James Nicoll Reviews

RuriDragon, Volume 7 would be the seventh tankōbon of Masaoki Shindo’s on-going RuriDragon modern-day fantasy manga, if there were seven collections of the manga, instead of the three that there actually are. All of the issues that would comprise such a volume are in print.

Japanese teen Ruri Aoki’s classmates pitched in to help the frequently-sidelined-by-novel-draconic-abilities Ruri catch up on her schoolwork. In return, half-dragon Ruri rewards her classmates with knowledge about the draconic world. Terrible, terrible knowledge.

Read more ➤

1995’s Rock of Ages is the third and thus far final book in Walter Jon Williams’ Drake Maijstral comedy-of-manners space opera.

Geoff Fu George having retired, the Imperial Sporting Commission now deems Drake Maijstral the number one Allowed Burglar in both the Empire and the Human Constellation. It’s a tremendous honour… and also a pain, as it makes Drake the logical suspect whenever a flamboyant burglary occurs in his vicinity.

The recent Louvre burglary is case in point. Drake did not commit it; there are official eyewitnesses who can attest to the fact; and yet the authorities would be remiss if they did not interrogate Drake.

Read more ➤

Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness is a stand-alone science fiction novel. It takes place in her larger Hainish setting.

The Ekumen spans eighty-three worlds and thousands of cultures. If First Mobile Genly Ai¹ does his job correctly and has a little luck, Gethen will be the eighty-fourth world to join the Ekumen. If Genly Ai is inept or unlucky, then the task of recruiting Gethen will fall to later envoys. The Ekumen thinks nothing of investing decades or centuries in a project.

The main problem facing Genly Ai is that while the people on Gethen are human, they differ in one significant aspect from the humans on other worlds. It’s hard for the envoy to understand them.

Read more ➤

2024’s Fears And Hates is the first ​“graphic novel” (in the curious American vernacular for tankōbon) of Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X‑Men.

The X‑Men! Inspirational/terrifying/highly destructive champions of the mutant cause! And also completely irrelevant to this narrative as, due to meddling time travellers, the X‑Men never existed.

Not yet, anyway. And when they do appear, it won’t be in familiar form.

Hisako Ichiki is a perfectly normal Japanese school girl with perfectly normal social anxiety and depression and perfectly dreadful marks. Oh, yes. Hisako also has a stalker.

Read more ➤

John W. Campbell, Jr.’s 1948 From Unknown Worlds is a stand-alone fantasy anthology ​“for adults” (according to the tag line), drawing on the short-lived magazine, Unknown.

What was Unknown?

Read more ➤

2010’s Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon is the first of Mizuki Tsujimura’s Lost Souls contemporary fantasy novels¹. The 2025 English translation is by Yuki Tejima.

What would you do if you could meet a dead loved one one last time? Ayumi Shibuya can make that happen. Not simply by channelling a ghost. Clients meet their loved ones face to face.

Read more ➤

Blish’s The Star Dwellers is up for a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. As I have already reviewed The Star Dwellers, I cannot, alas, review it now. However, there’s another work that exemplifies Blish’s cluster of political insights (which this review assures us are all ​“libertarian”).

James Blish and Norman L. Knight’s 1967 A Torrent of Faces is a fascist utopian fix-up novel.

Read more ➤

1975’s The Compleat Enchanter collects the first three stories in L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt’s Incomplete Enchanter isekai series. I’d love to credit the magazine in which these stories appeared, but the ISFDB assures me it is unknown¹.

Read more ➤

Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold is the second volume in P. Djèlí Clark’s Abeni’s Song young-adult secondary-universe fantasy series.

Having rescued some but not all of her people from doleful servitude to the Witch Priest, Abeni will not rest. That one small victory did not halt the Witch Priest’s relentless expansion. Abeni and her companions must continue to oppose him.

From the Witch Priest’s POV, this is intolerable. The Witch Priest’s adopted daughter Fulan is dispatched to deal with Abeni.

Read more ➤

Katie Waitman’s 1997 The Merro Tree is a stand-alone space-opera novel.

Performance master Mikk of Vyzania’s commitment to his craft is relentless. Even the threat of legal sanctions cannot stop him. This is why Mikk is on trial for his life.

Read more ➤