Wombling Along
Hellooo!
Welcome to Wombling Along where gather up reviews and other things that caught my eye during the week. Grab a cuppa, a biscuit and hopefully find a book and something to ponder.
This week has been a bit of a blur due to stuff and we shall leave it at that. The good news is I have quite a few reviews to write up so next week should keep us all busy! Not online too much so this may be shorter than usual. I also have not had much reading time so I am hoping for a chilled weekend with a small pile of books to tuck into that look very promising! Fingers crossed by next weekend a normal schedule will return!
Reviews
First up Strange Horizons is entranced by Slow Gods by Claire North
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/slow-gods-by-claire-north/
Then they have this fascinating 1920s tale now translated that sounds like it has a lot to still say to us with Into The Sun by CF Ramuz translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan
They also add to the acclaim for The House of Illusionists and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg
Jamreads tempts with City of Others by Jared Poon
https://jamreads.com/reviews/city-of-others-the-deus-files-1-by-jared-poon
They also hugely enjoyed Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
https://jamreads.com/reviews/black-sun-between-earth-and-sky-1-by-rebecca-roanhorse
Galactic Journey looks at 1972 anthology Science Against Man edited by Anthony Cheetham
Nerds of A Feather tempts me a lot with The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/02/book-review-subtle-art-of-folding-space.html
And they unfairly tempt me with more SF (which this year is really working for me me) with The Iron Garden Sutra by A D Sui
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/02/book-review-iron-garden-sutra-by-d-sui.html
Beyond the Horizon has this review that grabbed me with Beyond & Within: Creative Futures – Speculative Stories from a Unique Science & Technology Collaboration Edited by Allen Stroud
https://www.patreon.com/posts/book-review-tree-151738548
Fan Fi Addict really loves The Misheard World by Aliya Whiteley which started last night and can’t wait to get back to today
https://fanfiaddict.com/the-misheard-world-by-aliya-whiteley/
Locus definitely tells me that I need to get around to this series with Transmentation Transgression by Darkly Lem
https://locusmag.com/review/transmentation-transgression-by-darkly-lem-review-by-alexandra-pierce/
The Fantasy Hive enjoyed The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2026/02/the-magician-of-tiger-castle-by-louis-sachar-book-review-2/
Reactor really enjoyed After The Fall by Edward Ashton
https://reactormag.com/book-review-after-the-fall-by-edward-ashton/
Awards
The Compton Crook Award finalists have been announced
https://locusmag.com/2026/02/2026-compton-crook-award-finalists/
In Other News
Exploring why any genre is now popular is something we should always do more of and I found this essay online about Dark Romance and US society fascinating
https://filthyficwithfeelingspod.substack.com/p/from-bodice-rippers-to-book-bans
Lorraine Wilson has a fascinating discussion here on ‘weird girl lit’
https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-are-we-still-149012273
Ruadan Books has this essay from SL Dove Cooper about allowing your self permission
https://ruadanbooks.com/yes-you-get-to-do-that/
Charlie Jane Anders gave me a lot to think about choosing the books for talk about in this newsletter
https://buttondown.com/charliejane/archive/im-still-not-over-losing-my-book-review-gig/
In the Guardian the author Frances Bufford explains why fantasy is cool!
Then have a read of this from Ada Palmer in Strange Horizons
And then for some more thoughts and try to add these together read this from Jake Casella Brookins in Ancillary Review of Books
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2023/12/31/an-anti-defense-of-science-fiction/
That’s should give you a a lot of thoughts about genres! Perhaps we need a Conversation! You may have another biscuit while you do that
Round Ups
Twirling Book Princess has their TBR update
https://twirlingbookprincess.com/2026/02/sundays-tbr-updates-22-2-2026/
The Fantasy Hive round up their faves of the month
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2026/02/top-picks-february-2026/
There’s Always Room For One More reflects on the month too!
https://onemore.org/2026/02/27/redux-fleeting-february/
Never forget to read The Full Lid for the week
https://mailchi.mp/71ec2906ee77/the-full-lid-27th-february-2026
And as always for more excellent reviews and more then grab hold of Renay’s Intergalactic Mixtape
https://buttondown.com/intergalacticmixtape/archive/intergalactic-mixtape-42/
And Finally
let’s play a game and explore the evolution of English over a thousand years? I got to the 1200s how about you?
https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-back-in-time-understand-english
