SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Time of the Cat by Tansy Raynor Roberts

 

Time of the Cat is another entry in this year's Self Published Science Fiction Competition (#SPSFC4), in which I am a Judge for the second time. The novel is a more humorous/comedic take on SciFi, featuring a version of time travel that is reliant upon talking cats in the 24th century and a bunch of time travelers who range from serious to utterly selfish...and nearly all of whom are obsessed with their favorite tv show. Add in an opposing group of time travelers who are obsessed with partying and messing up the timeline with anachronisms and endnotes/footnotes that try to pile on additional absurdities, and well you can see how this could be a fun lighthearted jaunt.

And Time of the Cat is exactly that, which makes it a very easy book to read and enjoy - whether that be in print or in audio. The story didn't make me laugh exactly, but it kept me entertained with its light humorous tone and most of the characters were pretty enjoyable, even if the character development of some of them was rather shallow. And the ending involves a resolution of a major plot twist basically occurring completely off page, which was kind of annoying, but really it didn't matter too much with the tone of it all. I wouldn't mind this book making it to the next round of the SPSFCs, even if I'm not sure it's much better than that.

NOTE: I read this half in print and half in audiobook. The audio reader is excellent and the book weaves its endnotes into the audiobook pretty excellently so you don't miss much: some end-notes are inserted directly into the narrative, others are put at the end of each chapter and given a few extra words to explain what the notes were referring to in the text. This works impressively well to keep the humorous asides of the notes intact.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Oath of Fire by K. Arsenault Rivera

 

Oath of Fire is the latest novel from K Arsenault Rivera, who previously wrote the epic fantasy/sapphic romance trilogy that began with The Tiger's Daughter. The Tiger's Daughter is honestly one of my favorite books ever, with its F-F romance being just incredible and the writing of the story bringing joy/tears to my eyes. So yeah, I had high hopes for Oath of Fire, even if I basically knew nothing of the story's inspiration: the tale of Psyche and Eros.

And Oath of Fire is an excellent queer and sapphic romance that does some really interesting things. The story makes Psyche a social worker/therapist who is well meaning but struggles with knowing the right thing to do and with being brave in talking to people, and who finds bits of relief through MMORPG playing and occasional instagram posts. When all seems to go wrong for her professionally, Psyche is sent an invitation to the Fae-like (and Greek god filled) wine-dark courts, where she becomes involved with and oathsworn to the mysterious masked Eros, whom she is drawn tremendously too despite her danger. There are parts here of this story that are predictable (as you'd expect from the story's origins) but Arsenault Rivera still manages to weave a tremendous romance with modern fantasy elements as Psyche gets more and more involved in this dangerous (and often sexy) romance, where one wrong word or move could get her killed. More specifics after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: What Swims on Uncharted World 550 by R.B. Lovitt

 

What Swims on Uncharted World 550 is a short novel that is part of this year's Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4). The novel is essentially a murder mystery on an alien planet with the story told from the perspective of a new scientist who arrives at an existing scientific expedition just in time to be there when members of the expedition start mysteriously dying off.

It's a book that's easy to read, with a twist near the end (I mean it is a mystery of course) that is decently set up, and yet I still wound up thinking just "huh" at the end of it. Basically it seems to be using the story for an idea and payoff that the story doesn't really earn, which makes it read well but not actually manage to be satisfying or super successful. Some better explanations, with some spoilers in ROT13, after the jump:

Fantasy Novella Review: Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold

 

Demon Daughter is the twelfth story in Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasy "Penric & Desdemona" series. As I've said before, I've enjoyed the series - which focuses upon the unexpected combination of the inquisitive Penric & the ten-lived demon Desdemona in Bujold's World of the Five Gods - but have found the later installments hit or miss. Pen & Des's interactions through their mind and verbal talk are always fun/interesting, but at this point Bujold seems to alternate between stories that are interesting through new character developments and ones that are just more of the same and don't offer anything new.

Demon Daughter does offer some new character developments, although it does feel a little bit like a not fully fleshed out idea. The story focuses upon Pen & Des, along with Nikys, as they encounter a 7 year old girl - around the age of their own daughter - who was thrown overboard from a ship when she contracted a demon. Even more notably, the demon inside her is essentially a child itself, having existed only within a rat before her for the barest of moments, and as such is so pure that Des takes a maternal instinct towards her...which leads to internal conflict with Pen. As a story it's a bit heartwarming at times and the character relationships all work...but it also feels like a story on rails to a predestined end from early on, which takes some of the intrigue off of it.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice

 

Moon of the Turning Leaves is the stand alone sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, an earlier short novel by Waubgeshig Rice. That novel featured a post-apocalypse world where all electricity and communications devices went out and focused upon an Anishinaabe community who had to come together to survive in a dangerous winter, utilizing their old almost forgotten customs and facing hostilities from white interlopers who have their own more greedy ideas about how to survive. It was a really effective short novel.

Moon of the Turning Leaves is stand alone and takes place years later, when the community has been settled for a generation but is now suddenly realizing that the natural food supplies of fish and game in the area are running low. And so we have the story of a scouting party led by prior book protagonist Evan and his teenage daughter Nangohns, who is the village's best hunter and has known almost nothing but the Anishinaabe way of life that their village has promoted, as they search to see what else is out there and if their people's old homeland might still be suitable for them to relocate. None of the story that results will be that surprising to readers or feels that original and yet it is very well told and infused with the Anishanabe culture of the author and the characters, so it's well worth reading.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Wilderness Five by C.R. Walton

 

Wilderness Five is a self-published science fiction novel by author C.R. Walton which is an entry in this year's Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (#SPSFC4). The novel has a setup that seems almost like one of a Michael Crichton novel as it features a platform (Wilderness Five) in space where a new green place for people to live is being created with the aid of carefully controlled tech that speeds up evolution and growth....until others, such as an immortality seeking billionaire, decide to use less careful applications of science on the platform for their own selfish ends.

It's a story with an intriguing setup, if perhaps anti-technology at times (ala Chrichton) that tries to deal with ideas about evolution, sentience, and intelligence. Unfortunately, the final acts of the story devolve into an utter mess, with character decisions being nonsensical and the specifics of what's happening becoming utterly confusing and hard to figure out. I did manage to finish it, which is more than I can say for some SPSFC4 entries, but overall, Wilderness Five is a failure even if you are open to its themes.

SciFi/Fantasy/Romance Book Review: Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

 

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 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.

Rules for Ghosting is the debut novel for queer Jewish author Shelly Jay Shore. The book is advertised as a queer Jewish romance (and Jewish family drama) and that's exactly what it is - with a minor fantasy element of its protagonist being able to see ghosts. And so we get a story dealing with the rituals of a Jewish Funeral Home, our trans male protagonist Ezra dealing with new roommates and a crush on a hot recently widowed funeral home volunteer Jonathan, family drama incited by Ezra's mother admitting at the seder that she's actually in love with the Rabbi's wife, and oh yeah, one of the ghosts Ezra is now seeing everwhere is Jonathan's dead husband Ben. If that sounds like a lot and a mess, well, that's the point and honestly, that only makes the book feel more Jewish.

And as a Jewish SF/F and romance reader who reads a lot of queer works, well, I kind of loved Rules for Ghosting. The story deals with Jewish Guilt and Obligations and family messes in very realistic ways, has a really lovely romance between Ezra and Jonathan and doesn't do the annoying third act temporary breakup I hate in many romances, and just is pretty lovely in the end. I'm not sure how the book will work for non-Jewish readers (probably still pretty decent, but honestly who cares those readers have plenty of non Jewish romances to read) but for the Jewish and especially the Jewish and Queer romance fans, this one is definitely going to appeal.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ash by Grace Walker

 

Ash is a self-published science fiction novel that is the start of a new series/trilogy by 17 year old author Grace Walker, whose bio notes that her first trilogy was written at age 14. And let me tell you, for a 17 year old's self published work, Ash is very solid - the prose is written very well and is very readable and the main characters are certainly likable, with the story also containing some promise of exploration of serious themes. And the novel is short enough that readers will get through it fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, Ash isn't ultimately a satisfying novel because the book feels incomplete. As I'll explain more below, the book stops on a cliffhanger before the story really gets into anything, despite the reader knowing that certain events are going to happen, so it just winds up being kind of frustrating. And the book definitely could use a bunch of editing as it takes just too long to get out of the first act that is basically just preamble and probably could've used more time in the book's second act. There's a good novel in what is written here I think and an editor probably would've helped Walker tease it out, but Ash isn't there yet.

SciFi Novella Review: Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

Navigational Entanglements is the newest Sci-Fi novella from Aliette de Bodard (the Xuya Universe, Dominion of the Fallen, Dragons and Blades), one of my favorite authors. Like de Bodard's Xuya works, this is set in a sci-fi universe (with some magic-esque attributes) where the world is Vietnamese-inspired, although this work is not actually a Xuya work (that universe is seemingly more direct sci-fi and prominently features mindships, which are not present here). And de Bodard uses this new setting to tell a story of a pair of young adults, Nhi and Hạc Cúc being sent on a mission with two other young Navigators by their rival clans, which forces them to confront their internal struggles as well as their own moral codes and desires to do what's right.

It's a really well done novella, dealing strongly with a pair of protagonists (who fall for each other of course) dealing with their own insecurities or disabilities - Nhi is on the spectrum and has a hard time dealing with people, Hạc Cúc is massively insecure about not living up to their legendary mentor - and putting them into a super interesting scifi world with some interesting themes.

SciFi/Fantasy/Romance Book Review: A Swift and Sudden Exit by Nico Vincenty

 

A Swift and Sudden Exit is a self-published sci-fi F/F romance novel that features a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic future (Zera) looking for keys to fix her time and an immortal woman (Katherine) she keeps finding along the way who might possess the answers she seeks...if she doesn't fall in love with her first. It's not a unique setup, but it's one seemingly tailor-made to intrigue me, so it wasn't a surprise when it wound up in my review allotment for the Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) that I am judging again this year.

And the result is uneven, although it has moments of real promise. The romance between Zera and Katherine works really well from the midpoint on, with both characters being delights to read and strong in their development and character, which means romance fans will definitely enjoy this book. But there are a few moments here and there that are clear whiffs (one will cause any lawyer reader pain), a late act plot twist is insanely predictable, and the book's ending is an utter mess. The result is an enjoyable romance but one with enough flaws to prevent it from being a strong recommend...and one that non-romance readers should definitely skip.*

Normally I wouldn't include this caveat in a review, but as this is a SPSFC review and some readers will thus be looking for Sci-Fi without romance, I feel obligated to give it, even though it's not quite the fault of the book.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Diablo's Curse by Gabe Cole Novoa

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 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.

The Diablo's Curse is the second YA novel by author Gabe Cole Novoa, after his novel "The Wicked Bargain". It's essentially a stand-alone sequel to that book, featuring as one of its protagonists Dami, the demonio who was a minor character in that first book, who now seeks to become fully human by revoking all of the magical bargains they tricked humans into making with them. But the last such human, Silas, is cursed with deadly bad luck and the only thing keeping them from dying - permanently at least - is the bargain Dami struck with Silas. And so, to get that last deal done, Dami agrees to help Silas break said family curse by finding a long lost treasure on a magical island

It's a pretty standard YA setup to some extent, albeit one a lot more queer (Dami is NB/genderfluid, Silas is bi (but mostly prefers guys), and third protagonist Marisol is a trans girl) and with a Hispanic Spanish speaking protagonist in Dami. And it's generally pretty well executed even as it plays to the typical plot beats - like Silas and Dami falling for each other - and the story of each main character fighting to be able to be who they want to be and with the people they want to be with works well even as it does mostly eventually turn into the trio of protags looking for treasure on a dangerous mysterious magical island and falls into some very tropey parts in the book's ending.

Fantasy Novella Review: The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

The Brides of High Hill is the Fifth Novella in Nghi Vo's wonderful award winning Singing Hills Cycle of novellas. The novellas follow Cleric Chih and their Neixein (sp?) Almost Brilliant (a bird who remembers everything) as they go around collecting and telling stories around an Asian-inspired world. It's a formula that has allowed Vo to tell a wide variety of sub-genre stories, from a Wuxia story (Into the Riverlands) to a Romance story (When the Tiger Comes Down the Mountain) to a story filled with grief and memories (Mammoths at the Gates) etc.

The Brides of High Hill is Vo's take, kinda, on the gothic horror subgenre, specifically a horror modeled after the classic Bluebeard story. Here we find Cleric Chih, alone without their trusted companion Almost Brilliant, accompanying a young noble girl from a relatively poor family and her parents as they go to meet her older promised husband...who has secrets of his own. It's a well done story, that doesn't play things straight and features great atmosphere (and the audiobook reader is excellent), but it also seems less interesting than some of the prior Singing Hills stories by comparison. More specifics after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Conquer the Kingdom 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 March 7, 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.

Conquer the Kingdom is the final book in Jennifer Estep's "Gargoyle Queen" trilogy, which is itself the second trilogy in the world that Estep started with her Crown of Stars trilogy (so this is really the sixth book in this universe, and events and characters from the first trilogy are important here, even if readers didn't necessarily need to read those books to enjoy this trilogy).  This trilogy has followed princess Gemma - known for being a ditzy princess but really an intelligent adventurous spy who relies upon her mind magier magic (telepathy and telekinesis) to try and protect her country from the forces of the sinister Morta.  There's just one problem: while Morta's evil Queen Maeven is a clear threat and her son Milo is a monster whose plans to grab power involve destroying her country,  Maeven's son Leonidas is another mind magier with whom Gemma has shared a connection since childhood...and a passionate attraction.  

This has resulted in a trilogy that deals with the same type of simple fantasy adventure as the first trilogy - there's nothing particularly complex or deep in themes here and will never be - but that has added just a little (but not much) more depth to the romance, including a few actual decent if unexceptional sex scenes.  The trilogy has been enjoyable, if often predictable and never really that super exciting and Conquer the Kingdom is the same: a fan fantasy adventure conclusion to this trilogy as Gemma and her friends try to lay a trap to stop the evil Milo and save her kingdom.  At the same time, six books in - and three books into this trilogy - it does kind of feel like this style of book and plot is getting old, and I kind of had trouble maintaining my interest enough to finish it.  

Note: I read part of this in audio format, which helped me finish it.  The audio reader is very solid, if unexceptional, so this is not a bad choice in that format.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sky on Fire 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 July 9, 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 Sky on Fire is a stand alone epic fantasy/heist novel by author Jenn Lyons, who burst onto the SF/F novel scene with her 5 book epic fantasy series "A Chorus of Dragons".  After a rough start in book 1 (The Ruin of Kings), A Chorus of Dragons soon became one of my favorite fantasy series of the last few years.  In that series, Lyons built a phenomenal set of characters and relationships/romances (both in the present and through reincarnations) and used an incredibly pageturning prose (so so so many end of chapter cliffhangers) to keep readers on the edge of their seats and it worked so well.  It was a very queer epic fantasy series that dealt with some serious themes and often was unforgiving of what might happen to its characters, and Lyons wrapped it up in an incredibly satisfying fashion.  So even if I hadn't heard two authors/reviewers praise this new book of hers, I'd have been extremely eager to give it a try.  

And well, The Sky on Fire is indeed as excellent as I'd hoped.  The story is kind of a Heist novel, featuring protagonist Anahrod being recruited - not as willingly as she'd like - to help an oddball team rob Neveranimas, the present queen of the dragons who rule the human cities in the sky.  But Anahrod was thrown off the sky cities - literally - on behalf of Neveranimas and, after barely surviving, has spent the last few years rebuilding her life in the deadly jungles of the deep with her animal controlling powers and has little interest in returning to the sky cities that once tried to kill her.  Add in a pair of romantic interests - a handsome and way too smart but ruthless warlord of The Deep and a mysterious dragon-rider woman who is planning the heist for revenge - and well, you have an excellent mix of characters and developments to underpin this novel.  It all works really well, even if early on some of the end of chapter cliffhangers can get maybe a little repetitive, and I would gladly welcome a second book in this world if Lyons ever wants to return to it.  

Fantasy Novella Review: Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw

 

Bitter Waters is the fourth story in Vivian Shaw's Dr. Greta Hellsing series - her series following Dr. Greta Hellsing, doctor to the Monsters of London (and further in Europe). I'd loved the series, which I thought was a finished trilogy (Strange Practice being book 1, Dreadful Company book 2, Grave Importance book 3), but it turns out to my pleasure that there are two additional stories: this novella and a forthcoming fifth and final book (for now?). For those new to the series, the series follows Greta and a few famous monsters from old time pulp fiction (although less famous than the ones most Americans know) as they deal with supernatural happenings and try to ensure peace and happiness and health for the supernatural world. There are vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, ghouls, mummies and more and well, it's just a really fun and often sweet series.

Bitter Waters is a pretty good example of that, with the story being a simple one at its heart as the cast wrestles about how to handle and treat a not-even 11 year old girl who was turned into a vampire and then abandoned. It winds up being incredibly cute, both for a surprise guest appearance and for how the main cast comes to further their character developments from the prior 3 books and is another reason to recommend this series.

Video Game Review: The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

 

Trails Through Daybreak is technically the eleventh game in Nihon Falcom's "Trails" (Kiseki in Japanese) series of Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPGs). That said, like a long running book series (which I and others have compared the series to in the past), the Trails series contains a number of arcs, each of which form kind of a distinct plot grouping. Trails Through Daybreak is thus the start of a new (the fourth) arc, dealing with events in the nation of Calvard - one of this world's two most pre-eminent superpowers, and the one which we've really only gotten glimpses of in prior arcs. What that means is that the game's plot isn't nearly as reliant upon past games to work and the story can be used as a jumping on point for new players - some old characters show up and past events are referenced, but they are always to the side rather than the center of attention. Just as importantly, the start of a new arc allows developer Falcom to shake up the way the game plays: oh it's still recognizably a Trails game and certain systems from the past return, but much of the gameplay is drastically overhauled. Given that the last arc featured FIVE games (prior arcs were three games and two games respectively) all with the same system....well, fans who have played the whole series like myself are probably very welcome to try something different and new in both gameplay and story.

Now I am a big Trails fan. I've played all 10 prior games at least once if not multiple times and even played the second arc - the Crossbell games Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure - via a translation patch prior to the games being officially released in North America. So I have supremely looked forward to playing this game - even basically dropping my reading on the train for like a month to play this game all the way through - and am not the most neutral observer. That said, despite being a huge Trails fan, I haven't always loved every game in the series: the last arc, the Trails of Cold Steel games, drove me nuts in a couple of directions: the games were ridiculously easy mostly and incredibly easy to break in gameplay and the story in the last two games got really really cliche and bad, as Falcom seemed to avoid taking any difficult choices and relied on laughable plot turns to close everything down. The last game though, Trails Into Reverie, was a really fun fanservice-y game and the characters involved even in the bad games were still largely very enjoyable (except for Cold Steel protagonist Rean, who sucks), so I still had hopes for the series. And Daybreak delivered heavily on that front in both the story and gameplay...even if I had some minor complaints here and there.

I'm probably going to spend way way too long on this review after the jump, sorry, but the short of it is, Trails Through Daybreak is a really fun JRPG that I happily recommend to both newcomers and old players of the series alike.

SciFi/Fantasy Anthology Review: The Grimoire of Grave Fates, edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

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 6, 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 Grimoire of Grave Fates is a multi-author young adult anthology that features 18 different authors - of various backgrounds - each contributing a story that seemingly responds to the following premise: Showcase a teenager at an international magic school that used to be stolidly traditional and is now opening up to a more diverse - in race, culture, sex, and queerness - student body. The anthology further adds an extra bit to the premise by centering the book around a murder mystery - the murder of a bigoted traditionalist professor who nearly everyone hates.

And so we have 18 stories showcasing the 18 very different magically gifted teenagers as they deal with their own internal struggles - caused by conflicts of culture, typical teenage love (often queer) struggles, of queerness and struggles with identity, etc. - as well as these teens' responses to the murder. And well given that these are teenagers who have often had dreams of being a chosen one, well, for a lot of them that involves trying to solve said murder mystery. And that's where this book kind of struggles, because the multi author approach - and constant shifting of characters - to the mystery makes it feel incredibly disjointed, so anyone who comes here looking for a coherent mystery, rather than a collection of solid YA flash fiction, will be a bit disappointed.

More specific safter the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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 2, 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.

Chain-Gang All Stars is a book that's been described as both literary and science fiction, but most importantly is a novel that uses its dystopian science fiction setting largely for a critique of the USA's criminal justice and carceral systems and the way those systems are moving forward (especially into privatization). The book is INCREDIBLY hard to read - it took me a week when I usually would've taken two days for a book of its length - because it is so hard to read the horrors it contains for too much at a time. It's a book that combines its story of a world where prisoners are allowing to fight in what amount to murderous coliseum bouts for years in order to possibly earn their freedom with looks at the outside world accepting and occaisionally protesting it, and adds in footnotes and bits to boot that make clear how the horrors being described in this near future aren't too far of from the horrors faced by prisoners and people in our carceral system now (especially people of color, women, and LGBTQ people).

The result is incredibly powerful, even as I think that the story and footnotes occasionally become unsubtle and tangential enough to become a distraction that might be a little counterproductive. This is a harsh tough novel about pain, punishment, incredibly cruelty and greed and hubris, and love and forgiveness, and it is not one that will ever provide a happy ending - which you'll figure out quite quickly I think. And the story will make you care for individuals, most of whom were not innocent to start and certainly are not innocent of brutal killings in the end, and will try to make you see how and why prison abolition is such a righteous cause, even if the particulars and the methods may not be there yet. It's a horrifying but strong novel worth your time, if you can stomach it.

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Suicide by Proxy, Murders, Maimings, Torture, Torture of Prisoners, Cutting, Rape/Sexual Assault as backstory, Beatings of Protestors, well you get the point. None of this is gratuitous and all of it is such that it used for a good purpose but yikes, there's a lot and many readers won't be able to stomach this book.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

 

The Terraformers is Annalee Newitz's third novel and is now a Nebula finalist for best novel. Newitz was once known for being the creator and editor-in-chief of io9 and has written a pair of interesting speculative novels - Autonomous (itself a Nebula finalist) and The Future of Another Timeline - both of which deal with ideas taken from today's world extrapolated to a speculative future (as does most sci-fi, but Newitz plays with these ideas as her forefront more than she necessarily does characters). The Terraformers is similar in that regard as it deals with Colonization and changing of lands to fit certain people's ideals in the far future and deals with the struggle for public and private control of such a world and the people contained within.

It's a novel set in three time periods, each 700 years from each other, as events on the planet Sask-E shift due to people's actions in each time period, with new central protagonists (with relations to the prior protagonists) in each act. And it works kind of well to tell an interesting sci-fi story dealing heavily with themes of colonization, of what it means to be a person and who gets to choose such, of indentured servitude to corporations, and of political and other means of rising up for a people's or a planet's rights in the face of corporate or colonizing greed. Things wind up working perhaps a bit too easily really and there's some plot elements that recur at times to the point of it being a little repetitive (as well as some shallow characters owing to the setup), but it's certainly a very interesting book - one whose Nebula nomination makes sense, even if I wouldn't pick it to win.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

 

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.

Escape Velocity is the second novel by Filipino author Victor Manibo whose prior novel The Sleepless was an anti-capitalist sci-fi Noir exploring a world where some people no longer had to sleep. It was a really interesting debut and made me very intrigued to see what Manibo would do for an encore. Escape Velocity is the result: a novel that takes the anti-capitalist themes up a notch, as the novel is centered around an elite prep school reunion for the ultra rich and powerful on a state of the art luxury space station....above an Earth those same rich and powerful have left devastated, such that the average person is barely able to survive a constantly changing for the worse climate.

The book is marketed as a thriller and contains elements of a mystery and yet...isn't really either of those things and yet it's still very interesting and very good. Most of the book is centered around the past and present stories of the 1% main characters, who you will very much wish will get their comeuppance very soon into the book as they are largely assholes, even if they have some sympathetic moments (Ava, the trans girl who was abused by her murdered brother and whose poor lover was blamed for the murder, is the most sympathetic but even still). And then there's the workers on the station whose perspectives show them scheming in some fashion underneath it all, whom you will hope more and more to succeed. The result is really an interesting exploration of class and anti capitalist themes that is also kind of a commentary on other books which center such rich protagonists - I'll try to explain better after the jump.

SciFi Novella Review: Rose/House by Arkady Martine

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.

Rose/House is the latest novella from Hugo Winning author Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Desire). The novella is ostensibly a sci-fi locked room murder mystery - except the locked room is an Artificial Intelligence that comprises the setting itself, a strange house built by an eccentric/mad designor Deniau who passed away and locked it up for no one but his protege to see...except someone else has gotten in and died there. And so three main characters Detectives Maritza Smith and Oliver Torres (investigating the situation) and Selene Gisil, protege of Deniau, come to the house to figure out what happened.

In the end, it's less of a murder mystery (although more of a horror novel) than a combination of a lot of ideas - of mentorship and training and trying to get away from one's shaping, of how we envision ourselves (whether that be humans or AIs) at any given moment, at desires and what people want with Art and what Art truly is, and more. Does it work as a coherent story whole? That I'm a little less sure of.

More specifics after the jump, although please be aware that I read this like two weeks prior to writing this review, so I'm gonna be a bit more vague.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores

 

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 21, 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 Witch and the Vampire is a YA novel marketed as a "queer Rapunzel retelling" featuring a witch and a vampire (hence the title).  I'd honestly forgotten about this marketing in the months between getting this book and reading it, and well...I have to say the marketing is incredibly misleading: there's little in this book that reminded me of Rapunzel at all.  Instead you have a YA story here featuring two female protagonists -Ava, a root witch turned vampire trying to escape to freedom and her former best friend Kaye, a flame witch whose mother was killed by a vampire and has trained her whole youth to hunt and kill them...both for the good of humanity and for revenge.  The story features a chase between the two protagonists until naturally they have to work together to stay alive in a dangerous forest, where they each discover surprising truths about the world and a romantic connection between themselves.

The result is a novel that's pretty to be honest rote by numbers and most readers, even younger YA readers (for whom this book might be appropriate, as there's no sexual content and the romance is limited to kissing) will see a lot of the twists coming.  I'm also not super sure the romance worked for me - the book tries to pull a bit of a former best friends to romantic couple plotline wit the main protags and I'm not sure I really believed in the shift the book was trying to sell.  That said, the story does work and the protagonists are easy to root for and care about and the book isn't very long, so readers are likely to have a fine time and aren't likely to be disappointed if they pick this up.  

More specifics after the jump:

Sci-Fi Novella Review: Hybrid Heart by Iori Kusano

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 March 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.

Hybrid Heart is the first novella from short fiction author Iori Kusano and is another one of the offerings from Queer Indy SF/F publisher Neon Hemlock. The story features a near future Japan from the perspective of Rei, an idol who used to be part of a two-girl idol group and now finds herself going it on her own after her partner Ririko fled from idol life and disappeared from Rei's life. But, as the story soon makes clear, Rei finds herself depressed and wishing almost that she was the one who had fled Idol life and the demands of her emotionally abusive manager and finds herself constantly looking up and dreaming of a digital idol who is able to perform and sing without having to show themselves or to bend themselves to the whims of such a producer.

The result is a story that deals heavily with the pitfalls and horrors of Japan's idol culture* - and to a similar but not quite the same extent, Western female pop star culture* - as Rei deals with emotional abuse, the memories of her past and the path she's taken and how she sees a new young teen idol following along that same path. It's a really effective and strong novel that, while avoiding going into the sexual and physical abusive elements of idol culture, really uses near future technology to showcase how bad it can be and how one might envision a better version....

There really isn't a Western equivalent to idol culture as it is in Japan - Western female teen/early 20s pop stars are probably the closest, but it's not quite the same. If you're unfamiliar with the idea of idols in Japan, this novella might be confusing to you, but it's beyond the scope of this review to explain it.

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.