SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in exchange for a potential review as a Hugo voter. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

The Raven Scholar is an epic fantasy - and I mean epic, the book is listed as 700 pages long - and the first of a new fantasy trilogy. The novel has been incredibly well regarded by other authors I follow on social media and is now a Hugo Nominee for Best Novel, so it's been incredibly intriguing to me for a while despite my struggles to get back into reading. The story features a world with eight animal gods - Fox, Raven, Ox, Monkey, Dragon, Hound, Bear, and Tiger - whose existence is questioned but whose return is feared to bring absolute destruction. And then it follows largely a scholar of common birth who is drawn into the Kingdom's competition for succession and a murder mystery and is forced to unravel the mysteries and conspiracies around her before the competition gets herself killed.

The result is a story that uses some interesting and unusual tricks of narration and viewpoint changing to slowly unravel its secrets in a way that feels both really fresh and really engaging, such that I had a hard time putting this really big novel down. This is the first of a trilogy, so the book is in no way stand alone, but it does resolve the arc it starts in a way that doesn't feel like you were cheated out of getting a full story here. And the characters it introduces, particularly protagonist Neema and a few others, are excellent and fascinating to read about. There are some negatives - if you're looking for a potential court intrigue setup or for the conspiracy reveals to make a ton of logical sense, you're probably in the wrong place here - but overall I really enjoyed The Raven Scholar and am excited to try to read the sequel next year.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Heart of the Nhaga by Lee Young-do (Translated by Anton Hur)

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on April 28, 2026 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

The Heart of the Nhaga is the first in a four book epic fantasy series ("The Bird that Drinks Tears") that was originally published in Korea in 2003 as an online serial.  The series is now coming to America in an official translation and I wanted to give it a try, being unfamiliar with the Korean SF/F scene (outside of following one Korean webcomic, Tower of God) and generally really interested in seeing how different non-Western cultures might interpret and play in the genre.  

The result is....interesting and it's going to make this kind of an all over the place review I suspect.  The story jumps all over the place within its chapters, often jumping back to characters' whose place in the larger story seems done or unclear before jumping again to the more prominent main characters.  It also features a journey and quest whose purpose is never explained in this book, and setting aspects that are hinted at but also kind of not explained whatsoever, making it hard to really care too much about certain beings and objectives.  And yet while there isn't a super focus on any given character and there's more mystery about certain characters that explored depth, the writing still drew me in quite a bit and I couldn't help but keep reading to see what would happen to a lot of the characters as the journey went on, even if I couldn't explain what the journey was about or why.  And parts of the fantasy were compelling and often quite amusing and fun (one bit with Kings in the final act gets kind of ludicrous in a good way).  So I think I'd recommend this one, even if I'm almost as confused as I am satisfied.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Love Me Like a Rock Song by Shelly Jay Shore

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on August 25, 2026 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Love Me Like a Rock Song is the second book from queer Jewish author Shelly Jay Shore, after 2024's phenomenal Rules for Ghosting. As a Jewish reader, that book just really felt perfect for me, with its queer Jewish romance steeped in Jewish culture and religion (and queerness) in a way that I often miss in reading Fantastical Romance books, and it was really really well done. Love Me Like a Rock Song is another Jewish Queer Fantasy Romance and although it didn't promise to be as steeped in the practice of Judaism as Rules for Ghosting it was a book I was super eager to try when I got offered an advance copy to review.

And well, I really enjoyed Love Me Like a Rock Star quite a bit. The book features a roadtrip through queer spaces and a queer romance between Delilah, a Jewish singer songwriter left at the alter, and Emmett, a golem created from clay to serve his now deceased father/master. The result may not be steeped in Jewish religious tradition - although golems come from Jewish myth and the book features quotes from Jewish texts - and yet it really still feels Jewish in its own different way from Rules for Ghosting. It's also excellently queer as Emmett is taken by Delilah on a road trip of queer discovery and the romance is again really well done. Overall, this is a really wonderful queer Jewish romance that I can again highly recommend.

Trigger Warning: Discussion of past suicidal ideation and depression is in this book as a plot point. It's treated respectfully and is part of Delilah's past, not present actions on page, but just be forewarned if that's an issue for you.