Books Young Adult Spotlight

Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for January & February 2026

A new year means new books!

By Alex Brown

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Published on January 6, 2026

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The new year means we have a new crop of young adult science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels. Despite the short days and long, cold nights, horror is in a downswing for the time being, replaced mostly by thrillers. Vampires are (temporarily?) out, dragons are in. And, as I have had to type on every Most Anticipated list for the last year or so, the stranglehold romantasy has on publishing continues unabated. There are also some intriguing queer stories coming in January and February that seem tailor made specifically to my interests, so thank you very much for that!

Science Fictional

If All the Stars Go Dark by S.G. Prince

(Godwin Books; January 20, 2026) Upon graduation, Keller lands his dream job as a gunner for the Legion. His pilot partner, Lament, keeps him at arm’s length, but as much of a bummer as it is, Keller throws himself into his work anyway. He and his new crew get into hot water when they investigate a strange space substance that attacked the last gunner. Space opera plus romance equals lots of adventure-y fun.

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Postscript by Cory McCarthy

(Dutton Books for Young Readers; February 17, 2026) In sharp contrast to the HEAs/HFNs that dominate in romantasy, this is a true dystopian story. The world West and Emil live in is hard and getting worse by the day. There is no deus ex machina or Chosen One to save the day. Six years ago the apocalypse happened and now these two young men are pretty much all that’s left of the human race. They wander the Massachusetts coastline with Emil’s dog, searching for dwindling resources and trying to survive as long as they can. It’s a love story at the end of the world. 

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Magic with a Twist

Soul of a Gentleman Witch by David Ferraro

(Page Street YA; January 20, 2026) Stuck as a seventeen-year-old forever, Callum will only be free after performing 666 tasks for Lucifer. One day, Lucifer agrees to wipe Callum’s debt clean and free his soul, all for the price of transporting an alchemist across the pond. But of course, once Callum gets to know Auggie, trading his own life for Auggie’s becomes an impossible choice. A necromancer hunting Auggie, an undead witch, and a winged cat complicate matters.

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Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

(Love Me Tomorrow #1 — Sarah Barley Books; February 3, 2026) After making a wish at the Tanabata festival, Emma, who doesn’t believe in love, starts receiving mysterious letters. The anonymous author claims to be her true love writing from the future. At first she doesn’t believe them, but they quickly become impossible to ignore. Who is this mysterious suitor? Is it someone she already knows or someone she hasn’t yet met?

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Call of the Dragon by Natasha Bowen

(Call of the Dragon #1— Random House Books for Young Readers; February 10, 2026) In a world of dragon gods, Moremi finds herself unexpectedly claimed by both Yida and Dam, something that isn’t supposed to be possible. It’s a good thing she is, because the king and his wicked advisor Addaf launch a coup to overthrow the dragon gods. Now Moremi, her friend Nox, and her nemesis Zaye have less than a week to save the world with a cleansing ceremony… if Addaf doesn’t catch them first.

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Outcasts, Outlaws, and Rebels

A Wild Radiance by Maria Ingrande Mora

(Peachtree Teen; January 20, 2026) A queer and neurodivergent romantasy reimagining of the War of the Currents was not on my 2026 bingo card, but I’ll take it. Josephine, imbued with the power of radiance (electricity magic), leaves the orphanage where she was raised, House of Industry. As punishment for constantly breaking rules, she’s packed off to the distant countryside town of Frostbrook to work as a Conductor. There she meets Julian and Ezra, two young men who tug on her heart. 

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Queen of Faces by Petra Lord

(Queen of Faces #1 — Henry Holt and Co.Books for Young Readers; February 3, 2026) In Caimor, people can transfer their souls into fake bodies. To save her from a terminal illness as a child, Ana’s parents put her in the only one they could afford, a defective model. Eight years later, the male body Ana’s trapped in is falling apart. Her last hope of stealing a better form is lost when she’s captured by the principal of an elite magic school. Either she works for him as a mercenary, dispatching rebels trying to take down the oppressive political system, or he has her arrested and executed. 

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Thrills & Chills

To the Death by Andrea Tang

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers; February 10, 2026) Sam vows revenge on the man who killed her brother in an illegal duel. That man also happens to be the father of Tamsin, a young woman who will do whatever it takes to win his respect. Their mutual desperation puts them on opposite sides of a duel, with Tamsin taking on dueling master Lysander Rook and Sam acting as Rook’s assistant.

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This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix by Elle Grenier

(Feiwel & Friends; February 17, 2026) Do you want a trans remix of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray? Of course you do! It’s 1867 and Dorian is miserable as the sole heir to their family’s estate. They meet the artist Basil who paints a stunning portrait of Dorian, displaying them in a light they’ve never seen themselves in before. Basil offers Dorian the confidence to explore the queer underbelly of London, and take to it like a fish to water. The deeper they sink, the more Basil’s painting changes.

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Competitive Streak

The Swan’s Daughter: a Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi

(Wednesday Books; January 6, 2026) Two cursed teens work together to break destiny. Demelza is a veritas swan, a young woman with the ability to sing the truth out of her audience but also doomed to never be able to fall in love without losing her heart or freedom. Prince Arris is doomed to be murdered by his bride thanks to a curse from a sea witch, and his only way out is to find his true love. They meet at the palace and form an alliance—she’ll weed out the murderous suitors competing to marry him and he’ll protect her from a wicked wizard—in this fairy-tale-esque fantasy. 

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Heart’s Gambit by J.D. Myall

(Heart’s Gambit #1 — Wednesday Books; February 3, 2026) In the 1860s, two teens tried to escape their enslaver, the witch Sabine, but she captured and cursed them instead. While they now have their freedom, they cannot be around each other without wanting to fight. While they have magical powers and the ability to travel through time, in every generation one child from each family must fight to the death with their life feeding Sabine’s immortality. This year, it’s Emma and Malcolm’s turn at the Gambit. Can their love defeat systemic oppression?

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Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow

(Feiwel & Friends; February 3, 2026) Immortal teens Calamity and Darling are competing for a mentorship from the prestigious Mortal Outcome Council. Calam guides clients to tragic endings while Darling dabbles in happily ever afters. Whoever exerts the most influence over mortal client Lucy wins the mentorship, but after a series of unlucky events they must pose as an engaged couple and win her over without magic. This is comped as The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella. Immediate preorder. Immediate. 

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Death Is Not the End

It Lurks in the Night by Sarah Dass

(Rick Riordan Presents / Disney Hyperion; January 27, 2026) A high school senior takes her friends on an adventure that turns deadly. Every year, Erica, Lystra, Pearl, and Maya sail around the Caribbean, leaving their cares behind them for a few days. Tragedy strikes when they’re grounded on a haunted island and Erica winds up dead. Or so they thought. A few days later, Erica returns home seemingly alive but very much not well. If you know anything about Caribbean folklore, you know Maya is about to have the fight of her life.

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They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours

(Wednesday Books; February 17, 2026) Horror-obsessed Simone plans a rager for her 18th birthday. At a cabin near Doll’s Head Lake, she anticipated scary stories around a campfire and creepy pranks. Instead she accidentally murders her best friend Kira. The ghost who haunts the lake, a witch called Regret, offers Simone a deal she cannot refuse: break the curse binding her spirit and she’ll resurrect Kira and erase all of Simone’s many regrets; fail within the two-week time limit and Kira’s life is forfeit.

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The post Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for January & February 2026 appeared first on Reactor.

Books The Wheel of Time

Baseball, Bene Gesserit, and the Maidens of the Spear

An exploration of hand talk and its meanings and implications.

By Sylas K Barrett

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Published on January 6, 2026

Credit: Jan Thijs/Prime Video

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Credit: Jan Thijs/Prime Video

Recently, while roaming mindlessly across the internet, I came across a little social media post about the deaf baseball player William “Dummy” Hoy, and how he was responsible for the hand signals that are used by players, coaches, and umpires to communicate in baseball. I’ll admit that I know very little about baseball—sports aren’t really my thing—but I was intrigued by the social history, and the disability history, that the claim suggested. A little searching later, and I came across an article from the Society of American Baseball Research, which explored the history of hand signals in baseball and the contributions made by deaf players (both professional and non-professional) to their evolution and use in the sport.

Turns out, it isn’t correct to say that Hoy pioneered the use of hand signals or even that he was responsible for making them a standard part of the game. However, it does seem that Hoy and his fellow deaf players had an indelible impact on how baseball evolved hand signals for communication between teammates and coaches, umpires and players, and even between the umpires and the crowd.

You might be wondering what all this has to do with The Wheel of Time. Or perhaps, like me, any mention of hand signals starts you thinking about the “handtalk” of the Far Dareis Mai and why we really only see women using that sort of thing in the story.

The hand signals used by certain Aes Sedai and by the Black Ajah for covert communication certainly owe something to the inspiration Robert Jordan took from Frank Herbert’s Dune. The Bene Gesserit, like the Aes Sedai, are a powerful but morally dubious institution of women who use hand signals and other covert means of communication in their attempts to manipulate those around them. It is a language of spying, of political machinations, and of the mystical science the Bene Gesserit employed in their genetic breeding programs. The Aes Sedai version is not quite as sinister as that, but their manipulation and control over the world is enacted by the White Tower in a very similar way, and whenever they use hand signals or interact with their networks of spies, the reader is always very conscious of the fact that the secret signals and manipulation (usually of men) goes hand in hand.

However, the Maiden’s handtalk is different. It is a full language that the Maidens use to have conversations among themselves. While one can assume it might occasionally come in useful when communicating silently during a hunt or a wartime situation (the other societies also have hand signals for this use), it is much more than a battlefield utility. It is an everyday language, used in everyday conversations and for everyday reasons.

This makes the handtalk a very special thing in the world of The Wheel of Time, one that, in my mind, is incredibly underused. We have no examples of deaf people in this world, very few examples of any kind of disability, in point of fact, which makes the world less rich than it could be. This observation isn’t a particular dig at Jordan; the lack of diversity and representation in popular books and media is a conversation that is ongoing, societally speaking, and not what this essay is about. What I will say about Jordan, however, is that the best of his writing is so good that the flaws become more obvious by comparison. The existence of the Maiden’s handtalk, a full and complete signing language, points out the lack of deaf people in this world in a bright and glaring way that any reader, accustomed to only seeing disability portrayed when it is part of the plot, might otherwise overlook.

Kind of like how the existence of lesbians points out that Jordan completely avoided ever mentioning the existence of male homosexuality.

Kind of like how the binary understanding of sex/gender within the story wouldn’t really matter if Jordan hadn’t built a magical system around a basic and boring assumption that can’t support the beauty and complexity of everything else he did with the One Power throughout the series.

But I digress.

When the handtalk was first described, I remember thinking how excellent a narrative choice it would be to say that there was once a deaf Maiden for whom the handtalk was invented, so that she could truly be a participant in the lives of her spear-sisters, and they in hers. It made sense to me that the Far Dareis Mai might have an easier time integrating someone disabled, someone different, since their identity is also that of outsiders. They are considered equals among the other warrior societies when it comes to their abilities as fighters, but not in other ways; their access to the identity is limited because of their gender, and they have special rules and requirements (no marriage, no motherhood) in order to maintain that identity that men do not have to worry about. If anyone would understand the desire of an outsider to access a world not traditionally available to them, and that the challenges and restrictions of that access do not make the identity lesser, or shameful, it would be the Maidens of the Spear.

But the story of William “Dummy” Hoy—both the simple social media “myth” that he was single-handedly responsible for the creation and implementation of baseball hand signals and the more complex and interesting truth that a variety of deaf players combined with other practical needs of the sport led to the signals we know today—reminded me of my own biases around disability representation in story. Even as a disabled person myself, I made the mistake of conceptualizing a single deaf character who influenced this society in a way that was overly simplistic and tokenizing. The truth of the deaf community’s influence on baseball and the interplay between them and their teammates, coaches, and the needs of the game is more interesting by far than the idea of one “special” deaf person revolutionizing something. 

Disabled people should exist in fiction because they exist in life—not as a device to explain an interesting quirk about the world.

The focus of the narrative around Maiden handtalk is primarily on the fact that the Maidens can use their sign language, which no one outside their society knows how to understand, to make jokes and gossip about those around them, and particularly members of the other warrior societies, all of whom are men. They very often talk to each other about Rand, including when he is in the room with them. There is no other reason for the Maidens to have a more developed sign language than other communities, other than the fact that it lets them have secret conversations. Because women are sneaky, and they talk about you to manipulate you (or make fun of you).

Of course, there is another group that has a fully developed sign language, and that is the Seanchan nobility. It primarily appears to be used by high-ranking members of the blood to communicate to their so’jhin Voices, but we also see Tuon and Selucia having entire conversations about a variety of subjects, keeping track of what is going on during their captivity and discussing it in great deal, without anyone knowing.

What Tuon and Selucia are doing is spying, but their activities also can’t escape being read from the “gossipy women” angle, especially since so much of their conversation is about Mat. Though the same signs may very well be used by male Seanchan, we have never seen it. Narratively, the use of sign language is presented as the purview of women, used to deceive and dissemble and control men.

And as I consider all this, I can’t help but think of all the ways that humans in general tend to distrust those who speak in a language they can’t understand. We worry they are talking about us, probably because many people in our society have a constant fear of being judged, especially by those who belong to a different group than us, be it to a different culture, or a different belief system… or a different gender.

As in our world, there is deep distrust between the sexes in the lands of The Wheel of Time. In some ways, this is part of the story, as the taint on saidin has resulted in a fracture between men and women, and has taken away the true power of humanity by removing the ability of male and female channelers to work together. But a lot of it is also presented as a simple fact of the world, apparently a biological, or at least a social, truth that has nothing to do with the fallout of the conflict between Lews Therin and Latra Posae during the War of Power. I think it’s sort of a shame that sign language exists in this world as a part of that disparity, when it could be so much more.

There are many reasons for the evolution and use of hand signals in baseball. It is not only deaf players who needed signs to understand the umpire’s calls, but also fans seated far away in the stadium seats. The ability for a coach to signal a player’s next move to them without the other team hearing the plan still exists even if there are no deaf or hard of hearing players on the team. And yes, deaf players needed a way to communicate with their teammates that wasn’t through spoken words.

It’s the complexity of the story that makes it beautiful.

Happy New Year to all my Reading The Wheel of Time friends! Your regularly scheduled column resumes next week.[end-mark]

The post Baseball, Bene Gesserit, and the Maidens of the Spear appeared first on Reactor.

Books Front Lines and Frontiers

From Camazotz to Stranger Things: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A reminder that this SF classic never goes out of style…

By Alan Brown

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Published on January 6, 2026

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In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.

Today, we’re looking at A Wrinkle in Time, a classic children’s book I first read about six decades ago, and which has suddenly become topical again. My son, who (along with his wife and daughter) is a Stranger Things fan, recently told me that Holly, one of the characters on the show, was reading A Wrinkle in Time and using it to put some of her supernatural adventures in context during this final season. There must be a few Stranger Things fans who noted the connection and might be wondering what this old book is about, and since delving into old science fiction books is kind of my thing, I am happy to help them out!

I couldn’t find a copy of A Wrinkle in Time in my basement, so for this review I checked a copy out of my local library. Other than stating the book was copyrighted in 1962 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, there is no mention of when this particular edition was published, although from the long list of other books by L’Engle in the front of the book, it was some decades after its original run. It features cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon, which captures some key scenes from the book in a nice, impressionistic fashion. The cover also includes the special seal that indicates the book received the John Newbery Medal, a prestigious literary award given annually by the Association for Library Service to Children since 1921.

About the Author

Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was an American author who frequently wrote for children, and whose work often featured science fiction and fantasy themes. Born in New York City, she was a shy child and difficult student whose parents moved her between a number of private schools. She was an actor in New York when she met her husband, actor Hugh Franklin. They moved to Connecticut where they ran a small store, and she was able to focus on her writing. They had three children, one of whom was adopted. After years of rejections, L’Engle finally found success with A Wrinkle in Time. That best-selling book was followed by several direct sequels, including A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and many of her later works were set in the same universe as that original book. In addition, L’Engle also wrote a play, short stories, poetry, books for adults, and works on Christian theology. She received many awards during her lifetime, and was recognized in 1997 with a World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.

A Wrinkle in Time has been adapted twice by the Disney Corporation. The first was a television movie in 2004, which did not fare well with critics and was disliked by L’Engle. The second adaptation was a big-budget feature film released in 2018, directed by Ava DuVernay, buoyed by a cast of respected actors and impressive special effects. Unfortunately, this film was also met with a mixed critical reception, and did not do well at the box office.

The Spiritual Dimension

If my recollection is correct, I first read A Wrinkle in Time back in 1964 or 1965, when I was nine or ten years old. My mom generally visited the library every two weeks, and would pick up books she thought might interest me and my brothers. I do remember that the first time I read it, the book scared the heck out of me. The idea of a child having to rescue a parent was a bit much for me to accept, and L’Engle did a very good job making the antagonists evil and keeping the narrative tension high. But while I remember to this day many of the scenes from the book and the battle between light and dark, upon my first reading I missed the spiritual nature of the book.

During this latest re-read, which I think is the first time I’ve revisited the book since that initial reading, the religious aspects of that fight between light and dark jumped right out at me. The book explicitly mentions God, and the inhabitants of one planet sing a hymn based on a quote from the Hebrew Bible (the 42^nd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, according to my research). At another point, when discussing historical figures who have stood against darkness, one character quotes the Gospel of John, the fifth verse of the first chapter, in a passage referring to Jesus: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” But despite these references, the spirituality of the book is not heavy-handed, and L’Engle approaches the religious aspects with an open-minded, ecumenical approach.

One interesting aspect of L’Engle’s approach is that she flips the cliché of order being associated with good and chaos being associated with evil. Her protagonist, Meg Murry, is insecure, emotional, and frequently angry. The three women who guide Meg are quirky and unpredictable. L’Engle shows that the side of good and light can be served by people with faults and messiness in their lives, and those who are creative and unpredictable. On the other hand, the evil antagonists emphasize order and discipline. They take pleasure in destroying people’s individuality, and forcing them into conformity and obedience. The greatest weapon of evil is authoritarianism.

Ironically, in preparing for this review, I discovered that A Wrinkle in Time has frequently been challenged and targeted for banning from libraries for various reasons, including complaints about the religious aspects of the novel. Detractors mention the fact that in the book, Jesus is listed among a number of historical figures who have stood against darkness, which they argue diminishes his divinity (despite the fact that he’s mentioned before any other historical figure, and his name accompanied by a quote from the Bible). But it appears to me that the biggest reason motivating these attempts at book banning is not what is explicit in the text—it is the beliefs of L’Engle herself.

During her lifetime, L’Engle espoused Christian universalism, an ecumenical approach to the faith that has long raised the ire of the type of fundamentalists who are behind most book-banning efforts. And certainly, her embrace of creativity and free thinking runs counter to the philosophy of those whose approach to religion emphasizes order and obedience. I find this sad, because as a Christian, I feel L’Engle’s inclusive and open-minded approach is a better representation of the faith than the angry voices of censorship.

A Wrinkle in Time

During a “dark and stormy night” (L’Engle audaciously opens the book with that hoary cliché), Meg Murry is fretful and unable to sleep, troubled by problems at school and the mystery of her missing father. She goes downstairs to find her youngest brother, the odd but precocious Charles Wallace, who has made sandwiches. Her mother joins them, and examines Meg’s face, bruised in a fight at school after someone taunted her about her brother’s oddness. Charles Wallace reports that three women have taken residence in a nearby abandoned, and allegedly haunted, house, and that he has met one of them, Mrs. Whatsit. And then she shows up—an eccentric woman swathed with scarves and wearing a big hat. Mrs. Murry is not impressed, but invites her in, and is stunned when Mrs. Whatsit mentions a tesseract, which is a concept her physicist husband had been working on before he disappeared.

This all happens in the first chapter, and L’Engle proves herself an expert in worldbuilding, capable of providing the reader with large amounts of information without resorting to lumps of exposition. While troubled young protagonists are common today, they were not in the days when the book was written, and during my first reading, I found myself, a bookish, insecure, and bespectacled youngster, immediately identifying with Meg and her faults.

The next day, a tired and grumpy Meg mouths off to a teacher and is then sent to the principal, who tells her she must accept the fact her father is gone, which only makes her angrier. After school, Charles Wallace asks her to go and visit his three new friends at their haunted house. Along the way they meet Calvin O’Keefe, who Meg thinks is quite handsome. Calvin comes from a large and unhappy family that lives nearby, and has arrived at the haunted house because he felt an odd compulsion to be there, although he isn’t sure why. Together they proceed to the house, where they meet Mrs. Who, a plump woman with thick glasses who speaks in historical quotes, many in foreign languages, which she then helpfully translates. She advises them to go home and get some food and rest… but for what purpose, she will not say.

Calvin comes over for supper, and the whole family takes a liking to him. Mrs. Murry can see that strange things are happening, but has faith they are happening for a good reason. Calvin and Meg talk about her father, a government physicist who went missing, and how no one will tell the family where he is. Meg starts to cry, and Calvin comforts her, but Charles Wallace interrupts and tells them it is time to go find their father. Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who arrive, and are joined by Mrs. Which, an ethereal, shimmering being. And suddenly, they are all somewhere else—a place that the three women identify as the planet Uriel. Mrs. Which materializes, wearing a peaked hat and carrying a broom, making the pun of her name perfectly clear. They have traveled by “tesser,” a way of wrinkling time and space.

The women state that Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace can help rescue her father, and Mrs. Whatsit transforms into a giant winged (and surprisingly, male) centaur. They fly high into the sky, surrounded by other flying centaurs who sing an inspirational song. When they reach the peak of their journey, and the air becomes too thin to breathe, the children see a large, dark, and forbidding presence in the heavens; this is the darkness that has captured Meg’s father.

The three women tell the horrified children that in order to rescue Mr. Murry, they must travel beyond the darkness. And here, the science behind their mode of travel is explained, a folding of space and time in dimensions beyond our own, involving concepts like tesseracts. L’Engle takes what looked like fantasy up to this point and recontextualizes it as the type of technology Arthur C. Clarke was referencing when he said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” They then travel to Orion’s Belt to visit a seer who is aptly called the “Happy Medium,” who helps the children understand the long struggle between the forces of darkness and light, and they learn that Mrs. Whatsit had been a star who sacrificed her larger existence in the fight against the darkness. The seer shows them the planet Camazotz, at the heart of the darkness, where Mr. Murry is imprisoned. They are told that the darkness will not allow the three women to accompany them; after receiving words of warning and advice, Mrs. Who gives Meg her glasses to aid her during the rescue, and off they go.

The first thing Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace see in Camazotz is a neighborhood of identical houses where all the children skip ropes and bounce balls in perfect unison, and whose mothers call them in for supper at the same time. They speak to one of those mothers, who is baffled and frightened by their non-conformity. An uneasy paper carrier tells them they can find the Central Intelligence Center in the heart of the nearby city, which is the capital of Camazotz. He also refers to something called IT, which resides at that Center. They find themselves surrounded by people motivated by fear, who do not want anything to do with visitors who don’t fit in. Despite feeling an oppressive sense of foreboding, the three children enter the headquarters building.

There they are exposed to the cruelty of IT, which rules the world of Camazotz through torture, intimidation, and mind control. IT uses an avatar, the Man with Red Eyes, to both cajole and threaten them. Then Charles Wallace, too confident in his mental powers, attempts to take on IT directly and ends up as a mind-controlled avatar himself. Meg uses Mrs. Who’s glasses to access her father in prison; it turns out that Dr. Murry had discovered how to tesser during his research, and had fallen into the clutches of the dark forces of IT. When IT attacks them, Dr. Murry is unable to help Charles Wallace, but manages to tesser himself, Meg, and Calvin to another planet that orbits the same star as Camazotz. Its inhabitants are repellent to look at, but kind and capable, and one of them, who Meg dubs “Aunt Beast,” nurses Meg back to health. Mrs. Whatsit, Who, and Which finally arrive, revealing that only Meg possesses the qualities needed to rescue Charles Wallace from the clutches of IT. Thus, she must decide whether she can face the pain and fear of returning to Camazotz to do so. I’ll leave the recap here, as I highly recommend the book to everyone, and don’t want to spoil the ending.

Final Thoughts

A Wrinkle in Time is still read and remembered today for some very good reasons. Madeleine L’Engle was a marvelous author who had a knack for speaking to young readers at their level without talking down to them. The book has an entertaining sense of whimsy, relatable characters, a strong moral core, and is infused with a positive, thoughtful approach to religion and spirituality. While I found A Wrinkle in Time rather intense when I was young, I found myself remembering nearly every aspect of the book as I re-read it six decades later, a testimony to the power of the narrative. And despite being decades old, the book feels fresh and not at all dated.

And now I turn the floor over to you: If you’ve read A Wrinkle in Time, or other books by L’Engle, I’d love to hear your thoughts on her work. And while, as I write this, the last few episodes of this season of Stranger Things have yet to air, the final season will have ended by the time this column publishes. I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on the relationship between the two narratives, and any parallels between the ideas or characters in A Wrinkle in Time and the world of the TV series (or in any other works that have taken inspiration from L’Engle’s novel over the years…)[end-mark]

The post From Camazotz to <i>Stranger Things</i>: <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i> by Madeleine L’Engle appeared first on Reactor.

Books reading recommendations

Five Horror Stories About Inanimate Objects Coming to Life

Creepy dolls and sinister puppets are bad, but how about a haunted, sentient rollercoaster?

By Lorna Wallace

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Published on January 6, 2026

Photo: Tapio Haaja [via Unsplash]

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Photo: Tapio Haaja [via Unsplash]

The idea of inanimate objects coming to life may sound whimsical, but in the hands of horror authors, it can be absolutely terrifying. Stephen King has employed this strategy to great effect over the course of his career: Not only has he given sentience to objects with clear lethal ability, most notably a car in Christine (1983) and an industrial ironing machine in “The Mangler” (1972), but he’s even managed to transform seemingly harmless objects into the stuff of nightmares—I’m looking at you, topiary animals from The Shining (1977).

Of course, Stephen King isn’t the only author to imbue inanimate objects with life to sinister effect. Here are five other memorable examples.

“The Ancestors” by Adam Nevill (2009)

(Collected in Some Will Not Sleep) It’s not all that uncommon for small children to witness something creepy, but to not be aware of how disturbing the event is to the adults around them. This disparity helps drive the narrative, and the reader’s deepening sense of unease, in “The Ancestors.” Young Yuki has moved into a new house with her parents and although she initially didn’t want to leave her old life behind, she’s feeling better about it now that she’s befriended Maho, the resident ghost.

Friendships with ghosts aren’t necessarily scary or sinister—Casper is notoriously friendly, after all—but certain aspects of Maho’s behavior with Yuki would definitely freak out an adult. This includes Maho wrapping Yuki up in her long black hair when she sleeps (that’s a big no thank you from me). The one thing that does give Yuki pause is the fact that all of the toys in the house come to life at night, but Maho assures her that they’re friendly.

Given that this is a horror story and not Toy Story (1995), it’ll come as no surprise that the toys aren’t exactly innocent, but I’ll let you discover exactly how for yourself.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (2017)

Set largely during the Victorian period, The Silent Companions is a creepy and atmospheric Gothic tale that unfolds over three connected timelines.

The main story begins in 1865, with Elsie Bainbridge, a recently widowed pregnant woman, moving into her late husband’s ancestral home, The Bridge. Along with the help of his cousin, Sarah, and a few housekeepers, Elsie works to fix up the dilapidated house. In a locked room, she finds life-size wooden figures—known as silent companions—and decides to decorate the house with them. She also finds the diary of Anne Bainbridge and this narrative, written during 1635, forms the second timeline. The third thread of the story follows Elsie in a psychiatric hospital at an unspecific time in the future.

We know from the jump that things go wrong for Elsie at The Bridge (the book opens with her confined to the hospital) and it’s obvious that the eerie silent companions had something to do with it, but there’s also a psychological element to this novel that leaves the reader constantly questioning events.

Gothic by Philip Fracassi (2022)

Tyson Parks was once a bestselling horror author, but his past few books have flopped and he’s struggling to get words down on the page for his current work-in-progress. That all changes when his girlfriend gifts him an antique desk for his birthday. Sure, the fact that the desk had fallen and crushed a worker at the antique dealers is a little unsettling. And yes, some of the ornate images carved into the wood are pretty grotesque. But Tyson doesn’t much care because at least he’s finally writing again.

It quickly becomes clear that the desk is possessed by something sinister, though, and while it reignites Tyson’s literary spark, it also twists him into an abhorrent person [CW: this involves a graphic rape scene]. Gothic is an exploration of a writer’s descent into madness, and along the way the reader is treated (or subjected, depending on your point of view) to some gruesome body horror courtesy of this demonic desk.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023)

Based on the cover alone, How to Sell a Haunted House looks like a typical haunted house story, but there’s an extra horror element at play: creepy puppets and dolls.

The story starts with Louise learning that her parents have been killed in a car crash. Grieving is hard enough as it is, but she’s also tasked with settling her parents estate with the help (or, in her view, interference) of her brother, Mark. The siblings have never seen eye to eye and their combative dynamic is only exacerbated by their attempts to clean out the house so that it can be sold. But the situation goes from pretty bad to significantly worse when they discover that their mom’s extensive collection of puppets and dolls has been brought to life by a dangerous spirit haunting the house.

Grady Hendrix is known for his fun and intentionally campy writing style—something which lends itself well to possessed puppet horror—but this story manages to balance humor with a serious and heartfelt exploration of grief.

“The Merge Monster Incident: One Year Later” by Johnny Compton (2025)

If dolls and desks don’t seem like big enough threats when it comes to inanimate objects coming to life, then how about something on a grander scale—perhaps a whole rollercoaster? The Merge Monster is a coaster that was Frankensteined together from the parts of other decommissioned carnival rides. Then one day, the rollercoaster simply comes to life and walks out of the theme park—with people still strapped in.

This short story is told from the perspective of a journalist one year after the seemingly impossible event took place. Our protagonist is trying to piece together any information they can about the Merge Monster Incident by digging into the coaster’s construction, interviewing theme park guests who witnessed the event—clear video footage unfortunately doesn’t exist—and attempting to track the coaster’s movements since it simply walked away.

The idea of a rollercoaster coming to life might seem silly to begin with, but the story quickly takes on a chilling air and by the end leaves readers haunted by a few key questions which are only partially answered. Where exactly did the Merge Monster go? And what happened to the people who were still on the ride?

If you’d prefer to watch inanimate objects come to life on the screen, rather than read about them on the page, you can check out this list of horror movies! And please chime in below to recommend and discuss other scary stories about formerly inanimate objects come to life…[end-mark]

The post Five Horror Stories About Inanimate Objects Coming to Life appeared first on Reactor.

Books SFF Bestiary

Hunting the Great White Whale-Thing on Jupiter

A reimagining of Moby-Dick that takes the classic whale hunt into space…

By Judith Tarr

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Published on January 5, 2026

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Thanks to editor Mal Frazier at Tor, who read the SFF Bestiary article on Moby-Dick and offered an early look at an upcoming novel, I have had a very pleasant end-of-year vacation reading Alexis Hall’s Hell’s Heart. The jacket copy calls it “Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick,” and that’s accurate. It’s a bravura piece, following the plot and characters of Melville’s novel closely, but taking them in directions that are all its own.

There is so much to this retelling and recasting. Literary allusions in two languages and cultural traditions. Historical references. Worldbuilding that riffs, sometimes ferociously, off current events.

In the far future, the spaceship Pequod, which the narrator calls a hunter-barque, and its crew and its legendary captain, hunt Leviathans on and in Jupiter. Earth, or Terra, has been stripped of its resources and essentially abandoned. Most of humanity lives in space.

It’s a grand adventure. It’s also blessed (some readers might say cursed, but that would not be me) by Melville’s original structure, which puts the worldbuilding right out front, in dedicated chapters. We learn in detail what a hunter-barque looks like, what its parts are and why; we know what it’s doing out there, and above all, for the purposes of the Bestiary, what it’s hunting.

There’s a whole chapter called “Cetology.” Here we learn that

These are the creatures we will meet, and the characters will hunt and fight and kill and be killed by. The category adds up to, at its simplest, “some great beast with chitinous mandibles and feeder tendrils.”

Behemoths are the biggest:

The description makes me think of amphipods, though these small and abundant terrestrial creatures are not armored. The shape and overall structure are similar.

That reads to me like jellyfish. Jellies are as alien as it gets on this planet, and I can see them making sense on Jupiter.

Wyrms are a different kind of animal, and ubiquitous in the story:

The narrator points out the analogy to eels, and to the remoras that surround various species of whales, as well as the parasites that infect the eyes of Greenland sharks. Wyrms are a fair bit like sharks themselves, in the way they’re always there, ready to swarm in toward any possible prey. A considerable part of the job of processing a kill involves fighting off Wyrms.

And finally, there are the true Leviathans, of which there are multiple species.

Although we know these are the Jovian analogues of whales—both baleen and toothed whales—their anatomy, with the rippling fins and the sharply pointed tail, points toward another terrestrial species, the giant oarfish.

Of those species, the ones most relevant to the story are the Barnard’s or Slack-Jawed, which is the largest and least known, and which feeds on energy by swimming or flying along with its mouth wide open; the Death’s Head,

And finally, the real point of it all, the reason for the hunt and the whole epic adventure, the Ridgeback or Sperm Leviathan.

There are others, but these are the ones that figure in the story. The Ridgeback matters most of all to the universe it lives and is hunted in, because spermaceti powers everything in the human system. Without it, there’s no life support, no transport, no habitats, nothing. Everything relies on it.

That makes the Pequod’s mission vital. The crew sign on for a three-year voyage, paid by shares in the eventual profits, like terrestrial whalers. The ship becomes their world. They meet other ships occasionally, but for the most part they sail, or fly, through the Jovian atmosphere in search of the electrical spouts that mark the presence of their prey.

The hunt, the capture, the kill, proceed much as they do in Melville, with similar levels of both danger and tedium. Because this is Moby-Dick in space, the ship’s captain is spectacularly and epically fixated on the legendary (if not outright mythical) Möbius Beast. This Leviathan of extraordinary size, intelligence, and apparent malice robbed her of her leg, and she is dead set on revenge.

Leviathan anatomy, biology, and behavior are crucial parts of the story. Despite centuries of the hunt, no one knows a great deal about Jovian animals. It’s not even known to science how or when or where they breed, though hunters (if they should ever be asked) can answer some of those questions. The Pequod, like its terrestrial forebear, finds a breeding ground, and sees how Leviathans gather in family groupings, with females and young and the enormous males.

Scientists might study, but hunters hunt. The breeding ground is a bonanza. Hunters can pick and choose their quarry, hunt down and kill and process as many Leviathans as their equipment and their crew can manage. Conservation is not an issue, and preservation has no meaning. The human universe can’t survive without the hunt and the kill. There’s no alternative, as far as we know or the narrator will tell us.

Just as in Melville, the hunters don’t see the quarry as fellow sentients. They’re hunting monsters, creatures whose intelligence isn’t relevant, unless it happens to be hostile. Even there, that hostility or apparent malice may be no more real or intentional than the storms that buffet them or the gravity that pulls them down into the depths of the gas giant.

Hell’s Heart does a splendid job of capturing the spirit of Moby-Dick. A good part of that, and a great deal of the fun, is the range and variety of its fauna. Even though we know how it has to end, when we finally meet the Möbius beast, we’re there for it. We’re ready for that last, terrifying, fatally fascinating ride into the heart of Jupiter’s blood-red hell.[end-mark]

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Hell’s Heart

Alexis Hall

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Hell's Heart

Alexis Hall

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Books Short Fiction Spotlight

Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: November 2025

Add some of the best new short fiction stories to your end of year reading lists!

By Alex Brown

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Published on December 18, 2025

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As I was looking over this list of stories, I realized most of them were by authors who were new to me. I love it when I encounter voices I’ve never heard before. I also have a new publication on the reading list, and one of their stories is featured here. Let’s bow out the hell that was 2025 with at least a little excitement and joy, shall we? Here are the ten short science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories I enjoyed reading in November.

“Beneath the Umdlebe Tree; or, A Vegetable Love Story” by Modupeoluwa Shelle

Our narrator addresses Orhija, who is returning to Earth after a while away. The story blends science fiction and Yoruba cosmology in a way I’ve never seen before. Shelle opts for large paragraphs that give the story a tense yet sprawling feel. “You always blamed the gods for everything we did out of our own free will. Are you going to blame them now for the war your kind wages on mine out of an agelong resentment? Did you even blame them for the reason my kind are doing this to the Earth?” (Lightspeed—November 2025; issue 186)

“Coin Flip” by Aeryn Rudel

The narrator of this story tracks down several humans being held hostage by a demon-possessed serial killer and gets killed in the process. Good thing that this isn’t his first death. He is resurrected in time to save the day. But who is this man? That you’ll have to read the story to find out. The twist isn’t just a silly little reference but one loaded with layers of meaning, especially if you were raised in the Christian church. (Flashpoint SF—November 14, 2025)

“The Fire Burns Anyway” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

The protagonist here is a dreamweaver, someone who can use a neural scanner to create “imaginary settings” and “realistic worlds” you can enter in your dreams. This felt like a metaphor for trying to be creative in the age of generative AI. Everything being concentrated in the hands of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else, turning creativity and passion into commodities and resources to be extracted, and trying to hold onto the joy of creating art in the face of the capitalist machine. (Clarkesworld—November 2025; issue 230)

“For When the Night is Behind You and the Depths are Ahead” by Corey Farrenkopf

Coincidentally, I had just read the excellent eco-horror short story collection The Writhing, Verdant End by Corey Farrenkopf, Eric Raglin, and Tiffany Morris when I came across this story by Farrenkopf. Of course I had to read it, and of course it exceeded my expectations. Our narrator’s older brother Dave is one of many who die during the nationwide release events for a videogame, Castles Underground III. They become obsessed with beating the game, and soon we realize the game is more real than Dave let on. (Three-Lobed Burning Eye—November 2025” by issue 46)

“If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine” by RJ Aurand

Val is a membalmer, someone who preserves memories by extracting them from the dead. Those memories are given to the survivors as they process their feelings toward the recently deceased. This story follows Val as she extracts regret from Mr. Jensen to give to his daughter, who wants as little of him as possible. Aurand wrote in the author’s note that this story was inspired by a video of someone finding cremains at a Goodwill and what kind of person would donate those. What do you do when you’re expected to honor the memory of someone who didn’t care for you the way you deserved? (Inner Worlds—November 2025; issue 9)

“The Last Two Gardeners of Mars” by Irene W. Collins

Years ago, Anara and Mireille were part of a crew of scientists sent to terraform Mars. Now, they’re the only two left in a collapsing dome. The terraforming project was abandoned, and they didn’t want to leave the garden behind untended. “Fifty years of this. Not quite lovers, never merely friends. Something more ferocious, more faithful. A queerplatonic tether forged in the red dust and sealed in chlorophyll.” Their time is done and they’re preparing to go out together. A different kind of love story, but a nevertheless beautiful and bittersweet one. (Heartlines Spec—Winter 2025; issue 9)

“Occupational Hazards” by Nicole M. Babb

Welcome to the spotlight, Foofaraw! This was such an unsettling and distressing story. It starts off fine before descending into horror territory. A detective shows up at Pinnacle Ergonomics to interview the coworkers of a man who died after being crushed to death in a prototype of a new technology. “Blood, brain matter, and Gary’s shirt aside, the room was an unrelenting white. Sunshine streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, baking Gary like a ham surprise casserole.” By the time the detective figures out who the culprit is…well, I’ll let you find out what happens. (Foofaraw—November 27, 2025)

“Pink Witches” by Melissa Jornd

A child is at the reception after her Grandma’s funeral. Bree misses her Grandma so much and would give anything to see her again. When she escapes to the bathroom, she steps into a room filled with flowers…and the spirit of her grandmother. They do a little magic together to help Bree’s mother in her grief. It was a wonderful story about honoring your ancestors and being compassionate. Bree taps into power she could wield for any purpose, and her first thought is to do something kind for someone without expecting any reciprocation or appreciation in return. (Small Wonders—November 2025; issue 29)

“Waterways” by Diana Dima

David inherits his father’s boat after his death and becomes a fisherman. He had a fraught relationship with his father, unable to please him but always trying to anyway. David has a surreal experience with several other fishermen, then something in him snaps. This story is dark and creepy; it has the feel of a nightmare, with things spiraling out of control. (PodCastle—November 18, 2025; #918)

“When Eve Chose Us” by Tia Tashiro

In the years after an alien species arrives on Earth, peace has finally been declared. Part of the treaty included the option for humans to join the alien hivemind. Those that do still look mostly human, and are jokingly called “drones” by other humans. Liza’s best friend Eve decides to join, and Liza has a hard time understanding why. Eve has her reasons, reasons she isn’t inclined to share with Liza, leaving Liza feeling adrift and like she lost something she never really had in the first place. This is a really interesting way to explore an alien invasion. In this situation, the aliens offer troubled humans the chance to let go of what ails them. The hive isn’t submission but freedom. (Diabolical Plots—November 3, 2025; #129A)

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Books reading recommendations

Five Scary Short Stories That Read Like Urban Legends

When dark rumors, local legends, and disturbing memes suddenly become all too real…

By Lorna Wallace

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Published on December 18, 2025

Photo by William Nettmann [via Unsplash]

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Photo by William Nettmann [via Unsplash]

The first time I ever heard an urban legend, I was about 5 or 6 years old. My older brother and I each had a few friends staying over and while we sat in the dark, one of his friends told us a story called “Humans Can Lick Too.” It’s about a woman who lets her dog lick her hand for comfort when she hears a creepy dripping noise in the night. If you’ve not heard it before, I’m sure you can guess how it ends based on the title.

It was one of my earliest experiences of horror and while I was suitably terrified, I was also captivated. In that spirit, here are five spooky short stories that manage to perfectly capture the creepily compelling feel of an urban legend…

“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” (2009) by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer

Although urban legends are often most effective when they’re whispered between friends or shared aloud with a gathering (maybe at a sleepover), “each thing i show you is a piece of my death” is perfectly suited to being read because it unfolds through articles, emails, chat logs, and interviews. The mixed media story kicks off with an article explaining an urban legend known as “Background Man.” Essentially, a naked man keeps popping up in the background of obscure movies. Originally “Background Man” was thought to be a hoax, but the unclothed figure has been appearing more prominently in an ever-increasing number of films, TV shows, and music videos, leading to the legend being taken more seriously.

Experimental filmmakers Soraya Mousch and Max Holborn find themselves caught up in the mystery surrounding “Background Man.” But although they’re treated as suspects by the police, they’re just as haunted by the unsettling phenomenon as everyone else.

This story was first published in Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness (2009), but can also be found online at the link above, in The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen (2014), and in Dark Is Better (2023).

“Thirteen” (2013) by Stephen Graham Jones

The teenage protagonist of “Thirteen” lives in a small town that’s home to an urban legend surrounding the Big Chief Theater. According to local lore, at that cinema there’s a trick to thinning the veil between the world of the movie and the real world, allowing fiction to bleed into reality. All you have to do is close your eyes during the scariest part of the film—this trick is said to be exclusive to horror movies—and then hold your breath for two minutes.

It’s a simple idea pulled from childhood—I’m sure most of us were told at some point that we had to hold our breath passing a graveyard or going under a bridge for whatever superstitious reason—but in Stephen Graham Jones’ hands it becomes something far more creative and sinister.

An audio version of this story read by Jones himself is available online at the link above, but if you’d prefer to read it with your own eyes then you can find it in Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre (2013) and After the People Lights Have Gone Off (2014).

“Only Unity Saves the Damned” (2014) by Nadia Bulkin

Bay, Roz, and Lark are three outcasts who have big plans to get out of their small—and, in their eyes, dead-end—hometown. They decide to shoot a video at Goose Lake which supposedly catches Raggedy Annie—an alleged witch who was hanged by the townspeople hundreds of years earlier—on film. Tales of Raggedy Annie haunting the town and the lake have been circulating for years and many people are convinced that this footage finally proves that the stories are real.

But while the three friends should be enjoying their viral moment, their lives take an unfortunate turn for the genuinely creepy. Maybe it’s not Raggedy Annie they should be looking out for, though…

This story was first published in Letters to Lovecraft: Eighteen Whispers to the Darkness (2014), but it can also be found in Nadia Bulkin’s collection She Said Destroy (2017) and online at the link above.

“You Know How the Story Goes” (2018) by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

There are many urban legends about picking up hitchhikers in the dead of night (essentially, don’t do it!), but Thomas Olde Heuvelt flips the script in “You Know How the Story Goes” by having the hitchhiker be the protagonist.

Our main character is drinking at a bar and decides not to get a lift home with his friend—the designated driver—in the hopes of spending the night with a pretty girl. He fails. Faced with a long and cold walk home, he decides to try his hand at hitchhiking. The first lift he gets goes off without a hitch, but the strange woman who picks him up for the next leg of the journey takes him on the most terrifying ride of his life.

The English version of this scary supernatural story can be read right here at Reactor (link above!).

“The DEATH/GRIP Challenge” (2020) by Johnny Compton

As a lover of movies that are so-bad-they’re-good, I deeply wish that I could watch DEATH/GRIP—the fictional film that kicks off the events of this story. Teenager Alicia and her dad Benito bond over their shared enjoyment of not only the movie, but also of the meme challenge that it spawns. All people need to do is taken a picture of one of their hands restraining the other while reaching for something funny and add some text to accompany it, always ending with a quote from the movie: “IT’S NOT ME, IT’S THE DEATH/GRIP!”

When Benito gets a job at his brother’s office—which is not a working environment that he’s used to, being more of a hard hat kind of guy—he starts sharing increasing numbers of DEATH/GRIP Challenge memes to get through the day. It doesn’t take long for Alicia to start getting seriously worried about his growing obsession with the memes. There’s a good amount of humor in this short story thanks to the memes themselves, but that doesn’t take away from the horror, which really ramps up towards the end.

As well as at the link above, you can also find this story in Johnny Compton’s collection Midnight Somewhere (2025).

Have you got any recommendations of short stories that feel like urban legends? Whether it’s a new spin on a classic tale or an original story that has that happened-to-a-friend-of-a-friend feel to it, I’d love to hear your suggestions below![end-mark]

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Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 144-146

Honor is gone; Retribution reigns… and a new, better Oathpact is forged.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on January 5, 2026

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Happy new year, dear Cosmere Chickens, and welcome to the penultimate article in the Wind and Truth reread! It’s been a wild ride, but we’re not quite done yet! Some major character and plot arcs are wrapping up while others are being unraveled or transformed, and the new world in which our characters find themselves as they continue onward is starting to look very, very different from the Roshar we’ve come to know and love. Dalinar is gone, and Shallan is lost. Kaladin ascends to become a Herald, Taravangian has taken up the Shards of both Odium and Honor and thereby gained the attention of all the other Shards in the Cosmere, and everyone else has had their lives irrevocably changed by the conclusion of the pact. Join us as we dig into all the details and share our theories about what it all means…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series is intended as a reread rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 144 is titled “The Tower, the Crown, and the Spear,” and we get a Nale POV! He feels good. Or at least better. Then he feels not so good, and Ishar tells him that the Stormfather has died. Ishar can see what’s happened with Dalinar and Honor, and he knows that Taravangian has taken up Honor and joined it with Odium to form Retribution.

All seems hopeless, yet the Wind tells them there may be a way to bind Retribution in some small way, with a circle of ten and new oaths. Nale tells Ishar he can’t go back to the way it was, the torture. The Wind tells Ishar that there is a way to isolate their minds so they feel no torture, so they know peace between Desolations.

Nale sets the swords, only nine of them, in a circle and they go to Szeth, whose arm is burned away to the shoulder. Nale has a fabrial for Regrowth but there is no Stormlight, and the Wind tells them that Szeth can’t speak the Words.

Then they see the sky growing dark… A storm is coming. Nale thought there would be no more storms but Ishar replies there are no more highstorms, that there is now only one storm:

Nale says there’s no sense in fighting, that the Stormfather is gone and Honor is dead.

SHIVERS! Did anyone else get shivers when Kaladin stepped up? Everyone should have gotten shivers! Kaladin is going to fulfill his true destiny and I am HERE for it!

POV Shift!

Kaladin goes to Syl and she tells him that her father is dead. She tells him she cannot protect the spren, that Odium holds Honor’s power and that they are a part of him… and he will unmake them. Kaladin replies that the Wind has a solution to this problem. Kaladin asks the Wind if an Oathpact can stop what will happen with Retribution in control. The Wind explains exactly what has happened, and what it means for Roshar. Kaladin asks what the Wind needs him to do, and Syl is crying real tears.

He knows that the people have nothing left, no storm, no god, no king… so he wants to give them some hope. Nale tells Kaladin that he doesn’t know what he’ll be getting himself into, that they may be going to torture for centuries. He insists it should be Szeth, with no more Connections. Kaladin responds that he can’t protect everyone, but that he can protect Szeth, who chose peace over war.

Ishar asks Kaladin if he thinks he can truly replace Jezrien—because Ishar really doesn’t think he can. Kaladin removes the cloak that Dalinar gave him from his pack and dons it.

Kaladin remembers all of the previous versions of himself that are still a part of him and then he speaks, saying simply that he accepts this journey. Syl’s voice accepts his Words. He approaches the ring of swords and both Kaladin and Syl thrust their hands forward and a spear of light forms. They ram it into the ground and when the light fades, a silvery spear is there, not made from Syl—like the Honorblades, it’s made from Honor.

The other Heralds appear and go to their swords. Kaladin knows he can help them and he feels a Connection inside of him. Gloryspren appear and windspren spin in a ring of light above him. Kaladin starts glowing and the Wind thanks him. Kaladin’s eyes revert to brown, because of course, they do!

A moment later all of the other Heralds have vanished, leaving Nale and Ishar with Kaladin. Nale says he can feel the Oathpact and Ishar welcomes Kaladin as a new Herald of kings and of the Wind.

Ishar says he must now make Kaladin immortal, and then they must leave Roshar.

Chapter 145 is titled “To Weep for the End of All Things,” and it begins with a Navani POV. She feels love… and then a farewell. The Sibling tells Navani that Dalinar is dead and Navani asks if he serves the enemy. The Sibling tells her that he shattered the contract and Honor. She says that it was a brilliant move, but adds that the enemy holds both Shards and is now Retribution, and that Cultivation has fled. The Sibling fears that they could be destroyed.

Navani resolves to grieve later and asks what to do. The Sibling tells her they must keep Retribution out of Urithiru, that he may destroy the spren but not them if they can create defenses. It will be Navani’s will, and the Sibling’s, against Retribution. And guess who’s on his way?

POV Shift!

Shallan is asking the Oathgate spren to transfer her but they say they can’t without Stormlight. They’re shrinking and they say the enemy has drawn all the Stormlight back to him. They say that there is no more Stormfather, no more Honor, no more Stormlight—that their era has ended. Shallan tries to wrap her mind around the absence of Stormlight and asks how long this will last; the spren tell her it’s gone forever.

POV Shift!

Retribution is loving life. He is so powerful, more powerful than anything. Only Harmony comes close and those powers are misaligned. But Honor and Odium want nearly the same things and they would work together. He senses that Rayse had killed other gods but never taken up their power. Taravangian thinks Rayse must have been a fool as he revels in all his newfound glory.

He prepares to deal with the spren, a remnant of Honor and a potential problem in the future. He tries to draw he spren to him… and nothing happens. His power tells him they are protected by and oath and a circle.

Taravangian then notices that the other Shards can see what he’s done and understands that the battle for the cosmere has begun, though he is not ready. He blames Dalinar for this and turns to confront him only to find him dead, his body sheltering an unconscious Gavinor.

Taravangian thinks of what is happening and what to do. He is so angry with Dalinar and realizes that part of him still exists, on the other side… Dalinar’s soul. He seizes it and it falls into his power as Dalinar is an oathbreaker. Yet Dalinar’s soul slips away from him and the powers tell him that Dalinar’s soul is claimed by another.

But Taravangian finds part of Dalinar in the Spiritual Realm, a part of him that is the Blackthorn.

And with his general secured, Taravangian begins to search for Wit.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is on his knees before Ishar, who touches him on the sides of his head. Something burns inside of Kaladin and he can suddenly feel the others, who are worried that they’re heading toward torture.

The Wind tells him that it’s working, that the Oathpact preserves the spren.

Ishar expresses his concern that he might lose himself again, that he is weak of mind. Kaladin promises to help. Nale evaporates and his sword disappears from the ring. Ishar explains that when they Return, they use bodies of power.

Kaladin’s soul vibrates and light surrounds him. He feels Syl grip his hand. Ishar tells him his soul will be pulled with the rest of the Heralds but his body will be left behind… and it might hurt. Fire rips through him and he feels his eyes burn away. Then…

Nothing.

Chapter 146 is called “Night of Sorrows.” Sigzil is with Lirin, who is examining him, though he knows there’s nothing a surgeon can do about a Radiant who has lost his spren.

Then the door slams open and Wit is there. He tells them Dalinar is dead, that the Sibling is going into a coma to protect themself, and the world is ending. Wit shoves Lirin out of the room and tells Sig that he really needs his help. He says that the power that Odium now holds will identify Wit as the only thing on the planet that can harm him. He tells Sig that he’s holding something dangerous, that Odium absolutely cannot get access to. Wit needs someone to take it until he can return, and he’s chosen Sig as he’s no longer a Radiant.

Sig agrees to take the Dawnshard, thinking it will make up for his failings—that he’ll redeem himself. Wit tells him to get off of Roshar as soon as he can and to keep the Dawnshard away from Odium at all costs. Wit promises that he’ll find Sig.

Sig feels a force overlap him, an ancient, wonderful, terrible power.

Then Retribution is there and it vaporizes Wit.

Sig falls into Shadesmar, surrounded by light and spren.

POV Shift!

Renarin is in Urithiru, watching Navani floating in the center of a crystal. She’s glowing, eyes closed, in the green-blue light. The tower continues to function as it had when it awakened, and Towerlight is available to Radiants, but they can’t communicate with Navani or the Sibling. Rlain and Jasnah are there, and Jasnah says she’s never seen anything like this but that her mother must survive as Jasnah needs her.

(Paige is totally not crying right now.)

An impassable dome of light surrounds the entire tower. The Oathgates are also inside the dome but, of course, they don’t work. Renarin and Rlain had transferred from Shadesmar at the last possible moment, leaving Shallan behind. Renarin had heard that Adolin was alive but with no more Stormlight or spanreeds, he isn’t sure of this.

They go to another room where Sebarial and Aladar are waiting, and they look to Renarin now, with Navani indisposed and Renarin’s father… well, you know.

He announces that he will not be their king, then Renarin tells Jasnah he wishes to adopt her system, a representative government. Jasnah says she will show him how. Renarin says they will have an elected senate and a Ministerial Exemplar. Renarin is surprised at his confidence. I’m super proud of the kiddo! The prince, the man that he’s become!

They all go to the roof where Gavinor, fully grown, sits with Oathbringer in his lap. Renarin kneels by his father’s corpse and hugs his father for the last time. He thanks Dalinar for being proud of him, for showing him the heights they’re able to reach.

Aladar states that Dalinar failed, that he lost the world. Renarin knows that Dalinar will be remembered as a hero who failed.

Renarin has asked Jasnah to Soulcast his father to stone so he can be set with the ancient kings of Urithiru. Rlain embraces him. Although he’s somewhat embarrassed at embracing in front of others, he knows they need to see that singer and human can truly work together.

POV Shift!

Szeth awakes to find the land covered in darkness, covered by the Everstorm. Szeth finds Kaladin’s corpse and thinks that Ishar killed him. He calls out to Sylphrena but she doesn’t answer. Nightblood does, however. Nightblood thinks it killed Kaladin but Szeth assures the sword that isn’t the case—at most, Kaladin lost a few fingers. Nightblood points out Szeth’s missing arm and he says it was a price he paid to save his family and that it was Nightblood who freed them.

The horses and wagon are gone and all that’s left is Kaladin’s pack. Szeth looks through it and finds a carved wooden horse along with the small woolen sheep his mother had made for him from Molli’s wool. And he weeps. Szeth asks about the Heralds and Nightblood says they were destroyed by something powerful, a new god in the sky.

Nightblood asks him what they are going to do and Szeth replies that he was told to live better and that he will. His people will need help, and there are still Skybreakers to be found.

POV Shift!

Jasnah walks through Urithiru feeling like she’d failed Dalinar, and herself, as well as failing to protect Thaylen City. She’d given up the Shattered Plains, though they still had the treaty… but without the Oathgates, she thinks that the treaty is inconsequential. She had hoped to rebuild Alethkar as a nation in the Unclaimed Hills but, without working Oathgates, they couldn’t travel there and Alethkar is truly lost.

She does have one touchstone that’s still stable: her opposition to the Vorin religion. But her whole moral philosophy is basically kaput.

She realizes that the whole philosophy of the greater good had never been the answer and that she’d dedicated her life to an ideal she didn’t believe. Exhausted, she lays down in bed and finds a note.

Jasnah laughs, though she wishes she had someone to hold in that moment. She feels more alone than she has since being locked away when she was a child and she sobs.

POV Shift!

Venli sits in Narak, looking toward a sunset blocked by black clouds and red lightning that stretches in all directions. It’s been a day since Odium Ascended to Retribution and he had spoken to them via messenger. He says he’ll be in touch but, for now, the listeners may use his Light to fuel their powers and to grow crops. She thinks of her sister and feels peace.

She hears Bila calling to her and they go to the pool, which had been empty, to find it refilling with a thick, black-blue liquid which pulses with a new rhythm: The Rhythm of War. Thude asks what it means and Venli replies that they have a powerful duty, that their land will be important to the coming world.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Kaladin

I find it difficult to put into words what emotions the ending of Kaladin’s journey brings up in me. He was always my favorite character, the one I related to the most, the one who I tried to be, the one who went through the same struggles I had. His struggle to figure out who he was, what he should be, how to balance his desire to help others with his own self-preservation, resounded within me in ways I didn’t know I needed.

As such, this ending is… bittersweet, but with more sweet than bitter. Kaladin has become the hero that we all knew he has been this whole time. He sacrifices himself to save others, giving up the potential of a human life in order to repay that debt to the spren, who had already given so much on humanity’s behalf. He sacrifices himself to save Szeth from having to endure that fate, to protect his friends and family, and ultimately to help the Heralds in their new life. From the very beginning, I wanted peace for him… but I also wanted him to remain the hero I knew he was, the hero that would stand up for the oppressed, the beaten, the broken. And he’s found both of those things, though not in the way he (or I) expected.

Dalinar

It’s fitting that Dalinar’s final act was one of love. He sacrificed himself to save the boy whom he had failed.

Kaladin and Dalinar: Thematic Bookends

In these chapters, we find two beautifully crafted, perfectly deployed bookends to the journeys of both these characters. First, Kaladin’s:

And then in the next chapter, Dalinar’s:

Kaladin first spoke these words right before the duel when he jumped in to save Adolin in Words of Radiance, and Dalinar originally voiced the same question when he traded his Shardblade for the lives of Bridge Four in The Way of Kings. In each case, Sanderson was laying the groundwork for the overall character arcs and major themes that would play out through these characters, and here he’s tied up those ends in neat little bows. Kaladin is doing what he can to protect others, Honor be damned. And Dalinar is accepting that human life is worth far more than anything else, and worth doing anything to protect. Both men are doing everything they can to preserve life.

The Blackthorn

Oof. The creation of this… this amalgamation of all the worst parts of Dalinar’s personality, being set loose to wage war on the Cosmere at whole, is a terrifying concept. It lacks everything that made Dalinar human—his ethics, his love, his fear. All that’s left is cold-blooded violence.

It’s like we’re in a video game and now we have to face the shadow-version of our favorite character.

Sigzil

It’s nice to see that Sigzil has grown enough that he can be this truthful and flippant to Wit, whom he’s always held in such reverent regard. Maybe it’s just his depression talking, but I like to think that he’s grown beyond his blind idolization of Hoid.

And off he goes, into the pages of The Sunlit Man.

Renarin

Renarin has grown, too. He’s faced monsters and ancient horrors, and—perhaps worst of all—the demons of his own past. He’s lost his father and mother, and found love in the most unlikely of places (unlikely in the sense of his own expectations, of course). This is an entirely different man from the shy, timid boy we met in The Way of Kings.

I love that this is the lesson he’s come away from this book with. It’s very… Bridge Four.

Neurodivergence recognizing neurodivergence. It’s very fitting that Renarin would understand and respect Jasnah’s dislike of casual physical contact.

Szeth

He’s not letting what he thinks is Kaladin’s sacrifice go to waste.

Jasnah

Two key quotes, here:

And a few moments later:

And so her character arc truly begins. Everything we’ve seen of Jasnah up until now was setting her up for this fall, laying the groundwork for her to find herself in the back five set of books. (Or so I assume, since it’s been said that she’s to be one of the main characters of the upcoming novels.) Will Jasnah become a hero? A villain? What path will she find that resonates within herself? What Words will she find? Only time will tell.

Venli

I’m not sure if Venli should get the “most improved” character award, but she’s definitely a contender.

Venli is still seeking to help her people, but now she’s doing so by being open and listening, and not by just doing what she thinks is right.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

In typically shifty Sanderson style, we get the obvious conclusion in the least obvious manner. For years, debate raged in the fandom about Kaladin or Dalinar or Shallan (or all the main characters) becoming the new wave of Heralds, and the Oathpact being reforged, and whether the Everstorm had made the Oathpact pointless.

It did make the Oathpact pointless, of course. It circumvented the Fused rebirth cycle on Braize, just like one side of the argument claimed. But now we have a new Oathpact and Kaladin steps up, just like the other side of the argument claimed.

There’s a lot of great imagery and symbolism in this chapter, too. Kaladin’s eyes go back to brown, signifying a return to a truer, more authentic state of being. He forms an Honorspear, rather than an Honorblade, signifying his uniqueness amongst the old Heralds. He dons the Kholin cloak, fulfilling the “Tower, Crown, and Spear” death rattle from allllll the way back in The Way of Kings. Syl forms the Honorspear with Kaladin, signifying a new equality between them.

Lots going on here.

This is heading into the realm of pure speculation, now that we’re in the final chapters of the book. The Cosmere stories we’ve gotten so far that take place after Wind and Truth have been very delicate in revealing any information about the status of Roshar, Retribution, and Cultivation—even Isles of the Emberdark, which came out only months ago. There’s nothing we know about new Unmade (perhaps this was prevented entirely by the new Oathpact, though I somehow doubt it). We have no clue where Cultivation went, or if/how the other Shards banded together against Retribution.

Sure, there’s a Cosmere-wide cold war happening between Roshar and Scadrial, but despite the many references to that, we have heard remarkably little about the two combination Shards central to those worlds post-Wind and Truth. Does Retribution still exist during Emberdark? Is Taravangian still behind the steering wheel? And what about Sazed, and Harmony/Discord? Presumably that’ll be the focus of Mistborn Era 3, if not Era 4, but we’ve gotten essentially zilch about his status in the various secret projects.

Some eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that, this whole time, I’ve never mentioned “Stormlight Book [#]” when referring to the back half of the series. Well, that’s because I’m 99% certain that, while Book Six may say “The Stormlight Archive” on the cover, it’s going to open with “Prelude to the Voidlight (or Warlight) Archive.”

There’s no more Stormlight. How can it be the Stormlight Archive without Stormlight?

An interesting wrinkle to this is a conversation I had with Brandon at Dragonsteel Nexus 2024. Sadly there’s no official audio recording/Arcanum entry for this, as it occurred at the pre-event dinner for the beta readers, but we talked about the endpages of The Way of Kings… and the Voidbinding chart. He mentioned that, when that book was in production (and during the time when he wasn’t the mega superstar bestseller he’s become, with all kinds of artistic control over the books), he was under the impression that the endpages would be the same for every one of the ten books. So he chose art that would fit for both the beginning and the end of the series.

Thus, the mysterious and confounding Voidbinding chart that had no impact whatsoever on the contents of The Way of Kings.

This made me perk up. Everything around the creation of the new Oathpact talks about Honor, but this line (and the surrounding sequence in general) indicates that even the Odium spren are protected. Ba-Ado-Mishram is hidden. “Nothing happened” when he pulled at them all.

Did Ishar’s Connection with Odium’s perpendicularity inadvertently include the Unmade and the voidspren?

And of course we have Dalinar, and the Blackthorn. I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of how this was handled here. It feels a little bit like having your cake and eating it too, that Retribution gets his supergeneral while Dalinar gets to slip off into peaceful oblivion/the afterlife/Beyond—but this line in particular is another possible hint toward Nohadon being much, much more than he seems.

Lots going on, once again, all of it in quick succession. Wit has to make one final gamble before Retribution gets his hands on him, and that means dumping the Dawnshard on Sigzil.

For those who read the Cosmere books in publishing order, we knew that Sigzil held a Dawnshard at some point between Rhythm of War and The Sunlit Man. I’m not sure how many people were expecting him to get it right here, but such is the way it goes. He gets a fun new toy (Note: Not actually very fun), and we get a second Dawnshard command to go with Rysn’s Change. And so begins a crazy sequence of events that’ll end with the Night Brigade showing up on Canticle many years later.

We’ve talked a bit throughout these readalong posts about the splinter factions of Skybreakers. I doubt, given what we know about the focus characters in the Voidlight Archive (natch), that we will get much of Szeth and Nightblood, Attorneys at Law, but I at least hope that they have some big moments. It’ll be frustrating if Nightblood once again shows up in someone else’s hands with no explanation, as happened with the journey from Vasher to the Nightwatcher to Nale.

As Venli rightly points out, it means the Listeners are super important now. They control the only perpendicularity on Roshar.

They also have a tremendous opportunity at hand, thanks to their treaty with Jasnah. While Navani is on ice, the Radiants have only one real access point to Investiture, and it’s the Listeners. (Lift notwithstanding, but we already knew she was gonna be EXTREMELY important in the Voidlight Archive.) Whether it’s the Listeners building up stores of Warlight to share with Urithiru or giving the Radiants direct access to the perpendicularity, they now have a stranglehold on the magical economy of Roshar.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our final reread discussion, covering chapter 147 along with the Epilogue and Postlude, and our wrap-up on the book in general![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 144-146 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Teen Horror Time Machine

Holiday Spirits, A Killer Christmas, and R.L. Stine’s The New Evil 

It just isn’t Christmas until the Evil Entity is released from the ice.

By Alissa Burger

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Published on December 18, 2025

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The Cheerleaders trilogy (1992) are among the most iconic books in R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series. We’ll check out the trilogy in the new year, but with the holiday season upon us, we’ll turn our attention first to Stine’s follow up Super Chiller to the trilogy, Cheerleaders: The New Evil (1994). Throughout the original trilogy, the Shadyside High School cheerleading squad found themselves up against an amorphous evil power that can take possession of humans and hide itself behind the faces of their closest friends, resulting in all manner of mayhem and murder. 

When Stine returns to the cheerleaders in The New Evil, the evil seems to have been safely contained, frozen in ice in the nearby Cononoka River. But when mysterious “accidents” start taking out the cheerleaders one by one, Corky Corcoran begins to have her doubts. First, Hannah is badly injured when she, Kimmy, and Corky are in a car accident. The roads are slippery and Hannah’s not wearing her seatbelt when they crash, so jumping straight to a supernatural explanation might feel like a bit of a leap, though Kimmy is adamant that the evil is back. Corky tries to rationalize with her, telling Kimmy, “You can’t blame the evil spirit every time something bad happens … Sometimes bad things happen. They can’t be helped” (12). But Kimmy has planted a seed of doubt in Corky’s mind and she talks her boyfriend Alex into driving her out to the river to see for herself, where she finds an ice-fishing hole cut in the ice, with vapor rising from the water. This time, it’s Alex who tries to reason with Corky, explaining that the steam is rising from the hole in the ice “because the water below the ice is warmer than the air above the ice” (26), but Corky’s having none of it. 

To be fair, accidents seem to plague the cheerleading squad, though there’s some doubt as to whether the evil spirit is to blame or just some cutthroat sabotage of the competition, as new girls vie to take Hannah’s spot on the team. At tryouts for Hannah’s replacement, team captains Corky and Kimmy narrow their choice down to three finalists: Ivy, Lauren, and Rochelle. Just when they’ve made their minds up to give the spot to Rochelle, she is badly injured when a workman loses his grip on a screwdriver, which plummets to the gym floor and lodges in the back of Rochelle’s neck. While this could just be a freak accident, a case of Rochelle being in the wrong place at the wrong time, this is complicated by Ivy’s eavesdropping on Kimmy and Corky’s deliberations and the workman’s anguished confusion, as he tells the cheerleading coach Ms. Closter “It flew out of my hand! … I don’t know what happened. I was holding it tight. But it just flew out!” (51, emphasis original). 

Rochelle survives, but she won’t be cheering any time soon and as a result of her injury, Ivy makes the squad. Lauren is furious and lobbies the coach to be part of the team as an alternate, practicing with the cheerleaders and learning the routines, seemingly just biding her time until another unfortunate “accident” will free up a spot for her on the squad. Heather gets powder burns from a malfunctioning confetti cannon and Naomi is badly burned when a fire baton twirling routine goes wrong, and in no time, Lauren has her wish and takes her spot next to the other cheerleaders. 

Corky, Kimmy, and Debra have confronted the evil before and they aren’t willing to take any chances, even if that means committing murder, which is where the lines between the influence of the evil and the actions the cheerleaders are willing to take to stop the evil begin to get a bit blurry. Debra has started dabbling in magic spells that can help them detect the evil, deciding it’s best to fight supernatural dangers with supernatural defenses. Corky, Kimmy, and Debra come up with a plan to invite their friends to a pre-Christmas skating party on the frozen river, cast one of these spells to find out who the evil is inhabiting—their top contenders are Ivy and Lauren—and then drown the girl in the icy river. This has worked before and they’re hopeful that once the girl is dead and the evil is forced to vacate her body, they can do some quick CPR to bring her back to life, but the possibility that Ivy or Lauren might actually die doesn’t seem to be a dealbreaker. All is fair in cheerleading and evil banishing, apparently. The spell seems to work and Ivy starts skating toward the three of them (though this could also reasonably be a natural, non-possessed “what the heck is going on over there?” response when she sees three of her fellow cheerleaders gathered around a circle of candles on the ice and chanting). It ultimately turns out that Corky, Kimmy, and Debra have had it wrong all along and when they cast the spell to draw the evil out, they release it from the ice, where it had still been trapped. All of the accidents were really just accidents (or sabotage) and in overzealously being on the lookout for the evil, they’ve brought it back, as it explodes from the frozen river in “A malodorous blanket of black fog … [that] darkened the ice, blackened the sky … The ice blistered and burned. The smoke spewed up thicker, faster, swirling up over the shivering trees, up to the clouds” (100-101). 

And now the cheerleaders are in real trouble. The evil is definitely back, just in time for the basketball players and cheerleaders to travel to a pre-holiday tournament, with the evil of course coming along for the fun. One of the basketball players becomes uncharacteristically violent and belligerent with the coach, who is later discovered murdered near the locker rooms. The confetti cannon that the cheerleaders roll out again (despite their first disastrous attempt with it) spews hot black tar all over the fans, the seats, and the court, resulting in several serious injuries and the tournament being temporarily suspended, just when the Shadyside team was really getting into their groove. A cheerleader on the opposing team’s squad starts doing backflips and can’t stop. The Shadyside teens are far from home, unsupervised, and at the mercy of the evil spirit, but despite all of the terrifying things that are happening—including the violent and unsolved murder of one of their two chaperones—the tournament continues, with the Shadyside teens largely left to their own devices. 

When Corky, Kimmy, and Debra follow the other cheerleaders and the basketball players to a nearby lake in the middle of the night, it feels like a reprise of their ill-advised skating party, but this time there’s definitely something weird going on, as the gathered teens form a circle, moving and dancing in unison with raised hands and blank eyes, as “Their shadows dipped and turned, dark blue against the gray ice. Slowly, the dancers moved, as silent as shadows” (151). They repel an angry dog with a collective supernatural strength, throwing the poor animal high into the air before he comes crashing back down to the ice, injured, frightened, and driven away. So this time, when the gathered group sets their sights on Corky, Kimmy, and Debra, there’s little doubt about the influence of the evil, which apparently possessed the bodies of ALL of their friends when that dark smoke rolled over them at the skating party. Prior to this, the evil has been content to claim one host at a time, but now the remaining cheerleaders are outnumbered and outmatched: the possessed teens drown Kimmy in the lake and Debra disappears when she and Corky get separated in the dark woods as they try to escape. When the sun comes up, Corky is alone but still alive, watching in horror as the possessed basketball players and cheerleaders climb onto the bus to head back to the tournament. 

The evil spirit intends to kill the remaining cheerleaders and Corky decides the only way to stop it is to kill the evil first, which she attempts to do by hijacking the bus when the driver goes into the motel office and driving it off a cliff to plunge into the icy lake below. Corky bails out at the last moment, listening in mingled horror and triumph as all of her friends scream the whole way down to their frigid, watery graves. Like the skating party, she holds onto the naive hope that some of them might be resuscitated once the evil has been expelled from their dead bodies, but she’s fully aware that they could all die, and that’s a price she’s willing to pay. Traumatized and in shock, she walks to the arena to find her coach and tell her what has happened, but as Corky desperately tries to get Ms. Closter to see the truth, the Shadyside basketball players and what’s left of the cheerleading squad take the court, a rampaging horde of the angry and waterlogged undead, “lurching, stumbling after her, reaching for her with their swollen purple hands, coming for her, coming for their revenge” (187). 

But not really. The final section of The New Evil is an uneasy combination of reality and Corky’s hallucinations, which are chalked up to a concussion. The basketball team and the other cheerleaders really were possessed by the evil. Kimmy really is dead. Corky really drove the bus off the cliff and walked to the arena in a daze. But the basketball players and cheerleaders never became the vengeful undead because they really were miraculously saved, pulled from the water and resuscitated by a couple of incredibly intrepid ice fishermen who just happened to be in the right place in the right time with the right skill set to make this incredibly difficult and dangerous rescue. The possessed teens have no memory of what happened while they were inhabited by the evil, including no memory of how they killed Kimmy or how Corky killed them, which presumably lets Corky off the hook for a whole slew of crimes. 

The teens are themselves once more and grateful to be alive. One of the players heaves a big sigh of relief and exclaims “I still can’t believe everyone survived” (198) and just like that, Kimmy is forgotten, marginalized and nearly erased within the larger context of their shared trauma—or at least their shared trauma as they remember it, with only Corky and Debra aware of the whole dark story. As the teens recuperate in the hospital, they realize that it’s Christmas Eve. It seems like this year, their gift is their lives, though the horrifying reality of what actually happened is sure to be the gift that keeps on giving for the two girls … and if it’s anything like the Cheerleaders trilogy that came before The New Evil, there’s nothing to say the evil won’t come back for a visit in the new year.[end-mark]

The post Holiday Spirits, A Killer Christmas, and R.L. Stine’s <em>The New Evil</em>  appeared first on Reactor.

Books The Wheel of Time

Reading The Wheel of Time: Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan Wrestle with Control in The Gathering Storm (Part 12)

We’re checking in with Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan this week.

By Sylas K Barrett

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Published on December 16, 2025

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For the final Reading The Wheel of Time of 2025, we’ll be covering chapters 17 and 18 of The Gathering Storm. The title of chapter 17, “Questions of Control” is applicable to the following chapter as well, as we see first Cadsuane, then Perrin, and finally Siuan, struggle with figuring out what they can control, what they should control, and where their blindspots are.

It’s a fascinating little section, and I’m excited to get recapping.

Cadsuane sits with the women maintaining Semirhage’s shield while, in the other room, Sarene interrogates the captive Forsaken. Cadsuane is able to eavesdrop now that she knows the trick of inverting her weaves to make them invisible to others.

Cadsuane is one of the few Aes Sedai who hasn’t taken a turn at interrogation yet; she is being careful not to bruise her larger-than-life image. She is also frustrated with the way everything is slowly spinning out of control, how she can’t spare time for the “squabbles” in the White Tower because of the nearness of the Last Battle and the need to make Rand al’Thor ready for it.

Sarene is getting nowhere, and Cadsuane is considering once again how much the Forsaken reminds her of herself, when a servant arrives with a meal for Semirhage. Cadsuane listens as the food is delivered, only to be flung to the floor, startling everyone. Semirhage announces that she won’t eat the garbage that she has been given, and demands proper food. Sarene asks whether better food will persuade Semirhage to talk. 

As she sends the servant to bring something else, Sarene returns to her interrogation. Cadsuane can hear how unsettled the other woman is. Everyone is jumpy around the Forsaken, of course, but Cadsuane suddenly realizes that the awe they all feel around such a legendary, evil monster is the reason they can’t get anywhere with her.

She goes into the room, ordering Sarene to release the weaves restraining Semirhage, and calling Semirhage a child before knocking her to the ground by kicking her feet out from under her.

Cadsuane puts her knee in Semirhage’s back and orders her to eat the food off the floor, so as not to waste it. Cadsuane ignores the oaths and threats, choosing instead to take Sarene’s chair and drag Semirhage over her knee. She also has Sarene bring in all of the Aes Sedai in the hall, as well as any servants who might be nearby, to watch her spank Semirhage thoroughly. Sermihage’s threats and curses devolve into cries of outrage and pain. When Cadsuane stops and asks if Semirhage is ready to eat the food, Semirhage threatens to find and torture anyone Cadsuane has ever loved. So Cadsuane begins again. Eventually Semirhage starts to cry from the humiliation of her experience. And then, finally, she eats the food off the floor.

Cadsuane reminds her witnesses that Semirhage is only human, and that having secrets doesn’t make her special. She also advises Sarene to keep a hairbrush on hand for future punishments. Then she leaves the room, turning her mind back to the problem of Rand al’Thor.

Perrin is relieved that the Shaido army hasn’t followed him and his refugees, but administering and caring for such a large group or followers is difficult. Balwer has made it clear that most would not care to leave Perrin’s company, even if the Asha’man were recovered enough to make Gateways big enough, and hold them open long enough, to move a large group of people.

Perrin feels guilty for using Grady and Neald too hard, and for all the responsibilities and people he neglected while trying to get Faile back. He knows he has to stop pushing aside his problems, even as he tries to figure out how to get back to Rand, how to be ready to march to the Last Battle.

Finishing his inspection of the camp, Perrin reflects on the rumors about him, the different way his is viewed by different factions, and his distaste for the name Goldeneyes. He also thinks about the way he seems to lose control in battle, and of the first time that happened, fighting the Whitecloaks.

When Faile was missing, he had continually insisted that nothing else mattered. Now, he feels like he must acknowledge all the things that are still wrong. It is time, he thinks, to stop avoiding his responsibilities, and to stop avoiding the wolf dream. He thinks there might be answers in his dream that he needs.

Siuan is carrying her laundry—which she has realized she can outsource to a servant or novice, even though she still has to do Bryne’s laundry—when she notices that all the novices, Accepted, and Aes Sedai are all gathered around the pavilion where the Hall meets. She sets her basket down in a safe place and hurries over, finding Sheriam waiting outside the tent flaps.

Sheriam informs Siuan that Elaida has Traveling. The rebels have been using some of their contacts to collect tribute for the White Tower from various sources, and recently that money was collected by Elaida’s representatives first, who were seen departing “through a hole in the air.”

Some of the other Aes Sedai standing by Sheriam begin discussing the events, but Siuan wastes no time. She grabs the nearest novice and sends her running to fetch one of the messengers Gareth Bryne stationed in camp. The rest of the novices she sends on their way to lessons and duties, telling them off for gawking. There’s nothing she can do about the Accepted, however, whose privileges include more freedom than novices have.

Briefly, Siuan worries that Elaida gained the knowledge of the weaves by breaking Egwene, then realizes it must have been Beonin who betrayed them. She also asks Sheriam why the meeting wasn’t Sealed to the Flame, but the Keeper doesn’t know. Siuan worries aloud over keeping the secret from the Seanchan, at least, and needing every advantage when they attack the White Tower.

Siuan waits impatiently until the courier arrives, and gives him the message for Bryne to: “…watch his flanks. Our enemy has been taught the method we used to get here.” 

Siuan explains to Sheriam that she is making sure they don’t wake up to an army in their midst. The siege is finished now, of course—something Sheriam hasn’t thought of yet, it seems. Siuan is annoyed that Sheriam won’t be the only one; many of the Aes Sedai will be more concerned with professional pride first, and will only think of the practical implications later.

Eventually, someone inside the tent does call for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame, and Siuan withdraws, going back to fetch her laundry. As she does, she considers how the problems of politicking and in-fighting are not all Elaida’s doing, that they exist here in the rebel camp and existed in Siuan’s White Tower, as well. She feels partially responsible for this. She knows that every rift in the Tower can probably be traced back to cracks that were there for a long time, and wonders what would have happened if she had been more of a mediator during her time as Amyrlin. If she could have strengthened her Aes Sedai, and prevented them from turning on each other.

She is approached by Sharina, who offers to carry Siuan’s laundry. Sharina carefully points out the kerfuffle that the news has caused, and how the news could be used to cause anxiety in the camp. She reveals that the information was first delivered to Lelaine, who let the news slip to a passing family of novices. Lelaine also deflected several early calls for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame.

Siuan grasps the implication at once: Everyone will soon realize what Siuan has already realized, that the siege is useless now. And the more anxious and in peril the women of the camp feel, the easier it will be for a firm hand to seize control. It’s a clever ploy, and Siuan realizes that she should have seen it coming.

She asks why Sharina told her this, and Sharina remarks that she isn’t blind; in Siuan she sees a woman working very hard to keep the Amyrlin’s enemies occupied. Sharina also points out that her own fate, and that of all the novices, is tangled up with the Amyrlin’s. She offers to take Siuan’s washing to have it done, and Siuan thanks her.

Siuan watches her go, reflecting that it is not only the novices but every one of them whose fates are tangled up with Egwene’s. In her mind, she urges Egwene to hurry up and finish her work in the Tower.

Ugh, I love Sharina so very much. I’m really pleased, in a story that is all about young people (and people who look and act young, even when they aren’t) that Jordan included some really great examples of elder characters in the likes of Sharina, and Setalle Anan, and Damer Flinn. It’s fascinating to see the perspective brought to channeling by older folks who have other lives, and other contexts, than the channelers who began their journey working with the One Power when they were quite young.

I turned 40 this past week, and it has been on my mind a lot lately the way western society makes us believe that human potential lies exclusively in the young, and that we have one purpose, one role in life, that we are supposed to find in our early twenties, or at least by thirty. In Flinn and in Sharina, he gives us two people who have had full, and fulfilling lives. We are never told that either regrets their path or wishes they had come to channeling in their youth instead of after having lived a long life.

Flinn’s passion for healing is clearly influenced by his experience as a soldier, seeing death in many forms and sometimes being responsible for it. Sharina brings a lifetime of wisdom and understanding of people to her position as an initiate of the White Tower, which we see is not an impediment to her ability to be a novice but actually a strength, both for her sake and others.

And in Satelle, we see someone who lost channeling, lost the beautiful, life-giving connection to the True Source that few who touch it can survive without, and yet she has had a good life, has experienced pleasure and love and fulfillment, and is in many ways wiser than the Aes Sedai she used to be a sister of. We see her bringing that wisdom, both from her life in the Tower and her life in Ebou Dar, to bear as she worked with Tuon, finding common ground on which to stand so that she can challenge some of Tuon’s beliefs and positions from a place of respect and friendship, rather than antagonism. How many Aes Sedai, even Gray sisters, could manage so well?

We even get some really interesting perspectives from Cadsuane, despite the fact that she is more or less establishment Aes Sedai. I was particularly struck by the description early after we met her about how she had always heard that with age comes with patience, but that she found the opposite to be true—that the older she got and the less time she had left, the more impatient she became. I have heard, anecdotally, both from older women I know personally in my life and also from older female influencers that as they age they realize how much they don’t have, or want, to put up with anymore, especially when it comes to societal expectations of women.

Robert Jordan was only 59 when he died—old enough to have some experience and perspective about aging, which he clearly brought to bear in his work, but also young enough that I’m impressed with his reflections on the lives and perspective of his elder character, and particularly with his characterization of older women. Jordan has some blindspots and misogyny in his writing that comes up from time to time, but even still, he is deserving of his reputation for writing interesting and complex (and flawed) female characters, and I think he particularly shines when he is writing women like Sharina and Cadsuane.

Siuan’s personal revelation about her own failure to repair divisions in the White Tower during her own tenure as Amyrlin is a perfect counterpoint to everything that Egwene has been tackling, both in her own mind and in the mind of the White Tower Aes Sedai. Egwene herself has to reorient from a place of anger and combativeness to a place of compassion and diplomacy as she realizes her task is not to fight Elaida but to repair the division between the Ajahs. To restore, not to tear down. Elaida has to be removed, of course, but Egwene even goes so far as to admit that it would be better if Elaida was a good Amyrlin, if she could be what the White Tower needs. That if she was, Egwene would be content to step aside.

Siuan is now having the same realization, and I wonder how much of the Black Ajah’s influence she recognizes in her own failure to mediate and repair division between sisters during her time as Amyrlin. After all, Siuan spent her entire tenure beset by enemies. She and Moiraine watched a previous Amyrlin and all those in her confidence be secretly murdered by the Black Ajah, and knew full well that their own safety rested entirely on the fact that no one knew that they had witnessed Gitara’s Foretelling. She and Moiraine had to carry this heavy burden alone, the only two who knew the secret and the only two who could help the world by finding the Dragon Reborn, but Moiraine got to carry that burden mostly outside of the Tower. Siuan had to do it while interacting with the rest of the Aes Sedai, knowing that any one of them could end up being of the Black.

It’s hardly surprising that she failed to catch some of the animosity between the Ajahs or the widening of the divisions in the Tower during her tenure. She was constantly on guard against every single person around her, not only from the general political issues that probably beset most Amyrlins (looking at the animosity between the Blue and the Red, here) but also because she knew about the Black Ajah, and because she knew that revealing her secret to the wrong person, even if she wasn’t Black, could spell disaster for the world in unfathomable ways.

It speaks to her character that she is paying attention to these details now. I think it also speaks to the fact that her burdens are different now, and to the fact that she has a few people she can share things with. She still keeps many secrets, and her goals and determination remain unchanged, but she doesn’t have to guard the secret of the Dragon’s rebirth, and she has a few people in her life (Egwene, Bryne, and now Sharina) who she feels she can fully trust.

Meanwhile, Perrin is in a very different position. He has Faile back, but he is very much facing the question of who he wants to be now, and how to step up and be the leader everyone needs. He admits to himself that Faile’s kidnapping allowed him to distract himself from important personal issues, like his own discomfiture with leadership, and the difficulty of managing his wolf brother nature.

It is continually fascinating to me that Perrin equates his battle rage and murderous impulses with the wolf side of himself, rather than the human side. The wolves of this world are magical, in a way. They are sentient in a way that no other animals have been shown to be, and have a special place in Tel’aran’rhiod, just like the Heroes of the Horn. They are even meant to fight the Shadow and participate in the Last Battle like the Heroes.

No doubt the unique mystical nature of wolves in this world is why wolf brothers exist. These are humans connecting to something special about creation, differently, but not wholly unlike, ta’veren connect to the Pattern in unique ways, or someone like Min has visions from it. But the wolves aren’t the same as humans: They don’t think the same way, don’t have the same motivations, and in particular, do not appear to share in most human emotions and motivations. They kill, but not out of hatred; they fear, but don’t seem to experience bigotry or hold grudges. They defend themselves, but they don’t hold onto bitterness when the fight is over.

We do see some human-like emotions from them; the most blatant, I think, is their disdain for dogs letting themselves be tamed and be subservient to human beings. Hopper’s frustration with Perrin is somewhat human too, I suppose.

Perrin thinks of his battle rage as being a wolf part, something animalistic and terrible that will take him over if he isn’t careful. But his anger and hatred towards the Shaido, driven by his fear of losing Faile or having her hurt, is very, very human. Wolves don’t wage war the way humans do. They don’t keep slaves. If anything, I think Perrin’s relationship to violence is much more human that it is wolf, and he might benefit from letting a wolfish perspective take over a little more, in this respect.

Nature is violent, after all. Animals kill each other for food, and sometimes in fights for resources or mating rights or other aspects of survival. But even these magical, sentient wolves don’t hate the way men hate. They don’t swear to the Shadow out of a desire for power, or immortality, or to protect themselves from loss. And they are good at thinking about the needs of the pack, not just the needs of the individual.

I’ll be interested to see where this journey goes for Perrin, now that he’s finally decided to face this issue head-on, and whether or not Jordan’s (and Sanderson’s) appraisal of the wolf vs. human dynamic matches my own. It also looks like Perrin is going to try to learn to navigate Tel’aran’rhiod, which will be really interesting. Could be very helpful in being able to communicate with his friends, since Egwene and Rand can also both visit the Dream World. In the past, we have seen Perrin be very impatient when it comes to learning to navigate the Dream, so it’s also likely that there will be some friction between him and Hopper.

(Side note: Can someone please message me on Bluesky or leave a comment below for the Reactor team to pass on to me, because I cannot for the life of me figure out where this reference to Perrin trying to kill Hopper in the Dream comes from? Is this something that happened at some point that I just forgot about? I don’t have anything in my notes, and that seems like a huge thing for me not to have written down and commented about. But it also seems like a bizarre thing to have happened “off screen?” Someone help me.)

I’m a little surprised we’ve not had a scene between Perrin and Faile now that she is back. They didn’t have time to talk when they were reunited, since they were in the middle of a battle/escape and time was of the essence. But they were separated for months and both have gone through so much, I feel like they would want some kind of sit down and catch up as soon as possible. I’m not sure if we just didn’t see that happen because we the reader already know everything they would want to tell each other, or if things are a little strained between them now that they both have been through so much.

That would be reasonable, I suppose. I don’t doubt that they will be fine in the end, but since they have both changed, they might need to refind the balance between them again.

And of course, Perrin is very aware of the nearness of the Last Battle, and can feel Rand’s need for him pulling him on. If only that pull was like a compass, actually giving him a direction to go in.

I did have a little giggle at Perrin worrying that the Queen of Andor probably wouldn’t welcome him. He has no idea of what is going on with Andor, or how Rand is Warder to the new Queen, who is also having his child.

And then there’s Cadsuane and Semirhage.

Semirhage is a pretty boring character—she’s just really evil and gross—but she does serve a really great narrative purpose here. Not only does she help Cadsuane understand that, as powerful as they are, the Forsaken are human beings, fallible and prone to the same types of weakness as any other human being, she also serves as a narrative foil to the strength of people like Egwene and even Perrin and Rand himself.

Semirhage is powerful, strong, and possessed of so much knowledge that was uncommon even in her time, nevermind in this one. She is one of the Chosen, which means she believes that she will one day rule over a large swath of the world, and even has ambitions towards being Nae’blis. (Let’s be honest, every single Forsaken except for Asmodean believe or at least believed at one time that they could and would come out on top, whether that was a realistic belief of not.) She has everything going for her, and yet, it took only a few moments of indignity to have her eating off the floor like a dog.

Egwene, on the other hand, is young, was raised in a small village and had limited ambition. But when she is faced with indignity, imprisonment, torture, and humiliation, she continually finds new sources of strength and ways not only to endure, but to grow and thrive. Yes, she was fortunate to have the Aiel teachings to bring to bear during her time as Elaida’s prisoner, but it still took great inner strength to learn those lessons and to apply them successfully, and I don’t know how many people in her position could have done as well. And perhaps it is because she comes from so little, because she possesses confidence and self-reliance but also humility, that she is able to find strength. Semirhage’s strength is based, apparently, entirely on the image others have of her.

Cadsuane reflected in earlier chapters that the way to break Semirhage would be the way she would break herself, but I don’t doubt for a moment that Cadsuane would have lasted a lot longer than Semirhage did. Cadsuane’s image is very important to her (I am fascinated by the revelation that she partially hunted men who can channel to increase her reputation among the other Aes Sedai) and losing that might indeed break her in the end, but I think Cadsuane would also be aware of the power of enduring punishment and humiliation and presenting an unwavering countenance. Just as Elaida looked overwhelmed and foolish while beating Egwene, it would be possible for someone with an iron will to make their jailors look like the ones struggling, even as they themselves were beaten.

I don’t think it’s something a prisoner could keep up indefinitely, of course. It just feels very significant to me that Semirhage folded immediately. That the moment any of these people, who she sees as nothing more than uncivilized bumpkins and technologically-backwards children, suggest that they might not be awestruck and terrified of her, she can’t hold onto the image.

It makes me wonder if some, or most, of her terrible words were a front, and if she wasn’t pretty scared the whole time. After all, the Dark One doesn’t take very kindly to his servants getting captured, especially if he believes they have given up information. Semirhage has seen what happened to Moghedien, after all. Even if her current captors couldn’t do more than hold her captive, that might be enough to seal her to a very unpleasant fate.

And now that Cadsuane has solved the Semirhage problem, she can turn her full attention back to the Rand al’Thor problem. This, too, comes into the themes of control. Every Aes Sedai who has encountered Rand has attempted to exert some kind of control over him. Some have done it more gently, like Moiraine. And I would argue Cadsuane herself falls in this category. Others have done it more forcibly, or at least wished to, and that has resulted in increasing Rand’s general paranoia and specific distrust of Aes Sedai.

Egwene points out to Ferane and the other Whites that the best way to handle Rand would have been with the utmost subtlety, making sure to show him how accepting advice and guidance would be helpful and safe, without ever forcing him and putting him on the defensive. It’s far too late for that strategy to work now, of course, given how far gone Rand is and how many reasons (some very justified, others less so) to be distrustful of Aes Sedai. But Cadsuane does need to find an approach that is spiritually on par with Egwene’s point. She needs Rand to believe that she wants to help him, and that she can help him.

Cadsuane doesn’t know that the small bit of ground she has gained with Rand has nothing to do with her own actions. He has given in to her demands for a certain outward respect and certain accommodations because of Min’s vision. That is what he trusts. Min’s vision told him that Cadsuane would teach him something he needs to know, and so he has forced himself to acquiesce to her. He knows he needs that lesson. 

But that doesn’t mean he trusts her, and it certainly doesn’t mean he thinks she has his best interests at heart. He almost certainly believes that the thing she is going to teach him is something about managing people or war or winning the Last Battle, not something about himself, about his own need to be a human being with feelings, both for his own sake and for the world’s. I don’t think it would ever occur to him to question his belief that he must be hard and cold in order to be successful in his goals, or to think that any Aes Sedai wouldn’t generally agree with that belief.

Cadsuane knows that Rand is getting worse, that she has made very little progress with him at all, and none in the area she most needs to. The question is how she will approach the problem, and whether she will recognize the need to think outside the box as quickly and relatively easily as she did with Semirhage. 

I’m also curious about what’s going on with Sheriam, now that she’s not getting tortured by Halima’gar anymore. Siuan notes that she seems less distraught and more put together again, but I wonder how much of her earlier influence she has been able to regain, after being under Halima’gar’s thumb for so long. There are surely other Blacks in the camp, but I don’t know if any of them are known to Sheriam or under her orders—probably not. And with Egwene gone, she has limited ways to ply her influence among those in charge in Salidar.

I’m not surprised Sheriam doesn’t believe in Egwene’s ability as a Dreamer, but she also might not care if the Seanchan attacked the White Tower, as long as she herself was safe. It’s possible even a Black would object in principle to a sister being collared, but the Dark One does want the White Tower destroyed, and if the Seanchan were very successful in their attack, the Aes Sedai might not be able to recover.

I can’t deny that I am getting anxious about that attack. Feels like it might come very soon, although with Rand trying to meet the Daughter of the Nine Moons, the Seanchan might be distracted, dealing with that before anything else.

We may find out more about in the next post, which will come in the new year, because we’re going to have a Tuon chapter! There will also be some new Mat content, which is always something to look forward to.

I hope everyone has a lovely winter break, and I am sending my very best wishes for a wonderful holiday(s) to anyone who is celebrating. As always, it is a joy and a privilege to get to write Reading The Wheel of Time, and I am very grateful to each and every one of you. I’ll see you all in January for chapters 19 and 20 of The Gathering Storm![end-mark]

The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan Wrestle with Control in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 12) appeared first on Reactor.

Books Best of 2025

Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror of 2025

Check out 30 of the best young adult titles of the year

By Alex Brown

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Published on December 16, 2025

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It’s that time of year: best of list time! “Best” is such a subjective term, so I like to craft my list more like a “most notable” or “top picks.” I’m less interested in star ratings and more at books that compelled me, moved me, made me think of the world in a new way, had interesting or creative narrative styles, that sort of thing. Some of these were bestsellers while some were released with little fanfare. 

There were around 300 young adult speculative novels traditionally published in 2025, and after a lot of research, reading, and hemming and hawing, I narrowed them down to 30 must-haves.

Science Fiction

Coldwire by Chloe Gong

(The StrangeLoom Trilogy #1) In a world ravaged by climate change and economic disparity, there are two main societies: the privileged who reside upcountry in virtual reality and everyone else in the harsh real world of downcountry. Several teens from both social stratuses are pulled into the cold war raging between two upcountry nations. Espionage, murder, kidnapping, and mass surveillance abound.

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The L.O.V.E. Club by Lio Min

A couple years ago, Elle disappeared, and the L.O.V.E. Club—best friends Liberty, O, Vera, and Elle—shattered. Now the three survivors find themselves sucked into a video game that seems to have been built by Elle. Each level seems designed specifically for each girl, and the boss fights test their relationships with each other as much as their physical strength. All the traumas the girls experienced in the real world bubbles up in the virtual one, with deadly consequences.

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Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston

(Titan of the Stars #1) Celeste and Dominic don’t have much in common other than both traveling on the maiden voyage of the spaceship Titan. She is a dirt poor engineer hoping for new opportunities on Mars, and he is the privileged and bored son of the ship’s builder who dreams of going to art school. Someone releases ancient aliens onto the ship, and the luxury liner becomes a killing floor. To survive, Celeste and Dominic must set aside their class differences and work together.

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Fantasy

Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman

Several years ago, Eileen escaped her abusive noble husband with her young son, a knight, a lapsed nun, and a dragon in human form. They wound up in the perpetually muddy village of St. Muckle’s and rebuilt their lives. Now, the deaths of several of Charl’s bullies in an abandoned abby kick off a series of unfortunate events. A plague races through the villagers, a dragon burns the town down, and enemies threaten Charl and his mother. He’ll need the help of some grumpy ghosts and a guilt-ridden ex-nun to save the day. Although a standalone novel, this is set in the same vaguely medieval European world as Hartman’s other YA fantasies. 

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I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

At the prestigious Havenwood Academy, Chinese American cousins Jenna and Jessica are always being compared, Jenna less favorably. So when Jenna wakes up one day in Jessica’s body, she thinks she’s won the lottery. Except now she’s stuck in a life that isn’t hers and one she doesn’t actually want to live. Worse, everyone seems to be forgetting the real Jenna even existed. 

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The Leaving Room by Amber McBride

This novel-in-verse begins in death. Teenage Gospel helps newly dead children move onto whatever comes next. As a Keeper of the Leaving Room, her whole world is contained in the small closet lined with shelves of jars with memories from those who have passed through. She doesn’t know what came before she entered that room, only that the rules say she can never leave. Everything changes when Melodee, another Keeper, leaves her room and enters Gospel’s. 

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Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens

Cam expected his sophomore year of high school to be boring. Instead, his best friend and witch-in-training Al ditched them right when he discovered he was psychic. Now he, his werewolf crush Mateo, a nemesis who also happens to be an elemental spirit, and a ninth grader who is far too nosy for her own good try to help him save the life of a young woman whose bloody future Cam prophesies. The themes of commentary on queerphobia, how adults try to legislate bigotry by pretending they’re “protecting” children, and the ways parents can push their own fears onto their kids give this cozy fantasy real depth.

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Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours

Sariyah has the uncanny ability to hear what people need, but there is a cost. If she doesn’t get the person what they need soon, she’ll suffer a terrible migraine. After her best friend Deja vanishes in the wake of one of Sariyah helping someone, she feels partly responsible. Her homelife goes chaotic as the secrets of friends and family are exposed. As she searches for Deja, she makes choices that might bring her home or put her in the same danger Deja is in.

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Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

The train Margo boards is supposed to take her to her boarding school in Dublin. Instead, she ends up on a train that can travel between worlds with a strange boy, Moon, who claims he’s an interdimensional salesman. The train goes North, where time is fast, and South, where time slows. Margo’s arrival throws the orderly Southern rules into chaos and puts a target on her back. Moon might be the only one who can keep her safe long enough to return her to Earth.

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Horror

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Soojin has the magical ability to bring the dead back to life, but not without consequences. When she discovers her sister drowned in the river, she makes the impulsive decision to resurrect her. At first Mirae seems fine, but it becomes increasingly clear she came back…wrong. Mirae wants to use her second chance to get revenge on the people she blames for their mother’s death, and there may not be much Soojin can do to stop her bloody rampage.

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The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala

(The Dead of Summer #1) The vacation destination of Anchor’s Mercy, Maine, is a little slice of heaven for everyone except Ollie. He and his mother return after several months on the mainland where she’s been receiving cancer treatment. When he left he blew up his friendships, and repairing that is at the top of his list now that he’s back. Or, it would be if a terrifying eco-plague wasn’t spreading from the coral and turning people into zombies. The story is told partly in prose and partly through interviews, journal entries, and other ephemera gathered after the pandemic has already claimed the island.

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Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews

Evander has spent most of his life trapped on the rundown Hazelthorn estate owned by his ultra wealthy guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall. After Byron’s grandson Laurie tried to kill Evander, he was banned from the gardens and leaving the property, and never allowed to be alone with the only other kid on the estate. When Byron dies a suspicious death, both boys reunite to search for the killer before they strike again. 

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The Others by Cheryl Isaacs

(The Unfinished #2) Not much time has passed since the events of the first book, and Avery is trying to put that all behind her. But Key, who Avery rescued from imminent death, can’t move on, and other locals are still mourning their loved ones who never returned. Strange shapes begin to appear in reflective surfaces and once again she must draw on the stories of her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) culture to stop the horrors trying to break free.

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Dystopian

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman

Like the next author in this category, Neal Shusterman is one of the all-time greats in YA dystopian fiction. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve also seen several YA books dealing with plagues and mass death. Shusterman does his take on the pandemic with Crown Royale, a virus that, if it doesn’t kill you, makes you permanently ecstatic and easy-going. Of course, capitalism immediately discovers how to exploit that. The stories of three teens, Morgan, Rón, and Mariel, converge as they move through this strange new world.

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Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

(The Hunger Games) Collins takes readers back to the Hunger Games with this story of Haymitch as a teen. We already knew that Haymitch had won the 50th competition, and now we get to see how. This isn’t a cash grab “how did Han Solo get his last name” story. True to form, Collins fills this prequel with biting commentary on propaganda, authoritarianism, and resistance. 

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These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa

Sixteen-year-old Crow is one of the last descendants of the God of Death. The others were executed years ago at the behest of the powers that be, so Crow hides his abilities as a Deathchild. After his uncles are arrested, to secure their freedom Crow is forced to participate in the Tournament of the Gods. This takes the trope of highly stratified societies with economic and systemic disparities and runs it through a queer filter.

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This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz

Julieta is a rising senior living in a near-future Florida wracked by climate change. After her sister Ofelia’s death, Juli would do anything to escape. Her lucky break comes with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for the StarCrest’s Cometa Initiative, a private space program that plans to have New American teens establish the first colony on the Moon. The narrative structure is so compelling, part prose and part poetry.

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Anthologies

These Bodies Ain’t Broken edited by Madeline Dyer

YA anthologies on disability are few and far between, so it was a relief that this one was so good. Dyer does a good job of covering a variety of disabilities, from neurodivergence to chronic illness to physical disabilities, and often the same disability from multiple perspectives. Looking at disability from a horror perspective is what turns this from a run-of-the-mill premise into something fierce. This is a vital, well-written anthology.

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Why on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology edited by Vania Stoyanova & Rosiee Thor

I am a sucker for alien stories, especially of the YA variety, so this was practically tailormade for me. The concept revolves around Captain Iona, who is headed for earth to retrieve her brother, an extraterrestrial posing as a movie star. Their ship crashes, spawning eleven fun and funny stories about the aliens and humans dealing with the aftermath. I’ve been describing it as “cozy alien invasion.”

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Parallel Universe

Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee

Brenda Nguyễn and Kat Woo both live in Los Angeles, California, just not the same one. Brenda’s is wracked by climate change and underfunding while Kat’s is a magical utopia of wyverns and teleportation. When portals start to go haywire in Kat’s world, the two girls have an accidental meet-cute at Brenda’s father’s cafe. From there, they have to not only sort out who is creating the portals that are destabilizing the boundaries between the two worlds, but also things like college applications, prom, cat-sized dragons and dragon-sized cats, and being the Chosen One.

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The Singular Life of Aria Patel by Samira Ahmed

Science nerd Aria broke up with her boyfriend, Rohan, in anticipation of going off to college. After witnessing a terrible car accident, she comes to in a parallel world. Every day she wakes in a new version of her world. The only consistent things are a poem from English class, her ex, and a raging headache. The more things change, the less she’s able to hold onto them, and the more drawn she feels to Rohan. Can she get back to the “real” world or will she spend eternity tumbling through the multiverse?

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Dark Fantasy

Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou

A few years ago, ruptures burst forth in our world, connecting it to a place now called the Darkworld. On the other side of the Dark portal are the elves, one of whom, genderfluid Nagau, tries to kill Sascia. The timelines are out of sync between the two worlds, so when Nugau returns, they are younger and have no idea who Sascia is. As the two keep meeting, the mystery begins to deepen, as do Nagau and Sascia’s feelings for each other. With a war between humans and elves on the horizon, their love may not be enough to keep them together.

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The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

When she was a child, Maeve’s father was embroiled in a terrible tragedy that led to the Written Doors being destroyed and the people in Inverly killed. But when an otherwhere mail carrier delivers a letter to her declaring his innocence, she sets out to clear his name. Maeve scams her way into an apprenticeship at the Otherwhere Post to track down the letter writer and find out what really happened to her father all those years ago.

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Twin Tides by Hien Nguyen

A woman’s corpse turns up in Les Eaux, Minnesota, and Aria and Caliste are shocked to learn she is their missing mother. Even more shocked because they didn’t know they had a mother who was missing or that they were identical twins separated as toddlers. Both live very different lives—Caliste is a wealthy influencer with an emotionally distant father, while Aria is working as much as she can to help pay her sick aunt’s medical bills—but they’re forced together to understand why so many people keep dying in Les Eaux and what connection the town has to their mom.

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Historical

Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta

Calisto lives in the town of Pocket, a place outside time where time travelers often wash up. One of those travelers is Fawkes, a teen on the run from the Time Wardens. They want to destroy all aberrations to their preferred timeline, and that includes Fawkes and many of the folks in Pocket. The two teens jump across time, trying to escape the Time Wardens and to stop a man calling himself Korsika who wants to run time travel through the machinery of capitalism. As their journey takes them farther from home, it pulls them closer together.

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Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch

In the early 21st century, Darian returns to the small New England village of Kesuquosh. She fled a year earlier after her crush, KJ, was sacrificed to a local god as part of centuries-old ritual. Now she’s back and with the help of her friends she’ll free KJ from Good Arcturus’ control. Except it turns out Good Arcturus has secrets of its own and something even more monstrous than a literal monster has its sights set on KJ.

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Monsters

A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo

Shay and Lauren’s small Oregon town has a local legend about a creature, the Watcher, that haunts the local woods. The same woods Shay and Lauren are having a dramatic break-up in when they’re attacked. No one believes the Watcher is real, so Shay enlists the help of a new crush, Zoe, and a couple friends, to set the record straight. It’s all secrets and lies until someone gets hurt.

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He’s So Possessed with Me by Corey Liu

After a wild night in a club, Colin loses track of his bestie Ren. When he finally tracks him down, Ren has no memory of what happened while he was lost. All he knows is that he’s suddenly and inexplicably in love. Colin hates his new boyfriend, especially once he realizes the guy isn’t what he claims to be. How do you say no to a book comped as Jennifer’s Body meets Heartstopper?

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A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury

(A Mastery of Monsters #1) When August’s older brother Jules disappears from college, she is desperate to get him back. After she’s attacked by a massive, mysterious monster, she’s offered a spot in the secret organization, the Learners’ Society. They’ll teach her how to bond with and control the humans who can shift into monsters…humans like the hot guy who lured August into the society and is struggling to keep his powers in check. The two of them may be the only ones who can find Jules before it’s too late.

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The Transition by Logan-Ashley Kisner 

Shortly after top surgery, Hunter is attacked by a monster in his backyard. On the plus side, his wounds are healing very quickly. On the negative side, he becomes sensitive to silver and starts his period for the first time in years since going on T. His friends, convinced the monster was a werewolf, join Hunter as they track down the beastie and try to stave off his physical changes. The trans werewolf body YA horror story I’ve always wanted! 

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The post Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror of 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Pluribus

What to Read After You Watch Pluribus

Hi Carol, we have some book recommendations for you

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 29, 2025

Photo: Apple TV

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Photo: Apple TV

Life after Pluribus feels pretty lonely. Expectations were high for Vince Gilligan’s next show, and Pluribus has quickly proven to be one of the best new sci-fi series since Severance. Yes, Pluribus was heavily inspired by numerous genre works that came before (most notably Invasion of the Body Snatchers), but the show’s vision of a post-apocalyptic landscape run by an intergalactic hivemind has rarely been exactly what you think it’s going to be. The twists, the dark humor, the quiet moments of reflection, absolutely everything that Rhea Seehorn does… there really is nothing quite like Pluribus.

If you are struggling to fill that Pluribus-shaped hole in your life, though, then your best option may be to pick up a book. It’s not only appropriate given that Pluribus protagonist Carol Sturka is a romantasy writer (more on that in a bit), but there are some tremendous novels that present their own fascinating visions of unusual doomsday scenarios while offering at least an element of what makes Pluribus so special (as well as their own charms).

Severance by Ling Ma (2018)

A mysterious illness is tearing through the United States. The infected continue to live their lives, but only as a shell of their former selves. With no cure in sight, a young woman named Candace and other immune survivors navigate an uncertain future. Like Pluribus, Severance imagines a different kind of apocalypse in which the world continues to spin and efforts are made to retain “normalcy” even as such a concept begins to feel increasingly absurd. 

The Seep by Chana Porter (2020)

Earth is upended by the arrival of an alien force known as the Seep. Their takeover is swift, but proves to be oddly peaceful. Much of Earth becomes an unlikely kind of utopia in which the Seep connect people and gift them with the knowledge that anything is possible. In that world, a trans woman named Trina Goldberg-Oneka and her wife Deeba embark upon a mind-bending journey of self-discovery. There’s a fever dream quality to The Seep we haven’t seen in Pluribus yet, but it too raises incredible questions about what is lost and gained when our identities are blurred. 

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman (2025)

Stop me when you’ve heard this before, but All Better Now imagines what would happen if humanity were suddenly infected by a virus that washes away all negative feelings and leaves everyone feeling entirely happy. Yes, Pluribus drew connections to All Better Now before its release, and both certainly deal with the downsides of what initially appears to be a utopian (if disturbing) scenario. Spoiler alert, but it turns out a little conflict can go a long way. 

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (1963)

Many post-apocalyptic stories (including Pluribus) deal with the pain of isolation. Few address that theme as overtly and effectively as Marlen Haushofer does in The Wall. It follows a woman who suddenly finds herself cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible wall that mysteriously appears one day. Her time is then spent trying to find a way out, making the most of the world around her, and, gradually, trying to accept her circumstances. It’s a powerful examination of our relationship with other humans, nature, and the sheer will to survive at the heart of it all. 

The Host by Stephenie Meyer (2008)

Imagine, if you will, what may happen if we were all taken over by an invading force of parasitic beings known as “souls.” Most of the world is essentially hijacked by these creatures, but your invader has a harder time taking over your body. Instead, you and your invader engage in a prolonged battle of wills that ends up impacting both of your fates as well as the rest of the world. That core premise drives Stephenie Meyer’s The Host: a novel that overtly deals with the relationship between the body and soul while emphasizing the value and scarcity of a true home. 

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2012)

The Age of Miracles is one of those fascinating sci-fi novels that explores the effects of a quieter kind of extinction. Here, the inciting event is an unexplained phenomenon that causes the world to spin more slowly than before. The immediate results are fairly trivial things like slightly longer days. As the effect continues and escalates, though, people begin to react to it in drastic (though not altogether shocking) ways. Much like The Leftovers, the hooks in this page-turner come not from its biggest moments but rather by watching how the people caught at the center of it all gradually reshape their lives as well as the world around them. 

The Bees by Laline Paull (2014)

There are many sci-fi stories that deal with the concept of a hive mind, but there are few such stories quite like The Bees. That’s because its protagonist is an actual bee living in a literal hive. It sounds gimmicky, but it’s so much more than that. Often compared to Watership Down, The Bees is an adventurous exploration of both the intricate inner workings of a collective (which often reads like palace intrigue) and the power of an individual life within that environment. 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014)

Station Eleven is a story about what keeps us going. Not just the instinct to survive, but the idea that life (much less civilization) must include things that are finer and greater than our primal needs and urges. The “present day” chapters of Station Eleven largely focus on a group of traveling performers trying to bring hope and joy to the world through art and entertainment. Their adventures are juxtaposed with flashbacks of the terrifying early days of the deadly flu that wiped out much of society, which underscore both how much was lost and the importance of finding it again. As a bonus, Station Eleven received an exceptional HBO adaptation that remains tragically underrated, partially due to its proximity to our own global pandemic. 

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (1957)

A classic of the genre that was later adapted into the Village of the Damned movies (one of which was great, one of which was… well, we still love John Carpenter), The Midwich Cuckoos is often described as a cozy kind of catastrophe. Granted, that’s an odd way to describe a story featuring villainous children inexplicably born across the world in droves following the appearance of a mysterious object in the sky. Yet, there is something darkly quaint about this story of a powerful group that nefariously works its way into our world which recalls some of Pluribus’ more quiet and menacing moments.

Bloodsong of Wycaro by Carol Sturka (2025)

Finally, this list would feel incomplete without mentioning Bloodsong of Wycaro: the third entry in the Winds of Wycaro series. Yes, Apple released a real section from Carol’s fictional romantasy book series in the Pluribus universe. While the section’s real author remains a mystery I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of, it is a remarkably entertaining standalone work that also adds a little context to the Pluribus universe. And hey, maybe it’ll be your gateway into the exciting world of pirate romantasy.[end-mark]

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Books new releases

All the New Science Fiction Books Arriving in January 2026

This January, solve murders in space and explore the stars via sail-ships and Greatships…

By Reactor

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Published on January 7, 2026

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Here’s the full list of science fiction titles heading your way in January!

Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change.

January 6

To Tread Obsidian Shores (Bronze Legion #1) — Jason Cordova, Melissa Olthoff (Baen)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A WARRIOR? The Protectorate of Mars Foreign Legion: A path to citizenship. A fresh start. Defending the Protectorate of Mars against all enemies, foreign and domestic. HOPE. With itchy feet and a vagabond soul, all Blue ever wanted was to join the Survey Corps and explore the universe. But when she failed the entry exam, becoming a dropship pilot for the Legion was her last chance at achieving that dream. It was only supposed to be a stepping stone… DUTY. All he ever wanted was a home. But when Tavi is driven from his world by murderous revolutionaries, he only has one chance to escape: the Legion. Searching for a new life, he soon discovers something even better—a family.

For the Eternal Glory of Rome — Tom Kratman (Baen)
In September of the year 9 A.D. three Roman legions are trapped in the Teutoburg Forest by tens of thousands of rebelling Germanic tribesmen under the Romano-German renegade, Arminius. In an attempt to save what can be saved, an alien starship transports one of those legions, Legio XIIX, to safety. But the aliens are rushed by events and transport the XIIXth not just in space, but through time as well. Dropped four centuries into their future, under the leadership of their first spear centurion, Marcus Caelius and the young but promising junior tribune, Gaius Pompeius, Legio XIIX must fight to survive almost from the first moments of arrival. Moreover, they must march and fight across a continent to find their way home. Because home, the Roman Empire, needs them—their discipline, their tactics, their indomitable fortitude—more desperately than it has ever needed anything… because New Years Eve, 406 A.D. is coming, and with it, a horde of barbarians are going to cross the frozen Rhine and, unless stopped cold, destroy the Empire.

January 13

Ice — Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips (Head of Zeus)
14th July 1924: In a Warsaw buried under feet of snow and Russian rule, Benedykt Gieroslawski, a dissolute young Polish mathematician, is roused from his bed by two officials from the Ministry of Winter and dispatched to Siberia, on the Trans-Siberian Express, to track down his long-exiled father. The catalyst for this frosty metamorphosis of 20th century history is the impact of the Tunguska asteroid, deep in Siberia, in 1908. From this Ground Zero, emerge the Gleissen, silent harbingers of an eternal winter that follows in their ponderous wake. As they spread across the continent, agriculture collapses and people flock to cities as they seek protection from the deadly cold. As the land freezes, so does history: the Tsar still rules Russia; the Belle Époque endures; and the First World War never happened. But out there, on the ice, a new world is being forged. The extreme, alien cold has transmuted elements into strange new forms, a “black physics” that is the catalyst for a new industrial and scientific revolution. At the heart of it lies Siberia—a “Wild East,” a magnet for all the political, religious and scientific fevers shaking the world at the dawn of the 20th century, the crucible where black physics, shamanic lore and the cold logic of winter combine. And Benedykt’s final destination.

Godfall — Van Jensen (Grand Central Publishing)
When a massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth, humanity braces for annihilation—but the end doesn’t come. In fact, it isn’t an asteroid but a three-mile-tall alien that drops down, seemingly dead, outside Little Springs, Nebraska. Dubbed “the giant,” its arrival transforms the red-state farm town into a top-secret government research site and major metropolitan area, flooded with soldiers, scientists, bureaucrats, spies, criminals, conspiracy theorists—and a murderer. As the sheriff of Little Springs, David Blunt thought he’d be keeping the peace among the same people he’d known all his life, not breaking up chanting crowds of cultists or battling an influx of drug dealers. As a series of brutal, bizarre murders strikes close to home, Blunt throws himself into the hunt for a killer who seems connected to the Giant. With bodies piling up and tensions in Little Springs mounting, he realizes that to find the answers he needs, he must reconcile his old worldview with the town he now lives in—before it’s too late.

January 20

For We Are Many (Bobiverse #2) — Dennis E. Taylor (Saga)
Waking up after death wasn’t on Bob Johansson’s bucket list. But here he is, four decades later, inhabiting the mind of a sentient computer and piloting a self-replicating space probe. It was supposed to be a dream gig—explore the cosmos, find new worlds, repeat. Instead, everything has gone spectacularly off-script. Humanity is hanging by a thread after a devastating war wiped out 99.9 percent of the human race. The planet is spiraling into nuclear darkness, extremist groups are fighting over what scraps of civilization remain, and rogue Brazilian probes are doing their best to annihilate everything in their path. And the Bobs have encountered a terrifying alien species with one very straightforward view of other life forms: food. Bob never signed up to be a hero, and he certainly didn’t expect to play God to a fledgling alien civilization. Now, he faces the ultimate question: Can a scattered army of digital copies, outnumbered and outgunned, outsmart extinction itself? Packed with snarky humor, jaw-dropping discoveries, and a heaping dose of heart, For We Are Many continues the wildly inventive saga that redefines what it means to be human… or at least post-human. The stakes are immense, but with Bob on the job, survival might just depend on thinking way outside the box.

January 27

Hearthspace — Stephen Baxter (Gollancz)
Thousands of years ago, a massive colony ship arrived at the Hearth—the celestial birthplace of millions of planets, ranging from habitable earth-like worlds to unimaginable hellscapes of pressure and heat. Using lightsails to navigate, humanity has spread itself across dozens of these worlds. But they have also forgotten their beginnings, where they came from… and a terrible secret is about to be unveiled. For Commander Ulla Breen, on her first tour of duty aboard a patrol sail-ship, the universe is about to change around her. Attacked by an unknown and unthought-of enemy, she and her fellow crewmembers will face slavery, punishment and death—and so will their home planets. Because someone else has seen the richness of the inner Hearth, and plans to take it for themselves. A new enemy, but one who seems disturbingly familiar. And perhaps knows more about the history of the Hearth than even Ulla and her crew. Faced with a complete upheaval of all she thought she knew, Ulla must survive long enough to come up with a plan—one which will unite all the disparate elements of the Hearth, and perhaps discover the reason why humanity came to Hearthspace in the first place…

Artifact Space (Arcana Imperii #1) — Miles Cameron (Saga)
Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships. With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space. They transport an unimaginable volume—and value—of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species. It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space. All it took to make her way onto the crew of the Greatship Athens was thousands of hours in simulators, dedication, and the pawning or selling of every scrap of her old life in order to forge a new one. But although she’s made her way onboard with fake papers, leaving her old life—and scandals—behind isn’t so easy. She may have just combined all the dangers of her former life with the perils of the new…

Halcyon Years — Alastair Reynolds (Orbit)
Yuri Gagarin is a private investigator, who picks up small cases from his local community, runs into trouble with the local police, and generally ekes out a living as best he can. He’s aboard the Halcyon—a starship, hurtling through space, carrying thousands of passengers with thousands more sleeping the journey away. Only his usual investigative work—catching cheating spouses, and small time con artists—is about to take a turn. He’s hired by a mysterious woman called Ruby Red to look into a death in one of Halcyon’s most elite families… and then warned off the case again by a second mysterious woman called Ruby Blue. Caught between the two, he’s about to be embroiled in a murder mystery in which—at any moment—he could be the latest victim.

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Books new releases

All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in January 2026

This January, spend time with wayward children, supernatural investigators, and a goblin (or nine)…

By Reactor

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Published on January 7, 2026

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Here’s the full list of fantasy titles heading your way in January!

Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change.

January 6

A God of Countless Guises (Book of the Holt #2) — Bradley P. Beaulieu (Head of Zeus)
Long ago, the elder gods devised a brutal contest—a game of ascension, where contestants gained power by killing their own. The prize? Godhood. Now, that game is stirring once again. In the wake of the great battle at Ancris, the capital lies in ruins—and Faedryn, the trickster god, is closer than ever to escaping his prison. While inquisitor Lorelei races to uncover the ancient truths that might stop him, Rylan is entangled in his own crisis. The artifact he stole, the key to Faedryn’s freedom, is no longer a secret. Every faction in the empire, from the imperial dragon legions to the ruthless Red Knives, are hunting him. But Rylan soon learns there is something worse than being caught—losing the shard altogether. As Lorelei and Rylan struggle to undo the damage, they uncover a chilling truth: even if Faedryn remains imprisoned, the elder gods’ game may already be underway…

Order of Royals (Blue Swan #2) — Jude Deveraux (MIRA)
Princess Aradella is trapped in the iron grip of her evil and powerful aunt, Queen Olina. Navigating the treacherous waters of political machinations and familial duties, Aradella discovers allies in unexpected places, including Tanek, a swansman with his own mysterious connections. Set in a world where royalty, magic, and mythical beings coexist, Aradella’s path is intertwined with that of Kaley Arens, an Earthling who becomes deeply entangled in the planet’s intricate social hierarchy, as she is faced with a choice between her homeland and newfound love. As Aradella and her companions uncover dark secrets and hidden agendas, they embark on an adventure filled with loyalty, romance, and courage, where the lines between magic and reality blur, but where love has the power to transform destinies. Aradella’s heart finds a beacon in Mekos, the son of Tanek, whose distinct heritage and protective nature captivate her. As their bond deepens amidst political intricacies, their love story unfolds through secret plans and whispered promises. But in this world, nothing is as it seems and destiny can’t be denied…

The Starseekers (Murder & Magic #4) — Nicole Glover (Harper Voyager)
In the 1960s, the world was caught up in reaching beyond our planet and into the cosmos. It felt impossible—but there was nothing science, math… and magic couldn’t make possible. The race to space was on, and the Moon was what everyone had their eyes on. Including Cynthia Rhodes, a brilliant arcane engineer at NASA’s Ainsworth Research Labs. Talented in math and magic, she hosts a magical educational show… a job she took mostly for a chance to regularly see the dashing Theodore Danner, a professor of arcane archeology. She is also an amateur sleuth—something that has run in her family for generations. When a cursed museum curator nearly interrupts a broadcast of their show, Cynthia finds an eager sleuthing partner in Theo. Pairing up, they begin investigating the strange behavior of the curator and a mysterious theft at the arcane history museum—until one of Cynthia’s own coworkers perishes right in front of her in a major lab accident that endangers Ainsworth’s role in the space race. Certain it was murder instead of an accident, Cynthia sees this as a separate case at first. However the more she and Theo investigate, Cynthia uncovers a surprising link between the two incidents. The museum theft and murder are part of a larger equation—one that includes deadly enchantments, rumored pirate treasure, a peculiar plant, and a dire threat to the space program as well as everything she holds dear. The Starseekers is another rip-roaring adventure for the Rhodes family, who have been using magic to aid their community and solve mysteries since before the Civil War. The times may have changed, but a Rhodes once again finds themselves thrust into a world of murders, theft, sabotage, and curses, and this time the stakes extend to the stars themselves. 

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (Wayward Children #11) — Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, she never believed she’d find her door again, and when she did, she didn’t look back. She disappeared from the school to resume her place in the Halls, never intending to return. Years have passed. A darkness has descended on the Halls, and the living statues who populate them are dying at the hands of the already dead. The Lord and Lady who rule the land are helpless to stop the slaughter, forcing Nancy to leave the Halls again, this time on purpose, as she attempts to seek much-needed help from her former schoolmates. But who would volunteer to quest in a world where the dead roam freely? And why are the dead so intent on adding to their number?

The Charmed Library — Jennifer Moorman (Harper Muse)
Like many other public libraries, the one in Blue Sky Valley, North Carolina, is a haven for readers. But it’s also unlike any other. In this library, fictional characters step off the page into real life. Assistant librarian Stella Parker has no idea. Still reeling from her father’s death and—more recently—a breakup, she hasn’t noticed. All she knows is she’s stuck in a job she’s overqualified for and stumped about what to do with her life. Everything changes when she burns her beloved journal. Words matter to Stella. For as long as she can remember, she’s seen them. Words appear—in varying colors and fonts—rising from surfaces, bouncing over objects, and even wiggling out of people. Words give her insight into emotions and untold stories. But the words change for Stella after she burns her journal. Suddenly they’re demanding, urgent—and painful. Then Stella stumbles upon strange characters in the library after hours. One is an oddly familiar World War II soldier who introduces himself as Jack—Jack Mathis, the main character from her favorite book. A fictional hero and Stella’s first crush. Standing in front of her in the flesh. Jack tells Stella about the magic hidden in the library. Skeptical, Stella rashly invites a villain to visit, and chaos ensues. As she discovers the importance of protecting the library’s secret and gets to know the real Jack, words continue to appear. What are they trying to tell her? Much too quickly, Stella is faced with the reality that all stories must end, and magic comes at a price. The characters who visit the library can only stay for fourteen days. And Jack’s time is almost up.

Roots of Darkness (Ashen #2.5) — Demi Winters (Delacorte Press)
Traveling the Road of Bones was only the start of Hekla’s troubles. The Bloodaxe Crew have arrived at the village of Istré—beleaguered and missing three of their members. They might be down in numbers, but Hekla “Rib Smasher” is determined they’ll complete their job all the same: defeat the monstrous, sentient mist and keep the citizens of Istré safe. What she didn’t expect is for Istré’s bullheaded chieftain to block her every move. Exasperated, Hekla throws caution to the wind for a single passion-filled night. But to her horror, the mysterious red-cloaked warrior to whom she’s spilled her deepest secrets is the Bloodaxe Crew’s new temporary leader and ally—Eyvind Hakonsson. Hekla must now learn to play by Eyvind’s rules while guarding her heart. But when it becomes clear that his plans align with the chieftain’s, Hekla takes matters into her own hands. Nothing will stop her from keeping the innocent people of Istré safe—not even the man who haunts her thoughts.

January 13

Graceless Heart — Isabel Ibañez (Saturday Books)
As a sculptress, Ravenna Maffei has always shaped beauty from stone but she has a terrible secret. Desperate to save her brother, she enters a competition hosted by Florence’s most feared immortal family, revealing a dark power in a city where magic is forbidden. Now a captive in the cutthroat city of Florence, Ravenna is forced into a dangerous task where failure meets certain death at the hands of Saturnino dei Luni, the immortal family’s mesmerizing but merciless heir. But as he draws her closer, Ravenna realizes the true threat lies beyond Florence’s walls. The Pope’s war against magic is closing in, and Ravenna is no longer just a prisoner but a prize to be claimed. As trusting the wrong person becomes lethal, Ravenna must survive the treacherous line between a pope’s obsession and the seductive immortal who might be the end of her—or surrender her power to a city on the brink of war.

House of Shadows (Royal Houses #2) — K.A. Linde (Bloom Books)
Kerrigan Argon was never meant to be chosen. As a half-human, half-Fae pariah, her admission into the Dragon Society breaks every law of her world. Now she’s bound to a dragon—and to a brutal year of training that could claim her life. But first, she must survive a journey into the infamous House of Shadows, led by the dark Fae prince Fordham Ollivier. No half-Fae has ever returned from its halls. In a place built on cruelty, secrets, and absolute power, Kerrigan must battle not just enemies—but centuries of prejudice and the slow unraveling of magic itself. Something ancient is cracking. A long-buried spell is weakening. And Kerrigan may be the only one who can stop the collapse—or cause it.

City of Others (DEUS Files #1) — Jared Poon (Orbit)
In the sunny city of Singapore, the government takes care of everything—even the weird stuff. Benjamin Toh is a middle manager in the Division for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), and his job is straightforward: keep the supernatural inhabitants of Singapore happy and keep them out of sight. That is, don’t bother the good, normal citizens, and certainly don’t bother the bosses. Sure, he’s overworked and understaffed, but usually, people (and senior management) don’t see what they don’t want to see. But when an entire housing estate glitches out of existence on what was meant to be a routine check-in, Ben has to scramble to keep things under control and stop the rest of the city from disappearing. He may not have the budget or the bandwidth, but he has the best—if highly irregular and supernaturally inclined—team to help him. Together, they’ll traverse secret shadow markets, scale skyscrapers, and maybe even go to the stars, all so they can just do their goddamn job. 

Kokun: The Girl from the West — Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano (Europa Editions)
The vast Umar Empire has flourished for centuries thanks to the miraculous Ohaleh rice, a sacred grain brought by the first Empress Kokun from a distant land. Resistant to all parasites, the rice has sustained peace and prosperity—until now. When a mysterious infestation strikes, famine spreads, and the empire begins to crumble. Fifteen-year-old Aisha, granddaughter of the deposed king of the West Kantar domain, flees to the imperial capital with her younger brother after a violent coup. There, she meets the reigning Kokun, Olie—an enigmatic girl worshipped for her supposed gift of scent, yet secretly powerless. As Aisha uncovers her own latent ability to perceive the natural world through smell, she and Olie form an unlikely alliance. Together, they must confront a hidden history, uncover the truth behind the Ohaleh rice, and confront forces that threaten not just the empire’s survival, but the very balance of nature. 

January 20

Twelve Months (Dresden Files #18) — Jim Butcher (Ace)
Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different—and it’s not just the current lack of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that’s the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he’s doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it’s a heavy load, and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry doesn’t have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry’s brother is dying, and Harry doesn’t know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires—and Harry’s been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal. It’s been a tough year. More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard—but after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry Dresden the man to rise to the challenge?

Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief — T. Kingfisher (Tordotcom)
No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure. But goblins don’t go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece. Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures… a human being.

A Heart So Green (Fair Folk #3) — Lyra Selene (Orbit)
After the explosive finale of the Tournament of Kings, Fia and Irian manage to escape to the wildlands, dodging pursuit by her cunning sister Eala. With Fia locked in her own mind, battling a powerful celestial entity, Irian must form new alliances to come up with a plan to defeat Eala’s terrifying magic. With both the human and fae realm under threat, Eala’s rampage must be stopped, no matter the cost. On Bealtain Eve, when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, Fia and Irian will finally face off against the swan princess and forge the ending to their love story that was written in the stars.

The Poet Empress — Shen Tao (Bramble)
Wei Yin is desperate. After the fifth death of a sibling, with her family and village on the brink of starvation, she will do anything to save those she loves. Even offer herself as concubine to the cruel, dissolute heir of the blood-gutted Azalea House—where poetry magic is power, but women are forbidden to read. But in a twist of fate, the palace now stands on the knife-edge of civil war, with Wei trapped in its center… with a violent prince. To save herself and the nation, she must survive the dangers of court, learn to read in secret, and compose the most powerful spell of all. A ballad of love… and death.

The Elsewhere Express — Samantha Sotto Yambao (Del Rey)
You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train seeming to carry very rare and special cargo: a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging. Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead. One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, an intriguing artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world. Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lily pads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds. Over the course of their long, strange night on the train, they also discover that it harbors secrets—and danger: A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train. But in investigating the stowaway’s identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate question: What is her life’s true purpose—and is it a destination the Elsewhere Express can take her to?

January 27

We Who Have No Gods (Acheron #1) — Liza Anderson (Ballantine Books)
Vic Wood has her priorities: scrape by on her restaurant wages, take care of her younger brother Henry, and forget their mother ever existed. But Vic’s careful life crumbles when she discovers that their long-missing mother belonged to the Acheron Order—a secret society of witches tasked with keeping the dead at bay. What’s worse, Henry inherited their mother’s magical abilities while Vic did not, and he has been chosen as the Order’s newest recruit. Determined to keep him safe, Vic accompanies Henry to the isolated woods in upstate New York that host the sprawling and eerie Avalon Castle. When she joins the academy despite lacking powers of her own, she risks not only the Order’s wrath, but also her brother’s. And then there is the imposing, ruthless, and frustrating Xan, the head Sentinel in charge of protecting Avalon. He makes no secret of wanting Vic to leave. As she makes both enemies and allies in this mysterious realm, Vic becomes caught between the dark forces at play, with her mother at the heart of it all. What’s stranger is that Vic is beginning to be affected by the academy—and Xan—in ways she can’t quite understand. But with war between witches threatening the fabric of reality, Vic must decide whether to risk her heart and life for a world where power is everything.

A Spell for Drowning — Rebecca Ferrier (Alcove Press)
The people of Portscatho are bound to traditions and to the sea, living side by side with the spirits, gods, and monsters that inhabit the rollicking waters. When Kensa and her half sister come across a dying sea beast on the Cornish shore, Kensa is quick to claim credit for the discovery and in doing so steals the glory and her sister’s position as apprentice to the local wise woman. It seems an appropriate station for Kensa, who has always existed out of step with the others in the village. Yet to be a wise woman is to be alone—unmarried, childless, relied upon, and lusted after yet never truly wanted. Kensa’s only real company is her mentor, the wise woman Isolde. But Isolde won’t live forever, and when she falls ill, Kensa will do anything to save her and retain her newfound elevation within the community. Even if that means having to seek help from the Bucka, a terrifying and unfathomable sea god who guards the tides around Portscatho. In doing so, she’ll risk her life, her family, and everything she’s sworn to protect.

Way of the Walker — Salinee Goldenberg (Angry Robot)
With her constant connection to the Everpresent—the mystical plane where hunters draw their powers—Isaree’s a natural Phi Hunter, with a future predetermined by tradition: to stalk the Kingdom of Suyoram’s haunted lands and slay troublesome ghosts. But the more Ree learns about the Phi Hunter Guild’s legacy, the more she questions their rigid doctrine. And as colonizing forces from Grisland tighten their grip across the region, Ree begins to wonder if the hunter’s path is her true calling. Elsewhere, the famed Storm Prince Tanung has one desire: death or glory. Grappling with a fading legacy and a mysterious illness, his ambition drives him on a mission to capture a brutal rebel leader known for leaving horrific massacres in their wake. But the further he goes, the further he’s drawn into a war rumbling beyond his reality, and out of anyone’s control. Their paths were never meant to cross. But unmoored by their legacies, the shadows they cast decide whether they’ll be remembered as heroes—or villains.

Passage to Tokyo (Ancestor Memories #2) — Poppy Kuroki (Harper)
Yui Sanada struggles to raise her twelve-year-old brother, Hiro, while contending with the antics of their neglectful, alcoholic mother. During a trip to Ueno Park, Hiro runs away from his sister into a strange passage beneath a samurai statue. Yui chases after him and soon finds herself in a Tokyo far removed from the familiar world of 1995. When Yui emerges from the tunnel, she cannot find Hiro but meets a young woman named Chiyo and her family and learns she has traveled back through time to 1923. As feelings between the two women develop, Yui and realizes it’s just weeks before the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake will happen, killing tens of thousands and leveling the city. Will Yui be able to find her brother and save her new family from the coming disaster? 

The Wolf and His King — Finn Longman (Erewhon Books)
The wolf-sickness strikes always without warning, stealing Bisclavret’s body and confusing his mind. Since boyhood, he hasn’t dared leave his isolated holdings—not to beg the return of his father’s lost estate, not to seek brotherhood among the court, not even to win the knighthood he yearns for. But when a new king ascends, Bisclavret must deliver his kiss of fealty or answer for the failure. Half an exile himself, the young king is intrigued by this uneasy, rough-hewn nobleman. Bisclavret seems a perfect knight: bold, strong, and merciful. But he keeps his secrets close, and the king’s longings are not for counsel alone. As his fascination grows, the barriers between them multiply, until one day Bisclavret vanishes beyond reach. Battling desperation and grief, the king stands alone to face the greatest threats to his kingdom, with only duty to his people between him and ruin—duty, and the steadfast loyalty of the strangest wolf…

Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead (Loyal Opposition #1) — K. J. Parker (Orbit)
​Not even the Church of the Invincible Sun is invincible—and somebody has to do its dirty work. Enter Sister Svangerd and her accompanying priest, both first-rate practitioners. Their mission is simple: to make a meddlesome princess disappear (permanently). To get to her, they must attend the legendary Ecumenical Council, the once-in-a-century convening of the greatest spiritual minds the world has to offer. But when they arrive, they find instead a den of villainy that would make the most hardened criminal blush. To complicate matters further, it appears that some people who were definitely grim reapered might be not quite dead after all. What began as a little assassination is about to escalate into a theological debate with terrifying consequences for everyone.

Ballad of the Bone Road — A.C. Wise (Titan Books)
Port Astor is a city of ghosts. Once home to the beautiful, brutal courts of the fae, forty years ago they vanished without explanation—and Port Astor decided to forget. Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, working to keep Port Astor’s wraiths and spectres from consuming the city. Both have hauntings of their own: Belle shares her body with a demon, Belizial; Brix has trapped the soul of his dead fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go. While investigating the glamorous and notoriously haunted Peony Hotel, Brix and Belle come across a young couple tangled up in one of the city’s most infamous tales. Jimmy Valentine, silver screen idol and one-time favorite of a fae queen, has returned to haunt the Peony. But Jimmy is no mere ghost, and Brix and Belle soon realize his return is more intimately tied to their own hauntings than they could ever have imagined. The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And their Hollow Queen won’t give up her kingdom so easily.

The post All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in January 2026 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Seeds of Story

From Cloud Forests to Toxic Trampolines: Robert Macfarlane’s Is A River Alive?

What does it mean, and how does the world change, if we see rivers as living entities?

By Ruthanna Emrys

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Published on December 16, 2025

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Welcome to Seeds of Story, where I explore the non-fiction that inspires—or should inspire—speculative fiction. Every couple weeks, we’ll dive into a book, article, or other source of ideas that are sparking current stories, or that have untapped potential to do so. Each article will include an overview of the source(s), a review of its readability and plausibility, and highlights of the best two or three “seeds” found there.

This week, I cover Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive?, an on-the-ground and in-the-water exploration of the Rights of Nature movement, the philosophies behind it, and three rivers for whom it’s making a difference.

What It’s About

Robert Macfarlane lives in England, near a grove of ancient sacred springs. But the springs are being killed by drought and pollution; when he visits in 2022, the rare chalk-stream water is a choked trickle.

Is a River Alive? asks how rivers who were once perceived as divine entities, core to the existence and identity of surrounding communities, became mere resources and dumping grounds. It explores what we lose when we make that change, and what we gain when we reclaim their meaning. But it also talks to the Indigenous communities who never stopped seeing their rivers as alive, looks at the porous boundaries of watershed death and resurrection, and asks how we—who are the ones writing the poems and the laws that shape Rights of Nature movements—answer the trickier question of what a river wants.

This could easily turn into a laundry list of interviews, legal histories, and literary quotes. Instead, it’s framed around trips to and through three threatened rivers. On each trip, Macfarlane brings along local experts: the sort of strange, obsessive, change-making people who already understand their rivers as alive. All are in mourning for humans (as well as sometimes ecosystems), all are changed (and sometimes healed) by their rivers.

River the First: Río Los Cedros, Ecuador, deep in a mountain-slope cloud forest. Los Cedros grows from the 3000-8000-foot-above-sea-level mists and flows “fast, shallow, clear, and rock-bedded” among trees crusted with moss and orchids. Macfarlane’s companions include Giuliana, a mycologist with an almost-supernatural ability to find fungi, and a tendency to talk to them when she does. (Mycologists are just like this.) Her father died less than a month before the trip, and she’s torn by misery at the rot that she normally loves. Yet she can still emit a joyous “Woohoo!” at the discovery of a new, rare fungal cap. Los Cedros is protected, imperfectly, by the Rights of Nature articles in Ecuador’s 2008 constitution. The river’s rights are deeply tied to those of local Indigenous people, and to the idea that humans flourish in flourishing ecosystems. Yet industry and politicians still push for toxic, extractive metal-mining—for profit, but also in response to the pressure to repay ruinous foreign debts.

River the Second: Chennai, India, where the Kosasthalaiyar, the Cooum, and Adyar rivers are “unfit for any kind of life form,” anaerobic, and laced with sewage and heavy metals. Seasonally flooded land is developed and filled with housing; residents depend on water trucks for drinking water. Their children play on Oobleck-like fields made of radioactive waste. And yet the Rights of Nature movement is at work here, too. Activist and teacher Yuvan brings Macfarlane on a tour of the city’s rivers, from the outer lakes where egrets still congregate to the hearts of ongoing battles with limestone quarriers and Sun Pharma’s polluters. Here, inspired by the Uttarakhand High Court’s recognition of the Ganges and Yamuna as living entities with attendant rights, polluters stand accused of river-murder, and maps are recreated to fight for streams whose very existence is denied by their enemies.

River the Third: Mutehekau Shipu in Quebec runs in cliff-banked rapids through the Canadian forest. Her sister-river has been dammed and tamed for hydroelectric power, the surrounding ecosystem drowned. But the she herself still runs wild, from beyond the midpoint lake where a sea-plane drops Macfarlane, all the way down to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. They paddle the hundred-mile stretch in kayaks. Poet and activist Rita Mestokosho provides guidance for their trip, asks them to return with water samples and harvests of Labrador tea. Macfarlane’s friend Wayne struggles with grief over the loss of another friend, and with anger at the limits of his strength and agility. Companion Ilya points out areas marked for possible dams, a proposal fought by the local Innu. The river has been recognized as a “living, rights-bearing being,” but the fight hasn’t ended.

These travels are interwoven with histories of natural entity rights, with Mestokosho’s poems and Ursula Le Guin quotes and philosophical conversations. There’s no ultimate suspense about the answer to the titular question: a river is certainly alive. But there are many questions about what that means, and how we respond to that meaning.

Macfarlane ultimately comes home to find his sacred springs at least partly resurrected by drought’s end, and imagines his grown children sprinkling his ashes there, in a future when they have been fully restored.

Buy the Book

Is A River Alive?

Robert Macfarlane

Buy Book

Is A River Alive?

Robert Macfarlane

Buy this book from:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• iBooks
• IndieBound
• Target

I heard about Is a River Alive? in NPR’s Best Books of 2025 list, and immediately knew I had to read it. Not only am I obsessed with watersheds and rights of nature, but I’ve been getting an interesting new question lately from readers of A Half-Built Garden: why organize around watersheds in particular? There’s a growth in new thinking about our legal and spiritual relationships with bioregions of all sorts—and yet, somehow, something in rivers still feels uniquely connective. Macfarlane quotes Leonardo da Vinci: “The idea appeals to me that the earth is… much like the system of our own bodies.” The artist-scientist goes on to compare blood vessels to rivers, to recognize commonalities of branch and flow and necessity for life. Says Macfarlane of the accompanying sketches: “He has enrivered the body and embodied the river.”

Macfarlane gets it as well. River flows into body flows into poetry flows into politics flows into river. Joycean sentences leap and twist when he rides his first rapids. His companions are mad, genius-ridden, righteous: Giuliana finds new fungus species by mycelial vibration; Yuvan hand-rescues poisonous snakes; Wayne buries himself alive to take LiDAR self-portraits via earthquake swarm. They are all perfectly placed to do the work that needs doing, or perhaps have placed themselves perfectly. They are the sort of people for whom the bounds between self and other, humanity and the rest of nature, feel correctly porous, and they act boldly on that sense of relation. With Macfarlane, they traverse rivers to share with us that grounded selfhood. The current of the text rises from tactile detail to intellectual and emotional conversation, and falls back into detail again. Any given paragraph might quote a poem, describe a glistening leaf, remind us of ecocidal destruction, and tell us how river recognition in New Zealand inspired new laws in Ecuador.

I’ve just had a new story out here on Reactor, about someone using mycelial networks to communicate with the Everglades while failing to communicate with her family. I started writing it after my mother died and finished after the death of a dear friend, and Macfarlane’s link between human grief, climate grief, and watershed connections resonated deeply with me. It seems unlikely that he chose his companions due to their recent losses. Rather, at a certain level of connection we are all too often likely to live in mourning. At a certain level of connection, too, we are more open to both planetary grief and planetary healing. Macfarlane and those who travel with him are open to the point of rawness. And they each find, in their own way, answers in the river. Giuliana receives reassurance that she retains her fungal family. Yuvan lives with the purpose that brought him out of an abusive childhood. Wayne gets something more ambiguous and private, a veil the book respects.

Often, legal innovations around environmental protection leave me anxious about quantification’s failure modes. It can be easy to set development bounds that allow for destruction via metric gamification. It can be easy to turn a kaleidoscope of bird and moss and water into a spreadsheet of tradeable “ecosystem services.” AI tools offer to give voice to rivers, but that voice is shaped by biased coders and datasets. MacFarlane’s portraits show a different way: legal frameworks that combine Indigenous oversight and human “guardian councils” with technological inclusivity, movements that value both statistics and poetry. Rights of Nature can take Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “grammar of animacy” (a phrase Macfarlane invokes several times) and use it for writing law and treaty. You can see that grammar in his prose, too, growing and flowing like a chalk spring after rain.

The Best Seeds for Speculative Stories

The New Road Trip. The road trip is a classic form in modern North American literature. A vast continent with a long way between borders, an extensive and problematic highway system, and amazing scenery populated with quirky characters—what’s not to love? …Aside from the fact that American car culture will eventually either destroy the planet or get replaced by something more sustainable, at which point, either way, the genre is cooked.

But Macfarlane’s trips have something of the road trip nature: a mix of constrained and self-directed travel, a sedan-sized cast of fellow travelers, and philosophical questions addressed by both environment and conversation. This is particularly obvious in the Canadian section, where the British Macfarlane is obviously overwhelmed, logistically and emotionally, by North American geographic scale. I propose for you the group river trip as a the solarpunk successor to the road trip.

Future Rights and Wrongs. Rights of Nature—the fight for legal recognition, the changes wrought by new forms of law, and the ongoing battles afterward—are good story fodder, and an important part of any near-term hopeful future. But at the moment, they affect a fortunate minority of ecosystems. What will this new set of structures look like, if and (I hope) when it becomes the norm? How will it be gamed? If AI speaks for a river, who ensures that it isn’t biased to accommodate polluters? How will we identify and resolve conflicts between living, rights-bearing beings? There’s a risk of hubris in deciding to what extent we get to mediate conflicts where none of the parties are human—it’s not the way these laws are used now, but a potential complication that could be interesting to imagine.

New Growth: What Else to Read

Robin Wall Kimmerer, covered previously in this column and cited by Macfarlane, writes persuasively about framing ecosystems as entities and recreating human-plant relations. Rita Mestokosho’s poetry can be found in the trilingual How i see life, grandmother ; eshi uapataman nukum ; comment je perçois la vie, grand-mère. Johnny Flynn’s “The Water” is at the top of Macfarlanes’ playlist.

“Should Trees Have Standing?” is the foundational document for the modern Rights of Nature movement. James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State, which is 100% on the list for this column, talks about how we fall into the vicious trap of treating complex ecosystems like simple, exploitable sets of resources.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home is an exercise in grammar-of-animacy, and in the stories we could tell as parts of ecosystems. Jarod K. Anderson’s Strange Animals is another sort of story about the porous membranes between human and other, and our right to judge things from the other side of those membranes.

Most of all, what this book makes me want to read next is the pattern of leaves by the Rijn. If you are also so inclined, go out and touch water.

Share what you love about your favorite river, and what’s going on in your local watershed, in the comments.[end-mark]

The post From Cloud Forests to Toxic Trampolines: Robert Macfarlane’s <i>Is A River Alive?</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Books SFF Bestiary

Jellyfish in Space! — Aliette de Bodard’s Navigational Entanglements

Jellyfish are profoundly alien to our human biology and psychology — so they make sense as space aliens

By Judith Tarr

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Published on December 15, 2025

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Aliette de Bodard is on my shortlist of “auto-preorder” authors: writers whose works I order as soon as they become available (remember: preorders are love). I first encountered her through fantasy, the marvelous The House of Shattered Wings and its sequels and tie-ins. (Purely coincidentally, the core trilogy has just been released in a shiny new edition.)

Thanks to commenter Khryss for reminding me that I had an unread De Bodard in my TBR pile, and for pointing out that it features jellyfish aliens. Naturally I leaped to move it to the top of the pile.

Buy the Book

Navigational Entanglements

Aliette de Bodard

Buy Book

Navigational Entanglements

Aliette de Bodard

Buy this book from:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• iBooks
• IndieBound
• Target

Navigational Entanglements’ title works on multiple levels. It’s about four junior navigators in a Vietnamese-inspired science-fictional universe, confronted with a near-impossible task. This universe has an unusual take on star travel: navigators use their own energy, called Shadow, to open gates and navigate ships through the weird continuum called the Hollows.

The Hollows are inhabited, and the inhabitants are deadly dangerous. They’re called Tanglers. What they are, almost point for point, are spacefaring jellyfish. Bell, tentacles, stingers, the whole package.

Tanglers’ effect on humans is less about physical stingers and more about psychic damage. When their tendrils escape the Hollows into human space, navigators can track them with Shadow—and by following trails of humans whose minds have been bent or broken. A Tangler in human space is a serious threat to the humans in its path.

Much of the story revolves around the social, emotional, and political lives of the four young navigators, but the nature and biology of Tanglers is crucial to both the conflict and the resolution. The navigators are sent by their elders to find and capture a Tangler that has escaped (or so they’re told) from the Hollows. It has to be captured and presumably killed before it drifts into inhabited space. If they can’t stop it in time, the death toll will be enormous.

We’ve been learning about the life cycle of the jellyfish, and we’ve seen what happens when a bloom of giant jellyfish shows up along the coast of Japan. Both of these things are relevant to the story.

The average Tangler is about human-sized, but its tendrils trail far from the main body. The tendrils are the deadly part. What we learn along with the characters is that a Tangler can grow very, very, very big. The more it eats, the bigger it gets.

We don’t learn how long it lives, but that’s not really relevant. What is relevant is that a Tangler can breed in human space, and it reproduces in jellyfish fashion, seeding an area with polyps that develop into miniature Tanglers. The process seems to be fairly rapid, at least in space outside of the Hollows. The result, if it’s not checked or destroyed, is a bloom of Tanglers, and that is very bad.

Unlike terrestrial jellyfish (at least as far as we know), Tanglers appear to be sentient. They feel emotions (fear, loneliness, longing to go home). They seem to have a language.

They’re not mindless monsters. There’s no malice in them. They are what they are; they’re psychic predators, and they prey on humans who invade the Hollows. Outside of the Hollows, they hunt whatever they can eat, which would be the inhabitants of any habitat (from ship to planet) they encounter.

Whether it’s possible to communicate with them, or to persuade them to go back to the Hollows, is one of the problems the navigators have to solve. Can they settle this without violence, or without being killed themselves? In light of the political situation, should they even try? And what will the consequences be? Is it worth the cost?

I love that Tanglers are pretty much straightforward jellyfish with a couple of extra space powers. Jellies are profoundly alien to our human biology and psychology. They make sense as space aliens.

Now, a question for you all. What are your favorite book or film aliens based on terrestrial animals? That’s where I’m headed in the next chapter.

I have my eye on Pride of Chanur to start (lions! in space!), and several others are on my radar. What would you like me to look at? It doesn’t have to be fully sentient aliens; it can be unique life forms that are critical to the development of the story, as Tanglers are here. What’s out there, especially in the last decade or so? What shouldn’t I miss?[end-mark]

The post Jellyfish in Space! — Aliette de Bodard’s <i>Navigational Entanglements</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Books john varley

Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025

Where to start reading — or rereading — Varley’s many series and stories.

By James Davis Nicoll

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Published on December 12, 2025

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John Varley has died, alas.

For readers of my vintage, John Varley was a formative author. He drew on classic SF traditions but also embraced more contemporary concerns and trends. For example, he set his fiction in the Solar System as revealed by space probes, not in the Barsoomian planets of older SF. His settings featured newer tech and more forward-looking social mores¹. Other authors had imagined space colonies; Varley imagined space colonies whose inhabitants were free to pursue self-actualization in quite unconventional ways.

Varley’s fiction was well received, as a look at his ISFDB page should make clear. Many awards!

It has been seven years since Varley’s most recent novel. Fame is fickle and younger readers may be unfamiliar with his works. For the Varley-curious, here follows a brief guide to his works, starting with the novels. Varley published three standalone novels and three series, as well as a cornucopia of stories (most of which are quite good and some of which are great). I will start with the standalone novels.

Millennium (1983)

Mistakes were made! Radiation-damaged, chemically mutated terrestrial humanity is doomed! Time travel offers an escape clause: viable colonists can be snatched just before the disasters in which history says they perished, and dispatched to the off-world colonies. It’s a perfect plan provided that none of the overworked teams responsible for doing the snatching make a fatal error, and as long as no investigators in the past prove all too canny. One slip and causality itself is imperiled.

This book took a toll on Varley. Actually, it wasn’t so much the book as it was the terrible movie based on it, and the experience Varley had working on the movie. Someone, I don’t remember who, once compared working in Hollywood to placing one’s testicles in a vise and being handed a hundred dollars to endure until the pain became unbearable. Pre-Millennium Varley was a much more optimistic writer than he was after this dire experience.

Mammoth (2005)

A frozen mammoth is an amazing discovery, but not as amazing as the two human corpses next to it, one of whom is wearing what appears to be a modern wristwatch. Time travel seems implausible but what other explanations can there be²? It’s up to a billionaire scientist to work out what happened.

You know, if I knew that some time traveller was going end up frozen in ice tens of thousands of years ago, the last thing I’d do is work on time travel. Let someone else look at an icesheet from the inside.

Slow Apocalypse (2012)

A well-meaning scientist successfully weans America off foreign oil through the simple expedient of an oil-destroying bioweapon. In less time than it takes to say “the sudden, brutal end of civilization,” the bioweapon spreads across the Earth, rendering all oil unusable and modern civilization as dead as a dodo. Screenwriter Dave Marshall lacks the necessary skills to keep himself and his family alive. Nevertheless, Dave is determined to try.

Eight Worlds

Aliens attack! Billions perish as terrestrial technology is suppressed! But that’s boring history to the protagonists of these books, who live long after the Invasion, on worlds overlooked by the Invaders. For these people, equipped with fantastically powerful technology, the post-Invasion era would be a golden age… if not for the need for plot.

The Eight Worlds novels fall into two sets: (1) The Ophiuchi Hotline, written contemporaneously with the Eight Worlds short stories (which I will get to later) and (2) the three later Metal novels.

Varley didn’t want to look at his old notes when he restarted the series after a long hiatus; as a result, there are many continuity glitches. I consider this a series with an asterisk. Perhaps not a series in the purest sense.

The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977)

The Eight Worlds are cheerfully transhumanist (aided by alien information provided by the hotline mentioned in the title) but there are limits. Prior to the novel’s beginning, protagonist Lilo was arrested, tried, and condemned for a capital crime involving human DNA. The penalty is as final a death as the Eight Worlds can arrange. Survival is possible but at a price: Lilo is sentenced to work for a zealot whose determination to drive the Invaders out of the Solar System is in no way inhibited by the fact that the Invaders possess nigh-godlike power, while humans do not.

Hotline marks Varley’s transition from writing mostly short fiction (where the money ain’t) to novels. IMHO, Hotline is a bit of a mess but at least it’s a very energetic mess, with several novels’ worth of ideas crammed into a slender 237 pages.

Steel Beach (1992)

After a long hiatus, Varley wrote three more Eight Worlds novels. They aren’t quite consistent with the first book and they are considerably more pessimistic. (Thanks, Millennium.) It makes sense to distinguish between Hotline and the last three books.

It’s been two centuries since the Invasion, long enough for space-based humanity to have solved every existential problem… so why are so many people miserable? Plucky reporter Hildy Johnson discovers mounting evidence suggesting that something has gone very wrong with lunar civilization. Whether that’s something a civilization entirely dependent on artificial life-support can survive remains to be seen.

The Golden Globe (1998)

Kenneth “Sparky” Valentine is a talented actor of dubious morals whose endless peregrinations across the Solar System are driven in part by his disinclination to discuss with police precisely how his father died, and even more so by the relentless Charonese assassins who dog his heels. It’s not a sustainable life, but escape seems impossible.

As revealed in flashbacks, Valentine comes by his profound flaws honestly, having had one of the most memorably awful fathers in science fiction.

Irontown Blues (2018)

After the Big Glitch, traumatized former cop Christopher Bach reinvented himself as a detective in the Philip Marlowe mold. Only problem: nobody on the Moon seems to need a PI, not even one with an adorable cybernetically enhanced dog like Sherlock. Bach is canny enough to realize that supposed client “Mary Smith” is lying about her name, and no doubt much more… but not the scale or purpose of her stratagems.

The Gaean Trilogy

This series comprises Titan (1979), Wizard (1980), and Demon (1984). They focus on former American astronaut Cirocco Jones and her troubled relationship with the moon-sized alien Gaea, who is both nigh-godlike and also barking mad.

Titan (1979)

The crew of the Ringmaster is delighted to discover a twelfth moon of Saturn. They are less delighted when on approach to the enigmatic object, Ringmaster is grabbed and dismantled and its crew kidnapped. Cirocco Jones wakes alone and naked inside what turns out to be an immense, living torus filled with a wonderous and diverse ecology. Finding her crewmates will not be easy³.

Wizard (1980)

Gaea offers humanity biotechnological miracles. Thus, where prudence might suggest avoiding or even destroying the 1,300-kilometer alien, humans prefer to trade with Gaea. Humans have nothing tangible to trade. Luckily, the bored god craves entertainment and humans are if nothing amusing. At least when prodded. It’s Jones’ unhappy lot to play intermediary between insufficiently prudent humans and a dubiously sane god.

Demon (1984)

Working for Gaea is sheer misery. Jones decides that the only way to free herself is to bring down Gaea. That may sound impossible but really, how hard could it to defeat a mad god?

Note that Wizard was written before Millennium; Demon came out after Varley had been put through the Hollywood wringer. Hence Wizard is much more cheerful than its sequel, Demon.

An interesting historical note: this series features many lesbians and bisexual women. That sort of inclusivity wasn’t often the case forty years ago. Unfortunately, these women seem to have been crafted to please a male gaze, but still may be of interest for those interested in LGBTQ+ representation in older SF. Just as an overall note, I should mention that not everything in Varley’s fiction has aged well, including the tendency of love interests to be alarmingly young, and readers may want to be aware of that along with the various merits of these works.

Thunder and Lightning

The Thunder and Lightning series is consciously retro, evoking the good old days when a single misunderstood genius could open up space, provide boundless cheap energy, and upend civilization… given only pluck, super-science, and a crew of teens. IMHO, it’s an attempt to emulate Heinlein⁴.

Red Thunder (2003)

An overlooked design flaw imperils Ares Seven, the first American expedition to Mars. The only way for help to reach the astronauts in time is for an inarticulate genius to invent an unprecedented space drive and for a collection of space-obsessed teens to kit-bash a spaceship together from spare parts. What are the odds of that succeeding?

Red Lightning (2006)

A generation after Red Thunder, Mars is a frontier no more, much to the distress of teen Ray Garcia-Strickland. What hope has he of interplanetary adventure? Be careful what you wish for: Ray gets all the excitement he could want when a relativistic object impacts Earth, endangering his terrestrial loved ones.

Rolling Thunder (2008)

This novel focuses on Ray’s daughter, a young Martian Navy lieutenant (who seems to be subtly modeled on Heinlein’s Podkayne). This younger Garcia-Strickland hates living on Earth. She hates dealing with the endless stream of Earthers who want to emigrate to Mars. The summons that calls her back to Mars is a welcome relief. The opportunity to venture on to Europa is even more promising… because neither Podkayne nor any other human suspects what’s waiting for humanity on Europa.

Dark Lightning (2014)

The starshipRolling Thunder sets out for the stars… only for Jubal, the man who gave humans cheap space and abundant power, to announce midtrip that the ship must halt mid-voyage or be destroyed. This proclamation sets in motion the inevitable fate of every generation ship: deep space mutiny! …Unless two plucky twins can somehow save the day.

Superheroes (1995)

In addition to the novels in the precis above and the short works I will discuss below, Varley edited a single anthology: Superheroes, co-edited with Ricia Mainhardt. I mention it for the sake of completeness, but it is an odd duck that I don’t think I ever reread—please chime in if you have!

The Short Works

As diverting as Varley’s novels could be, he made his mark as a short story writer. Unfortunately, such money as there is in writing is in novels. Thus, Varley pivoted to novels in the late 1970s. Despite the iron hand of the market, Varley still wrote an impressive body of short works. In fact, it’s to these short works I turn when I want to reread Varley. They are where I would recommend readers new to Varley should begin.

The shorts are too numerous to go through story by story—ALTHOUGH I COULD!—but my favourites include “Options” (a study of the early days of on-demand gender change), “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” (a tale of holidays gone wrong, a frequent theme in early Varley), and “The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)” (a short but memorable exploration of what atomic war could mean to you).

A decade ago, I’d have advised readers new to Varley to snap up Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe and Other Stories, and The John Varley Reader, which between them⁵ had almost every Varley short work. Alas, while Reader is still in print, Robinson Crusoe does not appear to be. Used copies can be had but they don’t seem to be cheap. As I see it, new readers should keep their eye out for the two collections above or the older trio of collections, The Persistence of Vision (1978), The Barbie Murders (1980) AKA Picnic on Nearside (1984), and Blue Champagne (1986). The older collections appeared as mass market paperbacks in an era of vast print runs, and should be easy to track down.

Or perhaps some publisher could release a comprehensive Varley collection. Hint, hint. It would be a fitting tribute. In the meantime, what are your favorites? Which novels or stories would you recommend to a first-time reader?[end-mark]

1. In retrospect, those shiny futurist mores were merely 1970s hijinks with bigger tail fins. However, it was hard to notice that in the 1970s. Thank goodness that modern SF has finally settled on some truly timeless notions. Nothing written today will ever seem dated. ︎
2. Yes, yes: spacemen from an exploded fourth planet is another explanation but not the correct one. ︎
3. And in one case, undesirable. ︎
4. Seriously? “Podkayne” isn’t already in my Word dictionary? ︎
5. I can say this for Varley: there doesn’t seem to be much overlap in his contemporaneous collections. Varley wasn’t the sort of author to make readers buy the same story twice. ︎

The post Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Horror Highlights

Ancient Gods and Arachnids: Horror Highlights for December 2025

Add a little horror to your holiday reading list!

By Emily C. Hughes

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Published on December 11, 2025

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While December is a slow month for publishing as a whole, and especially for horror publishing, you’d be a fool not to keep an eye on the month’s new books, lest they sneak up behind you in a dark alley. Here are five I’m particularly excited about.

Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

(Dec 1, 47north) Any new T. Kingfisher horror book pole-vaults to the top of my TBR pile (I like her fantasy very much as well, but horror always takes priority). This novella follows Selena, a woman fleeing a bad living situation for her late aunt’s desert home. Along with her dog, Copper, Selena starts to adapt to desert life—meeting her neighbors, making friends, and adjusting to a completely new ecosystem. But there’s something watching from the underbrush: an ancient god known as Snake-Eater. And it wants something from Selena—something her aunt promised it. One thing Kingfisher does especially well is writing the natural world in a way that’s reverent but not overly romantic—I loved her descriptions of the Appalachian woods in The Twisted Ones, and I can’t wait to see what she does with a whole new biome here. Plus, as with most Kingfisher novels, readers can expect an exceedingly charming cast of characters and a very, very good dog.

Down Came the Spiders by Ally Russell

(Dec 2, Scholastic) Now that I’m an adult, I have a healthy respect for spiders, even if I’d prefer they keep their distance. As a kid, however, I was significantly less chill about anything with eight legs. Andi, a spider-obsessed sixth grader, goes to a party hoping to get a good look at the host’s dad’s spider collection—and she gets way more than she bargained for. Soon, Andi and her friends are trying desperately to evade a veritable spider invasion, and the adults are nowhere to be found. It’s up to Andi to untangle this web. Nobody’s writing better horror for middle grade readers than Russell, and this one’s perfect for arachnophobes and -philes of all ages.

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

(Dec 9, St. Martin’s) DeMeester’s fiction is often concerned with forces that constrain women’s lives, and that’s certainly the case with her third novel. Dark Sisters is told across three timelines: in 1750, Anne, a healer fleeing accusations of witchcraft, starts a small settlement deep in the forest around a powerful, ancient tree. In the 1950s, Anne’s descendant Mary feels trapped in her existence as a housewife until she meets a woman who brings her to life again. And in 2007, Mary’s granddaughter Camilla, only daughter of the strict town preacher, is determined to unravel the mysterious power controlling the town—one that’s tied to the ancient tree at its heart. If you’re a fan of religious horror, feminist horror, cults, and/or witches, this one’s for you. 

Midnight Somewhere by Johnny Compton

(Dec 9, Blackstone) I consider it a gift when an author I like releases a short story collection—it’s like a tasting menu of the inside of their brain (not to torture a metaphor or anything). Compton’s 2023 debut novel The Spite House haunted me, and so I’m eagerly anticipating Midnight Somewhere, which features twenty one stories that span genres and themes. Of note: “The Merge Monster Incident: One Year Later,” about a roller coaster that comes to life and disappears with all its riders still aboard; “I Caught a Ghost in My Eye,” about, well, a haunted eye; and  “Doctor Bad Eyes is at the Top of the Stairs Again,” about a mother facing down the ghost who keeps scaring her kids.

The Writhing, Verdant End by Corey Farrenkopf, Tiffany Morris, & Eric Raglin

(Dec 9, Cursed Morsels) All three of these authors are making a name for themselves in the ecohorror space—Morris’ Green Fuse Burning, Farrenkopf’s Haunted Ecologies, and Raglin’s Extinction Hymns all come highly recommended (to you, by me). This volume contains new novellas from Farrenkopf and Raglin and several new short stories from Morris: tales of kudzu cities, unholy mutations, birds, bees, the Flower Man, and a birding vacation that glimmers with the promise of resurrecting an extinct species—at great cost.

It never gets easier choosing just a few books to highlight from the many released each month—to see the full list of December’s new horror books and beyond, head over to my website.[end-mark]

News and Notes

The 2026 new horror list: The 2026 horror list is live! Head over to Read Jump Scares to start building your TBR for next year—we’ll have new books from Paul Tremblay, Ronald Malfi, Bethany C. Morrow, Gemma Amor, Monika Kim, V. Castro, Catriona Ward, Clay McLeod Chapman, Sarah Gailey, Nick Cutter, Daniel Kraus, Eric LaRocca, CJ Leede, Mónica Ojeda, Nat Cassidy, Adam Nevill, Philip Fracassi, Gwendolyn Kiste, Kylie Lee Baker, Cynthia Pelayo, and so many more. As always, I’ll keep updating the list throughout the year (many titles for fall and winter 2026 haven’t quite been announced yet at this point), and if you see that I’ve missed something, please tell me about it here!

The year in horror: I picked my three favorites of the year for Talking Scared’s year-end State of the Horror Nation episode, and now I want to know: what were the best horror books you read in 2025?

The post Ancient Gods and Arachnids: Horror Highlights for December 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Martha Wells Book Club

Martha Wells Book Club: Network Effect

Murderbot’s two friend groups collide over wormholes and alien remnants…

By Alex Brown

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Published on December 17, 2025

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Murderbot’s two friend groups collide over wormholes and alien remnants in this month’s book club entry: Network Effect. We have snarky teens, asshole transports, rogue SecUnits, and a lot of corpses.

As usual, spoilers ahoy.

As is tradition with Murderbot, the book begins with the action already underway. Murderbot is working security aboard a space lab with Overse, Arada, and Ratthi, as well as two new characters, Amena and Thiago (Mensah’s daughter and brother-in-law, respectively), plus assorted PresAux staff. Our trusty SecUnit handily dispatches a team of raiders, but that’s the last bit of luck they’ll have for a while. On their way home, they’re attacked again, this time by gray-skinned Targets speaking an untranslated language, using ancient tech, and wandering around in the alien-remnant-infected husk of Perihelion, aka ART the Asshole Research Transport from Artificial Condition. 

Much of the story takes place on Perihelion. For the first chunk, Murderbot fears ART has been erased by the alien remnant the Targets attached to its engine, and it lets that fear and rage fuel it as it takes the Targets out and rescues its humans. “I was starting to panic,” it says, and later “But I was walking around in ART’s corpse and nothing felt reassuring.” Once Amena, Overse, Arada, Ratthi, Thiago, and Eletra (the lone survivor of a Barish-Estranza team who were also attacked by the Targets) temporarily safe, they’re able to get ART partially back online, much to SecUnit’s relief. 

It takes a while for the plot to untangle, given how little information the characters have most of the time and how much guesswork they’re doing, but it all boils down to Corporate Rim Shenanigans. Barish-Estranza wants to exploit planetary resources and human labor on a lost colony and the human laborers want freedom (or a hivemind, depending on who you talk to). The Perihelion crew want to keep hacking Corporate Rim legal contracts and the Preservation Alliance crew just want to go home alive and intact. Eventually, a team of humans and Murderbot get down to the planet’s surface to rescue the last of ART’s missing humans. With the help of Murderbot 2.0—who Amena adorably describes as a baby “That you and ART made together, with code. Code with both of you are also made out of.”—and a newly governor-module-hacked SecUnit calling itself “Three,” Murderbot saves the day. Again. Barely.

Structurally, this book is different from the rest of the series in a few key ways. It has a partial flashback to a brand new scene where Mensah is attacked at Preservation Alliance HQ by drugged-up augmented human assassins hired by GrayCris. This attack and her earlier kidnapping—and some timely blackmailing/guilt tripping by SecUnit—convinced her to seek treatment for dealing with her trauma. We see this fight sequence in another new device, a story within a story. The first book, All Systems Red, was technically epistolary; it was a letter Murderbot wrote to Mensah. The rest of the books are in that same first person format (which allows Wells to keep doing the unreliable narrator thing we all love so much), but they don’t feel all that epistolary. This one has the main story interrupted with excerpts from HelpMe.file. These scenes, from Murderbot being interviewed by Bharadwaj for her documentary, are sent to SecUnit 3 as a way to convince it to help Murderbot 1.0 after it cracks Three’s governor module. 

Speaking of the narrative structure, this is the only (so far?) novel in the series. Wells could have shrunk this story down to novella size either by cutting stuff out or breaking it into two separate books, but not while retaining the emotional gut-punches that are ART and Murderbot and their code baby, Amena dubbing Murderbot her “third mom,” Murderbot 2.0’s sacrifice, and the rise of Three. This is a bigger story than anything we’ve gotten so far, and I don’t just mean page length. This is a turning point for Murderbot. Everything has been leading up to this moment. It has to be big.

Identity, personhood, and trauma continue to be a major themes in the Murderbot Diaries, and they intersect in interesting ways in this novel. SecUnit is still processing learning that maybe it isn’t all that special and that its worldview was too narrow. Maybe other bots and constructs didn’t chat much with it because it didn’t chat much with them. Like Mensah, it’s also avoiding processing the trauma of the last few months. It gained its freedom, nearly died too many times to count, pushed itself way past its limits, changed its physical body, witnessed humans and constructs having meaningful and complicated relationships, and watched good people—bots, constructs, and humans alike—get killed or indentured at the behest of capitalism. 

Miki’s death in particular haunts Murderbot, and I think that has a lot to do with why it freaks out so much over ART’s apparent deletion. Not only did it lose its first friend and the first person to see its true self, but it also just watched a construct sacrifice its life for the humans it cared about, something Murderbot has done several times now for Mensah. As we see in the HelpMe.file excerpts Murderbot sends to Three, Bharadwaj has already been trying to get SecUnit to start trauma recovery treatment alongside Mensah. Add to that its anxiety toward logos and knowing the company is forever burned into its body no matter how much it alters itself and you have a SecUnit on the edge. There are too many terrible things happening to and around it in too short a time. ART’s supposed death shoves Murderbot right over. 

At the same time, it’s also having a lot of emotions, many of them for the first time and all of them unexpected. Murderbot has yet to reckon with its personhood. It doesn’t see itself as just a SecUnit anymore, and it doesn’t want to be human. But it also doesn’t know what that in between space looks like. “I think if I had been a normal bot, or been a normal SecUnit, just off inventory, naive and not knowing anything about how to get along in the human world or whatever… it would have been okay. But I wasn’t like that. I was me, Murderbot. So instead of Mensah having a pet bot like poor Miki, or a sad bot/human construct that needed someone to help it, she had me.” For SecUnit, that’s a negative. For Mensah, Murderbot is exactly what she wants and needs. She’d probably like it to be less touch-averse, but overall, she likes Murderbot just the way it is. She trusts it because it’s Murderbot and not some pet bot or mind-controlled construct.

Mensah doesn’t want a Miki anymore than Peri’s crew wants a thoughtless bot running their ship, but that also doesn’t mean the only other thing left is a thoughtless killing machine. When Ratthi says “[Thiago] doesn’t know you. He doesn’t know what you’re really like,” Murderbot thinks “He’d never seen me kill anyone close up and I’d like to keep it that way.” But Ratthi doesn’t stop caring about Murderbot after all the killing in this novel anymore than he did after all the killing in the previous stories with him. Like Mensah, he knows Murderbot is a person trained for a specific task making hard choices. Speaking of Ratthi, I have loved watching him grow as a character. The way Thiago treats SecUnit after Amena’s rescue is exactly the way Ratthi treated it in the first book, like a grumpy human that just needs a hug. Now Ratthi is the one keeping Thiago from pressing the point with Murderbot and warning him against apologizing, just like the others did with him in that hopper. By the end, Murderbot sees itself the way Mensah and ART do, and Wells shows us this through its HelpMe.file conversation with Three: “I’m letting you see all this because I want you to know what I am and what I can do… I want you to know if you help me, I’ll help you, and that you can trust me. Now here’s the code to disable your governor module.”

All this folds into Murderbot’s relationship with ART. It’s more than a friendship yet also not romantic or sexual. Or, as Ratthi wisely puts it, “I think that while you and Perihelion know how to have relationships with humans, neither of you is quite sure how to have a relationship with each other.” The book never uses this language, but I think of ART and Murderbot as being at the start of a queerplatonic relationship. It all feels very acespec-coded (I say as an acespec person), although I doubt that was intentional on Wells’ end. Their relationship is growing into a deep bond between two people committed to each other. ART kidnaps Murderbot not because it’s a useful tool but because it trusts Murderbot more than anything else in the universe. Murderbot wants to help ART not because its humans want it to help the other humans but because they’re ART’s humans. It’s a fraught relationship, one where both parties are emotionally constipated and oblivious, but it’s so damn charming I can’t help but sigh contentedly. 

Well, now I’m a big, weepy pile of emotions. I need to go take a walk or something and calm down. Next month we’re discussing Fugitive Telemetry. It was the sixth book published, but it takes place before Network Effect and is mostly a standalone story. See you in 2026![end-mark]

Buy the Book

Fugitive Telemetry

Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6)

Buy Book

Fugitive Telemetry

Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6)

The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6)

Buy this book from:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• iBooks
• IndieBound
• Target

The post Martha Wells Book Club: <i>Network Effect</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Books ghost stories

Eight M.R. James Stories to Make Your Holidays a Little Scarier

Grab your eggnog and gather round for some spooky, spine-tingling tales from the master…

By Sam Reader

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Published on December 15, 2025

Illustration by James McBryde

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Illustration by James McBryde

Back when he was provost of a university, M.R. James had a special tradition for students. He would read aloud to those who came to his quiet Christmas gatherings, debuting his macabre tales before a rapt audience. In the modern day, while bright holiday cheer might have replaced traditions like reading ghost stories for Christmas, it’s still a treat for horror fans to gather around the fireplace (or the radiator, or the space heater—whatever you have handy) and read from one of the greats.

That said, despite James having an established reputation for Christmas reading, it can be hard to pick the right story: “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad” is fantastic, but a little long for a nighttime read. “Lost Hearts” is short, but full of things you don’t want to imagine just before bed. And “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas” starts with several pages of Latin. With this in mind, here are eight stories you can and should read aloud, if you like your holiday just a touch darker…

“The Mezzotint”

There’s not a lot to “The Mezzotint,” but it works specifically because it’s a minimalist story. The fear comes simply from watching the horrible way the events in the haunted photograph unfold, the scene growing more macabre each time. As each glance fills in the picture, the imagination fills in the blanks, with the grotesque figure dressed as a priest scrambling ever closer to the house and its inhabitants. While (like many of the stories here) the reveal offers some relief, it’s guaranteed to give readers just enough of a chill to last until morning.

“The Haunted Dolls’ House”

Another “observer of haunted artwork” story, “The Haunted Dolls’ House” focuses on the strange events in the titular dollhouse rather than a changing photograph, which takes some of the eerier aspects of “The Mezzotint” out of the picture but still delivers an odd enough ghost story for a Christmas read (especially if someone actually is getting a dollhouse). There’s something that’s just the right kind of scary about a ghost story playing out entirely in miniature, a sinister tale unfolding in front of a full-size human’s eyes, from inside what’s meant to be a pretty toy, creating just enough compelling weirdness to hold an audience when read aloud.

“The Ash-tree”

“The Ash-tree” has everything—quiet atmosphere, weird doings out in the dark, a murder mystery with a solution too strange to be believed, macabre visuals, and of course an unusually dark sense of humor. All these things make it perfect to be read aloud, as none other than the great Christopher Lee handily demonstrates here. The best thing about “The Ash-tree” is that it’s a tale, one as twisted and knotted as the haunted tree at its center. Whether you’re in the mood for a creature story, a murder mystery, a darkly comic gothic satire, or a bit of everything in between, this is one your audience is guaranteed to remember.

“Number 13”

A lot of the stories mentioned thus far are kind of grotesque but for a different sort of tale, “Number 13” has you covered. It’s still unnerving, but in a departure from the macabre images of the previous three, the ghost here is a presence and a hotel room that simply shouldn’t exist. For the most part, the story gets by on atmosphere, with the strangeness of the room that only appears at night and its ominously singing inhabitant taking up most of the plot. It’s light on scares and light on death, which might be just the perfect thing for a Christmas Eve read-along, even if its central questions are left ominously hanging.

“A School Story”

Framed as a story shared between old friends looking back on their old school days and name-checking one of the best “true ghost stories” out there (The Horror of Berkeley Square, referring to what’s been called the most haunted house in London), from its opening pages, “A School Story” is a perfect candidate for a Christmastime ghost story. There’s a full moon, a strange teacher, and a mysterious disappearance—but more than that, thanks to the framing device and the generally ambiguous and unnerving second half of its quick length, it captures the exact feel of a fireside ghost story or campfire tale. It sets up its premise of a teacher and his odd watch-chain keepsake, lays out its haunting, and leaves us with only questions to ponder in the night, just as any ghost (or any good ghost story) always does.

“Casting the Runes”

Another story with the cadence that begs to be read aloud, “Casting the Runes” has one hell of a pedigree behind it. A well-loved classic in the James canon (and adapted as the classic horror movie Night of the Demon), it’s a story that is M.R. James at his droll, strange best. What the horror-focused adaptations miss of course, is the deadpan humor (the villain is introduced terrifying kindergarteners, having offered to entertain them with a magic lantern show), fourth-wall breaks (James jumps scenes by writing “[t]he next scene that does require to be narrated is…”), and byzantine revenge plots. It’s a tale that’s ready-made for an audience, perfect for an evening read.

“The Diary of Mr. Poynter”

One of the quicker selections and one that requires significantly less historical context than some of James’ work, “The Diary of Mr. Poynter” is a short, sharp shock in story form. It’s great for reading aloud, given the accents and voice work James puts into the text, the central image of a two-legged animalistic creature is just on the right side of scary without being gruesome, and despite the shorter length it’s one of the more descriptive stories in the James canon. It might be small, but it definitely packs a punch.

“Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book”

A slower burn, “Canon Alberic” is a story that can be read multiple times while picking up different details, but also one with enough transfixing images that the atmosphere of the story will settle around readers as the evening grows darker. It’s also perfect fit for the long, sometimes lonely evenings of late autumn and winter, as the interplay between the main character and his guide is just weird enough to seem off, with each description of the story’s demon and strange, unsettling noises leaving enough to the imagination that the environment itself can be worked into the story. It allows the audience time to settle in, and gives readers an opportunity to draw on any lurking shadows and ambient noise (or lack of it) to hold them in place while James’ story weaves its spell.[end-mark]

The post Eight M.R. James Stories to Make Your Holidays a Little Scarier appeared first on Reactor.

Books reading recommendations

Five Books About Conversing With Animals

How great would it be to talk with animals, through magic or technology or… whatever?

By James Davis Nicoll

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Published on December 16, 2025

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We all understand that humans and animals cannot easily communicate with each other. Most animals find it hard to understand human speech (though some commands and phrases can be learned); we often find their body language (the product of millions of years of divergent evolution) opaque¹; and their handwriting is appalling (though some can push buttons). Even dogs, animals that have lived with and been shaped by humans—and have shaped humans in return—for a very long time, can be hard to understand. Bad luck for any Timmies stuck down a well.

Humans often think that they are capable of understanding what an animal understands or wants, or that they have communicated clearly, but they can be mistaken². How sure can you be that the animal understood you, or you them³?

It would be so convenient if there were some shortcut to bridging the gaps… Some way to tell the cat that no, he cannot scratch the sofa, to explain to the dog that you do not want a well-aged dead gopher, or to convince the local ravens that you are not their enemy. This common human wish makes for an engaging plot premise. An ability to converse with animals (magically or technically or somehow conferred) turns up in book after book. Such as the following.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894)

Mowgli learns the language of the animals by the simple expedient of having been orphaned and then adopted and raised by wolves⁴. Conveniently for Mowgli, for the most part all animals speak the same language. This is not an unmixed blessing, as not everything animals say is something one wants to hear.

To be honest, I am pretty skeptical about many details of Kipling’s zoology. Dogs and cats are often baffled by the other’s body language. Canid and feline lineages diverged comparatively recently. Imagine the gulf between the snake Kaa and primate Mowgli. I don’t think that there is any fieldwork that supports the notion of a unified spoken language among animals. It’s almost as though The Jungle Book is not intended as a serious scientific hypothesis.

Daybreak—2250 A.D. by Andre Norton (1954)

Silver-haired Fors of the Puma Clan of the hidden city Eyrie is both victim of and beneficiary of the lingering radiation of the atomic war that was civilization’s final triumph. His visible deviation from local physiological norms makes him an outcast, but at least he is accompanied in his travels by his giant semi-telepathic cat Lura.

Honestly, the frequent existence of telepathic bonds with animals in the works of Andre Norton probably deserves its own essay. It feels like a bit of a cheat—surely, even a direct brain-to-brain connection between dissimilar species would involve a communications gap—but at least this novel isn’t about how wonderful or inevitable such bonds are. Not primarily, at any rate. Telepathic bonds with animals do seem awesome, but the plot is focused elsewhere.

The City of the Sun by Brian Stableford (1978)

The starship Daedalus surveys Arcadia to determine if the human colony on that alien world survived a century of isolation or if, like most of the colonies, it collapsed in the face of alien conditions. Arcadian humans did survive, thanks to a feature of the local ecology that was overlooked prior to colonization. Moreover, the colonists now enjoy an unexpectedly close relationship with the animals around them. Whether the result still counts as human is an open question.

This is a spoiler, so skip down to the next section if you want to avoid it… The local feature is an invasive fungus that every animal carries. Among its interesting properties is the ability to record and transfer information such as memories. Functionally, the fungus provides the network for a collective mind, to which human intelligence is a welcome addition. Whether this development is good or bad is rather ambiguous.

A Deeper Sea by Alexander Jablokov (1992)

Colonel Ilya Sergeiivich Stasov deciphers cetacean languages using intense research and also by torturing dolphins and their relatives until the sea creatures break three thousand years of silence. The unfortunate beasts are then drafted into Russia’s war with Japan and its allies, a development that proves less than ideal along a number of axes, before playing a key role in SETI… another development that is less than ideal.

Jablokov’s dolphins are a rather unpleasant lot, and only some of that is due to the trying circumstances in which they find themselves.

Applied research might seem an unsexy option for introducing inter-species communication, but it does have the advantage of being a lot more plausible than “telepathy,” “a very convenient fungus,” or “somehow”⁵. However, I must ask my readers not to take this book as a hint that torture might be scientifically productive.

The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay (2020)

Outback wildlife park guide Jean gains the ability to converse with animals the same way millions of other humans did, thanks to a novel and extremely contagious superflu with an unprecedented cognitive side effect. While zoanthropathy (or “Zooflu”) doesn’t provide ambiguity-free communication between species, it does make it far more difficult to ignore the gap between what animals are and what humans would like them to be.

This is just the sort of distraction one does not want while searching for a missing granddaughter.

Society basically falls apart as soon as zoanthropathy spreads. I am not sure why it does. I did like the detail that with the communications barrier greatly reduced, a lot of what animals have to say sounds like noisy (often hostile) gibberish. It’s difficult to convey concepts one does not have in common.

Would it be better if humans could talk to animals? Might it not be worse?⁶ Or would it do little? No doubt you have your own conclusions, for further discussion in the comments below.[end-mark]

1. Except in the case of my late cat Eddie, who didn’t really do body language. He maintained the same amiable demeanor whether he was thinking about head-bonking other cats, working out how to channel surf by messing with radio buttons, or contemplating waking me by lifting me by my left eyelid. ︎
2. I remain skeptical of one owner’s claim that their dog sank its teeth into my calf because it really liked me… except perhaps in a culinary sense. ︎
3. “Oh, good! The raised tail means that skunk is happy!” is not a sentence you want to hear from anyone standing next to you. ︎
4. Which as all DC Comics fans know is how Black Condor learned to fly like a condor. Do not try this at home. Or at the peak of a mountain. ︎
5. Some animals do a convincing job of seemingly learning to speak. Consider this angry cockatoo. ︎
6. I suspect that many farm animals would see the ability to ask not to be eaten as a plus. ︎

The post Five Books About Conversing With Animals appeared first on Reactor.

Books book reviews

An Epic Beginning: The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell

An unexpected hero and a foulmouthed raven star in this Tlingit indigenous response to The Lord of the Rings.

By Maura Krause

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Published on December 16, 2025

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Reading Caskey Russell’s debut novel The Door on the Sea had me doing something I haven’t done in a long time: flipping ahead. Not out of boredom, but because of a kind of tingly excitement that I associate with crushing Animorphs or Tamora Pierce’s books as a kid. My fingers themselves were so antsy to see what happened next that I couldn’t stop them from skipping forward—realizing I didn’t WANT any spoilers but catching a tantalizing word from the future anyway—and turning back only to try and read even faster.

Russell, an enrolled member of the Tlingit Nation of Alaska, centers the first installment of his series on a young man of the island-dwelling Aaní people named Elān, who winds up going on a quest to retrieve a supremely powerful weapon. This dangerous yet inexplicable object, called a dzanti by the Aaní, is the kind wielded by the people’s greatest enemy, the Koosh. The narrator’s introduction of this foe in the first chapter stuck with me, not least because of the oral storytelling flourishes:

Yet, we soon learn that the Koosh have drawn much nearer than nightmare-fuel usually does. These cruelly destructive beings have enslaved the Aaní’s mundane human enemies, and will come for Elān’s people next. 

All of this information is courtesy of raven, one of the most uniquely foulmouthed characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. On his way to deliver this alarming intelligence about the Koosh to the Aaní council of elders, raven stops to steal some grilled salmon left out by what he terms “stupid fatheads [who] must learn not to leave cooked salmon sitting near an open door.” It turns out, however, that raven is the fathead, as his greed results in Elān trapping him in a cupboard. Raven barters his spying knowledge for his freedom, and surprises himself by promising to take Elān to Botson’s Bay to retrieve the dzanti. 

It is this moment of cleverness, curiosity, and a bit of compassion on Elān’s part that places the young man at the core of the Aaní’s clash with the Koosh. Though an unexpected hero, given his studies in the Longhouse of Service and Trade rather than the Longhouse of War and Diplomacy, Elān is a ready one. He is lonely and bored with his life in the village of Naasteidi, disheartened by his future as a teacher. His community sees him as strange and a bit pathetic, which wounds all the deeper given Elān’s grandfather Latseen was the greatest warrior-leader in living memory. 

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Indeed, Elān would never have been sent on this mission were it not for Íxt, the Aaní council elder who sent raven to retrieve intelligence on the Koosh in the first place. Íxt, who was also an old friend of Latseen’s, commissions the fastest canoe ever to sail the waves, and marshals a group of warriors to accompany Elān on his journey.

If this is giving you hints of Gandalf and a certain hobbit’s protective Fellowship, you are not wrong. The Door on the Sea is marketed as “[a]n epic quest fantasy debut that is the Tlingit indigenous response to The Lord of the Rings.” Certainly, there are more parallels than simply the set-up. Elān and his occasionally mutinous crew travel through a range of dangers, from the environmental to the human, including a village held under the fascistic sway of a corrupted leader. (Wormtongue in Rohan, anyone?) Only one primary character is a woman, though unlike a certain silent Shieldmaiden, this warrior is vocal when pissed off. The Koosh that Elān finally encounters is alarmingly seductive, and has command over a cloud of vicious flying creatures. Young Elān’s strength surprises his crew, even as the influence of the dzanti corrupts him into enacting a brutal level of violence he once swore never to commit. 

All this said, I would argue that the novel’s tone is much closer to The Hobbit, if we must, uh, Tolkien-ize. Russell wrote this for his sons, just as J.R.R. wrote the story of Bilbo for his own children, and the intimate narrative quality of the book elevates it to that rare thing—a lyrical page-turner. Not to mention, I can’t imagine Tolkien using the phrase “an old bag of chalky turds,” spoken by raven, or my favorite of the incorrigible bird’s insults, “that’s like being the brightest berry in a furry pile of grizzly turds.” Having just backpacked through grizzly country in chokecherry season, that one really made me laugh.

Obviously, I delighted in The Door on the Sea, but I’ll acknowledge that it isn’t perfect. At times Russell’s in-depth descriptions of Elān’s sailing maneuvers are in greater detail than most readers need. There are some loose ends, like the vow against violence that Elān swears, which I do imagine will return in the next book but is oddly never considered by Elān after his most explosive act of brutality. Early in the book, Elān suffers from debilitating headaches and vision loss, but that issue only comes up once, at the most convenient moment. 

But what spoken tale gathers every single one of its threads? And what debut novel doesn’t have a few shaky spots? None of these inconsistencies hampered my enjoyment of Elān’s adventure in the least. To be honest, the straightforward plot got me out of a reading slump engendered by one too many novels full of excessive twists. Then, the whimsy and the flawed but charming characters kept me addicted. I missed this book when I finished it, feeling like someone had been telling me a story, but suddenly disappeared. I might go right for the audiobook when it comes out at the end of November, as I have a hunch that the aural medium might be an even more satisfying experience of Russell’s tale. And certainly, whenever the sequel to The Door on the Sea comes out, I’ll be ready to pick up right where we left off.[end-mark]

The Door on the Sea is published by Solaris.

The post An Epic Beginning: <i>The Door on the Sea</i> by Caskey Russell appeared first on Reactor.

Books Reading the Weird

Look, Up in the Sky: Lucy Snyder’s Sister, Maiden, Monster (Part 8)

Sometimes people under stress see strange things — but if you insist it was *real*, just know that you’ve gone mad.

By Ruthanna Emrys, Anne M. Pillsworth

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Published on December 10, 2025

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Welcome back to Reading the Weird, in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction, cosmic horror, and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches. This week, we cover Chapters 20-22 of Lucy Snyder’s Sister, Maiden, Monster. The book was first published in 2023. Spoilers ahead! CW for cancer and extremely weird tumors.

Mareva Buduci meets Erin Holdaway a few months before the PVG pandemic: She’s working in UCC network operations, Erin in tech support. Mar has called about a malfunctioning terminal, and she’s gobsmacked when Erin looks so much like her estranged sister Leila. The resemblance largely lies in Erin’s “gorgeous cornflower blue eyes.”

Mar was a “surprise baby,” born within a year of Leila. The sisters were inseparable through early childhood. At two, Mar was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease that caused her to grow benign tumors called teratomas. The first removed was interpreted by the doctors as fetus in fetu, a twin Mar had absorbed in the womb. Eight-year-old Mar’s curiosity about her surgical scars made her father point her to an article about the condition. Big mistake: She understood just enough to “get completely freaked out.” She began having nightmares about her ghost twin emerging at night to enviously attack Leila. Mar distanced herself—hurting Leila’s feelings seemed better than letting the ghost hurt her.

The night before surgery to remove a second growth, Mar overheard her mother regretting having Mar so soon after Leila. If that hadn’t happened, their second child would’ve been normal! She returned to bed and wept, while Leila tried to comfort her, perhaps for the last time. Later, Mar blamed the oncologist who misdiagnosed her first teratoma; actually, cell malfunction caused the tumors. She’d pushed Leila away unnecessarily, and once they were teenagers, Leila withdrew from Mar. At seventeen, Leila married a decade-older, toxically-controlling medical resident. By twenty-four, Leila had six children and had given up any plans for her own career. Mar suspected that her emotional withdrawal pushed Leila toward her husband.

Now Mar wonders if befriending Erin could replace her long-lost connection with Leila. She doesn’t want to come off as an “office stalker,” so she decides to “let things evolve naturally.”

* * *

The UCC Christmas party, two months pre-PVG: Mar meets Erin again. The two bond over a recently discovered “megacephalopod” that no one else is interested in. They have similar educational backgrounds in evolution, ecology, and environmental science and are total “bio-nerds.” Mar confides that she left grad school to have surgery, after which she had to get a “jobby-job” at UCC. Erin barely got her B.S. after her mother died. With grades too low to garner grad school funding, she also landed with UCC. She changes the subject to Mar’s surgery. Mar explains her condition and adds that she had a hysterectomy at twenty-one, when her uterus filled up with “hollow, bleeding orbs that the oncologist thought might be primitive eyeballs.” Her parents were disappointed at the loss of potential grandkids, despite Leila’s “bountiful brood.”

Conversation shifts to pets they’d like to have (cats), Erin’s boyfriend Gregory, and Mar’s possible asexuality. When they part, Mar hopes she’s found a geeky work friend among the UCC careerists and offspring-obsessers.

The pandemic quickly takes out three of Mar’s coworkers. She’s excited that Erin will be joining her department but, sadly, Erin returns from PVG sick leave much changed. She works well enough, but grows increasingly jumpy and paranoid. Mar hears her mutter about a “Betty” and feels a little jealous. Physically, Erin becomes emaciated, her eyes mottled with microhemorrhages. Worse, she’s sprouted a huge growth on her back.

* * *

The shift before “the incident,” Erin seems extremely anxious. Mar considers informing their supervisor but doesn’t want to get Erin in trouble. A new employee named Devin passes through en route to a training class. Erin stares at him  strangely, then trails Devin from the room. Uneasy, Mar follows, but loses sight of them. She approaches a security station. The guard on duty suddenly sets off an emergency alarm. Mar and the other employees are hustled out to the parking lot. Hazmat-suited SWAT officers and paramedics swarm the building. A woman near Mar stares into the sky. Mar follows her gaze to a large, dark shape flying unsteadily. Eagle? Vulture? No, it has long thin arms, and instinct tells Mar it’s “an actual monstrosity and did not belong in the world.” She looks away from it, as do others.

After paramedics wheel out a filled body bag, the police herd Erin’s coworkers back inside. They won’t answer any questions, only saying a “trauma counselor” will be talking to everyone individually. Mar wonders if Erin was in the bag, or Devin. She’s thought she’d given up on Erin as a maybe-BFF, but evidently not.

Mar’s turn with the “trauma counselor” comes an hour later. Candy Kleypas is dressed in Homeland Security black. Her formal diction slips into country dialect as she skirts Mar’s questions and grills her about Erin’s recent behavior. When Mar suggests she talk to Erin’s doctor, Candy says Dr. Shapiro has gone missing. Does Mar know anything about her whereabouts?

Mar knows Homeland Security must be desperate and overwhelmed to ask her about Erin’s doctor. Candy switches to a spiel about how stress can make people see strange things. Mistake, say, large birds for something “unreal.” Candy follows up with barely veiled threats: someone seeing unreal things could land in quarantine or even lose their job. Mar despises such tactics, but mutters that she understands.

Nevertheless, Mar knows that she saw something non-avian and dangerous. Something Homeland Security must hide, lest the public panic. But she doesn’t know what she’s seen.

Weirdbuilding: Candy, trying to balance convincing Mar that she didn’t see anything with convincing Mar not to talk about what she didn’t see, compares Mar’s glimpse of Erin to Mothman or the Jersey Devil. So we can guess what part of the country she’s from.

Madness Takes Its Toll:  Sometimes people under stress see strange things. They interpret some ordinary thing as looking wrong, just so their brains can pin the stress’s wrongness to something concrete. And if you insist that the wrong thing was real, well, we’ll just know that you’ve gone mad.

Ruthanna’s Commentary

We had a little blip in the space-time continuum two weeks ago, as a result of which I included some thoughts on Chapter 20 in a post that Anne only took through Chapter 19. So I’ve already shared my initial thoughts on meeting Her, realizing that Savannah killed Her estranged sister to get Her address, and suspecting that the elder gods have some nasty plans for Her tendency to grow weird cancerous masses. Wilbur Whately isn’t the half of it.

No one wants masses of bloody eyeballs growing in their uterus. Speaking as someone whose uterus was at one point very excited about fibroids, we’re talking about an organ that has enough trouble handling the production of small humans, and often comes up with ideas that we would rather it didn’t. Wombs do not need additional outside advice from apocalyptic deities.

Mar’s problem at the moment, though, is that her work-crush has gone from delightful geekfest conversations to PVG-strained depression to an Incident. DHS doesn’t want to answer questions about the Incident, and wants to heavily discourage witnesses from talking about it; they’re trying to discourage witnesses from believing what they’ve seen, but people tend to believe things that they’ve been intimidated into not talking about. Because it’s not that dangerous to talk about hallucinations, is it?

The hallucination thinks so. Pay it too much attention, and you might attract attention right back. Avert your gaze, feeble monkey. Is that what DHS thinks, too? That talking about what’s happening, acknowledging it aloud, will make it stronger? Because it seems to me that it’s getting plenty strong on its own, and that people are more effective at fighting enemies they can talk about. Maybe it’s just me.

Mar’s therefore stuck processing her own solo half-glimpse of Erin’s full Archivist form, and her own solo half-guesses about who has died, who has killed, and who might be in deep trouble.

Her larger problem, I think—everyone’s larger problem—is that humans are full of coping strategies for the weird and terrifying. It comes up in her conversation with Erin about the megacephalopod: making stupid jokes about scary things is a coping strategy. Trying to fit the scary thing into familiar scripts, that’s a coping strategy too. DHS’s messy response represents yet another coping strategy or three: denial, authoritarian control, violence. Humans are all-too-often short on coping strategies that actually improve catastrophic problems.

And then there’s that megacephalopod. There are a lot of things in the deep ocean, but still: twelve arms and four eyes? Cephalopod limbs get pretty wild, but that’s not a normal number. Are we sure that’s a cephalopod? Are we sure that’s from around here at all?

I might be tempted to a few Santa jokes myself, under the circumstances. Better watch out, indeed.

Anne’s Commentary

I found myself identifying strongly with Mareva in reference to the paucity of geeks at her work place. I was lucky in my first full-time job as a data entry operator for (of all things) the Department of State of Florida. During my earlier positions there, I was surrounded not by geeks, per se, but by characters of varying degrees of craziness and wisdom, frequently combined. In my last position, I worked in a data center largely populated by college-age or just graduated guys who could geek out with the best of them.

Question: Are simulated space battles executed from rolling office chairs not an absolutely foundational geek activity? Because there were a lot of those. Rubber bands were the weapons of choice. Also strategic collisions that sent the enemy caroming into stacks of corporate annual reports. Believe me: The corporate annual reports deserved it.

Good times. My subsequent job was less geek-rich, especially after the interns underwent some sinister assimilation into careerist conformity, my older peers into parenthood and related adult stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with parenthood and adult stuff. I guess you could consider the discovery of a new cephalopod to be “adult stuff.” It’s just, as Erin and Mar demonstrate at the office Xmas party, most of their coworkers aren’t interested in cephalopods, even ones with twelve arms and four eyes and crimson hides, weighing in at nine hundred pounds.

Google tells me there are no twelve-armed cephalopods, but this novel’s time-setting is a little ahead of ours, and amazing if monstrous metamorphoses are happening in Mareva and Erin’s world. In fact, they’re happening in Mareva and Erin. Mareva has “a rare, previously undocumented genetic illness” that causes “chronic benign teratomas.” I was confused to read that one of Mareva’s teratomas occurred in her upper abdomen, another on the back of her upper arm; since teratomas are defined as germ cell tumors, wouldn’t these tumors be confined to the reproductive organs? A dive into the internet (which Snyder has frequently prompted), and once again, weird fiction has taught me something cool. Teratomas are often sited in the ovaries or testes, but during development, germ cells can wander off to other parts of the body and later give rise to extragonadal teratomas.

Normal germ cells will only develop into eggs or sperm. However, the germ cells that cause teratomas are pluripotent, meaning they can produce tissue from all the embryonic germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm). Hence the bones, teeth and hair discovered in Mareva’s first removed tumor. The rarest type of teratoma (fetiform) contains living tissue that can resemble a malformed fetus. That sounds like the one on Mareva’s arm that on MRI was “curled up like a strange embryo.” It’s possible that a surgeon could misdiagnose a fetiform tumor (or any tumor full of bones, teeth and hair) as a true parasitic twin, as Mareva’s surgeon apparently did. Not that this excuses his mistake in Mareva’s eyes. If her parents had known the truth of her condition, her father wouldn’t have sent her to an article about the fetus in fetu phenomenon—and why the hell he’d do that to an eight-year-old instead of explaining it face to face, after digesting the facts himself, then encouraging her to express her sense of the matter so he could steer her away from twinicidal guilt! Mareva should want to punch out Dad as well as the misdiagnosing doc.

Left to her own devices, Mareva devises a system for protecting her sister that can’t but remind me of Elsa isolating herself from Anna in Frozen. Anna even gets involved with a predatory male out of her loneliness, as Leila does with the “love-bombing” David. So far, Mareva hasn’t gotten a killer anthem to sing into the teeth of a mountain blizzard, but there are some chapters yet to go. I can hope she’ll develop her inborn condition into some kind of super power for birthing monsters, hence becoming a true Mother of Calamities. Maybe she’s one of those who has contracted PVG without showing any symptoms or testable immune reactions.

Add proneness to teratoma formation to the drastic mutations and metamorphoses the PVG virus can inspire, well. It hardly bears thinking about, but I am anyway, and this line from the epigraph to Part Three becomes more ominous:

“All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.”

Next week, we celebrate our 550^th post with one of our traditional Weird Watches! Join us for “Aura” from Season 2 of American Horror Stories.[end-mark]

The post Look, Up in the Sky: Lucy Snyder’s <i>Sister, Maiden, Monster</i> (Part 8) appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 141-143

Nightblood evolves; Dalinar makes an unprecedented decision, and the Cosmere is forever changed.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on December 15, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans, and welcome to our final article of the year! So much is going on in this three-chapter section as the great Wind and Truth Sanderlanche reaches its climax: We’ve got Szeth kicking ass, Nightblood destroying evil, Dalinar ascending… and then descending almost immediately. So much happening in these three chapters, so let’s get to it!

Be sure to check out the social media section at the end of the article to see if we spotlighted one of your comments!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 141 is titled “That Which Was Lost.” We begin this chapter with Kaladin who, with Syl, is watching Szeth utterly DOMINATE all six Honorbearers. Kaladin thinks aloud that the Wind is helping Szeth, but then he hears a voice that says no, they fear Szeth.

Kaladin realizes that his armorspren is visible around him. In fact, there are many, many windspren. Too many for just his armor. He feels as if they’re all watching Szeth’s battle, that all the wind on Roshar is holding its breath. Then he feels a tremor from the east, and senses that something terrible is happening at Urithiru.

POV Shift!

Dalinar feels the moment in which Mishram is released from her prison, which sets right something that has been wrong for so long. He sees honor in what Renarin and Rlain did, in what people all over Roshar have done, Kaladin, Adolin, Jasnah, Shallan, Renarin, Rlain… He even sees honor in himself, for if he can be redeemed, can’t anyone?

Now, with Mishram released, the power of Honor suddenly desires a vessel… one who truly understands it.

POV Shift!

Szeth is dancing, wielding Nightblood and leaving chinks in Honorblades right and left. He gets down to the work of eliminating the human Fused created by Ishar. Pozen and Moss are the first two to go, and Szeth dispatches them with tears in his eyes.

POV Shift!

Rlain is cloaked in darkness with the release of Mishram. When the darkness settles, so to speak, she immediately focuses her ire on Renarin, but Rlain jumps to shield him and protect him. He argues with Mishram that some men are good, but that many have both good and evil within them, just as many singers have.

He attunes the rhythm of Love as he holds Renarin and Mishram screams. She kicks them all out of the Spiritual Realm into Shadesmar, and they find themselves on an Oathgate platform at Urithiru.

POV Shift!

Szeth dispatches the third Honorbearer and is left with just the Truthwatcher, his sister, and his father. The Truthwatcher sends shadows from his past to drive him mad, visions of people he’s killed, but he doesn’t succumb.

His sister tells him he deserves to die for what he did. He replies that he does, but that she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her. She’s no longer Elid, and he ends what Ishar has made her into. It causes him pain, but what was left of her is no longer suffering and I feel that in releasing her, Szeth will be able to find peace in the act eventually.

Chapter 142 is titled “A Man Stands On A Cliffside.” Dalinar ascends and realizes that there is a third option besides the two offered by Odium. He can destroy Odium, thus ending the contest and Odium’s hold on Roshar.

A small voice tries to call out to him but he ignores it again and again. Suddenly, he realizes that it’s the Stormfather trying to speak to him, and Dalinar suddenly understands that the clash of power between Honor and Odium will destroy everything. He backs off and is suddenly taken into a vision.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is trying to rouse Ishar so the Herald can open a perpendicularity to refresh their Stormlight; Nightblood is taking all he had gained from leveling up. Unfortunately, black veins are beginning to creep up Kaladin’s hand and Ishar has no surges, though Kaladin takes what Stormlight he had left.

The Wind warns him that something’s about to happen and asks if he’ll curse it if he continues to live… and if he’ll be there when the Wind needs him. So cryptic! (No, not that kind of Cryptic…)

Then Kaladin feels intense pain in his hand as the black veins begin to stretch up his forearm.

POV Shift!

Dalinar ends up in a vision with Nohadon, where they eat Shin bread and discuss how to defeat Odium. I won’t recount the whole conversation but basically what it boils down to is that Dalinar figures out that he can’t defeat Odium, but Kaladin and the others he mentioned, the next generation, can.

And he knows he must give Honor time to grow and change.

Dalinar knows there will be a cost, however, and he accepts this. And so he exits the vision and renounces his oaths.

Chapter 143 is titled “One Of Them Will Destroy Us,” opening with Szeth dispatching the Truthwatcher and cornering his father. Neturo tells him through gritted teeth that a year into Szeth’s training he knew of the new god, but that he followed Szeth because he thought his son would find the right answers; he weeps. Szeth rams Nightblood through his chest. His father thanks him for releasing him as he disappears.

As he tries to sheath his sword, he feels that Kaladin’s Stormlight has run out. Szeth feels Nightblood reaching for his soul, but decides not to let Nightblood kill him and pries his fingers from the sword. Finally free, he flings the weapon away, but it still stands upright, screaming to destroy evil.

POV Shift!

Kaladin, helpless, watches as Szeth begins to disintegrate. Nale asks Ishar to help but he’s unable to. Kaladin then hears a voice.

And here, Kaladin’s therapy with Szeth over the course of this quest saves them all as Nightblood, having absorbed those lessons, chooses not to kill his friends.

Kaladin is relieved—but then all the spren cry out, and the soul of the world tears apart.

POV Shift!

Shallan finds Sja’anat near the Oathgate and speaks with her for a moment, learning that the spren had been hoping all along that whoever freed Mishram, her sister might remember her role in it and be merciful in doling out retribution.

There’s a clash in the skies and Sja’anat tells Shallan she needs to get out of Shadesmar now. Shallan runs toward the Oathgate as one of the Oathgate spren screams. She’s too late—there’s a flash and Rlain and Renarin disappear just as the sky goes insane.

POV Shift!

Taravangian demands that Dalinar repeat himself so, again, Dalinar says he renounces his oaths. The power of Honor feels betrayed and eventually, with a little encouragement from Dalinar, it allows Taravangian to take it up. And in taking up the power of Honor, Taravangian proves that he’s just plain power hungry after all. And because he’s always been a big stupid jerk, he destroys the Stormfather right away.

And of course, Odium and Honor together create Retribution. At long last, the other shards in the cosmere wake up to the danger of a new enemy.

Dalinar is ready to die but then he hears Gavinor weeping and he rises to his feet, thrashed by the storm, to see what he can do.

As Dalinar’s arc nears its end, we can look back on his journey and see how remarkable it really was. He’s set down his burden, leaving it for the others to pick up the struggle, leaving it for them to fight against Retribution. He’s sent his love and pride and courage out to his family and friends, and now he goes to his last task.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

This isn’t strictly a character arc thing, but it doesn’t seem like it fits in either Paige or Drew’s sections either, so I’m going to address it here, before getting into the character breakdowns.

I find it interesting that Szeth is essentially a Mistborn, but with Stormlight powers. The Mistborn, if you need a reminder, could use all of the allomantic powers, not just one. Szeth, who has been trained with all of the Honorblades in turn, has the knowledge of how to utilize every single surge. He’s the… Stormborn. Okay. I’m manifesting that out into the fan circles. Szeth, the Stormborn. Let’s make it happen.

This reminds me a lot of a certain passage in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. (Wolves of the Calla Part 1, Chapter VII if you were also reminded and wanted to revisit that lovely rose in the vacant lot.)

Regarding Nohadon… every time he shows up, all I can see in my head is Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I keep expecting him to offer Dalinar tea rather than bread.

Dalinar

Dalinar certainly has come a long way… but I do wonder if everyone would say that he’s completely redeemed himself. It’s great that he’s forgiven himself… but has he sought forgiveness and atonement from all those he harmed?

In this moment, Dalinar ceases to see clearly. He’s allowing himself to fall victim to the allure of power, to become the very thing he’s fought for so long to overcome. He is letting his emotions overshadow his logic and clarity. Thankfully, he has the Stormfather here to pull him back from the brink.

Oof. Well, that sounds all too similar to what Taravangian’s been saying all this time, doesn’t it… But then he follows up later with this:

Lots of this going around in this book, isn’t there…

Aww. Father and son, agreeing on something at long last.

Well, I’m tearing up. Fitting farewells for them all.

He’s given up his pride, at long last.

Rlain/Renarin

I can’t get over how sweet this relationship is. The two of them are supporting and protecting one another in even this, the darkest and most dangerous of moments.

Szeth

I’m so glad that Szeth is getting this final closure. He gets to admit to his failures, to apologize to those he loved, and to bring them peace in the end.

Interesting, isn’t it, how one person can see something in us that we don’t see ourselves? Szeth always sought guidance, wanted to be told what to do… but his father saw in him the exact opposite.

Yet another character coming full circle on their growth.

Kaladin

Has there ever been a line that’s more quintessentially “Kaladin” than this?

Honor

In the Cosmere, the personification of power or ideals isn’t so strange, is it? And so here we are, discussing the very power of Honor as a character with its own goals and flaws.

This is utterly fascinating from a psychological perspective. The power is still learning to be… well… a person. With all the intricacies and nuances of a human’s mind. All it could understand before was its own power, so Dalinar trying to get it to experience empathy here is a huge step forward.

Nightblood

I’m sure that Drew’s going to dive into Nightblood in depth down below, but I just want to take a moment to note that even he is exhibiting some amazing character growth in this book. He’s always been sentient (or sapient, which is the term Sanderson prefers), but he lacked empathy and nuance. He’s learning to control himself, which is really saying something, considering what he is.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

All righty. So we get to probably the biggest WTF sequence in the book. Nohadon, the eternal question mark. What is this guy’s deal? Who is he really? What is he really?

It’s easy enough to take him at face value, from the visions in The Way of Kings up till now, that he’s just a neat dude who became king and came up with some good ideas to organize the Knights Radiant and make Surgebinding safer. But with some thought, it gets harder and harder to accept that.

People have been asking Brandon questions about Nohadon for over a decade, and he has been resolutely cagey with his answers—when he doesn’t outright say to “read and find out.” He won’t answer whether or not Nohadon was a Bondsmith. When people try to pin him down obliquely, he refuses to elaborate.

And when people ask straight out if Nohadon is in some way or part Adonalsium, he goes back to the tried-and-true RAFO.

One thing is clear: Nohadon is not a simple conundrum. By all evidence, the visions Dalinar has with Nohadon in both Oathbringer and here, in Wind and Truth, are not sent by the Stormfather like the visions with Nohadon in The Way of Kings. It’s possible the strange golden light vision at the end of Words of Radiance is connected to Nohadon as well—though I’ll get to that one in a bit.

One possible interpretation, and one Brandon himself offers in a recent Q&A, is that Nohadon is a construction of Dalinar’s Bondsmith powers, where he’s creating a sort of mirror for himself. That Dalinar is searching for answers, and without anyone to truly give him advice, he is subconsciously forming conversations with himself to explore his options. Thanks to his abilities with Connection and the Spiritual Realm, he can go “shazam!” and make Nohadon, based on his impression of the man through the Stormfather’s visions and the in-world Way of Kings, appear to serve as a sounding board.

This explanation feels a little hollow to me, though. For one thing, it doesn’t explain the golden light vision at the end of Words of Radiance; for another, Nohadon thinks in ways that are strongly antithetical to Dalinar’s mindset. He’s not really the kind of guy to think laterally, to stop and even subconsciously consider out-of-the-box options, even while he’s in the process of changing as a person. He basically decides he’s gonna change in a certain way, and grinds it out.

And then there’s the bread, an experience which Dalinar has plainly never had. How could he create the taste and sensation of something he’s never experienced?

On top of that, this final vision feels somehow more than such a straightforward explanation would allow. This is during a cataclysmic surge of Investiture, during the moment of Ascension and during a showdown between two Shards. There isn’t anything in the text to indicate that Dalinar is making this happen; on the contrary, he feels relief that it’s happening.

So what are the other options?

One, that I find myself coming back to again and again, is that he is a construction of the abandoned power of Honor, a sort of unconscious accident of the power being left alone for so long after Tanavast fell.

This feels right to me where the Words of Radiance vision is concerned: The Stormfather is not responsible for it, and indeed seems confused that Dalinar is experiencing it. Given Honor’s rejection of Tanavast, I could see it unconsciously repelling him even in the Stormfather form.

There’s also the familiarity that Nohadon has with the nascent awareness of Honor during this sequence at the end of Wind and Truth. He has an almost paternal attitude toward it; might that not make sense, for a consciousness that has watched this power slowly gain awareness and volition over the centuries?

Another is, of course, what Ángel Palomo asked about this past July (linked above): Nohadon is some fragment or shadow or reflection of Adonalsium itself.

This is a compelling possibility, and there is some circumstantial evidence to support it. Most directly, the fact that Odium did not notice Dalinar getting pulled into the vision. There’s also the fact that Nohadon speaks with such a fatherly attitude toward both Dalinar and the Shard of Honor itself, in its infancy as a self-aware entity:

There’s also a fair amount of speculation out there around the name Nohadon itself, in the Vorin almost-palindrome construction warping Nodadon—Adon, mirrored. It’s evocative, at the very least.

Perhaps my favorite Nohadon/Adonalsium theory is that he is not a Cognitive Shadow of Adonalsium, but rather a Spiritual Shadow, an imprint not of mind but power. It would make a certain amount of sense that the most powerfully Invested entity to ever exist—presumably—would leave an impression upon the Spiritual Realm in the same way that powerfully Invested people can leave impressions upon the Cognitive Realm.

What that actually means is, of course, still nebulous. Even after Wind and Truth, the Spiritual Realm is hard to pin down, and Spiritual aspects remain some of the least understood principles in the Cosmere and Realmatic Theory.

And after his encounter with Nohadon, he makes an unprecedented decision: relinquishing the Shard and offering it up to Taravangian.

I say “unprecedented” because we have no information about any other Vessels ever willingly letting go. Some have been splintered, some lost their minds, Tanavast was rejected—but the idea of giving up literal divine, cosmic power is just not something that fits the assumed personalities of the Sixteen. They Shattered Adonalsium and wanted the Shards, for various reasons.

But this occurrence makes me wonder about the future of the Cosmere. Sazed, as Harmony, is struggling to both reconcile and use his double Shard. Discord is on the horizon. Could he be on a similar path as Dalinar, heading toward a conclusion where he must step down and let the Shards split?

What about the other Shards? Many of the Vessels seem content to let Odium be someone else’s problem, but how many of them are brave enough to confront Retribution? There are already Shards out there, hiding. Would Euridrius think the logical solution to survival is abdicating the power of Reason?

But enough about this sequence; there are other Momentous Things that happen in this week’s reading.

Nightblood takes a huge step here. It’s a heartwarming moment, this utterly destructive weapon choosing to identify and protect its friends. But I think this is also reflective of Honor: Nightblood is an incredibly Invested object, with its own awareness and rudimentary intelligence. As Dalinar noted, they can all change and grow.

Nightblood didn’t just learn how to grant all ten Surges in this book. It didn’t just learn how to be friends with people. It learned how to act independently, right here. That has frankly terrifying implications.

We know that, later in the Cosmere, the Night Brigade is actively hunting for Dawnshards. Do they have tunnel vision, or would they also be interested in getting their mercenary hands on a Shardblade of such potency?

I can’t wait to see what happens with Nightblood in the future.

That said, I can’t wrap this thing up without at least a nod to the final event in these three chapters:

Hello, Retribution. Welcome to the next chapter of the Cosmere.

Fan theories via Social Media:

Drew dug up a fascinating theory by Any_Jacket_9361 over on the Cosmere subreddit.

They go on to list examples, and the theory is a great one and well worth a read! Check out the whole discussion here.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

That’s all for 2025—we’ll be taking a break for the holidays, and returning on January 5th to finish up the book with two final articles. Happy holidays, Cosmere Chickens! We hope that you get all the items on your Dragonsteel wish lists![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 141-143 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Backlist Bonanza

Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Suburban Horror Novels

These five novels capture that suburban foreboding in different and strange ways.

By Alex Brown

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Published on December 10, 2025

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Suburbia is a weird place. Suburbia in the winter is even weirder. Streets that felt perfectly normal, boring even, at the height of summer, with the sun blazing down and folks out and about, now feel liminal and unnerving. The short days and long nights, the empty streets, the eerie silence, people returning to neighborhoods they no longer belong and lives they no longer live. These five novels capture that suburban foreboding in different and strange ways.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

(Quill Tree Books, 2021) When her family relocates from sunny California to the rundown Midwestern town of Cedarville, Mari makes being miserable everyone’s problem. Her white stepdad thinks everything is great, her white younger stepsister is always getting her in trouble, and her Black mom and brother are mired in their own issues. Mari just wants to get high and get by. Something weird is going on, not only in her house but in Cedarville as well. Objects move around seemingly on their own, locals give them suspicious looks, and gentrifying property developers are scheming behind closed doors. Is their house haunted? Are the local urban legends true? Or is all the bad stuff just good old fashioned gaslighting and racism? Mari is about to find out the answers to those questions, whether she wants to or not.

Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

(Tordotcom, 2021) This strange novella is a little bit of a lot of things. It dabbles in a bunch of genres—science fiction, fantasy, thriller, and horror—and combines them into something unique and unnerving. Sophia was made for her husband. She lives with him in their perfect house next to their perfect neighbors in their perfect gated community. She is happy. Everyone tells her she is happy. Others make sure she is always happy. But is she really? As she begins to notice tiny flaws in her world, she realizes it isn’t really hers. The rose colored glasses fall from her eyes as begins to see Arcadia Gardens not as a paradise but a prison. Valente’s gorgeous prose uplifts a nightmare into a larger conversation about agency and individualization. It’s a hard story to describe without giving away the game, but if I had to comp it to anything it would be The Stepford Wives and Sarah Gailey’s The Echo Wife.

Direwood by Catherine Yu

(Page Street YA, 2022) Set in a suburban town in the 1990s, Aja’s story begins as a missing person thriller, morphs into a horror novel, then ends up a vampire story. Aja and her older sister Fiona are two of the few Chinese Americans in their mostly white town, and the stress of that isolation has fractured their relationship. Aja sees herself as the lesser sister, the one who can never live up to the great heights of her perfect older sister. When Fiona goes missing, Aja tracks her back to Padraic, a vampire causing all kinds of havoc all over town. She lets him lure her to his lair, hoping to rescue Fiona and kill him, but what can one teenage girl do against a blood-sucking immortal?

Linghun by Ai Jiang

(Dark Matter INK, 2023) Outside Toronto, Canada is HOME, or Homecoming of Missing Entities, a highly selective neighborhood where the dead and the living are reunited. Wenqi’s family wins the housing lottery and gains a spot in this suburban haven, all so her mother can relive (or wallow, depending on your perspective) her memories of her dead son. The living who aren’t so lucky camp out in town waiting for a house to open. They are caught in a kind of purgatory, torn between their need to stay alive and their overwhelming desire to be with their dead.Wenqi’s neighbor, an older woman known only as Mrs., is the only one who doesn’t have a ghost haunting her home. Jiang jumps between these characters, Wenqi, Liam (a boy whose parents are waiting for their lottery to come up), and Mrs. The story unfolds around them and plays with perspectives and writing styles in startling ways. 

We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado

(William Morrow, 2024) Maneless Grove is supposed to be Sol Reyes’ new start. Her job has gone from bad to worse. Her father is a bigot who makes known his disapproval of his daughter’s marriage to a Korean American woman. And her few glasses of wine have become an all-the-time affair. This gated community is a reset, but not in the way she hoped. Almost from the jump, terrible things start happening. The rooms in her house keep shifting, the HOA is increasingly overbearing and intrusive, and the terrible thing that happened on her property before they bought it is terrorizing the new owners. Comped as Midsommar meets The Other Black Girl and Lovecraft Country, this is a great entry point for suburban horror. It’s a dark satire that takes on systemic racism.

[end-mark]

The post Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Suburban Horror Novels appeared first on Reactor.

Books Best of 2025

Some of Reactor’s Best Articles About Fiction, Reading, and Writing in 2025

We’re looking back at some of our favorite non-fiction articles from the past year, highlighting book-centric essays.

By Reactor

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Published on December 16, 2025

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Welcome back to our annual round-up of some of our favorite essays and articles from the past year! Today, we’ll be highlighting pieces focused on reading, writing, storytelling, and all things book-related—very soon, we’ll be publishing a separate list of articles discussing TV, movies, and other media, so keep an eye out for that…

In addition to these standalone essays, we’re also incredibly proud of our lineup of regular columns, along with the amazing array of fiction recommendations and discussion provided by our many wonderful contributors. This year we reached the end of Sam Reader’s Dissecting The Dark Descent series, which explored a classic anthology of horror fiction, and launched two new columns: Horror Highlights, in which Emily Hughes shines a spotlight on exciting new horror fiction each month, and Romantasy Report, Natalie Zutter’s rundown of new and upcoming romantasy titles. We’ve also been excited to launch Ruthanna Emrys’ brilliant biweekly Seeds of Story column, in which she explores works of non-fiction and how they might inspire speculative ideas and potential stories—you can read some highlights from that column below! Also featured below are the first four installments of our new Hidden Gems Book Club, which sees guest authors advocating for speculative works that deserve to be discussed and appreciated by a wider audience.

We hope that you enjoy the articles we’ve included below, but of course, we can’t possibly include all of our favorites in just one list, so please chime in and tell us about the articles, columns, and discussions that have stuck with you this year…

Examining Trends in Contemporary SFF

The Necessary Sex Scene: Intimacy as Craft in N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season
by Tiffany Fritz
June 25, 2025

Tiffany Fritz on the “plot relevance” of sex scenes in contemporary SFF: “because the sordid details of the sex scenes in The Fifth Season do not directly impact its plot, Jemisin’s celebrated novel provides a master-class in how explicit sex scenes can benefit SFF stories.”

The Problem With Trad Pub Fanfic
by Jenny Hamilton
September 23, 2025

Jenny Hamilton looks closer at three recent fanfics-turned-novels: “It turns out that when you extract fanfic from the spaces and communities that made it special, it stops being special.”

Everyone’s in Love, but Nobody’s Horny
by C.L. Clark
September 30, 2025

C.L. Clark discusses writing sex, desire, and queerness in Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite: “When you introduce desire, you introduce something that may be thwarted—or something that you will have to work for, strive for, maybe even change for.”

Medieval Revival, Romance, and Resistance
by Maddie Martinez
October 20, 2025

Maddie Martinez discusses the growing trend of Lady Knights and Golems: “Knights and Golems are both painted as protectors, but feared as weapons. They are loyal to a cause—and to a fault—and have become mythologizations that we still share stories of today.”

Tender Is the Flesh-Eating: The Literary Cannibal as Exploitation and Desire
by Wen-yi Lee
November 11, 2025

It’s chic, it’s tasteful, and it’s dominating the literary landscape. Readers are hungry, so let’s examine cannibalism’s relationship to revenge, exploitation, and desire…

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Author Insights

How Chronic Pain Made Me a Better Writer
by Nicole Jarvis
May 6, 2025

“When each sentence was part of an hourglass that trickled away my endurance, I learned to work deliberately and thoroughly.”

Seventeen Authors, Two Big Questions: What Is Your Favorite SFF Trope, and What Trope Needs To Be Reimagined?
by Christina Orlando
August 12, 2025

Some of the biggest names in SFF weigh in on the genre tropes we love (and love to hate).

Chuck Tingle Chats About Bi-Erasure, Andy Kaufman, and His New Novel
by Leah Schnelbach 
August 14, 2025

A free-wheeling conversation with author Chuck Tingle, as he discusses his unique approach to writing horror: “In horror, you’re tapping into such brutal things. You’re proving love through some really dark stuff.”

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Asking Questions and Finding New Perspectives on SFF

Exploring the Consequences of Magic in Modern Fantasy
by Kristen Patterson
February 19, 2025

What happens when magic is misused, or has unintended repercussions? Kristen Patterson explores the different ways contemporary fantasy authors not only define their magic systems, but the consequences of its very existence.

How Does Science Fiction Help Us Prepare for the Future?
by Ruthanna Emrys
April 8, 2025

Let’s talk about preparing, not predicting — and grappling with uncertainty.

Teatime in Space: Culture and Colonialism in SFF
by Olivia Waite
April 22, 2025

“Tea is a history, a context, an experience as well as a beverage. Tea means things. ” Olivia Waite examines two very different corners of the science fiction universe, linked by a love of tea…

To New Beginnings: Growing Past Percy Jackson
by AM Gelberg

On aging past our childhood heroes, and leaving room for the next generation of fans.

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Revisting Classic Works

What I Can Learn From Rand al’Thor’s Mental Health Journey
by Sylas K. Barrett
June 10, 2025

Accepting you cannot control every outcome of your choices is hard — for Rand, and for everyone…

An Anti-Hero Predicts the Future in Graham Greene’s Classic Brighton Rock
by Zack Budryk
June 17, 2025

Heaven was a word — Hell was something he could trust.

The Ambiguous Realism of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lost Trilogy
by Peter Milne Greiner
July 16, 2025

It’s time to reconsider one of Le Guin’s most vitally important works.

Exploring Gender and Trans Identity in the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh
by Gwen C. Katz
September 16, 2025

The Chanur series poses key questions about gender roles, expression, and identity.

Stanislaw Lem’s Greatest Character: An Introduction to Ijon Tichy
by Alex Przybyla
October 2, 2025

A lovable, honest bumbler, Tichy’s not your typical hero…

Revisiting Patricia McKillip’s Timely, Timeless Fantasy
by Alex Dueben
November 5, 2025

A short tribute to the work of one of SFF’s greatest writers and storytellers.

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Selections from Ruthanna Emrys’ Seeds of Story Column

Underground Brains and Talking Trees: Exploring the Mysteries of Fungi in Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life
August 12, 2025

A fascinating, mind-altering journey into the world of mushrooms and mycology.

The Perils of Learning Alien Languages: The Sapir-Whorf Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
September 9, 2025

Thinking about how language shapes the way we think, from Newspeak to texting and the Internet.

Radioactive Wastelands and Also Legal Wrangling: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith’s A City on Mars
October 7, 2025

Real talk about how we can settle space — and if it’s really a good idea.

There Is No “Now”: Carlo Rovelli’s The Order of Time
November 18, 2025

Are you ready to rethink everything you know about time?

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Selections from Molly Templeton’s Mark as Read Column

Trying and Failing to Figure Out “Escapism” in Books
January 9, 2025

What is escapist lit? Every answer I’ve read is incomplete, because it’s not one thing. It’s not a kind of book, I think, but a kind of reading…

Tell Me a Differently Shaped Story: SFF That Plays With Form
March 13, 2025

I love a novel that plays with form. And I’ve come to think that maybe form is one of the keys that can unlock a reading slump…

It’s Okay to Know Where the Story Is Going
May 8, 2025

It’s a cliche and a truth to say that the journey matters more than the destination…

(It’s Not) The Death of Criticism (Again)
September 11, 2025

Every old argument is new again — but it is sometimes necessary to reconsider the hows and whys of criticism.

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Selections from the Hidden Gems Book Club

The Merry Spinster and the Art of Falling Between Two Stools
by Isaac Fellman
June 4, 2025

Revisiting Daniel M. Lavery’s surreal take on fairy tales: “These stories center on prosaic fears—being lied to about your own motivations, being the only one in the room who’s missing the obvious, failing as a partner, being surveilled—which blend with supernatural events. They wrong-foot the reader by simply being alarming in a realist way when you expect the fantastical, or vice versa.”

Rediscovering a Radical Piece of Early Science Fiction
by Ilana Masad
September 25, 2025

Ilana Masad explores a feminist, queer, trans, anti-colonial work of sci-fi from 1929: “Out of the Void is arguably one of the most radical pieces of early sci-fi in existence, including as it does a gender transition, a successful uprising of enslaved people, and a reclamation of colonized land.”

Style as Storytelling in Jackie Ryan’s Burger Force
by Kathleen Jennings
September 29, 2025

Kathleen Jennings on the gleeful aesthetic and storytelling style of Ryan’s comic series: “Bold style can get you 90% of the way through a story. Take a wild story voice, an overwhelming aesthetic, a visual composition reminiscent of an aria, or an incredible musical motif…”

Mary Doria Russell’s Children of God Is a Perfect Sequel
by Cadwell Turnbull
November 12, 2025

Cadwell Turnbull on the triumph and tragedy of Mary Doria Russell’s first contact novel and its remarkable sequel: “If The Sparrow shows the tragedy, Children of God inspects it from every angle, showing how each character, and each world respond to this tragedy.”

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That’s all for now, but be sure to keep an eye out for the second half of our 2025 highlights, where we’ll be talking all about old and new movies, TV series, and various other aspects of pop culture and media. In the meantime, if you’re feeling nostalgic, you can always check out our “Some of the Best…” article round-ups from previous years. Happy reading![end-mark]

The post Some of Reactor’s Best Articles About Fiction, Reading, and Writing in 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Books The Wheel of Time

Reading The Wheel of Time: Egwene Makes a Stand in The Gathering Storm (Part 11) 

Egwene breaks her silence around Elaida in dramatic fashion…

By Sylas K Barrett

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Published on December 9, 2025

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This week in Reading The Wheel of Time, we are finishing up Aviendha’s little portion of chapter 15 and then moving on to chapter 16, in which Egwene’s fight against Elaida finally comes to a very dramatic peak. It’s a very exciting chapter, and very well written, and I’m excited to get into it.

Aviendha is carrying out her newest pointless punishment when she is startled by the approach of Amys. Amys comments on Aviendha’s dedication to her work, and Aviendha can’t figure out why Amys would shame her so. She replies that she only does as duty demands, and Amys answers that she does… and she also does not.

Aviendha has no idea what the proper response to this comment is, but she is saved from responding when she notices a light by the Traveling grounds. They move closer, and find that Flinn and Bashere have returned from their meeting with the Seanchan. A maiden, Corana, informs them that the Seanchan have agreed to another meeting with the Car’a’carn, but Corana doesn’t think he should sue for peace with such people. Amys and Aviendha are horrified to learn that the Seanchan have collared a number of Shaido Wise Ones, who were put on display when Rand’s delegation arrived.

Amys asks for Aviendha’s assessment, and Aviendha admits that, however it pains her, the Last Battle must be faced first before anything else, even this grave insult, can be addressed. After Corana has left, Amys and Aviendha discuss the disturbance this news will cause among the rest of the Aiel, and how many will call for Rand to give up his attempts to make peace with the Seanchan. Amys declares that it is time to stop coddling Aviendha.

In the White Tower, Egwene has been called to attend the white sisters Ferane (a Sitter), Miyasi, and Tesan. After an hour of shelling walnuts, she is finally asked how she would deal with the Dragon Reborn. Ferane tries to make it sound like she is giving Egwene a lesson in logic, but Egwene realizes that this is a test; Ferane has heard of Egwene criticisms of Elaida and is trying to feel her out.

Egwene answers carefully, first explaining how she would handle it in a purely theoretical sense, and then, when called to, how she would handle it as herself, with the knowledge that she has of growing up with Rand. She points out that Rand should have been worked with, guided and supported, not pressured and fought and attacked, and that all of the “terrorizing” he has done fits with what prophecy says he will and must do. She compares Rand to a river, “calm and placid when not agitated, but a furious and deadly current when squeezed too tightly.”

She outlines how she would approach Rand, the delegation she would send, and which Ajahs would send the right signals to him. She also points out that the Reds’ experience is in “dealing with” men who can channel, “which is different than ‘working with.’” She reminds the Aes Sedai of their history as master guiders and manipulators, subtle and clever, and asks why now, of all times, they abandoned that way for beating kings and locking them in boxes.

She also points out that they cannot deal with Rand until they fix the White Tower, and lays out everything she has thought about the situation, both the split between rebels and Elaida’s followers and the decay inside the Tower that has happened since. She talks about the way the Ajahs have allowed themselves to be torn apart and lays out the conversations that she has had with members of other Ajahs, some of whom have been reasonable while others have been stubborn, and encourages the three Whites to make overtures to members of other Ajahs.

By the time she has finished talking, the three all seem to be listening and taking her advice seriously, and she is even praised for her logic. Ferane remarks that Egwene would make an excellent White, a compliment Egwene accepts while also reminding her that the Amyrlin has no Ajah.

As she leaves, she inclines her head to Ferane, and receives the same gesture in return. Egwene is elated, right up until Katerine comes to collect her and informs Egwene that she will have no more lessons. Elaida has decided that Egwene’s refusal to curtsy to sisters is the last mark of her defiance, and that Egwene will be given no more lessons, only work, until she lets go of her pride. Egwene is dismayed, not at the work but at the fact that not having lessons cuts her off from being able to do any work with the Aes Sedai.

Set to clean out one of the fireplaces by Laras, Egwene considers giving in and starting to curtsy, in order to regain her access to the rest of the sisters, but she realizes that giving in won’t solve her problems. It will only show Elaida that an all-work detail is an effective way to get Egwene to submit.

After hours of working, Egwene is surprised when Laras, quietly and secretly, shows her a hidden room in the kitchen floor, offering to hide Egwene there and smuggle her out of the city. She tells Egwene that she finds the beatings she is undergoing shameful. Laras has served loyally for many years but won’t be party to breaking someone’s spirit.

Egwene is tempted for a moment to return to her allies having rescued herself, especially now that she doesn’t know if she’ll have any more success in the Tower. But she can’t sit outside and watch the Tower fall, so she refuses.

They are almost caught by Katerine, but Egwene’s quick thinking covers Laras’ deception. She is told to clean herself up so that she can serve Elaida for dinner.

After an hour of scrubbing away soot, Egwene makes her way to Elaida’s rooms. She has decided that she will take the same tactic with Elaida as last time, remaining silent so as not to anger her, but not showing undue deference, either. However, when she goes in she finds that Elaida is entertaining a group of Sitters, including a representative from every Ajah except the Red and Blue, including Yukiri and Doesine, as well as Ferane.

Egwene thinks for a moment that Elaida might be trying to mend some of the division in the Tower, but it quickly becomes clear that she is showing off her breaking of Egwene. Elaida makes derogatory comments about the different Ajahs and gives Egwene the job of refilling her wine every time it is slightly less than full. She even makes comments about the “stink of soot” on Egwene.

When conversation turns to the Seanchan, Elaida tries to dismiss concerns about them as laughable, but Shevan, a Brown, has interviewed Egwene about them and thinks that the Aes Sedai should be concerning themselves with the danger to Sisters. Elaida accuses Egwene of being a liar and orders her to admit it.

Egwene realizes that she cannot keep to her plan of silence and keeping her head down. She engages in a debate with Elaida, reminding Elaida of her Dream and stating that the assembled women know that Egwene doesn’t lie. Elaida must admit that the Seanchan are a threat. Elaida orders Egwene to kneel and beg forgiveness for her words and actions, but Egwene refuses.

She points out that the Amyrlin should be able to convince people to obey her, and should not have to resort to force. She points out how Elaida has treated every sister who displeased her, and mentions her idea for a fourth Oath, an oath of obedience to the Amyrlin Seat. Egwene relies on the knowledge Siuan taught her, pulling a quote from the first Brown to be raised to the Amyrlin Seat and pointing out all the flaws in Elaida’s plans to capture and cage the Dragon Reborn, quoting The Karaethon Cycle and pointing out all the flaws in Elaida’s logic. She even calls Elaida a coward for refusing to attempt to mend the division in the Tower.

Elaida loses herself completely and begins to beat Egwene with flows of Air, causing Egwene to fall and cut herself on the broken pitcher. She screams that Egwene and the rebels are the Darkfriends, continuing to beat her even as the other sisters tell her to stop, that she is violating Tower Law by using the One Power to discipline an initiate.

But when Elaida turns, she sees Egwene standing, calmly, and watching her. She is shocked into silence, one hand pressed to her breast, as Egwene calmly tells her that she wishes she could give in, that the Tower could find a good leader in Elaida. That she would accept execution if it meant leaving the White Tower whole.

Elaida only declares that death is too good for Egwene and shouts for guards to come and throw her in the deepest dungeon the Tower can provide. She orders that it will be announced in the streets that Egwene is a Darkfriend.

As Egwene falls into unconsciousness, she feels a deep sorrow, knowing that, one way or another, her fight to save the White Tower has come to an end.

You know who would really love Egwene? Cadsuane.

I was fully cheering Egwene on out loud at the end of this chapter. I know she was (rightfully) worried that speaking her mind to Elaida would ruin any chance she had to keep working with the Aes Sedai in the Tower, but it must have felt so good to finally stop holding back all her opinions and righteous fury towards the woman who has done so much to destroy the Aes Sedai. Elaida is petty, vainglorious, power-hungry, and, while she may not actually be stupid, she is very dumb about people. This has always been true, even before Siuan was deposed, and before being touched by Mordeth-Fain messed with Elaida’s head. I honestly think she was doomed to be a poor Amyrlin no matter what. But of course, as Egwene pointed out, she is uniquely unsuited to be Amyrlin in this time, particularly.

As a Red, Elaida represents the world’s distrust and fear of men who can channel. And to those men, she represents pain and a slow death. But even outside of Egwene’s very salient point about how Rand would never trust a Red, any Red living during the Dragon’s time has a particularly difficult struggle ahead of her in accepting that the traditional way of “dealing with” men who can channel cannot be applied to the Dragon Reborn. This is even more true now that Rand has cleansed saidin, but even if he hadn’t, even if there weren’t Asha’man to deal with, the simple fact is that the Dragon Reborn must not be gentled, and he must not be restrained, either, since the prophecies say he must do so many things before the Last Battle.

Most people in this world are struggling with the fear of the Dragon and what he is prophesied to do, and many have struggled to recognize what Egwene knows: that the devastation the Dragon is prophesied to bring is inevitable, and perhaps even necessary to his success. This is as true of the Aes Sedai as of any other group. While it is understandable that everyone would struggle with such a difficult, frightening situation, for a Red Sister, whose entire Ajah is founded on the need to gentle such men to protect the world, it would be particularly difficult to adapt to this new reality. I agree with Egwene that any Red would make a poor Amyrlin for such times.

Though to be fair, it isn’t just the Reds. Any sister might find the idea of allowing the Dragon Reborn to become a leader on the world stage difficult to swallow, because of the taint and because of the prophecies, even though the prophecies say he will and must do the very things everyone fears. We know that Moiraine and Siuan worried over the White Tower’s ability to engage with Rand’s existence, which is the other reason (aside from fear of death by Darkfriend) they kept his birth and identity a secret. From everyone, not just Reds.

Of course, Elaida’s issues are deeper than that. As I said, I don’t think her personality is particularly well-suited to being Amyrlin in any era, but she probably would have gotten away with it if she’d been raised to the Amyrlin Seat normally, had not governed during Rand’s time, and hadn’t so many dark forces interfering with the White Tower during her tenure. Elaida is absolutely responsible for contributing to the distrust between the Ajahs and the general state of the White Tower, and if she was a stronger leader she might have done some work to combat the work of the Black Ajah—however, even outside of what she has or has not done, the Black has been very successful in creating an atmosphere of fear and danger in the halls of the White Tower. Alviarin forcing Elaida to pass certain regulations and decrees was a big part of that, but not the whole thing by any means. As we know, the Black have been at work undermining the White Tower for a very long time, since before Siuan and Moiraine were even students. Probably long before.

This is why the search for the Black is so important, and will be particularly so when/if Egwene is put on the Amyrlin Seat and can actually work with the Black Ajah hunters directly. If she can unseat Elaida, unify the Aes Sedai, and get rid of the influence of the Black, we will have a very different White Tower on our hands, and hopefully just in time to help set a few things up before the Last Battle breaks.

I have to applaud the way the end of the chapter was written. It was beautifully cinematic; I could see everything so clearly in my mind’s eye. Egwene, stoic and strong and regal despite her injuries and the flurry of blows falling upon her. Elaida, looking wild and crazed and paranoid, wide-eyed and rumpled, almost like she is the one being struck, rather than the other way around. The two facing off together, while the Sitters look on, horrified but also, perhaps, realizing a truth about Elaida, and about Egwene, they had been unwilling to recognize before.

Everyone in that room saw who the true Amyrlin was, and nobody thought it was Elaida. Egwene recognized that this battle was the deciding one in her war, but I’m not sure she has a full sense of the impression she made on everyone. Now she’s going to a deep dark dungeon, but I don’t think she’ll be there very long. Something is coming to a head, and I can’t imagine at this point that the current Sitters—united by Egwene’s efforts and by Elaida’s display—won’t decide that something has to change. That Elaida is, as Egwene has tried to show them, destroying the Aes Sedai.

Although they might not like the optics of making Egwene official on their end, it’s not like the Aes Sedai in the Tower have any other clear options to replace Elaida. Or enough time to spend on the political maneuverings and debates required to pick out a new candidate. Especially since few of them are able to talk to anyone from another Ajah.

So I think this is going to be the pivotal moment in which the Hall decides they have to do something about Elaida, and that they may very well need to make Egwene their Amyrlin. She has made an impression on enough of them that I think, under the circumstances, the Sitters will make that choice. It might take them a minute, though, which will leave Egwene in the dungeons for a little while.

You know, narratively, this would be the perfect moment for the Seanchan to attack the White Tower, while the Sitters are in the midst of conversations about Elaida’s actions and Elaida is going around issuing proclamations that Egwene is a darkfriend.

Also, the absolutely pettiness of Elaida being so upset at being accused of being darkfriend material that she’s like, “no you are!” is really funny. Or it would be if it wasn’t so dangerous. It’s also funny that she missed Egwene’s actual insult, which was that even the Dark One wouldn’t want her in his ranks. What a perfect burn, oh my golly.

Anyway, I also really appreciated Egwene’s assessments of Rand, both to the Whites and to Elaida, in particular the suggestion that he probably always had a temper, it’s just that it was rarely seen in the Two Rivers because there wasn’t anything there to spark it. I do remember we saw a strong drive for justice from Rand, and that his temper sparked whenever that drive was challenged. It also flared whenever he experienced mistrust or suspicion towards Moiraine. He also was very angry at Ba’alzamon (rightly so) by the end; that rage very much fueled him through the confrontation at The Eye of the World. Egwene also remembers everything that is good in Rand’s personality, and that is so very valuable in someone who will soon be having high-stakes encounters with him on the political stage. Anyone and everyone can fall prey to their own emotions around what Rand is and how he comes off; Egwene remembering his good nature, even if just as a temper to her own anger and fear, can only help as she tries to come to some kind of agreement and alliance with him before the arrival of Tarmon Gai’don.

You know, I kind of see a parallel between Rand and Elaida here. Like Rand’s anger, Elaida’s more problematic personality traits have been enhanced both by the pressure of her position (which Elaida chose, of course, but I digress) and by the touch of darkness. In Rand’s case, his anger and suspicion has been enhanced by the taint on saidin and the madness it creates. In Elaida’s, her paranoia around the other Aes Sedai not respecting her as Amyrlin and her power-hungry, self-important nature have been enhanced by the touch of Mordeth-Fain. In both cases it’s hard to tell where the natural strain ends and the unnatural influence begins, but both are there. Moreover, Elaida and Rand both have a tendency to discount the humanity of other people. Each has their own reasons for this, but they share a common impulse to view others as tools to be wielded, and any dissent from said tools as a threat to their position and to their goals.

Of course we also have many parallels between Egwene and Rand. I’ve remarked on these before, but I thought it was kind of perfect that Egwene herself identified them. Elaida tried to subdue Rand by force, to imprison and beat him until he accepted her authority and was bent to her will. Now she is doing the same with Egwene, up to including throwing her into the deepest cell of the Tower. Elaida seems to believe that authority and loyalty can be achieved with pain and fear, and in both cases that idea has backfired spectacularly. Indeed, I think that her attempts to break Egwene are the very thing that is going to result in her own fall, perhaps even more so than Egwene’s efforts to inspire and unite individual sisters.

As Egwene said to the Black Ajah hunters: “Loyalty is better earned than forced.”

Her words could not have been more prophetic had she Dreamed them.

Looking at Egwene and Elaida, two Amyrlins who could not better exemplify how to lead and how not to, and seeing parallels with the leader of the male channelers in both of them, I feel like we have a really clear and sharp picture of two possible directions that Rand himself could tip. In one direction, Elaida’s direction, lies a further hardening, a further removal of his own humanity, which would no doubt come with an increased disdain for others and increased paranoia, including a further withdrawal from those few people he still allows himself connection to. In the other direction, Egwene’s direction, lies an improved connection with humanity and a greater empathy for others, (something that we, and Egwene, know he does possess, somewhere buried under the pain and trauma and taint madness) as well as an understanding of how to weather pain and grief in a way that both keeps him strong and keeps him human.

Aviendha is also on a similar journey as Egwene and Rand and Elaida, though hers is on a slightly smaller scale and is somewhat less fraught. Not that it probably feels that way to her; she even considers that if things continue on as they are for too much longer, she is going to lose her sanity.

Like Rand and Egwene, Aviendha is learning to be a leader, to understand difficult concepts like how to put aside her feelings about the collaring of Aiel by the Seanchan. She displays a great deal of wisdom when she explains the situation to Corana—how preparing for the Last Battle means putting aside everything else, no matter how important—including an ability to look past her own emotions and weigh the situation dispassionately. That doesn’t mean stifling those emotions or deciding that they are unimportant—it means not being ruled by them. As we know, this is a lesson Rand desperately needs to learn, and if Aviendha can ever pass her last test, she might be able to help teach it to him.

Right now, Aviendha is in exactly the position that Egwene was when she was called to serve Elaida at the dinner, so much so that Amys’ advice could have been delivered to Egwene as she made her way up to Elaida’s rooms: “Sometimes […] we are so concerned with the things we have done that we do not stop to consider the things we have not.”

Egwene had a plan for how to deal with encounters with Elaida, which was to accept punishment and to keep from angering Elaida as much as possible, so that she might retain her freedom to keep working with the rest of the Tower. She made this choice because she understood that her job was not to fight Elaida but to protect the Aes Sedai and restore the White Tower, and so she looked past her anger and hatred of Elaida, choosing to do what was tactically and morally most important, rather than what would feel the best. However, in this second confrontation, Egwene realized that, while her goals remained unchanged, the situation was different. She needed to show the other Aes Sedai her strength, be willing to stand up to Elaida as she has asked them to do, be willing to “put her money where her mouth is,” so to speak, when it comes to being an Aes Sedai and doing what must be done for the good of the Tower. Egwene realized that she needed to stop focusing on what she was doing (keeping her head down enough so that Elaida wouldn’t prevent her from having opportunities to speak to the other Aes Sedai) and recognize what she hasn’t done, which is showing everyone, including Elaida, that she is willing to stand up for what is right, for the Aes Sedai and for the White Tower, no matter the consequences to herself. She feels sadness at the end because she doesn’t know what the outcome of her choice will be, but she recognized that there was no other option. Sticking to what she was doing, however correct and useful that course of action was when she first settled on it, would have been a mistake. Probably a fatal one.

The Wise Ones are waiting for Aviendha to come to a similar realization. She can see no reason for her punishments, is unaware of any transgression that might warrant so much shaming, even goes so far to think that the Wise Ones seem to be behaving erratically, but she continually focuses on how to bear the punishment correctly, how to discern the mistakes she assumes she must have made in order to receive such shaming, and never considers any more outside-the-box solutions, or reasons, for her current predicament.

She never wonders if the Wise Ones are wrong, never decides to trust her own instincts, to believe that she knows what is right and wrong, has the wisdom to lead and therefore to stand up for herself. She hasn’t realized that the situation has changed, and she needs to make a different choice for how to handle it.

I do feel like, once she does, she is going to be unstoppable.

I also have to take a moment to praise the character of Laras. We haven’t seen much of her in a while, but her characterization remains distinctive and enjoyable. I really love her particular sense of morality. She doesn’t have any loyalty to any woman in particular, and she doesn’t really care who is in charge, but if someone does something that crosses the line, she will act every time. She helped Siuan, who she didn’t even like, for exactly this reason. I’ll be interested to see how she feels about Egwene when Egwene becomes Amyrlin. Will Egwene’s display of strength and dedication win Laras over to a more personal respect for the Amyrlin Seat?

I’m also wondering if people will ever find out that Perrin is responsible for the Seanchan managing to collar so many Shaido. The rest of the Wise Ones might be temporarily willing to put aside their need for vengeance in order to focus on the most important problem, but it might hit a bit differently to know that someone Rand trusts, and someone who will be back in Rand’s inner circle soon, made the choice to allow the collaring. Rand and the Wise Ones will be hard pressed, I think, to keep the rest of the Aiel from wanting to exact some very serious toh from Perrin.

We’re moving on to chapters 17 and 18 next week, in which Cadsuane finally comes up with a method of dealing with Semirhage and a revelation about Elaida throws the rebel Aes Sedai camp into chaos. Next week will also be the last post before the new year! [end-mark]

The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Egwene Makes a Stand in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 11)  appeared first on Reactor.

Books book reviews

You Will Not Remember This Review—qntm’s There Is No Anti-Memetics Division

A novel to read—and not forget.

By Sasha Bonkowsky

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Published on December 10, 2025

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Ref.: U-11125 | Cat.: 1

Containment Protocol: U-11125 is kept on a bookshelf in vault Q1 in the Passive Containment Archive housed at UO Wyeleigh. Due to the large quantity of information receptacles and other text-based Unknowns, vault Q1 must be checked monthly for seepage or plagiarism.

Organization staff of rank L or higher are free to select and examine U-11125 outside of these inspections, provided that their supervisor of rank I or higher provides written authorization through form 25.A(2) to do so. Although presented as fiction, U-11125 nevertheless contains variations on classified information about the Organization and its past missions—obtained through the aforementioned ‘seepage’ that defines book-type Unknowns—that staff are not pre-approved to know. Amnestic measures are permitted in the event these protocols are disregarded.

Description: U-11125 takes the form of a slim novel. The cover depicts a heavy stone monolith, several stories in height, rising above a fog-covered forest composed of subtle greens, grey, and oranges. The title, in reflective silver text, reads “There Is No Anti-Memetics Division”; below that, U-11125 declares itself to be “A Novel By QNTM”. (note: Investigate? Possibly a propagating source of several Unknowns.)

There Is No Anti-Memetics Division depicts an Organization much like our own, dedicated to protecting humanity from incursions, creatures, or phenomena acting outside of known science or reality. In recent years, especially with the rise of the Internet and ever more mass media phenomena, the Organization’s Memetics Division—tracking Unknowns with the power to self-replicate through culture and information—has grown rapidly. But that’s not where our protagonist, Marie Quinn, works. She heads the understaffed and struggling Anti-Memetics Division.

It’s not the best working environment. Anti-memetics are ideas that cannot be spread, entities that consume and destroy information. They can make people forget them the moment they look away, corrupt and mutate any records. They can kill you by crushing your mind and then, once you’re dead, no one will ever remember you existed.

Against that, what can the Division do? They’ve got special serums made to crystallize memories and make them more resistant to anti-memetic entities, records and vaults isolated from incursion so that field agents can be brought back to speed on whatever they’ve forgotten, but mostly they’ve got to rely on their own wisdom and bravery.

Simon Lee is a new researcher at the Organization, who finds himself under attack in the cafeteria by an Unknown, U-7175: First, 7175 cuts its victims out of bystanders’ memories so they can’t help him, then slowly feeds on every bit of information in its victims’ brains until they collapse. Although panicked, Lee is able to escape to a basement lab, find the last testimonies of all those attacked (and killed) by 7175 previously, and defeat it using a hard drive as a weapon—an overload of information that burns 7175 to nothing.

During his debriefing with Quinn, Lee learns that he’s done this all many times before. In fact, he’s been working in the Anti-Memetics Division for over ten years, even if he’ll never remember it. Quinn is blasé: People in the Division are as competent on Day One as they’ll ever be. The rest is just fine-tuning the meds.

It’s a strange, static existence for the Division, existing in the eternal present. But, at the edges of their collective memory, something is going wrong. Something is trying to break through. Anti-memetic incursions are getting stronger, and every month the Division has fewer and fewer staff to deal with them. Readers of the book Unknown can track Quinn’s reports through the chapters: 200 staff, 90 staff, 30; but Quinn herself, recollections constantly rewritten, has no idea her people are being picked off.

Written badly, There Is No Anti-Memetics Division could be deeply, deeply frustrating. The memory-erasing nature of its monsters mean the characters often have no idea what’s going on; crucial information is revealed, but before Quinn or Lee can act on it it’s wiped from their brains. “No!” you want to shout at them. “You were so close! Don’t turn away—don’t look away—don’t forget!”

They do, in the end. Serums and training can only go so far. But they try. The key that keeps Anti-Memetics Division gripping, that makes you cheer and weep for these poor beleaguered civil servants, is that it’s not a book about people forgetting the enemies and making bad decisions. It’s a book about people under siege by a vast, literally unknowable alien force, constantly two steps behind, who are nevertheless skilled, clever, and determined enough to go—almost—toe-to-toe with it. We cheer the Division’s successes, rather than mourn its failures.

There Is No Anti-Memetics Division isn’t alone as it tackles memory, minds, and individualism. A large strain of modern sci-fi is interested in the same, perhaps due to the rise of LLMs designed to remember everything but have no set personality. (note: if Unknowns are in cultural conversation with exterior media, does this mean the Passive Containment Archive is improperly sealed? Check with the Memetics Division.) There’s Severance, with its in/out memory partition, and then the hive minds of Pluribus, the Imperial Radch series, and Locklands, the latter of which are curious about what happens to people as they gain others’ memories, rather than have their own taken away.

As your mind is altered—as it’s dissected or expanded—are you still the same person? Much of this sci-fi says no: Our personal experiences and feelings, and the way we carry them forwards, are what defines us. Mark Scout, with only memories from outside Lumon, is meaningfully different from Mark S. in wants, outlook, and morals; the emergent consciousness of Lockland’s hive mind, or the Radch’s ships, are something else than what’s put into them.

Anti-Memetics Division, however, takes the opposite stance. “The first thing [an Unknown] did when it saw me,” Quinn explains to her reflection, “was eat everything I knew about the Division, and about it. If I had a plan, it ate the plan. But I’m still me. So I can come up with that plan again. It’s already right in front of me, I just need to see it. If I were me, what would my plan have been?” Being an agent of the Division relies on the fact that you’ll be the same person no matter your mind, that Unknowns can scoop out the memories but not the grooves they fill.

Recommendations For Future Study: There Is No Anti-Memetics Division threads the needle to perfection of making readers care about its characters even as it unravels their minds and personalities; it’s a gripping, thrilling cosmic horror. Members of the Organization looking to advance their careers or discover the depths of the threats faced are well-advised to read it.

Read it, and don’t forget it.

[The preceding information is classified under the Organization’s Founding Charter, Article C, §10.8.]

[end-mark]

The post You Will Not Remember This Review—qntm’s <i>There Is No Anti-Memetics Division</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Books Victor Manibo

Crafting an Anti-Colonial Gothic: A Conversation With Author Victor Manibo

“I couldn’t just swap out the Victorian mansion with a Spanish-era villa without those changes meaning something deeper.”

By Martin Cahill

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Published on December 10, 2025

Photo credit: Sean Collishaw

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Photo credit: Sean Collishaw

Recently, Martin Cahill had the opportunity to chat with author Victor Manibo (Escape Velocity) to celebrate the release of his latest novel. The Villa, Once Beloved is a captivating gothic that uncovers the dark secrets of the Sepulveda family and their crumbling home in the Philippines.

Please enjoy their full conversation below!

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The Villa, Once Beloved

Victor Manibo

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The Villa, Once Beloved

Victor Manibo

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Martin Cahill: Victor! Thank you so much for joining me today, and congratulations on The Villa, Once Beloved. For those who don’t know about the book, can you give us a brief breakdown of your new novel. Extra points if you’re able to use a haiku form somewhere in there. 

Victor Manibo: Thanks so much for having me! The Villa, Once Beloved is a contemporary gothic horror set in an old, Spanish colonial manor on a coconut plantation during the Catholic Holy Week. It’s centered on Sophie, a young Filipino-American transracial adoptee who visits the Philippines for the first time for her boyfriend’s grandfather’s funeral. During the course of the novel, she and other point-of-view characters are forced to confront monsters both real and imagined. So I guess the haiku would go: “A girl between worlds / A homecoming long delayed / Scary shit ensues!”

Martin: Your first two books, The Sleepless and Escape Velocity, both had some mystery and thrills to them, but were firmly set in science fiction realms. With The Villa, you’re moving into gothic horror territory, which is a whole new ballgame. What drew you to this particular genre? What made it the ideal vehicle for what you wanted to explore?

Victor: I started thinking about this novel in 2022, when the current Philippine president, Ferdinang Marcos, Jr., was elected. He’s the son of a former dictator and was directly involved in the atrocities during his father’s decades-long regime. The country hasn’t quite recovered from that period, psychically or economically, and seeing the family back in power broke my heart. I dealt with it the best way I knew, which is through writing. 

I tend to be a theme-forward writer and the story I had in mind necessarily had to be backward-looking, which is what Gothic stories quintessentially are. Gothic stories are about the past weighing down on the present, and with Gothic horror specifically, the ghosts and monsters of the past never really leave. That was exactly how I felt when I started conceptualizing this novel, and I wanted to dig into that. 

Martin: This book is set in the Philippines, and is actively engaging with the history of the country, from government and agriculture, to culture and family, and more. How long has this story been waiting inside you to tell? Can you tell me a bit about the research you did/sources you drew from in your own life to bring this to life?

Victor: The exact subject matter was inspired by recent events, but I’ve been wanting to write a Philippines-set novel since I’ve started my career. As Filipino as my first two novels are, I knew I wanted to write something even more so. This project let me do that. The setting is inspired by my childhood summers in the province. The historical references are partly informed by my experiences and my education, and doing a deeper dive into the Marcos regime was enriching (if not harrowing, doing it in these fascistic times). I watched documentaries like The Kingmaker, read a lot of nonfiction books like Conjugal Dictatorship, Presidential Plunder, and Waltzing with a Dictator. 

Aside from that, I also had to do research about my characters’ experiences that I personally do not share. This meant reading a lot of texts and gathering first-hand accounts on things like being poor in the one of the poorest regions of the country, or being a woman and going through the things that Sophie is subjected to in the book. 

Martin: This book is so thoroughly engaged with the realm of gothic horror, and I know from talking with you before, it was something you were really excited to jump into, and it is also a departure from your previous genres/books. Why gothic horror, and why for this story in particular? Were there any hallmarks of the genre you were hoping to either nail or eschew?

Victor: I was keenly aware that I’m entering new territory with this project, so honoring the genre’s history, forbears, conventions—which, now that I say that, is also a very Gothic trope—was important to me. In the prose and the descriptions, I wanted to nail the claustrophobic feel of Gothic horror, the “gloomth” (warmth and gloom), but I also wanted the aesthetic elements to have a strong tie with the themes—the burdens of family legacy, the dread of the known coming back to haunt you.

It was equally important to me that the story is a Filipino Gothic horror, which meant that I couldn’t just swap out the Victorian mansion with a Spanish-era villa, or the Scottish moors with a coconut plantation, without those changes meaning something deeper. I wanted the monsters in this book to be more a reskinned analogue to what we’ve seen in the classics and in the contemporary works out of the US and Europe. 

Martin: Talk to me about the importance of your protagonist, Sophie, a Filipina who was born in the Philippines but was raised in the Midwest. Returning to the country of her birth, hand in hand with one of the scions of the family Sepulveda, there’s so much you can explore with Sophie throughout this book. What were some of the goals of her journey? What sort of dynamics were you hoping to explore between her and the Sepulveda family? Between her and the country itself?

Victor: Sophie is my spin on Gothic ingenue, the one who comes to a new place with fresh eyes and a lack of knowledge, the one to whom things happen. Aside from making sure that she is a more active protagonist, through her I also wanted to explore the different ways people see their country. The main point-of-view character is Sophie, who has almost no connection to the Philippines, but the book also has Javier, who lived part of his life in the Philippines and part in the US; and there’s Remedios, who has never left even the town she grew up in. The choices they make are informed by their relationship with their homeland, and their views often conflict with each other, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

Martin: The Sepulvedas are at the heart of this book, for all that it is Sophie’s journey. Trapped in their ancestral manor, this family is a minefield of ambition, history, and complication. When bringing them to life, are there historical figures/families you were hoping to draw allusion to with them? Who were your favorite family members to write?

Victor: The Marcoses are of course heavily mentioned in the book, but the Sepulveda family is not based on any family in particular. They were inspired by characters in the periphery of power, who themselves have their own considerable power, as I wanted to explore how those people can be complicit to and perpetuate atrocities. At the same time, I wanted the Sepulvedas to have some redeeming qualities and to make some choices that gesture toward atonement. We see this with Javier and to some extent, Sophie’s boyfriend Adrian. I had a lot of fun blending in those characters’ light and dark, as well as the caretaker Remedios, who is not technically a Sepulveda but is very closely tied to the family.

Martin: How are you feeling as you switch up genres? Has it been energizing as you play in new worlds? Do you have any other aspirational mediums or genres you want to engage in someday?

Victor: It’s been so exhilarating! Writing a new project is always fun, and doing that in a new genre made it even more so. In changing things up, I learned so much about myself as an artist and a writer: what I value, what I’m good at, what I can be good at, and what I want to do next.

Martin: What is on the horizon for you now?

Victor: I’m currently drafting my next novel, which will be out in 2027, fingers crossed. Without giving too much away, it’s a sci-fi horror thriller about the way we live now. You could say it’s both a return to form and a progression of the horror journey that I’ve only just begun.[end-mark]

The Villa, Once Beloved is published by Erewhon Books.

The post Crafting an Anti-Colonial Gothic: A Conversation With Author Victor Manibo appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Young Adult

Read an Excerpt From I, in the Shadows by Tori Bovalino

Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted…

By Tori Bovalino

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Published on December 11, 2025

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Cyrano de Bergerac meets Beetlejuice meets Bottoms in this bewitching, passionate tale of the unlikely alliance between a ghost and the girl who moves into a haunted house.

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from I, in the Shadows, a young adult horror novel by Tori Bovalino, out from Page Street YA on January 13, 2026.

“The exorcism didn’t work,” I say into the phone, held not-so-securely between my cheek and shoulder as I fumble with my key with one hand and try not to drop the stack of library books teetering in the other. The stack is a mix of things: books on ghosts and ESP, a Bible, a Quran, a Torah, and a beat-up library copy of The Grapes of Wrath.

I’m covering my bases here. And to be clear: The Steinbeck is for English class, not exorcisms. I don’t think this is a problem I can solve with breast milk.

Finding the house key is a problem, but it’s a problem of my own making. My key ring is cluttered with keys to our old house (which probably no longer work): one to my best friend Andie’s house (definitely works, but is approximately eighty miles away); my car key (works, accessible, rarely used); Dad’s office (works, stolen); and Bee’s bakery (works, also stolen).

On the other end of the line, Reece snorts. “I told you it wouldn’t,” they say. I hear a rustle of pages—they’re probably studying. I’m probably interrupting. The last thing they probably want to talk about is ghosts.

“You’re the one who told me to handle it myself,” I grumble.

“Bro, have you ever seen me do an exorcism?”

I drop my keys, groan, and kneel to retrieve them, tipping over the stack of books in the process. At this point, I think it’s brave of me that I don’t curl up on the front porch and give up. It’s one of those days.

“Oh,” Reece says, ignorant to my suffering. “How was the Stats test?”

“NOPE!” I gather up my books, my keys, and finally find the right one. The door creaks ominously as it opens, but that’s not much of an omen when I already know the place is haunted. And possibly cursed.

The sound would tip off Bee and Dad that I’m home, but neither of them are here. If they were, I would not be talking about exorcisms so openly. I would also, unfortunately for all involved, be answering way more questions about the Stats test.

“But the ghost,” I say, redirecting with all my might as I drop my backpack and leave the stack of books on the table in the hall.

“Do you know of anything else that will help? That will work?”

“Not an exorcism.”

“Thanks. Genius advice.”

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I, in the Shadows

Tori Bovalino

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I, in the Shadows

Tori Bovalino

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Reece is quiet for a moment. Usually, they’re the one who… well, does anything about ghosts. We can both see them. We’ve both always been able to see them. But I prefer to ignore them, whereas Reece has always taken a more hands-on approach.

Unfortunately, due to proximity, there’s no avoiding this particular ghost—and if he does degrade in the way ghosts do, it could lead to a dangerous situation for me if I leave him alone. It’s one of those moments where I feel Reece’s absence keenly.

My sibling has a much stronger understanding of ghosts than I do, and also a much better moral code. Even after… well, my entire life, I’m not sure if I’ve mastered the compass points just yet.

I hang my keys on the strip of hooks by the door and make my way to the kitchen, the wooden floorboards creaking with every step. The house itself is really not that old. Our last place was an early nineteenth-century farmhouse. This house is bright, airy, and open-concept downstairs with big rooms and good closets upstairs. It’s everything Bee and Dad always wanted. 

We’ve only been here for about a month, so I’m in that weird phase in which everything about it is pseudo-familiar: the creaking of the floors in every room, worst on the stairs; the scratching of the trees against the windows at night; the far-off whistle of the trains as they pass through, headed for Ohio or across Pennsylvania.

Oh, yeah. And the fucking ghost.

He’s not here as I pull down a box of cereal, hop up on the counter, and eat it dry by the handful, as Reece still sighs and mutters on the line.

The ghost tends to prefer my bedroom (it’s very inconvenient for both of us), which leads me to believe that it was once his bedroom.

(You don’t have to tell me I’m a genius. When it comes to ghostbusting, I am a top student.)

(I can’t say the same for real school.)

But, back to the bedroom thing. To be clear, he’s not a creeper ghost, from what I can tell. He doesn’t watch me change, or leer, or do anything else that one would suspect of a semi-visible teenage boy now sharing a bedroom with a fully visible teenage girl. Who knows. Maybe he’s queer too. Maybe he likes running. Maybe he also is kind of bad at school. Maybe, if we were living in the same timeline, any of those things would be in the center of our little Venn diagram.

Maybe, we would even be friends.

Finally, Reece sighs. “I wouldn’t usually recommend this,” they say, their tone taking on a hint of the dubiousness, “but have you tried talking to him?”

Now, it’s my turn to snort. Unfortunately, I do it around a mouthful of dry Cheerios, which leads to a lot of coughing and sputtering, which lessens the effect when I say, “Isn’t that breaking, like, Reece Tarpin’s Rule Number One of Ghost Management?”

“Drew—” Reece starts.

“Maybe Rule One is ‘do not bang a ghost,’” I speculate, this time with less choking on Cheerios.

“Drew—”

“Or ‘no kissing ghosts?’ But I’m pretty sure you broke that one with—”

“ANDREA PENELOPE TARPIN,” Reece shouts. “DO YOU WANT MY HELP OR NOT?”

I press my lips together. Stop swinging my feet. Set the cereal box down. “…Yes.”

Reece sighs, and I can just imagine them pinching the bridge of their nose, eyes closed, trying to tamp down the frustration. I cause this expression a lot, so the image of it comes easily—along with that fierce ache of missing them. Reece is a freshman in college at Boston University, and they moved at the end of the summer, a couple of weeks before Dad and Bee and me relocated here. I’m still not used to the emptiness of my life without Reece’s constant presence—and Reece’s constant willingness to step in and take the lead on anything ghostly.

But let’s get one thing straight: I am not asking for Reece’s help because I’m afraid of this ghost, okay? Fear has nothing to do with it. I just don’t like him, and I don’t want him in my room, and I am a growing girl, and I should be allowed my space and privacy.

Plus, he’s very judgmental, which I can tell because he makes weird faces at me at night when I’m doing my ab routine. I find it very disruptive.

And when Reece is in charge, they just… usually go away on their own. Or with gentle convincing from light rituals. They are not usually this persistent.

Enter: Reece.

“I’m video-calling you,” Reece says, resigned. “Switch over.”

I pull the phone from my face and accept the video request. Reece’s face floats up, too close for a moment, their nose and septum piercing and top lip swimming on my screen before they back up. I scan over their freckles and shorn red hair—the shock of copper is the only thing we share between us that Dad does not also have—before focusing in on their brown eyes, still a bit tired.

“Take me to the ghost.”

“You won’t be able to—”

“Just do it, mmkay? You’re the one who wanted my help.”

I sigh, but I take Reece with me upstairs. I also nearly die on the way when I trip over my backpack, discarded on the first step, and I am annoyed to find that, for a brief moment, I understand why Dad is always getting on my case to hang it up or put it in my room.

It’s the worst kind of self-betrayal to find that I agree with my parents’ nagging, even for a second.

Reece doesn’t say anything until we’re in my room with the door shut behind us. Then, they shout, scaring me out of my skin:

“HEY GHOSTIE. IT’S DREW’S BIG SIBLING. SQUARE UP.”

“Reece,” I say, aghast.

But something in it works. My eyes snap to a corner, where the bed is pushed against the wall: For the barest moment, the air shimmers, and then the boy appears.

He’s sitting on the bed, back against the wall, one knee tented, arm thrown over it. He died wearing jeans and a short-sleeved top with three buttons at the throat, all open. He’s white, I think, with dark hair and brown eyes and a beaky nose keeping up his glasses. He looks a little nerdy but also kind of nice—not the sort of kid you’d think of dying at seventeen or eighteen or whatever age he was when he kicked it.

He also looks mega bored. I would probably feel the same, if I were dead for an indeterminate amount of time and unable to communicate with the living.

I turn the phone around. I’m not sure if Reece can see him over the video call, but it doesn’t much matter. Reece is good at playing things off, and they know the ghost is there. If I can see it, of course it’s there.

The thing is, I did want to solve this on my own. All our lives, Reece has been the one who cared more about ghosts (see: when the going gets tough, I get avoiding) and knew how to deal with them. And when they lived with us, it was easy to let that be their thing, to let every little issue fall under Reece’s remit. But Reece is in Massachusetts, and I doubt they’ll be coming back—in the last few weeks, I’ve watched them talk about home less and less as they’ve made new friends and gotten used to Boston.

I can’t even blame them. The world is a bit shit right now— I’m proud they’re finding what space they can, carving safety and protection into it.

Either way, I thought that working through the ghost issue would make us closer. Bridge that gap that’s been building between us since Reece left. But they told me to figure it out, and I—well. I reached for the exorcism when I probably shouldn’t have.

But in my defense, it’s actually very creepy to share space with a ghost. They don’t really knock when they want to come in— right now, the ghost and I can’t communicate at all, which means he spends his sentient hours staring at me from the corner like I kicked his puppy.

Reece is good at making them go away, solving their problems and cutting their ties to the mortal world before sending them peacefully into the afterlife. Fixing the mess before wellmannered ghosts degrade into angry husks. I am patently not, and that’s what’s getting me into trouble. And yes, maybe I did go straight for an exorcism on purpose—because if I failed, I knew that Reece would have no choice but to help me. Selfish? Possibly.

I just… I really miss them. This might be a shitty bonding experience, but it’s better than nothing.

“Ready to do this, Dree?” Reece asks me.

I press my lips together, glaring at the ghost so he doesn’t get any ideas. Reece is the only one who calls me Dree (and the only one who is allowed)—a shortening for Andrea, which annoys me. Everyone else calls me Drew, because my best friend, another Andrea, took Andie first.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I grumble.

The ghost cocks an eyebrow. He doesn’t look pleased, either, but that might have something to do with the failed exorcism that happened last time I saw him.

Yeah, I doubt he’s forgiven me for that yet.

“Look,” I say, trying to soften my voice a bit. “I’m sorry about… the whole holy water thing. I am just trying to help you move on, okay?”

He frowns, unconvinced.

“Just do it,” Reece mutters on the line.

I stick out a hand. If he comes forward, touches me, then I can bring him back into corporeality. Meld my spirit to his, even temporarily. And I’ll be able to hear him properly, to know what he wants.

Reece is really good at it. They can listen to a ghost, figure out what they want, and get them moving on in record speed. It would never take my sibling three weeks to deal with a ghost.

But I hate the squidginess of it, the vulnerability. Reece taught me how to do this when I was ten, and I’ve only done it a couple of times since then.

When you open yourself to a ghost, you always take a bit of them, too—and I hate knowing those deaths, feeling the shattered fractals of their memories, and not being able to put them down. Not being able to forget them, when the ghosts do move on.

Sure, they don’t become husks, the angry remnants of a soul left behind. But I keep the other half of memories no one else will ever share: the sweet bite of an apple in springtime eighty years ago, and the first kiss with someone’s wife, and the feeling of dirt in my hand as someone buried their mother, and the taste of blood in my mouth as someone wrecked a car. It’s all there, still mine, even though they were never really my memories to begin with.

He regards the hand, then looks up at me. I know his name— when I moved in, small town that this is, everyone was stepping over themselves to tell me about the dead kid who lived here before—but I don’t want to think it now, when he could be in my brain soon.

“It will help,” I say. “I’ll stop trying to get rid of you.”

He tilts his head, a question there. He stopped trying to talk to me after the first week, when it was clear I couldn’t hear.

That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped talking at him. Small things— announcing my presence when I come in, or reminding him that I can’t hear him, or apologizing for failing at exorcisms.

“And if she can’t,” Reece says, “I might be able to.”

He looks doubtful, but he shifts forward. Gets off the bed. He doesn’t need to walk, one foot in front of the other, but he does. He could just float, or appear wherever he needs to go, but I learned early on that he’s not very good at being a ghost.

“I won’t hurt you,” I say.

He rolls his eyes. Takes my hand. I take a deep breath, reaching for not just his hand, but the shadow of his soul still here on this mortal plane.

It’s like surfacing from underwater, bringing him back into being. Like tasting every second of his seventeen years, two months, twenty-two days, eight hours, seventeen minutes, and eight seconds on my tongue, all those vague reminders of who he is hitting all at once—and I can’t hold back his name anymore.

“You can’t hurt me,” the ghost of Liam Orville says. “I’m already dead.”

Excerpted from I, in the Shadows, copyright © 2025 by Tori Bovalino.

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