Wednesday, June 30, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

 





Home is Not a Country is a YA book by poet Safia Elhillo.  I use the word "book" there instead of novel, because the book is arguably hard to classify: it's a ~210 page story (in hardcover) told entirely in 1-4 page poems, from beginning to end.  Which again is not to say that this a collection of independent poetry, but instead a complete story told in verse from beginning to end. And that's tricky for me to evaluate as honestly, I'm not really the most appreciative reader of poetry, with me usually getting annoyed at parts of book in verse, but I'd heard enough hype that I wanted to give this a try.  

And I'm glad I did, because Home is Not a Country makes the poetry work really well.  Oddly - and again this could just be my own personal inability to really get written poetry - none of the individual poems, with their line stops and varying lengths, really individually worked for me that much....but when combined together, this method of storytelling works tremendously well.  As does the story, featuring a girl from an unidentified Middle Eastern/North-African country around 9/11 feeling uncomfortable in America and always wondering if she someone else - someone like the girl whose name her mom almost gave her.  It's a really strong YA story about wishing for what one doesn't have instead do appreciating what little one does, even if what one does have comes with a lot of pain and difficulty fitting in in a country that isn't particularly welcoming to outsiders.  

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Tuesday, June 29, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

 





Chaos on CatNet is the sequel to last year's Lodestar Winner for Best SF/F Young Adult Novel, Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer (My review of that book is here).  That book, which spun out of Kritzer's Hugo winning short story (Cat Pictures Please) featured a queer teen, Steph, constantly uprooted due to her mother being on the run from her father (supposedly), and a cat picture loving AI, CheshireCat, discovering themselves and who they are with the help of others on a cat-picture based social media site - oh and dealing with said dangerous father and AI/Hacking experts involved with CheshireCat all at the same time.  It was a really lovely YA book and deserving award winner for its coming of age story for Steph and her friends, a group of queer teens who are discovering themselves in a near future where such things are discouraged, with my biggest gripe being an unnecessary cliffhanger at the end.

Chaos on CatNet follows up on that cliffhanger - there is another AI other than CheshireCat out there and its making contact! - to form a new novel, albeit one that doesn't quite hit the same mark as its predecessor.  The book features a new co-protagonist, Nell, who is another lesbian girl who grew up in a conservative religious cult and finds herself lost without its guidance and with family she doesn't quite trust....and this book is best when it shows Steph helping Nell realize she can be who she is without the guidance of abusive guidance.  But the book also features that second AI plot, with the second AI being seemingly destructive instead of helpful (ala Person of Interest), and that plotline and everything else just kind of distracts from the heartwarming aspects that made the first book so good, to this book's detriment. 

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Monday, June 28, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: What We Devour by Linsey Miller

 


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 6, 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.

What We Devour is the latest novel by Linsey Miller, an author known for her dark young adult fantasy novels, such as the Mask of Shadows duology and Belle Revolte.  I've really loved Miller's work, with those three novels featuring protagonists struggling against greedy corrupt systems and governments, systems that benefit the rich, wealthy and those who fit those people's ideas of the status quo.  These books have been filled with fascinating characters (and a ton of LGBTQ representation of all shades) with really strong points of view and with settings that really emphasize some strong themes....in some pretty dark and often bloody fashions.  So yeah I was excited to get a shot at her latest novel early.  

And What We Devour is up there with her best work, and is well well worth your time.  Featuring as a protagonist a young woman, secretly possessing twin magical powers in a world where magic requires sacrifice - of something physical, or something intangible as long as its valuable - it tells a strong story of a world where the well-off make use of and sacrifice those who are less well-off.  In that story comes this protagonist, who at first wanted nothing more than to hide, but who becomes determined to fight for the possibility that she and others can become something more than a tool for others to use, and who is willing to kill and sacrifice all those necessary to create that better world.  It's another winner from Miller, as one should expect at this point. 

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Friday, June 25, 2021

Fantasy Novella Review: The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold

 


Disclaimer: This Review is based upon an eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a review.  I give my word this did not affect the tone of this review.

The Physicians of Vilnoc is the 8th novella (by publication order, not chronologically) in Lois McMaster Bujold's "Penric & Desdemona" fantasy series, which is set in her "World of the Five Gods" (which first showed up with The Curse of Chalion).  I have enjoyed this series, but have kind of found myself souring on it over time - not because in any way it's gotten bad, but because the installments just felt like they were becoming more of the same.  Nowhere was that more apparent than with the seventh story, The Orphans of Raspay, which didn't really add anything - no character developments of note, no fun moments, nothing we hadn't seen before.  It was....fine, just completely inessential, without the fun touches I'm used to in Bujold's works.  

But to my pleasant surprise, The Physicians of Vilnoc is a return to form for Bujold in this series, featuring really well done character development and a plot that sets our protagonists - Learned Penric of the Bastard's order and his demon Desdemona - against a newish foe, a plague in both their city and Penric's brother in law's army camp.  It's not a story featuring much of the witty fun dialogue of past Bujold works, but the character development of Penric shown here, and how far things have come, is really heartwarming even in a novella focused upon plague, and really enjoyable.  If you've read the past seven novellas in this series (or if you've skipped around and read a few), you'll enjoy this.  


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Thursday, June 24, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

 



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 6, 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.


We Have Always Been Here is the debut novel from author Lena Nguyen and it's a type of book that I swear has been getting more and more common these days.  In the vein of say, Emma Newman's Planetfall series or a number of other books, it's a noir-esque novel of a neurodivergant protagonist (described by book blurbs as a misanthropic psychologist) out in space/on an alien planet, as strange things begin to happen among a limited number of characters in what seems to be a locked room-esque mystery.  This combination is surprisingly common at least among books I've found myself reading (Kali Wallace's book from this past March, Dead Space, shares some similarities) and it's one I haven't always found myself loving that much.  

But We Have All Been Here does this in a fairly interesting manner, with a really strong world, an interesting reveal, and a solid main character to guide us through it all - again misanthropic psychologist Grace Park.  It's a story filled with humans - in this case either soldiers or genius scientists - and androids, exploring a newly discovered world on behalf of an organization that essentially controls all of human space, whose power is too substantial for anyone not well off to resist after Earth has fallen to pieces.  And the protagonist, who doesn't really empathize with humans but does with the androids, has to discover what's going on as people start coming down sick, androids start acting weird, and everything turns out not to be what it seems, leading to an ending that actually works fairly well and is done in an interesting manner.  If you like this type of book, you'll like this, and if you are merely ambivalent, you'll probably find this interesting as well.  


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Wednesday, June 23, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

 




Hummingbird Salamander is the latest book by weird/ecological SF/F author Jeff VanderMeer, most famously known for his Southern Reach trilogy (or the trilogy's first book, Annihilation).  VanderMeer's prior work has nearly always captivated me, even when I haven't necessarily loved it, featuring scifi and fantasy worlds that are downright strange results of modern day environmental/ecological/bio-technological processes.  So despite my bouncing off his last book (his YA Fantasy "A Peculiar Peril") I was excited to try his latest when it came out.

And Hummingbird Salamander is a fascinating novel that will give people serious vibes of Annihilation, especially with its main character "Jane."  The novel essentially takes VanderMeer's exploration of inevitable environmental disaster and his prior use of protagonists with serious past issues making their internal lives and narratives a mess...and combines it with a spy thriller, as Jane winds up falling into a conflict between an environmental "terrorist", her evil corporate family, and others with their own agendas.  It's a fascinating book in how much things can just happen and fall out of control and yet not matter, leading to an ending typical of VanderMeer in the questions it leaves open.  

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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Capture the Crown by Jennifer Estep

 



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 6, 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.


Capture the Crown is the start of a new trilogy by author Jennifer Estep, set in the same world (but 16 years later) as her Crown of Stars trilogy, which began with Kill the Queen (my review is here).  I kinda loved Crown of Stars....sorta?  I really enjoyed the first book, even if there was nothing truly great to recommend it - it's protagonist was just rather fun to read as was the plot, even if it never was anything truly special.  And something about Estep's prose in the series just made it easy to devour each book incredibly quickly, even if I felt the second and third books were less interesting than the first one.  

Capture the Crown features a new protagonist, Gemma, a minor character from the first trilogy who was merely a child, who possesses the telepathy and telekinesis magic (she's a "Mind Magier") and decides to use it not to be a proper princess, but a spy for her nation.  Gemma's story is a lot of fun and features that same incredibly easy to read prose (I finished this in a day even though i did NOT mean to) as she winds up in enemy territory, falling for an enemy in a classic "enemies to lovers" tropes, and dealing with a ruthless web of royals and backstabbers to go along with her own malfunctioning power.  Again, it's nothing special, but it's an excellent start to a new trilogy and I look forward eagerly to book 2.  

Note:  This is the start of a new trilogy in this world, but references are made to the prior trilogy, especially to an event at the start of Kill the Queen.  Those are explained I think decently well to the point where readers new to this world can probably start here okay, but new readers may be a little confused as to the family references and whatnot, so I'm not sure how well this book will be for readers who didn't at least read the first book of Crown of Stars.  

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