A poignant and moving tale about grief, loss, and the sacrifices we make for everyday life set in a world with mysterious powers and twisted fae magics.

Urban fantasy my favourite. I loved this book, intricate, complex with fae and magic and super heroes. A nuclear family at the centre. I really enjoyed the depth of the narrative and the twists and turns of action. I do hope there is a sequel. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC

5⭐️
I am speechless.
The beginning of this book was super slow but I never felt like it was without purpose. The world building was magnificent and I was on the edge of my seat every second. I’ve never read anything like this. It was creative, beautifully written, engaging, and heart wrenching.

*⚠️*
I’m NOT a book cryer traditionally but I’ve NEVER cried harder at a book. I was sobbing.

I have so much to say about this book that I don't even know where to start. I finished reading it mere minutes ago, after barely being able to put it down the past few days. Truly I can't wait for release day because I need so many people to read it immediately.
I don't think I've ever read a more unique or unsettling portrayal of faeries before, and I loved how terrifying and brutal they are. I'm not usually one for urban fantasy, so at first, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book, but honestly it ended up not even being an issue. There was the perfect splash of science fiction to round it out for me.
From the moment I met them, I fell in love with Cal, Winnie, Evangeline, and Tennyson (I'm a sucker for a protective, loving dog) and I was desperate for every moment of their family that I could get my hands on.
With tears in my eyes, I beg you to read this book as soon as it releases--you'll be doing yourself a favor.

What a fantastic book! The first one I have read by this author but definitely can't wait to read more! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book. Highly recommend!

I need this book to already be out because I want to talk about it to everyone. Wow is all I can say right now. This was a great book.

Read if: you want to read a zombie book but the zombie are scary fae or you want a book with great lyrical writing that will break your heart

I think this book might take a while to kick in for some people but once it gets you, you wont be able to stop reading. This book was pure heartfelt sci fi/fantasy with a dash of horror and I loved it. The horror parts especially stuck with me throughout the book.

The premise of, and world building in, this book is so interesting. The set up and the academic articles throughout the book gave me just enough information to understand and appreciate the rules and logic of this world but not so much that I got stuck in it.

You sit with the characters and their ordinary life long enough to fall in love with them, and then before you get complacent, the book kicks into action and horror sequences making you wish you were back in the slice of life chapters where everyone was happy and safe.

I do wish there was more of an answer as to why the Harbours were created and more digging in to the conspiracies surrounding their creation - but they may have also felt out of place in a book that was ultimately about one family in this world, and not about the world itself. I'm just nosy, but in this case I'm perfectly happy to sacrifice those answers for the story this book focuses on. I'd also happily read another book set in this world that maybe goes into those aspects a bit more

I care about Cal, Evangeline, Winnie, and their loyal dog Tennyson so much and the ending of this book made me cry. If you love am urban sci fi/fantasy book with horror elements and a cast of characters who would go to the ends of the earth for each other, this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a bit fantasy, a bit horror and a bit political thriller. The beginning is pretty slow and there is a lot information to absorb that ties in beautifully in the story later. These aren’t the cute happy fae, they’re murdery. It’s a really interesting premise and my eyes misted a couple of times. If you like Mira Grant you’ll prob like this too

Wow-- this was a journey, and I loved every second of it. The Bloodless Queen takes place in a world where the fae are blessed (created) one day a year, and flee to the Harbors. Cal and Evangeline, are two fencers, protectors tasked with shepherding the fae into the harbors where they progress to their queen (allegedly). The Fencers start their lives as normal people until they are marked with prime numbers and develop powers. These powers peak towards the equinox and allow them to fight against the fae who are causing chaos. The Sylvans are a religious group who worship the fairy queen and hope for the day they may become fae and can join their queen. There are really so many things going on in this story, but they all work together so well. I find this to be a very unique story and offers a lot of action with a lot of feeling. Cal, Evangeline and Winnie show the reader what love is and just how crazy things can get.

I highly, highly recommend this to anyone looking for an intense urban fantasy story. It has fun history, intense action, and so much to care about.

I absolutely loved The Bloodless Queen. This story is so difficult to describe; think Annihilation meets Under the Pendulum Sun by way of World War Z and the X-Men, and you might be getting close.

This book is wild, beautiful, horrifying, and deeply emotional. Truly genre-defying, it will not work for some readers; but if you enjoy unique stories, more literary pacing, and plots that lean towards the weird side and stretch the boundaries of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, I think you will love The Bloodless Queen.

Anyone who dies on the autumn equinox becomes fae: wild, strange, and deadly. This has been a fact of life since the world opened the Harbors, large areas of land fenced off and given back to nature. The fae flee to the Harbors after their transformations, making those areas dangerous and unknowable, and the government hires Fencers-humans enhanced with magical abilities- to protect the boundaries and dispose of any fae on the human side. Evangeline and Calidore are powerful Fencers, but at home, they are just a normal, happy family with a beautiful daughter named Winnifred. When the autumn equinox brings tragedy and Winnifred turns fae, her parents defy their government and take her deep into the Harbors in search of a cure that will bring their baby girl back to them. As they travel deeper into the strange and deadly wilds, they begin to suspect that the worst encounter lies ahead; deep within the Harbors, something waits for them.

I loved everything about this book, but I think my favorite part was the fae. I am always ready to read a story about the fae, but I’ve never read a book that described them like this before. These fae feel new, and exciting, while also drawing enough parallels to the old folklore and fairytales to keep the “dots” connected between the two. Johnson’s fae seem like an extension of nature, her wildness and whimsy and danger all rolled into one. The world building around the appearance of the fae and humanities’ response to them created a setting that is dark fantasy and sci-fi dystopia rolled into one.

I also loved that in this alien and unique story setting, the main plot thread is as old as time: a parent’s sacrificial love for their child. I was rooting so hard for Evangeline and Calidore throughout this story as they fought to save their daughter; in a book that could have focused on the world-wide peril the fae and the Harbors represent, the author instead chose to focus on one family, and I thought that made the story so relatable and powerful. This book does get devastatingly emotional, so please be aware of that if you don’t like emotionally heavy-hitting stories.

At once an adventure story, a dark fairytale, a sci-fi horror, and a thoughtful exploration of human relationships and our impact on the natural world, there is a lot going on in The Bloodless Queen. At times, it did feel that there was possibly too much going on; I think this could easily have been a duology. However, I did not find it confusing, and the numerous story elements and themes are part of what make this book so unique and wonderful. I have seen some reviewers state that the pacing was too slow for them; I did not find this to be the case, but I enjoy books that take their time. I felt that there was plenty of action throughout the book, and that the extra descriptions / etc. helped me care more deeply for the characters and understand the world better.

The Bloodless Queen is definitely going to be one of my favorite reads of 2025, and I have preordered a hard copy for my personal library. I can’t wait to see what this author writes moving forward!

I would recommend The Bloodless Queen to fans of The Southern Reach Series, genre-stretching books, and emotionally resonant stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW Publishers for the arc! All thoughts & opinions in the review are my own.

Gabe Henry's "Enough is Enuf" is a delightful and surprisingly informative romp through the centuries-long, often comical, and ultimately persistent quest for simplified English spelling. Don't let the academic-sounding premise fool you; this isn't a dry linguistic treatise. Instead, Henry delivers a brisk and witty 500-year tour of the Simplified Spelling Movement, populated by a fascinating cast of characters – from the pragmatic Benjamin Franklin to the literary giants Mark Twain and C.S. Lewis, and even the opinionated George Bernard Shaw.

The book cleverly frames the inherent absurdity of English orthography – the silent 'g' in 'gnome,' the unpredictable vowels, the sheer illogicality that has plagued generations of writers. Henry uses these inconsistencies not as a source of frustration, but as a springboard for a humorous exploration of the many attempts to rectify them. We learn about the passionate, sometimes eccentric, individuals who dared to declare "Enough is enuf!" and proposed radical (and often hilariously impractical) changes to our written language.

Henry skillfully weaves together historical anecdotes, biographical snippets, and linguistic explanations without ever becoming bogged down in jargon. He paints vivid pictures of these "rebel wordsmiths," highlighting their motivations, their proposed reforms (think "thru" for "through" and "laf" for "laugh"), and the often-fierce resistance they encountered. The book is peppered with amusing examples of simplified spellings and the sometimes-outlandish arguments for and against them, making it an engaging read even for those who haven't given much thought to the vagaries of English spelling.

What makes "Enough is Enuf" particularly engaging is its lighthearted tone. Henry approaches the subject with a playful curiosity, never mocking the reformers but rather highlighting the inherent humor in their ambitious endeavors and the stubborn resilience of traditional spelling. The book acknowledges the well-intentioned efforts and the logical arguments behind simplification while also recognizing the deeply ingrained nature of our current system.

The narrative seamlessly transitions from historical figures and their pamphlets to the modern digital age. Henry astutely observes how technology – from the character limits of early texts to the informal language of Twitter and the visual shorthand of emojis – is, in its own way, contributing to a natural simplification of English. This contemporary perspective adds a satisfying layer to the historical overview, suggesting that perhaps the long-fought battle for easier spelling is subtly being won in the digital realm.

In conclusion, "Enough is Enuf" is a surprisingly captivating and genuinely funny exploration of a topic that might initially seem dry. Gabe Henry has crafted a concise and entertaining history of a persistent linguistic dream, populated by memorable personalities and filled with insightful observations about the ever-evolving nature of language. It's a perfect read for anyone who has ever cursed a silent letter or wondered why English spelling seems designed to trip us up. You'll likely finish the book with a newfound appreciation for the quirks of our language and a chuckle at the enduring human desire for a little more linguistic logic.






Write a review of The Bloodless Queen by Joshua Phillip Johnson. Summary: Part ecological Orpheus and Eurydice myth and part gothic thriller, discover this atmospheric near-future sci-fi novel about fae mysteries deep within strange nature preserves



Perfect for readers of Jeff VanderMeer, Chuck Wendig, and Sunyi Dean • “Richly imagined and beautifully written, with a highly original and very creepy magic system.” —R. F. Kuang (on Johnson's The Forever Sea)



On the autumnal equinox of 1987, after fencing off half of the Earth’s land for huge nature reserves called Harbors, the leaders of the world called on their peoples to celebrate. Then began the horror and the magic.



Everyone who died that day—all 132,329 of them—instead of going cold and still, turned odd and fae. They became mischievous and murderous, before disappearing into their nearest Harbor, never seen again. And each year after that on the autumnal equinox, the same terrible transformations would occur: the wretched dead not dying, but instead riddling and whispering of a faerie queen—bloodless and powerful—while fleeing into the wild confines of the Harbors. 



In the present day, Evangeline and Calidore are working as fencers, government-employed protectors whose magical powers come from mysterious tattoos of prime numbers. When they aren’t fixing the fences of the Midwest Harbor that separates the human world from Faerie or patrolling on the equinox, they are parents of an almost-seven-year-old daughter named Winnie. 



But as the new year’s autumnal equinox approaches, Evangeline and Calidore find themselves thrust into a vast conspiracy that stretches across governments, religions, and fencers worldwide.  As they race to untangle this web of power and intrigue, they will need to confront the questions that have haunted the world since the fences were built: 



What lies at the heart of the Harbors? Who waits there?



A Tangled Thicket of Myth and Dread: A Review of Joshua Phillip Johnson's "The Bloodless Queen"
Joshua Phillip Johnson’s "The Bloodless Queen" is a captivating and unsettling novel that successfully blends the haunting beauty of ecological disaster with the eerie allure of fae mythology, all wrapped in a compelling near-future gothic thriller. Fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s atmospheric dread, Chuck Wendig’s genre-bending narratives, and Sunyi Dean’s unsettling mysteries will find themselves drawn into the strange and dangerous world Johnson has crafted.

The premise itself is immediately arresting: on a supposed day of global celebration, a horrific event transforms the dead into a mischievous and murderous fae, who then vanish into vast, fenced-off nature preserves called Harbors. This annual, equinox-linked tragedy sets a chilling stage for the present-day narrative, where Evangeline and Calidore, magically empowered "fencers," patrol the borders between humanity and the increasingly mysterious and menacing Faerie within the Harbors.

Johnson masterfully builds atmosphere. The Harbors are not simply nature reserves; they are spaces imbued with an ancient, unsettling magic, places where the natural world has become intertwined with something otherworldly and potentially hostile. The descriptions of these wild confines are evocative, hinting at both breathtaking beauty and lurking danger, echoing the ecological anxieties that underpin the narrative. This creates a palpable sense of unease, a feeling that something ancient and powerful stirs just beyond the fences.

The Orpheus and Eurydice undertones are cleverly woven into the story through Evangeline and Calidore’s relationship and their connection to the Harbors. Their role as protectors, constantly guarding the boundary between worlds, carries the weight of that tragic myth, hinting at potential loss and the perilous allure of the forbidden. This mythological framework adds a layer of depth and resonance to the unfolding events.

Beyond the atmospheric setting and mythological echoes, "The Bloodless Queen" delivers a compelling thriller plot. The approaching autumnal equinox throws Evangeline and Calidore into a sprawling conspiracy that implicates powerful institutions and challenges the very foundations of their world. Their investigation is a race against time, filled with intriguing clues, dangerous encounters, and the constant threat of the fae. The mystery surrounding the "bloodless queen" and the true nature of the Harbors keeps the reader guessing, peeling back layers of intrigue with each revelation.

Evangeline and Calidore are well-developed protagonists, their relationship as both partners and parents adding an emotional core to the narrative. Their anxieties about their daughter, Winnie, living in a world perpetually shadowed by the equinox transformations, ground the fantastical elements in a relatable human experience. Their magical abilities, tied to prime number tattoos, are a unique and intriguing detail, adding another layer of mystery to the world-building.

Johnson’s writing is both lyrical and sharp. He paints vivid pictures of the Harbors and the unsettling transformations while maintaining a brisk pace that propels the plot forward. The creeping sense of dread is expertly managed, building tension without resorting to cheap scares. The "creepy magic system" praised by R.F. Kuang is subtly integrated, feeling both organic to the world and deeply unsettling in its implications.

"The Bloodless Queen" is a thought-provoking novel that explores themes of ecological responsibility, the fear of the unknown, and the enduring power of myth. It’s a story that lingers in the mind long after the final page, leaving the reader to ponder the secrets hidden within the strange nature preserves and the true nature of the bloodless queen who reigns within. For those seeking a genre-bending tale that is both atmospheric and thrilling, "The Bloodless Queen" is a journey into a darkly enchanting world well worth taking.

Beautiful prose meets a quietly powerful narrative. It’s not flashy, but it resonates emotionally and rewards patient reading. A gentle, lingering story that stays with you.

wild, chaotic, beautiful. the traditional fae depictions, from the cute and innocent, to the mischievous and unsettling, to the attractive romantasy ones, don't apply here. they feel less like an entity or a thing and more like a place, kinda SCPish. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

"Part ecological Orpheus and Eurydice myth and part Gothic thriller, discover this atmospheric near-future sci-fi novel about fae mysteries deep within strange nature preserves.

On the autumnal equinox of 1987, after fencing off half of the Earth's land for huge nature reserves called Harbors, the leaders of the world called on their peoples to celebrate. Then began the horror and the magic.

Everyone who died that day - all 132,329 of them - instead of going cold and still, turned odd and fae. They became mischievous and murderous, before disappearing into their nearest Harbor, never seen again. And each year after that on the autumnal equinox, the same terrible transformations would occur: the wretched dead not dying, but instead riddling and whispering of a faerie queen - bloodless and powerful - while fleeing into the wild confines of the Harbors.

In the present day, Evangeline and Calidore are working as fencers, government-employed protectors whose magical powers come from mysterious tattoos of prime numbers. When they aren't fixing the fences of the Midwest Harbor that separates the human world from Faerie or patrolling on the equinox, they are parents of an almost-seven-year-old daughter named Winnie.

But as the new year's autumnal equinox approaches, Evangeline and Calidore find themselves thrust into a vast conspiracy that stretches across governments, religions, and fencers worldwide. As they race to untangle this web of power and intrigue, they will need to confront the questions that have haunted the world since the fences were built:

What lies at the heart of the Harbors? Who waits there?"

I adore this cohesion of science and fantasy.

An atmospheric gothic thriller and part ecological myth about fae mysteries deep within these strange nature preserves. The leaders of the world called on their people for a celebration that descended into madness, horror and magic. Everyone who died that day turned odd and fae.

With the dead not dying, and strange riddles and whispering of a faerie queen, vast conspiracies and secrets stretch across governments and religions worldwide. A deeply haunting, gothic story that delves into ecological terrorism with a very creepy magic system.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐀𝐖 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧