SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart https://t.co/cEtKB4ucGr

Short Review: 8 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (10-3) (@garik16) August 31, 2020

Short Review (cont): An Epic Fantasy novel (and first in a trilogy?) in which an Empire is controlled by an Emperor whose magic takes people's bone shards and makes living constructs out of them has some really interesting characters fighting within and without. Solid.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (10-3) (@garik16) August 31, 2020

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 September 8, 2020 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.

The Bone Shard Daughter is the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy by debut author Andrea Stewart.  The novel was not on my radar at first, but like a lot of the books I read, I saw a few authors I like mentioning it on twitter and then was offered a chance at a pre-release copy by the publisher.  The novel is not nearly as long as the last few epic fantasy novels I've read, which was another plus, so I decided to give it a chance despite having way too many advance review copies of books to review when I picked it up.

And The Bone Shard Daughter is a very solid and enjoyable epic fantasy novel.  The story contains a lot of classic tropes: the child with a mysterious past, an Empire that long ago defeated a magical threat that hasn't been seen for years, a rebellion brewing against that Empire, etc.  But Stewart weaves these tropes together in interesting ways, with two primary main characters whose stories easily carry the plot to go along with several lesser ones to spruce up the setting.  Add in a final point of view character who provides tantalizing hints of what's to come and a prose that made this incredibly easy to read quickly, and you've got a series-opener that I definitely enjoyed.

A Pale Light In The Black (by KB Wagers) Reread - Chapters 50-51 (Really Chapters 42-43)

Welcome back to my reread of K.B. Wagers' "A Pale Light in the Black!"  You can find the other posts in this reread here.  For those somehow seeing this post first instead of the others, A Pale Light in the Black is a space opera featuring a SF space version of the Coast Guard in an optimistic future universe.

We've finally come to the end of the story - or at least of this novel.  Max is in danger and our antagonist's plans are revealed!  Will the crew find her in time to save the day?  Well, not to spoil anything, but I've been calling this an optimistic novel for a reason.....

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Wicked as you Wish by Rin Chupeco

SciFi/Fantasy book REview: Wicked as you Wish by Rin Chupeco: https://t.co/KnOxZYgZBy

Initial Thoughts: 6.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 28, 2020

Short Review (cont): A YA Fantasy taking place in an alternate world in which basically every magical story was true, and refugees from a magical kingdom fear not just magical enemies, but ICE and human evils has some interesting ideas but tries to do way much.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 28, 2020

Wicked As You Wish is the first in a new YA Fantasy trilogy by Rin Chupeco, and it's an example of what is starting to become a more common modern/urban fantasy trope - a book in which classic fantasy tales (folktales, animated tales, fairy tales,etc) are real and happened alongside a facsimile of our own world.  I've read a number of books and works like this (hell at one point we had two TV shows on network TV with that premise at the same time) and some have been really good, while others haven't been.  So after seeing this book recommended by someone on twitter (honestly don't even remember) I picked up from my elibrary to see how it would take this trope.

The answer unfortunately, is mixed.  Wicked As You Wish cleverly manages to set up a world in which the world is still recognizable as ours despite magic and fairy tales being real alongside it, and as such makes it so that the very real world evils from OUR world - particularly the evils of ICE and nationalist/racist sentiment - are significant evils in this fantasy world as well.  That works particularly well, and the general plot and the character of our lead heroine both stand out.  Unfortunately, while those parts of this book are great, the book can't help trying to set up a billion other characters and aspects of the setting, and everything gets more than a bit muddled as a result, all the way up through it's ending cliffhangers.  I may pick up this book's sequel to see if it improves but it won't be high on my list of priorities.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron: https://t.co/KfZFNIWGc7

Short Review: 7.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 27, 2020

Short Review: In a country whose ruler has used the Cinderella story to enforce a harsh patriarchy, a young queer woman refuses to allow it to stand and searches for a way to reveal the truth to destroy the system.

Brutal but strong feminist themes, if abrupt in ending.
2/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 27, 2020

Cinderella is Dead is a YA Fantasy novel from author Kalynn Bayron.  As the title should make pretty obvious it's a fairy tale subversion and in fact, it's very literal about that subversion - the story of Cinderella is not only present within the story but treated as history, not fiction, by most of the characters.  This is not a retelling of the story (for comparison, see Malinda Lo's "Ash"), but a use of its framing to tell a feminist and queer tale of a world that has made use of the story to excuse the setting up of an abusive patriarchy.

And it's a really interesting book as a result.  Cinderella is Dead's setting and characters really do a great job of breaking down how patriarchy's destructive nature spreads and persists despite people knowing its wrong, all the while telling a story that remains hard to put down.  Its main character's determination to find a way to live as she is, as a woman who loves other women, instead of how others tell her to be, makes her incredibly likable and easy to root for.  On the other hand, the book sort of wraps up the major issues posed by its themes in a really short epilogue, which seems kind of like a cheat, even if it makes more sense in a YA novel than one designed for the "regular" adult market. 

TRIGGER WARNING:  Not shown on page, but physical abuse.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron: https://t.co/wBVSp5X292

Short Review: 7 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 27, 2020

Short Review (cont): A YA novel seemingly inspired by African Myths, features a dark world in which a girl without magic takes a dangerous bargain in order to stop an ancient evil from returning, an evil closer than she realizes. Very good at times, but overstuffed.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (8-3) (@garik16) August 27, 2020

Kingdom of Souls is the debut YA fantasy novel of author Rena Barron, and is a the start of a new YA Epic Fantasy trilogy inspired by African mythologies.*  The Marketing press compares it to Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone, another book/series inspired by African history/myth (which I haven't loved), but it's honestly quite a bit different outside the continent that inspired it.  Whereas that novel dealt with themes of discrimination and class/racial power dynamics, this novel deals with dreams of power, the powers of elites, and the costs of revenge.  It's a very different dynamic, and honestly a much darker book as a result.

*The author created her own names for all her deities/orishas in this novel and I am not fully familiar with African religions/mythologies so I could be wrong, but it seems like the author is playing with more than one African mythology here, as we have a being called a "God" and others called "Orishas" of seemingly equal power worshiped by different in-universe cultures, so I'm not going to be more specific in this review.*

And I liked the result mostly, although the book kind of bites off a bit more than it can chew, it does so through a really strong lead character and solid story that makes me definitely want to see where the 2nd book in this trilogy will go.  It's not a short book for a YA novel, but it packs a ton into its content, from establishing a very expansive setting to a number of mortal and immortal characters with varied motivations throughout.  Whereas other authors honestly might've split this book into two, this book tries to combine it all into one work, for better or worse, but the character work and atmosphere is just strong enough for it all to work...

TRIGGER WARNING:  Off-Page, several women are described as being mind-raped and implied to have been abused/raped physically.  Moreover a male character is essentially raped by trickery (again off-page).  How necessary some of this is....is a bit debatable (the latter instance isn't handled well).

Book Review: Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Book Review: Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: https://t.co/dLI6WIkHHU

Short Review 9 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (8-2) (@garik16) August 25, 2020

Short Review (cont): A "crime" novel in a small town in 1979 Baja California features a smart young woman, who wants more, getting a job as an interpreter from a trio of strange Americans, only for things to not go as she expects.

Really well done, especially with its lead

2/3

— josh (garik16) (8-2) (@garik16) August 25, 2020

Note:  For the first time in a long time in this blog, the below review is not of a SciFi or Fantasy novel - it's a crime novel instead (although I'd argue that genre classification).  Fair Warning to anyone who comes to this blog for the usual, but I do occasionally read other things.

Untamed Shore is a recent novel by Mexican-Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia, an author who has (as I've mentioned before) become one of my favorites.  Moreno-Garcia's work has mainly consisted of genre work, but it has been genre work that covers a wide arrange of subgenres - from barely fantastical romance to vampires in dystopian Mexico to the magic of music and growing up to aztec gods.....etc.  So it's no surprise that she would branch out completely into a non-genre novel, as she did earlier in 2020 with this novel, Untamed Shore (she also wrote a horror/fantasy novel this year in Mexican Gothic), which keeps her trend of setting novels in Mexico, but switches the genre from SF/F to that of a "crime novel."

And while I'm not sure that "crime novel" or even "thriller" is a good description of this novel, Untamed Shore is still a hell of a story.  Taking bits of the crime novel and noir genres (noir is explicitly referenced at one point), it tells the story of a young woman in a small town in 1979 Baja California who wants nothing more than to get away from a place where her only options are seemingly to marry and settle down - and who in the process gets involved with three foreigners (Americans) who bring trouble.  It's a fascinating story with a really strong main character who is easy to emphasize with and which starts out on a predictable path but then takes a number of very surprising turns through the end.  In short, like pretty much everything of Moreno-Garcia's work that I've read, Untamed Shore is excellent and well worth your time, even if it's not quite genre.

Spoilery Discussion: Jenn Lyons' The Memory of Souls

So, I posted my review of Jenn Lyons' "The Memory of Souls", the third book in her epic fantasy series "A Chorus of Dragons" a few weeks ago, in advance of the book's publication date.  But as the third book in a series of doorstopper epic fantasy novels, I really wanted to talk more about spoilery events that occurred within it - which I could've talked about with ROT13 in that post, but that's always uncomfortable to do with an advance review - and this book I enjoyed enough and contains enough spoilery stuff that I felt like doing a whole extra post.

If you haven't read this book yet, my review for it is here:

DO NOT read any further if you don't want to be spoiled - spoilers after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott: https://t.co/vsHMe18u2D

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (7-2) (@garik16) August 25, 2020

Short Review (cont): Elliott's genderbent queer space opera version of the story of Alexander the Great is tremendously fun (as expected) and the side characters are absolute gems who really carry the story. Can't wait to see where this goes from here.
2/3

— josh (garik16) (7-2) (@garik16) August 25, 2020

Unconquerable Sun is the latest book by one of my favorite SciFi/Fantasy writers, Kate Elliott, and the first in a new trilogy.  It's a trilogy that I've been awaiting ever since it was announced, with a super intriguing premise:  a space opera genderbent and queer retelling of the story of Alexander the Great.  Elliott is a master of both character building and plotting, telling stories with characters who I've absolutely loved and with plots that often go in very different directions, subverting ones expectations quite frequently.  So yeah, I reserved this in physical from my local library 2 months ago, reserved it from my elibrary 1 month ago, and still took it out in audiobook when i saw it available 10 days ago - I wanted this book that badly.

And Unconquerable Sun largely delivers, although it's clearly the first in a new trilogy, so some judgment has to be reserved pending future developments.  The story features a number of fascinating characters - the side characters here are tremendous - and a plot that opens up slightly slow before accelerating on a breakneck pace from start to finish.  The world is fantastic and while the story is clearly far from concluded, it ends on a very satisfying note for now.  In short, I want more and I want it pretty damn quickly.

Note:  I read this novel entirely in audiobook.  The audiobook reader is very good and the book is well worth your time in that format with one caveat:  a main character - Persephone Lee - uses an alias that's a homophone (Persephone Lĭ), and thus you might be confused in audio how anyone could not figure out who she is as you might not with the spelling.  It's a really really minor issue that has no actual significance to the plot but just something to be aware of for the audio, which is otherwise very good.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empire of Gold by SA Chakraborty: https://t.co/v5s8N7VdBI

Short Review: 8.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (7-2) (@garik16) August 24, 2020

Short Review(cont): The Daevabad trilogy comes to an end, as Nahri & Ali must discover the true secrets of their origins and retake the city to ensure a better future for all Djinn. A really nice ending to a great trilogy even if it avoids some of the more interesting themes
2/3

— josh (garik16) (7-2) (@garik16) August 24, 2020

The Empire of Gold is the third and final book in S.A. Chakraborty's "Daevabad" trilogy, which began with 2018's "City of Brass" (Reviewed Here) and continued with 2019's "The Kingdom of Copper" (Reviewed Here).  I've really enjoyed this series, which I had been reading in audiobook, and was greatly looking forward to the finale - hopefully again in the audiobook format (the reader was very good).  The trilogy is inspired by Islamic mythology, featuring spins on mythological creatures such as Djinn, Marid, and Peris in a very often grey world, dealing with some serious themes through three very different main characters, all of whom were written really well.  Alas, since I couldn't get the audiobook, I had to read this volume in print - which didn't stop me from grabbing that opportunity as soon as it came.

And The Empire of Gold is a really really fine capper to the trilogy, one that I really enjoyed.  The story takes the trio of main characters - Dara, Ali and Nahri - to enjoyable endings, as they each fight to find someway to save a Djinn world - not just Daevabad - that has broken apart.  A lot of what happens in this book is predictable, but most of that is just the product of two books of work in relationships going forward, and that just makes it all the more fun to read.  Again, it's not a perfect story, although I think my biggest complaint from the prior two novels (pacing) is fixed this time around.  But this is an excellent capper to an enjoyable trilogy and I really look forward to seeing whatever Chakraborty might write next.

Note: Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable at this point.

A Pale Light In The Black (by KB Wagers) Reread - Chapters 48-49 (Really Chapters 40-41)

Welcome back to my reread of K.B. Wagers' "A Pale Light in the Black!"  You can find the other posts in this reread here.  For those somehow seeing this post first instead of the others, A Pale Light in the Black is a space opera featuring a SF space version of the Coast Guard in an optimistic future universe.

This is our penultimate installment of the reread, as we hit our final four chapters!  The Boarding Games are over, and the team has been called back to Earth to hunt down the mysterious Gerard and the LifeEx/System Jumper criminals.  Surely nothing bad could happen to the team at this point, now that they're celebrated champions right?  Right?

Oh yeah, things are going to shit real quickly......

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher: https://t.co/uwwboxwhIR

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 20, 2020

Short Review: This (YA? Adult? Middle Grade? Unclear) story about a teenage girl whose only magic covers baked goods and whose familiar is a sourdough starter is not only very charming, but also surprisingly serious about the burdens we put on heroes. Really Great.
2/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 20, 2020

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking is the latest novel from fantasy writer T Kingfisher (also known as Ursula Vernon), and is the latest in her "is this a kids book - who knows?" genre of fantasy short novels.  The last one of these she put out was Minor Mage, a short novella (reviewed here) about a boy and his armadillo familiar....being sent out by an angry mob of scared villagers on a quest and featuring murderous adults, a boy who makes harps out of murdered peoples' bones, and well...other things that don't typically wind up in kids' books.  Which is not to say it wasn't a strong story, with really enjoyable characters, and a pretty darn cynical take on adult society.  So naturally when this month came with the announcement of a second book like this one - one with another child wizard with oddball talents and a very COVID appropriate familiar (a sourdough starter!), i marked its release date instantly on my calendar.

And A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking is very similar to Minor Mage in theme, except honestly it's a bit better.  Once again we have a group of very lovable characters to follow, whether that be the 14 year old girl whose magic only works on bread and dough, the pickpocket from the slums, or even the crazy woman who can reanimate dead horses' bones.  And we again have a story in which children are forced to act because of adults' failures, one in which the costs of heroism are fully apparent.  These are dark themes for children is what I'm saying - all in a book that also contains animated gingerbread men, a sourdough starter that's basically an eldritch horror, and well....cookies!  Only Kingfisher/Vernon could pull this off, and yeah she did so damn well.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Digital Divide by KB Spangler

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Digital Divide by KB Spangler: https://t.co/XeNAbDoKqD

Short Review: 8 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 19, 2020

Short Review (cont): A spin off (but stand alone) of Spangler's "A Girl and her Fed" webcomic features cyborg Rachel Peng liaising with the DC Police as someone starts committing increasingly worse crimes and framing cyborg-run OACET. Really well done SF buddy cop novel

2/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 19, 2020

Digital Divide is the first book in KB Spangler's Rachel Peng series, a series of self-published scifi novels set in the same universe as her webcomic, "A Girl and Her Fed."  I've paid attention to Spangler after being redirected to her often amusing twitter feed by Ursula Vernon and have always meant to try out her novels at some point.  And after binge reading through the webcomic archives and seeing this novel listed at $1.99, I couldn't resist the chance.

And Digital Divide is a very solid and enjoyable novel, which makes me want more.  The story is stand-alone and requires no prior knowledge, but takes place within a five year time skip between parts 1 and 2 of the webcomic (which, for context, just started part 3).  The story features an empathic "cyborg" heroine seconded to DC's police force who has to juggle trying to solve a mystery involving a mysteriously technological culprit with the political situation that threatens the lives of both herself and other cyborgs in their program.  The result is an often surprising and usually fascinating version of a buddy cop-esque plot, and I definitely have an interest in going further.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empress of Xytae by Effie Calvin

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empress of Xytae by Effie Calvin: https://t.co/hsGcmmdSqa

Short Review: 7.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 19, 2020

Short Review (cont): The 4th in this series of F/F romance novels features a new couple as its protagonists - a princess blessed by the god of law instead of the goddess of war & another more wayward princess - & is still very enjoyable although its ending is not as great.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (6-2) (@garik16) August 19, 2020

The Empress of Xytae is the fourth book in Effie Calvin's Tales of Inthya series of queer (F-F) fantasy romance novels.  I really really enjoyed the first two novels in the series ("The Queen of Ieflaria" and "Daughter of the Sun" -  reviewed here and here) which were really lovely and enjoyable short fantasy romance novels.  They're were entirely PG romance novels (no sex scenes on page) but again they were extremely sweet to read as their pairings of opposite temperaments grew to love each other in a fantasy world filled with magical creatures and meddling gods.  The third novel ("The Queen of Rhodia") was still sweet and enjoyable even if it dropped the romance a bit, as it returned to the couple from the first book, but I was excited to read the book summary for this fourth book which promised a return to a more romance-centered plot.

And well, The Empress of Xytae is indeed that, with a really adorable romance between two new young woman characters (one had previously appeared as a child in book 2), but the story seemed a bit derailed by Calvin trying to move long term series plot threads forward.  I shouldn't sound too negative really, if you liked the first three novels - and I did! - then you'll enjoy this one, and the romance between our two main characters here is up there with any of the previous pairings in the series.  But the ending did put me off a little bit, even if it is happy as usual.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi: https://t.co/0AZf9F0vNF

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (6-1) (4-3) (@garik16) August 18, 2020

Short Review (cont): In a really short YA novel, a young girl in a city that has defeated all the horrors/monsters of society is told by a being named "Pet" that a monster has come back, and has to figure out what to do about it. Really strong in a short package.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (6-1) (4-3) (@garik16) August 18, 2020

Pet is a short YA novel by author Akwaeke Emezi, and I do mean short - the press for this story treats it as a novel, but I believe in length it's shorter than more than a few "novellas" I've read recently.  Whatever you want to call it, Pet is a fascinating novel for our times - featuring a seemingly utopian world in which the monsters of society - including the police, the corrupt governments, and those who would oppress and discriminate - have been removed from society, leaving a society that is seemingly open for everyone to be themselves and live happy fulfilling lives.  It's a story about how even in such a circumstance, there may still be monsters, and pretending otherwise and forgetting the past will only result in monsters returning to prominence and people being hurt.  So yeah, this one may be short, but its got a clear prevailing theme that works really well.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: https://t.co/HiZpwLW8uC

Short Review: 8.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (5-1) (4-2) (@garik16) August 17, 2020

Short Review (cont): The start of a YA Fantasy trilogy, in which a 16 year old Deka, murdered by her village for her golden blood, is given the chance to serve in the army against demonic monsters, only to discover she is more than that. Very good story w/feminist themes.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (5-1) (4-2) (@garik16) August 17, 2020

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 February 9, 2021 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.

The Gilded Ones is the debut novel by author Namina Forna and the start of a new YA fantasy trilogy, although it works perfectly well as a stand alone novel.  It's also a novel set not only in an West-African inspired world, but also one that is strongly feminist in its themes.  I knew nothing about this book going in, having requested in from NetGalley after I think I saw some mention of it on twitter and after I was drawn in by its strong cover, so I had no expectations going in at all.  And while The Gilded Ones has some flaws and isn't perfect, what I found is a novel that was impressively strong with its main character and themes and left me excited to find out that there will eventually* be more.

*This book was originally supposed to come out this summer, but was pushed back for some reason (COVID I guess?) to next year, so I suspect I'll have to wait a while for the sequel*

TRIGGER WARNING:  While no abuse is shown on page - brutal dismembering yes, abuse no - it is implied or talked about with regards to young women in this novel.  There's good cause for this, and it is not gratuitous (like I mentioned, the book doesn't show any of it), but just fair warning.

A Pale Light In The Black (by KB Wagers) Reread - Chapters 45-47(Really Chapters 37-39)

Welcome back to my reread of K.B. Wagers' "A Pale Light in the Black!"  You can find the other posts in this reread here.  For those somehow seeing this post first instead of the others, A Pale Light in the Black is a space opera featuring a SF space version of the Coast Guard in an optimistic future universe.

We have reached the last arc of this book: The Boarding Games!  Last week we dealt with the first two days of what is basically an Olympic competition between armed services, except the competitions range from cage fighting to sword-fighting to piloting through an obstacle course to hacking - not the usual Olympic events.  In today's post, we're going for a rare three chapter reread, so we get all the way through the end.

There's a lot of things that happen in these chapters - family confrontations, and several big cage matches!  Six people will enter those cage matches and two will leave them unconscious.  Who will survive?  And will the NeoG be able to defeat Navy for the first time ever?  (Hint: this book isn't following the Navy team....)

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Atlas Alone (Planetfall #4) by Emma Newman: https://t.co/QgYJ5XSbfn

Short Review: 5.5 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 13, 2020

Short Review (cont): The shortest Planetfall novel acts as a sort of direct sequel to book 2, following gamer/former indentured tv producer Dee as she attempts to find the culprits of an atrocity. A solid setup that verges into horror but I pretty much hated the ending.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 13, 2020

Atlas Alone is the fourth and so far final book in Emma Newman's Planetfall series of scifi novels, which began of course with Planetfall.  Through three books, the series has consisted of a series of stand-alone novels set in the same universe, a not too far off dystopian SciFi world under corporate control changed when a woman discovered a way to set off to the Stars to find "god", with each novel featuring a protagonist with deep mental trauma and/or illness, often stemming from tragedies in their past.  Newman's prose is really excellent at making the novels read fairly quickly, and she does a phenomenal job putting the reader in the heads of her mentally ill protagonists as they try to deal with new and old discoveries about their worlds.  At the same time, the tone is at best bittersweet through it all, and I haven't quite always loved how the novels' plots developed.

Atlas Alone is both a continuation of that trend and a departure - it once again deals with a new protagonist dealing with substantial mental trauma relating to her past, but it for the first time is basically a direct sequel to a prior novel, in this case the 2nd book in the series, After Atlas.  It's easily the shortest novel in the series, and is just as readable and enjoyable as ever, but at the same time again has plot developments that, when not predictable, I'm still not quite sure I find that interesting in the end, with this novel almost verging into horror.  It's a hard thing to explain, but I'll try after the jump.

Spoilers I guess for Book 2 (After Atlas) of the series below, but the spoiler isn't really a big deal for reading that novel so not much to worry about in my opinion:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Before Mars by Emma Newman

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Before Mars (Planetfall #3) by Emma Newman: https://t.co/YiImyQ7a2Q

Short Review: 5.5 out of 10
(7 out of 10 if you don't read book 2 first)
1/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 13, 2020

Short Review (cont): The 3rd Planetfall novel, following an artist/geologist who arrives on Mars only to find hints that something isn't quite right on the small colony there. It works as a stand alone but is oddly redundant after book 2 in this series if you read that...

2/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 13, 2020

Before Mars is the third novel in Emma Newman's Planetfall series, which was nominated for this year's Hugo Award for Best Series.  I've had kind of mixed feelings about the series (my review of book 1 is HERE and book 2 is HERE), which has featured a dystopian scifi universe and a couple of main characters dealing with deep mental trauma stemming in part from tragedies in their pasts, which come to light over the course of their plots.  On one hand, both main characters in the first two books have been very strong, and have carried fascinating scifi plots - the first the tale of a colony on an alien planet with a secret past, the second a noir mystery in a dystopian Earth run by corporates and featuring powerful cults - so as to make the books incredibly readable.  On the other hand, both books kind of ended on serious downer notes and left me very ambivalent about the point of it all, especially the second book After Atlas.

Before Mars is unfortunately more of the latter and very little of the former - to the point where I'm not sure why it exists at all, except maybe if the characters involved are to pop up later in the series.  Taking place at around the same time as book 2 in the series, After Atlas, it shifts the setting to Mars and its main character to a new woman who has her own mental trauma from a tragic past and a life that she just can't seem to live the way others expect.  But while the book's prose remains very readable, allowing for me to read through it rather quickly, the plot revolves around mysteries and questions about the main character's possible madness that are way too predictable in the end....and feel very redundant after similar mysteries showed up in the last book - with the 2nd book's ending forming a climatic event here.  As such, it almost feels like this could have been written as an alternate 2nd novel in the series, but with the actual 2nd novel existing separately, it's hard to tell what purpose this book serves.

Note:  Each novel in the series features plot points related to the others, but has not - three books in - relied upon the reader having any foreknowledge of the prior ones.  That's still the case here, so this book can be read as a stand alone if you want, skipping the other two novels.

SciFi Novella Review: Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

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 October 31, 2020 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.

Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

Seven of Infinities is the latest novella in Aliette de Bodard's Xuya Universe, her distant sci-fi setting for a large amount of short fiction (ranging from short stories to novellas), in which the universe is largely built around the idea that Chinese and Vietnamese got to the stars first (at least in the areas in which the setting largely takes place) and their culture thus laid the foundation for the resultant society.  It's a fascinating setting that de Bodard uses in many many different ways - for example her last notable novella in this world (the Nebula winning "The Tea Master and the Detective") was a take on a Sherlock Holmes story....in which the Watson character was a mindship who'd suffered trauma from a disaster in deep spaces (think hyperspace).  Each of her stories in this universe is stand alone and no prior knowledge is required to enjoy them, allowing de Bodard to hit a wide range of themes and ideas.

Seven of Infinities is maybe her most ambitious mishmash of story archetypes, being part scifi murder mystery, part F-F romance (between a mindship and a human mind you), and part heist novel all in one.  Like Tea Master, the story features a pair of main characters, drawn together by a case, and coming together - unlike that novel however, the story is told from both of their perspectives and their relationship becomes more than platonic (hence the romance).  And it for the most part works really well, thanks to the two lead characters' personalities being real winners, as they struggle with conflicts of truth vs. duty, the value of one's heritage, and most of all the difficulty of balancing trust with the need to protect those one might care about or feel duty bound to.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany Morrow: https://t.co/LBJfwYzHa1

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 12, 2020

Short Review (cont): In a YA novel in which fantasy creatures exist in the world and the US, two black teens, a siren and something else, have to deal with a world that hates them for what they are. Really well done characters and world.

2/3

— josh (garik16) (3-1) (4-1) (@garik16) August 12, 2020

A Song Below Water is the second novel from author Bethany C Morrow and her Young Adult Debut.  Morrow's debut novel, 2018's "Mem" (which I reviewed here), was a short but fascinating look at personhood and memory, and so I would've been interested to see her next novel no matter the context.  That her next novel would be a book featuring a pair of black teens dealing with discrimination, police and other violence going unpunished, and protests about the value of their identities simply only made it more impossible for me NOT to pick up this book.

And A Song Below Water does not disappoint - it's a YA novel featuring a pair of high school age black teens, each with fantastical connections (one is a Siren, the other is....something), trying to find a way to be themselves....despite the world seeming to want to crush them for their very own identities.  It's a world which is very much like ours despite the existence of fantastical creatures - some hated, some tolerated, and some liked (gee, what does that sound like) - and it makes the book's events, which include protests over identity, police cruelty, and more, feel incredibly real, especially in today's world.  Add in the tremendous pair of main characters and their sisterly bond, and it's not just a YA book for the moment, but one that is great for any moment.  Yeah I liked this one.

Trigger Warning for an Off Page Past Suicide Attempt.

Fantasy Novella Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a short novella - maybe even a novelette - written by author Nghi Vo, which has gotten a ton of praise from people I respect.  Unfortunately, it took forever for my libraries to get a non-physical copy (and well, libraries haven't been able for physical copies), but recently that changed and I finally got a chance to read it.

And it's a really nice story of memory and queerness and family, told by an old woman (identified only as "Rabbit") to a "Cleric" of an order of archivists, telling mainly the story of the just deceased Empress, from a time in her life when she was in exile.  It's a tale of memory, love, and family and what it all means, as we and the archivist find out about how one cast off woman managed to fight back against a man in power determined to keep her out of his way, and what it cost in the end.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Memory of Souls (A Chorus of Dragons # 3) by Jenn Lyons: https://t.co/E3RZahsWjJ

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/4

— Josh (garik16) (3-0) (3-1) (@garik16) August 11, 2020

Short Review (cont): With the King of Demons awake, the four Hellwarriors must convince the King of the last immortal race to sacrifice himself and his people's immortality to rebind him, but not everyone agrees with this plan. Fantastic Characters that just get better....

2/4

— Josh (garik16) (3-0) (3-1) (@garik16) August 11, 2020

Short Review (cont): ...in this very queer and really well done, if a bit too stereotypically epic at times, setting.

Note: The series' first book, The Ruin of Kings, was kind of meh and I didn't love it, but book 2 was MUCH better and this one is even better yet.

3/4

— Josh (garik16) (3-0) (3-1) (@garik16) August 11, 2020

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 August 25, 2020 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.

The Memory of Souls is the third book of a planned five in Jenn Lyons' "A Chorus of Dragons" series of Epic Fantasy novels, which began with 2019's The Ruin of Kings (which I reviewed here) and continued that same year with the second book, The Name of All Things (which I reviewed here).  And when I say "Epic Fantasy", I mean "Epic", both of the first two novels were absolute doorstoppers of novels - well over 500 pages in small text print (I'm not kidding about the text size in the hardcover either) - that even I couldn't finish in a single day, featuring a lot of characters, mythological histories, gods, demons, and magic, to the point of being well...everything that a lot of people might love or hate about Epic Fantasy as a genre.  

And honestly, I didn't particularly love the first novel in this series - The Ruin of Kings (review linked above) - finding it too concerned at times with setting up its epic fantasy over-arching plot to really feel like a cohesive story and not having the time as a result to set up its characters in interesting ways.  But when I took a chance on the second novel in the series without bothering to reread the first (because that would take far too long), I discovered a much improved novel that I really greatly enjoyed, with its new two main characters both being fascinating, a setting that was suddenly much more interesting (and more explicitly queer incidentally), and a plot that combined both its long term myth-arc with its single book plot in a really effective way. 

So yeah, I was excited to read the third book in this series when it showed up on NetGalley, even if its length was intimidating and made me keep pushing it off.  But the results was very much what I wanted after book 2 - continuing a story filled with excellent characters, expanding on a number of plots, and keeping me constantly amused and entertained at the interactions and events throughout.  The book still have many of the same problems of the first two - the framing device and narrative structure just feels insanely clumsy, the rape issues (see below) prop up again early on before going away, and the book loves having a billion terms and historical characters who are hard to keep straight and adds even more here.  But even with those issues, I couldn't help but be exceedingly entertained the more I got into the book, binging through it in two days.  This is almost certainly the best of the series so far, and its a decent high note if you can get through it.

TRIGGER WARNING:  Rape.  The series includes mind control and charm magic as a magical ability in the setting, and in the past (off page), at least one character has used mind control to have sex with and impregnate an enslaved woman.  In this book, that turn is reversed, with the now formerly enslaved woman doing the mind controlling of the man for a similar purpose.  It doesn't last long in this plot and never happens again, but it's there and I should note it.   

Note:  Spoilers for Books 1-2 are discussed below; I don't think they'll reduce your enjoyment of anything, but they're impossible to avoid 3 books in.  Also, if you've read the first two books, you don't need to reread them to enjoy this, as like in the second book, the story essentially contains a summary of the major events of the last book in the foreword. 

EDIT:  This is a non-spoilery review of this book.  I enjoyed this book a lot, and actually wrote up a spoilery discussion of what happened in another post, which you can find HERE.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Midnight Bargain by CL Polk

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Midnight Bargain by CL Polk: https://t.co/v92i7xHBWe

Short Review: 8.5 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (3-0) (3-1) (@garik16) August 10, 2020

Short Review (cont): A Fantasy romance in a world where women must forgo magic at marriage because practicing it while pregnant can cause harm to a child, features two strong women struggling against this patriarchy and a very lovely if tame romance and a fun ending.

2/3

— Josh (garik16) (3-0) (3-1) (@garik16) August 10, 2020

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 October 13, 2020 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.


The Midnight Bargain is the latest novel from C.L. Polk, author of the Kingston Cycle of books which began with Witchmark a few years ago.  Those novels were queer romantic fantasies, with strong queer romance secondary plots to go along with solid fantasy main plots dealing with issues of oppression, privilege, and more.  By contrast, The Midnight Bargain is a fantasy romance* set in a regency-esque world (except magic is a very real part of this world), and as such, the romantic elements are the main attraction.

*I define Romantic SF/F is SF/F with romance as an important part of the plot, but not the main focus of the plot.  SF/F Romances may have other subplots besides the romance, but the romance is the central point of the work, to the point where the story can end satisfactorily with the other plots hanging as long as the romance plot IS resolved or furthered.  

And I enjoyed The Midnight Bargain a good bit.  The story reminded me quite a bit of Stephanie Burgis' "The Harwood Spellbook" (which I also really enjoyed) in that it features a world in which women are essentially forced to choose between love/marriage and magic, with the implication for ladies of status that they must choose marriage in the end.  But the story takes things in different directions than Burgis' series, as it features two women desperate to become masters at magic despite two very different opinions about the idea of love and romance, as well as a male love interest who tries to be understanding but is hindered at such by his upbringing.  It takes some surprising turns through it all, and perhaps ties things up a bit too neatly, but I enjoyed this novel quite a bit and would recommend.

A Pale Light In The Black (by KB Wagers) Reread - Chapters 43-44 (Really Chapters 35-36)

Welcome back to my reread of K.B. Wagers' "A Pale Light in the Black!"  You can find the other posts in this reread here.  For those somehow seeing this post first instead of the others, A Pale Light in the Black is a space opera featuring a SF space version of the Coast Guard in an optimistic future universe.

Finally it's time for the main event of this book, the Boarding Games!  Appropriate I get to this part of the book just as Ameican sports are coming back, honestly, except there's no danger of the spread of any dangerous diseases at these games.....except for the disease of some Navy assholes.

Okay enough prelims, let's get to it - we have our first cage match and lots of family drama this week!  Oy.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala: https://t.co/4ATEvdcRHV

Short Review: 6.5 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 7, 2020

Short Review: The sequel to the Tiger at Midnight continues this Ancient India inspired story, with our pair of protagonists infiltrating the Tyrant King's capital to try & rescue the lost princess. The characters are enjoyable still but some annoying tropes pop up.
2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 7, 2020

The Archer at Dawn is the sequel to Swati Teerdhala's "The Tiger at Midnight" (reviewed here), a YA epic fantasy novel based upon Ancient India/Hindu Myth.  I enjoyed that novel quite a bit, which essentially featured a plot that featured a heavy "Catch Me if You Can"-esque setup in the chase between its two protagonists in a fantasy world suffering due to magic.  The two protagonists - were really enjoyable, and with that first book over (and it ending with a pretty strong sequel hook), I was really excited to see where the sequel took things now that the series' first arc was clearly over.

Alas, I wasn't quite as thrilled about The Archer at Dawn.  On one hand the two protagonists are mainly still great, and the world expands in interesting ways in this novel, which is everything I tend to want in the second novel of a trilogy.  On the other hand, the plot trades in two of my least favorite tropes, especially towards its ending, which was extremely frustrating to read.  I still enjoyed the plot and the way things expanded in new ways here, with not everything being as black and white as it seemed, but those annoyances were very real and took away a great deal of what I liked about the first novel....

SPOILER WARNING:  I will try to be as vague as possible about the reveals of the first novel below, but spoilers are inevitable as this book relies upon those spoilers.

SciFi Novella Review: Finna by Nino Cipri

Finna by Nino Cipri

Finna is a SciFi novella written by author Nino Cipri, and is I think their long fiction debut (albeit still a novella).  It's a novella that takes a concept that you don't usually see that often in fiction - recent exes having to learn how to live/work with each other (instead of just moving on without them) and throws in some crazy SF concepts as well: a multiverse of worlds featuring very different versions of an Ikea-esque knock off!

And it's really well done in a rather short package, with some very good character and relationship development in ways you don't usually see in stories.  There's a sequel apparently on the way (although it seems to be featuring a different main character) and well, I'm definitely looking forward to it.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: After Atlas by Emma Newman

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: After Atlas by Emma Newman: https://t.co/OoczI6n5sg

Short Review: 7.5 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 6, 2020

Short Review (cont): The 2nd Planetfall novel is a stand alone scifi noir featuring a dystopian world in which a detective literally owned by the government must investigate the death of the cult leader he once loved. Strong emotionally damaged protag in a grim world.

2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 6, 2020

After Atlas is the second book set in Emma Newman's Planetfall universe (which began with, naturally, the novel Planetfall).  I use the phrase "set in" there because the book isn't a direct sequel - it takes place in the same universe at a time that I think is before the events of Planetfall but in a totally different place:  Earth, the planet the characters in Planetfall had long left behind.  It's also sort of a different genre, with the plot taking the form of a scifi dystopian mystery for much of its runtime, which makes it very different from Planetfall in some ways.  I'd liked Planetfall a bit (my review here), and was curious to see where the series would go from that point, so it was inevitable I'd get to this sequel at some point.

And After Atlas is....interesting - like its predecessor it has a compelling narrator who makes it hard to put down and the book even has some similar themes, but its themes are far more cynical than its predecessor.  It's also far more dystopian in its future setting, featuring a world in which corporate entities have replaced governmental ones, with certain people being literally owned by such entities for many different forms of indentured service.  And the book's character work isn't quite as well done as in Planetfall, with it being devoted a bit more to ideas than that book was, which makes it a little less effective as a sequel.  Still, it's certainly a fascinating read that captured me from the beginning and I'll be back for book 3.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Forest of Souls by Lori M Lee: https://t.co/0ZDEJzMt5k

Short Review: 8 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 4, 2020

Short Review (cont): When a young woman, secret apprentice to the kingdom's chief assassin, discovers she has a magical power that her kingdom hates & another considers holy, she finds herself & her best friend in a dangerous game of conspiracy & power. Really good heroine

2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 4, 2020

Forest of Souls is the first in a new young adult fantasy series by author Lori M Lee.  It was not a novel on my radar until some authors I pay attention to on twitter threw some praise its way, so I put it on my list.  And when it showed up as available as a Hoopla Audiobook and I was looking to try to get back into audiobooks I picked it up.  And I'm glad I did in the end, as I enjoyed this one a good deal, with excellent worldbuilding and a very enjoyable lead character through it all.  I'll definitely be back for this book's sequel.


Note: I read this in audiobook format, and I do recommend the book in that format, as the reader is very good.  That said, it's very likely that I'm misspelling names of characters or places in this review as a result, and for that I apologize.

July Book Club: Mexican Gothic, End of Month Post

Okay, so I posted my review of Mexican Gothic today HERE.  This post is for discussion in the comments of the book - I'll try to start with the first comment, since it's not like my review can cover everything and my review has to be largely spoiler free......

WARNING:  Spoilers are fair game in the comments here whereas they aren't in responding to my review directly.  So if you look at the comments here, you cannot complain about being spoiled: that's the point.

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: https://t.co/vVKFw8Qhe4

Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 3, 2020

Short Review (cont): A Gothic Horror set in 1950s Mexico, in which a young woman, in response to a desperate and crazed sounding letter from her cousin, goes to an estate run by an old English family whom the cousin married into. Strong themes of colonialism amid the horror

2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 3, 2020

PRE-REVIEW NOTE:  This novel was my pick for my July Book Club (or well, my attempt at a book club).  That said, while discussion in the book club posts will involve spoilers, this review will NOT.  If you want to talk about this novel, because you've also read it this month, please do not comment on this review with anything that might constitute spoilers.  I have a spoiler-friendly post for discussing this book - as part of the Book Club - HERE: please feel free - in fact i hope that you will - to go full spoilery in thoughts on this book in the comments there instead.
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Mexican Gothic is the latest novel from Mexican/Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who has over the past year or so become one of my favorite active writers in genre.  Moreno-Garcia's books cover a really diverse range - from basically straight romance (The Beautiful Ones) to vampire-fic (Certain Dark Things) to a journey with Aztec gods (Gods of Jade and Shadow) - although they very often are inspired by her Mexican heritage (and take place in some form of Mexico).  Mexican Gothic is another example of this: in it, she promises a move to Gothic Horror in a setting of 1951 Mexico.  Gothic Horror is not something I tend to seek out (nor Horror in general) - I can count one clear other example that I've read in the past two years - but with Moreno-Garcia writing, I was sure to give this a try - and felt confident enough to name it a pick for my first book club.

And Mexican Gothic is typical of Moreno-Garcia's excellence - a downright chilling horror novel featuring a strong setting, a terrific lead character, and strong themes to go along with everything.  These themes will resonate very much today - race and sexism prominent among them, as the story features a young Mexican woman coming face to face with an old family obsessed with purity and European ancestry among other things.  It's not a long novel, and yet it's exactly the right length to pull everything off, and I'd definitely recommend it for a read.

More after the jump: