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

 

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 10, 2023 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.     

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

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

Spoilers for Book 1 are inevitable below:

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Review: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on January 3, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

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

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

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

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

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on April 2, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

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

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

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

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on March 12, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on September 12, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on April 4, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

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

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