadrian save us from this existential threat, right? Nah, we'd rather just fight amongst ourselves.

This isn't the first time we've read about a holy knight from a secret order who thought they were the good guy but then discovers that they're also killing innocents. Reason enough to abandon the order and try to disappear into normal society, only to pick up the sword again in order to right all the wrongs. But Stewart manages to breathe new life into the trope with colorful characters and some great world building. This is an urban fantasy with magic, mythological beings, spy tech, and some LGBTQ+ Pride.

Each floor of the dungeon in this series has a unique theme and rule set, and this is true for both floors included in this book, the 10th and 11th. The 10th is a racing format where the crawlers are split up and competing in insane race stages against teams of NPCs, and sometimes each other. Each race has a different rule set and severe consequences for anyone who comes in last. This is a complicated set up that can be difficult to follow at times, but it is offset a bit by the 11th floor, which is the titular Parade of Horribles, and is a rather simple concept. The AI that runs the dungeon continues to become more unstable, and external political forces also get involved to make this one of the most chaotic books in the series, and that is saying something. So has the story remained compelling, or has this series finally jumped the shark?

Are you ready for the Whateverpocalypse? These seven definitely weren’t. One morning two Harvard freshmen, one of them blind, an ex-con turned hermit preacher, a young office worker, a suburban juvenile delinquent, an rpg gamer, and an astrophysicist working at MIT find themselves all alone in a changed Boston. Boston is falling into ruin covered in wild vegetation and wandering wildlife while the weather moves from one extreme to another. They struggle to survive while seeking answers, but what little they find makes no sense and the whole time they have the uncanny feeling that they are not alone.

Koli and his companions finally arrive at the source of the signal they have been searching for, and in no way are they prepared for what they find. Sailing through the fog and coming upon what initially appears to be a giant metal wall in the water turns out to be a carrier ship larger than anything they could imagine. This ship, Sword of Albion, is a giant warship, yet it is inhabited by only a few people, and they are strange indeed. Lorraine and Paul Banner, who both appear to be friendly, and their son Stanley, who appears to be quite mean and very erratic. Paul is clearly a military man who expects to run an orderly ship and Lorraine appears to be a loving Mom doing her best to prevent her mischievous son from getting into hot water with his antics, yet it is obvious to Koli that something is not right with the lot of them. Lorraine is are also very interested in having Ursala upgrade her medical diagnostic unit so she can treat Stanley and correct some kind of genetic problem. Not sure if they are guests or prisoners, Koli and crew need to sort out the truth of the situation, or die trying...

Hell Divers has always been one of my favorite popcorn sci-fi series, one that definitely needs to be turned into a video game and/or TV series, but I must admit the premise is kind of ridiculous. Humanity turns the Earth into a nuclear wasteland (the most believable part) and the only survivors live in airships that fly above the nuclear storms, having done so for 250 years. It's a stretch to believe but I was willing to accept it for the insane environment it created for story telling. It worked really well, delivering an excellent series, even if it was a tad drawn out. Now Nicholas Sansbury Smith goes back in time and gives us a prequel that explains how and why the Earth was destroyed, and the role that ITC played in the whole affair. Does he finally offer us enough insight to make this whole premise believable?