Friday, March 24, 2017

Nanoreviews: River of Teeth, Feedback, The Autumn Republic

Gailey, Sarah. River of Teeth [Tor.com Publishing, 2017]

Um, did you know there was a serious plan to bring hippopotamuses to America to alleviate a meat shortage? I didn't either, but Sarah Gailey did. I'm so happy that she knew this because it grew into this insanity of a novella that delivers a fantastic story that feels like the wild west as seen from hippoback. River of Teeth is glorious, but it is more than just the wonderful idea of using hippos as beasts of burden and transit (and oh, this idea is so well excuted) - it is also filled with striking characters like Winslow Remington Houndstooth and Regina Archambault, but the whole cast, really. It's great. You should read it.
Score: 8/10

Grant, Mira. Feedback [Orbit, 2016]

Mira Grant returns to her broken zombie infested near future world of the excellent Newsflesh trilogy by stepping back and telling a side story that runs through the timeline of much of that trilogy, but focusing on a different set of blogging heroes. Despite the title, this isn't just Feed Redux and the team of Aislinn, Ben, Audrey, and Mat are not the Masons, though they likewise are pulled into covering a political campaign and it likewise goes poorly for them the more they do their jobs. That's just the nature of this world. Mira Grant has a strong and comfortable authorial voice and reading Feedback is like visiting old friends that you just hadn't met yet.
Score 8/10

McClellan, Brian. The Autumn Republic [Orbit,  2015]

There's just something about compelling characters fighting gods that just gets me. The Autumn Republic is the concluding volume of McClellan's epic flintlock fantasy trilogy and he absolutely sticks the landing.  The Powder Mage novels are a blast to read and I absolutely recommend them.
Score: 8/10



Note: Everyone gets an 8/10 today. This must be what Oprah felt like during her giveaway shows. You get an 8! You get an 8! Everyone gets an 8! Also, all three of these books were a delight to read in three very different ways so these 8's were very much earned.

POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Writer / Editor at Adventures in Reading since 2004. Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2015, editor since 2016. Minnesotan.