Tak! commented on A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather
The #SFFBookClub pick for September 2025
Reviews and Comments
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Tak! reviewed Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
From one of Japan's most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists, this speculative fiction masterpiece envisions …
Under the Eye of the Big Bird
3 stars
This felt to me like a much more surreal variant of North Continent Ribbon. Each story/chapter was a continuation or a tangent of a previous one, but I don't feel like the whole contributed much to a more coherent understanding of the whole picture. Overall, the vibe was very vague, and I'm not sure how much I took away from the experience.
Tak! rated Where the Axe Is Buried: 5 stars
Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his …
Tak! commented on Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
From one of Japan's most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists, this speculative fiction masterpiece envisions …
The #SFFBookClub selection for August 2025
Tak! reviewed North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher
On Nakharat, every contract is a ribbon and every ribbon is a secret, braided tight …
North Continent Ribbon
4 stars
Cloud Atlas vibes, good writing, great settings
Tak! reviewed Saturation Point by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A group of scientists and soldiers are hunted by mysterious enemies in a terrifying new …
Saturation Point
5 stars
Clever and grim near-future climate catastrophe scifi
Tak! reviewed A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors …
A Sorceress Comes to Call
5 stars
Surprisingly (to me) dark fantasy about a girl whose abusive mother is trying to seduce and manipulate her way into the aristocracy
Tak! reviewed Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis
Full Speed to a Crash Landing
3 stars
A shallow, funny scifi heist novel, basically a Janet Evanovich in space
Tak! reviewed Time's Agent by Brenda Peynado
Pocket World―a geographically small, hidden offshoot of our own reality, sped up or slowed down …
Time's Agent
4 stars
BLEAK
Tak! reviewed Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba
In this an enthralling Filipino-inspired epic fantasy, a nun concealing a goddess-given gift is unwillingly …
Saints of Storm and Sorrow
4 stars
Content warning spoilers
Despite the overt themes of colonialism and religious imperialism, Saints of Storm and Sorrow feels primarily like a story about toxic relationships - Catalina's abusive partnership with Lunurin, Alon's self-destructive infatuation with Lunurin (and Lunurin's knowing, cynical usage of it), Alon's father's abusive treatment of Alon, even the goddess's relationship with Lunurin.
The hollywood ending feels good, but I have to wonder if any of these characters is undamaged enough to live Happily Ever After.
Tak! commented on The Dragonfly Gambit by A. D. Sui
Nearly ten years after Inez Kato sustained a career-ending injury during a military exercise gone …
Nebula best novella 2024
Tak! commented on Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut …
Nebula best novel 2024
Tak! reviewed Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Joanna Kalotay lives alone in the woods of Vermont, the sole protector of a collection …
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
5 stars
Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fresh modern fantasy exploring a world where books are magical, in a literal sense. It's fast-paced, well-written, nuanced, and not too predictable or tropey.
Tak! reviewed The Tomb of Dragons by Sarah Monette
Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. When that title of …
The Tomb of Dragons
4 stars
The Tomb of Dragons is another solid Thara Celehar.
When I first read The Witness for the Dead, I was disappointed, because it had such different energy than The Goblin Emperor. After finishing The Tomb of Dragons, I went back to The Goblin Emperor again, but I actually stopped fairly quickly and went forward to Witness for the Dead instead, because this time what I wanted was the Thara Celehar energy. I have really come to enjoy how the pacing is very smooth and gradual, while being ultimately relentless. Celehar is never hurried or frantic - he just applies steady pressure to all his problems until they eventually crumble.
Tak! commented on In Universes by Emet North
For fans of Emily St. John Mandel and Kelly Link, a profoundly imaginative debut novel …
The #SFFBookClub pick for June 2025