book review

Zen Cho’s Sorcerer To The Crown Shows What Happens When Politics And Magic Mix

In Sorcerer to the Crown, magic in England has been in decline, and the one respected Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers is an institution tasked with overseeing magic in the nation. Zen Cho’s novel is a powerful, deliberate story of how politics and magic come together, and what consequences might lie when they do. Some…

io9 Andrew Liptak Nov 15

This New Space Colonization Novel Will Mess With Your Head In The Best Possible Way

Planetfall by Emma Newman isn’t what you’re expecting from a book about humans colonizing another planet. It’s much weirder, and in the end, a fair bit darker. This is a story about human failings—and the fact that we expect to understand alien beings, when we can’t even understand each other. Some spoilers ahead… In Planetfall,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Nov 13

Lightless Is A Fascinating Thriller Set Far Out In The Solar System

Set in the edges of the Solar System, a pair of thieves board an experimental military spacecraft and are promptly captured, but not before setting into motion an intense plot in one of the best hard SF novels that you’ll read this year. Lightless, the debut novel by C.A. Higgins, is an exciting and deliberate…

io9 Andrew Liptak Nov 1

Two Science Fiction Novels You Must Read to Deal with Election Season

The US presidential debates are eroding our souls, and the partisan mudslinging has only just begun. That’s why it’s time to escape into the world of the future, or alternate history, to see how truly twisted politics can get. Two new novels will take you there. Austin Grossman, author of the melancholy gamer novel YOU,…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Oct 28

Mummy Cat Is The Utterly Adorable Undead Creature That Your Kids Will Love

Everybody loves spooky creatures and weird apparitions—but a new book about a mummified cat, called appropriately Mummy Cat, is especially wonderful. Writer Marcus Ewert and artist Lisa Brown have created a lovely children’s book about a cat who comes back every 100 years. In Mummy Cat, a loyal feline companion was mummified with his queen,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Oct 21

George R.R. Martin Shows Us a Whole New Side of The Seven Kingdoms

George R.R. Martin’s epic-fantasy setting of Westeros is highly addictive, and for good reason. It’s such a richly imagined world, with such a rich backstory, there’s enough material to obsess about for years. And his new book, collecting his “Dunk and Egg” stories, showcases just what a great setting it is. Martin’s new book, A…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Oct 6

The Entropy of Bones Is One of the Year’s Best Action Movies, Except It’s a Book

Sometimes the best books are the ones which just kick your ass on the first page and keep thwacking you up one side of the page and down the other, for pages and pages. That’s pretty much what The Entropy of Bones by Ayize Jama-Everett is like. We loved Jama-Everett’s first novel The Liminal People,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Oct 5

Locke & Key Is Just As Haunting As An Audio Drama As It Is A Graphic Novel

Audible is taking one of the best comics in recent years has turned it into a dramatic audio presentation: Locke and Key. The production is a stunning adaptation and it proves that Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s horrifying graphic novel series is just as terrifying off the pages. Best of all? It’ll be a free…

io9 Andrew Liptak Oct 3

The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet Is This Year’s Most Delightful Space Opera

There’s no two ways around it: Becky Chamber’s debut novel, The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet is probably the most fun that you’ll have with a space opera novel this year. It’s exciting, adventurous, and the cozy sort of space opera that seems to be in short supply lately. The Long Way To…

io9 Andrew Liptak Sep 12

The Worst Hard Time Is The Most Heart-Breaking Kind of Apocalyptic Story

A group of disparate explorers settle in a bountiful alien land. Through technology they transform the world, making it beautiful, hospitable, profitable. And little by little, they doom themselves. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan, is a sweeping, epic portrait of the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 9

The Final Discworld Book Is Bittersweet For Many Reasons

The latest Discworld book, The Shepherd’s Crown, doesn’t just have the task of wrapping up the story of Tiffany Aching, trainee witch. It’s also the very last Discworld book, since author Terry Pratchett sadly passed away earlier this year. The good news is, this is a solid ending to both stories. Some minor spoilers ahead…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Sep 8

In Jonathan Franzen’s New Novel Purity, the Internet Is the Villain

Is Jonathan Franzen trolling us? The Great Literary Curmudgeon famously detests the internet, and in his latest novel, Purity, the internet plays a central role to the pulpy plot: It’s the villain. (Spoilers ahead. A lot of them.) Franzen’s protagonist is a capital-M Millennial called Pip. (Full name: Purity. I know.) She’s recruited to work…

Books & Comics Kate Knibbs Sep 1

A Critical Look at Where Classic Mythology and Science Fiction Collide

I know in the Venn diagram of “science fiction lovers” and “classic Greek and Roman literature,” there’s not exactly a ton of overlap. But for those like myself who are fans of both, or for those who enjoy taking a more scholarly examination of scifi, have I got a book for you. It’s Classical Traditions…

io9 Rob Bricken Sep 1

Read Over The Entire History of Gaming In A Brief History Of Video Games

I’ve been fascinated by all things ‘Geek History’ in the last couple of years, and recently, I’ve been trying to read up a bit more on the history of gaming. If that’s something that you’d like to read up on a bit more, Richard Stanton’s A Brief History of Video Games: The Evolution Of A…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 29

Masters Of FX Is A Great Look At How Your Favorite Films Came Together

Earlier this week, we took a look at James Cameron’s foreword to Masters of FX: Behind the Scenes with Geniuses of Visual and Special Effects, by Ian Failes. The entire book is an outstanding compendium of behind-the-scenes information about how all of your favorite films came together. In this book, Failes brings together a really…

io9 Andrew Liptak Aug 22

Here’s A Book That Adds a Fascinating New Dimension to Posthuman Space Opera

By now, the stories of humans transcending their limitations in space have become pretty much ubiquitous. We’ve had space cyborgs, space immortals, and tons of other posthumans in space. But the new novel Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper still represents a fascinating new approach. In Edge of Dark, a young woman named Nona goes…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Aug 19

Deadpool: Paws Proves Deadpool Can Really Work Outside A Comic Book

The idea of a Deadpool novel is exactly as strange as it sounds: how can one of comics’ most comic-booky heroes work in a medium that’s so completely different? But what’s even stranger is that Deadpool: Paws actually works … when it stops trying to be a comic book without the pictures. Paws is certainly…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook Aug 14

Two Books You Must Read If You Care About the Future of Humanity in Space

Two of the most celebrated authors in science fiction, Kim Stanley Robinson and Neal Stephenson, released epic novels this summer about our future lives in space. And yet both Robinson’s Aurora and Stephenson’s Seveneves are actually about why we may never be able to leave Earth behind. It’s not that these novels aren’t fantastic space…

Space & Spaceflight Annalee Newitz Aug 13

It’s Survival Of The Fittest In John Scalzi’s The End Of All Things

It’s pretty safe to say that John Scalzi’s career will be defined by his Old Man’s War series. The novels have consistently been his strongest novels, and with his latest entry in the series, The End Of All Things, he’s demonstrated that they’ve become more nuanced and interesting as time goes on. Some spoilers ahead.…

Books & Comics Andrew Liptak Aug 9

How Does The Scarlet Gospels Stack Up To Clive Barker’s Horror Classics?

Sometimes, making a name for yourself, whether in Hell or in writing, can be a double edged sword. Sure, there’s all that warm and fuzzy “going-where-everybody-knows-your-name” type stuff.. But along with the good comes the not so good. Or perhaps more accurately, what comes with success is the increasing pressure of meeting and exceeding expectations…

Movies Jason Stewart Aug 7

Zen Cho’s Sorcerer To The Crown Shows What Happens When Politics And Magic Mix

This New Space Colonization Novel Will Mess With Your Head In The Best Possible Way

Lightless Is A Fascinating Thriller Set Far Out In The Solar System

Two Science Fiction Novels You Must Read to Deal with Election Season

Mummy Cat Is The Utterly Adorable Undead Creature That Your Kids Will Love

George R.R. Martin Shows Us a Whole New Side of The Seven Kingdoms

The Entropy of Bones Is One of the Year’s Best Action Movies, Except It’s a Book

Locke & Key Is Just As Haunting As An Audio Drama As It Is A Graphic Novel

The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet Is This Year’s Most Delightful Space Opera

The Worst Hard Time Is The Most Heart-Breaking Kind of Apocalyptic Story

The Final Discworld Book Is Bittersweet For Many Reasons

In Jonathan Franzen’s New Novel Purity, the Internet Is the Villain

A Critical Look at Where Classic Mythology and Science Fiction Collide

Read Over The Entire History of Gaming In A Brief History Of Video Games

Masters Of FX Is A Great Look At How Your Favorite Films Came Together

Here’s A Book That Adds a Fascinating New Dimension to Posthuman Space Opera

Deadpool: Paws Proves Deadpool Can Really Work Outside A Comic Book

Two Books You Must Read If You Care About the Future of Humanity in Space

It’s Survival Of The Fittest In John Scalzi’s The End Of All Things

How Does The Scarlet Gospels Stack Up To Clive Barker’s Horror Classics?

KAMRUI’s High-Performance Hyper H2 Mini PC Hits Its Lowest Price for Amazon Prime Members Only (32GB RAM, 1TB SSD)

Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Movie Has Found Some New Writers

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

LEGO Botanicals Artificial Wildflower Bouquet Quietly Drops to Record Low Earlier Than Expected Ahead of Mother’s Day

Artemis 2 Day 7: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Blumhouse Wants You to Remember Brendan Fraser Isn’t in This ‘Mummy’

Amazon Cuts Fire TV Stick 4K Plus Back to 40% Off in a Clearance Push, Cheapest Smart TV Upgrade

Sony Soundbar With Bass Reflex Speaker Is Now as Cheap as Budget Earbuds After a Sudden Price Drop

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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