SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Scratch Daughters by H.A. Clarke

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 25, 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 Scratch Daughters is the second book in H.A. Clarke's "Scapegracers" trilogy. The series is a queer feminist (or well, anti-patriarchy) young adult urban fantasy series featuring as its protagonist Sideways Pike, a lesbian queer teen witch who was always an outcast growing up in school...until a trio of more popular girls ask her to pull a prank with magic and wind up becoming her friends and coven, the Scapegracers, who are not the group of het girls Sideway first thought they were. But in gaining a coven, Sideways gained enemies as well, such as the witch hunting Chantry Boys (led by their sheriff father) and a girl named Madeline...who wants revenge on the boys so bad she'll leave Sideways in a bad place to do it. Book 1 was a really great start to the series even as it ended on a brutal cliffhanger, so I've been super lucky to get advance copies of Book 2 and Book 3 - even if I've been way slow in actually reading them (I'm a year late on this review, sorry!)

The Scratch Daughters follows book 1's cliffhanger and presents a book that remains incredibly queer and against the patriarchy, even as it throws Sideways for even more of a loop than book 1. In book 1, Sideways was largely dealing with suddenly gaining a bunch of friends who wanted to be with her and learn magic with her, even as her greater magic attracted more deadly trouble (I'm VASTLY oversimplifying). This time around Sideways has to deal with conflicts between those friends' wants, their wants and cares for Sideways, Sideways' own depressed state due to what happened at the end of Book 1, and Sideways' relationship with a new major character. It also magnifies the threat of the witchfinders immensely. It's a book that now can become pretty hard to read because of all the struggles it puts its protagonist through, but it's worth it in the end and I can't wait to follow this up with the trilogy's conclusion.

Spoilers for book 1 are present below, be warned if you haven't read The Scapegracers yet.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: When it Rains in Color by Denise Crittendon

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 December 6, 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.

Where it Rains in Color is an Afrofuturist novel from author Denise Crittendon. The novel features a galaxy in which melanin and skin color is prized, and the planet Swazembi - settled by people who disputedly have origins in West Africa - features the people with the most melanin and skin color of all. It's a world filled with color and peace and the most prized among them all is the Rare Indigo, a girl who comes along every few decades with the most perfect skin color and beauty in the galaxy and who possesses magical abilities such as the ability to "shimmer". The story follows the most recent Rare Indigo, Lileala, as she's about to be fully confirmed in that role...only for her to be struck with a strange skin affecting disease, strange voices, and a role in a galactic conspiracy.

The result is a novel with a lot of really interesting ideas - ideas about remembering the past vs being ashamed and hiding it, ideas about beauty and power, ideas about ambition and collective decisions vs individuals striving to help make things better, and more. Lileala is a very strong main character and the world is beautifully illustrated, with the main planet of Swazembi being filled with color, even if everything isn't perfect under the surface, while the world of the antagonists, the Kclabs, is completely lacking such color, just like their skin, and the contrast and afrofuturist ideas are done pretty well. At the same time however, the story relies upon occasionally switching point of view characters and that results in some very unsatisfying results, such as one prominent major character who is revealed to be hiding some major things in the ending which are not at all hinted at (or done so poorly) in the chapters from their perspective. The book also relies upon worldbuilding that doesn't sketch everything out and leaves it to the reader to figure out how it works, and that has some occasionally ineffective results (especially after the reveal). All in all, it's an interesting novel that doesn't quite meet up with its potential.

Fantasy Novella Review: Finding Echoes by Foz Meadows

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained from the publisher in advance of the book's release on January 30, 2024 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.

Finding Echoes is a new novella from queer small press Neon Hemlock (whose stuff is nearly always great) by queer fantasy author Foz Meadows (whose stuff is also pretty much always great or at least interesting). So yeah, you can imagine my excitement to get my hands on their latest novella, Finding Echoes.

The novella features a city filled with class and wealth divisions, drug use, uprisings, and politicians and nobles who stand above it all, not caring about or doing anything about certain walled in parts of the city where the lower classes live. Into this setting comes Snow, a protagonist defined by Snow's white hair (marking their being born to a person addicted to a dangerous drug) and Snow's ability to see the umbra (echoes/spirits) of the recent dead and to hear the truths they tell. The result is a story dealing with class, with truths and realities between classes, and of love and hope for the better as Snow's past love Gem returns and asks Snow to help him on a dangerous mission. It's pretty good.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura

 

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 28, 2023 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.

Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind is the first in a new middle grade modern fantasy series inspired by Japanese mythology.  The book is not part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint but very much feels like a book from that line - a middle grade fantasy that feels like Percy Jackson except featuring a different type of mythology at its core (in this case, Japanese).  And well it's an obviously reliable formula and I've liked a lot of the RR Presents books, so I was definitely intrigued by this book's cover and description when it showed up on NetGalley.  And well I've definitely enjoyed a bunch of YA and other books based upon Japanese Mythology, so while it's not my culture, I was very hopeful.  

And Momo Arashima largely delivers a very fun middle grade story that deals with some real serious issues even as it has its protagonist Momo going through a very entertaining adventure through its take on Japanese mythology.  The story follows a bunch of standard tropes for a book like this - a protagonist with a half mythological heritage she knows nothing about, an adventure that keeps running her into various creatures and beings from that mythology that represent new allies, foes or other challenges, etc. - but these tropes are done well and there's enough kind of originalish here to stand out.  Most notably, the story deals with Momo not just being an outcast from her middle grade compatriots, but also her being forced on an adventure with a boy who is seemingly one of those callous jocks even as he was once her friend, an Asian boy adopted by White parents who has seemingly joined the group ostracizing Momo even as he doesn't seem to realize that's what he's doing.  And so we have ideas here about rage, about conformity and white privilege, and more alongside the usual middle school protagonist tropes, and it works pretty well...even as it leaves a lot open for future sequels (a second book will be released soon this year).  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Godkiller is a fantasy novel written by Hannah Kaner which was originally released overseas to apparent great acclaim by both readers and some critics/authors I trust and like a lot.  The story came to my radar when one of my favorite critics, Liz Bourke, posted a review on the Tor.com blog, in which she offered it pretty strong praise.  It's also the first in a longer series - I think a trilogy - but, to the book's credit, while it's not a stand alone novel it does have a complete plot arc so readers who aren't sure if they can get invested in a trilogy might want to give this a try.  

And what the novel is about is a world where gods are multiple throughout the world, small, wild and large, and demand tribute and sacrifices for their help...and for their holding off cursing their followers and those who come across their path.  After a war between humans and harmful gods, the King of Middren waged war even on those gods who had helped the kingdom and outlawed their worship, with certified godkillers - known as Veiga - helping to hunt down what gods remain and rise up in the country.  And in this context we get a group of four travelers to a city now forbidden from access due to its ties to the gods - a Veiga named Kissen, a young noble woman named Inara, Inara's little god of white lies Skedi, and the King's former chief Knight Elogast - as they each for their own secret reasons heads to the city to seek help from the gods who remain there.  

Unfortunately, while the novel's setup was certainly interesting and I liked the ideas of the characters, the development of the characters and their relationships kind of didn't work for me, which made me not love this book as much as I'd hoped.  In particular, as I'll explain further below, the story midway through seems to feature a bunch of relationships and bonds that grow between certain characters and those bonds never really felt earned or natural in the context of the story....as if there was another 40 pages of happenings and character interaction that was originally in there but had been excised before publication.  The result is that the book's ending didn't quite work as well as it should have and it made it so I was more nonplussed by the resolution than really invested in the characters.  

More specifics after the jump: 

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

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 21, 2024 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.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is the latest book (and first in a new series) from fantasy author Django Wexler.  Much of Wexler's prior work that I've read features witty sardonic characters, but this book (as you might imagine from its title) is almost a pure on comedy: the novel takes a groundhog's day-esque setup with its protagonist always resurrecting after dying trying to stop a dark lord from arising in a portal fantasy world....and flips it on its head by having the heroine then decide she's going to become the Dark Lord instead of trying any further and caps it all off by having the book narrated by its witty, sardonic, and genre-savvy/nerdy heroine.  It's also delightfully profane at times.  

The result is a novel that is in general pretty damn amusing and fun to read, even when some of its humor and concepts can occasionally get grating (especially with the book's use of footnotes).  Wexler does a great job with his cast of main characters in making them interesting and fun to follow, and that's definitely the case here with Dark Lord-to-be Davi, and the cast of orcs/wilders/etc.  The book is definitely not for younger readers, as Davi is VERY sex-obsessed at times (which might bother some readers but worked for me) although Wexler tends to cut away before describing full on any sex scenes for better or worse.  All in all, a very good start to a new series for anyone looking for a pretty damn fun novel.  

Trigger Warning: Self-Harm, discussion of Sexual Assault (none actually occurs on page).  

Note: This book is very sex focused and profane and the review below will use some words reflecting that, so be warned.  

Fantasy Novella Review: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

 Thornhedge is the latest fantasy novella by prolific author (and personal favorite) T Kingfisher (aka children's author Ursula Vernon). It's yet another one of Kingfisher's takes on classic fairy tales (one of the many subgenres of fantasy she has explored) and this time it's a take on Sleeping Beauty where the protagonist is the fae spirit Toadling who is responsible for putting the princess to sleep in the tower and in making sure that she stays that way. Yet unlike typical takes like this which flip the protagonist to the evil witch and explore the roots of the witch's evil, Kingfisher makes Toadling not evil at all but instead a Fae spirit who is just trying to do her best and who wishes the responsibility for containing an evil didn't fall to her, so that she could enjoy time with her fae family once more. Until of course years later a knight comes to her tower...

The result is a novella that is incredibly charming and whimsical, as one expects from a T Kingfisher work, and while it's not long, the novella tells a very complete and enjoyable story. Both Toadling and her knight Halim are endowed with tremendous personality, especially Toadling, and the story that results both in flashbacks and in present works really well. There's nothing here that's truly mind blowing or completely unique, but there's plenty of charm and fun to make this an easy recommend for someone looking for a light fairy tale subversion.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 4, 2024 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.

Lady Eve's Last Con is a science fiction romance novel by Rebecca Fraimow. The novel is a F/F romance inspired by a very old rom-com movie, The Lady Eve, which I have not seen and hadn't heard of prior to reading this book. But when an author I trust, Stephanie Burgis, recommended this book as a "sparkly, witty SF screwball comedy romance", well I had to give it a try. And boy was I glad I did.

For Lady Eve's Last Con is an absolute delight. The story features Ruthi, a con artist who used to work with her sister to con and perform small time jobs to make money off rich jerks, as she tries to pull off a con on the rich guy Esteban who broke her sister's heart and left her pregnant and alone. Of course what she doesn't count on, as she attempts to get Esteban to fall in love with her, is Esteban's smooth-talking always-flirting sister Sol who take an immediate interest in Ruthi. The result is a rom-com that is incredibly charming, with an excellent main character and love interest, as both Ruthi and Sol find themselves caught up in the con and their own private interests...and of course their mutual attraction. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it's still always highly entertaining and it reads really well. It also doesn't hurt that the book is at times incredibly Jewish, which just makes it feel like it was written to target me particularly, although I would highly recommend this book for non-Jewish readers as well.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

 

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 March 12, 2024 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.

Those Beyond the Wall is a "stand-alone" sequel to Micaiah Johnson's "The Space Between Worlds". I say "stand-alone" in quotes because to be honest, this book relies too heavily on the character and background setup of TSBW for me to really believe that a reader could skip TSBW and not be very confused here. But well The Space Between Worlds is one of my favorite books of the last five years as it used its story of multiversal travel to tell a story about class, race, family and love, and even included a F/F romantic subplot. So a sequel was something I really was excited for, although I was a bit nervous due to how perfect I found that book's ending.

Those Beyond the Wall warns the reader however that this is a very different kind of book from the start (via an author's note) and that while this is still in some ways a story about love, it is very much also a story about righteous rage. It uses the multiversal-rules of the first book, along with its setup of a rich city with walls and tech that keeps out the poor and undesirable who are thus forced to live in a Mad Max-esque desert land, to tell a story of inequality and rage against injustice, with our main character Mr. Scales meaning well at heart but more and more willing to channel violence towards solving the injustice she and those around her suffer. And the story deals well with issues of love, self-hate, abuse, and more, for what should be a pretty powerful tale. And yet, my feelings towards this book were complicated by how it sort of took apart The Space Between Worlds' happy ending, reinterpreted certain characters from that book in ways that didn't quite make sense to me, and sort of made it hard for me to concentrate on this book's ideas and message.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Blue is Where God Lives by Sharon Sochil Washington

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 18, 2023 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 Blue is Where God Lives is a novel of historical fantasy/magical realism* written by cultural anthropologist Sharon Sochil Washington. The story features a Black American woman named Blue who goes through incredible tragedy at the start - the incoherent axe murdering of her daughter and grandaughter - and who then retreats to a ranch retreat in Texas to try to recover and understand how her life has gotten so miserable, with her feeling not just depressed and miserable from the death but unfulfilled from where life has taken her in general. But the ranch is a special place where timelines intersect and the story has Blue beginning to have visions of her ancestors from the 1800s, who wield strange magical abilities as they attempt to come out on top in a prejudiced world that has allowed them a moment of freedom, and who have their own plans for Blue.

It's a story clearly influenced by its author's own research and backstory - Blue goes to the same colleges as the author and there's an anthropologist character (and Blue winds up interested in it as well) - and to be honest, it's one that's written in a way that can be very confusing in its narrative, as the story's prologue is written from the perspective of an unclear narrator (who becomes eventually revealed near the end) and even past that the intersection of past and present timelines can be kind of funky. The result is one that feels a lot more at times like research than a coherent story - although its interesting research shown through its magical and just somehow real characters as they deal with the horrors of slavery even to those who have some privileges allowing them to get out of it as well as the horrors of poverty and oppression that follow families that come from it. And then it concludes with a conclusion that's again kind of unclear but very much seems to be a message about salvation coming from moving beyond the generational trauma of the past and into a new world where one can find fulfillmenet despite the chains of capitalism and poverty. It's an interesting book for sure, although I'm not sure how hard I'd recommend it.

Disclaimer: As you can tell from the above and below, this is a book dealing heavily with the Black Experience in America (as well as in smaller glimpses elsewhere around the world). It is also a book that relies upon Christian Themes and concepts, although it notes how the Black Christian experience was born in part out of the traditions that were left behind (and which White Slaveholders tried to stamp out) in Africa. As a White Jewish American, I don't have the same perspective or knowledge of this perspective as the author, and as such it's very likely I've missed or misunderstood parts of this work; at the same time, I feel it benefits me and other readers like me to try to hear such perspectives and thus feel this review has merit. But potential readers of this book may want to seek out reviewers from the Black Christian Perspective as well.

Trigger Warning: Rape, Incest, Sexual Assault, Slavery, etc. The book deals with struggles of poverty and racism in the present and struggles dealing with the transatlantic slave trade and beyond in the past timelines. All of the horrifying parts of those real life horrors are present here, although nothing is gratuitous and it is all used for a valid point.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu

 

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 10, 2023 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 Art of Destiny is the second book in Wesley Chu's "War Arts" wuxia/epic fantasy series which began in The Art of Prophecy (Which I reviewed here) .  The Art of Prophecy was a lot of fun - you had your classic wuxia goodness (magic-like types of martial arts, battles of martial arts masters, etc.) to go along with some really interesting themes about destiny, conflicts between peoples, collaborating vs resisting, and more.  And you also had a whole bunch of really fun characters - old master who's too tired for this shit Taishi, former righthand of the conquering "villain" Sali, and sardonic shadow-jumping assassin Qisami especially.  The book was pretty long but was such a blast I never really felt like it dragged and I was pretty excited for where the series would go after book 1.

The Art of Destiny takes place 3 years after book 1 and remains a lot of fun as it follows its four main characters...but it definitely suffers from a little of second book in a trilogy disorder and has a bit of disconnectedness that does make the once again long book feel at times like it's just killing time.  Whereas the last book went out of its way to feature a finale that brought all of the four POV characters together, this time the three groupings of main characters barely if ever interact, which is a bit annoying.  At the same time again, these characters are a lot of fun as they go through new stages in their lives/this-world, with Taishi desperate to teach Jian before she dies, Jian trying to learn but also live without exposing himself, Qisami the assassin forced to go undercover as a maid, and Sali being forced to examine her own people's history as she searches for a cure for her illness.  They're all generally pretty great, with new characters introduced who are pretty entertaining, so I still recommend this series and look forward to the trilogy's conclusion.  

Spoilers for Book 1 are inevitable below:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher

 

Paladin's Faith is the fourth book in award winning fantasy author T Kingfisher's (aka Ursula Vernon) Saint of Steel series of fantasy romances. For those who have not read the series before, the series is a series of stand alone fantasy romances, each of which follows one of seven Paladins who once served the god known as the "Saint of Steel" as the god's berserkers....until the god mysteriously died and all but those seven Paladins went mad and had to be cut down. Each book features a different Paladin, who all have been taken in by Kingfisher's amazingly great religion, the Temple of the White Rat, as they meet up with a different romantic partner in an adventure and, despite their own traumas (and those of their partners), manage to find love in a very slow-burn (sometimes infuriatingly so) but occasionally steamy romance. And through the first three books they've all been incredibly good - they contain Vernon/Kingfisher's amazing wit and creative imagination and incredible dialogue as well as characters who just really sing and have incredibly chemistry together (and deal with serious themes as well in these books, like justice, trauma, abuses of power, and more). Paladin's Grace, the first such book, is one of my favorite romances ever, so yeah I was super excited to tear through this fourth book in the series.

Paladin's Faith is another pretty good book in this series, even if it's probably my least favorite of the four books (which mind you, isn't a condemnation given how much I love books 1-3). Our non-Paladin protagonist, Marguerite, is the spy we last saw in book 1 (Paladin's Grace) and she is tremendously fun to follow as she does spy things in an attempt to well....destabilize the world's economy to prevent a shipping magnate from continuing its agenda to have her killed. The other protagonist however, Paladin Shane, didn't quite appeal to me as much as the other 3 Paladin protagonists - Shane's big thing is guilt and a lack of belief in his own self worth due to having been first denied by a different god and then having gone through the death of the one god who did take him up. Shane's arc is totally fine, and the chemistry between the two of them works, but he's the most stiff-necked Paladin so far and that wasn't quite as much fun for me...but it probably will be for other people, and the romance still works pretty damn well. More specifics after the jump:

Note: As I said above, each of the books in this series is stand alone and can be read without having read the other books, but the books do reference events that have gone on in prior books so readers who started from the beginning will have a small advantage. This book in particular features as a protagonist a major side character from Paladin's Grace, so starting here will make you miss some context: you'll be okay doing so, but Paladin's Grace is fantastic so I'd still recommend you start there if you have the choice.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Capture the Sun by Jessie Mihalik

 Capture the Sun is the third and final book in Jessie Mihalik's space opera romance series Starlight's Shadow. The series, which began with Hunt the Stars (Review Here) and continued with Eclipse the Moon (Review Here), features two sets of teammates who used to be on opposite sides of an interstellar wars - a team of humans led by Captain Tavi who now would like to run just an ordinary freighter job...mostly and a team of Valoffs - human-like but telepathic (amidst other psychic gifts) beings - who used to belong to their own military. Naturally when the two groups get involved with a conspiracy on both the human and Valoff sides to try to reignite the war, they find themselves having to work together to try to stop it....and in the process, a bunch of them find themselves attracted to their formerly hated enemies....And so book 1 featured Captain Tavi falling for the telekinetic former general Torran, book 2 featured hacker Kee getting involved with extremely mentally skilled Varro, and well this book follows thief (excuse me, "retrieval specialist") Lexi and teleporter Nilo. The books don't really deal with much more than winks to serious themes, but like Mihalik's earlier series, they're a lot of fun, and the romances can get extremely steamy (with some very hot sex scenes, even if this never quite gets to the level of erotic romance).

Capture the Sun follows a similar formula and works pretty well for it - new protagonist Lexi is extremely easy to like and follow as she deals with her trust issues, her PTSD, and her absolute desire for Nilo which she desperately wishes was not a thing because she can't trust him not to betray her again. I complained in my review of book 2 that the sex scenes there didn't live up to book 1, and well I think this book kind of hits a middle ground: there's a few hot scenes (the hottest honestly happens psychically), but there's not as much description in some of the sex scenes as you might expect and there's a couple of fades to black that omit descriptions at all...but it's still enough that it should be satisfying for most sex-loving romance fans. And the space opera plot and the characters still work really well for the most part. I was looking for an enjoyable romance to read here, and I got exactly what I was looking for.

Book Review: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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 January 3, 2023 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 Bandit Queens is not the usual type of book I read and review on this blog: it's not fantasy, science fiction, or even romance, which are my usual genres. But the book was offered to me in an email by the publisher, I was intrigued by the premise: a widow, Geeta, in an Indian village is wrongly suspected of having killed her no-good husband...and is then asked by other women in the community for help offing their own husbands. Thus we wind up with a dark comedy at times, as Geeta has to deal with her own desires to merely have her own freedom, the needs of the other women to deal with abusive controlling husbands, and what she'd need to do to actually become a murderer.

The result is a mixed bag, although one that is mainly positive and very amusing. The story does a great job illustrating the plight of Geeta and other such women in small villages in India and really makes you care about her very quickly, such that all the things that happen to her can be hard to read. It also deals with strong themes dealing with prejudice and circumstances driven by India's misogyny, its caste system, and the conflict between its religious groups. The story does at times feels like it isn't sure what direction the plot should take it - with the story at times feinting towards it having a side romance and those who the story sympathizes with amongst those interacting with Geeta shifting (particularly with the women who Geeta most reluctantly associates with). But it ends on a positive note and its final confrontation is so ridiculous it winds up doubling back to being pretty funny, which makes this a strong debut novel.

Trigger Warning: Spousal Abuse - Physical and Emotional - and there is one scene of attempted rape. No such rape actually occurs - it is attempted but physically stopped - but it could be triggering for some readers as it is a clear attempt at physical rape on page. There is also animal (canine) abuse.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

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 2, 2024 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.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is the first novel by award winning SF/F short story writer John Wiswell. The story is a fantasy romance that's F/F, features ace characters, and oh yeah, one of them is a shapeshifting monster that desires to find someone it can lay eggs in for their babies to eat their way out of and through (and the other is a maybe a little neurodivergent human). Wiswell's works often deal with serious themes while also being incredibly quirky and amusing, and this novel - as you can imagine from the premise - continues that trend in excellent fashion.

As I'll further detail below the jump, I really liked Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Its third person protagonist Shesheshen is delightful in how her monstrous point of view gives her a surprisingly good view of humanity (while also giving her plenty of blindspots) and the story does an excellent job with themes of parental/familial emotional abuse through its human love interest Homily - whose family shuns her and always treats her like dirt as she tries to be good amongst its aggresive monster hunting ways. Oh and the story is somehow still light despite that, features a number of delightful quirks (like a pompous human man in the nearby village Shesheshen repeatedly threatens to try to get him to do things she needs who responds in a surprising way), and whose central romance winds up being incredibly charming and surprising in how it plays out. Without spoiling anything, I'll say this book takes its final act or two into directions I very much didn't expect, after seemingly setting itself up for some well used (if not loved by me) romance tropes. So yeah, this book is a real winner, and I'll be unsurprised if it shows up on awards lists.

Trigger Warnings: Emotional Abuse from Parents and Siblings: The romantic interest, Homily, is repeatedly berated and emotionally abused by her sister and mother, and her learning she doesn't have to simply accept this, and that suffering for the sake of her family/loves is not right or good, is a major theme.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Siege of Burning Grass 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 March 12, 2024 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 Siege of Burning Grass is a science fiction novel from fascinating and incredibly prolific author Premee Mohamed. Mohamed's works tend to be weird in setting/concept even as they deal with serious themes and rarely go the way you expect: her lovecraftian Beneath the Rising trilogy for example was incredibly propulsive and twisty in some of the best and most infuriating ways. And the Siege of Burning Grass is similar in some ways: the story is incredibly weird in setting - featuring two warring Empires, one of which uses extremely weird biotechnology (wasps that sting you and administer drugs to you on a regular basis!) and one that uses regular tech from their floating cities - and twisty in plot and deals with some serious themes all at the same time as it follows pacifist Alefret as he's forced by one Empire to give his support to an infiltration mission to end the war.

The result is a pretty interesting piece of work, as it poses questions such as what is the value of pacifism in the middle of war and how much is that worth, at what price can one stick to one's values when the circumstances are always bad, and what is the cost of nationalism and what it drives people to do. There's also themes of class and how that affects who gets to protest, and well probably a bunch of other themes I'm forgetting or may have missed. It's a pretty deep novel but not one that ever drags or feels like some philosophy tract: like Mohamed's other works, it captivates you and doesn't let go until it hits its ending and is well worth your time.

Trigger Warnings: Thoughts of Suicidal Ideation and discussions of how soldiers are taught to commit suicide, as well as disability euthanasia are parts of this novel. None of it is gratuitous and all serves a purpose, but fair warning.

SciFi Novella Review: The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older

 

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is the sequel to Malka Older's "The Mimicking of Known Successes", her really well done F/F Romantic Science Fiction take on the Sherlock Holmes/Watson story (which also dealt heavily with science and environmental concerns). As you might tell from the prior sentence, that first book was really deep for a novella, covering a lot of themes and ideas (and set in a future where with Earth devastated, humans have settled largely on platforms around Jupiter), but at its heart was the relationship between neurodivergent investigator Mossa and "Classics" scholar Pleiti. And that relationship was really lovely, as the two exes got back together over the course of Mossa's investigation and Pleiti (from whose perspective nearly all of the story is shown) finds herself entranced and drawn to this woman in Mossa who struggles with human interaction and expressing romantic interest but is oh so brilliant at her job. It was really lovely, and the questions of environmental/scientific ethics in this post-devastation-of-Earth future were really interesting, so the fact that the mystery wasn't really one where the reader could guess the answer really didn't matter - I liked it a lot.

In that sense, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is similar to its predecessor: the heart of the story is still Mossa/Pleiti, this time with the focus being on Pleiti trying to realize how much Mossa actually cares for her given Mossa's difficulty expressing that fact and how much about Mossa and Mossa's thoughts that Pleiti doesn't actually know. The mystery this time is honestly even weaker than that of the last book, but it serves well enough to keep the plot and relationships rolling, as we deal with both the fallout from the last book as well as new ideas about how humans will try to break away from constriction and sometime-oppression to try and thrive on their own, even when that is incredibly implausible. In short, as I'll explain below, it's a pretty well done sequel and I can't wait for the next installment.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

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 12, 2023 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 Death I Gave Him is a Science Fiction adaptation/retelling of Hamlet, with a bit of a Queer twist. It's not a long novel and it's also one that is, while updating the setting and details, kind of faithful in many ways to the original play: certain acts Hayden (our version of Hamlet) does and certain tricks he tries to pull as he seeks to discover the truth behind his father's death and to get revenge come kind of right out of the play. At the same time, the novel combines certain characters and its change of setting - from historical revenge drama to a drama over future biotechnology that could lead to breakthroughs in both healing and perhaps in reversing death itself - work really really well, especially as told from several points of view through pseudo archival materials.

And the result is pretty damn interesting honestly, even as its most prominent character Hayden is probably the least changed in tone. But the story's atmosphere and writing is excellent and its secondary POV characters Felicia (this book's version of Ophelia, who has bits of Ophelia's brother Laertes mixed in) and Horatio (who keeps his name from the play but is now an AI who gets hooked into Hayden's being) are fascinating in their actions, emotions, and changes. All in all, an adaptation well worthy of your time.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

  The Water Outlaws is a genderflipped queer retelling of the classic Chinese novel "The Water Margin", in which a gang of 108 bandits rise up to fight against corrupt and unjust officials plaguing the weak and impoverished in the then existing Chinese Empire. But Huang does more than just retell the story with a gender flip and queer characters: she transforms the story into a Wuxia epic featuring mystical powers, amazing martial arts (of course), and magical materials that can grant people incredible powers but are hard to control...materials that the antagonist is seeking to learn through research how to reproduce and make into more powerful weapons for the "good" of the Empire. And so we get a Wuxia tale that is not only queer, genderflipped and modern, but deals with both some of the old themes of the original work (the fight against injustice in support of the weak and powerless against the strong and corrupt) and newer ones (fighting against misogyny and homophobia, for the freedom for people to be themselves) etc.

And the Water Margin is really good. The Wuxia action is very good and, well more importantly to me, so are the major characters we predominantly follow - Martial Arms Instructor Lin Chong; Intellectual and Progressive Socialite Lu Junyi; and reckless and violent but good hearted exiled monk Lu Da; and of course antagonist Cai Jing, Channelor to the Emperor. The characters' development throughout is fantastic, and the story provides a strong examination of and use of themes as it deals with oppression, redemption, fighting for justice, fighting for the right of people to be who they want to be no matter the gender, and the use of dangerous powers...and probably more I'm omitting here. All in all an excellent novel that will enrapture you fairly quickly.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline

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 4, 2023 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.

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is the most recent young adult novel by Métis author Cherie Dimaline. Dimaline is most known for her young adult novel The Marrow Thieves, featuring a dystopian future in which indigenous people are hunted for their ability to dream, and has written a bunch of other adult and YA novels, all of which feature indigenous protagonists of some sort. I've really enjoyed at least parts of all of Dimaline's works - they're often powerful in themes, rarely subtle, and even when I think they miss they do so in interesting ways. So I was very interested to try this latest YA novel of hers, which sounded in description like a bit more small scale YA novel than some of her other works.

The good news is that Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is a well crafted young adult novel, which will certainly work for a lot of the young adult audience. The novel follows Winifred, a 16 year old half-Métis girl who lives in an apartment above the cemetery office where her father works, as she deals with both the normal struggles with growing up as a girl who doesn't quite fit in, has OCD, feels pressure to have sex, and struggles severely with loneliness....as well as the more particular struggles of living in a cemetery with a father who hasn't gotten over the woman who died birthing her. Oh and in the process of it all, Winifred both prompts a con artist ghost tour company to come to the cemetery and meets a real ghost in Phil, a girl she grows more and more to care about. It's a story that deals with YA themes even as it gets very tropey at times, but it's also one that well, wasn't one that quite matched my own experiences as a teen and thus wasn't quite FOR this adult reader. That's not necessarily a problem with the book of course - as I'll detail below, that's part of the peril of being an adult reading YA.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta

 

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 in the US on February 20, 2024 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.

River Mumma is the debut novel of Canadian author Zalika Reid-Benta. The novel is a modern fantasy novel dealing with Jamaican folklore, as our protagonist Alicia is given a task by River Mumma, a Jamaican deity/spirit/mermaid with a connection to rivers and waterways, to find and return her magical comb before a deadline....and features Alicia and two of her friends, Heaven and Mars, searching around Toronto while being pursued by duppies and monstrous beings out of Jamaican folklore. It's a short novel, but one that is pretty packed and feels longer than it is.

And it's a novel that is really really enjoyable. Alicia is a really relatable and understandable protagonist - working in menial work after her masters and professional degrees failed to get her a job like some of her (probably White) classmates, struggling with socializing with friends and feeling lost, etc. And so her journey is really easy to care for as she gets swept up along with her two friends, who are also pretty well done. And the characters are all, even in the seriousness of it, pretty quirky and amusing and genre savvy and nerdy, even if the story never ever verges into comedy. It's a well rounded really enjoyable novel with some solid themes.

Disclaimer: This reviewer is a White Ashkenazi Jewish American, and as such my cultural knowledge of the culture that forms the backbone of this book is slim to none. So take this review for what it's worth (and you may want to see what people with more connections to this culture think in their own reviews).

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

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 November 15, 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 Wilderwomen is a contemporary fantasy novel written by author Ruth Emmie Lang. The novel follows two sisters - Zadie, who's in her early 20s, secretly pregnant and just leaving the place she used to stay with her ex; and Finn, who is just about to leave her foster family for college for the first time - as they go on a ride to try and figure out why their mom left them five years ago. But Zadie and Finn aren't quite normal - they both have extrasensory powers, with Zadie able to gain glimpes of the future and Finn able to experience the memories of others tied to a place, and their mother might've had such powers as well. And so the story follows the two as Finn desperately tries to search for her mom and Zadie follows along regretfully, trying not to lose the last relationship she values.

The result is in large part an effective novel of two sisters who love each other but are different both in age and temperament, with Finn hopeful of finding answers and coming from a decent situation and Zadie cynical due to what she once observed and the rough life she's had since her mom left. And the road trip story here is pretty effective, as the two sisters encounter people and places that change their understanding of what happened and who they are. At the same time, the book seems to be leading up to some interesting ideas or answers and instead peters out, with its ending just being abrupt and kind of unsatisfying in how it answers its central idea...and in the process it manages to tie off every question in ways that didn't really work. The result is a mixed bag.

More explanation after the jump:

Fantasy Novella Review: Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo

 

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 March 4, 2024 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.

Small Gods of Calamity is the debut novella from author Sam Kyung Yoo. The story features Kim Han-gil, a detective with a sense for the supernatural (which his fellow officers don't know exists) and a traumatic past related to the infestation of his mother (a mudang) by a worm spirit - a deadly parasitic spirit that most other supernatural practitioners don't think is real. So when Han-gil's latest case shows clear signs of a worm's presence, Kim finds himself desperate to stop it before it causes more harm...and burdened with the help of Shin Yoonhae, the man whose exorcism eventually resulted in his mother's tragedy.

The result is a story that deals heavily with trauma and with suffering as a result of loved ones actions, along with issues like transphobia (and how that can cause the aforementioned trauma) and the burning need to keep one's resentment inside. It's a story that works really well in this regards and ends in a hopeful ending, which I will definitely be keeping in mind come next year's award season.

Trigger Warning: Transphobia, particularly from family members, Suicide/Suicidal-Actions.

SciFi/Fantasy Novella: Loving Safoa by Liza Wemakor

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 6, 2024 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.

Loving Safoa is the debut novella of Liza Wemakor and one of the latest in queer small publisher Neon Hemlock's 2024 Novella series.  The novella is short and is in part a lesbian vampire romance - featuring a 200 plus year old vampire tattoo artist from Ghana and a black schoolteacher from New York in the modern world...and beyond.  That "and beyond" is because this book is not really just a romance, but also a hopeful look at this vampire-inclusive version of our world that features growing communities for people from marginalized and colonized communities that soon grow and become prominent.  

It's a lovely story in both the romance department and its hope for the future, even if it feels implausible nowadays, and is very worth your time.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi

 

Daughters of Oduma is a Young Adult Fantasy novel written by Nigerian-American author Moses Ose Utomi.  I really enjoyed Utomi's other 2023 new release - the adult fantasy novella "The Lies of the Ajungo".  That enjoyment - along with a recommendation from one of my favorite reviewers, Alex Brown - led me to check out this novel, even though it seemed on first glance to be targeting a younger age group than I usually focus on.  And I wasn't totally wrong about that - despite the novel being sold as "Young Adult" and featuring a main protagonist who is 17, the novel is perfectly appropriate for and easily could've been sold as middle grade.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but does also make it a bit more difficult for an adult to review it. 

At the same time, Daughters of Oduma is pretty excellent with dealing with themes of family, of choosing who one wants to be, of fear of failure and how one tries to overcome that fear, and how people struggle with inner worries, demons, and fears they've chosen the wrong path.  It's a novel that is inspired by West-African cultures featuring a world which is almost entirely sub 18 year old girls and boys in various castes and focuses upon a family of five girls who are in a caste of fighters/wrestlers, who need their champion to win the land's major competition to get the new members they need in order for the clan to survive.  There are aspects of the setting that are never really explored and are teased as being potentially part of a sequel (where are the adults?  Where do the new kids come from?), but overall the story works really well, with excellent characters and themes - it's also very body positive - that will be very relevant to a lot of younger readers.  

More specifics after the jump:  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

  Some Desperate Glory is the first full length novel by Emily Tesh, who broke onto the SF/F scene with her Greenhollow duology of novellas (Silver on the Wood/Drowned Country) and wound up winning the Astounding Award for best new writer. I really liked those novellas, although maybe not as much as the rest of the Hugo voters, and this first full length novel - switching to Space Opera this time - has been receiving crazy plaudits from other authors I follow on social media. So I decided - even with a way too long TBR as it was - to put a library hold on it and it came in pretty much immediately.

And well Some Desperate Glory deserves its plaudits in spades, although it's often a very difficult novel to read due to its triggering subject matter (see below), especially at first. The novel starts out seemingly as what readers probably will have seen before - a dystopian future world featuring child soldier protagonist Kyr in a future where Earth has been destroyed after a war with aliens, and will certainly feature its protagonist realize she's on the wrong side and switch sides (or not switch sides and slowly become more tragic) - and then by the midway point in its second act shifts WILDLY, with a couple of plot twists that drastically shift this novel completely. The result is an absolutely excellent story, with an excellent main character - as well as some other side characters - and surprising but generally well earned plot twists that explore strong themes really well - themes such as radicalization, how abuse leads to further cycles of abuse even from people who know what happened to them was wrong, cycles of violence, hatred and fascism, and more and more. It's an absolutely impressive novel given how much it is able to do with its characters and themes while constantly subverting expectations.

NOTE: Despite the age of its protagonist and some of its themes, the book is not marketed as and shouldn't be referred to as YA.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: I'm just going to mostly quote for the novel's own trigger warning here: Sexist, Homophobic, Transphobic, Racist, and Ableist Attitudes, Sexual Assault - both off page and on page, although it doesn't get very far on page - forced pregnancy, violence, child abuse, radicalization, genocide, and suicide. As you can tell, this book deals with serious themes and topics, but it never does so gratuitously, even if it results in the book, especially in the beginning, being very hard to read.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Fox Snare by Yoon Ha Lee

Fox Snare is the third and final book in Yoon Ha Lee's middle grade science fiction trilogy, "A Thousand Worlds", which began with "Dragon Pearl" and continued with "Tiger Honor".  The series is one of the Rick Riordan presents imprint, in which Riordan lends his promotion to books that take inspiration from the mythologies of other cultures - in this case, the series is inspired by Korean mythology and history (even though this is a future science fiction world).   Reviewing Middle Grade novels is difficult because well, I'm obviously not the target audience for this series, but I genuinely liked Dragon Pearl and Tiger Honor, especially the latter, as the two novels deftly mixed sci-fi with beings of Korean myth (gumiho/foxes, goblins, dragons, tigers, etc.) and dealt with some solid themes  in age appropriate adventures.  They weren't books I'd advise adults to read, but for kids they were definitely excellent material and that's what they're for.  

Fox Snare seems to be a conclusion to this series and as such, features both the protagonist of Dragon Pearl (gumiho Min) and the protagonist of Tiger Honor (tiger Sebin) as co-protagonists, as they (eventually) get forced together on another adventure.  This story seems clearly to take inspiration from the historical emnity between Korea and Japan, with sci-fi versions of both nations meeting to discuss a peace treaty only for bad things to happen.  The result is solid, but a number of minor issues - the main plot taking forever to get moving, the antagonist being so incredibly obvious - made this one a bit of a disappointment honestly, especially after I liked Tiger Honor so much more.  But it's possible to be fair that kids will have less problems with these things.  

Note: As with the prior books in this series, this is a very queer-friendly novel, with a queer non-binary protagonist in Sebin, and other queer characters whose queerness is just treated as ordinary.  So this series remains an excellent choice for those looking for queer friendly kid-lit.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Abeni's Song by P Djèlí Clark

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 25, 2023 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.


Abeni's Song is a middle grade fantasy novel written by award winning fantasy author P Djèlí Clark (A Master of Djinn, Ring Shout). The novel is I believe Clark's first foray into younger fiction and features a novel set in a West African-inspired world, as a 12 year old girl Abeni finds herself the only survivor of an attack on her village by a magical army...one which uses a strange song to hypnotize and kidnap all of the other kids. And so begins a story where Abeni is first taken away by the old woman - thought to be a witch - whose magic saved her from the same fate and then embarks on her own journey to try to save both the others in her village from the magical army's evil leader, the Witch Priest. Along the way Abeni winds up allying with a magical man made of straw, and a pair of animal spirits as she grows, learns and develops into the person needed to save her people.

It's in some ways a fairly standard story, but Clark tells it very well, with a West African backdrop in both its magical setting and its less magical parts (White Slavers are implied to be a threat who are never actually seen or understood) that makes this stand out amongst other similar fare. Some plot elements are rather predictable, but our lead character is an excellent protagonist and the story is both very satisfying on its own and at the same time promises a sequel that I (and younger readers) would be pretty interested in reading.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Market of 100 Fortunes by Marie Brennan

 

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 6, 2024 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 Market of 100 Fortunes is the third and final book in Marie Brennan's Legend of the 5 Rings tie-in trilogy, which began in The Night Parade of 100 Demons and features her romantic pair of gay samurai Asako Sekken of the Phoenix Clan and Agasha no Isao Ryōtora of the Dragon Clan. Book 1 of the trilogy featured the two samurai concealing their own secrets (Sekken's supernatural dog Tanshu and his witch ancestor; Ryōtora's clan's weakness and need to adopt peasant-born individuals like him into its Samurai ranks) as they investigated supernatural phenomena and fell slowly in love. Book 2 featured the two samurai coming together again and facing their love for each other, the political issues involving it as well as their own physical weaknesses, and another supernatural occurence, which all led to the two of them becoming publicly engaged. Both of those books were tremendous fun even if you had no L5R foreknowledge (like me) and the growing romance between Sekken and Ryōtora was just so incredibly lovely and enjoyable.

With Book 3, Sekken and Ryōtora's relationship is more secure than ever, but there's still plenty for their relationship to develop further through a new plot, this time involving repeated minor character Sayashi, the bakeneko (cat-demon) who had gotten involved in both of their prior adventures, as Sayashi begs them for help and invokes Sekken's prior promise to help her see the value of humanity in the process. And so we once again get a new supernatural mystery, a bunch of new minor characters - most notably a Scorpion Clan magistrate whose trustworthiness they have to constantly question - who are pretty solid and a nice resolution and conclusion to the romance that has carried this series. It's not the best book in the trilogy, but it's still another very enjoyable installment that will please anyone who started the series, and just makes me definitely willing to endorse the series to those looking for queer romantic fantasy.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

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 March 5, 2024 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.

Aftermarket Afterlife is the 13th (not counting a patreon only prequel novel) official novel in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy series, Incryptid. The series follows the Price/Healy family, who tries to protect cryptids (sentient or non-sentient species whose existence isn't believed by science) from normal unknowing humans...as well as other knowing and more malevolent humans who hunt such cryptids, such as the worldwide organization known as the Covenant of St. George. The series has featured Cryptids from various parts of the world, although is mostly set in North America, and each arc in the series has tended to follow a different member of the family as its first person protagonist. In Aftermarket Afterlife, the series switches its' central character/narrator to Mary, the family's babysitting ghost who used to work for the malevolent supernatural force known as the Crossroads.

And Aftermarket Afterlife is honestly the most grim and devastating novel in the series, as McGuire uses the novel to tie up seeming plot holes and loose ends in ways that take away multiple books' past happy endings...and result in our main protagonists suffering losses like never before. Mary has to deal with not only the fact that there are two new baby/infant members of the family (and that the return of the family grandfather threatens to overturn family harmony) but also a full on attack by the covenant on multiple fronts, such that the lives of her charges and the cryptids and people they care about are in serious danger. The result is a novel where not everyone will make it out alive - and I'm not just talking about the babysitting ghost protagonist - and it is downright brutal. InCryptid is often a series which has had plenty of fun moments even amidst dire danger, and well there's a lot less of that fun here....but the novel works pretty well and moves the series' main arc significantly forward...so I expect we hopefully will have more fun stuff to come in the future.

Spoilers for Books 1-12 are unmarked below:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: At the End of the World by Nadia Mikail

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 17, 2023 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.

At the End of the World is a short YA novel whose only SF/F aspect is that it takes place in a world where a few months earlier it was revealed that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth and that everyone there only has months left to live.  In this world we follow - through a story that jumps back and forth through time - a Malaysian girl named Aisha, who should be about to head to university and planning a marriage with her fantastic long-term boyfriend, but is instead lamenting all the possibilities that are lost to her.  And so when her mom decides that they should spend part of their remaining time searching for Aisha's long lost sister June, who walked out on them three years ago, Aisha has to come to terms with what she lost when June walked out and when the world realized it was all about to end.  

The result is an excellent story of love and grief, as it really shows how hard people can get hit by grief and how that will affect everyone around them, and not necessarily for the better.  But it's also a story, in the wake of the end, of how people can remember and retell themselves about the good moments, such that they can maybe work to get past that grief with the people who matter most.  A really good if short YA read.  

Non-Fiction Book Review: Fight, Magic, Items by Aidan Moher

 

Fight, Magic, Items is a non-fiction history book detailing the history of a specific sub-genre of video game: the JRPG, or Japanese Role Playing Game. This involves Moher going back to the genre's roots in Western video/computer games and fantasy and science fiction media that influenced the genre's first Japanese creators to make their games for the NES and other consoles, before the genre began to take off on its own. The book spends a lot of time dealing with the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior series, as some of the more major JRPG titles, and the book especially is interested in Western reactions to JRPGs and the struggles it has been sometimes for JRPGs to be localized and brought over to North America and Europe.

As a huge fan of JRPGs, although one who came into the genre later than Moher (my first JRPG came on the PS1 in Legend of Legaia, with my first completed JRPG being Final Fantasy X), I was really interested in the subject, and as I'll detail below, Moher does a really good job going through a chronological and not chronological narrative of how they came about and how the genre has evolved and is still evolving. There's a bunch of things Moher doesn't get into that I wish he had, but Fight, Magic Items is still a really interesting history for those who are fans of the genre.

Note: I read this in audiobook form. This can be a little awkward as I believe the print book has frequent little inserts in which the book quickly describes various JRPG titles that come up in the narrative which the book doesn't have time to go in depth about. In the audiobook, these inserts are dealt with by the audiobook reader interrupting the narrative to narrate the inserts, and if you're not aware of what's going on and paying attention it can be a bit confusing when a long bit of narration about one part of JRPG history - and a specific game in general - is interrupted for 30 seconds for a brief description of another game...only for the narrative to just go back to the first game. The reader is good mind you, but I suspect between pictures and these inserts you lose something not reading this book in print.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

 The Archive Undying is the first in a new SciFi trilogy by author Emma Mieko Candon. Candon was the writer of the tie-in novel Star Wars Visions: Ronin, which expounded upon an anime Star Wars short that was produced by a Japanese Animation studio and did so in a way that was really really good. That novel took what was a short that did not need any further expansion and made it its own story with its own tremendous characters and themes and really got me excited for seeing Candon's future work. And so here we have The Archive Undying, a book described as dealing with "war machines and AI gods run amok" by its marketing campaign and wow was I excited to get my hands on this one.

That said, while the Archive Undying does have giant mecha, war machines, and AI gods gone mad, the story is a lot more human and personal. The story focuses on a protagonist named Sunai who was raised seemingly to die by the AI god who ruled his city...and who in the process of dying transformed Sunai into a man who cannot die or even age. And the story focuses upon Sunai as he deals with his past with that AI god, as well as two friends he has met in the years since who also have ties to that god, and most significantly with his attraction to and sudden relationship with an engineer Veyadi who may be involved with that god's unholy resurrection by a foreign superpower. The story is incredibly chaotic and kind of confusing, as its perspective changes frequently, with the book using first, second, and third person narratives at various points, and honestly after reading it I kind of still wonder what exactly I read. And yet in some ways it works as it showcases how Sunai and Veyadi struggle with their pasts, their self-worths, and what it means for them to possible have a future in some body or another.

I will try to explain....poorly....after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Game of 100 Candles by Marie Brennan

The Game of 100 Candles is a tie-in novel written by fantasy author Marie Brennan (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, The Rook and Rose Trilogy with Alyc Helms) which takes place in the Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) roleplaying/card game universe.  It's actually the second book in a trilogy which began with The Night Parade of 100 Demons (Reviewed Here) a few years ago.  The book really requires no prior knowledge of the L5R world and can even possibly be read without reading the prior novel, but I would highly recommend that you read the Night Parade first, as much of this book is built on the foundation of that one, and that book was really good.  

The Night Parade dealt with two (male) samurai - Dragon clan Samurai/Priest Ryōtora and Phoenix clan Samurai/Scholar Sekken - who, carrying secrets of their own, were investigating supernatural Yokai attacks in a small village...and who in the process fell in love with one another.  The Game of 100 Candles follows up on the aftermath of those events as a year has passed since Ryōtora and Sekken have seen each other and the two of them now have to deal with inter-clan politics, issues of bloodline inheritance, and family complications that stand in the way of any potential official match between them...and that's before people start falling into a supernatural sleep in a way that makes it seem like Ryōtora's Dragon clan is at fault.  

The result is a story that is in the end incredibly charming as its two protagonist struggle with both their new supernatural problem and the complications involved in their love for one another, which features a number of delightful new characters (Sekken's family in particular) and manages to make an awful lot of frustrating pining and secret-keeping worth it in the end.  A very recommended second novel and I can't wait for the third.  

Spoilers for Book 1 are below:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Where Peace is Lost by Valerie Valdes

Where Peace is Lost is the fourth novel by author Valerie Valdes, who was previously known for her space opera "Chilling Effect" trilogy. That trilogy, which I loved, was an incredibly humorous space opera whose setting cribbed in large part from Mass Effect but also featured a billion other geek references, as it told the story of the reckless but incredibly fun Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of the La Sirena Negra as they get caught in the middle of galactic-level conflicts. It was an incredibly fun trilogy that only got better with each book, so I was super eager to hear about and try Valdes' follow up (and had my library pre-order it).

Where Peace is Lost is however a very different book than Valdes' first trilogy - not only is it stand-alone, but the story is a far more introspective science fantasy novel without the focus on humor. As Valdes' admitted in an interview, the story is very much inspired by the idea of Obi-Wan or another retired Jedi hiding away as the Evil Empire triumphed, and how they would cope in their new home as evil continued to cause damage both elsewhere...and on their new adoptive home. But while the story is very different in tone from Valdes' other works, Where Peace is Lost is still really really good, and well worth your time, as it uses this concept to explore a couple of fascinating characters and some really interesting themes about hiding, denial, grief, and what is and is not a worthy sacrifice.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells

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 November 14, 2023 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.

System Collapse is the latest work in Martha Wells' "The Murderbot Diaries" series, her award winning series about the construct SecUnit (an artificial being created out of biological and machine parts) who goes by "Murderbot" internally despite being an introverted anxious being who would rather watch media/soap-operas rather than do anything else.  If you're somehow unaware of Murderbot, despite large popularity and awards, well, its protagonist is incredibly lovable as it tries to stay out of trouble despite hacking itself to freedom...and despite it falling in with a group of humans it comes to care about and has to keep from getting themselves killed from time to time.  The story began with a quarter of novellas (beginning with All Systems Red), expanded to a full length novel (Network Effect), and then continued with a prequel novella last year (Fugitive Telemetry). 

System Collapse is I guess a short novel - it's almost in between the page length of Network Effect and the Novellas, at something like 250 pages - and it's a direct sequel largely to Network Effect.  And it's fun in the way Murderbot works tend to be, as Murderbot deals with its old Preservation humans and its new ART-crew humans (plus a spinoff of ART) as they try to convince some separatist colonists to trust them over the ambassadors for a dangerous corporation.  At the same time, the book's in between length seems to have come at a cost, as the book also deals with a plot of Murderbot dealing with traumatic flashbacks that may or may not be accurate and kind of fumbles that plotline just a little bit.  There's enough interesting here that I rather enjoyed this, and Wells' prose is always well done, but the in-between length and incomplete trauma plotline make this one one of my lower ranked works in this really great series. 

SciFi/Fantasy Video Game Review: The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie

Reviewing a Video Game is not something I normally do on this blog, although I've done it for a few games, most notably those in the Trails series. But after spending two months (140+ hours) basically playing this game instead of reading, I really feel like I want to give a bit more of an effort into my review of this game, even if I will be retreading some ideas that have been covered in other pieces.

Trails Into Reverie is the 10th game in Falhom's "Trails" ("Kiseki" in Japan) series of Japanese Role Playing Games. Unlike a lot of other long running series of video games or RPGs, like say Final Fantasy, the Trails series does not try to keep each game independent of each other so that newcomers can play them without having to play earlier games first. Instead, the series is like a long running steampunk-ish fantasy book series, with each game building upon the past installments such that new readers who start in the middle are going to miss at least a little bit - if not a lot - if they don't go back and read what came before. That's not to say there aren't on-ramps into the series other than the beginning; like a long running series, there are different arcs in the series featuring different countries in the setting, so if you start at the beginning of an arc you can probably get by just fine and enjoy....but events and characters of prior arcs will get involved in new ones not before long. As someone who has played all 9 prior games to this one - and even played the two of those 9 games that weren't localized in the US until last year well before that due to a translation patch - I guess I'd kind of be considered a major fan of the series, so this isn't quite a dispassionate review here, and I'm not going to take too much time to try to get people up to speed on the story in this review either...I don't think it's necessary for my judgment of this game or my judgment as to whether you should be interested in the series in general based upon this review (there won't really be spoilers here either in specifics in this review).

Like many long running fiction series, particularly in science fiction, fantasy or romance, a key element involved in Trails keeping me interested 10 games in are the characters and their development. The plotting in the games has runned from really great romantic fantasy (the first two Trails in the Sky games) to solid geopolitical thriller with questions about whether Omelas-like-suffering might be worth utopia (the Crossbell Games, Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure) to complete and utter mess, sometimes in infuriating ways (the Trails of Cold Steel Games). But each game in the series develops major characters - many old, some new depending on the game - and develops so so so so so many side characters who aren't really important such that you can't help but loving and wanting to spend time with almost everyone, even if there are some characters you likely cannot stand. So even after the 9th game in the series, Trails of Cold Steel 4, was a bit of a disaster in my opinion even in the character development department (particularly in how the game handled a major antagonist from the last 7 games), well, I couldn't help but want to plaly Trails Into Reverie as soon as it got over here like 3 years later, just to spend time with the characters again. And Trails from Reverie is a game built upon feeding that desire - this is a game that, even in introducing a new plotline and new small party of characters for a 1/3 of it, is really built upon giving you as much time as you could possibly want with almost every major character of the last SEVEN games and beyond. It's a fanservice game in the non-sexual meaning (although there is some of that too because sigh, it's a JRPG) to the extreme, intent on giving you more more and more - more character interaction, more gameplay of all the main systems and side mini games, more utterly bonkers possible ways to break the prior games' already broken combat systems. And the game is so so good at doing that and is simply incredibly addictive.