Friday, April 29, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Blind King's Wrath by Ashok K. Banker

 


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 May 3, 2022 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 Blind King's Wrath is the third and final book in Ashok K. Banker's The Burnt Empire Saga trilogy, which began in 2019 with his Upon a Burning Throne (my review here) and continued with last year's A Dark Queen Rises (my review here).  This series is the third SF/F adaptation of the Mahābhārata I've read, and honestly, it had through two books left me a bit ambivalent about what I thought.  The first book appeared to be adapting straight a lot of the material from the original epic, with a few major changes here and there, most notably the existence of a clear persistent evil antagonist, and it worked and intrigued...but still it was hard to tell what exactly was Banker's vision in changing the original.  The second book switched things up entirely to setup other characters and other parts of the world for the story's conclusion....but really lost the story's forward momentum and wasted a lot of time with expendable characters.  So I was curious to see what Banker would do with his final book, and what his vision really was now that everything was setup.  

Unfortunately, after reading this final book, I'm still not sure what Banker was aiming for in adaptation - because this book condenses the major events of the epic into two parts, spends a lot of time with characters we barely or don't know and don't really matter, and has pretty much every major revelation fall flat.  Major characters from the prior books who you'd think - both from their setup there and the source material - would be a factor are entirely absent, the potential conflict between sides who are equally at fault is replaced by a battle of good vs evil, and certain plot twists just never are given time to actually matter before they're then reversed for good.  There seem to be two attempts at changes to adjust this work to the modern audience - both in changing the genders/sexualities of various characters and in trying to shoehorn in a theme of the evils of Empire and importance of governance - but both come too late to really make a difference and this book is too short for them to feel like much more than throw-ins.  The result is a book that will not impress those with knowledge of the source, and probably won't inspire those new to it either.  

More specifics after the jump:

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Thursday, April 28, 2022

Spoiler Discussion: The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons

 



Note: This post is for a Spoilery Discussion of the events of The Discord of Gods, the fifth book in Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons.  For a review of that book, which does not spoil this book (but does contain spoilers for books 1-4), see HERE.  

My discussion of this book with spoilers will begin after the jump:

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SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ballad & Dagger by Daniel José Older

 



 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 May 3, 2022 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.

Ballad & Dagger is the first in a duology by SF/F author Daniel José Older, as part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.  The RRP imprint is an imprint of books in which, like Riordan's Percy Jackson series is for Greek Mythology, authors from various backgrounds (Indian, Korean, Mexican, etc. etc.) write books using the myths of their cultures for middle grade audiences.  Ballad & Dagger is a first for the imprint, in that it's aimed at young adult readers (although I think middle grade readers would be totally fine with it), and features a world and plot based upon the traditions Older grew up with: a half Sephardic Jew and half Cuban heritage.  

The result is a story that is highly enjoyable in how it creates a fictional island settled by Pirates, Sephardim (Jews), and Santeros, whose combined traditions created a new fictional culture that has elements of all, with their own special saints and more, until the Island sank and its people relocated to a part of Brooklyn to try and keep their culture alive.  And the story's main character, as well as its themes of colonization, empire, destruction/creation, and the importance of recognizing rather than hiding the sins of one's past are very well done.  I just wish that the story was a bit more stretched out, as certain plot elements and character developments seem abrupt and sudden and don't quite work as well as they should as a result.  But this is still a very solid YA story and one I'll be back for when it comes back for its conclusion.  

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Wednesday, April 27, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Tear Down the Throne by Jennifer Estep

 




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 May 3 2022 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.

Tear Down the Throne is the second book in Jennifer Estep's Gargoyle Queen trilogy, which began last year with Capture the Crown (my review here).  The trilogy takes place in the same world (and with some shared characters) as Estep's earlier Crown of Stars trilogy, albeit about a decade and a half later - such that its main character Gemma is now all grown up from when she was but a child in the first trilogy.  Something about Estep's writing in this series has really appealed to me - the series is not anything I would call special, or would highly recommend, but it reads incredibly well, is highly fun and enjoyable in its characters and plots, and well, I tend to devour them extremely fast.  So I was very happy to get an advance copy of this.  

And Tear Down the Throne is more of the same, with perhaps one minor difference from the other four books I've read in this world.  That difference being that while book 1 was very much a slow burn in its romantic relationship - an enemies to lovers type plot arc - this book is very much not, with the story even including what I think is the first explicit sex scene in the series.  And then there's still the question of spies and conspiracies and what the various bad guys are planning and scheming, which is still a lot of fun....along with some really cute moments.  Again, this is hardly anything special, but if you're looking for enjoyable very easily readable fantasy, this continues to be that.  

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Monday, April 25, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Dark Queen Rises by Ashok K. Banker

 



Full Disclosure:  This book was read in part as an Audiobook e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via NetGalley from the publisher 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.

A Dark Queen Rises is the second book in Ashok K. Banker's The Burnt Empire Saga trilogy, which began in 2019 with his Upon a Burning Throne (my review here).  The series is a fantasy adaptation of the Mahābhārata, the Indian/Hindu epic, which I've read a couple of other adaptations of - unlike those other adaptations I've read, Banker's series seems to keep the sprawling nature of the original work, with the story ranging widely between characters and places, rather than focusing on a single direct story.  The first novel in the series was interesting as a setup, as it established the variants of the classic story, but it was very much a setup novel.  

To my surprise, so is A Dark Queen Rises, which takes place largely along the same time period as book 1, but in another part of the world, following Krushita, daughter of Jarsun, who was introduced in book 1's prologue and then never appeared again.  In essence, this is an adaptation of the births of Krishna and Draupadi (as far as I can tell despite having never read the original works) rather than of the Mahābhārata itself, and it works pretty well in that right, with interesting characters and ideas along the way.  On the other hand, it's kind of disappointing as a second novel, as what's going to have to happen in many respects - with one surprise near the end - is apparent for a long while, and the book spending a long long stretch of time with a character who clearly is fated for death and little else (Judging from wikipedia, I suspect this is even more the case if you are familiar with the source material).  I'm excited to move on to the conclusion of this series, but I really wish I'd gotten some of that here instead.  

Note:  As noted above, this was read in part as an audiobook (probably about 40% in audio, 60% in print).  I'd also originally read the first book in print, but then reread it in large part in audio.  The reader is the same between this book and the previous one, and is fairly good, even if a bit slow in his reading style.  He doesn't give various characters particularly distinct voices, so if you're looking for that (like other audio-readers are able to do) you won't find it here, but the audiobook is a totally functional and solid way to enjoy this story.  

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Friday, April 22, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

 


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 May 3, 2022 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.

Burn Down, Rise Up is a young adult urban fantasy/horror novel from debut author Vincent Tirado.  The story is a combination of some classical young adult tropes - an urban legend/creepypasta type of game, a protagonist who doesn't realize what her feelings towards a friend mean and, upon realizing it, finds herself afraid to voice those feelings or to believe they're reciprocated, etc.  But what makes it different is that the story uses as its background the real history of the Bronx, from its burning in the 70s to issues with gentrification and slumlords and more.  

And the result is a very solid if a bit predictable YA novel, which hits most of the expected plot beats in the romance and the horror in the ways you'd expect, and in the ways that are relevant in its themes the book tires to go for.  There's little really special here, and you may be yelling at the protagonist for missing the romantic signs so blatantly for way too long, but it's a very solidly crafted novel that you couldn't go wrong in reading, whose Bronx setting and themes of prevailing by coming together do give it just a little bit of originality.

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Thursday, April 21, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Thousand Eyes by A.K. Larkwood

 




The Thousand Eyes is the second (and probably final) book in A.K. Larkwood's The Serpent Gates series, which began with 2020's The Unspoken Name (my review here).  I really liked The Unspoken Name, which took a very generic tagline - following an "Orc Priestess" who becomes a "Wizard's Assassin" - and did far more than that tagline suggests, as its fusion SciFi/Fantasy multiverse follows Orc girl Csorwe as she grows up, is taken from her cult by a dangerous wizard, discovers love and who she herself is, until she's ready and able to make a stand for herself and her own chosen "destiny".  The characters were a lot of fun with some really amusing as hell banter and relationships, the romance was excellent, the world was fascinating (a multiverse with cults, dead and living gods, Empires and more), and some really strong themes of love (both platonic and romantic, and almost always very very queer) and choosing one's own path instead of having it dictated for you by another.  

And The Thousand Eyes is another winner, even if it doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor.  The story follows Csorwe and her friends mostly through the eyes of her companions, Tal Charossa and Shuthmili, as they stumble upon a power that threatens to consume them, and the sacrifices they each make for the ones they care about and what that means for them and each other.  The characters remain truly fantastic, and Tal's sarcastic relationships with everyone (especially Csorwe) as he tries desperately not to care and to believe that his crush might truly love him but can't quite do it really is so so good (and Shuthmili and Csorwe's sacrifices for each other are not bad too).  The only thing lacking here from the last book is a little sense of wonder over everything since we've seen most of this world before, but even without it this is still really good and should encourage you to read the first book if you haven't already.  

Some spoilers for The Unspoken Name are inevitable below:

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Prison of Sleep by Tim Pratt

 



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 April 26, 2022 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.

Prison of Sleep is the second book in Tim Pratt's Sci-Fi Multiverse-hopping duology which began last year with Doors of Sleep (my review here).  Doors of Sleep was the fun tale of Zax, an extremely good-natured man who found himself in a different universe/world every time he fell asleep as he attempted to help as people on as many worlds as possible, discovered a few companions, and tried to deal with rough situations that came both from being dropped into new worlds constantly and from facing off against a sinister mad scientist who wanted to use Zax's power to sinister ends.  The story was told from the perspective of Zax's journal entries, and while it wasn't a comedy, it was still highly entertaining and enjoyable, even if it never really did anything super interesting - Zax was just a really charismatic lead.  And then the story ended with a major cliffhanger, so I was more than happy to pick up the sequel on NetGalley once it became available.  

Prison of Sleep splits the narrative in half - with the story alternating between continuing Zax's perspective, a little while after the cliffhanger from the last book, and the perspective of Ana, Zax's long lost love.  In this way we continue to follow Zax's adventure while getting caught up with both what happened to Ana, her own perspective, and the new world that Zax discovered in the last book's cliffhanger.  The result is still enjoyable...and yet some of the shine is off, as a bit of the wonder of what might happen is kind of gone with Zax's journey no longer random and varied, and Ana's story just feels in large part like a retread, leading to a conclusion that works, but well just also feels kind of underwhelming.  If you really liked Doors of Sleep and want another enjoyable work, you'll find it here, but otherwise, this doesn't really take the duology to a higher level.  


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Tuesday, April 19, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

 

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 April 26, 2022 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.

Kaikeyi, the debut novel by Indian-American author Vaishnavi Patel, is a feminist retelling of part of the Ramayana, one of the most famous Indian/Hindu epics.  It is not the first such retelling I've read this past year (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "The Forest of Enchantments" was the other) and is almost certainly one of many such retellings out there - think of how many retellings there are of classic American stories published here.  Still, this book is a bit different than Divakaruni's adaptation - in the vein of say a "Circe" by Madeline Miller, this book retells parts of the story, and the  myths, from the perspective of Kaikeyi, the jealous/villainous Queen who in the classic story manipulates the King to have the hero Rama exiled and her own biological son crowned in his stead.  

The result is a pretty good feminist retelling which goes a lot farther than Divakaruni's tale, with the story reframed as one of Kaikeyi struggling against a society ordained by sages and gods to be chauvinist at its core - with women like Kaikeyi supposed to be subservient, silent, and invisible in the backdrop of great and common men.  Instead, Kaikeyi uses her privilege, her courage and determination, and a bit of magic to try and fight for women everywhere to have their own freedoms and choices, only to be resisted by those Sages and Gods who are determined to keep up the status quo.  The result is a pretty strong story even as it doesn't change the big events of the epic, although at times it can be a bit repetitively bleak as Kaikeyi struggles against fate over and over for something better.  

Note: Although this is a retelling of the Ramayana, no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy this book - but you will enjoy it more if you have some familiarity with the story in the end to realize what has and hasn't changed.  My familiarity with the source material is solely through Wikipedia and from Divakaruni's retelling, but that was enough to very much enjoy this book.  

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Thursday, April 14, 2022

Mystery Book Review: Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf





 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 April 19, 2022 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.

Queen of the Tiles is a young adult mystery novel by Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf.  The story, featuring a Muslim teenage scrabble loving girl, takes place at a teen scrabble tournament in Malaysia as the protagonist, Najwa, tries to deal with the 1 year anniversary of the death of her best friend at a different scrabble tournament.  The story is very young adult, but also very classical mystery in how it sets up a number of mysterious events, a number of well built out characters to act as suspects, and incorporates the theme of Scrabble throughout - something that really appealed to me as a very casual scrabble player.  

And I liked Queen of the Tiles a good bit, as it dealt with a protagonist dealing with trauma and grief due to her best friend's death, who wanted to move forward with the game she once loved but struggles due to how its intertwined with her trauma....something not helped by other individuals acting in ways to bring back the memories.  And the mystery elements (in addition to the themes of friendship, of love, of relationships and just how different people react to things) work pretty well, as the book manages to make every character believable in their motives and actions and personalities, which I really liked.  The book's biggest weakness is its conclusion, which is horribly horribly cliched, but other than that, if you're looking for YA Mystery, you will find a lot to like with Queen of the Tiles.  

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Wednesday, April 13, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Void Ascendant by Premee Mohamed

 



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 April 26, 2022 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 Void Ascendant is the third book in Premee Mohamed's "Beneath the Rising" trilogy, her Lovecraftian Horror trilogy which started by featuring seemingly bewildered everyman Nick, trying merely to help raise his family in a world prejudiced against him, and his childfriend Johnny Chambers, a white girl supergenius whose technological developments had changed the world.  But the first book soon revealed that Johnny's achievements came with help from Them, lovecraftian beings who wanted to consume our world, and as the series developed, it became clear that the things Johnny was willing to do for her own greatness, and what she would risk, was far far more than Nick (and the reader) could have imagined.  And so Nick found himself along for the ride for the first two books, hoping that the greater horror wasn't the Lovecraftian monsters causing millions of deaths...but Johnny herself, until an incredible ending to book 2. 

It was an ending that was apparently meant to be the end of the series, but apparently Mohamed couldn't leave it there, and so we get this third book, somehow continuing the story.  And while I didn't actually love book 2 - I felt the character moments were often pushed aside by technobabble (magic-babble?) that I couldn't care about - The Void Ascendant is a fascinating examination of characters of various abilities facing unstoppable (Lovecraftian) forces, and what that does to each of them: do they resist? do they collaborate?  And how do they react to the discovery of those who do resist, who might not be trustworthy, and who might merely want power for themselves?  There's a lot of really interesting stuff here, and while the lovecraftian stuff remains not scary at all, the character work is really really interesting and well done.  

NOTE:  MAJOR SPOILERS for Books 1-2 are below - I've been very vague up to this point, but I have to discuss them in particular to fully review this book.  Be forewarned.  

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Tuesday, April 12, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

 




Goliath is the newest book by Nigerian-American author Tochi Onyebuchi - known for his YA Fantasy science fiction/fantasy novels as well as a number of short fiction works, including the novella Riot Baby, which won a bunch of awards last year.  I didn't love Onyebuchi's debut novel (a 2nd world fantasy novel that was the first in a duology) but really loved his second "YA" duology, the "War Girls" duology, a sci-fi re-imagining of the horrors of the Nigerian Civil War, which was horrifying and brutal but damn powerful, and Riot Baby of course was a tremendous tale of two black siblings growing up in Racist America until one had enough and decided it all had to be burned down.  Themes of oppression and injustice and systems utterly broken to their core are common in Onyebuchi's work, and I expected to find them again here, in this book, which is advertised as his "Adult Debut Novel".  

And I was not mistaken - Goliath is a novel without really a plot, but is instead a character study of a plethora of characters, dealing with a not too distant future in which rich - and generally White - people have fled the world, suffering from damage caused by pollution and radiation and mistreatment, onto orbiting colonies, leaving behind the less fortunate, and generally the people of color, especially in America.  The story jumps between the stories and perspectives of a number of characters, showing how they've struggled to survive and find something in this left behind world...especially as the rich white folks start to come back and take back the land they left, returning ala gentrifiers to push out those who have scrambled together lives of their own down there.  The result is a book that's hard to read and full of power, even as I do think it probably spreads itself a bit too thin, making some stories hard to really understand or hit as strongly as they should.  

Disclaimer: As noted above and below, this is very much a book about people of color (largely black people but also Hispanics and others) dealing with oppression, gentrification, being left behind and then discarded.  And as a reviewer, I'm a white dude, whose only claim to being out of the majority (being Jewish) isn't really relevant to this book...if anything the lack of my knowledge of Christian references only makes me more out of touch with what this book is doing.  So take that into account when reading this review, and I encourage you to check out reviews from people who are actual black reviewers in addition to this review to see that perspective if you're curious about this book.  

More specifics after the jump:  

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Monday, April 11, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons

 



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 April 26, 2022 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 Discord of Gods is the final book in Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons, a series I've loved so much (after a first book that was kind of a miss to be fair) that I've been doing a reread of each book for this blog.  The series has a lot of tics that would ordinarily annoy me - each book is written as if it's a text compiled by one of two characters complete with footnotes, even when that doesn't make sense; each book starts in media res even though that doesn't always work; etc. - and yet what it otherwise contains has overpowered those annoyances, with a ton of amazing characters (after a first book where that was a weakness), great relationships, and a tendency to make each book a bit of a puzzle box plot where you have to keep reading to figure out how things really fit together.  And so I've been so eagerly awaiting this fifth and final book....and have kind of reread it repeatedly since finishing it before even writing this review.  

And The Discord of Gods delivers for the most part.  While for once the plot doesn't start in media res, it retains its puzzle-box'ish nature, as the book sets up events, pieces, and characters to come into play in the final conclusion of the story, all the while jumping between a large assortment of protagonist and antagonist characters in the process.  It's a puzzle box that works incredibly well by being super fair, with the reader having all the pieces to figure out what might happen, without the conclusion ever being super predictable (at least to me), thus keeping things highly entertaining and satisfying all the way through.  And the characters and relationships remain excellent, as everyone begins the final steps towards saving or dooming the world.  It's not a perfect conclusion, as it has a decent chunk of parts that feel kind of superfluous in the end, but it's still incredibly incredibly satisfying, and makes this series definitely one I will highly recommend to any lover of fantasy.  

SPOILER WARNING: I will be doing a separate short spoilery review to talk about some things more in depth about what happens in this book.  You can find the spoilery post HERE.  This review will try to keep spoilers of this book to a minimum, but will still Spoil books 1-4 a bit, since there's no way around it.  You have been warned.


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Thursday, April 7, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

 



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 April 19, 2022 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.


Fevered Star is the second book in Rebecca Roanhorse's Between Earth and Sky Epic Fantasy series, which began two years ago with her "Black Sun" (my review here).  The series (trilogy I believe) is an epic fantasy based upon Pre-Colombian Mesoamerican cultures, featuring a set of characters with various issues and dreams in a grey world of cultures on the edge of religious and cultural conflict.  The story very much felt like a lot of setup, as everything in the book closed in on a certain event that happened in the very climax, but the characters were really strong and really enjoyable, so I was very eager to see how things would move forward from the explosive shift in the status quo.  

Fevered Star is sort of a mixed bag, honestly, which very much suffers from second book in trilogy symptom - the tendency to lose some focus and resolution as the book expands its world to include new threats, characters and ideas.  Where Fevered Star continues the stories of our main characters from Book 1 - Naranpa, Okoa, Xiala, and Serapio mainly, but a few others who get extra prominence here - the book is really good, as each of their journeys, conflicts, and character arcs are really interesting, as they each try to deal with the new situation in which the ones they love are seemingly lost, the destiny they were meant for was suddenly not achieved, or the dreams they had for a better world are seemingly now impossible.  But where the story attempts to expand to new characters from new locations, it kind of failed to catch my interest, especially as the backgrounds of these peoples just never really was as interesting as the already introduced ones, even with the use of large infodumps to try and explain things further.  

Note:  Spoilers are inevitable below, so I'm not really going to try and avoid spoilers from Book 1.  

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Wednesday, April 6, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

 




The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is the latest young adult fantasy novel by author Axie Oh, writer of the Rebel Seoul duology.  The story is a take on the Korean folktale of Shim Cheong, retelling the story of a girl who is thrown overboard to please the Sea God, who leaves behind a blind aging father.  Here instead, we follow Mina, a girl who at the last minute throws herself overboard to take the place of Shim Cheong - her brother's love - only to discover a spirit world full of spirits, magical beasts, and deities that has gone very wrong, affecting both that world and the mortal world.   I'd read a variant of the original tale as part of Angela Mi Young Hur's Folklorn and this very different take on it works rather well.  

It's a short novel and some plot turns - a romance between Mina and Shin, the antagonistic grim man she meets in the spirit world at first, the identities of certain mysterious characters, etc. - are rather predictable and paint by numbers.  But the world and its inhabitants shown in this story are so well done, and Mina's story as a girl determined to save her family in the mortal world from a spirit world that is far more cruel and unjust than she could have imagined is so enjoyable that the predictableness hardly matters. 

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Monday, April 4, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ashes of Gold by J. Elle

 




Ashes of Gold is the second half of J. Elle's YA Fantasy Duology which began with last year's "Wings of Ebony" (Which I reviewed here).  I really liked Wings of Ebony, which featured Rue, a black teen caught between two worlds - one filled with magic but ruled by an exploitative dictator (who is even worse than he appears) and one that is basically our world, on the inner streets of Houston, where Rue's friends, family and people are preyed on by drug dealers and a racist populace that refuses to help.  It was not a subtle or unpredictable book at all, what with the drug dealers using white women as "innocent" spies and the magical dictator turning out to have stolen the magic from the indigenous people of his island, but it worked really well at showing its themes of race, injustice, imperialism and cultural theft as well as featuring a really enjoyable lead character in Rue.  

Ashes of Gold is a bit more focused book, focusing entirely on the magical island of Ghizon, and while it's still a very solid piece of YA, it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor as a result.  Rue is no longer torn between two worlds, and instead struggles with self doubt about her seemingly prophesied role as the leader of the Ghizoni people against the Chancellor and his loyal Grays who stole their magic - especially after her first attempt at leadership goes horribly wrong.  The result is a story that still works, but at the same time is a bit more paint by numbers, with a reliance on certain tropes that don't quite really work for me anymore.  

Disclaimer:  As the author notes in her acknowledgements, she wrote this book for black girl readers particularly.  I am a white cis adult reader, and as such am not the target audience for this book, so you may want to keep that context in mind when you read my review - it's certainly likely the target audience may have different feelings than I do.  

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Friday, April 1, 2022

Fantasy Novella Review: The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

 


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 9, 2022 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 Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

The Bruising of Qilwa is the debut novella from Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia.  The story is based upon their research/personal-history into their own heritage coming from Iran/Persia, and the knowledge that even as they are proud of some of the accomplishments historically of their people, such acknowledgements occurred while their people were oppressing and making use of others - even as now their people are often the oppressed ones.  And so The Bruising of Qilwa features upon a non-binary refugee desperate to help their family and their people, a people who once were on top and now are refugees in the land of their former victims and struggle accordingly.  

And it's a very effective story, if perhaps reliant a bit too much on late dialogue to hammer one of those themes, following its protagonist Firuz as they try to make it in their new land, hide their blood magic while helping those who need healing at a clinic for the poor and refugees, and help their brother and a girl they find with similar but more powerful blood magic.  It's not a story with easy answers, or easily classifiable characters into "good" or "evil" (although there are certainly a few greedy ones), but it's really well done with some interesting questions and a strong protagonist who I really cared for.  

Some more specifics after the jump:

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