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Science Fiction for May 2025

by Henry L Lazarus

I’m writing these reviews of Fantasy and Science Fiction in a cold April. I hope when you read them, the weather will be wonderful.
Joe Abercrombie's latest adventurous jaunt takes place in an alternate Dark Age with a child, female Pope. Elves have conquered the Holy Land, and the Eastern Church is located in the empire of Troy. The black-magic Empress has died, and Alexia,  a street urchin, may be the rightful heir.  Brother Diaz, a monk good at managing a monastery but not at fighting,  has been given command of a group of monsters called The Devils (hard from Tor). Along with a knight cursed to never die,  a vampire, a necromancer who will do anything to get his freedom, a nymphomaniac werewolf, and an elf who can turn invisible. Together they have to face powerful sorcerers, and  the children of the late Empress who have armies of human/animal hybrids at their command. The pulse-pounding action never stops. The tale is a lot of fun with plenty of twists. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Devils facing another challenge.
On a world of steady winds, whisps can move the winds around. A few people have Kitemaster (paper from Caezik SF & Fantasy) abilities that are far more powerful. Nial Sarnin discovers her abilities when she raises a death kite to commemorate the anniversary of her husband’s death. Fortunately that brings a small self-motivated kite filled with the spirit of her grandmother. Unfortunately it also attracts other kitemasters. The Queen is collecting all kitemasters (using their family as hostages) and she has discovered a powerful weapon involving the dragons of the sky that  is quite deadly. Of course, only Nial, untrained as she is, has a chance of stopping her. Lots of fun. 

Emma Newman sets her tale of Morgane, daughter of the captain of the pirate ship TheVengeance (paper from Rebellion Publishing Ltd.) in the late sixteenth century, the golden age of piracy. Unfortunately Morgane’s mother is really her aunt, and upon her death, she sets out to find her real mother who had been sending gold and fine dresses for her. To say she doesn’t fit into polite french society is an understatement and a large part of the fun of the tale. There’s the guards hunting her, the father who isn't who he says he is, and, near the end vampires and werewolves. Though complete in itself, the tale is an introduction of the world of hidden monsters and I look forward to additional tales. 

Edie Lane takes a job in Compiegne France at the The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris (paper from One More Chapter) after staying with her dying mother in Dublin until her mother died and she was thirty.Evie Woods tells a warm tale with melodramatic elements that is related to the Baker’s history during World War II and to the ghost in the basement. The Bakery is in debt and due to be sold to a real estate company that needs the whole block. There’s a photographer love interest who is more than he seems. The tale left a warm tear in my eye.   

A man from a technologically advanced world is drowning  descendants of the captain and owner of the slave ship Esperance(hard from DAW) that sank during the Napoleonic era. Trying to stop him are Abidemi Eniola from his world and totally lost in ours, and Chicago Detective Ethan Krol who is trying to understand the impossible murders. Edge-of-seat excitement follows. I really liked this. Unfortunately no sequels are possible. 

Evan Leikam tells that  after Anji Kills a King (paper from Tor) the church sends the bounty known as the Menagerie. Each member is named for an animal that matches their magical abilities. The Hawk finds Anji first,  and apparently has come out of retirement because of the lure of the reward. The problem is that she wants the whole reward. Anji, who was a laundress who killed the king accidently, is caught between the various members of the bounty hunting team and has to find depth in herself to survive. I hope for sequels. 

Portals from magical worlds have opened up all over Earth. Asha Lopez  has been fighting in that war, as one of the soldiers with magical abilities for fifteen years. She unleashed a burst of fire that killed her parents when the portals opened, She had been fifteen. According to P.A. Mason, an Elf was captured and hadn’t committed suicide as Elves usually do. Asha is assigned to the The Elf Captive (paper) to learn his language and more about him while her superiors are involved with negotiations that might bring peace. This is an interesting world. While the tale ended where I expected, I’m looking forward to Aesha’s further adventures in the Elven world. 

Jericho James solves monster claims around the world, proving natural explanations for all of them. Jasmine Kuliasha sends her heroine to Stillbridge, Maine where a woman was mauled by a giant wolf. The trail leads to a family living independently from the town who have an advanced bio lab working on a cure for some disease, Unfortunately they are The Midnight Pack (paper from Orbit) and she has involved herself in werewolf politics. This is the beginning of a series with other types of  real monsters and I look forward to enjoying Jericho’s further adventures. 

J M Holmes has a new case for Kat & Jerry, who travel around the inhabited part of the galaxy finding lost objects. (I haven’t read the previous books.) In a solar system with a barely liveable world, there are very valuable asteroids. Because the deed to the system has been mislaid, the Mining companies don’t have to pay fees to mine the asteroid belt, and they'll do anything to either find the deed, or stop anyone else from finding it. Thus the Adventure in Asteroid City(hard fromLiterati International) involves solving the mystery of who killed the person who first located the missing deed, but also breaking into a heavily secured vault, Kat and Jerry also have to survive constant deadly attacks, and treachery. Light fun. 

Former Special Forces soldier Joe Hanson was merely stealing satellite internet, but his signal confused Bantil who kidnapped him, thinking he was the hidden  Galactic representative on Earth. Unfortunately that representative is corrupt and Joe ends up killing him to save his own life. In addition there’s a lawyer, Naomi Sato, who unknowingly has been working for the aliens without realizing it. That creates further problems and the only solution to to go to another solar system and correct the mistakes directly.  Tom Briggs lighthearted tale about The Starship from Speculari (paper) is fun and sequels are promised. 

The latest Liaden Universe tale by Sharon Lee and the late Steve Miller returns us to Colemeno where the ambient empowers psionic abilities driving some people mad. A grid was set up for Civilization, but many live as Haosa, unprotected by the Ambient and forsaking technology. Unfortunately, in a previous book, a seer has predicted the end of civilization, and bad people have evil plans to kill the Haosa. Caught up in this Diviner's Bow(hard from Baen) are the the Tree-and-Dragon Trade Team who want to make Colemeno into a trade hub, and two individuals who form a heart link. I always get a tear in my eye for many of the tales in this long running series. 

Davi,a girl thrown into a fantasy world has finally learned How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (paper) using the fact that time resets when she dies. She’s been a thousand years of personal time trying to stop the Dark Lord, but actually becoming one is a problem.  That’s because Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me(paper from Orbit). It’s time for explanation and for the unkillable big bad to come out of hiding. It’s also time for time to resume. Django Wexler manages to explain what was going on and to provide a satisfying ending. I enjoyed the trip. 

Kelley Armstrong continues her Victorian mystery series about Mallory Atkinson, a thirty-something detective from modern Edinburgh dropped into an 1870 twenty-something girl who works with Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie. With some modern techniques like fingerprinting, and a solid way of looking at the world they face Sherlockian puzzles. This book is about a Death at a Highland Wedding(hard from Minotaur Books). Hugh McCreadie’s sister is the bride and the groom is a wealthy landowner. The local constable is young and refuses any help, leaping to unwanted conclusions and arrests the groom. This is a streight mystery and part of an enjoyable series. Recommended. 

Tordotcom is reprinting both of Becky Chambers’s Monk and Robot tales in paperback. I liked the first one. 

Baen has reprinted in paper  Larry Correia and Mike Kupari’s thriller about a retired crook and a mercenary team inveigled into working as the Swords of Exodus; and Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt’s Monster Hunter Guardian. They also have Honorverse tales about What Price Victory? (hard) edited by David Weber; and tales from John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising  series, United We Stand (hard and edited also by Gary Poole)

The Hugo Award nominees are: Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK); The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre);  and  Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom). All of which I haven’t read.  I have read: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW) ;A Sorceress Comes to Call by Ursula Vernon(Tor); and The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, I’m really impressed by the latter.

There are more reviews at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm

Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and the author of A Cycle of Gods and Unnaturally Female.