omnivoracious amazon book review

  • The Story of the Lost Child

Omnivoracious: The Amazon Review: "The Story of the Lost Child is on many best books of fall lists, and has received glowing reviews everywhere already."

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Vivian Howard

Vivian Howard's Must-Have Cookbooks

Vivian Howard's Must-Have Cookbooks

In a recent interview by Seira Wilson for Omnivoracious: The Amazon Book Review , Vivian reveals nine of her must-have cookbooks and why. Take a peek at the list below, or click here to see the original story . 

omnivoracious amazon book review

The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

Ms. Lewis’ story of life in Freetown, VA circles around the food she and her family grew, harvested, preserved and shared. Her recipes and anecdotes made me appreciate my own rural upbringing, also dictated by the seasons.   The Taste of Country Cooking  is the original as well as the benchmark for all other seasonal cookbooks.

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The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller

I don’t think there’s a chef cooking today who doesn’t have The French Laundry Cookbook . It taught me to tie and poach a foie gras torchon and showed me how to use every part of a lobster. I’d argue in fact that I learned as much technique from its pages as I gleaned from 6 months in culinary school.  The French Laundry Cookbook   is both showpiece and reference tome- the rare coffee table cookbook that ends up in the kitchen.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Not Afraid of Flavor by Ben and Karen Barker

I often call Ben and Karen Barker my mentors even though I never worked for them. I feel the title suits the couple because I pored over every page of Not Afraid of Flavor  like it was my own private lesson on how to transform Southern food into Southern cuisine.  Not Afraid of Flavor  was the first of its kind, and for those interested in multi-dimensional, thoughtful Southern food, it stands the test of time.

omnivoracious amazon book review

The Flavor Bible   by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

Every aspiring chef as well as any home cook who wants to take liberties in the kitchen should have The Flavor Bible  in their back pocket (it’s too big for that, but they should have it close by anyway). More a guidebook for what flavors go together than an actual book of recipes,  The Flavor Bible  and its’ easy to understand ingredient lists gave me the confidence to tweak other people’s recipes and begin developing my own.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Bar Tartine by Cortney Burns and Nicolaus Balla

Bar Tartine  taught me techniques I never would have figured out on my own. Skills that don’t require super-specialized equipment like making my own sprouts, my own black garlic and my own fresh cheese are the skills DIY-ers and chefs are looking to master today. In some ways Bar Tartine  is the modern day French Laundry Cookbook

omnivoracious amazon book review

Every Grain of Rice   by Fuchsia Dunlop

I’m a southern chef who cooks at home a lot, but that doesn’t mean I cook complicated Southern food at home…ever. Instead I want to be inspired by another type of cuisine, but I don’t want it to take all night.  Every Grain of Rice  has done that for me better than any other international cookbook to date. It offers a concise pantry list so I’m not driving an hour plus to the Asia market every time I decide to cook from it on a whim, and the recipes are meant for weeknights. Cooking from Every Grain of Rice   isn’t a production. It’s empowering. The best cookbooks are.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Hot Sour Salty Sweet  by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugiud

One of my first kitchen jobs was as a line cook at the Southeast Asian street food restaurant, Spice Market, in Manhattan. My first night there I mistook fresh turmeric for ginger, and for the whole first week even though I was the girl who made the rice, I couldn’t tell you the difference between long grain short grain.  Hot Sour Salty Sweet saved my job and nurtured a love for the food we cooked and the place that food came from. Like the best books about the food of a particular place,  Hot Sour Salty Sweet  is really about the people of Southeast Asia told through the lens of their food.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Southern Cakes   by Nancie McDermott

I’m not a baker, but if I’m going to bake, I go all the way- albeit with the help of a detailed guide of how to get there.  Southern Cakes  is a comprehensive, trustworthy reference for the most elaborate of American sweets. If I’m going to make a cake, I reference it and nowhere else because layer cakes are gifts that represent time spent in honor of their recipient. If I’m going to spend the time, I’m damn sure going to follow a recipe I’m certain will work.  Southern Cakes  has never let me down.

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Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann and Peter Kaminsky

A precursor to our restaurant culture’s obsession with cooking over live fire,  Seven Fires  is inspiration for anyone who likes charred but bright flavors. It sucked me in and made me want to rush out and cook some MEAT. Now, several years later, I find myself turning to Seven Fires  for the multitude of ways Mallman prepares potatoes and for his rustic yet refined approach to vegetables.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Interview with Amazon’s Omnivoracious Blog

Nov 10, 2015 | News | 0 comments

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Highlights from Mitch’s interview with Sara Nelson, editor of Amazon’s Omnivoracious Book Blog:

ABR: You spent many years as a musician, and now many years as a writer. How are the processes of making music and writing related for you? MA: I think the way that they’re most alike is in rhythm and cadence. I really believe that if I have any aptitude for writing at all it probably comes from my musical aptitude. I think I’ve learned to write with a beat. I notice that I always rock back and forth when I write, and if I stop rocking back and forth it’s usually because I’ve hit a clunk: My sentence structure isn’t working. There’s also the whole idea of returning to themes, choruses and verses in your construction, knowing where the root of your paragraph is, and then you go off on a riff, but in the end you need to find a way back to your original thought. And that’s very similar in starting on a root note of a chord, but by the time you get back home you know you have to resolve.
ABR: You have had phenomenal success as a writer, beginning, really, with Morrie . How has success changed you? MA: I think I was fortunate that it didn’t happen too early in my life; I’m not sure I would have appreciated it in the same way. When I started out as a musician, I had no aspirations of massive success. I didn’t want to be a rock-and-roll star. I wanted to be a producer. My whole thing was that I wanted to be behind the scenes. If I could have gotten a job just making records in a studio, you never would have heard of me again. You also don’t go into journalism to be rich and famous. My first journalism job I worked six months for free. [Eventually I went to Columbia] and I remember there were people working for the New York Times , and earning $11,000 a year and I thought. “Oh my God! Eleven thousand! I could never get a job like that!” So for many years even when I finally did OK as a sports writer and got a job in Detroit, it wasn’t mega time. When Tuesdays with Morrie happened, I was already 37 and it was a total accident. I didn’t plan to write that book and the only reason I did it was to pay Morrie’s medical expenses, because he told me he didn’t have insurance. And it wasn’t wasted on me that one of the first things I’d ever done even close to selflessly – to pay someone’s medical expenses – became the most successful thing I ever did. And I have never forgotten that lesson. I don’t think it would take an analyst very long to figure me out: I’m always writing a little bit of Tuesdays with Morrie in everything I do.

Read the full interview here .

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New book,  The Little Liar , arrives November 14. Get the details »

Mitch Albom book excerpt: New novel ‘The Little Liar’ set in middle of Holocaust

Mitch Albom book excerpt: New novel ‘The Little Liar’ set in middle of Holocaust

New novel The Little Liar arrives November 14

New novel The Little Liar arrives November 14

“Stranger in the Lifeboat” Now in Paperback!

“Stranger in the Lifeboat” Now in Paperback!

omnivoracious amazon book review

Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.

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That Artsy Reader Girl

Ten of My Favorite Bookish Websites

Posted August 13, 2018 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 24 Comments

omnivoracious amazon book review

This week’s topic isn’t book-related, but it’s definitely bookish! I thought it would be fun to share our favorite book blogs and/or bookish websites (besides Goodreads because duh…) because I know I’d love to find some more blogs to add to my reader and great bookish resources to bookmark.

1. What Should I Read Next? This fun website has you entire the title of a book you loved. The website analyzes your pick and then spits out the title of another book you’ll probably love, too.

2. BookBub How would you like an email of free and discounted ebooks sent to you everyday? You even get to choose the genres you love.

3. Hoopla Check out digital books, audibooks, and music with your library card (provided your library participates)!

4. Off the Shelf If you love Top Ten Tuesday, you’ll love this place. Sooooo many bookish lists!

5. Omnivoracious Amazon’s book review.

6. BookRiot An awesome blog for bookish news, reviews, and merchandise.

7. Epic Reads HarperTeen’s community and blog for young adult book lovers. They post some really fun stuf like infographics and book quizzes.

8. The Literary Gift Company All the bookish things we need to own!

9. Hot Dudes Reading Ok, it’s not a site… It’s an Instagram account. But I honestly think it should count in this situation.

10. The Literary Cat It’s a Tumblr devoted to pictures of cats and books! What’s not to love?

What are some of your favorite bookish blogs and websites?

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24 responses to “ Ten of My Favorite Bookish Websites ”

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OHMYGOSH!! Your list is amazing, Jana. I love that it’s made up of things I’m so unfamiliar with. Mine is pretty basic, but I still love the places/bloggers I mention. Needless to say I find your list really helpful because it looks to be filled with resources I might love. *goes to click on websites* :) Rissi @ Finding Wonderland recently posted… Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Places to Visit for a Book Nerd

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I’ve only recently discovered BookRiot, oddly enough- well not really but I’ve only recently started remembering to GO there ha ha. And I always find something interesting. And Epic Reads too…

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Both are great! :) Glad you found them!

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That instagram is AMAZING haha. Ps I love your new teal color scheme! Kay Wisteria @hammockofbooks recently posted… Top Ten Favorite Book Blogs

Hehe. Right?!?!

And thank you! I loved the pink, but the teal just works for me better. Too many book covers were clashing with the pink. Bwahaha.

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Hehe I love this list :) some very handy sites there. I love the Literary Gift Company for bookish gifts. Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/ Cora @ Tea Party Princess recently posted… Review: The Island by MA Bennett

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OOh I’m going to have to check a few of these out!

Here’s my Tuesday Post

Have a GREAT day!

Old Follower :)

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I also frequent Book Riot and Epic Reads. The rest I am not familiar with so thanks for putting this up. :)

Also, it’s my first time to link up here in TTT! #AchievementUnlocked Jennilyn V. recently posted… Say Hello to My 2018 Favorite Book Blogs!

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I had Book Riot on my list too! love that I get an email everyday from them telling me the best ebook deals they found on amazon.

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Great list! There are some sites on there I didn’t know about.

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Ahhh I love What Should I Read Next and Book Bub as well! Great list, Jana!

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I keep forgetting about What Should I Read Next! That’s a great site so I’m bookmarking it. My library used to use both Hoopla and Overdrive, and now they moved all the ebook/audiobooks to Overdrive and Hoopla is just for movies. Love the hot men and cats, LOL! Darlene recently posted… Favorite Book Blogs and Bookish Websites

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This is such a great list of websites! I love BookBub so much and look forward to receiving my email every day and seeing what’s on it. I’m pretty sure I buy probably a book a week thanks to that thing, which is sort of a double-edged sword? Goodreads has a deals thing similar to BookBub, too, only with more books on it. xD

I’d never heard of the Literary Gift Company, but oh my gosh, so many cute things! There goes my morning … Sammie recently posted… 10 Book Bloggers You Should Follow

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It’s fun promoting the book blogs and other bookish sites in this week’s TTT post, isn’t it?? You’ve shared some new to me sites to investigate!

Here’s a link to my TTT post this week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2018/08/top-ten-tuesday-favorite-book.html

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Thanks for these! I’m totally following The Literary Cat tumblr now.

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Great List! Book Riot is def on my list too. Happy Tuesday! 📚😍

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I love the idea of a site that recommends books to you based on what you’ve already read. I’m going to have to check that one out! Thanks for the recommendation :) Megan @ Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest recently posted… Breaking Up With Blog Tours [It’s Not You, It’s Us] | #BookChat

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I have bookriot and epic reads too in my list :-) I would recommend all Epic reads fans should definitely also check out rivetedlit.com Here’s my TTT post .

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Ooooh you list is amazing and I LOVE the Literary Gift Company! Gorgeous post Hun :)

Grace Louise || http://www.gracelouiseofficial.blogspot.co.uk/

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I hadn’t heard of What Should I Read Next? until this week’s TTT. Now I’m having fun playing with it. Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted… Blogiversary Giveaway!

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Great list, I hadn’t heard of a number of these.

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I swear by hot dudes reading and they are pretty much my afternoon motivation. I love your recommendations. Gayathri recently posted… Book review: They Both Die at the End

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Here is my post of TTT of last week .. http://ketakimalwade.com/top-ten-tuesday-authors-id-love-to-meet/

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Bookriot & Epic Reads are the two biggest websites for sure :-)

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Jeff VanderMeer

Omnivoracious: new amazon blog (and my favorite book).

The Amazon book blog has a new name and location: Omnivoracious . The blog will still feed into the Amazon Daily blog , but Amazon wants the book blog to be autonomous from the Amazon site. One advantage of this is that I can, for example, post directly to it, rather than going through a third party. It should result in a more fluid and kinetic blog.

My first post is actually about my favorite book of the year , Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, and includes a short exclusive interview with Tan about Tan’s process. I find all of the answers fascinating.

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Omnivoracious

The Amazon Book Review

The Girls by Emma Cline

The Girls is a novel heavily based on the true story of Charlie Manson and his followers. This novel is told through the eyes of one of his followers, Evie. This book starts off with Evie being a middle-aged woman who works in a diner. Her old friend’s teenage son stops by with this girlfriend, and asks to stay with her for a while. This brings up old memories when she starts looking at his girlfriend, and remember what her life used to be like at her age. Cline writes a story intertwining past with present, which draws in the readers quickly.

Evie tells a tale of sex, love and murder in the 70’s. She doesn’t hold back details when telling about her time under the influence of group leader, Russel. She is a girl who is lost, and feels absolutely no love from her family. Once she begins to spend more time with this group, she loses herself, her family, and her best friend. She is sucked in quickly by the care free living, and the lack of authority. She knows who she is on the inside, but showing others what they want to see. She almost throws her life away on a night where a murder takes place, but is thrown out of the car on the drive there instead. She doesn’t know it, but that moment saved her life.

Read this book if you want to feel like you were almost there with Evie, and to be captivated by the dark 70’s.

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An image of Charlie Mansons ‘girls’ on their court hearing day. Image courtesy of New York Times

Similarities between Charlie Manson and Russel’s groups.

·      Both were in the 70’s.

·      Both were up and coming musicians trying to make it.

·      Both were leaders of groups hidden in the woods in California, with their own sort of town.

·      “Cline makes Russell, like Manson, a master manipulator who can speak to a young girl’s insecurities with the precision of a picador.” –Dylan Landis

·      Both had their main ‘girls’ of the group, who followed both Charlie and Russel to the murder.

·      Both stories end with a gruesome murder of a socialite woman, and her family.

Landis, D. (2016, May 31). ‘The Girls,’ by Emma Cline. Retrieved February 8, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/05/books/review/the-girls-by-emma-cline.html?_r=0

A Story About Ping

A story about ping by marjorie flack and kurt wiese.

A Story About Ping is a heartwarming children’s book about family and feeling alone. Ping is a duck apart of a family with multiple siblings. At times, he feels alone, and like his family doesn’t love him. While traveling, he loses his family along the way, and becomes abandoned. This story follows Ping and his adventure of not only finding his family, but his strength in himself.

What Can Adult Readers Learn From Ping?

Even though this is a children’s book, adults can learn a valuable lesson in this story, which is sometimes when you feel the most alone, that’s the time you can find yourself most. This is a good message to carry with yourself, and whoever you else you read this story too.

A Monster Calls

A monster calls , by patrick ness.

A Monster Calls is not a book you would think it would be about. The cover shows an illustration of a monster, coming towards a house. The image is dark, and almost frightening. It gives off an image of being a story about horror. But what if that horror is something inside of you? Something that you battle every day? A Monster Calls is a story about personal struggles from a young boy who finds out his Mother is dying of cancer. His only way of dealing with this, is holding onto his anger. The image of the Monster on the cover turns out to be a tree outside of his house that comes alive at night to frighten him. The tree is almost used as a metaphor of the boy’s anger, and begins to let go once he does.

For example, when the tree comes out at night, when the boy in bed, what does that represent? That represents those moments you lay in bed at night and think of all the things that have bothered you and hurt you up to that point.

At the end of this book, you will be reaching for a box of tissues, and holding onto it tight. It is a book about compassion, anger, love, and being able to let go. This book is a book you will not want to put down.

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”

– Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

The Virgin Suicides

The virgin suicides by jeffrey eugenides.

The Virgin Suicides is a dark tale about five sisters who grow up in a strict, secluded household, surrounded by people living ‘normal’ lives. They watch their neighbors from afar, and their neighbors watch them back, captivated by their beauty and mystery. Their parents are religious and carry out their household with strict rules, making the girls feel like prisoners. Their daily routine is waking up, going to school, coming home, and spending their whole time together. This book is dark, and it lingers on you even after you read it. You begin to feel what these girls feel, and their sadness becomes a part of you. You learn about them, individually, and what struck up the year of suicides.

The novel begins with a group of neighborhood boys who had grown up into adults telling the story. Throughout the book, they narrate their story of the girls from a journal they had kept from them. With this journal, this is the only way the boys could get to know the sisters without being their friends. Throughout their time being neighbors, they communicate with the girls on only a few occasions, and on the last night, they communicate through their windows with lights.

When the reader is done with this book, they will understand why the girls felt the way they did, and why they carried out their pact.

A movie was released in 1999 portraying the book. This is the image of the girls from the movie.

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Palo Alto is James Franco’s break out novel as a published author. Thinking of Franco, you don’t think author, but actor. You may think that he is not artistically capable of coming back from Freaks and Geeks and Pineapple Express , but Palo Alto is his game changer.

This novel is a short story, first person told book. He writes his stories through the characters’ eyes, which makes the reader feel like they are looking in. Palo Alto focuses on a group of teenagers in suburbia California, in the modern era. They struggle with family, drugs, relationships, and trying to find their place in their world. Some act too cool, and some are too scared to speak up. Their stories intertwine with each other, which allows the reader to find the connections. This isn’t a hard book to read, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t captivating. Learning about these characters’ stories make the reader feel a certain way about them. Some feelings are going to be positive, and some will be negative.

The stories of the characters are deep, and you can feel how lost they are when you read it.

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–Omnivoracious, The Amazon Book Review on Rabbits for Food

May 25, 2019, by: administrator.

omnivoracious amazon book review

Our anti-heroine’s acerbic tongue, as she observes the goings-on in the hospital, and its inhabitants, is worth the price of admission alone.

omnivoracious amazon book review

20 Great Book Websites for Finding What to Read Next

I’m writing this list of the best websites about books for me five years ago. Back then I was deep in the beginning of learning about book world and would have welcomed a list of the great book websites to help me learn what to read next. Getting to know the publishing industry is a lifelong process of book discovery, and the Internet makes the literary community more accessible and inclusive than ever. These 20 book websites (plus a few extra way down at the end) are the places I go to find out about new books being published, to deepen my understanding of literature and reading, to get book recommendations, to grapple with critical book reviews, and more. I hope you’ll find your next favorite book through this list of great book websites to grow as a reader.

20 Best Book Websites for Book Recommendations, Lists, and More

(1) amazon book review.

Love it or hate it, but Amazon is a quality place to go to find out about new books. The Omnivoracious Amazon Book Review is a flagship for good book content, with recommendations from celebrities and other notable readers being a unique feature. I love the author interviews they have on their site, with writers like George R. R. Martin , Holly Black , and Charlie Jane Anders recently stopping by for a chat, often on the podcast. Amazon’s Best Books of the Month list is one I check religiously for new books to add to my TBR. They often surprise me with little-known reads I wouldn’t otherwise have on my radar (even if I think they make YA an afterthought), which is why I rate them highly for “new book discovery,” meaning a place where you can learn about books to read.

Strengths: Author interviews, previews of new releases, lists of recent award winners, podcast, new book discovery

(2) Book Bub

When Book Bub first came on the scene about five years ago, I signed up for their signature daily newsletter with hot deals on eBooks. I scored a lot of great books to load up my Kindle, but I didn’t really follow the site for a few years as I wasn’t reading too much on my eReader. Now they’re everywhere, moving beyond the email list to create original bookish content. It’s now totally expected to have one of their many comprehensive book lists pop up in a search for new books. The only downside that I see is that now you have to have an account to view their book lists or other blog content . I do like how they track book recommendations from authors like Stephen King, Jill Shalvis, and Nora Roberts.

Strengths: Book list articles, book recommendations, eBook deals, new book discovery

(3) Book Marks

One of the sites associated with Literary Hub or “Lit Hub,” which I write up as #12 below, Book Marks is the place to go if you want to find book reviews of the latest big books. Book Marks’ specialty is aggregating adult literary fiction and nonfiction book reviews and then assigning them a score card so you can see how many reviewers gave the book a Rave, Positive, Mixed, or Pan. Without a doubt, if you want to find out the critical consensus on a book before buying it or checking it out of the library, Book Marks should be your first stop. I also like how the site regularly interviews book critics to ask them more about their bookish lives. The site also reprints classic book reviews.

Strengths: Book reviews, coverage of new books, literary criticism, book news, essays

(4) Book Riot

Sure, I might be a little biased to include Book Riot in my list of the best book websites since I write for them , but the fact is, Book Riot is one of the leading destinations on the web for book lovers and certainly one of the top best sites for new books. Book Riot’s got all areas of the reading life covered and does an especially good job at highlighting diverse authors, featuring all genres, and amplifying thoughtful and at times controversial opinions about books, publishing, and reading. The annual Read Harder Challenge pushes readers beyond their comfort zone with categories like “A book by an AOC (Author of Color) set in or about space” and “A novel by a trans or nonbinary author,” and a thriving community of challenge takers trade book recommendations and ideas. Book Riot’s many book podcasts are also must-listens for readers wanting to learn about new books and what to read next.

Strengths: Diversity, essays, book list articles, all-genre coverage, podcasts, book news, reading challenge, new book discovery

(5) Brain Pickings

Looking for engrossing essays about books that will push you emotionally and intellectually? You’ll definitely want to stop by Brain Pickings, the literary love child of Maria Popova, a blogger who decided to create an “inventory of the meaningful life” more than a decade ago and share it with other readers. Popova’s one-woman show is an intensely personal exploration of art and ideas, with coverage of children’s literature alongside philosophy, literary fiction, and creativity. Sign up for her newsletters to get a hit of thought-provoking writing a few times a week, guaranteed to break up your mundane day. Popova is author of two books: Figuring (2019), which highlights the hidden legacy of influential female thinkers, scientists, and creators, and A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader (2018), a book for younger readers that collects essays about reading from leading creative thinkers like Neil Gaiman, Shonda Rhimes, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Elizabeth Gilbert.

Strengths: Literary criticism, essays, backlist coverage, newsletter

(6) Bustle Books

The website Bustle is designed for the modern woman, and the ample literary coverage on their standout Bustle Books channel reflects that. Here readers will find profiles and interviews with female authors, lists that focus on feminism, and personal essays that explore the experience of being a female reader in today’s world. Bustle Books is known for provocative articles challenging the publishing world to be more diverse and more female inclusive. You’ll also find fun articles, too, about books, TV and film adaptations, and books in pop culture.

Strengths: Feminism, diversity, essays, book list articles, all-genre coverage, new book discovery

(7) CrimeReads

Like Book Marks, CrimeReads is a branch of Literary Hub (discussed in #12 below). This book website has a niche focus on “crime” in literature: through true crime, mysteries, thrillers, fiction about crimes in general. On CrimeReads, you’ll find essays about writing and reading crime fiction, appreciation of and interviews with crime fiction authors both well known and underrated, reading lists for crime fiction and nonfiction, and coverage of crime in TV, movies, and other media. CrimeReads also has essays and original reporting on true crime. If you’re a mystery and thriller lover, appreciate a good courtroom novel, or just love reading about true crimes stories, you’ll definitely want to head over to CrimeReads and marathon read their quality content.

Strengths: Mystery/thriller/suspense, true crime, nonfiction, the writing life, book list articles, essays, literary criticism, new book discovery

(8) Electric Literature

With its signature tagline of “Reading Into Everything,” Electric Literature hosts an eclectic mix of bookish coverage, ranging from highbrow literary criticism to horoscopes for writers and everything in between. A hallmark of Electric Literature is a focus on reading more diversely, and a regular feature called Read More Women asks writers to recommend books by women (a response to male authors who only recommend books by fellow male authors). One thing I love about Electric Literature is how often they touch on writing and the life of being a storyteller. (I’m a bit biased because I’ve written for Electric Literature and consider it one of my proudest accomplishments to have my writing on there.) Electric Literature also publishes original fiction in its literary magazine , so keep your eyes peeled for some of today’s best authors and new and emerging voices alike converging there.

Strengths: Literary criticism, diversity, essays, author interviews, the writing life, all-genre coverage, book news, book list articles, new book discovery

(9) Epic Reads

Oh, Epic Reads: what started as an arm of HarperCollins publishing house has turned into the go-to destination for YA book fans. Readers of young adult literature love Epic Reads for the humorous tone, creative article ideas (bookish horoscopes, fan reactions to plot twists, book title or song lyric? challenges, etc.), addictive quizzes, and, of course, the many TBR-exploding lists. You’ll also find book trailers, cover reveals, and details on the latest books and tour dates for YA authors. Even though Epic Reads is part of HarperCollins, they don’t only put the spotlight on books through their publishing house. Epic Reads is simply and purely about celebrating YA literature, no matter whose imprint is stamped on the book jacket. So often YA can be a heavy genre, with books tackling serious themes, but Epic Reads always reminds me that reading ( and YA) can and should be fun, too.

Strengths: Young Adult (YA) books, quizzes, book list articles, new book discovery

(10) Five Books

Five Books has a niche formula and does it well: a list of five great book recommendations. This powerhouse book website solicits a fascinating mix of today’s most interesting, creative, and thoughtful “Experts” —like Mary Beard , Madhur Jaffrey , Mia Farrow , and Jo Nesbø —to offer five book recommendations on a specific topic, such as “The Best Prose Poetry,” “Congress,” and “Zombies.” An additional nice feature of Five Books is the ability to make your own lists and share your expertise. The site lives up to its tagline of “The Best Books on Everything” as you’ll find as wide a variety of book lists and book coverage as anywhere on the web.

Strengths: Book list articles, book recommendations, new book discovery

(11) Goodreads

In the 9 years that I’ve been a member of Goodreads, I’ve seen the site change a lot—for the better. Goodreads is perhaps the most essential website for readers as it allows you to track the books you’ve read, want to read, and are reading and add custom shelves to sort books. Connect with other readers in groups and follow authors for updates and exclusive information. The Goodreads lists are a rabbit hole to tumble down and find out more about books. I’ve found that the user-generated reviews have also improved over the last few years, going from one-line snarky hot takes to more thoughtful reviews. Plus they are home of the popular Goodreads Reading Challenge, an annual self-challenge to set a goal of how many books you want to read that year. (I’ve been known to argue against the challenge on this blog and offer alternatives to the Goodreads challenge , yet what can I say… I do it almost every year.) Even the Goodreads blog is getting better at publishing creative articles about the bookish life.

Strengths: Community, reading data tool, book list articles, user-generated reviews, reading challenge

(12) Largehearted Boy

Largehearted Boy is a book and music blog established in 2002 by David Gutowski and an essential corner of the literary internet. Obsessed with best-books-of-the-year lists? Make sure you bookmark Largehearted Boy, which compiles an index of the best-of lists you can peruse till your heart’s desire. Check out last year’s “Online ‘Best Books of 2018’ Book Lists” for a TBR-buckling example. (Full disclosure: I’ve submitted my best-of lists from this blog before and been included.) Also great for book discovery is the weekly “Books of the Week” that Montreal bookstore Drawn & Quarterly hosts on Largehearted Boy. What I love about Largehearted Boy is the thoughtful and honest book reviews, the blending of music and literature with the “Book Notes,” where an author matches a mix tape to their new book. Like Brainpickings, Largehearted Boy traces a very personal experience of inquiry into being a reader, writer, listener, and human being to provoke our own consideration. It’s an honor to share in it.

Strengths: Book list articles, author interviews, essays, book reviews, new book discovery

(13) Literary Hub (a.k.a. “LitHub”)

The parent site of the aforementioned Book Marks and CrimeReads, Literary Hub pumps out new book content for readers on the daily. I also suggest signing up for the LitHub newsletters as they come out each day with a summary of new posts not just on LitHub but elsewhere on the Internet. The weekly edition is a must-read, too, and it’s where I get many of the interesting bookish links I post on the Facebook page for this blog . On LitHub, you’ll find an endless stream of great writing about books, including essays on writing and reading, author interviews, highbrow intellectual literary criticism, book lists, and new fiction. Browsing LitHub is like reading a digital version of a literary magazine (like The New York Review of Books ) that you actually want to read. Unquestionably LitHub’s specialty is literary fiction, though they do also cover various genres, too. However, you likely won’t find much YA and children’s literature coverage on LitHub, excluding when they come up in personal essays about reading or writing kidlit.

Strengths: Literary criticism, literary fiction, nonfiction, essays, book list articles, author interviews, new book discovery, book news

(14) The Millions

Established in 2003, The Millions is one of the oldest book websites around, and over the past 15 plus years it has built up a reputation for being a gathering point for intellectually curious readers. Head over to The Millions if you want to check out the latest buzzy literary releases, hear more from authors about how they conceptualized and wrote their new book, discover the most anticipated books published in the month ahead, and find out what books were nominated for awards. The strength of The Millions is definitely literary fiction and nonfiction. Two of the best recurring features on The Millions are the annual Year in Reading , in which notable creatives and thinkers share a little about their year in reading, and The Millions’ Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half Year 20XX Preview, a TBR-toppling list of the most anticipated books of the year. This list comes out in two parts: January for the First-Half and July for the Second-Half. (Example: here’s the First-Half of 2018 Preview and Second-Half .) You’ll want to comb through these articles with your TBR ready, and you can find all The Millions lists on Goodreads for easy record keeping. I look forward to them every year as traditions, almost holidays, on the bookish calendar.

Strengths: Literary criticism, literary fiction, nonfiction, essays, author interviews, book list articles, previews of new releases, book news

(15) The New Yorker ‘s Books Section

Arguably the best literary magazine in America, The New Yorker is also a flourishing website with tons of great book content, most of it found on The Page-Turner blog . On The New Yorker ‘s Books channel, book reviews, publishing news, essays and articles from the magazine about writing and literature, and New Yorker staff book recommendations. Note that you’ll need a subscription to view more than a few articles a month. I admit I’m a proud subscriber of the magazine; I never recycle the issues, and they take over every corner of the house like an invasive species, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Strengths: Literary criticism, essays, literary fiction, nonfiction, author interviews, book reviews, book recommendations, book news

(16) The New York Times Book Review Online

It would hardly be a list of the best book websites without including The New York Times ‘ Book section. After all, The New York Times Book Review is one of the most prestigious and influential periodicals in publishing, and landing a coveted spot on its bestseller lists is just about every writer’s dream. Fortunately, the Review ‘s virtual presence is a worthy digital companion to the supplement you’ll find in Saturday’s paper. Online, you’ll get the same great book reviews, essays, and humor sketches, plus some podcasts going inside the Book Review and publishing that week that are seriously worth checking out. Every week I look for the New & Noteworthy feature, which highlights new releases you should put on your radar, and the Editors’ Choice: New Books We Recommend This Week, a weekly list that includes extracts from the critics’ reviews that’ll make you want to read these fresh books. One of my favorite recurring series in the Book Review is the By the Book interviews with writers, thinkers, and creatives, which discuss the bookish life and always includes interesting books to add to your TBR. You can find all of these digitized and uploaded weekly .

Strengths: Book reviews, book recommendations, author interviews, literary criticism, book news, podcasts, previews of new releases, new book discovery

(17) NPR Books

National Public Radio (NPR) has always been ear candy for readers, but now you can get all their great book programming online in one spot. The NPR Books site collects all the author interviews, book reviews, and stories about the reading life that you’ll get on the radio. If you’ve ever had the experience I have where you’ve gotta turn off the car in the middle of a story and you don’t have a pen or paper ready to record a book title or author name, they’ve got you covered. Beyond audio programming, NPR Books has a solid stream of book reviews and feature articles about writing and reading with a focus on diverse authors. Breadth and depth of coverage is a signature of NPR, which is why you’ll find articles about children’s books alongside graphic novels and comics and highbrow literary fiction. NPR Books is known for one more thing: the annual end-of-the-year book concierge . This behemoth of a book recommendation machine is a slick book discovery tool to find more than 300 of the best books of the year. Yes, I said 300. I’ve found so many great books this way, ones that were otherwise overlooked in best-of-the-year lists, and the methods to sort by what you’re in the mood for make this giant list manageable, with some seriously high-quality UX. Oh, yeah: you’ll be working through that list for the rest of the upcoming year.

Strengths: Book reviews, diversity, book list articles, author interviews, book news, all-genre coverage, new book discovery

(18) Publishers Weekly

If it’s publishing industry news you want, Publishers Weekly should be your first stop. Publishers Weekly (PW) is packed with insider-y gossip-y content about what’s hitting the shelves now and soon. Writers will want to check out PW’s articles to get an idea of what agents are buying and what trends are moving through books. I also sometimes mine the announcements that publishers make of new and upcoming books to get ready for upcoming releases and add them to my calendar.

Strengths: Book news, publishing industry information, book list articles, previews of new releases, new book discovery

(19) Read Brightly

Kid lit fans, this one is for you. Read Brightly is an online children’s literature website that’s part of Penguin Random House. Read Brightly is an excellent resource for readers of children’s literature and the adults who help children learn to love reading. One great feature of this website is the way each article is broken down by reading levels, a key distinction that takes the guessing game out of trying to connect children to the most age and reading level appropriate books. A flurry of articles celebrate kid lit, with creative and diverse book lists around categories like “Move Over, Rover: 10 Picture Books That Feature Unusual Pets.” Each month, Read Brightly hosts a reading challenge for kids designed to help them stretch themselves and discover new books. Like Epic Reads, this book website is hosted by a publishing house but features books from all parts of the children’s literature publishing world. Read Brightly truly lives up to its motto “Raise Kids Who Love to Read” as that passion for literacy and raising bookworms comes through in every story they write.

Strengths: Children’s literature, Young Adult (YA) literature, book list articles, previews of new releases, reading challenges, all-genre coverage, book discovery

Last but definitely not least, Tor is the go-to destination for science fiction and fantasy readers on the literary web. Tor has long published books, but their online presence takes their mission to highlight great voices in speculative fiction and pushes it further, creating a space for a community of SFF fans to grow and thrive. On Tor, you’ll read honest book reviews that are fair and critical of the books and authors in question, original fiction, lists of books, personal essays, eBook deals, SFF industry news, and coverage of SFF-related media, like Game of Thrones . What I like about this site is the freedom that Tor gives its bloggers and staff writers to really speak their minds about books. You might find articles about super-super niche sub-sub-sub genres you didn’t even know were a thing, but you definitely won’t find BS here. This makes Tor a leading place to go for readers who want to dig into the issues behind books.

Strengths: Science fiction, fantasy, SFF related TV shows and movies, book news, book reviews, essays, book list articles, book discovery

More great book websites

Here are a few other book websites you’ll definitely want to check out but didn’t make the full list (because I ran out of time!): Atlas Obscura’s Books Section , Catapult , The New York Review of Books , and Vox.com’s Books Section .

What are some of your favorite book websites? What did I miss? Leave a comment!

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Sarah S. Davis is the founder of Broke by Books, a blog about her journey as a schizoaffective disorder bipolar type writer and reader. Sarah's writing about books has appeared on Book Riot, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews, BookRags, PsychCentral, and more. She has a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Library and Information Science from Clarion University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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Amazon Announces the Best Books of 2017 (So Far)

Amazon Books Editorial team selects the best titles for every reader’s summer—from futuristic novels and small-town stories to page-turning memoirs

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 21, 2017-- Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced its selections for Best Books of the Year So Far, naming Arundhati Roy’s novel,  The Ministry of Utmost Happiness ,   the top pick overall. The annual list is hand-selected by the Amazon Books Editors and features the Top 20 books released between January and June 2017 – offering readers a mid-year look at the best books.

“We love looking back on the past six months to give our customers a list of our favorite must-reads heading into summer,” said Sarah Harrison Smith, Editorial Director, Print and Kindle Books. “Our top pick this year,  The Ministry of Utmost Happiness  is a sweeping yet intimate story, one that packs heartbreak, humor, love and acceptance—and a memorable cast of characters—into a novel that will stick with readers for a very long time.”

The Amazon Books Editors’ picks for the first 10 of the Top-20 Best Books of the Year So Far are:

  • The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Novel  by Arundhati Roy: An intricate and graceful story of lives touched by magic, broken by tragedy, and mended with love. It's an exceptional work of storytelling and well worth the 20 year wait since her beloved debut,  The God of Small Things .
  • Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI   by David Grann: Smart, taut and gripping, Grann’s true-if-largely-unknown tale of big oil and serial murder on the Osage Indian Reservation in the 1920s is sobering: at once unsurprising and unbelievable, full of the arrogance and inhumanity that our society has yet to overcome.
  • Beartown: A Novel  by Fredrik Backman: The author of  A Man Called   Ove  sidesteps the predictable as he forges a new path of soul-searching and truth-telling in his gripping new novel about a small, hockey-mad town whose hopes and loyalties are torn apart by a crime no one wants to believe happened.
  • Exit West: A Novel  by Mohsin Hamid: In this futuristic novel, young lovers flee a war-torn Middle Eastern country to seek safety in the West, where cities like London have become embattled refugee settlements. Hamid (author of  The Reluctant Fundamentalist ) has said that in some sense we are all refugees, and it’s easy to sympathize with his protagonists, who find their romance tested by their travails in exile.
  • Priestdaddy: A Memoir  by Patricia Lockwood: When Patricia Lockwood temporarily moves back in with her parents—her father, a Catholic priest who loves electric guitars; her mother, focused on disasters and Satan worshippers—she returns, as well, to the memories of her upbringing. Poetically precise language and darkly hilarious observations spark zingers that will make you rethink your own childhood indoctrinations.
  • You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir  by Sherman Alexie: In this family memoir set on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Alexie (author of  The Lone Ranger   and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven ) connects, with humor and poignancy, the troubled life of his whip-smart and sometimes-cruel mother to the history of oppression and violence suffered by the larger American Indian community.
  • Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel  by George Saunders:   Set in 1862, at a ghost-filled cemetery where President Lincoln’s beloved son Willie has been laid to rest, this first novel by acclaimed short-story-writer and essayist George Saunders will upend your expectations and leave you hooting with laughter when you aren’t wiping away your tears.
  • The Impossible Fortress: A Novel  by Jason Rekulak: A coming-of-age story tucked inside a love letter to the strange and wonderful 1980s. It's one of those rare and special books: once you've finished it, you’ll want all your friends to read it immediately.
  • Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay: In this brutally honest and brave memoir, the bestselling author of  Bad Feminist  recounts how a childhood sexual assault led her to purposely gain weight in order to be unseen and therefore feel safe; it’s a story that will inspire you to be more considerate of the bodies of others and more accepting of your own.
  • Homo Deus:   A Brief History of Tomorrow  by Yuval Noah Harari:   With  Homo Deus , Yuval Noah Harari follows up his bestselling  Sapiens —which looked back at the last 70,000 years of human evolution and history—with a look forward. In short, where do we go from here?

To see the complete list of the Best Books of the Year So Far, and to purchase in Kindle or Print, visit:  www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar .

For in-depth reviews and coverage of the books featured on the Best Books of the Year So Far list, as well as insightful reviews on new books, author interviews, and roundups in popular categories from the Amazon Books Editorial team, visit the Amazon Book Review:  www.omnivoracious.com .

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit  www.amazon.com/about  and follow @AmazonNews.

View source version on businesswire.com:  http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621006011/en/

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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A Winter’s Promise: Book One of the Mirror Visitor Quartet

A Winter’s Promise: Book One of the Mirror Visitor Quartet

Price: $ 12.95

Amazon Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book of 2018

One of Entertainment Weekly ‘s 10 Best YA Books of 2018

One of Publishers Weekly ‘s Best YA Book of the Year

A National Indie Bestseller

Longlisted for Irish YA prize Great Reads Award

Lose yourself in the fantastic world of the arks and in the company of unforgettable characters in this French runaway hit, Christelle Dabos’ The Mirror Visitor quartet.

Plain-spoken, headstrong Ophelia cares little about appearances. Her ability to read the past of objects is unmatched in all of Anima and, what’s more, she possesses the ability to travel through mirrors, a skill passed down to her from previous generations. Her idyllic life is disrupted, however, when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a distant clan. Ophelia must leave all she knows behind and follow her fiancé to Citaceleste, the capital of a cold, icy ark known as the Pole, where danger lurks around every corner and nobody can be trusted. There, in the presence of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world.

The World of the Arks

Long ago, following a cataclysm called the Rupture, the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands, now known as arks. Over each, the spirit of an omnipotent and immortal ancestor abides. The inhabitants of these arks each possess a unique power. Ophelia, with her ability to read the pasts of objects, must navigate this fantastic, disjointed, perilous world using her trademark tenacity and quiet strength.

An unforgettable heroine, a rich and bountiful universe, intrigue and suspense: A Winter’s Promise is perfect for readers of Margaret Rogerson’s An Enchantment of Ravens , Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood , V.E. Schwab’s “Shades of Magic” series, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone , Kenneth Oppel’s “Airborne” series, and N.K. Jemisin “Broken Earth” series.

I think we could have all lived happily, in a way, God, me and the others, if it weren’t for that accursed book. It disgusted me. I knew what bound me to it in the most sickening of ways, but the horror of that particular knowledge came later, much later. I didn’t understand straight away, I was too ignorant.

Christelle Dabos

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

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Legendborn (Reprint)

THE ROBOTS OF GOTHAM by Todd McAulty

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Publisher: John Joseph Adams Books

Publication Date: June 19, 2018

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  • 2083 Sovereignty Matrix
  • Map: Eastern United States of America Showing Disputed Territories and Political Zones of Control (March 2083)

JJA_colophon

The Robots of Gotham

Todd mcaulty.

A thrilling adventure in a world one step away from total subjugation by machines.

After long years of war, the United States has sued for peace, yielding to a brutal coalition of nations ruled by fascist machines. One quarter of the country is under foreign occupation. Manhattan has been annexed by a weird robot monarchy, and in Tennessee, a permanent peace is being delicately negotiated between the battered remnants of the U.S. government and an envoy of implacable machines.

Canadian businessman Barry Simcoe arrives in occupied Chicago days before his hotel is attacked by a rogue war machine. In the aftermath, he meets a dedicated Russian medic with the occupying army, and 19 Black Winter, a badly damaged robot. Together they stumble on a machine conspiracy to unleash a horrific plague—and learn that the fabled American resistance is not as extinct as everyone believes. Simcoe races against time to prevent the extermination of all life on the continent . . . and uncover a secret that America’s machine conquerors are desperate to keep hidden.

Cover Designer:  Mark Robinson ISBN: 9781328711014 / 9781328589835 Format: Hardcover / Trade Paperback / Ebook

About the Author

Todd McAulty grew up in Nova Scotia. He was a manager at the start-up that created Internet Explorer, and currently works at a machine learning company in Chicago. This is his first novel.

Praise for The Robots of Gotham

Extrapolates a scary AI-overrun 2083 that’s only a few steps removed from today’s reality. This massive and impressive novel […] maintains breathless momentum throughout. Readers will hope for more tales of this sinister future and eagerly pick up on hints that Barry and his companions may continue their exploits.

— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

This debut novel beautifully combines a post-apocalyptic man-versus-machine conflict and a medical thriller. The world is immersive and detailed, the characters have depth, the writing is assured, the plotting intelligent, and the pacing about perfect. McAulty’s take on how AI might evolve gives the premise a unique twist. The story is action-packed, starting with a boom (literally) and driving you along from one crisis to the next. The action rarely lets up, yet it never becomes tiresome. […] This is thrilling, epic SF.

— Booklist (starred review)

The Robots of Gotham  is a fast-paced, engaging read [and] a thrilling ride, one that sends a hopeful message about the future of humanity.

— The Verge

SF fans rejoice! Your summer beach reading has arrived. Todd McAulty’s debut novel is a massive, fast-paced, action-packed epic … with robots! […] Even more than the fascinating and fully realized world it presents, what makes  The Robots of Gotham  such a great ride is its sheer narrative drive. Every page has the fierce readability of early Neal Stephenson, which is as high praise as it gets.

— Toronto Star

The Robots of Gotham  is a thrilling ride through a nuanced, post-singularity world populated by a frightening and fascinating array of smart machines. Read this and you’ll come to the same conclusion I did: The world belongs to robots, we’re just living in it.

—Daniel H. Wilson, bestselling author of Robopocalypse and The Clockwork Dynasty

An epic novel of man vs. machine, full of action, political intrigue, and unexpected twists. Todd McAulty has given us a fresh, compelling take on life during a robot apocalypse.

—Jeff Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Blame

Readers who enjoyed the complex robot-human relationships within  Robopocalypse  and the investigations in  World War Z  about how institutions function (or don’t) in the face of species-changing event will happily sink their teeth into  The Robots of Gotham .

—Omnivoracious Amazon Book Review

Todd McAulty has done the incredible. Delivered a rich and credible near-future world, where Thought Machines control, well, almost everything (and are themselves astonishingly diverse and cool), and used all this to create the most human SF story I’ve read in a very long time. I love everything about Robots of Gotham . I want more, McAulty. MORE!

—Julie E. Czerneda, author of The Clan Chronicles

When the robot apocalypse comes, I hope it’s this much fun. Like The Martian and Ready Player One, Robots of Gotham  is set in a high-tech near-future where something has gone terribly wrong, and it’s navigated by a hero who’s quirky, resourceful, and as likable as they come. Read it for the rock’em-sock’em-robot action—read it for the deft world-building with its detailed taxonomy of intelligent machines—read it for the sobering parallels to modern-day issues and threats. Or just read it because it’s a helluva good ride.

—Sharon Shinn, author of the Elemental Blessings series

The Robots of Gotham is a crackling good adventure, stuffed with cool action sequences. It also features serious and intriguing speculation about the potential of Artificial Intelligence, for good and bad. And it’s an engaging read, with absorbing characters, and, of course, lots and lots of nifty robots.

—Rich Horton, editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

Todd McAulty has imagined a fascinating geopolitical future, filled it with some very cool technology, and thrown in healthy helpings of intrigue and action. The result is a page-turner that kept me riveted from the opening lines to the final chapter. Highly recommended!

—David B. Coe, author of The Case Files of Justis Fearsson

If Johnny 5 had a baby with the Terminator, the result would be Robots of Gotham : a book that explores the consequences of world domination by our Robot Overlords. (And, lest we forget the badassiest of them, our Robot Overladies.) Drones, dinosaurs, and doggies—with a plague thrown in for good measure!—the barter is banter, and death is cheap. With man against machine, machine against machine, man against man, unlikely alliances must be forged across all species, rational or otherwise. For all its breakneck world-building, constant questing, and relentless wheeling and dealing, Robots of Gotham is deceptively deep-hearted: a novel about, of all things, friendship.

—C.S.E. Cooney, author of World Fantasy Award-winning Bone Swans: Stories

Soldiers, spies, diplomats—and that’s just the machines. Wait until you meet the wise-cracking hero and his dog. Wildly inventive, outrageous fun!

—Kay Kenyon, author of  At the Table of Wolves and Serpent in the Heather

A fast-moving adventure story set in the haunting cityscape of a near-future Chicago hollowed out by war. The headlong plot somehow includes enough breathing space to execute a thought experiment about the mingling of true AI and human cultures, and also vividly portray friendships that cross the boundaries of nation and even species. Handle with care: this is the sort of book that makes people sf-addicts for life.

—James Enge, author of Blood of Ambrose and A Tournament of Shadows

The Robots of Gotham is my kind of summer reading. A big, fat, robot-y book that is so human. This guy will throw himself in front of robots to save the lives of his enemies. The best solution is the courageous one. It’s so delicious.

—Carlos Hernandez, author of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

Adventure, mystery, action, sinister intrigue, clever heroics, and robots—what more do you need? I couldn’t put it down.

—Howard Andrew Jones, author of The Desert of Souls

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A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor Quartet #1)

A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor Quartet #1)

A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor Quartet #1)

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Fragment 11

The Promise 13

The Archivist 15

The Rupture 29

The Journal 39

The Bear 57

The Observatory 67

The Kitchen 79

The Medal 91

The Warning 105

The Gamekeeper 113

The Citaceleste 123

The Dragon 131

The Bedroom 143

The Getaway 157

The Garden 171

The Sister 185

The Claws 199

The Ear 217

At Clairdelune 243

The Key 245

The Child 277

The Library 291

The Visit 305

The Treasury 317

The Orange 333

The Dungeons 345

The Nihilist 355

The Trust 365

The Threat 377

The Opera 395

The Station 409

The Illusions 421

The Maid 439

The Dice 451

The Angel 467

The Mirror Visitor 485

Fragment, postscript 491

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  16. A Winter's Promise: Book One of the Mirror Visitor Quartet

    Ophelia is a hero for the ages, and I hope this series becomes the next big one that grabs the imaginations of young adults and adults alike." -Omnivoracious: Amazon Book Review "As mesmerizing as a waking dream, A Winter's Promise is certain to ensnare you in its unique, dizzyingly magical world of treachery, illusion, and intrigue."

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    Amazon Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book of 2018 . One of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best YA Books of 2018 . One of Publishers Weekly's Best YA Book of the Year . A National Indie Bestseller . Longlisted for Irish YA prize Great Reads Award. Lose yourself in the fantastic world of the arks and in the company of unforgettable characters in this French runaway hit, Christelle Dabos' The Mirror Visitor ...

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