Thursday, June 20, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Call by Peadar O'Guilin




The Call is a Young Adult Fae Horror story written by Irish author Peadar O'Guilin.  Horror is....not a genre I have much interest in or really seek out, with the few books I read that can be classified as "horror" tending to be psychological or environmental horror more than anything.  The Call on the other hand is most definitely full on horror, but it's also a Fae Fantasy story, which is a bit more my kind of novel.*  And as its sequel ("The Invasion") was nominated for the Lodestar Award for Best YA SF/F novel of 2018, I decided to give it a try.

*Yes that sentence seems preposterous upon rereading it, but somehow "Fae Fantasy" has been a subgenre filled with many of my favorite books, so it's true I suppose.

 And The Call is a strong strong horror novel, keeping me on edge for the entirety of its short length (on Amazon it's listed as 320 pages, but on my kindle it seems to be shorter).  As you'd expect from a horror novel, it's definitely filled with gruesome deaths and body mutilations - to say nothing of the psychological trauma and horror faced by those who don't wind up dying - but it never feels gratuitous.  Add in a strong main protagonist, to go along with side characters who are decently well developed and interesting, and you have a really strong novel here for anyone who likes the Horror genre, and I will be reading the sequel shortly....after I take a breath.

Note:  I read this mostly as an audiobook on Hoopla, which is very good, so again if you're looking for a horror book in that format, this is a solid choice.


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Wednesday, June 19, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 1: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold




The Sharing Knife is the third major series by SciFi/Fantasy giant, Lois McMaster Bujold, and probably her least renowned (after her "Vorkosigan Saga" and "World of the Five Gods" series).  The series is in fact a fantasy romance series - and I mean full-on romance: whereas other books in Bujold's series have had romance as a major plot element (see A Civil Campaign or Ivan Vorpatril's Alliance, which are arguably SciFi RomComs), the central plot questions of this series, at least this first book, are about the Romance of the main characters, with the fantasy elements providing the background.  And as a big fan of pretty much all of Bujold's works so far, as well as a reader who has come to enjoy romance plots more than I ever thought i would, I had high expectations for this series.

Beguilement, the first volume in The Sharing Knife, met those expectations pretty damn well for the most part.  The book contains the typical excellent and witty dialogue present in every Bujold novel, excellent characters, and a really well done setting to go along with a romance that works really well.  And while the book is in fact merely the first half of an original draft that was then split in two due to length-concerns, it ends on a highly satisfying note.  In short, despite the slight shift in genre, this book continues Bujold's winning trend and I can't wait to get to the next book in the series later this month.

Note:  As per usual with Bujold's works, I read this book as an audiobook.  The audiobook reader is a different one than the one for Bujold's Penric or Vorkosigan works, but the reader is still very good, and I can definitely recommend the series in this format (and it's how I plan to read the sequel too).

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Tuesday, June 18, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire




Middlegame is the latest novel from prolific author, and personal favorite, Seanan McGuire.  I've loved McGuire's InCryptid and October Daye series and enjoyed some of her other work as well, so when she announced Middlegame as a book she's been working toward for quite some time, well, I was pretty excited.  Middlegame is, unlike those other books, not part of an existing series and functions entirely stand-alone novel.  It still contains some McGuire hallmarks - for example, she is fantastic at dialogue, even in a book which is less optimistic in tone, but the book's structure and characters are often very different from her prior works.

The result is...interesting.  It mostly works I think - and man did I have to think about this one - with two excellent main characters (and a couple of excellent side characters and potential villains) whose reactions to their unique circumstances, their inhuman abilities, all track in real and interesting - if something horrifying/traumatic - ways.  The non-linear plot works also rather well and kept the book interesting throughout, even when the reader knows more of what is going on than the characters.  Still, the book speeds up rapidly in its final act towards its ending and I don't think the payoff really quite met my expectations, which the book makes incredibly high.  I'll try to explain more after the jump.

Trigger Warning:  This book contains a major character making a suicide attempt, so if that or self-harm is a deal-breaker, this book may not be for you.

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Monday, June 17, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso




The Unbound Empire is the concluding book in Melissa Caruso's "Swords and Fire" trilogy, which began with 2017's "The Tethered Mage" (Reviewed Here) and continued with last year's "The Defiant Heir" (Reviewed Here).  Despite the extremely generic series title, I've really enjoyed this series, particularly the second book, which featured a really great central protagonist, as well as several other excellent characters in the midst of a story which features really well done themes of freedom vs safety and the dangers of power and the choices it presents.  So I was really interested to see how this third book would cap-off the story.

The result is a decently strong finale, but one which still takes a step back from The Defiant Heir.  Our lead characters, particularly our main duo, remain excellent, and the story does feature a generally satisfying resolution to the conflict caused by the series' main villain.  But like the trilogy's first book, the story kind of brushes off interesting questions and political drama in favor of a more fantasy adventure story after the opening third, which is a little disappointing.  Overall though, I'm glad I read the trilogy, so I'm not going to complain too much.

More after the Jump, minor Spoiler Warning for the first two books - not too much is spoiled, but some are inevitable below:


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Friday, June 14, 2019

SciFI/Fantasy Book Review: The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad




The Candle and the Flame is a YA Fantasy set in a very different world than what may be familiar to Western audiences.  It's a fantasy world in which Djinn of multiple types and persuasions and humans co-exist, but perhaps more interestingly, it's a world where its main city is not just modeled on a single Arab, Persian, or Muslim template (which is perfectly fine to be sure, don't get me wrong), but one which is a mix of multiple real world cultures - featuring Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists (and a reference to Jews) and their varying traditions and beliefs all together; featuring names and concepts from Arabic, Hindi, and other languages and cultures, etc.  And the result is a setting that is truly well done and fascinating, to say nothing of being different from what is the norm here in the States.

This is also a story about a set of Women, of various social and class backgrounds, struggling to assert themselves in a society that is at least on the surface patriarchal, and their stories are truly great to read.  Where the book is a little less effective is in the other areas: the main romance is solid but unspectacular and the major fantastical conflict is again merely solid, while the male characters, especially the main villain, are often paper thin in comparison to the wonderful women.  Still, for a debut novel, The Candle and the Flame is excellent, and I definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the reader is pretty good if you want to read the book in that format.  Still, as a result, my spelling of names and concepts in the below review may be way-off - so fair warning.  


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Thursday, June 13, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow 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 23 2019 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.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is the latest book by author Silvia Moreno-Garcia, an author whose works I've found myself really enjoying despite their often very different genres - the two books I've read of hers include a Mexican Vampire story (Certain Dark Things) and a Romance Novel with fantastical elements (The Beautiful Ones), and both had strong settings and characters I really enjoyed.  Moreno-Garcia describes herself on her website as "Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination," and her Mexican heritage seems to form a common basis in her work (well not The Beautiful Ones as much), leading to settings and characters very different than that I'm used to.  And that's a good thing, especially when those works are as well-executed as those of Moreno-Garcia.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is absolutely no exception, with it using Mayan myths as the foundation of its story: the journey of a young woman with a Mayan death god to regain what the god has lost in the battle with the god's younger brother.  In a very general sense, the story follows a very typical structure, but the book's Mayan setting twists that structure into less familiar and often fascinating ways, with a conclusion that totally took me by surprise and yet works completely.  In short, the Mayan-myth based setting, excellent characters, and surprising yet satisfying plot make Gods of Jade and Shadow a clear winner, and a definite recommendation.


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Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Reviewing the 2019 Hugo Nominees: The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer





Hugo Award voting just opened at the start of May and continues through the end of July.  For those of you new to the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, the Hugo Award is one of the most prominent awards for works in the genre, with the Award being given based upon voting by those who have paid for at least a Supporting Membership in this year's WorldCon.  As I did the last two years, I'm going to be posting reviews/my-picks for the award in the various categories I feel qualified in, but feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Other Hugo Award Looks:
My Picks for Best Novel:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novella:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Novelette:  See HERE.
My Picks for Best Short Story: See HERE.

The John W Campbell Award is given to a writer who has written their first SciFi or Fantasy work in the past two years.  It is technically not a "Hugo" award, but given that it's awarded in the same ceremony, no one really cares too much about that.  Of this year's nominees, four were also nominated last year, and one of the other two is also in her second year of eligibility.  As such, we're in for a pretty brand new Campbell ballot next year....but what we have this year is a bunch of pretty deserving authors.

A quick note before I get to my rankings, I came up with a system for tiebreakers last year for my ballot.  First, I prefer long fiction writers to short fiction writers unless they've written a ton of it (this is my preference and may not match others).  Second, and it doesn't matter much this year, but I will put nominees who are in their last year of eligibility over newer authors, since they'll get another shot last year.  Even with these tiebreakers, the competition is stiff and I have four authors that I have a hard time deciding between.

Note:  For Authors who appeared on last year's ballot and haven't written substantially more, I may simply copy and paste my last year comments, as I haven't reread those authors' works since last year.  


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