SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Wearing the Lion 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 June 17, 2025 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.

Wearing the Lion is the second novel by award winning SF/F author John Wiswell. The novel is Wiswell's take on the story of Heracles - better known by his roman name Hercules - told from dual perspectives: the perspective of Heracles himself and the perspective of Hera, queen of the Olympian Gods, who in most stories is Heracles' antagonist who hates him for being born from Zeus' infidelity.

But Wiswell takes the story in a very different way than I've ever seen before. Here, Heracles is an extremely well meaning Himbo (super strong and pretty, but not the brightest) and Hera is a very sympathetic goddess who finds that her anger at his existence is going horribly wrong and finds herself desperate to find someway to undo her mistakes. The story take the established myths of Heracles and reframes and re-adapts them into a story with multiple found family arcs as well as themes of justice, vengeance, forgiveness, and accountability. And it works really really well. Oh and the story retains Wiswell's amazing gift for dialogue, naming, and character beats (some of the reframed Olympic Gods are just....perfect). You'll want to read this one for sure.

More specifics after the jump:

Book Review: The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 16, 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 Seventh Veil of Salome is a historical fiction novel set in 1950s Hollywood written by master author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This is not a science fiction or fantasy novel but instead follows a bunch of characters working on or adjacent to a fictional 1950s movie in the "Sword and Sandals" genre (think Ben-Hur) which is based upon the New Testament story of Salome, the niece of Herod who asked for the head of John the Baptist*. While the story jumps between character viewpoints, it largely focuses upon Vera, a girl from Mexico who was randomly discovered to become the film's star actress despite no prior acting credits, and her struggles among hollywood, among her family, and in her own confusion about what she wants and parallels these struggles with those of Salome in the movie.

*As a Jewish reader not really familiar with the New Testament, I was not honestly familiar with this story, fwiw, and the book works fine without any foreknowledge.*

The result is a really interesting novel dealing with a number of themes - including oppression, parental pressure and emotional abuse, confusion about destiny and what one wants, class, love, and passion. The story's most prominent characters - Vera and a white girl named Nancy who has struggled and failed to reach a big role in Hollywood and, in cavorting with bad actors, finally reaches a breaking point - are done really well, and the story carries impressively towards the climax where you know something is going to go badly wrong. It's not a book that I loved or think is a must read, but it's another solid entry from Moreno-Garcia, who seems to write nothing other than such novels and is always worth picking up.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Ivory Tomb by Melissa Caruso

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.

The Ivory Tomb is the final book in Melissa Caruso's Rooks and Ruin trilogy, which began with the Obsidian Tower and continued with The Quicksilver Court. The trilogy has followed Ryx, the Aethling (heir) to Morgrain, as she and the agents of the Rookery attempt to deal with the most dangerous of all magical disasters: the unleashing of the Nine Demons of legend upon the land with the help of foolish power hungry humans. It's been a really well written series, as usual for Caruso (whose prose I can devour really quickly), as it follows a protagonist who is rightfully afraid to unleash her deadly powers and instead tries to handle things through words and diplomacy even as things get more and more dangerous (I'm vastly oversimplifying to stay non-spoiling before the jump).

The Ivory Tomb is a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, as it follows Ryx and the Rookery trying to deal with both demons new (Carnage, Despair, and Corruption) and old (Hunger, Discord, and Death). Moreover, it deals with Ryx trying to figure out a new status quo through it all that will allow there to be peace...and such that it won't put Ryx against those she loves, especially given Ryx's new understanding of her own powers. It's a very easy book to read, with some solid/interesting themes, and even if it doesn't go super deep, the mix of likable characters and fun ideas and scenes makes this one a very enjoyable read that I consumed in a single day.

Spoilers for Books 1 and 2 are inevitable below - I've been vague up to this point, but will stop after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Knife and the Serpent by Tim Pratt

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 11, 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 Knife and the Serpent is the latest novel from author Tim Pratt. Pratt is an author who I don't think is super known but whom I've read a lot over the last few years. Pratt, a genderfluid author, generally writes some really fun and often quirky sci-fi featuring often zany, space opera, and/or multiversal protagonists who usually find themselves in situations well beyond their expectations. I've never not at least been amused by his books (even his tie-in Twilight Imperium stuff is great and I don't play that game), and the only negative I can say about his works is that I've found his conclusions to multi book series underwhelming. But that isn't really a problem with The Knife and the Serpent, which is a stand alone novel in and of itself.

It might also be my favorite Pratt novel too. The novel is very queer - it's most important protagonist, Glenn is genderqueer - and also very much in a kinky relationship with his girlfriend Viv...which is very relevant to the plot and themes (dealing with consent, relationships, control, and of course the fight against fascism) even if the novel goes any specific intimate descriptions of their sex acts. And it features not just Glenn's romance with Viv, which takes a turn when it turns out Viv is a secret agent for a multiversal force that fights against fascist agents throughout the multiverse, but also the really well story of his ex Tamsin....who turns out to be the last member of a ruling family of another world and decides upon learning that that she should take pack power and control. It's a short novel, but it really does feel somewhat complete, is always a fun blast, and handles some tropes and ideas other books don't nearly use as well, so I'd highly recommend it.

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan

 

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 8, 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 Last Dragon of the East is a fantasy romance (kinda) novel written by Katrina Kwan, a Chinese Canadian author, and is inspired by different Chinese myths - most notably that of the Red Thread of Fate that connects every person to their own "fated one" (soulmate). The book follows Sai, a young man who lives with his sick mother and can see people's Red Threads of Fate and who helps other people with that power by matching them up with their fated ones. Except Sai's own thread is mysteriously gray and frayed and when he is forced by the powerful Emperor out on a dangerous journey to find a legendary green dragon, Sai finds that his own thread is connected to that very same green dragon.

The result is a story that is really delightful, weaving in bits and parts of other Chinese Myths, an adventure to escape from the dangerous corrupt Emperor, and of course a romance between Sai and the Green Dragon Jyn. I said "kinda" romance above, because there really isn't the classic romance arc you usually see in a usual romance (Jyn and Sai are fated to be together as we know from the start after all), but the romance that we have here is very charming and enjoyable, helped along by Sai's voice and the excellent writing of Kwan. There are bits and parts here and there that are predictable and might not really make much sense if you think about it too hard, but I was so charmed by this novel that I didn't really mind.

More specifics after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

 

The Fox Wife is a new novel by Malaysian Chinese author Yangsze Choo, who previously received acclaim for her novels "The Ghost Bride" and "The Night Tiger". I'd only read the Night Tiger but I didn't quite love its tale that sort of featured a Chinese kind of Magical Realism and a couple of main characters whose plots didn't really intersect. That said, when a couple of my favorite authors gushed about a new book from Choo, I couldn't resist giving this book a try.

And The Fox Wife is a really interesting tale that is certainly both more overtly fantastical and a little more cohesive, featuring two main characters whose plotlines more expressly intersect: a fox woman named Snow who is seeking revenge on a human photographer and an older human man Bao who is an investigator who can always tell lies and is on an investigation in which that photographer's name and foxes keeps popping up. Set in the year 1908 and largely in China (other than flashbacks and a trip to Japan), the story features a trio of foxes with differing temperments, humans from different social classes and locales (rural vs urban), superstitions affecting families for generations, and people acting in a time where great change in rulership is on the horizon. And with its two pretty good main characters, Bao and Snow, we have a tale of regret about choices in their pasts - some they made deliberately, some they made because society made them - that haunts them until events here force them to come to terms with them (kinda). There's a lot here, and it's hard to explain, but I'll try more after the jump.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

 

It's hard to remember a fantasy novel more hyped in the national press than Fourth Wing.  The book, a romantic fantasy* novel, has even resulted in news articles proclaiming the birth of a "new" genre they've called "Romantasy", which really is a longstanding fantasy romance or romantic fantasy genre that fans in the know have enjoyed for years and years at this point.  But apparently it took this book, often described as combining romance with dragons, and some help promoting it (thank you BookTok) to really bring the genre to mainstream attention.  And so I couldn't help but be curious to see how the book itself was, even if I haven't really been a big fan of some of say BookTok's favorite other SF/F books (although just to be clear, this is not a self-published novel like some of those other BookTok discoveries).  

*You may note I list this as a "Romantic Fantasy" novel and NOT a "Fantasy Romance".  This is deliberate as romance novels are required to have a Happy Ever After or Happy For Now Ending.  Fourth Wing does not have that, but it is the first book of a trilogy so it's likely the series will end that way...but it doesn't really fit the definition for those seeking JUST a romance novel.  

And well, my thoughts on Fourth Wing are....mixed.  On one hand, the book is immensely predictable, features a romance that is just okay (the sex scenes are enjoyable if not super remarkable), and features a plot setup that feels like lazy dark fantasy writing: we have a government (probably hiding bad things) that establishes its dragon riding armies by having potential recruits face a training schedule that can not only get them killed...but also allows their fellow recruits to kill them as long as they follow nit-picky rules and thus promotes people being utter pscyhopaths, which makes little sense to go along with a bunch of other things in the setting.  But the main character Violet, who is forced by her general mother to undergo this training rather than be a scribe even though she is frail of body (with a possible weakened bone condition?), is very easy to root for and care about, and the writing style is very readable, such that it is kind of easy to get sucked in by the time you get through the book's first third (honestly, the beginning is rather rough).  So yeah, I can see why this book obtained a pretty large following, even if it's not nearly as good as many other books in the genre: it's fine, solid romantic fantasy.

More specifics after the jump: