James Nicoll Reviews

All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan (May 2026)

THE EMPEROR IS HERE. AND SHE MADE HIM WORSE.

Rae is a fantasy reader who’s been transported to her favorite
fictional world of swords and sorcery, castles and monsters. Playing the villainess, she thought she could change the narrative, but this version of the plot is far more deadly than the one she knew. Her friends are on the run: the Cobra shelters in an eerie manor haunted by dark secrets, while Emer and Lia stoke a revolution in the gutters. 

Undead armies roam the kingdom, raiders camp at the city gates, and the all-powerful Emperor — Rae’s favorite character ever, now possibly the greatest monster in the land — wants her to be his evil queen.

Romantic in fiction, complicated in reality. What’s a villainess to do? Time for wicked bargains and fake engagements, in a fantasy where the most dangerous thing you can do is believe in someone.

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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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