Alien Blues
A futuristic police procedural featuring serial killers, a sinister conspiracy, and wonderfully peculiar stingray-like aliens. The Elaki are delightful, but muddled plotting, stilted prose, and gratuitous sexualized violence ruin an otherwise promising premise.
Silk Roads and Shadows
A Byzantine princess sets out on a perilous journey to China to steal silkworms and save her empire. A promising historical fantasy adventure, but frantic pacing, disorienting transitions, and careless prose made me abandon it after fifty pages.
The Dimensioneers
A teenage girl and her mutant lion leap between dimensions, pursued by hostile aliens. Unfortunately, fourteen pages of clumsy prose and bewildering action were more than enough to convince me to abandon the adventure.
Wizenbeak
I needed a comforting fantasy after a particularly brutal book. Instead, I found two pages of awkward prose, baffling word choices, and enough editorial grievances to produce an entire line-by-line critique. Also: ratsters.
Dreamrider
A promising dream-world premise, a giant otter, and some of the most painfully stilted prose and dialogue I've encountered. I abandoned this one after eleven pages, with absolutely no regrets.