The Listeners by Harrison DemchickMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Harrison Demchick’s The Listeners is a novel which, in this reviewer’s opinion, could have been great, breaking all borders of genre. Alas, it falls short, due I believe to lack of good developmental editing. Certainly Demchick demonstrates he is a literary adept, with several passages that are breath-taking in their impact, and his concept is a new perspective on the much-overdone zombie apocalypse trope, enough…

The Mapmaker’s War: A Legend by Ronlyn DomingueMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Ronlyn Domingue’s latest novel, The Mapmaker’s War: A Legend is an ambitious literary novel that more easily slides into the canon of magic realism than it does commercial fantasy. Generally an epic tale of a woman who defies convention and national obligation, the story explores issues of equality not only of the sexes, but of cultures, of governments founded on imperialism at…

The Age of Ice: A Novel by J. M. SidorovaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars How to assess J.M. Sidorova’s debut novel, The Age of Ice? Not an easy task. The premise of the tale is an epic journey of a Russian nobleman over 200 years of his unnaturally extended life, from 18th century Czarist Russia, through countless wars, political upheaval both national and international. Throughout that journey we are witness to protagonist, Prince Alexander…