Tag Archives: Reading Well

Reading Well: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2023) is a supernatural thriller set in the burgeoning film industry of late 20th century Mexico City. The novel revolves around a lifelong friendship that always dances on the edge of (potentially doomed) romance between … Continue reading

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Reading Well: The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Yume Kitasei‘s 2023 novel, The Deep Sky, is a welcome addition to the “generation ship” genre, aimed at a YA audience (if the term “generation ship” is unfamiliar, it refers to stories set on spaceships designed for extraordinarily long–usually multi-generational–journeys, … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Fallen Gods trilogy by Hannah Kaner

I am a little jealous of people who will get to read Hannah Kaner‘s Fallen Gods Trilogy consecutively. The three volumes are Godkiller (2023), Sunbringer (2024), and Faithbreaker (2025). Bottom line here, they’re very good. The trilogy is expansive, centering … Continue reading

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Reading Well: The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

About the same time I finished Samantha Shannon‘s 2019 novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree, I decided to wait to publish things on Reading Well until series of books were complete (or, at least, as complete as current information … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler

{ This is hilarious. I actually wrote about Lilith’s Brood way back in 2016, but hadn’t remembered that when I re-read them with a good friend recently. So, yeah. Here’s the original write up. It’s different, and I’m intrigued by … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Celine by Peter Heller

In my writeup of Peter Heller‘s The Last Ranger, I wrote Heller’s gifts are in his descriptions of the natural world and in his explorations of alternate modes of contemporary masculinity, and both are on full display in The Last Ranger. … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Vengeance is Mine by Maria NDiaye

Maria Ndiaye‘s 2023 novel Vengeance is Mine was recommended by a few best-of lists at the end of 2024, so I hopped on. This is a pretty short review as, sad to say, it just never came together for me. … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Tremor by Teju Cole

Almost a decade ago (!), I wrote about Teju Cole‘s 2012 novel, Open City. Many of those same comments apply to Tremor, published in 2023. Cole’s ability to pay attention to characters and their emotional lives on the one hand … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer

I have previously written about Jeff Vandermeer‘s Southern Reach Trilogy, as well as his short-story collection, The Third Bear. Like many of his fans, I figured we were done with the Southern Reach, but no: 2024 saw the publication of … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway

Nick Harkaway’s Gnomon remains one of my favorite novels, and I’ve been meaning to read more of his work since then. His 2023 noir sc-fi, Titanium Noir, does not disappoint. It’s very much what I would call contemporary noir: dark … Continue reading

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