my review of Sea of Tranquility in CHIRB!

Just a quick little link — I reviewed Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, Sea of Tranquility, for the Chicago Review of Books. I liked a lot of it, and it bears some resemblance to her amazing Station Eleven, but it’s also:

far more focused. Station Eleven dipped into multiple characters’ points of view, following both the pandemic’s outbreak and the recovering world several decades on, and Mandel’s writing fully inhabited every character, immersing us in their particular angle on the stricken world. Sea of Tranquility keeps the multifaceted narration style, passing with ease between voices, but narrows the focus to a simpler question: What happened?

Read the full review here.

great review for SCORPICA from Booklist!

Yay, another great review to share! You can read the Booklist review in full on their site if you’re a subscriber — here’s the link.

But in case you can’t get behind the paywall, my publisher has pulled out the most exciting bit and made it oh so pretty! I love it when they do that.

SCORPICA gets a starred review from Kirkus!

Somehow I seem to have forgotten to mention that SCORPICA got a starred review from Kirkus. Possibly the shock of the good news knocked everything else out of my head for a bit. You can read the whole review here, and as usual, my publisher’s fabulous team has pulled out the most exciting and relevant bit to present in graphic form. Not everyone is reading my blog daily and knows all about this book, after all — we’ve got to get the word out to other readers who would love to read feminist fantasy set in a matriarchal world and just haven’t heard about SCORPICA yet!

rave review for SCORPICA from Publishers Weekly!

Well hey! That headline pretty much says it all! You can read the whole fabulous review here, and my publisher has pulled out one of the best snippets for the graphic below, which I will just be staring at contentedly for the next, say, five weeks. Yay!

review of Megan Abbott's THE TURNOUT up at CHIRB!

Most of what I review these days at the Chicago Review of Books (CHIRB, for short) is historical fiction or fantasy, but every once in a while, something else comes along I can’t resist — usually a female-focused thriller or crime novel.. What I couldn’t resist this time around was the opportunity for an early peek at the new Megan Abbott novel (!) set at a ballet school (!!). And it did not disappoint!

With the entire book filtered through Dara’s point of view, as a questionable decision early in the novel spirals into an ever-worsening situation for all three of the main characters, you’re likely to read with your shoulders up around your ears, full of tension and dread. When the crime finally comes at last, it’s almost a relief.

Read my full review of THE TURNOUT here.

review of SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN up at CHIRB!

Yesterday was a pretty big day! In addition to the cover reveal for SCORPICA going up on the interwebs, my latest review for CHIRB also went live. I raved about Shelley Parker-Chan’s SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN, “both inseparable from its real-life inspiration and wholly original.“

A sneak peek into my thoughts on Parker-Chan’s debut:

It may seem odd to keep coming back to “original” as praise for a story based on real-life events and people, but the word kept springing to mind as I read. Perhaps “imaginative” would apply just as well. She Who Became the Sun beautifully illustrates how the fantasy genre opens up to embrace anything an author can imagine—not just ghosts and goblins, but new ways of exploring and interrogating gender and identity, prejudice and violence, history and humanity.

Read the full review here.

writing about reviews at Writer Unboxed!

Here’s this month’s Writer Unboxed post — instead of talking about how authors feel about our reviews, I thought I’d tackle whether or not authors should write reviews of other authors’ books. Obviously, since I write reviews for the Chicago Review of Books, I’ve answered that question for myself with a yes — but not everyone will make that same decision.

I talk about the guidelines, potential pitfalls, and things to think about here.

rave review for THE ARCTIC FURY at AudioFile!

A very happy Friday indeed! Just got word that AudioFile Magazine gave Eva Kaminsky’s narration of THE ARCTIC FURY a rave review. She really is the perfect match for the material (her Brooks! I love her Brooks so much) and I’m thrilled the audiobook-specific review acknowledges how she makes the story “come alive for listeners.”

And besides, I mean, this is a pretty sweet lead-in:

Dramatic and atmospheric, this audiobook is a powerful story about loss, determination, and hope.

Read the full review here.

THE ARCTIC FURY an Editor's Choice at the Historical Novel Society!

What a fabulous way to celebrate THE ARCTIC FURY being out in the world for exactly two months! (Seems like just yesterday and a lifetime ago, as usual.) I just found out from my publicist that THE ARCTIC FURY was named an Editor’s Choice for February by the Historical Novel Society — a fabulous organization that not only does a great job covering and reviewing the latest releases in historical fiction, but also throws a heck of a party every two years for North American historical fiction writers to gather and learn from each other. This year’s conference will be virtual, which means no gathering at the hotel bar, but opens things up for more people to participate without needing to travel, which is fabulous.

But! This post is not about the conference! It’s about the amazing review of THE ARCTIC FURY that I want to share. You can read the whole thing here. And here’s the snippet that resonated deeply with me, made me grateful, and immediately got added to my Praise page.

Macallister is a master of historical fiction with female characters, and The Arctic Fury is perhaps her finest work to date. Mixing courtroom drama with a thrilling Arctic exploration, she fleshes out thirteen distinct, three-dimensional expeditioners. This book passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors, proving that a group of women need not be reduced to cattiness over men and clothes. But neither are the women flawless Mary Sues. Reeve, especially, misjudges people and struggles with self-doubt. These are women as women have always been, regardless of their time period: complex, nuanced, ambitious human beings.

That link again for the whole beautiful review in its entirety? Here.

new review from the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette!

Love this! Since Melanie Benjamin’s new book The Children’s Blizzard and my own The Arctic Fury are both historical fiction set in very cold conditions, we recently did a joint event to talk about both books, and it looks like we’re not the only ones making a connection! Both books were recently jointly reviewed in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette.

Their overall verdict: “Two great historical fiction titles that offer thrilling cold-weather tales combined with life-and-death stakes.”

Yes! And here’s my favorite bit about The Arctic Fury:

“Macallister skillfully traces how friendships and rivalries develop against the backdrop of extreme weather conditions and the women’s grueling quest to survive…. The Arctic Fury is an absorbing page-turner.”

Read the whole review here.