Novella

Automatic Noodle / Annalee Newitz

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Automatic Noodle
By: Annalee Newitz
Genre: Science Fiction, Novella
Number of Pages: 163
Published: August 5, 2025
Publisher: Tordotcom
Dates Read: September 5, 2025 - September 7, 2025
Format: Hardcover

While San Francisco rebuilds from war, a group of abandoned food service bots take over their own delivery app account and rebrand as the best hand-pulled noodle shop in the neighborhood. There’s just one little snag – someone-or something- is negative-review bombing their restaurant’s page and plummeting their ratings! Can the bots figure out who’s doing it and put a stop to the review bombing before it’s too late for the restaurant?

One of my supervisors sent me the link to this when it was first announced and I immediately put it on my TBR. Why?

  1. Look at this cover and tell me you’re not intrigued!
  2. Robots who start a noodle shop?!
  3. It’s a novella (and novella just hit different)

So, after reading it, what are my thoughts?

Did I know there was such a thing as a cozy sci-fi? Sure – but I hadn’t read one yet! Also add in some found family and challenge the norms and you’ve got yourself this novella!

It was an amazing read filled with an alternative America, commentary on identity, fear, and challenging biases. Though it was about robots, they were definitely stand-ins for how we as people can treat others based on gender, sexuality, and immigration status.

Overall, a wonderful novel, perfect for those who love sci-fi and want a cozy little read about a hand-pulled noodle shop run by robots.

Now excuse me while I go find a hand-pulled noodle shop to go try!

*Thank you Tordotcom and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Summer War / Naomi Novik

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The Summer War
By: Naomi Novik
Genre: Fantasy, Novella
Number of Pages: 144
Published: September 16, 2025
Publisher: Del Rey
Dates Read: September 2, 2025
Format: ARC / Paperback

Twelve-year-old Celia accidentally curses her oldest brother, Argent, to a life without love when he leaves in the middle of the night. As Argent wanders both our world and the realm of the Summerlings (a place that’s been fighting Celia’s realm every summer for over 100 years), becoming a well known and famous knight, Celia tries to figure out how to break the curse. As she gets older, Celia is the perfect marriage match for the prince because she is a sorceress.

This novella had quite a lot in it for just the 144 pages it had. I also don’t want to get into much more of the summary because it kind of ruins the later half of the book to be honest.

I really loved the Scholomance series and those were my first books of Naomi Novik’s I’ve read, so I was curious to read outside of that universe. I didn’t fall in love with this universe as much as I did with Scholomance, but I didn’t absolutely hate it or anything either as it was still a delight to read.

Overall, I can see those who like shorter fantasies enjoying this book, as of course there’s just a touch of magic mixed with a bit of a modern fairytale.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins / P. Djélí Clark

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The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
By: P. Djélí Clark, Lynnette R. Freeman (Narrator)
Genre: Novella, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 213
Published: August 6, 2024
Publisher: Tordotcom
Dates Read: October 11, 2024 - October 13, 2024
Format: Library Book / Hardcover / Audiobook

Eveen is a part of a guild of hired necromancer killers called the dead cat tail assassins; she was resurrected after death and is beholden to the goddess Aeril with no memories of her past.

There are only three unbreakable vows.

  1. The contract must be just.
  2. You may only kill the contracted.
  3. Once a job is accepted, it must be carried out. If you don’t – a final death would be a mercy.

When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city of Tal Abisi upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face to face with a past she’s not supposed to remember.

So this took me a moment to get into it while reading – and it really has nothing to do with the writing, because P. Djèlí Clark is amazing and I always love everything he writes. My problem was my eyeballs were not cooperating with the creation of the world. My solution? Listen to the audiobook! And boy, was that the best solution because I got immersed in this world so fast listening to Lynnette R. Freeman read it (especially with the Cajun accents!). It also helped me when, later that night, I tried to read the last two chapters myself but then the Goddess came with a very thick Cajun accent and the words on the page had to be said aloud in order for me to understand the words with the accent. So, this is my long ended version of saying I loved the audiobook version of this book!

The book itself?

Worldbuilding – amazing, steampunkish.

Characters – stunning, especially the women who were unapologetically themselves and held power to the highest degree. 

*Thank you Tordotcom and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review