James Nicoll Reviews

The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen (April 2026)

A starship captain and her crew face conspiracies and betrayals as they clash with various factions of a galactic civil war in a thrilling space adventure by New York Times bestselling author Mike Chen.

The starship Horizon​’s crew spent ten years trapped across the expanse of space. Now they’re finally home — only it’s not the home they knew. The Cluster, once a peaceful coalition of planets, has fractured in the wake of civil war.

Captain Demora Kim wants nothing more than to protect her surviving crew. It’s what she owes them after years of instability and terror. But in times of war, no one is allowed neutrality.

After an attack on a mining station leaves thousands dead, Demi’s efforts become almost impossible. Every ship is needed on the frontline. Thrust deeper into a conflict she barely understands, Demi considers a bold choice — one that might keep her promises but tip the galaxy further into chaos. 

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James Nicoll Reviews offers escape from our spiraling descent into dark age dystopia with explorations of luminously upbeat works such as A Canticle for Leibowitz, Memory of Water, and On the Beach. You can help fund this worthy cause in several ways. 

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2026 is now one quarter over. Only a million months to go, unless of course Donny’s Excellent Adventure kicks off Late Bronze Age Collapse II: This Time With Nukes in late April or early May, in which case calendar-keeping might fall out of fashion.

So, what did James Nicoll Reviews¹ accomplish in March?

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(Another ReacTor Reject. To be honest, I didn’t think they would take it but I was compelled to write it)

The mass market paperback is dead, alas. This is due to structural changes in book distribution. Since nobody with the money to do so seems likely to take the steps to reverse these changes, the mass market paperback is likely to remain dead.

All is not lost! Mass market paperbacks were intended to be cheap, disposable editions. There is a modern analogue of cheap, disposable. That is, of course, the ebook.

While ebooks lack the physical benefits of paperbacks — the smell of the ink, the feel of the paper, the creak of building joists as they slowly fail under the load of ten thousand paperbacks — it is generally acknowledged that ebooks do offer three advantages:

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The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi (October 2026)

The brand-new novel from global sensation Tomi Adeyemi: The Siren is a dark, propulsive speculative thriller that will leave you breathless. 

When Emery joins Dartmouth College she’s determined it will be the ticket to her future, as she leaves the chaos of her past behind. 

But before long she meets glamorous, intoxicating Roux, and her close-knit band of ​‘sirens’. Why can’t she stay away from them — and what do they want from Emery?As she learns more about these women, it becomes clear that there is a dark power operating at the heart of their circle. And, with everything on the line, Emery decides it’s a power she must take for herself — no matter the cost. 

An addictive and sinister examination of power and survival — and the frighteningly thin lines between life and death. 

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(Another piece ReacTor passed on)

It’s generally agreed that a nuclear war could have serious consequences. The effect on the NFT resale market alone might well be incalculable. Still, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! Not everything about the apocalypse has to be bad, not if you approach it with the right mindset.

Consider, for example, these five ways to appreciate apocalypse.

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The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent (July 2026)

Some blood tastes like vengeance. Some blood tastes like grief. Some blood tastes like nothing at all. 

Under an eternal night, the world has been ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires. Kyrene scrapes by as a bounty hunter, bearing a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. But in the wake of a devastating loss, Kyrene commits a crime that makes her a target for mortals and gods alike — and she is still desperate for vengeance. 

Her only chance at survival — and revenge — is making a deal with her enemy, the silver-tongue vampire prince, Septimus, who offers her one final job: to slay the gods themselves. 

Together, Kyrene and Septimus must hunt the ultimate marks, all while navigating a web of prophecies and curses. Septimus is calculating and mysterious, masking secrets bloodthirsty enough to consume them both. Yet, most dangerous of all, Kyrene finds an unexpected kinship in him. 

But their growing attraction is deadly in a world where the only currency is blood. And Kyrene will stop at nothing to fulfill her ultimate goal: to kill the goddess of vampires, even if it means sacrificing love for revenge. 

The Lion in the Deathless Dark is a compulsive dark fantasy from Carissa Broadbent, and the first book in the Bloodborn Duet, the fifth book in the Sunday Times bestselling Crowns of Nyaxia series. 

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James Nicoll Reviews is never-dimming beacon of joyful optimism in a burning dumpster world! You can play a valuable role in James Nicoll Reviews by funding it!

(writing books for me to review is also good)

Options are:

• Send money via Paypal for the pure joy of giving me money. 
• Commission a specific review^..
• Join my Patreon here.
• Quietly leave an unattended tractor-trailor full of toonies near my home. Don’t forget to leave the keys in the ignition.

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Mirrorwoven by Bori Cser (July 2026)

Mirrorwoven is a lush fantasy YA novel full of masquerade ball scheming and sapphic love-triangle angst from debut author Bori Cser.

Del has two rules. One: stay away from royalty. Two: don’t fall in love.

The first is because Del is secretly Adeleine Ventris, runaway princess. After the death of her sister at the hand of her lover, she has fled her family, home, and all the responsibilities that come with being the queendom’s new daughter-heir — but not before faking her death and magically constructing a new, mirrorwoven face. Unrecognizable as Adeleine anymore, she has become ​“Just Del,” a simple musician who knows nothing of court life and can disappear to the faraway opaline lagoon-city of Salato.

The second is because the enchantment hiding Del’s identity can only be unraveled by true love’s kiss. But that’s just fine. Del’s had enough of love.

When Del breaks Rule One to audition in front of the new First of Salato, she is resolved to at least keep her head down and stay well out of politics — until she realizes sweet, gentle Clara, a young figurehead who trusts too easily and loves too much, may be the one person less prepared to govern than Del herself. And if Clara loses her throne, Del loses the tenuous new job and new life she’s found in Salato.

As Del’s deceptions grow ever larger and more precarious — and as she grows closer to both Clara and Nasca, Clara’s brilliant, dangerous sister — it will only take a push to bring Del’s house of cards tumbling down.

Like, for example, breaking Rule Two.

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2026 is somehow already one sixth over. That’s probably for the best. Still, it’s been a moderately productive year for me so far. 

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