Reviews in Brief

A youthfully spirited work of middle-grade to YA historical fiction, Save the Patriots! by Abby Reilly is an absorbing second installment of the Colonial Courage series. In the strategically crucial city of Williamsburg, the conflict between Loyalists and Patriots is a constant but quiet struggle, so when Sam, Mary, and their friend Abraham uncover a dastardly plot to cripple the colonial forces, they leap back into the line of fire to save the future of America. Providing a vivid portrait of everyday rebellion and patriotic resistance that rings with timely import, this is an engaging and enlightening adventure, striking a deft balance between educational detail and creative, character-driven storytelling.

An encouraging collection of wisdom on everything from personal presence and purchasing power to organization and mental clarity, Minimalism Simplified: Better with Less by James Joseph is an effective primer for reshaping your life by removing mental and physical clutter. Concise introductions to key concepts such as attention, time, discipline, effort, excess, desire, and attachment are then paired with interactive practices to help readers identify what matters, release what doesn’t, and strike a healthy balance in all aspects of their lives. With a comfortingly pragmatic tone that is supportive without overpromising results, accompanied by numerous adages and sage snippets that transcend the bromides common to self-help, this is a unique guidebook with a special focus on reevaluating your worldly outlook and possessions.

A red herring mystery with immensely satisfying twists and cozy, character-driven energy, The Disappearance of Maxwell Ellison by Jacob Armatage is a small-town police procedural exploring the weight of mortality and the price of purpose. From the moment Sheriff Ben Caldwell begins investigating a missing person case in his scenic Idaho town, something feels amiss. Max Ellison is a wealthy investor with a complex local legacy, a dementia diagnosis, a quartet of untrustworthy children, and a valuable estate that some might kill for, complicating the investigation considerably. Suspenseful, engaging, and layered with mercurial motives beneath slow-burn clues, this is a comfortably captivating novel about living – and dying – on your own terms, standing apart from other cozy mysteries for its precise attention to character and setting.

An explosive collision of star-crossed lovers, Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard I Levine is a heartfelt tale of loss, longing, and the haunting scars that refuse to heal. Returning to the comforting embrace of the San Juan Islands after two decades of blood and battle, Master Gunnery Sergeant Mitch Brody must face the life he abandoned and the relentless love he never saw through. Finally finding peace means ending the war inside himself, seeking forgiveness he may not deserve, and opening the parts of himself nearly lost in the fog of war. A rich and tenderly told novel that tears at the heart, without relying on sentimentality, and putting words to feelings that every reader can understand, Levine flexes a masterful pen in service of redemption.

A comprehensive introduction to a practical programming language that synthesizes pure abstract math and broad coding capacity, Magical Haskell: A Friendly Approach to Modern Functional Programming, Type Theory, and Artificial Intelligence by Anton Antich is a surprisingly accessible and essential read. From the core lessons of Type Theory and the fundamentals of imperative programming to eye-opening explanations of monads and the real-world Agentic AI applications of Haskell, this guide simplifies a frequently intimidating tool for contemporary programmers. Designed for those who are familiar with traditional machine languages, but frustrated by a numerical system’s inherent limitations, Antich provides an on-ramp for proactive programmers who want to expand and sharpen their marketable skill set.

An unflinching portrait of humanity as it rides out the end of the Anthropocene, Mean Higher High Water by D.S.G. Burke balances collective desperation and unquenchable hope in a dystopian future that feels far too plausible for comfort. After the Crypto Wars and the Collapse, accompanied by rising seas and descending firestorms, one woman avoids the allure of despair by fixating on a morbid mystery and seeking any reason to keep her head above water. Sardonically dark and savagely prophetic, this razor-sharp novel is a caustic commentary on our species’ current spiral and the indispensable nature of hope, resulting in a uniquely lyrical and probing work of speculative fiction.