Unapologetic Reviews

I first came across this book decades ago, in the late 80s or early 90s, in Hungarian translation. I borrowed it from my aunt, read halfway, and returned it unfinished. Even so, it stayed with me. I forgot the title and the author, yet I remembered the cover and fragments of the story: a ruined city on a distant planet, explorers dying and returning in new bodies. It was strange and unsettling, far beyond what I could fully grasp as a child. Recently, I finally tracked it down. The book was The Orchid Cage by Herbert W. Franke , first published in 1961. I read it in English translation this time, and it felt like closing a circle that had been open for thirty years. The story is set far in Earth’s future, around the year 112,000 . Two groups of explorers are sent to investigate a distant, abandoned planet. They do not travel physically. Instead, they project themselves into artificial “pseudo-bodies” created on the planet itself. The challenge is to discover who once lived there. The ...

To Touch a Silent Fury is the first book in R.A. Sandpiper ’s brand-new duology, The Bride of Eavenfold . I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this one, so thank you to the author for the chance to dive in early. This is probably her longest book yet, and it’s set in a fresh new universe, separate from her previous series. The world is built around the number five— five seasons , lives measured in five cycles , five kingdoms tied to the five senses. It’s an imaginative, intricate system that feels coherent and alive. The main character, Tani , is born Moontouched . She looks a bit like an albino; her skin is pale, hair white, but her eyes are completely white. Children like her are sent away around the age of ten to an isolated island , but she is special: she’s the only girl on an island full of men. When we meet her she awaits her Fate, they key to unlocking the full potential of her powers. Lang’s chapters balance out Tani’s isolation perfectly. Where she is cut off and vulnera...