James Nicoll Reviews

The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Operative’s Handbook by by David F Chapman, Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, and Elaine Lithgow et al (Q4, 2025)

New Edition — New System — New Management

Write code. Work magic. Save the world.

The world of Charles Stross’ book series, The Laundry Files, returns to the game table with this new edition of the popular The Laundry Roleplaying Game.

The Laundry Roleplaying Game — Operative’s Handbook provides players with all of the essentials to send their Laundry agents into the most deadly corners of the city and dangerous realities way above their pay grade. Facing mind-melting terror, high-tech espionage, occult mathematics, and plenty of paperwork, a Laundry agent’s work is never done — even death is no excuse for not clocking in. 

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Francisco de Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters seems to sway more people to join the Patreon than Fig and Ibid did. Perhaps the key here is a more nightmarish header image. I wonder how Hieronymus Bosch would go over?

If you’d like to monetarily support James Nicoll Reviews, universally acknowledged as the finest SFF review site written by anyone who is the source of the page quote for the TV Tropes entry on the Darwin Award, your options are as follows (in order of decreasing cost per review):

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I see my 3000^th review on this site will be live in a bit over 11 weeks. Friday, October 17, 2025? I should probably plan ahead for that.

July 2025

23 works reviewed. 12 by women (52%), 10 by men (43%),1 by non-binary authors (4%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 11 by POC (48%).

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Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch (July 2025)

The brand new novel in the international #1 bestselling Rivers of London series.

“This isn’t London. The rules are different up here…”

All Detective Sergeant Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland.

He’ll need one once this is over…

Sea: check.

Sand: some.

Sun: sort of — but that’s not the only thing in the sky…

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The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer (April 2026)

An assassin with outlawed, magical abilities will do anything to get their kidnapped sisters back in this dystopic-fantasy standalone, perfect for fans of Iron Widow and Hell Followed With Us. 

Mercy has no place here. 

On Trinity, a metal world where the privileged live in the skies and the rest fight for water below, you do what you can to survive.18-year-old Val knows this better than anyone. They’ve sacrificed everything to provide for their younger sisters. Using their outlawed teleportation powers, they’ve become the most infamous assassin-for-hire on Trinity, known as the Butcher. 

No one should be able to trace the Butcher to Val. But when a gang retaliates against The Butcher by killing Dani, their only friend, and kidnapping Val’s sisters, it means that someone has to know the truth. 

Desperate and completely alone, Val has no one to turn to but their ex-childhood best friend turned vigilante thief. He broke their heart, but he owes them. 

But as Val fights for the return of their sisters, they start to realize there might be something much bigger at play… something that could upend everything they’ve ever known about Trinity. 

Val’s journey will take them from a maximum security prison transport to the headquarters of the most powerful gang on Trinity, and all the way to the Gate of Heaven. Each more heavily guarded than the last. 

Good thing the Butcher has never blinked at an extra casualty. 

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Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate by Marisa Churchill (December 2025)

Outcast Sylvie must survive her first year at her magical culinary school in this fast-paced, whimsical fantasy.

The culinary world is full of secrets. For one, recipes can become powerful spells. Of course, fourteen-year-old Sylvie Jones knows this. Sylvie has been dreaming of attending her mom’s alma mater, Brindille School of Culinary Arts and Magic, since she was old enough to reach the stove. Unfortunately, the last name Jones has a horrible stain on it — something that could destroy her dream. So, when Sylvie is given the opportunity to prove that she’s got the skills to be a great chef and put an end to the rumors that her famous chef mother cheated her way to victory at the world’s greatest magical cooking competition, The Golden Whisk, she takes it.

But the opportunity she’s been given may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. If Sylvie truly wants to make her own mark and earn a place at Brindille, she needs to uncover the truth about what happened all those years ago. But some will go to great lengths to ensure Sylvie fails, and she soon finds herself tangled in a web of deceit.

With the unlikely help of frenemy Georgia Shaw and rising-star-student Flora Jackson, Sylvie must find a way to get to The Golden Whisk All-Star competition and uncover the past before time runs out. Will she be able to redeem her family’s name and save her future, or will it all end in burned butter and broken dreams? 

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FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)

Issue #35 of FIYAH Literary Magazine 

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Jealous of all the people who support Aurora-finalist James Nicoll Reviews? Want to join them? Here are your options:

Join my Patreon here. Rewards include your choice of which books I review.

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Spontaneous donations may be delivered via gold-ingot-filled airship, transport truck hauling cash, and trucks full of bearer-bond. That said, Paypal is probably the most practical option.

1: On a geological scale.

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I survived another dance season. Go me.

June 2025

21 works reviewed. 11 by women (52%), 9 by men (43%),1 by non-binary authors (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (38%).

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Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow (February 2026)

The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella in Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, a cozy, romantic fantasy from award-winning author Alechia Dow. 

Darling is the most talented — and unusual — Guardian to get a chance at winning the coveted once-in-a-generation Mortal Outcome Council mentorship. Getting the spot would mean having the opportunity to shape the future happiness of all mortal realms — if she succeeds at her first assignment, Lucy Addlesberg. Darling thinks it’ll be an easy razzle-dazzle job… until she actually meets Lucy. Her life is a complete mess, from her failing bookshop in her downtrodden village to her doomed flirtation with the princess of Lumina. But if there’s one thing Darling’s good at, it’s a makeover. 

Calamity is the most talented — and arrogant — Misfortune of his class. It’s his job to save mortals from their own terrible decisions made in the pursuit of the mythical ​“Happily Ever After. 

” When Calam is granted a shot at the Mortal Outcome Council mentorship, he thinks his dreams are finally coming true. But first, he must pass the test. It should be easy — Lucy Addlesberg has been unfortunate for years. All he has to do is continue her string of bad luck so she can finally come to terms with reality and settle for a safer, more logical path in life. Yet when he arrives, he finds that Lucy has a Guardian assigned to her too — a chipper overachiever who is as colorful as the magic pouring from her glittery wand. 

To thwart each other, Darling and Calam insert themselves into Lucy’s life posing as a betrothed couple. As they try to guide her down what they each see as the best path for her, they start questioning their roles and ultimately what they truly want for themselves… and if those feelings of loathing they have for each other might actually be something more like love. 

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