Succinct, meaningful reviews
UPDATE FEBRUARY 2026: We have paused requests for reviews. We hope to resume Briefly Reviews soon.
We are especially interested in debut poetry collections and writing that engages with environmental issues. To request a review of your book or pamphlet, please email contact@brieflywrite.com or fill out the form below. Include a brief synopsis (or link to where we can read one) and author details.
Latest Reviews
Study notes and not-so-sturdy realities
A patchwork of mini stories following an unreliable narrator around a time-twisting dystopia. ‘Getting by in Tligolian’ is an entertaining and thought-provoking novella in flash.
‘Not All Together At Peace’
Absence by Ali Lewis is ‘a book about nothing’. What is a book about nothing really about?
Chapped lips and flimsy tightropes
In her debut chapbook, Jasmine Flowers orients, disorients, re-orients – and thoroughly entertains her reader
The poem’s the puzzle, or ‘I couldn’t not keep looking’
In ‘Street Sailing’, Matt Gilbert looks anew upon familiar streetscapes. His reader can’t not keep looking
All Reviews
- Study notes and not-so-sturdy realitiesA patchwork of mini stories following an unreliable narrator around a time-twisting dystopia. ‘Getting by in Tligolian’ is an entertaining and thought-provoking novella in flash.
- ‘Not All Together At Peace’Absence by Ali Lewis is ‘a book about nothing’. What is a book about nothing really about?
- Chapped lips and flimsy tightropesIn her debut chapbook, Jasmine Flowers orients, disorients, re-orients – and thoroughly entertains her reader
- The poem’s the puzzle, or ‘I couldn’t not keep looking’In ‘Street Sailing’, Matt Gilbert looks anew upon familiar streetscapes. His reader can’t not keep looking
- Interview with Elizabeth M. CastilloFollowing our review of Not Quite An Ocean, we spoke to Elizabeth M. Castillo about writing, water and more
- Who will hold the ocean?Not Quite An Ocean is a collection that breathes life into wearied souls and offers a brief vision of harmony
- Everything in betweenA transformative debut collection that interrogates grief, reality, the realities of grief and the griefs of reality
- Holding smokeAn unflinching but frustrating meditation on language, the body… and cigarettes
- Control and chaosLife Drawing is a debut collection that doesn’t stop moving. Its poems speak to a changing world
- Seeing things and seethingWe Saw It All Happen is a graveyard of humanity’s errors. Its tiny protagonists cannot be ignored
- ‘A Theme Song for Our Lives’: 98 Ways to HopeA debut poetry anthology offering 98 unique perspectives on hope
- Weathering WordsA storm-weathered debut collection of poetry that intermingles narrative heft with lyrical flourishes
- What comes before after?Afterglow by Michelle Marie Jacquot is an introspective romp through the dark, twisting halls of the inner mind
- Whispered ScreamsKeely O’Shaugnessy’s short stories take the reader through scenes of horror and hope. Screams are whispers and whispers screams…
- ‘It seems that I find myself coming out/ as biracial’Younge’s poetic space is a multitude of multitudes. Her language is constantly evolving, while the self shifts incessantly
- Alone and aliveSweetgum County is both a magnet and a vacuum. The reader too will be pulled back for more.
- Myth and micro fictionLyrical and energetic, the novella expertly intertwines myth and history
- Words + Shapes = PoetryKelly reconciles mathematics and poetry, science and art, logic and creativity, and demonstrates that what falls under these labels should not so hastily be kept apart.
- Ships, salt and a social conscienceThe inaugural issue of Seaborne Magazine is a treasure trove of writing and artwork inspired by the sea. Beautifully crafted, the magazine celebrates the maritime in all its glory
- Cycles, signs and silenceIn her second micro collection, Laura Besley weaves together one hundred stories of one hundred words to create one neatly jumbled narrative web.
- A (blue) light at the end of the tunnelJacquot’s style is intuitive and unpretentious. The verse is sparse and free of decorative adornment, which allows her words to cut through the noise of the internet age.
- Dreams and beyondLeung has a delicate and subtle touch for sound and its limitations. The dreamer is aware of ‘bendy silence’ and of her ‘eyes ticking, ticking like the / black time’.
- Knees and never-endingsThe language is at times haunting, at times beautiful, but never static.
- Just a Kid from CortonwoodMick’s authentic voice is heard in every line, swinging from angry to tender, at once bleak and life-affirming. These are poems that demand to be read aloud
- Fragments and forgettingThis debut volume is a remarkable collection of work by Kieran Cutting, ‘some fantastic friends and some well-timed strangers’
- Absence, nostalgia and memoryNigel Kent traces lives and their losses, carefully threading themes of love, death and legacy.
- ‘Under the Influence of Nothingness’ by Dan ProvostDan Provost aptly describes this collection as a series of ‘confessional’ poems. Every word is scraped from the depths of his heart — the effect is sometimes messy, often uncomfortable and always heartfelt.
- ‘The Burning Chambers’ by Kate MosseThe Burning Chambers is an epic adventure that takes the reader to the heart of sixteenth-century France, a country in turmoil amidst the bloody Wars of Religion.
- ‘The House at the End of Hope Street’ by Menna van PraagMenna van Praag’s debut novel is an easy read: a heart-warming story about three dejected women who find hope in a magical house.
- ‘Quichotte’ by Salman RushdieSalman Rushdie, famed for his flamboyant and fantastical style, offers a work of mind-boggling meta-fiction for his fourteenth novel.
- ‘How the World Thinks’ by Julian BagginiJulian Baggini’s exploration of the world’s diverse ways of thinking is insightful, rigorous and highly readable.
- ‘Surrounded by Idiots’ by Thomas EriksonA fascinating topic becomes an avalanche of clichés and platitudes in this ridiculously oversimplified book about human behaviour.
- ‘The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo’ by Germano AlmeidaWriting your life takes on new meaning in this intriguing tale by Cape Verdean author, Germano Almeida.
- ‘The Solitude of Prime Numbers’ by Paolo GiordanoPaolo Giordano’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers is a striking concept, but a mediocre novel.
- ‘Strike Your Heart’ by Amélie NothombAmélie Nothomb’s uncomplicated style is the perfect vehicle for a story that simultaneously draws the reader in and pushes them away.
- ‘How to be both’ by Ali SmithSmith challenges the reader’s expectations, drags us out of our comfort zone and offers a book that is bafflingly brilliant and brilliantly baffling.
- ’10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’ by Elif ShafakShafak’s vivid imagery slides off the page and dances across the reader’s mind with beguiling lucidity.
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