James Nicoll Reviews

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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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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I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder (May 2026)

A tender, witty, and sharp debut novel about the passions and peculiarities of modern love, by ​“an extraordinarily gifted writer” (Sally Rooney).

Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He’s in his mid-thirties; she’s twelve years younger. He long ago abandoned his ambition of being a novelist and works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. ​“Lead copywriter,” he corrects himself. Joey is living paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck’s luxury flat — a world away from Joey’s cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey is imagining a future between them and Chuck is moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new

Funny, excruciating, and true, Jem Calder’s I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but still trying.

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Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong (October 2026)

Final Destination meets The Cabin at the End of the World in this supernatural horror from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, in which a series of car accidents traps a group of strangers at a dive bar. 

A forested road at night, slick from the pounding rain and eerily illuminated by flashes of lightning. Just before midnight, a car swerves to avoid something — or someone — mysteriously standing in the road, only to slam into a fallen tree instead. In the pitch black, four more cars follow in a pileup no one can seem to avoid. 

Stumbling out of the wreckage, soaked from the rain and nursing various injuries, five strangers find themselves in a backwoods dive bar, waiting for daybreak and hoping for cell service. But as tensions rise and the storm rages on outside, the occupants of the dive bar start to notice that not everything is as it seems. Time is moving differently, and they quickly learn that going outside — whether to assist another accident victim or to hike for help — is a very bad idea. 

There’s something in the woods, something that isn’t natural. Could the figure in the road have been a warning? Or something more sinister? None of this is normal, and they’ll need to work together to figure out what’s happening if they have any hope of surviving the night. 

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A City Dreaming by Maurice Broaddus (June 2026)

Maurice Broaddus returns with A City Dreaming, the third book in his Astra Black trilogy, which explores the struggles of an empire. Epic in scope and intimate in voice, it follows members of the Muungano Empire — a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from Earth to Titan and beyond — as it faces renewed threats to its progress.

We received a signal. Everything has changed.

The Interstellar Alliance are coming.

A new empire approaches and the Muungano, already facing foes much closer to home, will have to contend with what it means for their future. Across the solar system, from Earth to Mars and Titan, beyond the Orun Gate, and across time and space itself a battle will rage.

Their soldiers, scientists, diplomats and leaders will all have a role to play if their empire is to live on.

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