SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Heroine Worship (Heroine Complex #2) by Sarah Kuhn

SF/F Review: Heroine Worship (Heroine Complex #2) by Sarah Kuhn: https://t.co/nc7mCpkZyM Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 28, 2018

Short Review (cont): The 2nd "Heroine" book switches its POV Character to the formerly self-absorbed Asian Superhero Aveda Jupiter as she tries to be the best Maid of Honor ever. Oh & there's a demon-inspired bridezilla rampage to stop too. Yeah this one's a lot of fun. (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 28, 2018

  Heroine Worship is the second book in Sarah Kuhn's "Heroine" series, following her "Heroine Complex" which I reviewed earlier this year.  I loved Heroine Complex - it was one of the most maybe "pure" fun books I've read in a long time, with some fun characters and romance (also, lots of sex).  So it's only due to the fact that I had other library books out that it took me this long to get to Heroine Worship.  And the book doesn't disappoint - like it's predecessor it's incredibly fun, even if it's probably just a bit behind the first book for me.  

  The Heroine books have so far followed two Asian-American superheroes - Evie Tanaka and Annie "Aveda Jupiter" Chang in a San Francisco which has suffered occasional invasions from mysterious demons.  The two are very different in personality - Aveda is pushy and determined while Evie has a tendency to be passive and let others roll her over.  They're aided by their team of friends - bodyguard Lucy, Evie's bubbly but smart sister Bea, scientist Nate, and mage Scott.  Together they make a team that is incredibly fun - if you're looking for a dark tone, you're looking in the wrong place.  But if you're looking for something light, this is a great place to find yourself.

Note: You could in theory read this book as a stand alone, but you'll probably be a bit confused at the beginning, and since Heroine Complex is so damn fantastic, don't start with this book.  

More after the jump (spoilers for Heroine Complex are inevitable, but they shouldn't hugely impact your enjoyment of that novel):

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

  Passing Strange is a novella that was just nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella.  It's essentially a historical queer romance novel between two women in 1940s (Mid World War 2) San Francisco, with some fantasy elements (magic) involved.   And it is fantastically well written, with a believable romance between two characters with great chemistry and a wonderfully sweet and clever ending.  This will definitely be on my Hugo ballot.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman

SF/F Review: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (Arc of a Scythe #2) https://t.co/LjtoM936hS Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 23, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Sequel to Scythe continues the tale of a world where humanity has conquered death & left killing to ordained "Scythes," w/a greater focus on the world-governing AI, the Thunderhead. A great expansion of this world, albeit w/a heavy cliffhanger ending 2/3

— garik16 (@garik16) February 23, 2018

  Thunderhead is the sequel to Neal Shusterman's "Scythe," and seemingly the middle book in a trilogy (the author has not confirmed the series' length).  For those who missed my review of Scythe (which I reviewed earlier this month), I enjoyed the characters and the plot, but felt a little annoyed that the sequel hooks at the end of the book were more interesting than the plot of Scythe itself.  So naturally I was really interested Thunderhead, which picks up from where Scythe left off and grabs those sequel hooks.

    For those who missed "Scythe," this story takes place in a distant future where humankind has obtained the ability to essentially conquer any death - whether by aging or unnatural causes - that doesn't cause the destruction of the body - and it falls to people appointed as "Scythes" to cull the population and keep some semblance of mortality intact.  In theory you could start this series with this book, but I wouldn't recommend it - the book relies a lot on the worldbuilding set up by Scythe and, most importantly, on the character development of our two main protagonists.  That said, the book does take the setup of Scythe and really run with it impressively, until it kind of frustratingly ends with a major cliffhanger ending.

  Still despite the annoying cliffhanger (and it's a doozy), Thunderhead does not disappoint in how it takes advantage of the setup and is a worthy successor to Scythe.

More after the jump - spoilers for Scythe are inevitable, sorry.

SciFi/Fantasy Anthology Review: Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

Karin Tidbeck's Amatka was one of my favorite books of last year - and one of the few books over the past 3 years for me to give a perfect score.  Tidbeck is a Swedish author who has recently begun to self-translate her own works into English (Amatka was published in Swedish a few years ago) and writes in a SciFi/Fantasy style that is best described as "Weird."  But after reading Amatka, I was really looking forward to reading more of her work.  And that took me to Jagannath.

A Quick Look and Links to Reviews of the 2018 SFWA Nebula Award Nominations

The Nebula Award Nominees were announced today, and I wanted to throw a quick post up linking my reviews of the various nominated works, since I've gotten to a lot of the nominated works on this blog.  For those who are reading this blog and somehow unaware, the Nebula Awards are often considered one of the big two (sometimes three) SciFi/Fantasy Genre awards, with its difference from the Hugo Awards being that it is voted on by the members of the SciFi & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) instead of the general public or members of a convention (like the Hugos).

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Substrate Phantoms By Jessica Reisman

SF/F Review: Substrate Phantoms by Jessica Reisman https://t.co/cYTS3PA41e Short Review: 6.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 20, 2018

Short Review: In the future, when a mysterious alien entity finds itself in Jhinsei's head, he & a son of the rich family desperate to get their hands on the entity find themselves searching for answers about who they truly are. Fascinating Plot but execution falls flat (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 20, 2018

  Substrate Phantoms is one of a subtype of books that I tend to give the same grade (6.5 out of 10): Books with very interesting ideas and setups that just, for me at least, don't wind up working out.  It's not a very long book, but it quickly sets up an interesting (albeit obviously not unique) premise of First Contact - where one of our main characters winds up housing the mind of another being inside his own head.  The problem is that, again, this is a short book, and the payoff for all of the various plot threads comes rather abruptly and as such fails to make a particular impact.  

  I sometimes refer to books as a dichotomy - with some books emphasizing plots and other books emphasizing characters.  Obviously this is a vast oversimplification (the best books have both), but Substrate Phantoms is more heavily on the plot side of the scale - despite splitting the book between POVs in the heads of its two main characters, the more important protagonist honestly felt more like a shell than a fully realized character and the second main character is still more defined by the plot than by any of his own attributes.  As I mentioned, this isn't by itself a bad thing, but if you're looking for great characters here, I didn't find it.  

More after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Buried Heart (Court of Fives #3) by Kate Elliott

SF/F Review: Buried Heart (Court of Fives #3) by Kate Elliott https://t.co/mfeMRQBHEe Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 16, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Conclusion of Elliott's YA trilogy features its protagonist Jessamy torn between the two sides of her heritage but finally making a choice for the fate of the whole country. Excellent Protagonists and pacing make this the best of the series. (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 16, 2018

Buried Heart is the concluding novel in Kate Elliott's Court of Fives YA trilogy, and like the first two books in the series, I have a few mixed feelings about it.  The good news is that it easily is the best of the trilogy, and pays off several of the mystery plot threads left over from the first two novels.  Whereas I felt like the first book, Court of Fives, felt like Elliott was trying to hard to fit the YA format, she's clearly come into her own here by book 3h.

That said, it's still not one of my favorite works from Elliott - there's a lot of balls being juggled throughout this series and Elliott takes a very noticeable step to simplify them early, which was a little disappointing.  Still, the book contains mostly excellent characters - after some ambivalence in book 1, I've kind of come to love series heroine Jess - and never drags, which is an improvement on the prior two books in the series.

More after the jump - Spoilers for the first two books are unavoidable:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson

SF/F Review: The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson: https://t.co/qTQx95DdAQ Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 14, 2018

Short Review (cont): A Time Jumping Story featuring 3 Black Women in various points in history as they struggle against discrimination/bondage, connected by the growth & learning of a new Goddess of Love. A slow-paced package that works better than its individual elements (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 14, 2018

The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson is one of the harder books for me to review in a while.  Part of that is that this is a rough often brutal story (although far from the first one of those I've reviewed here) Part of that comes from the books structure, which jumps between 3-4 different storylines/timelines throughout, often without any warning (with only one of these "storylines" connecting with the others).  But really I think what makes this book a hard review to write is that the book's messages are often hard to parse, especially through the book's first half, to the point where it felt for me at least like I liked the total package despite not being sure any of the individual storylines involved in the book worked. 

You can tell how I'm rambling above how hard this is for me to review, so let's go a little more basic before the jump - 

The Salt Roads is a series of stories, each connected to real world people and events although largely fictional, of Black people around the world from various parts of history, all connected by the story of a newborn goddess of love.  One storyline features Slaves in Saint Domingue, another features an entertainer (and granddaughter of a whore) in 19th century Paris, and another features a whore in 4th century Alexandria. As you can guess from those descriptions, the book is not coddling to the reader - descriptions of the harshness of slavery, of sex - with strangers or others, and of suffering are an essential part of this book.  But if those things aren't a problem for you, The Salt Roads is certainly interesting at the very least.  

More after the jump: 

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

Brooke Bolander's first novella takes two tragic events in American history - the tragedy of the Radium Girls in 1917-1920 and Topsy the Elephant who was electrocuted to death in 1903 - and combines them into an alternate history story that is just as tragic as its component parts....and so so moving.  This will easily make my Hugo list for 2018 next year barring some crazy good novellas coming out.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci

SF/F Review: Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci https://t.co/bMFlVuP1Zj Short Review: 6.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 9, 2018

Short Review (cont): In a clearly Star Wars inspired world, when the Chosen One to save the Galaxy is killed, it falls to his less-trusted brother to try and find a way to fight the evil Praxis Empire. Solid Story, Characters, and Pacing, but nothing stand out in this one. (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 9, 2018

  Black Star Renegades wears its Star Wars inspiration on its sleeve.  This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone reading it - the fact that the book was inspired by Star Wars is on its Amazon page and mentioned in the Acknowledgements as well as by the author himself on a few advertising pages (such as the post he made about the book on John Scalzi's blog).  And that's okay!  I like Star Wars and a few old EU works are some of my favorite books - so a story done in a way inspired by Star Wars but not actually in the SW universe should really be my jam.

  And to some extent, Black Star Renegades succeeds at this.  The book subverts the Star Wars theme fairly early by killing off its Chosen One character and the resultant action and characters are fairly solid.  That said, the book never really takes the leap from "solid" to "great."  It's fun for sure, and I never really felt like I wanted to put the book down, but neither did the book ever make me feel like I was desperate to find out what happens next either. 

  Note: This also clearly the first in a series, but as far as I can tell there's no date for the next book, so if you're a person who won't start a book in an incomplete series, you might skip this one.  Still, the book works as a stand alone so it could go either way.

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3) by Ada Palmer

SF/F Review: The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3) by Ada Palmer: https://t.co/r13mb8bI0M Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 7, 2018

Short Review (cont): Palmer's philosophical scifi series of a world where Enlightenment philosophy has led to a new world order in the 25th century continues with the major powers relearning and preparing for war and the influence of Thomas Hobbes. Still Incredibly unique (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 7, 2018

  The Will to Battle is book 3 of Ada Palmer's philosophical SciFi tetralogy "Terra Ignota," following last year's Hugo Nominated "Too Like the Lightning" and "Seven Surrenders."  The series, which features a 25th century world that has based its governments and ways of life on the ideals of Enlightenment thinkers, is one of the most unique* works I've ever read in the genre, featuring an unreliable narrator, a constantly shifting textual style between multiple formats, and frequent interjections by philosophers and a fictional reader in the middle of the story.  I'm sure such a thing has been done before (everything has) and the result is something that very likely inspires people to either love or hate the series with little in between, but for me it creates a really fascinating story.

*Yeah I know I'm using "most unique" here - I can't think of a better phrase for this, so I'm using it anyhow.  Sue me.*

  That said, The Will to Battle shares some of my complaints with Book 1 in the series (Too Like the Lightning).  TLTL was quite clearly half of a book (with Seven Surrenders as its final half) and while The Will to Battle is more of a complete story with a more logical end point, it still ends the story just before the part the reader is anticipating from the very beginning.  The result is a 3rd book that is somewhere in between the first two in terms of quality, and a not quite satisfying ending.

Note:  You CANNOT begin this series with The Will to Battle, you will be HOPELESSLY lost.  Don't even try it.  As you might imagine, mild spoilers for books 1 & 2 follow, but I've limited it as much as possible.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

SF/F Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman https://t.co/IzRZ3kSjKd Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 6, 2018

Short Review (cont): In a future where humanity has conquered death, individuals known as Scythes cull the population. When Citra & Rowan become Scythe apprentices, they find that the Scythedom is far from incorrupt & that their own hearts may not be as pure as once thought (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 6, 2018

   Scythe, by Neal Shusterman, is an example of a SFF subgenre that I haven't read a lot of - Dystopian Science Fiction (it's also listed as YA on Amazon, but aside from the protagonists being in the right age group, I'm not sure the book fits what I think of as YA).  Set in a future where humanity has conquered death through technology, the book deals mainly with the ideals and actions of those appointed as "Scythes" - individuals who are empowered to kill in order to deal with overpopulation.  Our two protagonists are teens who would never want to do such a job at the start of the book, but soon learn that those who hold the position of Scythe may not be as just as one might think.

  The end result is a book that has an interesting hook and characters, but almost feels too much like setup for future works in the same universe (a sequel just came out this past month).  That's not to say that nothing happens or that the book lacks a climax - things DO happen and the book does have a climax to its main story arc - but I was honestly more interested in the status quo setup by the book's ending than in the resolution of this story arc itself.  Scythe is worth reading as an interesting thought exercise with solid characters, but it's almost too clearly the first in an arc in this world, and that made it less satisfying that it might otherwise have been.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer

SF/F Review: Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer https://t.co/iGBq1Gu6ee Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 2, 2018

Short Review (cont): When sisters Evadne & Dorina Gray come to Victorian London so that Dorina can learn about art, they get more than they bargained for: an introduction into the world of demons that may put the two at odds. Excellent characters make this very enjoyable. (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 2, 2018

  Creatures of Will and Temper is a pretty good example of what you can do with a book when you have interesting likable characters.  For example, you can not reveal the basic driving plot conflict till 60% of the way through the book, and still make the book enjoyable.  You can have a third act plot twist that is predictable to the reader without it being annoying.  Creatures of Will and Temper demonstrates both of those feats (and others) through the use of a pair of really excellent yet different protagonists who I grew to care about quite quickly - and well before it became clear where the plot was going with them.

  The book is an adaptation of sorts of Oscar Wilde's "The Painting of Dorian Gray."  I've never read Wilde's book, but the book does not require knowledge of the source material at all - and from the wikipedia entry on it, the book obviously goes very very far from the source material: not only does this book involve well, Demons, but one of our two main characters (and arguably our primary protagonist) doesn't even exist in Wilde's work.

 In summary, it's a stand alone work with two very different sisters as the excellent main characters, in an Alternate Victorian (well, end of the 19th century) London, where Demons are very real beings trafficked in secret.  If that sounds of interest to you, you'll almost certainly like this book.

  This was a book I read as an audiobook.  The Audiobook reader is again excellent, so I'd definitely recommend the book in that format.

More after the Jump: