Featuring: Jackson Ford, Phoebe Greenwood, James Logan, Alex Pavesi, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Charlotte Runcie, Eric Smith & Andrew Bricker, Maggie Stiefvater, Vladislav Zubok
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Jackson Ford, THE BONE RAIDERS (Orbit)
The start of a no‑holds‑barred, action‑packed fantasy series from the always irreverent Jackson Ford where a group of charmingly-named Bone Raiders harness the power of gigantic, fire-breathing lizards to defend their homeland from an invading enemy.
You don’t mess with the Rakada. The people living in the Great Grass call them the Bone Raiders, from their charming habit of displaying the bones of those they kill on their horses and armor.
But being a raider is tough these days. There’s a new High Chieftain ruling the Grass. He’s had it with the raider clans, and plans to use his sizeable military to do something about it. And then there are the araatan: fire-breathing lizards the size of elephants – one of which happens to turn up in a cute little settlement the Rakada are in the middle of raiding.
Sayana is a Rakada scout, and in the chaos of the raid-gone-wrong, she finds herself on the back of a rampaging araatan. Whoops. In a panic, she discovers she can steer it, like you would a horse. It’s frankly amazing she survives any of this. Once Sayana gets an idea into her head, it’s awful hard to dislodge. And now she has a doozy: what if the Rakada could swap their horses for araatan? Train the lizards to act as mounts? That would even the odds against the High Chieftain, no?
The first novel in a new fantasy series, the Rakata, from Jackson Ford! An author everyone should check out if they like fun, gripping fantasy fiction. Really looking forward to this one. The Bone Raiders is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on August 12th.
Also on CR: Interview with Jackson Ford (2020); Interview with Rob Boffard (2015); Guest Post on “What to Do if You’re Set Adrift in Space”
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Phoebe Greenwood, VULTURE (Europa Editions)
Catch-22 on speed and set in the Middle East, Vulture is a fast-paced satire of the war news industry and a tragi-comic coming-of-age novel.
In November 2012, Sara Byrne, an ambitious young journalist, is sent to Gaza to cover a war from The Beach. At the four-star hotel, staff work tirelessly to provide safety, comfort and generator-powered internet for the world’s media, even as their own homes and families are under threat.
Sara is determined to use this war to launch her stalling career and win back her lover. So, when her fixer Nasser refuses to set up the dangerous story she thinks will make her name, she turns instead to Fadi, the youngest member of a powerful militant family. Driven by the demons of a damaging, entitled, childhood, Sara will stop at nothing to prove herself, even if it brings disaster upon those around her.
Greenwood’s debut novel draws readers into the dark heart of Western media, and with audacity and humour, questions its complicity in the tragedies that feed it.
“A darkly funny, heart-wrenching satire that tears through the guts of the war news industry.” This sounds great, and appears to be a novel that lives at the nexus of a few topics and issues that are of particular interest to me. Vulture is due to be published by Europa Editions in North America and in the UK, on August 12th.
Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received from publisher
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Karen Hao, EMPIRE OF AI (Penguin Press)
From a brilliant longtime AI insider with intimate access to the world of Sam Altman’s OpenAI from the beginning, an eye-opening account of arguably the most fateful tech arms race in history, reshaping the planet in real time, from the cockpit of the company that is driving the frenzy
When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces. What could go wrong?
Over time, Hao began to wrestle ever more deeply with that question. Increasingly, she realized that the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that its vision of success requires an almost unprecedented amount of resources: the “compute” power of high-end chips and the processing capacity to create massive large language models, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans “cleaning up” that data for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the usage of energy and water underlying it all. The truth is that we have entered a new and ominous age of empire: only a small handful of globally scaled companies can even enter the field of play. At the head of the pack with its ChatGPT breakthrough, how would OpenAI resist such temptations?
Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Armed with Microsoft’s billions, OpenAI is setting a breakneck pace, chased by a small group of the most valuable companies in human history—toward what end, not even they can define. All this time, Hao has maintained her deep sourcing within the company and the industry, and so she was in intimate contact with the story that shocked the entire tech industry—Altman’s sudden firing and triumphant return. The behind-the-scenes story of what happened, told here in full for the first time, is revelatory of who the people controlling this technology really are. But this isn’t just the story of a single company, however fascinating it is. The g forces pressing down on the people of OpenAI are deforming the judgment of everyone else too—as such forces do. Naked power finds the ideology to cloak itself; no one thinks they’re the bad guy. But in the meantime, as Hao shows through intrepid reporting on the ground around the world, the enormous wheels of extraction grind on. By drawing on the viewpoints of Silicon Valley engineers, Kenyan data laborers, and Chilean water activists, Hao presents the fullest picture of AI and its impact we’ve seen to date, alongside a trenchant analysis of where things are headed. An astonishing eyewitness view from both up in the command capsule of the new economy and down where the real suffering happens, Empire of AI pierces the veil of the industry defining our era.
“A.I.” is inescapable at the moment, it seems. It’s infuriating, and the flood of gushing praise and response reads like something only ChatGPT could write about itself. In Karen Hao’s book, the author takes a look at OpenAI and the people behind this juggernaut of tech. Hopefully it’ll be a balanced and/or clear-eyed account. Looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. Empire of AI is out now, published by Penguin Press in North America and Allen Lane in the UK.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, BlueSky
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James Logan, THE BLACKFIRE BLADE (Tor Books)
Winter has come early to Korslakov, City of Spires, and Lukan Gardova has arrived with it. Most visitors to this famous city of artifice seek technological marvels, or alchemical ingenuity. Lukan only desires the unknown legacy his father has left for him, in the vaults of the Blackfire Bank.
But when Lukan’s key to the vault is stolen by a mysterious thief known as the Rook, he and his friends race to win it back — and find themselves trapped in a web of murder and deceit. In desperation, Lukan requests the help of Lady Marni Volkova, scion to Korslakov’s most powerful family.
Yet Lady Marni has secrets of her own. Worse, she has plans for Lukan and his friends. Plans that involve a journey into Korslakov’s dark past, in search of a long-lost alchemical formula that could prove to be the city’s greatest discovery… or its destruction.
The second novel in Logan’s well-received Last Legacy fantasy series. I confess, I haven’t had a chance to read the first book, yet, but I fully intend to get to it this year. Perhaps during the summer. The Blackfire Blade is due to be published by Tor Books in North America (November 4th) and Arcadia Books in the UK (November 6th).
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Evan Osnos, THE HAVES AND HAVE-YACHTS (Scribner)
A timely and provocative collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess, providing a wry, unfiltered look at how the ultrarich shape — and sometimes warp — our social and political landscape.
The ultrarich hold more of America’s wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. Here, Evan Osnos’s incisive reportage yields an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges, and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.
With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, this is a book about the indulgences, incentives, and psychological distortions that define our economic age. In each essay, Osnos delves into a world that is rarely visible, from the outrageous to the fabulous to the ridiculous: a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus; the ethos behind the largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history; the confessions of disgraced titans in a “white-collar support group.” A celebrated political reporter, Osnos delves into the unprecedented Washington influence of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires, about their power and the explosive backlash it stirs.
Originally published in The New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of raw ambition, unimaginable fortune, and the rise of America’s modern oligarchy. Osnos’s essays are a wake-up call — a case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultrarich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling, and eye-opening, The Haves and the Have-Yachts couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world.
I’m a long-time reader of Evan Osnos’s work — his name on journalism and books has always been a mark of quality. His latest book sounded particularly interesting, and I pre-ordered it right away. The Haves and Have-Yachts is out now, published by Scribner in North America and Simon & Schuster in the UK.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, BlueSky
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Alex Pavesi, INK RED RIBBON (Henry Holt)
A wickedly plotted new thriller, in which a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder…
Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention called Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other.
Points are awarded for making the murders feel real. Of course, it’s only natural for each friend to use what they know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once they’ve put it in a story, each secret is out. It’s not long before the game reawakens old resentments and brings private matters into the light of day. With each fictional crime, someone new gets a very real motive.
Can all six friends survive the weekend, or will truth turn out to be deadlier than fiction?
I’ve enjoyed a few of Alex Pavesi’s novels in the past, so when I was offered this one for review I thought I’d give it a try as well. Looking forward to reading it. Ink Red Ribbon is due to be published by Henry Holt in North America; it’s out now in the UK, published by Penguin.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, BlueSky
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: THE EDUCATION OF AN ARTIST (Simon & Schuster)
An intimate and captivating exploration of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s artistic journey, revealing how the creator of the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights found his unique voice through bold collaborations and a seamless blend of cultures, redefining the world of musical theater.
How did Lin-Manuel Miranda, the sweet, sensitive son of Puerto Rican parents from an immigrant neighborhood in Manhattan, rise to become the preeminent musical storyteller of the 21st century? Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist offers a compelling narrative that traces Miranda’s path from a friendly but often isolated child to the winner of multiple Tonys and Grammys for his Broadway hits Hamilton and In the Heights, a global chart-topping sensation for his songs in Disney’s Moana and Encanto, and the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Genius Grant.
Miranda’s journey is a testament to the power of creativity, collaboration, and cultural synthesis. Despite not being a musical prodigy, Miranda’s insatiable drive to create art and learn from those around him propelled him to synthesize his Latino heritage with the pop, hip-hop, and Broadway musical styles of New York City. The unique blend allowed him to craft a new way of telling American stories.
Drawing on over 150 interviews with Miranda’s family, friends, and mentors, including insights from Miranda himself, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner delves into the formative experiences that shaped Miranda’s artistic vision. From his early musicals in high school and college to the creation of his professional masterpieces, this book reveals the sources of Miranda’s creativity — not only as innate genius, but also as a result of exceptional openness and collaboration. With full access to Miranda’s inner circle, this behind-the-scenes origin story is sure to captivate his legions of fans and beyond.
I’m not entirely sure I would have given this a try if I wasn’t offered a review copy. No shade meant against the author or subject, but I nevertheless find myself looking forward to reading this. Lin Manuel-Miranda: The Education of an Artist is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America (September 9th) and Atlantic Books in the UK (September 11th).
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Taylor Jenkins Reid, ATMOSPHERE (Ballantine)
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.
Like many people, my introduction to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s work was the mega-hit Daisy Jones & the Six (which is excellent, and highly recommended — as is the TV adaptation). I also enjoyed the author’s next novel, Malibu Rising. I’ve tried Carrie Soto is Back a couple of times, but I think I just wasn’t in the mood at the time. I’ll circle back to it in the near future, I think. The author’s latest, though, sounds very interesting, and I’ll be reading it very soon. (Perhaps I’ll have finished it by the time this post goes live.) Atmosphere is out now, published by Ballantine Books in North America and Hutchinson Heinemann in the UK.
Also on CR: Reviews of Daisy Jones & the Six and Malibu Rising
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
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Charlotte Runcie, BRING THE HOUSE DOWN (Borough Press)
A one woman show
A one night stand
A one star review
Theatre critic Alex Lyons made his name from his brutal, brilliant reviews.
So when he sees Hayley Sinclair’s dismal one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe, he thinks nothing of dashing off another of his trademark one-star pans for the newspaper. He also thinks nothing of taking her home after the performance, failing at any point to mention who he is.
What he doesn’t expect is for Hayley to revamp her show into a review of Alex’s entire life, exposing what an awful person he really is. Worse, the show is a smash hit, and Alex is about to become national news. But can Hayley bring the establishment down without taking herself with it?
Funny and thrilling, Bring the House Down gives you a front row seat to the downfall of the people who tell us what to think. It’s about art, performance, female rage, and how while revenge may be sweet, it can also be perilous.
Thought the premise sounded interesting, so decided to give this a try. Bring the House Down is due to be published by The Borough Press in the UK and Doubleday in North America.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Eric Smith & Andrew Bricker, WE THE RAPTORS (Simon & Schuster)
We the Raptors: Thirty Players, Thirty Stories, Thirty Years is about the grinders, glue guys, bench heroes, and more. Alvin Williams, José Calderón, T. J. Ford, Jonas Valanciunas, Danny Green — whether regular or part-time starters, role players, key cogs, or even short-term stars — all of them felt blessed to call Canada home.
Foreword by Kyle Lowry
Amir Johnson immediately fell in love with the diversity of the country. From special events with fans to Zombie Walks down Yonge Street, few players connected with Toronto — on and off the floor — more than Amir. At the age of thirty, Anthony Parker — known as the “Michael Jordan of EuroLeague”—finally found his place in the NBA with the Raptors, a role that had eluded him as a young draftee and during his six seasons overseas. NBA vet and Toronto native Jamaal Magloire mentored younger players in the shadow of his brother’s murder in Regent Park. Bismack Biyombo, a fan favourite for his big, burly play and endless energy, couldn’t decide which team to sign with as a free agent, until a phone call from Masai Ujiri made the choice easy. The Junkyard Dog, Jerome Williams, drove himself to Toronto in a snowstorm, becoming in the process one of the most recognizable players in franchise history. Matt Bonner, dubbed the Red Mamba by none other than Kobe Bryant, emerged as a national hero after going toe to toe in the post with Kevin Garnett. Jorge Garbajosa, a superstar in Italy and his native Spain, gambled on a second career at the age of twenty-eight, becoming the hustle and heart of a playoff-bound Raptors squad only to see his NBA dreams crumble in a career-ending on-court injury.
Every team has unheralded but dogged players but none more so than the expansion-era Raptors, a team that many NBA players and free agents often ignored — until the Raptors became one of the most interesting and winningest teams in the league.
This rich tapestry comes alive in We the Raptors, as told by Raptors radio voice Eric Smith and Andrew Bricker through thirty exclusive interviews with former and current Raptors. Every bounce, every rebound, every elbow to the face — this is a rare view of the NBA through the eyes of those who made it to the pinnacle of their profession.
I’m a basketball fan in Toronto. Of course I wanted to read this book, as soon as I learned it was on the way. I’ll be reading this soon, and hopefully get a review posted ASAP. We the Raptors is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on .
Follow the Author (Smith): Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Follow the Author (Bricker): Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Maggie Stiefvater, THE LISTENERS (Viking)
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.
Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines — to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.
June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.
I still haven’t read anything by Maggie Stiefvater… My partner is a huge fan, and I’ve only ever heard goof things about the author’s books. No idea why I’ve not got around to them, yet. With The Listeners, though, I think this streak will be broken — the premise caught my attention, and I’m very much looking forward to reading this (probably during the summer). The Listeners is out now, published by Viking in North America and Headline Review in the UK.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
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Vladislav Zubok, THE WORLD OF THE COLD WAR, 1945-1991 (Pelican)
A sweeping, original history of the Cold War, from an acclaimed historian of the USSR
Why did the Cold War erupt so soon after the Second World War? How did it escalate so rapidly, spanning five continents over six decades? And what led to the spectacular collapse of the Soviet Union?
In this comprehensive guide to the most widespread conflict in contemporary history, Vladislav Zubok traces the origins of the Cold War in post-war Europe, through the tumultuous decades of confrontation, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and beyond.
With remarkable clarity and unique perspective, Zubok argues that the Cold War, often seen as an existential battle between capitalist democracy and totalitarian communism, has long been misunderstood. He challenges the popular Western narrative that economic superiority and democratic values led the USA to victory. Instead, he looks beyond the familiar images of East-West rivalry, shining a light on the impact of non-Western actors and placing the war in the context of global decolonization, Soviet weakness and the accidents of history. Here, he interrogates what happens when stability and peace are no longer the default, when treaties are broken and when diplomacy ceases to function.
Drawing on years of research and informed by Zubok’s three decades in the USSR followed by three decades in the West, The World of the Cold War paints a striking portrait of a world on the brink.
I’m a relative newcomer to Zubok’s histories — he’s written a good number of them — but everything I’ve read so far has been excellent. His prose is excellent, his research is solid, his arguments are well-constructed and convincing; he is also balanced, providing excellent perspectives that examine both American and Soviet perceptions of the Cold War and that era. Definitely recommended, I’ll be reading this in preparation for next semester’s teaching. The World of the Cold War is out now, published by Pelican Books in the UK and North America (it’s currently only available via import in North America, or eBook).
Civilian Reader 