Buy A Trade of Blood
Read our review of Book 1, The Tainted Cup
FORMAT/INFO: A Trade of Blood was published by Del Rey on August 4th, 2026. It is 400 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: A Trade of Blood is another superb fantasy murder mystery in an eerie, creepy world. This particular installment takes a look at how the meat gets made - and I mean that literally. Ana and Din are sent to a part of the empire renowned for its cattle pastures and butchery floors, as well as for its two feuding noble families who have been squabbling over the land for centuries. As with the previous two books, everything is just a little bit off in a way that is unsettling to the reader. This is an empire willing to alchemically enhance and manipulate anything and anyone for its survival - although in this adventure, we start taking a real peek behind the curtain at the cost of that survival.
This was also a particularly personal adventure for Din, in more ways than one. His own alchemical enhancements that give him an eidetic memory also cost him life span and fertility. And while he may not care so much about losing the ability to procreate, Din starts to get some reminders that his life will likely be much shorter than those around him. It's a realization that makes him grapple with both his past and future.
The mystery itself is a good one - why would a man who confessed to a murder have no recollection of how or why he did it? The answer is absolutely chilling and disquieting. I will say that keeping track of the cast of characters involved in the two feuding houses did become a little bit daunting at times, simply because there were so many names and connections between everyone, but it's a minor issue.
In short, A Trade of Blood has confirmed what I've suspected: if Bennett releases one of these books every year for the foreseeable future, I will be a very happy reader indeed.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: A Trade of Blood is another superb fantasy murder mystery in an eerie, creepy world. This particular installment takes a look at how the meat gets made - and I mean that literally. Ana and Din are sent to a part of the empire renowned for its cattle pastures and butchery floors, as well as for its two feuding noble families who have been squabbling over the land for centuries. As with the previous two books, everything is just a little bit off in a way that is unsettling to the reader. This is an empire willing to alchemically enhance and manipulate anything and anyone for its survival - although in this adventure, we start taking a real peek behind the curtain at the cost of that survival.
This was also a particularly personal adventure for Din, in more ways than one. His own alchemical enhancements that give him an eidetic memory also cost him life span and fertility. And while he may not care so much about losing the ability to procreate, Din starts to get some reminders that his life will likely be much shorter than those around him. It's a realization that makes him grapple with both his past and future.
The mystery itself is a good one - why would a man who confessed to a murder have no recollection of how or why he did it? The answer is absolutely chilling and disquieting. I will say that keeping track of the cast of characters involved in the two feuding houses did become a little bit daunting at times, simply because there were so many names and connections between everyone, but it's a minor issue.
In short, A Trade of Blood has confirmed what I've suspected: if Bennett releases one of these books every year for the foreseeable future, I will be a very happy reader indeed.
3:00 AM | 
Posted by
Caitlin G. |
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Comma Press is an independent & Not-For-Profit publisher that in short fiction from the UK and beyond. China +100 is their newest offering which is edited by Xueting C. Ni. The anthology will be released on 24th September 2026.
This SF anthology features the talents of ten brilliant writers (Lu Hang, Zhou Dedong, Ling Chen , Dan Shi , He Zun, He Xi, Anna Wu, Tang Fei, Zhao Haihong , Yimei Tangguo & Chen Qiufan).
The anthology cover is designed by David Eckersall with art direction done by Ra Page. Checkout how the cover evolved and the official blurb below:
Official Book Blurb: China + 100 poses
a simple question to ten Chinese writers: what might your country look
like in the year 2119 – a century after the first outbreak of
Covid-19?
How might this event – which
triggered a global health crisis – reach across a century of
technological progress, social engineering, and medical advances, to shape the
country and its people? Will the lessons of the pandemic have been learned?
Will the people’s trust in science have been repaired?
Covering
a range of contexts, from transhumanist performance art to lawless
dystopia, these stories use the prism of the future to inspect both
intergenerational repercussions from the 2019 outbreak and imagined future
pandemic scenarios. Along the way, we encounter concrete-devouring super-fungi,
deep-space outbreaks, slum clearances dressed up as ‘quarantine measures’, and
science-defying rumours spreading faster than any virus. However, at the heart
of each story, lies the unique Chinese temperament, acknowledging the loss that
the entire country experienced, and a resilience formed over generations of
disasters and conflict.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael R. Fletcher lives in the endless suburban sprawl north of Toronto. He dreams of trees and seeing the stars at night and being a ninja. He is an unrepentant whiskey-swilling reprobate of the tallest order and thinks grilled cheese sandwiches are a food group.
http://michaelrfletcher.com/
Publisher: Michael R. Fletcher (August 3, 2026) Page count: 358 pages Formats: ab, eb, pp
Buy A Forsaken Prophecy
Read our review of Book 1, A Forbidden Alchemy
Read our review of Book 1, A Forbidden Alchemy
FORMAT/INFO: A Forsaken Prophecy was published by Saga Press on July 21st, 2026. It is 480 pages and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: A Forsaken Prophecy is an excellent sequel full of all the angst and complicated emotions you could want from our poor tortured protagonists. Picking up from the tumultuous events from the end of book one, it does a great job of putting our characters between a rock and a hard place. Each must decide what compromises they’re willing to make: is it more important to make short term compromises in order to survive, or should you refuse to bend even a little in order to protect a fledgling rebellion? What’s more important, your rebellion or those you love? Which one are you willing to sacrifice in order to protect the other? There are plenty of terrible tough decisions to be made, and I was thoroughly engrossed to see how our characters navigated the waters they were in.
Nina in particular really bears the weight of these decisions and as a result, we are treated to some impressive bouts of feminine rage throughout the book as she finally decides she has had ENOUGH. But while Nina does get some fantastic moments to call people out, I did feel like she was put a little bit to the side in this book. That’s in part because there are more POVs in this sequel than there were in book one (which only featured Nina and Patrick). With more POVs, that means there's less time to spend with each POV, and in this case, it felt like Nina got the short end of the stick (somewhat ironic given there were those who were insisting that no one gets to decide her fate but her). Some POVs offered some interesting insights, but some POVs belonged to characters I wanted to drop kick into the sun (sorry not sorry Theo). I preferred it when it was just a two POV book, but I also understand the need to broaden the POVs as the scope of the series broadens.
As for the romance, it continues its delicious slow burn. Without going into spoilers from book one, Nina and Patrick have some things to work through and feelings to grapple with. I enjoyed the turmoil, especially as it didn’t feel like unnecessary roadblocks, but real people working through real emotions brought on by their circumstances.
The plot this time goes into the overarching lore of the world as our characters unpack a hidden prophecy and try to understand its implications. I enjoyed the race against time and continuing to see how other communities are faring in the world, especially as strikes and rebellion pit the upper classes against the working class and regular everyday folks struggle to hold onto ideals when they can’t feed their families.
All in all, A Forsaken Prophecy is an engrossing sequel that continues to put our heroes through the wringer, forcing them to make impossible choices. It’s moody and atmospheric and will throw you right back into all the angst and drama you loved from book one. Cannot wait to see how everything concludes in the finale!
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: A Forsaken Prophecy is an excellent sequel full of all the angst and complicated emotions you could want from our poor tortured protagonists. Picking up from the tumultuous events from the end of book one, it does a great job of putting our characters between a rock and a hard place. Each must decide what compromises they’re willing to make: is it more important to make short term compromises in order to survive, or should you refuse to bend even a little in order to protect a fledgling rebellion? What’s more important, your rebellion or those you love? Which one are you willing to sacrifice in order to protect the other? There are plenty of terrible tough decisions to be made, and I was thoroughly engrossed to see how our characters navigated the waters they were in.
Nina in particular really bears the weight of these decisions and as a result, we are treated to some impressive bouts of feminine rage throughout the book as she finally decides she has had ENOUGH. But while Nina does get some fantastic moments to call people out, I did feel like she was put a little bit to the side in this book. That’s in part because there are more POVs in this sequel than there were in book one (which only featured Nina and Patrick). With more POVs, that means there's less time to spend with each POV, and in this case, it felt like Nina got the short end of the stick (somewhat ironic given there were those who were insisting that no one gets to decide her fate but her). Some POVs offered some interesting insights, but some POVs belonged to characters I wanted to drop kick into the sun (sorry not sorry Theo). I preferred it when it was just a two POV book, but I also understand the need to broaden the POVs as the scope of the series broadens.
As for the romance, it continues its delicious slow burn. Without going into spoilers from book one, Nina and Patrick have some things to work through and feelings to grapple with. I enjoyed the turmoil, especially as it didn’t feel like unnecessary roadblocks, but real people working through real emotions brought on by their circumstances.
The plot this time goes into the overarching lore of the world as our characters unpack a hidden prophecy and try to understand its implications. I enjoyed the race against time and continuing to see how other communities are faring in the world, especially as strikes and rebellion pit the upper classes against the working class and regular everyday folks struggle to hold onto ideals when they can’t feed their families.
All in all, A Forsaken Prophecy is an engrossing sequel that continues to put our heroes through the wringer, forcing them to make impossible choices. It’s moody and atmospheric and will throw you right back into all the angst and drama you loved from book one. Cannot wait to see how everything concludes in the finale!
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