The Hematophages – Splatterings by Stephen Kozeniewski

February 27, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Hematophages – Splatterings by Stephen Kozeniewski
Publisher: French Press Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Historical, LGBTQ
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In a galaxy riven by paranoid greed, profane forces marshal to consume humanity…

– On an abandoned ice moon, broadcasts from a long-dead civilization warp both body and soul.

– On a bizarre medical asteroid, a deranged physician discovers a gruesome “cure” for parasitic infection.

– On a deep space derelict, time becomes utterly meaningless and suffering transcends infinity.

– And on Earth itself, a lake transforms into pure blood and becomes infested with the hate-filled, eel-like aberrations known as…

The Hematophages.

With this quartet of short stories, Splatterpunk Award winner Stephen Kozeniewski is delighted to welcome newcomers to the brutal universe Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer calls “the gold standard for the Space Horror subgenre.”

Meanwhile, veteran ink surfers will find a treasure trove of new material to broaden their event horizons, including extensive background information from the author and a never-before-published tale of alien terror.

So, strap on your boom suit, ready your eye spoon, and try to prepare yourself for…

Splatterings.

They’re the same universes but with bigger problems this time.

The protagonist in “The Blood-Red Lake” was awoken from a nap by his daughter, Marina, after she noticed the lake near their home had changed in some alarming ways. I liked the nightmare-like qualities of this short story and thought it was spooky, but I also found myself wishing that there had been a stronger explanation for the strange things that were happening in and near the water.

“Derelictus” showed what happened in the distant future when some scavengers found an ancient spacecraft that was launched by the country formerly known as the United States but that didn’t appear in any of the formal records of previous space missions. The mystery elements of the plot were well done, and I would have happily dove even more deeply into them. I also liked the main character’s stubborn streak and how it influenced his decision to explore this vessel and report back on what he found there.

Anneka was desperate to get out of quarantine to see her wife and newborn twins in “Blackfish.” The reason why she was stuck in quarantine is best left for other readers to discover for themselves due to how important it was to the storyline later on, but as I slowly pieced together the clues I was intrigued by how my opinions of all of the characters had shifted. There is definitely something to be said for playing around with the reader’s expectations only to trust us to land on the best answer in the end. I would have happily read a full-length novel about Anneka if one were written.

Imagine building an old-fashioned castle in outer space. “Gerstein” explored a partially-completed version of this blueprint long after the original investors had run into problems. This was the goriest story in this collection, and I thought each plot twist that revealed another layer of horror only made the entire thing more frightening. Just like in “Blood-Red Lake,” I once again found myself wishing for a deeper explanation of what the antagonists were hoping to accomplish, although there was enough here for me to make some pretty educated guesses about their motives. These are minor criticisms of a collection I thought was otherwise well done and memorable, and I look forward to hopefully reading more of Mr. Kozeniewski’s work in the future.

The Hematophages – Splatterings was deliciously scary.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Author: Anonymous and Albert Seligman (Editor)

February 25, 2026 By 2 Comments


Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Author: Anonymous and Albert Seligman (Editor)
Publisher: Dulacebooks
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The story is about two brothers whose father died and left them little. Ali Baba married a poor woman and lived frugally, but Cassim married a woman who soon inherited a fortune and lived in luxury. One day while Ali Baba was in the forest cutting wood to sell he saw a great cloud of dust approaching and the sound of many riders. He feared for his life, so he hid his three donkeys and hid himself in a tree. The band of forty riders and their leader stopped in front of a cave. When the leader said “ Open Sesame” the door of the cave magically opened. The whole troop went inside while Ali Baba stayed hidden. When he was sure they had gone, he approached the cave door and said “ Open Sesame” himself as the cave door magically opened to his command. Inside the cave he saw vast riches and golden coins, which he liberally took for himself and returned home with his donkeys, remembering to properly close the cave door with the “Shut Sesame “ command.

His wife was astonished at all the gold coins he brought home and wanted to count them before Ali buried them in his yard. As there were too many to count, she borrowed a measuring cup from her sister-in-law. She was curious as to what they might have to measure something, so she cleverly put some suet on the bottom to see what would stick. After the cup was returned with a gold coin stuck to the bottom, she called her husband Cassim to tell him what happened.

Cassim went to Ali’s house and demanded to know how he got a gold coin, and Ali told him everything, including the magic password. Cassim was very greedy, so the next day he set out with many donkeys to find the cave and removed as much treasure for himself as possible. In his haste, he forgot the magic words to open the cave and was trapped inside when the robbers returned. They killed him and cut his body in pieces.

When Cassim didn’t return, Ali feared the worst and returned to the cave to find him. He found his brother’s body and returned to town. He knew the robbers would find out if anyone had been murdered in such a fashion, so they sewed Cassim’s body back together and pretended he died a natural death.

The robbers sent scouts to town to determine if anyone had died and discovered Ali Baba’s house. The captain of the robbers disguised himself as an oil merchant and hid his band in leather jars planning to murder all the household. When Morgiana, Ali Baba’s clever slave girl discovers the ruse, she murders all the robbers. The captain flees, but soon returns in another disguise to take his revenge. Again she discovers him, plunges a dagger into his heart and saves her master.

Moderation is the key to survival.

I once again loved the way this tale transported me to a time and place in the past that I would otherwise know very little about. This is part of the reason why I continue to give new instalments in this series such high ratings. It’s not always easy to make a reader feel immersed in what they’re reading, much less give them a taste of what life was like for some people in the far east over eleven hundred years ago, but Mr. Seligman had all sorts of intriguing ways to close that gap for his modern audience that new fans should discover for themselves.

Many old legends are sanitized for modern audiences, so I appreciated the fact that not every character remained safe from harm and that there were choices made here that are less common in modern adaptations. That is to say, this is something I’d particularly recommend to readers who enjoyed the older versions of fairy tales before The Brothers Grimm began collecting and softening up their sharp edges for younger audiences.

It’s not necessary to know anything about the plot in advance, but readers who do might notice some interesting twists that often seem to be left out of more recent translations of Ali Baba’s life. I thought I knew exactly what to expect going in, but I was still pleasantly surprised by a few things I didn’t realize were part of this universe in at least some retellings. The editor excels at this sort of thing which is yet another reason why I try to read as much of his work as I possibly can. There’s nothing like learning new facets of old favorites thanks to fairly recently uncovered versions of them.

This is part of a series that does not have to be read in any particular order.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was a fantastic and beautifully illustrated adventure.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Ghost Town by Dr. James R. Gregory

February 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Ghost Town by Dr. James R. Gregory
Publisher: Morgan James Fiction
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In the isolated coal mining town of Sulphur Creek in the late 1800s, young Sammy Murphy’s world is a blend of shadowy tunnels and unspoken secrets. Born into solitude and pushed into reclusion, Sammy’s quiet life starkly contrasts with the booming industry that surrounds him. But as he searches for connection in an era of ruthless expansion, he finds himself at odds with forces far greater than he imagined.

Enter Barry Bacon, an ambitious industrialist who fancies himself a peer to magnates like Andrew Carnegie. Driven by unbridled ambition, Bacon’s dreams stretch far beyond the soot-covered rooftops of Sulphur Creek. But as the weight of his empire bears down, his unchecked arrogance threatens to unravel everything he’s built.

As Sammy faces an unexpected awakening brought forth by a fleeting love, and Bacon’s empire teeters on the brink of collapse, both men must face truths that transcend time—true love extends beyond mere attraction and real power is more than forceful arrogance.

A little intrigue goes a long way.

The strong, steady pacing kept my interest levels high from beginning to end, and this was accomplished while including characters who tended to have quiet, reflective personalities and a preference for avoiding conflict when possible. These are the sorts of folks I love to read about and don’t get to meet in fiction nearly as often as I’d prefer to. I appreciated the fact that the plot, while sometimes rightfully given precedence over character development in the most dramatic moments, never overshadowed the gentle souls who inhabited this world. Having such a natural ebb and flow to what or who was being described worked alongside the pacing even if some scenes did temporarily veer a little further into one direction or the other. As someone who has been writing book reviews for many years, this doesn’t happen as often as I’d like to see, and it’s made me incredibly curious to see what the author writes next.

There were a few memorable plot twists that kept me wondering what might happen next. I especially appreciated the fact that not every aspect of the storyline was tied up neatly by the final scene. There was enough of a resolution to make me feel comfortable saying goodbye to these characters while still having a few things left to mull over that could make for a reasonable starting point for a sequel if the author ever chooses to write one. I have no way of knowing if that will occur, of course, but I enjoy having that possibility, however faint, dangled in front of me all the same.

Dr. Gregory did an excellent job of balancing the thriller, romance, and historical fiction themes here. It isn’t necessarily easy to write something that includes multiple genres, especially with a plot that already filled with so many different types of conflict, from quiet internal struggles for some characters to life-threatening events such as natural disasters in other scenes. They were all blended together so seamlessly that I’d need to pause for a moment before deciding which genre to mention first while describing this tale to someone else. It truly was a little of everything in the best sense of that term.

Ghost Town made me feel as if I’d stepped into a time machine to visit the past. What a ride!

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Charlie-Man by Thomas Cullen

February 20, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Charlie-Man by Thomas Cullen
Publisher: Brandylane Publishing
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

It’s August 1994, and Charlie Stewart begins his final year at St. Mark’s Episcopal School, a prestigious all-boys school in Richmond, Virginia. Charlie, an undistinguished student by St. Mark’s standards, faces tough odds as he seeks to rekindle his relationship with Katy Hendricks, a beautiful tennis star, and gain admission to a highly selective state university.

Through it all, Charlie relies on Beau Miller, his best friend and the top student athlete in their class. Despite Beau’s movie-star looks and infectious charm, he has a darker side, which becomes more apparent as the year progresses.

Charlie endures his trials with wry determination and ultimately emerges with a renewed sense of purpose. This is a heartrending but hopeful story of one boy’s journey toward manhood in the American South.

Innocence never lasts forever.

Mr. Cullen had a smooth writing style that I deeply enjoyed reading. He seemed to intuitively know precisely how many details to share about a scene to make it come alive in my imagination without ever slowing down the pacing of the plot in the process. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the various locations in Richmond, Virginia where Charlie and his friends experienced their final year of high school. They were as vivid as they were achingly honest.

One of the things that puzzled me about Charlie for the first half or so of this novel involved his muted reactions to things like his father’s death or his traumatic experiences at summer camp that I would have expected him to have much strong feelings about. Figuring out why these scenes were written this was what propelled this to a five-star read for me. The author knew exactly what he was doing here, and a few twists later on in the storyline not only explained why Charlie behaved the way he did but gave me an opportunity to get to know this character on a much deeper level than I previously had.

I also loved the complex friendship between Charlie and Beau, especially as it related to Beau’s character flaws impacted both of these teenagers. One of the most challenging parts of growing up can be seeing how childhood friendships permanently change as everyone involved in them transitions into adulthood and begins making choices that cannot always be undone. These were the moments that made me wonder if this was a memoir in disguise due to how skillfully Charlie’s mixed emotions about his oldest and closest friend were woven into the storyline. They genuinely felt real to me.

Charlie-Man made me yearn for more.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Eden by Hadley Coull

February 18, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Eden by Hadley Coull
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

‘How can we build such an ugly world, when life is so beautiful?’

London, 2063. As the Earth burns, the wealthy retreat into Eden, a dazzling mixed-reality simulation.

Max Fisher lives in a world of beauty and possibility, where painful memories can be overwritten by code. But something falters. Fragments of another reality begin to seep through, and the stories he believes in begin to unravel.

Eden is a work of speculative fiction scribbled in grief and glow, a story of our descent into images, and a meditation on love and tenderness in a dying world.

Perfection always comes with a price.

My favorite scenes were the ones that explored the reality of relying so heavily on technology and what we would refer to as the Internet for entertainment and socialization purposes. This is one of those topics that can be approached from multiple perspectives, and the author did a good job of providing nuanced and fair arguments for what they appear to think about this issue. If this were something I was discussing in a book club, the way the various characters approached cyber life would be the first thing I’d want to bring up due to how differently they all thought about it and how those reactions affected the storyline later on. Kudos for providing so much food for thought!

I struggled with the slow pacing of this novel. The main characters spent a good deal of time talking about their feelings which, while of course vitally important for character development, sometimes got in the way of developing the plot just as thoroughly. It will be interesting to see if readers who are well-versed in literary fiction feel the same way as I know that’s a common writing style for that genre and do hope it encourages some of them to check out other science fiction tales as well if they don’t already do so. There is definitely something to be said for mixing genres like this, but I simply wish a little more attention had been played to fleshing out the plot as it didn’t always have sufficient space to grow in my opinion.

On a positive note, there was a plot twist later on that reframed many of the things I believed I knew about the characters. While I can’t go into detail about exactly what that surprise involved due to how massive it was, I loved the way the author revealed it and thought it added a great deal of depth to the protagonist’s life in particular.

Eden was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , ,

A Friend for Hope by Amie White

February 16, 2026 By Leave a Comment


A Friend for Hope by Amie White
Publisher: Noctilune Publishing
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Nine-year-old Zoe Meadows is the new kid in Ivy Creek. For homeschooled Zoe, every day starts the same: breakfast, then to the living room where Miss Ellis awaits. Only today, Zoe can’t focus—not when she notices neighborhood children playing outside, children she’s yet to meet. Watching all this unfold, Zoe’s parents decide it’s time for a companion—the furry kind, to be precise.

Everything changes when Zoe meets Hope at the dog shelter for the first time. The two girls form an inseparable bond over the following months and find in each other the one thing they both craved for a long, long time: a forever friend.

Loneliness isn’t forever.

Zoe was a sweet and kind protagonist. Many of the picture books I’ve reviewed have focused on more extroverted and sometimes noisy children for a variety of reasons, so it was refreshing for me as a reader to have someone leading the storyline who was a gentle and quiet soul. There’s something to be said for including all sorts of different personality types in fiction, after all!

I did find myself wishing that the plot had explained why Zoe didn’t seem to spend much time with people her own age since homeschooled children can still participate in all sorts of classes and extracurricular activities that will introduce them to potential friends. My first thought was that maybe she was immunocompromised or had some other serious health problem that made socializing in large groups unsafe for her. While I don’t know if this is what the author was intending to hint at, I would have loved to know more about her backstory and would have chosen a full five-star rating if the narrator had told us why adopting a dog was a better option for the main character than socializing with other children.

With that being said, I thought the adoption of Zoe’s new pet was a heartwarming chapter in her life. I especially appreciated the fact that Hope needed some time to warm up to the family after the stress of being abandoned and living at the noisy animal shelter for so long. This was a great reminder that how a new pet behaves at the shelter or at home for the first little while isn’t always the same as how they’ll act once they feel safe and loved.

A Friend for Hope was charming.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

TV Review: Pluribus (Season 1)

February 9, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Pluribus (Season 1)
Writer: Vince Gilligan
Director: Vince Gilligan
Starring: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, and Carlos-Manuel Vesga
Publisher: Apple TV, Sony Pictures Television
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Suspense/Mystery/Thriller, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

In a world overtaken by a mysterious wave of forced happiness, Carol Sturka, one of the immune few, must uncover what’s really going on – and save humanity from its artificial bliss.

Permanent happiness might come with a catch.

I loved how this show dealt with the practical aspects of such a monumental change to human society. At first glance, the alien virus seemed like it would usher in a utopian future for humanity due to the immediate end of crime, violence, pollution, and anything else that could possibly harm any form of life on Earth. While I don’t want to give away spoilers about what the possible downsides of such a world might be, I thought the writer did an excellent job of including plot twists to explain why Carol was so scared by this change and what compelled her to dig more deeply into this peaceful invasion.

Some of the later episodes in this first season were repetitive due to how often Carol’s anger management issues interfered with her desire to figure out why nearly every human on Earth had been infected by that alien virus. While having such a complex and flawed protagonist was otherwise great, I did find myself wishing that she’d break out of the cycle of feeling her anger building, exploding at someone near her, and then either sweeping her actions under the rug or, as her tale progressed, maybe apologizing instead. Here’s hoping that future seasons give her more opportunities to react to The Others as she calls them in some new ways as I’d love to see the pacing pick up in the future.

On a deeper note, I also enjoyed this tv show’s subtle criticisms of topics like AI, conversion therapy, and conformity in general. The arguments were nuanced and left plenty of space for discussion regardless of whether or not viewers agreed with the points the writer made. This sort of thought-provoking storytelling that kept me interested even when I struggled with how slowly some scenes moved along.

Pluribus was intelligent science fiction.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Symbol of Time by John Westley Turnbull

January 28, 2026 By Leave a Comment


A Symbol of Time by John Westley Turnbull
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Survival requires sacrifice. But what if the price is an entire world?

Their home is cold and dying, choked by the toxins of their own progress. Now, an advanced alien species looks toward the Third Planet—Earth—with hope and fear. They see a fertile paradise, but one that is hostile, hot, and dominated by massive, predatory reptiles.

The choice is stark: die in the heat, or remake this new world in their own image.

As they descend to alter the climate and purge the planet of its prehistoric masters, they set in motion a chain of events that will echo through geological time. A Symbol of Time weaves palaeontology and astronomy into a chilling tale of survival. As the new masters of Earth terraform the planet, the question remains: does high intelligence inevitably carry the seeds of its own destruction?

Nothing is more important than survival.

The world building was thorough and kept my interest levels high. I especially enjoyed gradually discovering the many physiological and psychological differences between this species and our own. Their expectations about everything from relationships to how to organize a society created challenges for them on the Third Planet that were as unique as they were critical to understanding later plot twists. Exploring a familiar subject through the perspective of a species so unlike my own is one of the reasons why I love science fiction so much, and there were certainly many opportunities to do so here.

It would have been helpful to have stronger character development, especially for Elthyris and the other protagonists. Sometimes I struggled to keep track of all of the secondary characters due to how many of them were introduced and how little I knew about them as individuals. Had this not happened, I would have happily chosen a much higher rating as there were so many other things I loved about this book.

There were multiple times when plot twists caught me by surprise. It was a great deal of fun to be surprised so often, especially given how many different types of twists and turns were shared with the audience. Various types of threats were included, none of which I can go into detail about here other than to say that they ranged from interpersonal conflicts to accidents to environmental issues that these characters couldn’t have predicted would happen in advance.

A Symbol of Time was an adventurous and imaginative read that made me want to hear more from Mr. Westley Turnbull.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , ,

Next in Line by T.W. Baker

January 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Next in Line by T.W. Baker
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Welcome to Mortar and Pestle RX, where prescriptions are filled, patience is tested, and absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

Meet Mic, Janice, Monika, Bronco, and Sammy—five pharmacy employees held together by caffeine, sarcasm, and the thinnest thread of professionalism. Whether they’re dodging irate customers, surviving corporate chaos, or staging passive-aggressive Post-it note wars, this band of lovable misfits is just trying to make it to closing time without strangling each other.

A sharp-witted satire of customer service culture and workplace dysfunction, Next in Line is for anyone who’s ever worked retail, waited in line too long, or wondered if the pharmacist was secretly judging them (spoiler: they were).

Sometimes irritation is a gift.

The most memorable scenes were the ones that described how the pharmacy crew bonded over their hectic and occasionally wacky workplace. Having warm and strong relationships with coworkers can make this type of often low-paid, unappreciated job so much easier on an employee’s mental health. There is nothing like an inside joke or a friendly offer to help clean up a customer’s mess to soothe the soul, so I nodded along as all of the main characters gelled together and faced the best and the worst of what they were about to experience as a close-knit team.

I struggled with the repetition, especially given the limited character development. Many chapters seemed to follow a similar pattern of introducing a new customer who had a troubling habit or personality trait and then explaining why he or she behaved that way. It would have been more meaningful for me to meet a few memorable customers and then gradually learn their difficult backstories as the pharmacy employees interacted with them over weeks or months. This is something I’m saying a reader who adored the concept of this tale and would have loved to give it a full five-star rating.

However, this captured the frustration, drudgery, and occasional joy of working in the customer service industry beautifully. People are fascinating and there is so much more to learn about humanity by observing folks when they’re impatient, in pain, frightened, bored, or otherwise not functioning as they normally might on a better day for them. This is a topic I wish was covered much more regularly in fiction as there are so many opportunities waiting for clerk and customer like to grow as individuals when characters are forced to serve a long line or to wait in one.

Next in Line has piqued my interest about what this author will write next.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Other, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The New World by Shirley Bigelow Dekelver

January 14, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The New World by Shirley Bigelow Dekelver
Climate of Fire, Book Three
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

It is 2047, two years since Vancouver was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. Taylor West, Carlie Fleming, and Mai-Li Wong, and two children, Eddie Coleman, and Debbie Ross, fear retaliation from Willie Arbuckle who they banned from their group for stealing food and threatening Carlie. They leave their winter sanctuary and continue their journey to the Interior and arrive at Blackfoot and are welcomed by the Chinese and the Similkameen Band.

Chief Pete Johnson and Mai-Li, now ruler of the Chinese, tell Carlie she must exonerate Willie, as there’s no room in Blackfoot for resentment and malevolence. Taylor tells Carlie he loves her, but before they can be together, she must confront Willie. Without informing her, he leaves with Pete on an expedition. Unable to forgive Willie, Carlie is banned from Blackfoot. She returns to the cabin and Lance, Pete’s grandson, goes with her. He talks about the culture and traditions of the Similkameen people and confesses he has feelings for her.

Taylor and Pete arrive at the cabin; Lance must return to Blackfoot to undertake leadership of the Band. Carlie refuses to return and is left on her own. She discovers an interest in wildfires and while exploring one day, is captured by Lars, a violent man from Taylor’s past who has a grudge against him. She escapes and is injured when she falls from an embankment. Will help arrive in time, will she find the strength to absolve Willie, and find peace and contentment with the man she loves?

Letting go of the old ways is the only way to survive.

The foreshadowing was handled nicely. While Carlie continued to make some decisions that she really should have thought twice about given everything that had already happened to her, I liked the way Ms. Bigelow Dekelver used those lapses in judgement to push the storyline forward. Everyone makes mistakes, after all, and there is something to be said for seeing what happens when someone had advanced warning that certain choices aren’t the best ones but insists on taking that route anyway.

Just as I mentioned in my review of the second instalment, Treachery, I once again found myself wishing that the romantic subplot had either been given more space to grow or left out of the tale entirely. I was happy to see a little more attention paid to it this time around, but it still didn’t have enough development for this reader’s tastes. This was especially true due to how many other conflicts Carlie was juggling simultaneously. She had such limited free time even before romance came into play. Of course I wanted her to find true love and live happily ever after, but at this point in her life she didn’t seem to have much energy to devote to a longterm relationship.

One of the things I’ve consistently appreciated about this series is how much effort it puts into describing what life would be like if society as we knew it disappeared. That is to say, Carlie and every other survivor had to adapt to a world where there were no stores left to buy essential things like medicine, food, or clothing. The social safety net that still existed in this universe relied upon small groups of people taking care of each other and sharing what little they had which meant that something as ordinary as falling off of a horse could have much more serious consequences than it would in the before times when doctors and hospitals still existed.

This is the third book in the Climate of Fire series that should be read in chronological order for plot and character development reasons.

The New World made me hope that we’ll someday have a fourth instalment!

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,
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