John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

D.K. Dailey launches a thrilling new saga set in the Golden Dreg World universe with Golden Dreg Quake: Baby Box Assassin. In the lead-up to a world-changing quake, a young assassin awakes with a missing three weeks in her memory and a mystery to solve, provided she isn’t wiped off the map by her own crew of deadly assassins first. Drawing from the rich landscape of Dailey’s ever-swelling sci-fi realm, this prequel pulses with excitement, driven by a dauntless new protagonist in Ari. Boasting rough-edged, conversational prose and a tangled plot of deceitful allies and surprising villains, Dailey elevates the […]

Creating a twisted mirror of the wealth inequality that plagues our modern world, Golden Dreg Army Book 1: Enlisted by D.K. Dailey is a thrilling YA adventure, and a worrisome prophecy for the future. Following a world quake, humanity’s dream is to create a society that can withstand anything, but that idealistic vision doesn’t take long to corrode into a vast chasm between the Goldens and the Dregs – the rich and the poor. Peppered with creative details that make this dystopic future feel three-dimensional and all too possible, the story is gripping from the start. The writing is strong, […]

Touching on the timeless battle between blood and loyalty, Return to Cursed Canyon by Samuel Ludke is an emotional, action-packed glimpse into the contentious past. A young Native American boy embarks on an identity-shaping journey through grief and growth, trying desperately to reckon with a life torn between two warring worlds. Pulling readers back to the 19th century, and the uncertain aftermath of the Civil War, this sensitively penned, character-driven novel is a stirring American reflection and a powerful reminder that the lessons of history echo in every generation.

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Zan Safra plunges readers back in time to a golden age of mystery and monsters with Children of the Night, a harrowing but immersively entertaining work of YA historical horror. Safra captures a gothic atmosphere remarkably well, adding to the mythology for some of literature’s most iconic creatures, while weaving a gripping story of friendship, duty, and determination – even to save those who may see you as a monster. At times, the prose is choppy, and the first-person perspective keeps the descriptions and narration somewhat limited, but this memorable novel is enveloping – dark and ominous, while still reading […]

Capturing the energy, pace, and vibrancy of life in Brazil, Rik Stone delivers a thrilling underworld adventure in A Destiny to Die For. Angelita is a smart and savvy hustler who knows how to survive on the edge of danger, but once she finds a stash of drugs worth a life-changing amount of money, the danger on the wrong side of that edge comes looking for her. Written from Angelita’s colorful perspective, the dialogue and character interactions are believable, while some of the confessional moments feel painfully torn from lived experience. With rich descriptive passages, a vividly depicted setting, […]