Thursday, June 27, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Bloodbath by Stephanie Ahn




Bloodbath is the second in Stephanie Ahn's "Harrietta Lee" urban fantasy series, following last year's novella "Deadline" (Review Here).  I've come to be a pretty big fan of the urban fantasy genre, and Deadline's angst-ridden lesbian blood witch protagonist was instantly a hit for me.  Now the first novella was a bit more explicit than most urban fantasy books I've read (though it didn't include sex, there's a full on consensual BDSM scene), but it all worked together to form an excellent start to what seemed like a new series.

Bloodbath is about 70 pages longer than its predecessor, making it more clearly a short novel rather than a novella and it makes good use of those extra pages.  Protagonist Harry Lee remains excellent, the expanded world remains interesting - we get to see some of the reference magical authorities this time - and the plot has a number of solid twists and turns.  The magic displayed here is maybe a little less interesting than in the first novella, but it's still generally original and the result is a very solid story I'd recommend.  Oh and yes, it's still just as explicit as its predecessor, with the BDSM replaced with full on sex this time, so fair warning.

More after the jump:

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Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Reviewing the 2019 Hugo Nominees: The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book





Hugo Award voting opened at the start of May and continues through the end of July.  For those of you new to the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, the Hugo Award is one of the most prominent awards for works in the genre, with the Award being given based upon voting by those who have paid for at least a Supporting Membership in this year's WorldCon.  As I did the last two years, I'm going to be posting reviews/my-picks for the award in the various categories I feel qualified in, but feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Other Hugo Award Looks:
My Picks for Best Novel:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novella:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novelette:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Short Story: See HERE.
My Picks for The Campbell Award for Best New Writer: See HERE.

The Lodestar Award is in its second year at being awarded with the Hugo Awards, although it's the first year it has actually been a named award.  It's the Hugo equivalent of the Norton Award, for the Best Young Adult (YA) Science Fiction or Fantasy Book of the year, and I'm really glad it was added, because YA has added a ton of excellent works to the genre - and deserves extra recognition for it.  In fact, my favorite books of last year (Sarah Rees Brennan's "In Other Lands") and this year (see below) were YA.

So yeah, there's a lot of great works to be nominated for this award, and this year's shortlist contains some pretty good works, including one book again that was one of my favorites from all of last year, one book that I really really liked, one I enjoyed a good bit which will probably win it all, and two other books that are at least solid - really only one nominee of the bunch do I think is unworthy, although I can understand why it's nominated.  All in all, this award will give recognition to a work that definitely deserves it, which is the point of the matter.

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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Invasion by Peadar O'Guilin




The Invasion is the sequel to Peadar O'Guilin's Fae Horror Story, "The Call."  As I mentioned in my review of The Call, I am not normally a horror fan, but The Call was absolutely chilling and compelling, so there was no doubt I was going to read the sequel.  And with The Invasion being nominated for the Lodestar Award (essentially the Hugo for Best Young Adult Novel), I was definitely getting to this book sooner rather than later.

The Invasion is alas, not nearly up to the level of The Call, though it's still a very solid novel.  The plotline is a natural extension of what happened at the end of The Call, and the characters remain strong, and the book definitely takes some surprising but satisfying twists and turns along the way.  But the psychological and existential dread of the first book isn't quite there in The Invasion, and despite still being a rather short book (if longer than the first book), there does feel at times like the story is dragging a bit.  Overall, it's still a solid read, but it just doesn't hit the incredible levels set by the original novel.

Note:  For those tempted to start this series with "The Invasion" because of its nomination for the Lodestar Award, don't - this story blatantly spoils The Call and at the same time really requires prior knowledge for the characters and plot to work.
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Monday, June 24, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland




Dread Nation is the most recent Young Adult work from author Justina Ireland (who previously wrote two YA fantasy books I'd read, Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows).  I didn't love those other two works (they were both fine, and Vengeance Bound was at least solid, but neither was exceptional), and Dread Nation is a part of a genre I'm not particularly interested in - the Zombie story - so I'd originally planned on skipping Dread Nation, even when it came out to pretty high reviews.  But the book picked up both a Norton Award Nomination (the Nebula for Best YA SF/F novel) and a Lodestar award nomination (the Hugo equivalent), so I reserved it both as an ebook and a physical book from my library.

And well....I feel pretty much about this book how I expected - it's a solid fantasy historical fiction version of the zombie story, telling the story of an alternate US post a civil war interrupted by the emergence of zombies, and non-Whites (Blacks, Native Americans, etc.) are forced to defend the White citizens from the zombie threat.  So even more than the usual zombie tale - which usually use zombies as a plot device to explore social issues - this is a story with strong themes about race and color, about passing and fighting, etc.  And yet....despite the book being solidly done, I just never really got that into it.

Maybe a longer explanation after the jump will help me better nail down these feelings:

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Thursday, June 20, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Call by Peadar O'Guilin




The Call is a Young Adult Fae Horror story written by Irish author Peadar O'Guilin.  Horror is....not a genre I have much interest in or really seek out, with the few books I read that can be classified as "horror" tending to be psychological or environmental horror more than anything.  The Call on the other hand is most definitely full on horror, but it's also a Fae Fantasy story, which is a bit more my kind of novel.*  And as its sequel ("The Invasion") was nominated for the Lodestar Award for Best YA SF/F novel of 2018, I decided to give it a try.

*Yes that sentence seems preposterous upon rereading it, but somehow "Fae Fantasy" has been a subgenre filled with many of my favorite books, so it's true I suppose.

 And The Call is a strong strong horror novel, keeping me on edge for the entirety of its short length (on Amazon it's listed as 320 pages, but on my kindle it seems to be shorter).  As you'd expect from a horror novel, it's definitely filled with gruesome deaths and body mutilations - to say nothing of the psychological trauma and horror faced by those who don't wind up dying - but it never feels gratuitous.  Add in a strong main protagonist, to go along with side characters who are decently well developed and interesting, and you have a really strong novel here for anyone who likes the Horror genre, and I will be reading the sequel shortly....after I take a breath.

Note:  I read this mostly as an audiobook on Hoopla, which is very good, so again if you're looking for a horror book in that format, this is a solid choice.


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Wednesday, June 19, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 1: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold




The Sharing Knife is the third major series by SciFi/Fantasy giant, Lois McMaster Bujold, and probably her least renowned (after her "Vorkosigan Saga" and "World of the Five Gods" series).  The series is in fact a fantasy romance series - and I mean full-on romance: whereas other books in Bujold's series have had romance as a major plot element (see A Civil Campaign or Ivan Vorpatril's Alliance, which are arguably SciFi RomComs), the central plot questions of this series, at least this first book, are about the Romance of the main characters, with the fantasy elements providing the background.  And as a big fan of pretty much all of Bujold's works so far, as well as a reader who has come to enjoy romance plots more than I ever thought i would, I had high expectations for this series.

Beguilement, the first volume in The Sharing Knife, met those expectations pretty damn well for the most part.  The book contains the typical excellent and witty dialogue present in every Bujold novel, excellent characters, and a really well done setting to go along with a romance that works really well.  And while the book is in fact merely the first half of an original draft that was then split in two due to length-concerns, it ends on a highly satisfying note.  In short, despite the slight shift in genre, this book continues Bujold's winning trend and I can't wait to get to the next book in the series later this month.

Note:  As per usual with Bujold's works, I read this book as an audiobook.  The audiobook reader is a different one than the one for Bujold's Penric or Vorkosigan works, but the reader is still very good, and I can definitely recommend the series in this format (and it's how I plan to read the sequel too).

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Tuesday, June 18, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire




Middlegame is the latest novel from prolific author, and personal favorite, Seanan McGuire.  I've loved McGuire's InCryptid and October Daye series and enjoyed some of her other work as well, so when she announced Middlegame as a book she's been working toward for quite some time, well, I was pretty excited.  Middlegame is, unlike those other books, not part of an existing series and functions entirely stand-alone novel.  It still contains some McGuire hallmarks - for example, she is fantastic at dialogue, even in a book which is less optimistic in tone, but the book's structure and characters are often very different from her prior works.

The result is...interesting.  It mostly works I think - and man did I have to think about this one - with two excellent main characters (and a couple of excellent side characters and potential villains) whose reactions to their unique circumstances, their inhuman abilities, all track in real and interesting - if something horrifying/traumatic - ways.  The non-linear plot works also rather well and kept the book interesting throughout, even when the reader knows more of what is going on than the characters.  Still, the book speeds up rapidly in its final act towards its ending and I don't think the payoff really quite met my expectations, which the book makes incredibly high.  I'll try to explain more after the jump.

Trigger Warning:  This book contains a major character making a suicide attempt, so if that or self-harm is a deal-breaker, this book may not be for you.

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Monday, June 17, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso




The Unbound Empire is the concluding book in Melissa Caruso's "Swords and Fire" trilogy, which began with 2017's "The Tethered Mage" (Reviewed Here) and continued with last year's "The Defiant Heir" (Reviewed Here).  Despite the extremely generic series title, I've really enjoyed this series, particularly the second book, which featured a really great central protagonist, as well as several other excellent characters in the midst of a story which features really well done themes of freedom vs safety and the dangers of power and the choices it presents.  So I was really interested to see how this third book would cap-off the story.

The result is a decently strong finale, but one which still takes a step back from The Defiant Heir.  Our lead characters, particularly our main duo, remain excellent, and the story does feature a generally satisfying resolution to the conflict caused by the series' main villain.  But like the trilogy's first book, the story kind of brushes off interesting questions and political drama in favor of a more fantasy adventure story after the opening third, which is a little disappointing.  Overall though, I'm glad I read the trilogy, so I'm not going to complain too much.

More after the Jump, minor Spoiler Warning for the first two books - not too much is spoiled, but some are inevitable below:


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Friday, June 14, 2019

SciFI/Fantasy Book Review: The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad




The Candle and the Flame is a YA Fantasy set in a very different world than what may be familiar to Western audiences.  It's a fantasy world in which Djinn of multiple types and persuasions and humans co-exist, but perhaps more interestingly, it's a world where its main city is not just modeled on a single Arab, Persian, or Muslim template (which is perfectly fine to be sure, don't get me wrong), but one which is a mix of multiple real world cultures - featuring Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists (and a reference to Jews) and their varying traditions and beliefs all together; featuring names and concepts from Arabic, Hindi, and other languages and cultures, etc.  And the result is a setting that is truly well done and fascinating, to say nothing of being different from what is the norm here in the States.

This is also a story about a set of Women, of various social and class backgrounds, struggling to assert themselves in a society that is at least on the surface patriarchal, and their stories are truly great to read.  Where the book is a little less effective is in the other areas: the main romance is solid but unspectacular and the major fantastical conflict is again merely solid, while the male characters, especially the main villain, are often paper thin in comparison to the wonderful women.  Still, for a debut novel, The Candle and the Flame is excellent, and I definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the reader is pretty good if you want to read the book in that format.  Still, as a result, my spelling of names and concepts in the below review may be way-off - so fair warning.  


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Thursday, June 13, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia




Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 23 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is the latest book by author Silvia Moreno-Garcia, an author whose works I've found myself really enjoying despite their often very different genres - the two books I've read of hers include a Mexican Vampire story (Certain Dark Things) and a Romance Novel with fantastical elements (The Beautiful Ones), and both had strong settings and characters I really enjoyed.  Moreno-Garcia describes herself on her website as "Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination," and her Mexican heritage seems to form a common basis in her work (well not The Beautiful Ones as much), leading to settings and characters very different than that I'm used to.  And that's a good thing, especially when those works are as well-executed as those of Moreno-Garcia.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is absolutely no exception, with it using Mayan myths as the foundation of its story: the journey of a young woman with a Mayan death god to regain what the god has lost in the battle with the god's younger brother.  In a very general sense, the story follows a very typical structure, but the book's Mayan setting twists that structure into less familiar and often fascinating ways, with a conclusion that totally took me by surprise and yet works completely.  In short, the Mayan-myth based setting, excellent characters, and surprising yet satisfying plot make Gods of Jade and Shadow a clear winner, and a definite recommendation.


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Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Reviewing the 2019 Hugo Nominees: The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer





Hugo Award voting just opened at the start of May and continues through the end of July.  For those of you new to the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, the Hugo Award is one of the most prominent awards for works in the genre, with the Award being given based upon voting by those who have paid for at least a Supporting Membership in this year's WorldCon.  As I did the last two years, I'm going to be posting reviews/my-picks for the award in the various categories I feel qualified in, but feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Other Hugo Award Looks:
My Picks for Best Novel:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novella:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novelette:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Short Story: See HERE.

The John W Campbell Award is given to a writer who has written their first SciFi or Fantasy work in the past two years.  It is technically not a "Hugo" award, but given that it's awarded in the same ceremony, no one really cares too much about that.  Of this year's nominees, four were also nominated last year, and one of the other two is also in her second year of eligibility.  As such, we're in for a pretty brand new Campbell ballot next year....but what we have this year is a bunch of pretty deserving authors.

A quick note before I get to my rankings, I came up with a system for tiebreakers last year for my ballot.  First, I prefer long fiction writers to short fiction writers unless they've written a ton of it (this is my preference and may not match others).  Second, and it doesn't matter much this year, but I will put nominees who are in their last year of eligibility over newer authors, since they'll get another shot last year.  Even with these tiebreakers, the competition is stiff and I have four authors that I have a hard time deciding between.

Note:  For Authors who appeared on last year's ballot and haven't written substantially more, I may simply copy and paste my last year comments, as I haven't reread those authors' works since last year.  


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Tuesday, June 11, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Afterward by E.K Johnston




The Afterward is a book with an interesting concept (albeit not a new one) - what happens to the heroes after their big quest is done?  More interestingly, The Afterward asks that question not about the big star heroes of an epic fantasy quest, but about the lesser members of the party, the ones whose obligations can't simply be cured by being heroes.  It's also a story that is at its core a fantasy romance, telling the story of two specific members of a successful heroic party, as they deal with the aftermath - or to us the title, "The Afterward" - of their adventure.

And really for the most part, it works quite well.  The two main protagonists are lovely and their romance is really well done, and the story bounces back and forth between timelines in a way that always kept it flowing at a good pace, with some excellent dialogue along the way.  And it ends in a way that put a smile on my face.  Still, certain aspects of the plot resolve themselves a bit too easily for my taste, preventing this book from really joining the ranks of my favorites.

More specifics after the jump:


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Monday, June 10, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 18 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

 Soul of the Sword is the sequel to Julie Kagawa's "Shadow of the Fox" (Reviewed here) and the second book in this Japanese-myth-inspired fantasy trilogy.  I liked but didn't love Shadow of the Fox - the story took a lot of predictable beats and never broke out into truly interesting directions, but had some excellent characters and the adventures right out of Japanese myth were always fun.  Still, the first book left off at a point that promised an interesting change of directions, so I requested this book off Netgalley when I saw it show up.

And Soul of the Sword both delivers on that promise and at the same time....doesn't.  Whereas Shadow of the Fox presented a series of different adventures in this Japanese mythology focused world, this book is more focused upon its end goal and feels a lot smaller as a result.  On the other hand, the characters remain excellent, and the plot works well to come to an ultimate conclusion that again is satisfying and unlike in the first book, is a little more surprising.

Warning: Spoilers for Shadow of the Fox are inevitable after the Jump.


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Friday, June 7, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater




The Raven King is the final book* in Maggie Stiefvater's "The Raven Cycle," concluding the series that began with The Raven Boys.  I've devoured this series, finishing the first three books over the last month and a half, as the characters and setting have been nearly impossible for me to resist.  Still, while each book has had a somewhat satisfying ending (well, book 2 and 3 more than the first one), the cycle has been plotting a long-term plot arc since the beginning, and with this book it clearly is coming to roost.  So how well this book executes the resolution of the hanging plot threads not only promised to color my reaction to this book,but the entire series.

*A new trilogy in this same universe, focused upon Ronan, is coming later this year but that will essentially be starting a new story even if featuring some of the same characters/setting.

Fortunately, The Raven King does not disappoint.  The relationships the series has been building finally blossom into full bloom, the issues involving Glendower, the Leyline, Cabeswater, Ronan, and Gansey's death sentence are resolved in really well done and often surprising ways, and overall the book and series ends in an incredibly satisfying fashion. I went into this series with a little apprehension but after The Raven King, I'm really happy I made the commitment as these wonderful characters were well worth my time.

Note: For obvious reasons, spoilers for the first three books are inevitable in the review below, so you have been warned.

Note 2: I read this book as an audiobook, as with the rest of the series, so if I misspell any names, that's why.  Still, the audiobook reader is one of the better ones I've listened to so I recommend the book in that format.

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Thursday, June 6, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Aftershocks by Marko Kloos



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 1 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

 Aftershocks is the first in a new science fiction series by author Marko Kloos, who's mainly known for his Military Science Fiction series, Frontlines.  I'm not a big fan of MilSci, but I've greatly enjoyed the Frontlines series, so I was excited to see Kloos branching out into different genres.  Aftershocks is the first of that new series (titled "The Palladium Wars"), and while there are MilSci elements involved, the book is for the most part firmly in the Space Opera category.*  It's also a more epic in scope than his Frontlines series - which is a bit more of a series about a single character despite the grander plot - and I was excited to see how Kloos would handle the shift.

 *or maybe, "Epic Science Fiction?" since a good deal of it takes place on planets?  Whatever, you get the point.*

 And well, the answer is of course: pretty well, as Kloos is still a great writer of characters, to say nothing of interesting settings and action scenes, but Aftershocks still felt at the end like a massive missed opportunity.  The reason is that the book feels really incomplete: the book is under 300 pages long and ends before any of the main characters' story arcs has any sort of resolution whatsoever, leaving me just frustrated at being given nothing satisfying to go along with the book's loose ends.  There aren't really any dramatic cliffhanger endings either, and so it all just feels like I read two thirds of a book, without anything to make it feel like what was there was worth my time.

More after the Jump:

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Wednesday, June 5, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman




The Masked City is the second book in Genevieve Cogman's "Invisible Library" series, which began naturally with "The Invisible Library" (Review Here).  I enjoyed that first book quite a bit - it wasn't anything clearly special but it was a lot of fun as a multiverse-based SF/F book featuring Fae, Dragons, a Sherlock Holmes-esque character, and a heroine who is adventurous and creative in her main goal: obtaining rare books throughout the multiverse for the eponymous library.  That book ended with this "world" established, as well as its three biggest characters all set for new adventures, so I've been looking to read the sequel for quite some time, when I could sneak it in.

And The Masked City is again a really fun adventure, using the series' premise to take us to more places than before, and providing more challenges and adventures for our heroine.  Whereas the first book kept our protagonists entirely within a single world, this type we journey through several (including the titular "Masked City"), and Cogman makes great use of that to weave a plot that kept me guessing but no matter what kept me reading - I finished this book in a day and wasn't really trying to do that.  Definitely will be picking up book 3 in this series at some point.


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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Reviewing the 2019 Hugo Nominees: Best Short Story


Hugo Award voting just opened at the start of May and continues through the end of July.  For those of you new to the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, the Hugo Award is one of the most prominent awards for works in the genre, with the Award being given based upon voting by those who have paid for at least a Supporting Membership in this year's WorldCon.  As I did the last two years, I'm going to be posting reviews/my-picks for the award in the various categories I feel qualified in, but feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Other Hugo Award Looks:
My Picks for Best Novel:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novella:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novelette:  See HERE.

This post will be looking at the nominees for Best Short Story, for stories in the genre written in 2018 up to 7500 words long.  Last year's Short Story field was incredibly strong, but I came out of it feeling like there were a few clear tiers, with two short stories being my clear favorites.  This year's field is again incredibly strong, but I've had a much harder time really ranking them.  There are two stories that are fun, two are sad looks at horrid situations in our current (or near-future version) real world, one which is a fantasy look at past horrors of our world and one which is just a plain fantasy tragic story.  It's a wide variety of works that all have different tones, and it's kind of hard to measure them against each other.  But I'm going to try, and this is what I have so far.


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Monday, June 3, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 9 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way (if I'd hated the book, I just would not have reviewed it). 


David Mogo, Godhunter is the fantasy novel debut of Nigerian author Suyi Davies Okungbowa.  Described by the author as "godpunk," the story takes place in a future (although seemingly a pretty near-future) Nigerian in which African Gods have descended onto Nigeria - and especially Lagos, and caused a massive disruption in life.  The story is told in three parts; it's essentially three novellas that occur one after the other, with small time gaps in between.

The end result is....well, it's fine, but unremarkable honestly.  Each of the three parts works okay as a whole, with solid plots and a solid main character, but there really aren't any developed characters other than said main character.  In particular, there basically aren't any women characters of note until the final part of the book.  There's certainly promise in this book's setting, but so many characters and gods are kind of interchangeable and so while the book never comes close to being bad, it never manages to stand out in any way, which is a shame.


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