Friday, July 30, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Halfway Through the Wood by Seanan McGuire

 



Halfway Through The Wood is one of the more unusual things I've reviewed on this blog, because while it's definitely a short novel, it's not available for direct purchase - it's a reward on Seanan Mcguire's Patreon.  In essence, it costs $1 for this novel - since that's how much you need to pay for McGuire's Patreon to get access to it - and all the other stories on her Patreon.  So I'm going to treat it like any other book I review honestly.  

Of course, like a large amount of the stories on McGuire's Patreon, Halfway Through the Wood is not stand alone, but rather is the end of an arc of prequel stories - the Alice and Thomas stories - in McGuire's urban fantasy InCryptid universe - so it's not something that can be read without any knowledge of the InCryptid universe...and probably shouldn't be read without reading the rest of the Alice/Thomas stories first.*  But as someone who has loved InCryptid, and has really enjoyed getting to know Alice/Thomas, I dropped the book I was already reading to devour this the moment McGuire released it on Patreon.  And wow was it good, if as heartbreaking as some of McGuire's other works....

*The next published novel in the InCryptid series, Spelunking Through Hell, is featuring Alice in the present day, as she searches for Thomas, so McGuire produced this novella as the capper to this prequel storyline, even if not the end of Alice/Thomas' prequel stories, to setup that novel.  

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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Book Review: Velvet Was The Night 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 August 17, 2021 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.

Velvet was the Night is the most recent novel by Mexican-Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, The Beautiful Ones, Untamed Shore, etc.).  Moreno-Garcia is the type of writer whose writing spans across genres, with her SF/F stuff hitting Romance, Magical Realism, Vampires, Coming-of-Age, Horror, etc.  Nearly all of it has a Mexican spin, being generally set in Mexico (The Beautiful Ones is the sole exception I think?), and each of these books has been incredibly well done, such that I've desperately tried to read her entire bibliography - even the non SciFi/Fantasy works, like last year's Untamed Shore.  And again it's all so good, so I will request anything of hers I see on NetGalley in a heartbeat.  

Velvet was the Night is another non-SciFi/Fantasy novel from Garcia, being instead a noir/thriller set in 1970s Mexico City, at a time when left wing and often student led protests were being met with resistance from government (and CIA) sponsored mobs, all in the name "fighting communism".  It's a fascinating novel in its two protagonists, one such goon - who fell into the role and would prefer to enjoy words and rock and roll - and a 30 year old secretary struggling to survive on her own terms in a world telling her she's too old and ungrateful to do so.  The two form a fascinating contrast even though they basically never meet (this is NOT a romance) on a hunt for a missing camera and woman in the middle of this political climate, and deal with powers from multiple sides all with their own agendas.  

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Wednesday, July 28, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

 





The Library of the Dead is the genre debut of Zimbabwean (and now located in Edinburgh) author TL Huchu, previously known for two acclaimed non-genre works (as Tendai Huchu).  It's also a book I'd seen a lot of hype from authors I trust (and perhaps non-coincidentally, from European authors of color), so I was very much looking forward to it, and even reserved a physical copy from the library.  

And I was very impressed by The Library of the Dead, as a new (arguably YA) Urban Fantasy series taking place in what seems to be a near-future or alternate & dystopian Edinburgh, featuring as its protagonist a teenage Zimbabwean dropout, who spends her time trying to support her family by talking to ghosts.  Naturally she gets involved with a library that teaches magic as well as a case involving missing children who turn up occasionally withered and abnormally aged, and has to use all her wits, skills, allies, and luck just to survive.  It's a really well done opening novel in a series, although it seems to hint at or set up a lot of themes and ideas that it never really goes into, leaving those for possible sequels.  

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Tuesday, July 27, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

 




Mister Impossible is the second book in Maggie Stiefvater's "Dreamers Trilogy", which began with last year's "Call Down the Hawk" (my review here).  The trilogy is essentially a stand alone sequel to her highly popular Raven Cycle, with one of the cycle's main characters, Ronan Lynch, being one of the stars here a year after the cycle concludes (the other main Raven Cycle characters only have cameos or references).  I grew to love the Raven Cycle as the series went on - and especially grew to love the characters - and Call Down the Hawk was a really tantalizing series starter in its own right.  Still, unlike the Raven Cycle, each book in this trilogy isn't really telling an independent story, and so Call Down the Hawk left me a bit unsatisfied and wanting more.    

Mister Impossible is similarly not its own complete novel, and thus suffers from pacing issues and second book issues that make it feel for large stretches of the book like it's simply building to something big that the reader hasn't quite gotten to yet.  It's also not a long novel, and tries to feature a good number of important characters, and as such some of those characters kind of suffer for lack of attention.  Still it remains a tantalizing story, with Ronan Lynch being still a tremendous main character, to go along with the other minor characters, that I remain enraptured and eagerly awaiting the finale.  

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Monday, July 26, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cazadora by Romina Garber

 


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 17, 2021 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.

Cazadora is the sequel to 2020's Lobizona (my review here), a book I read earlier this year and absolutely fell in love with (and tried desperately to fit on my Hugo/Lodestar ballot).  I knew going in that Lobizona would be a YA Fantasy story dealing with the plight of illegal immigrants inspired by Argentinian culture, and well as is typical for YA, I didn't expect it to be subtle about it.  But it was also very much a story of queer allegory, featuring not just issues of immigration but also the plight of not fitting in in a cis-hetero world, and it tied all the themes together so well in often really surprising and interesting ways as it told a story of werewolves (lobizones) and brujas in a world parallel to our own. 

Cazadora continues that story tremendously, showing Garber very much has a feel with the plights and issues involved here.*  Whereas book 1 wasn't exactly subtle with its trans allegory and theme about its main protagonist struggling with the idea of always having to hide who she herself is, Cazadora takes off any hint of subtlety whatsoever, as it dives fully into the Argentinian world of Septimus and introduces to a whole group of non-conforming lobizones and brujas who don't fit this cis heteronormative world.  And the struggle of its protagonist Manu, along with her trio of best friends, with the balance between safety and freedom and being who they are, is just tremendously done from start to finish, with the book ending on a tremendous cliffhanger.  I cannot wait for book 3.  

*Obvious Caveat here - I'm a cis straight white male person reviewing this book, so it's always possible I'm overlooking problematic elements in how things are portrayed.  But I can only lend my perspective.*

Spoilers for book 1 are inevitable:

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Friday, July 23, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: In the Watchful City by S Qiouyi Lu

 


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 31, 2021 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.

In the Watchful City by S Qiouyi Lu


In the Watchful City is a debut novella by author S Qiouyi Lu.  It's a fascinating novella filled with themes of control, happiness, colonialism, empire, love, memories, family and more.  It's a story that takes place in a city tied together by magic, a magic that the city uses to have its select individuals watch over everyone, through taking possession of animals and other beings around the city, to ensure no unwanted sadness or love is ever felt.  The story follows one such watcher, Anima, as ae encounters a spectral visitor who carries a suitcase filled with memories and tells aer stories of those memories of the outside world, making aer question everything ae knows as ae fails in aer role as a watcher and protector of the city and sees that pain is felt both within and without its walls  

More specific thoughts after the jump:  

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Self-Harm.

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Thursday, July 22, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 





The Palace of Illusions is a feminist retelling of the Indian/Sanskrit epic, The Mahābhārata, by author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  This is actually my third novel/series inspired by or adapting this epic, whose original contents I know mainly from those adapations (Sangu Mandanna's Celestial Trilogy, Ashok K Banker's Upon a Burning Throne), and both of those adaptations take some pretty substantial liberties with the source material at times.  Still, I loved Mandanna's Celestial Trilogy and so when this book popped up on a list of books based on godly mythology, I reserved it from the library immediately.  

And The Palace of Illusions rewarded me doing so, being a fantastic retelling of The Mahābhārata from an alternate perspective: Draupadi/Panchaali, the princess who marries all five Pandava brothers (some of the usual heroes of the story) at the same time.  It is, at least as far as I can tell, a very straight adaptation of the original epic, but the shift in perspective shows the weight and impact of Panchaali's choices and character and really makes it a fascinating story - and puts a feminist spin on things - whether you know where the plot is going or not*.  If you've read Madeline Miller's Circe, this is a similar type of novel, albeit more tragic than triumphant, but it is still really really good and worth your time.  

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Wednesday, July 21, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Illusionary by Zoraida Córdova

 



Illusionary is the second book in Zoraida Córdova's Hollow Crown duology, which began with 2020's "Incendiary" (My Review Here).  I liked Incendiary, although not as much as I wanted to - a YA fantasy novel seemingly inspired by inquisitorial Spain, it featured a girl from a persecuted people with magic, distrusted by her own people for being used by the conquerors as a child for her memory stealing power, trying desperately to make up for her past despite everyone distrusting her.  The book however was short and didn't quite have room for the character development necessary to make certain plot twists and developments work as well as they could have.  So I was interested to see where the sequel would take me.  

And....Illusionary is fine, but honestly kind of loses a lot of the more interesting parts of Incendiary, without adding much to replace it.  The story features Ren, our protagonist, on the run with the man she once thought her enemy in search of a weapon that could save her people, and the result is a pretty classic fantasy quest to go along with some classic romance tropes.  And it does work in that sense - Córdova is too good at what she does not to make this type of narrative work - but the novel is again very short, such that certain character developments occur very suddenly, and the themes about identity, memories, belonging without a home amidst persecution, and more just kind of take a backseat, mostly.

Spoilers for Book 1 are inevitable:  

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Tuesday, July 20, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Monkey Around by Jadie Jang

 



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 3, 2021 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.

Monkey Around is an upcoming novel from author Jadie Jang (a pen name of author Claire Light), and the first in what seems to be a new urban fantasy series, set in San Francisco.  I love Urban Fantasy and Monkey Around shares a couple of traits with some urban fantasy series/books that I've loved, so I was really interested to try this one out when I saw it on NetGalley, even if I honestly almost passed up on it due to the silly title.  

And I'm really glad I didn't.  Monkey Around is a really fun urban fantasy novel, featuring a really strong lead character in its Asian American heroine Maya (with an abundance of shapeshifting powers), a world where supernatural creatures from all different mythologies exist in a shadow world alongside real life, during the height of Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.  It takes a bunch of tropes I've seen done before but does them really well, in a story that has lots of fun beats (its sardonic, fun loving, but idealistic and searching for herself heroine helps a lot here) alongside some pretty dark plot elements and makes it all work really well.  And since this seems to be the first book in a series, I am excited to see how the series will develop from here.  

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Monday, July 19, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

 




A Master of Djinn is the first full-length novel by award nominated/winning author P. Djèlí Clark, and the third story in his "Dead Djinn" universe.  Clark's work has always been fascinating (his Ring Shout just won the Nebula Award and is a decent favorite to win this year's Hugo for Best Novella) and this universe of his, which began with the novelette A Dead Djinn in Cairo (which can be read here) is particularly great - a universe where Egypt becomes a world power after a mysterious man reopens the boundaries between humans and djinn, and the djinn and humans of Egypt work together to empower the country in a steampunk-esque fashion.  And the populace of Egypt, empowered on a world stage in the early 20th century begins to march towards progressive values, with the second story (the novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015) featuring a drive for women's suffrage and the first featuring Fatwa el-Sha’arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, first female agent, and a lesbian to boot.  These stories had some solid themes and backgrounds and has honestly just been plain fun.  

And A Master of Djinn, which resumes the story of Fatwa (although it can be read entirely stand alone without issue) is still absolutely tremendous fun, such that it was real easy to devour pretty quickly.  You have some pretty classical tropes here in what is essentially a magical/steampunky/djinn-featuring buddy cop romp, searching for a mystery man who controls an Ifrit and is spreading dissent in an uneven Cairo.  You have themes of power, of inequality, of racism and colorism (quite a lot of that).....all interwoven with a plot that might have some flaws, but is just really fun overall.  I've looked forward to this book for a long time and it did not disappoint. 

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Sunday, July 18, 2021

Television Review: Loki - Season One.

 



Believe it or not, I don't really do streaming TV shows very well.  They're not on a fixed schedule that forces you to watch, even when they come out weekly, and I have trouble concentrating on a single show when I could be doing a lot else at the same time - especially now that I no longer go to the gym, where I could watch a show on the treadmill (I read when I'm on the train, where that's not really an issue).  So if the show doesn't really hold my interest full on, I'm going to have a hard time keeping up, which is why I only watched the last two episodes of Wandavision and not any of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - despite really enjoying the MCU.  So while I caught the first episode of Loki a week late, it wasn't a surprise that I fell behind after that.  Yet the time traveling/alternate universe premise interested me enough to give it a shot this past weekend when I binged the remaining five episodes.  

And well, I liked Loki, but to use a weird comparison, it reminded me a lot of The Force Awakens.  The show, like a lot of Marvel properties, is tremendously cast, such that each part, no matter how big or small, is filled with a tremendous actor, bringing his best performance to the part.  And the plot features some interesting aspects, with some interesting characters....who, like in the Force Awakens, never really have enough time on screen for their plot arcs and character development to really make sense - a fact that really come to a head in its last episode, which is a mess.  If it wasn't for the actors being so brilliant, I'd be giving a negative review, but there's enough here to keep me interested in season 2.....albeit hesitantly.  

Note: After the Jump, there will be spoilers.  Do not read past this point if you haven't seen all six episodes and still want to.  

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Thursday, July 15, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

 




The Chosen and the Beautiful has been one of the most anticipated books I think in the SciFi/Fantasy sphere for quite some time.  It's the full length debut of author Nghi Vo, responsible for two of the best novellas from last year (The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain), and a queer fantasy retelling of one of an American literature classic - The Great Gatsby - featuring an Asian woman as its lead protagonist, rather than the straight white useless man of the original novel.  So yeah, I had high hopes for this one, and devoured it in a single day, a feat made possible by Vo's really really strong prose.  

Does The Chosen and the Beautiful live up to the expectations?  Yes and No.  It's very much a retelling that benefits from prior knowledge of the original story, as it does its best work contrasting what happens in the original with what happens here - as the story is now told from the perspective of Jordan Baker, now Queer and a Vietnamese "rescuee" (in other words, stolen child by a White woman), who observes what happens, the shallowness of it all, and finds out about her own past and the depth she's missing all at the same time.  Where it focuses upon that aspect, the story shines, and is a triumph indeed.  On the other hand, like a lot of retellings, the book feels shackled to the plot structure of the original, and doesn't really do a good job of establishing some of those plot beats - if you haven't read the original, I suspect you might be a bit lost as to why some things happen or why they matter, and those plot beats become a bit distracting as I found myself waiting for them to occur.  Still this is well worth your time, and a fascinating exploration of a classic in ways that haven't been pushed by a major publisher very often before.  

Note:  I will have no compunctions in the below review about spoiling some of the events in the original The Great Gatsby, given its age.  If that's a problem, well be warned.  

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Wednesday, July 14, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

 

Down Comes the Night is a YA Fantasy Novel from author Allison Saft.  I'm going to admit, I'm not particularly sure what drew me to it, but I reserved it from my local e-library a long time ago, and it came in on only a 14 day loan, forcing me to read it rather quickly.  Reading books on a hunch can sometimes pay off big, even if it often results in wading through a book that is merely mediocre.  

Unfortunately, Down Comes the Night really isn't one of those gems, but is instead a merely serviceable and predictable piece of YA fantasy.  Readers will predict a number of twists straight from the outset, such as who really is the antagonist and how characters are going to develop, and the story rarely really deviates from that path.  Still some of those beats - enemies to lovers, only one bed, healing your enemy, etc. - are pretty classic tropes for a reason, and the book is perfectly fine as a result, even if some last act developments don't really work.  
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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He

 




The Ones We're Meant to Find is a YA Dystopian/Ecological Science Fiction novel by Joan He.  It's a short novel featuring two Asian sisters in a world that is on the precipice of destruction due to environmental devastation, where small parts of the population have immigrated to eco-cities in the sky and live part time in stasis and virtual reality.  It's a setup that doesn't seem that unique, but The Ones We're Meant to Find takes it in a very different direction from what I've seen before.  

And it's a fascinating direction, featuring two very different sisters, in two different settings, trying to find the truth about each other.  One sister is full of empathy for others, filled with love for life and wanting to be out, the other is introverted and has a hard time truly caring for others aside from her sister, and feels wrong as a result of it.  It's a story about learning to love one's self and that how one is different doesn't make them wrong, as well as one with questions about privilege and whether or not humanity deserves to be saved after all the consequences they've wrought.  And it ends with some clear answers and some not so clear, which really works.  

More specifics after the jump:

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Monday, July 12, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: We are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker

 




We are Satellites is the latest novel by award winning SF/F author Sarah Pinsker, who won the Nebula Award last year for her timely novel "A Song for a New Day," (my review is here) which dealt with a world driven online and virtual due to a plague and the struggle to come back with live music.  Like that book, We are Satellites is an extrapolation of ideas and characters previously created by Pinsker in some of her prior short stories, consolidated and built out into a full length, if short, novel.  It's another exploration of technology and life in a very possible near future, exploring the impact of technology on people's lives, and families, and more.  

And it's a really interesting one, featuring a family - two moms, a son and a daughter - grappling with the impact of technology that can't be used by all of them, which promises to give those who have it a leg up.  It deals with the impact of technology on society, on the difficulty faced by those with disabilities due to futures thought up by those who don't think about them, and on the difficulties faced by a loving family with different abilities in such a world.  As with Pinsker's other work, it's a really interesting exploration of issues, with some really strong characters, but the plot wraps things up a little too easily for the issues it presents.  

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Friday, July 9, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

 




Peaces is the latest novel by Helen Oyeyemi, a well known author at the very least for her work in literary fiction, one who I had heard of though I had never read.  Peaces is a short novel, around 250 pages, dealing with the potentially fantastical - a pair of guys on their kind of honeymoon go on a trip on a train, where they discover some weird things involving a man whose existence is unclear - so I decided to give it a shot, first reserving it in audio from the library back when I was reading audiobooks, and then reserving it in physical copy from my library once I stopped.  

I'm not really a literary fiction guy - I tend to not really love books that thrive upon description of what a character is seeing, which is a common literary trope - but even taking that into account, I found Peaces to be more of a mess than anything.  The story goes on long divergences early that prevent it from really getting into a rhythm, and once the story does in the latter half start to pull together, it never really coheres into anything that ever made me think something other than "huh?"  Like there's some clear ideas and themes here....I think...but they don't actually go in a direction or are handled in a way that actually makes them interesting to think about, and there's very little else in this book to grab hold of.   

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Thursday, July 8, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders

 





Victories Greater than Death is Charlie Jane Anders' latest book and the first in a new YA space opera trilogy.  Anders, known for the SciFi/Fantasy blogosphere (as the co-creator of io9) and for her tremendous short fiction career, has in the last few years had a pair of really acclaimed books, with her All the Birds in the Sky winning the Nebula Award for Best Novel (and picking up a Hugo Nomination) and her The City in the Middle of the Night also picking up a Hugo nomination.  I really loved All the Birds but found The City in the Middle of the Night a big miss, as Anders shot for some really interesting ideas in the vibes of LeGuin, but just didn't really manage to pull it off.  Still, it was ambitious, and interesting, and so I was curious to see her fully take on YA with her latest novel.  

And well....Victories Greater than Death is....fine?  It's a YA Space Opera, with the age range probably closer to middle grade than older YA, featuring a queer cast as a human girl who's the modified clone of a famous captain of an alien navy, along with her introverted awkward human friend, and a quarter of other smart outsider humans who have to help the alien navy take on a genocidal enemy fleet.  The YA aspects, the kids having to figure out themselves and their own desires and relations, work well but aren't anything I haven't seen before, the space opera aspects are again fine despite some occasional weird shifts in tone but are unexceptional, and the whole package just feels like a combination of other works that I've seen done way better.  The book ends on a cliffhanger, and it's again totally fine, but it does not inspire me to really keep going.  

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Wednesday, July 7, 2021

SciFi Novella Review: The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler

 

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 July 20, 2021 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 Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler 

The Necessity of Stars is another one of Neon Hemlock's summer 2021 series of novellas, which I was lucky enough to get a chance to review early.  Again for those who aren't familiar with Neon Hemlock, it's a smaller publisher of SF/F novellas focusing often on dystopian and offbeat, and usually queer, fiction.  I'm not familiar with Tobler, but the Neon Hemlock novellas I've read have always been fascinating, so I was happy to get a chance to give her novella a try.  

And The Necessity of Stars is another fairly strong entry into the SF/F novella genre, with a creepy-ish tone led by a narrator who may or may not still be reliable in her old age in a world that has, due to human inaction preventing global warming, gone to hell.  It's a story of an aging diplomat, now living alone on a strange plot of land that seems to be thriving somehow despite the new climate, with only a neighboring scientist she loves as a companion, as she encounters an alien being that promises a chance at remembrance in a world where there is so much to forget. 

I'll try to explain better and give my thoughts after the jump:

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SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Savage Bounty by Matt Wallace

 


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 20, 2021 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.

Savage Bounty is the second book in Matt Wallace's "Savage Rebellion" epic fantasy series, which began with last year's "Savage Legion" (My review is here).  Savage Legion was a revelation last year, an epic fantasy novel with themes of class, empire, colonization, propaganda, and more - weaving these themes in really well in a story that featured 3 really likable point of view characters.  Wallace's prior works (outside his award winning podcast) were the very much comedy novellas Sin Du Jour, so I did not expect him to take to serious epic fantasy so well, but Savage Legion absolutely blew me away and I was thrilled when I saw the chance at getting the sequel early.  

And Savage Bounty continues the story in this dark world, with its strong characters and themes, but can't quite keep up the momentum of the first book.  Our three real POV characters expands to four, but much of their plotlines feel like the book is merely spinning its wheels, without much happening with long term that seems to move the plot forward.  And the book ends on a real dark note, which is never really a thing I love.  This is not to say the book is bad - Wallace's strong characters and strong writing kept me interested throughout and I devoured this book quite quickly, just that it doesn't quite live up to the high bar of the first one.  

Spoilers for Book 1 are below:  

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Monday, July 5, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Fallen by Ada Hoffmann

 



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 13, 2021 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 Fallen is the sequel to 2019's "The Outside" (my review here), one of the most fascinating books in 2019 (and that's saying something).  It was a novel that featured a lot of fascinating concepts, marrying seemingly lovecraftian monsters from another dimension to space opera, featuring AI gods that consume human souls and rule over humanity with an iron fist, and more.  But what it really centered itself upon were two autistic characters, the protagonist and seeming-antagonist, both of whom are tremendously uncomfortable interacting with other people, but whom have very different perspectives on the world (in part due to the traumas they've suffered) - with protagonist Yasira still feeling guilt and empathy, even if she has a hard time expressing it directly to others, and antagonist Dr. Talirr seemingly not feeling any, giving human lives no sense of value as she fights to expose the lies of reality.  The book featured a few other characters with some issues of their own, who were definitely interesting too, and ended in a really satisfying fashion, so I was fascinated to see where it would take the sequel.  

And The Fallen remains - and I'm sorry for overusing this word - a fascinating portrait at a set of characters who are not neurotypical, with the major characters focused upon expanding significantly to a larger set of characters who all have their own unique issues dealing with the world and other people....and are forced to confront those problems by a world on the verge of destruction from lovecraftian madness run amuk and the sheer ruthlessness of the AI gods trying to stomp it out.  We no longer focus upon Yasira, although she's one of our major protagonists still, and the result is really really interesting.  That said, while the book has a big climactic moment, it ends sort of on a clear transitional moment that doesn't really feel satisfying, as if the story is incomplete, which is a problem you see often in second books of trilogies.  So this isn't quite as complete and great as The Outside, but it's still a tremendous continuation, and I greatly look forward to the conclusion to see what Hoffmann will do with what she's setup here.  

Minor Spoilers for The Outside will be discussed below, nothing that would ruin enjoyment of that book, but be forewarned.  

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Video Game Review: Trails of Cold Steel 4

 



Trails of Cold Steel 4 is the 4rd game in Nihon Falcom's Trails of Cold Steel (also known as "Sen no Kiseki") series and the ninth game in Falcom's larger "Kiseki" (or "Trails") series, which began with Trails in the Sky.  This is the final game (thankfully) in this arc of the Kiseki series, although a game featuring the same characters and a lot of the same plot points was released last year in Japan and is scheduled for 2023 here in the US (Trails Into Reverie).  

You can probably tell from the last paragraph that I have some not super positive feelings about the Trails of Cold Steel series (My review of Games 1, 2, and 3 can be found here, here, and here).  I really loved the first two arcs of the Kiseki series - Trails in the Sky is tremendous, and Trails into Zero/Azure, which is now finally getting an official english release (but I have played with a translation patch), is a pretty damn incredible duology as well, even if the gameplay difficulty didn't come close to that of Trails in the Sky at times.  Still, I loved those arcs because their characters were tremendous, the stories were very enjoyable if not super special, and I really enjoyed the JRPG gameplay, difficulty not being high enough for my liking or not.  

Trails of Cold Steel has a number of very very likable characters, and some solid gameplay....but some serious problems with editing.  There are just too many characters, there are just too many gameplay options, many of which are not really explored in any meaningful way and others of which are just blatantly broken.  And every game just adds more and more, rarely taking anything away, such that it gets overwhelming and frustrating, which makes both the gameplay....and the story/characters (much of their development being locked away behind persona-esque bonding events that are just irritating) not fun as things keep going on and on.  The lead character being the most bland and uninspiring of the first three arcs doesn't help.  

Still I was committed to this series by this point, wanted to finish playing this in English (I knew how the plot turned out going in since i'd seen this played through in Japanese before), and was hoping at least that the cameo appearances by past arc characters would make things a bit better.  The result is......well, let's say mixed.  

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Friday, July 2, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

 

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 July 20, 2021 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.


And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed


And What Can We Offer You Tonight is the latest novella by Premee Mohamed, this time published by Neon Hemlock, a newish publisher of shorter, usually queer, and often very weird science fiction and fantasy.  My experience with Mohamed is.....interesting - her work tends to have characters who are very introspective, with their internal monologues and thoughts being as important as the many external things that could be happening in any given story.  And as a result, while her works have usually left me thinking, I've often been unsure if I actually liked or recommended them.  

And What We Can Offer You Tonight continues in that same vein, featuring a dystopian future in which the poor and lower class after age 10 are basically fair game to be culled, unless they wind up in the employ of a House - in this case a House that prostitutes out its employees.  Its a revenge tale, as a dead prostitute comes back to life and wreaks havoc, told from the story of another woman employed by the House who is both scared of what her former friend is doing and scared of her current life at the same time, who sticks to secret traditions that are spat on by her masters, and is never sure of what to do.  It's a really interesting tale of how one acts under such oppression, and how things change when one such person becomes free of it and can finally act for herself.  

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Thursday, July 1, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

 




Black Water Sister is the latest book from Malaysian author Zen Cho, known for 2015's novel Sorcerer to the Crown, as well as various other books and short fiction, much of which has been award nominated.  Her most recent novella, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, is a finalist for the Locus Award and was really really good fun as sort of Wuxia-fanfic (the author's own description) type story.  Black Water Sister is a book that has been hyped a bit online, featuring Cho finally setting a book fully in Malaysia (the Sorcerer to the Crown books featured a few characters from Malaysia and some connections to the country, but it wasn't quite the same thing).  

And Black Water Sister is a strong book, featuring some great character work and a lot of ideas all at once that somehow mesh fairly well together.  The book stars a Malaysian girl, an unemployed post college graduate, who feels bound to help her parents as they move back to Malaysia, but also a bit lost on what to do as a closeted girl in a traditional family who feels both smothered and in debt to her parents.  Add in the ghost of her grandmother possessing/haunting her, spirits and goddesses with traumatic pasts, and a country that is largely corrupt from both money and gangsters, and well, there's a lot going on here, in a story that is both heavy in themes (abuse, sexual assault, homophobia, and more make appearances) and still often quite humorous at the same time.  

Trigger Warning: Nothing happens on page, but backstory and relived memories of sexual assault and abuse exist here.  Homophobia, both real and implied as well.

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