Review: The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America's Birds by James H. McCommons

The Feather Wars by James H. McCommons 
St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: March 17th, 2026
Hardcover. 416 pages.

About The Feather Wars:

"A definitive history of bird conservation in America.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred)

From the time the country was founded, early Americans assumed that the land’s natural resources were infinite, including its birds, which were zealously hunted for food, game, and fashion. With the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon―a bird once so numerous that its flocks darkened the sky in flight―many realized actions needed to be taken if other birds were to be saved. What followed was both a spiritual awakening and a great crusade to save birds and their habitat. The campaign took place on many battlefields: society teas in Boston, hunt clubs on the East Coast, the mangroves in the Everglades, and in the editorial pages of newspapers and periodicals. From many corners of the country the bird protection movement was born and brought together a remarkable coalition of people and organizations to save America’s birds.

The Feather Wars is an entertaining and expansive work of American history, an incredible story about how disparate characters―progressive politicians, free-thinking society belles, nature writers and artists, bird-loving U.S. presidents, gunmakers, business titans, and brave game wardens―came together to save hundreds of species of birds. Heroes, martyrs, villains, and conflicted do-gooders―the early bird conservation movement had them all. Together they transformed how Americans thought and cared about birds, forever altering the American landscape."

The Feather Wars is incredibly well-researched and I think does an amazing job of telling readers about a long and complicated history of birds in America in a way that felt accessible and compelling. This was a bit of a random read for me and I'm so glad I decided to take a chance and pick it up. I learned so much and am now even more curious about all the populations of birds in my area. 

Growing up, I was never very much into birds. There were cool, but you know, I never really thought about them much--they were just there, and I had no idea how tumultuous their history in the United States was. However, as an adult, I've found myself more and more interested in birds and I've really grown more curious about all the birds that live in my area and how they got there. (I also regularly feed some crows in my neighborhood so they now follow me and my dog on walks and it's both really cool and a little bit weird sometimes, but I like it.)

The Feather Wars really opened my eyes to so much about the history of birds and their interactions with the human population as the United States developed. In doing so, it thoroughly explains the immense impact hunting--whether for sport, fashion, scientific study, collection, or a variety of others reasons--has had on the populations of birds and just how much humans have impacted them. And a majority of those impacts have been pretty negative, or at least they started out that way, as now there is more awareness and work being done to preserve their populations in the wild. Personally, I am not a huge fan of hunting in general, and I know that some hunting is done in ways meant to help population and all that, but I'm personally not planning to go hunting and there is plenty of hunting done just for sport, which is what is really highlighted in this book as having a huge impact on birds. Even those who hunted simply to collect the birds to study caused detrimental harm, and I appreciated how clearly this book was able to document so many of these examples while then pivoting into the different conservation efforts undertaken throughout the years. 

The Feather Wars also discusses many modern day issues, most notably common domestic cats, which have decimated and continue to cause great harm to bird populations. Cats are not natural to these environment and people don't tend to realize just how many birds their cats kill, or how this affects their population.

It was actually quite devastating to read about how birds have been treated over time, and it's made me really consider more just how important their populations are. McCommons really takes the time to dive into many specific examples of bird populations that have been harmed, as well as people throughout history who have done both positive and negative things in relation to conservation efforts, and I found these extremely compelling to learn about. There was so much that I never knew about, and it was also really interesting to learn about the founding of things I have heard of but don't know many details about, such as the Audubon society. 

Overall, I highly recommend this one for anyone interested in birds or honestly anyone who wants to learn about a fascinating topic that is still very relevant.

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Review: Crawlspace by Adam Christopher

Crawlspace by Adam Christopher

Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: March 17th, 2026
Paperback. 240 pages.

About Crawlspace:

"Enter an edge-of-your-seat nightmare to the darkest frontiers in Crawlspace, a sci-fi horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Adam Christopher, perfect for fans of S.A. Barnes and Event Horizon.

Mission Lead Olivia O’Connor and her team from the Artemis Corporation, along with their military liaison, are in the final preparations for an undertaking that will alter the course of human history: a test flight that promises to open up new frontiers in the expanse of the universe.

But their journey between dimensions is one they never trained for. Strange voices in the corridors. Long lost faces not forgotten. Strange symbols carved into the hull. And gathering outside the ship, ancient forces beyond reckoning.

The crew will need all their skills to survive and uncover the twisted truth behind their mission.

Commencing countdown..."

I have some extremely mixed feelings about Crawlspace and I've been struggling to put them into words. 

The story follows a crew sent on a high-level mission that quickly becomes far stranger and more dangerous than they expected (and more than it already was). As they attempt to navigate the unknown, the team begins to encounter increasingly unsettling phenomena that raises a lot of questions about what exactly is going on and what they're dealing with--and whether or not that fully understand the mission that they've been sent on. This setup alone was incredibly intriguing to me and full oof potential for both suspense and a vast amount of discovery.

Crawlspace is for sci-fi fans first and horror fans second, and I think that's important to note right away. The concept and premise are fascinating and have some really strong elements to them. That being said, I do think the execution could've used a little something more really to bring those ideas to life and make the story feel more compelling and immersive for the reader.

The characters were all generally competent at their jobs and relatively interesting, but I never found myself really becoming that invested in their personal experiences or perspectives. There were also, of course, some very frustrating decisions made that I feel tend be par for the course in any story such as this. Communication issues between characters were another area that felt a bit frustrating, such as moment where information was withheld in ways that seemed to heighten the drama or mystery in ways that felt somewhat artificial, as if they were there solely to try to make things more interesting, but didn't really do much for the plot or progression of the story.

I did also find the overall mission concept interesting and I enjoyed seeing how the crew worked together to solve different problems along the way. When things started to go pretty sideways, we got glimpses of how each character reacted under some pretty intense pressures, and I think this added some great tension to the story, as well as worked well to highlight their different personalities and approaches to situation.  

I got about halfway through Crawlspace when I started feeling like I must be missing something, so I went to Goodreads to look at some other reviews and noticed that quite a few other readers seemed to be feeling similar to me. While things are technically happening in the story, it often felt like not very much was actually progressing at the same time, which is always a weird experience in a book. I think some of the reviews I read were a bit overly harsh, but I can definitely understand whether the reactions are coming from. 

There are a few moments spread throughout this book where I found my interest piqued the most, and that's where I felt like the story's potential really shone through. Those moments are honestly some of the main reasons I kept reading, and without them, I likely would have DNF'd the book. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure if those areas were strong enough to really make this book that much better, but I think they did show some strong potential from the author and added just enough intrigue to make me curious about the direction of this narrative. I also did find the ending to be pretty interesting and I really wish I had felt more of that throughout the entire book, rather than just the last parts of it. 

Overall, I think Crawlspace has an interesting premise and some really promising ideas, but the pacing and characters made it a harder read for me than I expected, and I really expected to fly through this book. I can absolutely see sci-fi readers who enjoy slower, technical space sci-fi stories finding more to enjoy from this one, but for me, it ultimately felt like a book that didn't quite live up to what it was trying to do. I would still absolutely read more from Adam Christopher in the future, though, because I believe his wring is strong and his ideas are there, so I'd be curious to see what he has up next. 

*I received a copy of Crawlspace courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my opinions.*

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Morsel by Carter Keane, The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu, & An Arcane Study of Stars by Sydney J. Shields

      

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released

Morsel by Carter Keane
Publication: April 14th, 2026
Tor Nightfire
Hardcover. 208 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"The Blair Witch Project meets The Ritual, with a generous helping of The Menu, in Morsel, a delicious folk horror novella perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Cassandra Khaw, and Paul Tremblay.

Lou did what the children of parents with back-breaking, poor paying jobs are supposed to do; pulled up her bootstraps, went to college, and got an office job with coworkers who won’t stop talking about their multi-level marketing scheme disguised as self-betterment.

Determined to lift her ill mother out of poverty before it's too late, and in the spirit of climbing the corporate ladder, Lou accepts an assignment in the rural hills of Ohio. She quickly finds herself stranded in the middle of nowhere with a sabotaged truck, a dog she’s determined to keep safe, and something stalking her through the ancient Appalachian woods.

If she can’t escape the woods in time, she’ll come face to face with the fact that her job isn’t the only thing that wants to eat her alive.

Morsel is a chilling testament to the burden of generational poverty and the all-consuming nature of capitalism, where the monster and the monstrous, in the end, are not the same."

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu

Publication: April 7th, 2026

Tor Books

Hardcover. 240 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"The Subtle Art of Folding Space , is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.

Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.

Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.

If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself."

An Arcane Study of Stars by Sydney J. Shields
Publication: April 28th, 2026
Orbit
Paperback. 368 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"From Sydney Shields, the breakout author of The Honey Witch, comes An Arcane Study of Stars, a historical dark academia fantasy filled with ancient secret societies, a swoon-worthy rivals-to-lovers romance, and dangerous deals made after dark. Perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Atlas Six.

When Claudia Jolicoeur is rejected from Cygnus University, a devilish stranger named Dorian appears in her nightmares and offers her a bargain: he will get her into Cygnus if she learns how to free him from a prison of stars. He takes a bite of her soul to seal the deal, and Claudia wakes to a letter from the High Sage of Cygnus stating she will take the place of Odette Dufort, a Rhetoric student who passed away.

Her arrival raises suspicions, rumors that she had a hand in Odette's death spread like wildfire, and Cassius MacLeod, the High Sage’s apprentice and Claudia's fellow Rhetoric student, seems hellbent on humiliating her. Determined to clear her name, she searches for any evidence that could prove her innocence. When someone—or something—starts slipping her pieces of Odette’s diary, Claudia uncovers a horrifying truth: over the last century, celestial witches at Cygnus have been murdered. Odette was one of them, and Claudia could be next. For her own protection, Claudia needs to free Dorian—and fast. By night, she studies the stars, slowly unraveling the mystery of Dorian's prison.

By day, she and Cassius wage rhetorical war as debate partners in class. What begins as a fierce rivalry devolves into something deeper, darker, and dangerously sensual. As Claudia inches closer to the truth, she must decide: would trusting Cassius be the last mistake she ever makes?"

Review: Lucien by J.R. Thornton

The Optimists by Brian Platzer

Harper Perennial
Publication Date: March 17th, 2026
Paperback. 320 pages.

About Lucien:

"A gifted yet financially disadvantaged artist falls victim to the manipulative control of his wealthy, enigmatic Harvard roommate in this incendiary novel from the author of Beautiful Country—a piercing exploration of class, ambition, identity, and the perilous cost of reinvention in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt.

The son of working-class Czech immigrants, Christopher “Atlas” Novotny is a talented painter who arrives at Harvard on a full scholarship. Raised amid hardship, he is unprepared for the privileged world introduced to him by his freshman roommate, Lucien Orsini-Conti.

Born to wealthy European diplomats, Lucien plays the part of the confident, sophisticated bon vivant. Where Lucien is bold and brash, Atlas is timid and introverted. Growing up a lonely outsider, Atlas is insecure, impressionable, and in awe of his brilliant roommate. But is Lucien all that he seems?

Sensing a willing disciple, Lucien introduces Atlas to a glittering new world of lavish parties and elite social clubs. When Atlas struggles to afford his new lifestyle, Lucien offers a solution, convincing the naïve artist to become a forger, passing off fakes to galleries and dealers.

But Lucien’s charismatic facade conceals something darker and more sinister. As Lucien’s behavior grows increasingly unstable, Atlas is forced into escalating risks with devastating consequences.

Drawing inspiration from the true crime stories of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. “Clark Rockefeller”) and Adam Wheeler, Lucien is as darkly seductive and addictively readable as The Secret History, The Incendiaries, Creation Lake, and The Talented Mr. Ripley."

Lucien is a solid, captivating "dark academia" type of book, although it isn't doing anything particularly new--and that's okay. I'm not someone who believes every books needs to be some new groundbreaking work that reimagines an entire genre. Sometimes you know what you want and you want a book that does it well, and I think that is Lucien. I think if you like academia focused books that vibes of The Secret History/etc., then you'll enjoy this. Or if you've never read dark academia or books like this, I think it's a great introduction to the idea. There are a lot of dark academia books out there and many are not very good at all. Lucien is actually one that I would consider one of the better ones.

This story develops our protagonist well and gives him an interesting story and background, making him both complex and easily relatable. He's a bit of a basic "good" guy, but his new surroundings introduce him to some new ideas and such that cause him some new moral dilemmas and an introduction to a world that's new to him.  In general, it was enjoyable to follow a protagonist who is such a talented painter, and I almost wish we had somehow spent even more time on that. I loved that Christopher/Atlas was a bit of an idiot and made some horrible choices, as it made it feel realistic for a young kid freshly off to a hot-shot school like Harvard to do just that. But I also loved that there were many instances where he really did stick true to himself and his values, even if Lucien occasionally tried to bend them (and continue trying to bend them more and more until they would just about break). His journey is one that feels relatable in the way that I think many of us have gone through periods of time where we felt lost or alone and really just wanted to feel like we belong somewhere (or maybe we still do!). And we sometimes forget just a little bit of who we are in that process until there's often a bit of a jolt at some point to knock us back into reality. Who hasn't been a young, insecure kid in a new environment looking to feel confident and a part of something?

Lucien was actually much less interesting to me than Atlas. He felt fairly predictable and I found his antics not that exciting or shocking, but they worked well for the story and for Atlas who was much more sheltered and unused to the ways Lucien was. Lucien was actually a fantastic foil for Atlas' naiveté. What Lucien does perfectly is play his defined role. Lucien is meant to be a certain type of character and he does it excellently for the purposes and plot of this book. He's a bit mysterious and enigmatic, fairly chaotic and seems to have the world at his fingertips. This is exactly the type of character you need to draw someone like Atlas to them and wrap them up in a world that feels new, glittery, and irresistible.

This book is also frustrating because I felt like I could see through Lucien at every point and I just wanted to yell at Atlas to ditch him and do better, and I can only assume this was what the author wanted. If the author intended for readers to also be taken in by Lucien, then it didn't quite work for me, but if he was wanting us to watch this gradual development of a relationship between the two and to see how things played out, then he did it wonderfully. I think he captured Atlas' enamored state really well, and as frustrating as it was to watch, I felt like everything seemed generally realistic and done in a way that tells a bit of a tragic story. All I wanted was for Atlas to be happy with the woman he liked and be an amazing, successful painter with all his talent, but instead we get something that is much messier and more like the way life sometimes goes for us. It's always a bit of a surprise, and there are plenty of secrets that turn up in this book as well to keep us readers on our toes.

The pacing of Lucien is on the slower side, but in a way that fits the story and gives us time to settle in with our characters, and it speeds up as necessary at different points along the way. I also found Thornton's writing to be very thoughtful and carefully executed, and I found it easy to lose myself in the pages of this book.

The art and painting forgery was some of the most interesting parts of this one. I was interested to learn about the history of forgeries and the artists mentioned (and I may or may not have further looked up some stuff that was mentioned to find out how true it was, as I do know that there is a huge world of fakes and all that out there). And assuming some/most of the techniques and whatnot that Thornton describes Atlas replicating are true, it was so interesting to follow along with Atlas and his paintings and see how he does it.

Overall, I think Lucien is a captivating story that explores a variety of themes that we can all relate to, as well delves deep into the reality of how easy it is to get caught up in things that we never really expect. I'd absolutely recommend this one to any fans of dark academia or simply fascinating character studies, as Lucien will check many of those boxes. 

*I received a copy of Lucien courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my opinions.*

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Review: Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar

 

Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar

Orbit
Publication Date: March 24th, 2026
Hardcover. 208 pages.

About Seasons of Glass and Iron:

"Full of glimpses into gleaming worlds and fairy tales with teeth, Seasons of Glass and Stories is a collection of acclaimed and awarded work from Amal El-Mohtar.

With confidence and style, El-Mohtar guides us through exquisitely told and sharply observed tales about life as it is, was, and could be. Like miscellany from other worlds, these stories are told in letters, diary entries, reference materials, folktales, and lyrical prose.

Full of Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Hugo Award-winning and nominated stories, Seasons of Glass and Stories includes "Seasons of Glass and Iron," "The Green Book," "Madeleine," "The Lonely Sea in the Sky," "And Their Lips Rang with the Sun," "The Truth About Owls," "A Hollow Play," "Anabasis," "To Follow the Waves," "John Hollowback and the Witch," "Florilegia, or, Some Lies About Flowers," "Pockets," and more."

Seasons of Glass and Iron is a beautiful collection of stories and poems collected from Amal El-Mohtar's short fiction and writing over many years. As such, the content and style varied a lot from story to story, which provided plenty of diversity and ideas to explore. I didn’t love every single one, but I couldn’t help but admire El-Mohtar’s truly stunning prose in each piece. I have still yet to read This is How You Lose the Time War or The River Has Roots, which I hear about all the time, and this collection may have just convinced me. Also, before I dive into the review, I just have to note that I am in love with this cover--props to the designers/artists on this one!

Amal El-Mohtar's writing really embodies elements of fairy tale, magical realism, and a sense of beauty and magic, yet they are at the same time not here to ignore or disregard reality, pain, the dark/difficult things that are present. There is a lot of strength and enduring going on in these stories, as well as power and hope, love and trauma, and transformation. I liked that these stories sort of tell a larger story of El-Mohtar’s writing as it spans quite a lot of time in her career (from what I understand), so you can see different topics and themes and styles explored while still feeling very much like they were all written by the same voice.

There were some stories in here that really didn’t work for me at all, so I’d say this collection was heavily hit or miss for me. But as I've I said, El-Mohtar's writing at least makes everything pleasing to read, even if the content doesn't work for me. There are beautiful, thoughtful lines in every piece. But the ones that stood out really stood out, and the ones that didn't felt forgettable. Not everything makes sense in every story, and I feel like sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn’t. I don't read a lot of poetry regularly, but I do enjoy some of it here and there, and I found the poems in this collection also very hit or miss, though I did really appreciate that they were presented in both English and Arabic.

The opening and titular story, "Seasons of Iron and Glass", remains my favorite of this entire collection. I really loved this story about two women who happen upon one another and the conversations and events that follow. Additional ones I enjoyed most were:

"The Green Book": This is about a woman who is basically trapped within a book. There's something about this one that really captivated me, and I've found that stories about these types of deep gradual obsessions always captivate (perhaps I, too, also develop my own deep obsession? I kid... somewhat).

"Madeleine": This had a really great concept that kept me intrigued, but the ending was a bit off for me.

"A Tale of Ash in Seven Birds": This was such a neat concept and I really liked going through all the birds. I didn’t necessarily follow everything, but the writing is lovely and I was absolutely hooked.

Most of these works aren’t really straightforward stories, but are instead ones that really make you think and try to understand or interpret on your own. This is definitely a collection that demands you to sit and consider them after you finish them, so patience is needed.

Overall, I think it's well worth the read for Amal El-Mohtar's gorgeous writing alone, but also because there are some wonderful stories in here. Whether you're already a fan or new to her work, I'd definitely recommend this collection. 

*I received a copy of Seasons of Glass and Iron courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating.*

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Can't-Wait Wednesday: If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop, Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker, & Those Who Are About to Die by Harry Sidebottom

      

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop, trans. Anton Hur
Publication: April 28th, 2026
S&S/Saga Press
Hardcover. 192 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"From Korean science fiction author Kim Cho-yeop, a stunning and poignant collection of literary speculative fiction stories that explore the complexities of identity, love, death, and the search for life’s meaning, perfect for fans of Exhalation and The Paper Menagerie.

In If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Korean science fiction superstar Kim Cho-yeop leads us to places we never thought we’d reach, imagining worlds galaxies away and unfamiliar lifeforms with near-dizzying humanity.

An elderly woman stranded in a defunct space station recounts her life story to a visitor as she waits for a vessel that may never arrive. A man comes across a company called Emotional Solids that sells emotions as material products—love as a piece of chocolate, sadness as a smooth stone, anger as a glass paperweight—and tries to understand why people would want to purchase any negative emotions. When an enigmatic artist reveals long-forgotten messages from beyond through her wildly original paintings portraying a planet from a time long before humanity formed, a team of researchers investigate if this planet truly existed and if so, how did this artist know of it? After a pregnant woman’s estranged mother dies suddenly, her avatar disappears from the library of lost souls where the digital minds of the deceased are stored—and the woman is forced, for the first time, to endeavor to understand her mother. In a future utopian society where gene selection has been made uniform and all those with imperfections are cast aside, one woman seeks the truth about the history of her isolated world. And when a young woman undertakes a never-before-accomplished journey through a wormhole, she must reckon with the legacy of her aunt, who vanished mysteriously days before she was meant to begin the same pilgrimage.

Traversing the bounds of imagination with an ethereal incisiveness, Kim Cho-yeop’s stories dismantle the borders between normal and abnormal, material and abstract, earthly and otherworldly. With unforgettable inventiveness and pathos, If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light heralds the arrival of an essential voice in contemporary fiction."

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker

Publication: April 14th, 2026

Hanover Square Press

Hardcover. 352 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.

October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.

October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.

One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.

Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it."

Those Who Are About to Die: A Day in the Life of a Roman Gladiator by Harry Sidebottom
Publication: April 14th, 2026
Knopf
Hardcover. 416 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"'A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible.' —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History

What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of the masses there to witness his likely execution? And how did this bloodthirsty ritual come to exist in the first place?

In Those Who Are About to Die, Harry Sidebottom pulls us into the arena, and into the homes and forums of ancient Rome, taking the reader on an eye-opening, twenty-four-hour tour through Roman life at the height of the gladiatorial games, from the first century BC to the second century AD.

We follow the gladiators through the schools (ludi) where they trained, watch in awe as the massive event unfolds—from the gambling at the pre-festival dinner, to the dawn rush to get a seat in the arena, to the resounding music, the elaborate stage sets, and, yes, the public executions that served as lunch-break entertainment—and we unlearn all the bogus movie tropes (gladiators did not have ripped bods; they were kept fleshy so they’d bleed more).

Broken down by time of day—Vesper, Prima Vigilia, Secunda Vigilia, up through the following sunset (Solis Occasus)—Those Who Are About to Die offers illuminating insights into every aspect of Roman life and thought: their social mores and hierarchies, their feelings about death and sex and violence, and the myths and dreams that fueled the spectacle of the Games."

Review: The Optimists by Brian Platzer

The Optimists by Brian Platzer

Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Hardcover. 304 pages.

About The Optimists:

"A beloved schoolteacher chronicles the meteoric rise of his most dazzling student in this ambitious, big-hearted work of literary fiction, perfect for fans of Nathan Hill, Susan Choi, and Tess Gunty.

Mr. Keating is an extraordinary teacher: brilliant, dedicated, and possibly a few pages ahead in a book no one else is reading. He’s a magician able to enchant fourteen-year-olds into a love of writing and literature. Yet no student has lived up to the promise of their potential more than Clara Hightower. Over the course of three decades, Clara is a kindergarten thief, a high school genius, a Silicon Valley celebrity, and an animal rights activist turned terrorist.

To tell Clara’s story, Mr. Keating must tell his own, including his courtship and marriage, his dreams of writing and comedy, his days in the classroom in lower Manhattan along with the rivalry and friendship with his Head of School, and his eventual stroke and the isolation that follows.

The Optimists is a love story, a joke book, and a meditation on the meaning of life and death. But mostly it’s a fiercely original novel for anyone who has ever had a teacher or student meaningfully affect their life."

The Optimists is a very unique story. The general format is one of vignettes of sorts that tell a cohesive story where Mr. Keating tells of his experiences as an eighth grade teacher. In particular, he recounts to us readers the story of some of his most intriguing students--most notably Clara and Jacob. Along the way, we learn about Mr. Keating, his own relationships, his thoughts on the people and world around him, and of course, his many, many jokes.

We learn that Mr. Keating is currently telling us this story as he recovers from a stroke that has left him feeling more and more alone and isolated, and this creates a very reflective and thoughtful tone that persists throughout the novel. I very much enjoyed all of Mr. Keating's jokes, as well as all of his stories of so many of his different students over the years. I honestly wasn't that enamored with Clara, and certainly not in the same way that everyone else seemed to be, but I'm not sure that matters all too much given everything that is explored in this book. I was much more interested in Mr. Keating and his experiences and perspective/thoughts on those around him that he regularly interacted with. But, of course, Clara left a large impact on Mr. Keating and thus plays an important role in his experiences, and I actually found his own interest in following her life and career very telling in what is important and valuable to Mr. Keating himself.

This isn't a strictly structured novel, and there are plenty of timeline jumps and just general leaps from topics and people and times to another. I think this worked well for the story, as it's exactly what this narrative needs and I think really is the best way to tell of Mr. Keating's experiences. I think there were a few times when I felt there was too much time spent on certain topics, but overall, I appreciated that this book seemed to really be able to just jump around and balance different things in a way that made it easy to remain engaged and curious about what might come next.

There's a mix of a lighthearted, thoughtful tone with one that feels a bit more contemplative and deeper in this book, and I think it worked really well for the story. One second you're reading one of Mr. Keating's knock-knock jokes, and the next you're considering what it means to lose or move on from someone. I felt a wide range of emotions while reading this one--I wouldn't say it was a huge emotional read or anything, but it covers a lot of widely felt human emotions and felt like a great look at the general human experience. It's honestly a bit hard to describe this book, as there's such a balance of a sense of quirkiness and also a bit of a nostalgic note combined to create a generally meaningfully humorous novel. I'm not sure that sentence makes any sense, but maybe you'll get my drift.

Overall, this was a very thoughtful story that I found myself very glad to have picked up. Any literary fiction fans who enjoy looks deeply at people and human emotions are sure to enjoy this one as well. 

*I received a copy of The Optimists courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my thoughts or rating of the book.*

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon