RaveTorVampires in the Lemon Grove is tailor-made for fans of both magical realism and horror. Employing intensely awkward humor (think The Office) and melding it with dark sensibilities (think Poe), she’s written a book that belongs on your shelf next to Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Bas-Lag-era China Mieville … The creepy factor has been dialed up here to the point where you might consider not reading certain stories after dusk … Russell is clearly a fan of horror, and has a knack for finding the scary in the screwball.
G. Willow Wilson
RaveTor[Wilson] mesh[es] the world of information technology with the mystical aspects of Islam and contemporary life to weird and captivating effect. I spent half the book thinking, ‘Where can this possibly go now?’, only to find out in the next chapter. Alif the Unseen is a true chimera, combining magic and technology, fantasy and sci-fi, the secular and the mystical, literature and genre … Dina is a fascinating character, one of the most multi-faceted heroines I’ve had the pleasure to meet. She’s forthright, but not sassy; emotional as well as pragmatic; principled and cool-headed, but still clearly struggling to find her place in a torn world. Whereas one might expect that Alif and his programmer cohorts would be the best-prepared for the battles ahead, it’s her convictions that allow her to rise to the challenges they face again and again.
