Bulgakov's satire of the greed and corruption of Soviet authorities illustrates the redemptive nature of art and faith, and Julian Rhind-Tutt's superb interpretation does the classic full justice. With a dramatic flair and a deep, multilayered voice, he pulls off a host of fantastical characters including Professor Woland (Satan) and several of his associates, Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ, witches and madmen and a variety of early 20th-century Moscow literary and theater types. Two minor caveats: a few characterizations are too nasal, and his cockney accents for low-class Russian characters are a bit disconcerting. (June)
Two historical novels with elements of fantasy and folklore will bring readers from the battlefields of World War One to the last years of the Qing Dynasty in China. Katherine Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts shows the terrors of war and the unsettling and fantastical things that can appear in its shadow. Arden joins […]
“I went running in Fort Tryon Park in the northern reaches of Manhattan. And it was snowing. And during that run, I had this vision of a hunter lost in the snow…” Beasts of a Little Land is a remarkable debut novel about love and redemption, covering five tumultuous decades of Korean history. Juhea Kim […]
Ruth Graham’s Slate piece, “Against YA,” has everyone asking, “is YA embarrassing?” We had to weigh in. Below, two contrasting opinions of the debate of YA validity. We can’t wait to hear where you stand! Grown-ups: We Are Better Than This, by Ester Bloom “Embarrassment” is not a productive emotion, and “should” is not a […]
Can you imagine a world without animals? Would you even want to live in it? That’s the question raised in Piers Torday’s The Last Wild. Out yesterday, it’s a middle-grade read that takes place in a society where nearly all animal life has been wiped out by a mysterious virus, and everything is controlled by a monolithic […]
Publishing isn’t a game to be taken lightly. Aside from, you know, writing a book in the first place, there are numerous obstacles standing between a raw manuscript and its debut on bookshelves everywhere. Between things like war, suicide, despair, and government censorship, it’s sometimes incredible a book gets published at all. Here are 10 sci-fi or fantasy […]