Books shelved under “Netgalley”

Space: the final frontier. Except it’s actually many frontiers. The history of spaceflight is fascinating precisely because of its incremental nature. Humanity didn’t suddenly venture forth into deep space, and obviously we have a ways to go yet. So I love reading about this history, and the Gemini program is something with which I was not very familiar. In Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon, the Untold Story, Jeffrey Kluger chronicles this program. I…

You know your girl loves a time loop. So when I realized one of my favourite contemporary authors wrote a time-travel secondary world fantasy, my jaw dropped. Has Christmas come early?? The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow’s latest, might be my favourite novel from her thus far (I would have to reread The Once and Future Witches to be sure). Despite being in no uncertain terms a romance, its time-travel mechanics are timey wimey in…

When The Great Math War became available on NetGalley, you would not believe how quickly I windmill-slammed to request it. My university education is actually in mathematics (I hold an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, a Bachelor of Education, and minors in English and philosophy). I wrote my honours thesis on ZFC set theory and the Banach–Tarski paradox. So I was already familiar with the overall ideas Jason Socrates Bardi presents here—yet I was…

Did I ever think I would read a nonfiction book about maple syrup? No. Yet when the opportunity arose thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House, in exchange for a review, I jumped. I love maple syrup as much as the next sweettoothed Canadian! Peter Kuitenbrouwer brings a uniquely suited perspective to chronicle the history and economics of the industry with writing that feels as comprehensive as it is warm.

Kuitenbrouwer’s history is smartly organized,…

Memory has always fascinated me. I consider myself someone of below-average recall: my memories feel hazy, disordered, disappointing. The chance to revisit some of my memories with perfect fidelity on a big screen? Wow. The Second Chance Cinema is that rare novel with a perfect premise for me. Thea Weiss sets it up so neatly: a couple, engaged, stumbling on a mysterious movie theatre. Alas, the secrets they’ve kept are more banal than bombastic, and…

Every so often I read a book I had convinced myself I was excited to read only to discover I wasn’t. Not “I was excited but this book let me down” but rather “I thought I was excited, and now I realize that excitement was something else all along!” That, unfortunately, is the fate of Queen Demon by Martha Wells. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for a review, and I…

Just because you’re an expert doesn’t mean you can write a popular political science book…. That, unfortunately, is the lesson I take away from So You Want to Own Greenland?: Lessons from the Vikings to Trump. Elizabeth Buchanan is nominally an expert in polar geopolitics. However, her book about the contentious history of Greenland’s settlement and sovereignty is anything but interesting. I received an eARC from NetGalley and publisher Melville House in exchange for…

I requested the eARC for Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World purely on the basis of its title, and Mark Waddell did not disappoint. This is a book that delivers exactly what I expected—which is to say, I knew going in that this book would not be groundbreaking in any way, and that’s fine. It was exactly the kind of absurdist fantasy I was hoping for.

Colin is a low-level employee of Dark Enterprises,…

Humans have screwed Earth and the only option is to rush outwards into the stars, ad astra per aspera style. Oh wait, you’ve heard this one? Synthetic Eden really hopes you haven’t. Alexander Titus and Sean Platt have crafted a space colonization narrative that isn’t so much planetary romance as it is planetary horror, with a side order of social breakdown thriller. It has its moments, and I kept reading until the end because I…

Um, OK. Wow. Rude. Seriously, it’s so inconsiderate of C.L. Clark to just go and write a gut-punch of a concluding volume to this incredible trilogy. This is one of my favourite modern epic fantasy series, and if you haven’t picked up The Unbroken or The Faithless yet, then run, don’t walk to your nearest indie bookshop or library because wow. I’m giving this book five stars and actually retroactively want to go back…

Unexpectedly healing and wholesome, Lessons in Magic and Disaster is queer, witchy, and compassionate in just the right amounts. Anders manages to acknowledge the effects of intergenerational trauma while at the same time holding characters to account for their individual bullshit. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for a review.

Jamie is a graduate student writing her thesis on a fictional novel (Emily) by a real eighteenth-century novelist (Sarah…

I was intrigued by the description of Sam Kean’s latest book. I love learning about history in various new ways! So I was pleased to receive an eARC of Dinner with King Tut from NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown and Company. Indeed, one cannot fault Kean for his scrupulous commitment to embodying experiential archaeology—this book reads like a Discovery channel series, back when Discovey channel was good.

Kean is upfront and warns us that the…

Sometimes I couldn’t tell you what drew me to a book if you asked. When I saw A Magic Deep and Drowning on NetGalley, where I received review copy, I was intrigued, but I’m not sure why. It might be the setting—the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century—or that it’s a very loose reimagining of The Little Mermaid. Whatever the reason, as I started reading, I deflated: I wasn’t enjoying it. Then … suddenly…

Like most kids, I went through a dinosaur phase, though perhaps somewhat less obsessively than some. I always have trouble picking favourites, so I can’t tell you I had a favourite dinosaur. What fascinated me, like so many I suspect, was their extinction. The idea that entire species can disappear—wow. The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs is Riley Black’s attempt to chronicle how these incredible animals evolved, how they lived for hundreds of millions of…

Although I was charmed by Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger, I was also wary. I want to challenge myself when it comes to the subgenres I read, yet I recognize I often have good reason for not reading those subgenres—and there is nothing wrong with having preferences! That might be the case here. On the other hand, I also think this is a novel that could be much, much stronger. I received an eARC of…

Every so often I need to dip into philosophy, mix in some math, and sprinkle on some science. Give me that interdisciplinary trip, please and thank you! Proof: The Uncertain Science of Certainty, by Adam Kucharski, seemed like just what Dr. Kara ordered for herself. Indeed, it’s illuminating enough, though it has a few flaws that prevented me from enjoying it more. I received an eARC from NetGalley and publisher Basic Books in exchange…

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., this book is not. I didn’t make this comparison—the book’s promo does, along with comps to Neil Gaiman (booooo, by the way), Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett. Indeed, when you see a book compared to so many heavy hitters, you should probably increase your skepticism rather than you hype. Acts of God is an inchoate mess of a novel, though I rather suspect Kanan Gill might welcome such an excoriating statement, and…

Hate to DNF an eARC (from NetGalley and publisher University of Chicago Press), but I just cannot with Battle of the Big Bang. It’s written like a fever dream of a science book, and on every page I was left asking, who is this book for?

Niayesh Afshordi is a cosmologist; Phil Halper is a science comms YouTuber. Together, they’ve teamed up to write a tour of cosmology. They trace the various theories of…

The perfect trans YA novel does not exi—

OK, it might be a stretch to call One of the Boys perfect. For one thing, there can be no One True Trans YA Novel because there is no One True Trans Experience, of course. What we need is a plethora of diverse experiences. But I have to say, considering I never played any sports in high school and know nothing about football and transitioned at…

Nuclear war is … bad. That’s a premise on which most of us can agree. However, for the past eighty years, nuclear war has been possible and—at various times, including this past week as I write this review (looking at you, India and Pakistan)—more or less likely. In Six Minutes to Winter, Mark Lynas catalogues the potential scope and consequences of nuclear war—including the dreaded but much-misunderstood nuclear winter—and then makes a passionate plea…