Archive for the Novel Category


Exordia, by Seth Dickinson

November 11th, 2025

Cover of Exordia, by Seth Dickinson, a yellow human eye stares from within yellow serpentine coils.With 15 pages to go in this novel I really had no idea how it would end. And not because it didn’t have a clear end, I just honestly had no idea what it was. Exordia by Seth Dickinson, was an amazing read. 

This is not the first book by Dickinson that I’ve reviewed here, you may remember I praised The Traitor Cormorant Baru in 2020, in which I also mentioned that I had no idea what was going to happen, which I consider to be one of the highest forms of praise I can give a book, to be honest. Originality is one thing, but keeping me guessing is something next order.

This story centers Anna Sinjari, a Kurdish war orphan, now a completely dysfunctional adult, as an alien arrives in her life. The alien, Ssrin, and Anna, and a cast of characters that span the globe, will engage in a battle that will stretch the boundaries of how much cruelty and pain you can imagine, much less call “entertainment.” CW: VERY, EXCESSIVE violence, including, but not limited to genocide and other heinous shit humans do and loads of just really gross stuff. And yet, it was entertaining. It was an extraordinary book that I can tell you absolutely nothing about. It took me 5 minutes to write the last two sentences and I edited them…a lot. An adjectival clause is missing that, while wholly relevant, had to go. Not because I don’t want to tell you what happened…because I really want to. So please, just go read it, so we can talk about it!

I will tell you that the book is wholly relevant for Okazu. Chaya Panaguiton a mathematician and a lesbian, survives the whole book. I can tell you nothing else. In part because to write this, Dickinson creates new words and concepts and delves way more deeply into mathematics and a number of sciences than I have an even passing familiarity with. Mind-bogglingly, Dickinson notes that this book was written as something “light” in between two of the Coromant Baru books. If this sis what he considers light (this is me fugueing for about 5 minutes thinking about that, given /everything that happens/) then one can hardly imagine what he considers heavy.

I’m too well aware that this review isn’t making this book sound good, but it is. It will stretch your brain and make new crinkles in it. It is also funny. Laugh out loud “hahah” funny in the most inappropriate of times as humans are wont to be. (Edited: another sentence that would have given anything away, even if vagueposting.)

As with the Cormorant Baru series, you initially stay for the characters, then when the shit goes down you need to stay to see who steps out of the smoke when…if…it clears. 

For top-notch writing, a “non-stop action” story that really doesn’t not stop from a brilliant mind…and somehow the lesbian survives, I’m adding Dickinson to my list of writers who put their characters through it, but love the lesbians along with Fukami Makoto. So far, that’s the list. Maybe also Tamsyn Muir. 

Ratings: 

Overall – 10

Many thanks to Editor Ed for this book! I loved it and hope that some of you will too.





Hybrid Heart

September 7th, 2025

I came across Iori Kusano’s Hybrid Heart at Flamecon 2025 in New York City. The man at the table pitched it to me, but I was already sold after looking at the cover. This is a story about an idol, Rei, who is the remaining half of a duo, Venus Versus. When her partner Ririko left, she stayed…and is regretting the decision more every day.

The setting is a recognizable near-future in which implants and intelligent software create more effects than just a Vtuber skin. Think of Hololive if the people themselves and their environments are modded on the fly for virtual performances. 

Rei is stuck in what anyone will immediately understand to be an abusive relationship with her manager, who controls literally everything about her, from the calories she consumes to the way she sings the words. And every day, she thinks more and more about the partner she’s lost.

When her manager brings in a new talent, immediately grooming the younger woman with the same tactics he used on her, Rei has a decision to make – does she save someone else, or herself?

I’ve referenced this before, but there are some stories that are reminiscent of the “women in peril” genre favored by Lifetime TV, which of the 2 hour movie included 1 hour and 45 minutes of threats to women and 15 minutes of retribution. If this story has a major failing, it is this. We learn in detail how Rei is manipulated, controlled, gaslighted, threatened and her decision, when it comes, is late in the book, the denouement is rushed. If I were to have edited this, I would have suggested bringing the climax a bit sooner and spent more time with the consequences.

Despite this, Hybrid Heart is not a bad read, and if you are interested in/convinced of the dark side of the idol industry and it’s similarity to human trafficking, this is a smart and devastating look at it from the inside. Not as extreme as Last and First Idol, (oddly, also by a Kusano, although there is no apparent relationship between them), but dark in its own human way. 

And there is Yuri, in the sense that Rei has a growing understanding of her feelings of intimacy with and affection for her former partner Ririko, which drive her to make her choices.  

Ratings: 

Overall – 7

As a small press published book, this is a pretty slick volume, with cover art by the author. It’s not perfect, but it kept me reading until the end.





Into the Baiheverse: When We Met and The Clouds of Past Millennia

July 4th, 2025

Poster for the short baihe film When We Met, written and directed by Wu Chuanxin. The poster shows the two main characters embracing, the top half showing a younger woman (He Lei as Jin Qingqing) facing the camera, the bottom half showing an older woman (Ni Jia as Peng Yun) facing the camera.by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

The baihe (百合) genre, sapphic media in Chinese, is becoming increasingly popular in China and elsewhere, but, as with yuri manga and anime in the early days, translations of baihe works into English and other languages have thus far been mainly produced by fans. That situation has been slowly changing. For example, Seven Seas Entertainment has followed up their publication of danmei (BL) novels by licensing the baihe historical novel The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian (美人剑).

Now comes Baiheverse, a recently launched site proclaiming itself as “Your Gateway to Baihe . . . Literature and Media.” It features a variety of licensed baihe works in English translations, including two manhua/webcomics, two audio dramas, one novel, and a short film. The last two of these are particularly worthy of note.

The film When We Met (去年烟火), written and directed by Wu Chuanxin, is a drama set in present-day China. It’s available in an “official” version and an “uncensored” version that’s ten minutes longer; both are free to watch if you register with the Baiheverse site. (The official version is also available on YouTube.) When We Met is the story of two women in a (relatively) small Chinese town, 32-year-old Peng Yun, who owns a small shop she runs by herself after her divorce, and 22-year-old Ji Qingqing, who sets up her BBQ stand outside the shop. (Avoid reading the official synopsis of the film if you don’t want to be spoiled about their back stories.) The two women find themselves growing closer together, but ultimately face a decision on the future of their relationship. I won’t spoil the ending, except to say that the uncensored version provides a clearer resolution.

Ni Jia as Peng Yun and He Lei as Ji Qingqing both deliver solid performances. Ni Jia is especially good in portraying Peng Yun’s conflicting emotions: recognizing her growing feelings for Ji Qingqing but afraid to break out of the comfortable but confining cocoon she’s spun for herself as a single woman in a small town. The writing, direction, and production are also of high quality, and the English subtitles are idiomatic and grammatically correct; however, with a couple of exceptions, on-screen text is not translated. This can especially cause confusion for viewers who can’t read the Chinese text at 1:51 (in both versions) and 30:53 (in the official version), and thus may not realize that the main body of the story is a flashback from the opening and closing scenes.

Ratings:

Story — 7
Characters — 8
Production — 7 (one point off for not translating important on-screen text)
Service — 5 ( a scene involving bras)
Yuri — 10
LGBTQ — 4
Overall — 8

Despite its relatively short length, When We Met tells a complete and satisfying sapphic story. It’s especially recommended for fans interested in realistic contemporary dramas that avoid manufactured melodrama and excessive angst.

Cover of the baihe historical novel The Clouds of Past Millennia. It features a full-length portrait of the main character Wei Tai in traditional dress in the foreground, with a portrait of the other main character, Xu Jianyu, in the right background.Unlike When We Met, which solely depicts lives in present-day China, The Clouds of Past Millennia (白云千载), written by popopo, straddles past and present. Originally published as a web novel, it comprises 28 chapters plus an afterword; the first three chapters are free to read while the rest can be purchased using a coin system ($1 US for 100 coins).

Wei Zai was the supreme ruler of an ancient Chinese dynasty, but now she’s dead. Even worse, she‘s stuck being a ghost in her own mausoleum. She decides to take a rest, wakes up after a long sleep, and finds that the world outside her tomb has utterly changed. Being a ghost, no one can see or hear her, except for Xu Jianyou, a university student who’s the spitting image of Xu Qingchu, Wei Zai’s previous right-hand woman and lover, and even shares her courtesy name. The remainder of the novel alternates between Wei Zai and Xu Jianyou’s life in the present (including Wei Zai’s amusing encounters with Chinese social media and shipping culture) and the story of Wei Zai and Xu Qingchu a thousand years ago. Is there a way for the two lovers to be united once more? And does anyone doubt what the answer will be?

The English translation of The Clouds of Past Millennia (by hazevie) is generally readable. Its main quirk is that many Chinese terms, especially those involving kin relationships, are left unlocalized and glossed with a translator’s note. However, fans of Asian media have shown themselves willing to acquire a fairly extensive vocabulary from other languages, and it’s possible that they’ll one day recognize and use terms like a-jie as easily and freely as they do now with terms like onee-san.

Ratings:

Story — 6 (I would have liked more contemporary scenes)
Characters — 7 (present-day Xu Jianyou is less fleshed-out than the other two characters)
Service — 8 (a couple of steamy sex scenes)
Yuri — 10
LGBTQ — 2
Overall — 7

The Clouds of Past Millennia is an entertaining read targeted at fans interested in the historical settings and court intrigues that are the stock in trade of many Chinese novels, enlivened by the interspersed contemporary scenes and their occasional metatextual humor.

The Baiheverse site itself is a young enterprise still finding its way, and is dependent on support from fans to allow it to acquire and host more baihe works. I encourage all fans of sapphic media to check it out. For updates on new works, follow @baiheverse.com on Bluesky or @baiheverse on X/Twitter.





The Marble Queen, by Anna Kopp and Gabrielle Kari

March 9th, 2025

Book cover of the Marble Queen. It shows Salira, a dark skinned woman with long black hair, standing behind Amelia, a pale skinned woman with ginger hair. Salira is holding a sword, as Amelia is reaching for her. By Luce, Staff Writer

Princess Amelia of Marion has always struggled with anxiety, something that only increases under the strain of pirates bombarding their country’s trade ships. Struggling for resources, she agrees to be married off to the highest bidder, hoping to be useful to her country. That bidder turns out to be from Iliad, a mysterious country across the sea that little is known about, and it’s actually the Queen, Salira. Amelia must face this new situation, her own growing feelings for Salira, her anxiety, and a murky political plot if she wants to survive this new marriage.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a reader wanting representation for a minority orientation/gender/race shall hold that rep to high standards, and may well be disappointed.

When there isn’t a lot of something, we get excited about seeing it at all. Queer rep isn’t as rare as it used to be, and I’m very happy about that, but certain areas of queer rep are still underrepresented – cis gay and lesbian rep, while not mainstream, have a good number of options in books nowadays. In manga, BL is booming, and Yuri isn’t far behind, and we’re seeing more of it each week. But queer stories in other genres is still quite rare. Fantasy, for example.

That is to say, The Marble Queen, by Anna Kopp and Gabrielle Kari, had such potential. It sounded so promising on paper: a princess wracked with anxiety goes to another land, marries a queen and find her place in the world. Romance. Fantasy. The cover looks really pretty and enticing. So I ordered it, knowing very little more about it.

I don’t often ask for less plot, but here I am. This book tries to do too much in too few pages. It’s about two hundred pages long, which is plenty for some stories, but not for the one they tell here. A clearer focus on the unique, interesting story they had – a princess with anxiety learning to cope with it and getting to know her new partner and herself better – would have meant that we could relate to these characters more deeply, and thus cared more about them. But because the political intrigue plot is there, they don’t have the time or page count. Touching scenes where the two start break down their walls around each other and start to fall in love get squashed, and so feel a bit flat.

The magic is sort of explained… but for once, it didn’t actually need to be. The beauty, and strength, of visual storytelling media is that you can have visual metaphors, and they don’t need to make sense. They started with these, with Amelia’s anxieties emerging on the page as thorny vines and grasping hands, but then made it a real phenomena visible to the outer world. Yet this is only used once, when Salira has a nightmare.

Amelia could have shown her numeric talents and discerning eye by finding the embezzlement, but it not being part of a larger plot. Or having the larger plot solved from within Iliadi, rather than having a few pages of exile. Salira could have shown her skill with the sword in other ways. All in all, it was so rushed at times it was hard to tell what was even happening.

I would love this book over a short series, or at least a graphic novel twice the length, with enough room to breathe with the characters. I wanted to root for Amelia and Salira to win over the nation. But the political plot weakened a great premise. Especially having just read a duology involving a similar type of political plot, except there were nine hundred pages of writing to deal with all the machinations that this story was not afforded.

I did enjoy this book. The art, while not standing up to the standard of the cover, is decent at portraying the characters, and the emotions do come through. Amelia felt real enough to connect to, and Salira cool enough to admire. The background are often single colours in the small panels, which works to a degree, but does leave it feeling a bit empty at times. The sound effects, possibly influenced by manga, seem a bit odd – most of them just aren’t needed, as it’s clear in the panel what’s happening. Minor vague spoilers, but labeling a body with ‘dead’ makes it funny, rather than dramatic, as likely intended.

Overall, it was a fairly fun read, but it could have been great. It was a little like reading a children’s novel as an adult – it works, it’s serviceable, but you need more depth.

Ratings:

Story: 5
Art: 6
Yuri: 9
Service: 1 (Salira is very cool. But other than that, there’s no service at all.)

Overall: 5

I really hope these authors/artists both continue to make art and grow with it. Unfortunately, this just didn’t quite hit the mark. (Edit: forgot to put my name on it, I’m Luce!)





The All-Consuming World, by Cassandra Khaw

February 9th, 2025

On a deep darkness, two figures lit with gold, tumble surrounded by red and purple gases implying a nebula in space.I did not know words could do that.

As I read this book, I kept highlighting individual sentences because I was just so impressed with the way Khaw uses words. She had me at “Her casual numinosity is frankly offensive.”

But I begin in the middle, let me start from the beginning. I am recently on a quest to find books about angry women hurting things. I read and adored Red Sonja by Gail Simone and, in continuing to look for other stories about angry women beating the shit out of terrible people, I found Cassandra Khaw’s The All-Consuming World.

Content Warning: This is an exceptionally violent novel, even by my standards. “Gouging out someone’s eyes with one’s thumbs as a greeting”-level violence. It was great.

Here is the summary from Amazon: “In space, everything hungers.

Maya has died and been resurrected into countless cyborg bodies during her dangerous career with the Dirty Dozen, the most storied crew of criminals in the galaxy before their untimely and gruesome demise. Decades later, she and her team of broken, diminished outlaws must get back together to solve the mystery of their last, disastrous mission and to rescue a missing and much-changed comrade . . . but they’re not the only ones in pursuit of the secret at the heart of the planet Dimmuborgir.

The highly evolved AI of the galaxy will do whatever it takes to keep humanity from regaining control. As Maya and her comrades spiral closer to uncovering the AIs’ vast conspiracy, this band of violent women—half-clone and half-machine—must battle both sapient ageships and their own traumas, in order to settle their affairs once and for all.”

That about covers that what. The who takes up the bulk of the book. What drives Maya and her former comrades takes up the rest. And holy shit is this a really good, really compelling, really queer book.

The queerness here is fascinating. There is no romance and no sex in the main relationship, only a highly toxic Stockholm Syndrome, but it is still very much a relationship and deeply queer, not just because the people caught in, up, and by it, is are women and non-binary people. This is a story rooted deeply in pain and trauma and in different ways to move past it, to let it fuel you, and to keep it around, to keep burning up with anger. There is one happy ending here and it’s very sad.

My only complaint, as such, is that I hope there is a sequel, as there is a lot left undone at the end that I would like to see done.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If you are looking for the anger of angry queer folks in fiction to fuel yourself, I can highly recommend The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw. Once again, I link to Amazon here, but I read this on Libby, though my library system. Get your library card and get into Libby or Overdrive or whatever digital resources they have and get reading! Using your local library is the best way to advocate for it.