Another category down for Subjective and can I gleam anything in themes from the books chosen

Deal With the Devil by Kit Rocha – didn’t review this very quickly I could see not my kind of story. The purple prose in particular made this one fall over for me.

 Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen and Best Science Fiction - Repo Virtual by Corey J White weirdly feel the most classic science fiction in terms of adapting common genres e.g. space opera (anime style) and cyberpunk but with retooled 21st century sensibilities. I enjoyed both for what they were doing but in terms of this category I am looking for something in science fiction pushing the genre forward a bit further.

Easily crossing into why I like SF&F because they explore societies in ways general fiction cannot do then Goldilocks by Laura Lam easily looks at the world of the 2010s with a near future thriller where a rabid right wing government had pushes women’s rights ever further backwards even while environmental collapse signalled a need to find a new home for humanity. I liked the solidity of this world and are minder as we now all know that progress can easily be swept back. On top of that Lam delivers a brilliant thriller.

In The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson we get a really interesting examination of our potential – due to our race and also interestingly our class are we doomed to fail always. With a lead character that has died on so many parallel universes then surviving incarnation can see the worlds and possibilities that her own universe could be both protecting her from and also holds its own dangers. A story that challenges how we write people off based on our prejudices and with the weirdness of parallel universe travel and a really interesting pair of villains made this a haunting yet hopeful tale.

And then with my most recent read Best Science Fiction - The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez — Runalong The Shelves we get to a place where it’s a book that with a survival of 2020 and 2021 and hanging around waiting for something struck a chord with me but also its bold and ambitious in its approach to a swirling symphony of chapters moving through space, time and character perspectives. Fascinating and one I need to think about.

So I’ve two to choose for the final round– that will be fun!! Next up Best Debuts!