James Nicoll Reviews

Yalum by Matthew Hughes (September 2025)

YALUM ERKATCHIAN is captain and part owner of the space yacht Peregrinator when a distant relative lures him into returning to the planet he fled twenty-five years ago to escape a matriarchal cult. But it’s a trap and Yalum is forced into a quest to recover a sacred relic that pitches him into a desperate struggle for survival.

And then it gets worse, because he discovers that the entire universe is about to be upended by a sudden switch of its operating system from cause-and-effect rationalism to will-powered magic. Yalum and his friends try to prepare to survive, but a new threat emerges: someone has long been planning to ride the new reality into a tyranny of spellslinging, aided by a bored demon from the Seventh Plane. 

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Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent (October 2025)

A life in slavery taught Tisaanah how to survive with nothing but a sharp eye, a quick mind, and a touch of magic. But the night she tried to buy her freedom, she nearly paid with her life. Instead, she murdered the most powerful man in Threll. Forced to flee, she has only one chance at saving those she left behind: pledging herself to the Orders, an organization of magic Wielders strong enough to destroy her former masters. 

To earn her place, Tisaanah is forced into an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire Wielder who despises the Orders. He has no interest in helping her. But as the Orders’ grip tightens around them both, his bloody past may be the key to her future… or their downfall. Under looming war, Tisaanah must master her magic and survive the Orders demands. And as her feelings for Maxantarius deepen, she is forced to decide how much she is willing to trade away for revenge. The Orders have bigger plans for Tisaanah. Darker plans. But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means forfeiting her freedom and sacrificing her heart. 

Even if it means wielding death itself. 

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Lies Weeping by Glen Cook (November 2025)

From Glen Cook, the godfather of Grimdark himself, Lies Weeping is the first book in a brand new arc of his groundbreaking Chronicles of the Black Company — an epic fantasy series, with millions of copies in print.

The Black Company has retreated across the plain of glittering stone, toward a shadow gate that would let them trade the dangers of the plain for the questionable safety of the Company’s one-time haven in Hsien, a region in the world called the Land of Unknown Shadows.

In Hsien, the company returns to their former base, An Abode of Ravens, where the Lady ages backwards in a return to force, shaking off the thrall, one breath at a time. Meanwhile, Croaker, ascended to godlike status as the Steadfast Guardian, has been left behind in the Nameless Fortress.

In their adopted father’s stead, Arkana and Shukrat have taken up the role of annalist for the Black Company. At first, life in Hsien appears quiet, even boring, but it is quickly apparent that strange goings on are more than what they seem, and it’s up to them to discover the truth hidden in the shadows of this strange land.

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Despite having left school decades ago, September is still for me the beginning of a new year. Old habits die hard, especially when one works at a university where 40,000 students will descend on campus after a long, hot, quiet summer. I consider academic new year superior to the conventional New Year: just as filled with potential for pleasant surprises, better weather, and an abundance delightfully gullible frosh.

If you’d like to distract me from informing frosh about the Glorious People’s Republic of the Campus Centre, that one of the pedestrian tunnels leads to Narnia, and that the top five stories of the library are put in storage every summer

• Send money via Paypal for the pure joy of giving me money. 
• Commission a specific review^..
• Join my Patreon here.

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