This isn’t a bad book. That’s not why I only rated it 3.5 stars. I rated it 3.5 stars because it’s simply a very average booReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
This isn’t a bad book. That’s not why I only rated it 3.5 stars. I rated it 3.5 stars because it’s simply a very average book. In a world of superb fantasy novels where the female protagonist is justifiably angry, this one not only doesn’t do a whole lot to set itself apart, it also really let me down in the end.
The story itself is pretty simple: this is Beauty and the Beast, filtered through Irish mythology/folklore, and gender-bent so the female is the beast (though she’s also very pretty, so, you know). None of these elements are a new thing, although Christy Healy has certainly done a very good job at studying Irish mythology as it pertains to the Tuatha de Danann and putting it to effective use in this book (although it should be noted that there are a million variations on every myth and story told in this book about the Tuatha de Danann, as there are about every mythological figure).
Our two main characters, Jamie and Rozlyn, have issues with a capital I: Daddy issues, mommy issues, familial guilt, trust, abandonment, and more. Combined, they have enough baggage to sink a ship. Jamie has a lot of secrets and Rozlyn hides everything she’s feeling. It’s love, but oof is it rough. Neither of them have had a good go of it, but I can’t help but side with Rozlyn when it comes to just about everything because the patriarchy has made her into a victim since birth.
The prose isn’t special, but it’s not bad. The imagery isn’t especially evocative, which stuns me because Ireland is so pretty I don’t know how you can’t wax eloquently about it. Healy does have an incredible gift for dialogue though, because the banter between Jamie and Rozlyn is absolutely delightful, even when it slips from banter into genuine ire. I did have some trouble with some anachronistic word usage, though.
I think that this might be better suited to someone younger than I am. Maybe a younger reader might be more receptive to the message. Maybe I don’t want them to be? Maybe I’m just a cynic. I just know I didn’t like the ending. The novel as a whole is an alright read.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Before you ask: Yes, this is a kissing book. It also has a brave maiden, true friends, lecherous royals, malicious intentions, a king of legend, a draBefore you ask: Yes, this is a kissing book. It also has a brave maiden, true friends, lecherous royals, malicious intentions, a king of legend, a dragon with a treasure, a curse, magic, battle scenes, betrayal, and true love.
I’m surprised this wasn’t marketed as a YA book, because it definitely could’ve found a great niche in that market. Our FMC, Fryda, is the daughter of her clan’s chieftain and kin to King Beowulf. Even though she is about twenty and should have been married by the time the book starts in earnest, she remains unmarried because seven years prior to the present-day events of the book she fell into a chasm in the earth and mangled one of her hands, which caused her intended to break off their engagement. She’s been deemed unmarriageable ever since. Not that she really wants to be married off, considering she holds a deep affection for one of the clan’s slaves, Theow, a Celt who was stolen from his homeland as a child.
This is Sharon Emmerichs’ debut novel, and as debuts go it was a terrific effort. The characters may be tried-and-true formulaic, but they are vibrant and have flaws and vulnerabilities. There are surprises hidden in some of the characters, both good and bad. Emmerichs’ definitely did her due diligence in the research department, even if some liberties have been taken with linguistics for the time period (I’m not an expert on 6th century Sweden demographics, though). To this day there is academic debate as to whether or not Beowulf originated as an oral tradition with pagan roots, a tale written by Christians, or if the truth is a happy medium. Emmerichs’ seems content to go with the happy medium route and not to try to deviate and for the purposes of Shield Maiden that seems to fit just fine.
The book really is enjoyable, with multiple POVs (but not so many that you go dizzy with them). The pacing is nice and brisk without any filler material. The only true downfall to this book, in my opinion, is that it’s rather shallow. It’s so fast-paced and determined not to be slow that none of the emotions invoked by the book have time to settle in and be processed by either the reader or the characters before all of a sudden we’re off to do something else. As a result, the highs don’t get to shimmer as much and the lows don’t get to sink so much. You don’t get a chance to feel any of it.
It is an enjoyable read though, especially for the YA set. I liked it a lot.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Epic Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Historical Fantasy/Mythological Retelling ...more
…And the reward for the longest novel I devoured in record time this month (that wasn’t a spicy romance) goes to The Witchwood Knot, which is my first…And the reward for the longest novel I devoured in record time this month (that wasn’t a spicy romance) goes to The Witchwood Knot, which is my first Olivia Atwater book and certainly won’t be my last because it simply hit every single one of my cozy gothic fairy tale buttons while maintaining a certain sense of style and panache that you don’t see too often when it comes to the cozier tales. That flair sets this story apart from so many cozier gothics that can often cause me to drift off in the second act. Not this book. This book kept me captivated from the start.
(Note please that there is an author’s note at the beginning of this book regarding TW/CW when it comes to sexual harassment of both woman and child. Take care of you.)
This book simply wouldn’t work without our FMC, Winifred, exactly as she is. She’s a terrific female protagonist, made just the way I like them: full of spite. Let’s just say I identify. She’s also intelligent, cunning, deceitful, and careful. I absolutely love her. She’s had to learn some hard lessons, both mundane and arcane, to get where she is today, and that makes her unique. Her unique outlook on life and on everything faerie is the framework for everything we readers see and understand of this story for a good long while, so it’s marvelous that she’s as intriguing and engaging as she is.
Likewise, the flip-side of Winifred is our MMC, Mr. Quincy, the mysterious and vexing “butler” of Witchwood Manor. He’s everything Winifred is, save he’s full of frustration and anger instead of spite. He’s trapped within Witchwood Manor, bound to an oath he can’t undo, and is almost as alone as is possible. He hides behind cruelty and illusions, but is filled with fear.
Atwater has an unmistakably lovely way with charming, lovely prose and with the elegant and polite dialogue of the Victorian period. Reading the dialogue exchanges between Winifred and Mr. Quincy are like an amped-up version of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, if Elizabeth carried a knife with her at all times and Darcy were willing to turn her own fears on her. When they aren’t exchanging witty repartee and they drop the social mores, these two melt so deliciously it’s like milk chocolate.
I love Atwater’s use of faerie lore. It’s amazing. Most of it is well known, but it’s the little stuff that means so much, you know? Like how important the number three is to faeries. How the scent of bayberry is associated with protection from evil (and that it’s easier to carry bayberry perfume while traveling than to carry candles of it). The way some believe mirrors are portals to the other side. It’s these touches that always impress me when it comes to worldbuilding. I love it when authors do their research and do it well. When it comes to historical fantasy, an author must do double duty by ensuring the historical and fantastical aspects both are accounted for and Atwater has done exactly that.
It’s a simply wonderful novel. I can’t recommend it enough.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was written without compensation. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Dark Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Fantasy/Romantasy/Fantasy Series/Gothic Fiction/Historical Fantasy ...more
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart is a stellar collection of 13 stories (and one incredible bestiary–more on that later) from the spectacularly creativFifty Beasts to Break Your Heart is a stellar collection of 13 stories (and one incredible bestiary–more on that later) from the spectacularly creative and brilliant mind of GennaRose Nethercott, who wrote the equally spectacular novel Thistlefoot.
I don’t think I’ve read a collection by a single author where I loved so many stories to the extent I loved the stories in this one. With one exception (Fox Jaw), I ate every story in this book up with a really sharp grapefruit spoon and then licked the bowl clean.
A quick summary of my thoughts on the remaining stories:
Sundown at the Eternal Staircase - Spectacularly eerie, fascinating, and great symbolism on how some people are just heading in different directions in life.
A Diviner’s Abecedarian - Tween girls can be mean as hell when not in possession of the sight. Give them the sight and that’s just horrifying.
The Thread Boy - Poignant, emotional, and magical story about a life well-lived even though there was pain.
The War of Fog - I read in a book coming out soon that war is a place, not a time. This story reminds me of that. War is endless and eternal and you’re stuck there.
Drowning Lessons - Cynical, sad, but neat story about what it’s like to be responsible for a sibling’s well-being.
The Autumn Kill - This one is angry, visceral, and vengeful. I loved the ending.
A Lily is a Lily - This one is hard to sum up in little words. Let’s just say it’s a haunting story about what can happen when we build people up in our minds so much they take up our entire existence.
Dear Henrietta - Provocative, creepy, and downright wicked. Dude, this one is good.
Possessions - Don’t mess around with sketchy witchcraft books you find at thrift stores. This one is hard to describe but it’s beautifully written.
Homebody - Awful to read, awful to describe, awful to think about. It’s sad and tense and made me want to punch something.
A Haunted Calendar - Funny, horrific, and imaginative.
The Plums at the End of the World - This was incredible. It’s heartbreaking, evocative, and all about how people fear anything different.
My last note is on the titular “story”, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart. It isn’t a story so much as a bestiary and it’s the crown jewel of this collection. Complete with eerie, creep-tastic sketches, each beast is named and described with short, incredible paragraphs. They’re utterly fantastic in every way. I couldn’t get enough of them. The bestiary is practically worth the price of admission.
This collection isn’t to be missed.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Hansel and Gretel is one of those scarce few fairy tales I love seeing retellings, interpretations, and story continuations of. I am an unabashed loveHansel and Gretel is one of those scarce few fairy tales I love seeing retellings, interpretations, and story continuations of. I am an unabashed lover of the movie “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”, simply because I think it’s kind of cool to see the two of them grow up to fight what once tried to kill them (and yes, I totally love how corny it is). That’s why I was so quick to request Kell Woods’ debut novel when I saw it was a continuation of the same fairy tale (and besides, look at the pretty cottage core cover!).
This is, at heart, far more fairy tale than dark fantasy with a healthy dose of historical fantasy, seeing as historically accurate wars, rulers, religion, and politics are all mentioned in the book. The setting is a small village in Germany’s Black Forest in 1650, two years after the end of the Thirty Years War and the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia. Troops and mercenaries that have fought on both sides of the war are returning either home or to work as sell-swords for the next buyer with coin enough to pay them for their services.
It’s here that we find Hans and Greta, all grown up, both unmarried and living together in their childhood home in the woods. They’re constantly broke because Hans keeps gambling their money away. The only way they can stay afloat and not starve to death is because Greta bakes the most wonderful gingerbread cookies in the whole village to take to market every week. But then mercenaries come to town and stir up some trouble, Hans is deeper in debt than Greta thought, all of a sudden taxes have been raised above what anyone in the village can afford, and she keeps having these visions…
As a fairy tale, this book is great. As a witchy, spooky, read, it’s okay. The plot isn’t entirely as cohesive as I’d like because there’s a whole lot of time dedicated to character development and ensuring character interactions don’t feel forced as well as the romantic and familial subplots. Some part of me feels like this book was almost rushed: If it had been even 50 pages longer there might have been time to let the time spent with our antagonist(s) bloom instead of it feeling so compressed like it felt to me.
It’s a great debut effort and well worth the read. I’m a fan.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Dark Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Historical Fantasy/Romantasy ...more
Let’s just get this out of the way really quick: This book didn’t get five stars because I thought it was too long and I didn’t think the ending was eLet’s just get this out of the way really quick: This book didn’t get five stars because I thought it was too long and I didn’t think the ending was earned. There we are. I don’t want to spend any more time talking about those negatives, because I want space to talk about other things.
This book is a manuscript mash-up that reminds me a pinch of The Starless Sea (in that sense that stories are being written all the time, are always in progress, and are mutable), every portal fantasy I’ve ever read, and every fantastical detective story I’ve ever read (except make them darker, more like Nick Harkaway’s cyber noir novels). Dreambound has a great balance of plot, characters, worldbuilding, and atmosphere, which is a tough juggling act to keep up. That may be why the book ended up being too long for my tastes.
Frey had gifted us an incredible book with a deep, rich tapestry: journal entries, audio transcripts, emails, text messages, investigative notes, short stories, fairy tales, book excerpts, newspaper and magazine articles excerpts, and more. This book, this story, wouldn’t have been possible to write without mixing the written media formats like this. The book would’ve been a long, boring slag had it been approached any other way. There were other parties who needed to have a voice in this story besides Byron, our main protagonist.
It was a nice touch for Frey to name his main protagonist Byron, for he literally does meet the definition of a Byronic hero: sullen, withdrawn, hard to like, hard to get to know, but a softy on the inside for the precious few who can get close. He has a drinking problem, his wife divorced him, and his relationship with his daughter had become fraught with tension. The thing is, it’s not hard to write a Byronic hero. Byronic heroes are a dime a dozen and have been around as a trope since before they were even called Byronic heroes. Ergo, Byron is a predictable character. Which makes for a pretty predictable story.
That’s not to say the book as a whole is predictable. That’s why we have supporting characters. And to Frey’s credit, all the supporting characters in this book are female. The supporting characters add all the color, all the unpredictability, all the surprises, provide all the guidance, and provide almost all the push back and intervention as well. There are a few interesting male supporting characters, but none stick around as long as the females. Now, this does create another trope-trap where we have a male stumbling through needing females to guide all his movements in order for him to get anywhere, but it doesn’t seem toxic in this story since a great deal of book is about the fandom for books by a female author where a female is the main protagonist of the series, so it makes sense females would be the guide posts for a dad whose daughter was a member of that fandom.
Frey really did put together a lovely story that’s woven together like a crazy quilt of folklore, fairy tales, modern narrative prose, urban fantasy, supernatural entities, memoirs, and what would be nonfiction in the world of this book. It’s a good read if you are willing to put in the time.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Dark Fantasy/Epistolary/Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Standalone Novel/Supernatural Fantasy/Urban Fantasy ...more
I was utterly stunned by Romero’s debut novel last year, The Ghosts of Rose Hill. At the time, I knew the novel would be told in verse but it had beenI was utterly stunned by Romero’s debut novel last year, The Ghosts of Rose Hill. At the time, I knew the novel would be told in verse but it had been so long since I had read a novel in verse it took me until I was about 10% of the way through the novel to really settle in and meld with Romero’s style and to be swept away with her story of the marriage of music and words and falling in love.
So this time I was prepared going in to A Warning About Swans for that lyrical, flowing verse Romero writes, this time spinning a fairy tale of a swan maiden who longs to know what it’s like to be free and human, only to discover that to be human girl in mid-19th century Bavaria is just another cage and now her powers are being held hostage by a man.
This story is most definitely a fairy tale, but it borrows ingredients from and then remixes from other mythological, folkloric, and fairy tale sources: The Swan Maidens are birthed by Odin just after he is resurrected, the pure white swan maiden being seduced away from the flock by a aristocratic boy is borrowed from Swan Lake, and bits and bobs of influence from The Last Unicorn can be felt throughout the book during Hilde’s (our swan maiden) journeys.
There is so much grief, regret, guilt, sadness, pain, and general melancholy in this book. Yet, I think that’s the point, and the book wouldn’t be the same without it.
During Hilde’s bound journey, she meets a non-binary painter named Franz Mendelsohn, who is Jewish. Both Franz and Hilde have left their homes and don’t think they can return. Both have secrets and have to hide their talents from the world. Both feel lost and without direction. Both feel used and taken advantage of and only find comfort in the companionship of one another. Romero never once makes Franz’ sexual identity an issue or a plot point except to let Franz explain how it makes them feel. For the story’s purpose, being Jewish in Bavaria is more dangerous than being non-binary.
The most lovely parts of this book are not found in the dialogue, but in the narration of the scenes without dialogue. That’s when Romero’s verse truly takes flight, spinning metaphors, similes, dizzying visions and beautiful turns of phrase. I wish I could quote them for you, but seeing as this is coming from a review copy, I can’t.
Romero can make time move as she wishes with her words. She can slow it down with Franz and Hilde lazily hanging out in a castle while Franz is painting and Hilde is daydreaming. She can speed it up with the simple sound of the stamping of boots down a marble corridor. Her timing is impeccable and she knows just when to tighten the knots and when to loosen them.
Romero is a genius in the making. I can’t wait for the next one.
I was provided a copy of the title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Fairy Tale/Romantasy/Historical Fantasy/LGBTQ Romance/OwnVoices/Paranormal Romance/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance ...more
I was a fan of the first book in Alexandria Warwick’s Four Winds series, The North Wind, but this book is better than that installment for sure. Even I was a fan of the first book in Alexandria Warwick’s Four Winds series, The North Wind, but this book is better than that installment for sure. Even though I gave them both four star ratings, they came by those ratings for very different reasons.
I continue to be a fan of Warwick’s narrative prose, which has grown in maturity and tone since the last book. She’s managed to hold onto that rather minimalist way of describing sets, scenery, and wardrobe compared to most of her contemporaries, which I adore for the simple change of pace and because I like to let my own mind fill in some of the blanks. That’s what an imagination is for. Warwick gives us just enough to work with that we can fill in the blanks, and I like it.
At the same time, her inner narratives for our main characters show just how much time, dedication, and love she has suffused each of them with as she has developed them and written them. She knows who these characters are–each and every one of them–and you can feel her affection and care in the way she writes them and how defined they are. Their voices are as unique as their appearances and backstories, which makes for great stories and some fantastic dialogue that can verge toward melodrama at times but usually course-corrects on its own.
I like this plot much more than the plotline in The North Wind. For one, this book doesn’t really stop. It keeps moving. Whether the cause is fleeing, fighting, or chasing, the book is one long quest that keeps our main characters moving to and fro, over and under. The North Wind lacked that movement but had charms in other places. I also loved the questions the book posed surrounding faith, blind faith, the nature of higher powers, sacrifice, what lengths people will go to for protection out of fear, and what lengths people will go to in order to face their fears to save the ones they love.
It’s a hefty read at almost 650 pages, but it’s a good one if you’ve got the time.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
I couldn’t resist the lure of this book. A little bit Prachett, a little bit of influence from the BBC’s Merlin TV show (if you know where to look), aI couldn’t resist the lure of this book. A little bit Prachett, a little bit of influence from the BBC’s Merlin TV show (if you know where to look), a plot that simultaneously does and doesn’t sound like a good Arthuriana tale (which are usually the best ones!), an admonishment against the older generations (ancient, even) for their inaction and misdeeds, and a rallying cry for the younger generations to not let history repeat itself once more and that if no one else is going to step forward and take up the mantle of leadership then it’s up to you to make sure it gets done instead of just relying on someone else to solve the world’s problems. It’s a call to action, to do something, even if all that something amounts to is a willingness to try.
Some reviewers are calling this a feminist take on the King Arthur legends. I beg to differ. It’s actually just a reflection of reality. There are more women on Earth than men. More females live past the age of 10 than males, which is 1.1 males born to 1 female babies born, on average. That 10% is accounting for the male mortality rate before the age of 10. Men also die earlier than women, on average. Wives tend to outlive their husbands, and so on. Since this book takes place in the future, who knows what the demography looks like? How many kids are people having? What’s the population pyramid look like? Do they even take the census anymore? Are kids dying in larger numbers earlier in life due to the dire climate conditions? Are people dying younger? Even in the present day, younger generations (or even me, a Gen-Xer) are sick and tired of old white men being in charge of everything, sitting around and talking about making laws but never actually making them; or, if they do, those laws aren’t the laws that really need to be passed and enforced.
Every nation is a swamp full of pollution, and every generation ends up just passing that pollution on down because problems like global climate change are complex concepts our minds can’t entirely wrap themselves around without first learning about global competence concepts first. The generations coming down the line in more liberal countries are already being taught about global competence, but in capitalist strongholds like the US we can’t even agree that every person is a person no matter what, so it’s no surprise global competence isn’t high up on our list of things to teach the kids (not that books teaching it wouldn’t just end up being banned someplace by some people anyway).
This book teaches all these lessons and more, with a great deal more wit and a lot less of a dour outlook than I just painted. I’m a pessimist through and through, but books like these make me smile and hope that eventually the old white people (for clarification, I’m white) who keep trying to fight to stay in office long past their expiration dates will eventually lose their power to make way for young people who are impassioned, ready to take action, and ready to lead so your average person can find it in them to look up to their governments again and to make the sacrifices that need to be made to make this world better for as many people as possible. It might be tough. It might hurt. It might mean a whole lot of compromise until we truly realize what works and what doesn’t. What matters the most is the willingness to put our differences aside and try.
You can’t help but love the characters in this book, both bad and good. Or, rather, not too bad and not entirely good. In this book all we have is people trying to survive. Sometimes that means doing stuff that’s not exactly nice. Sometimes it means doing something really messed up. Everyone is just trying to find a solution, even if that means doing unspeakable things.
Kay, Arthur’s foster brother, is the first character we meet. I can’t tell you how, because it’s a huge spoiler for the whole book. But it seems that Britain is in great peril, and he’s got to do something about it. That’s the vow he and select other knights of the Round Table made with Merlin over the dead body of King Arthur on the battlefield of Camlann. He’s straightforward, honest, chivalrous, gruff, and tends to go where the wind takes him. In his experience, he always ends up where he needs to be, somehow. He misses his beloved wife, fears Arthur ever coming back even as he misses the brother he once was, and hopes he never runs into Lancelot again because he hates that guy.
Mariam is the female protagonist of this book, and she’s splendid. She’s fed up. She’s frustrated with the world, with her friends, with every so-called “leader” who says they’re willing to work together to make the world a better place but somehow it just seems like history repeating, and no one but her seems to want to take any kind of solid action. She’s tired of waiting for someone else to save the day. She’s tired of watching the land and people die.
Lancelot is vain, complacent, and perfectly content to just follow orders. He hates the stories of him and Guinevere since he and Galahad had been committed, if secret, lovers. He doesn’t much care for valor, truth, or being straight with people. He’d rather just do as he’s told and look good doing it. He hates Kay as much as Kay hates him, if for different reasons.
Merlin is crazy as a loon, Arthur is an absolute boor, Morgan is chaotic neutral, Nimueh has her own sad story and agenda, and at some point Christopher Marlowe made a Faustian bargain.
The worldbuilding is absolutely apocalyptic and frightening, showing an all too possible world where global climate change has gone full-bore hellscape. You either have money and can live in skyscrapers far above the pollution or you live in tent cities or shanty towns. There is no middle ground.
There are puppets and puppet masters. It’s all about who’s pulling the strings.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Arthuriana/Dark Comedy/Dystopian Fiction/Folklore Novel/Folklore Retelling/Literary Fiction/Paranormal Fantasy/Satire/Secret Society/Standalone Fantasy Novel/Urban Fantasy ...more
This book had all the components of a great LGBTQ+ Asian folklore remix turned into an epic high fantasy with great wuxia battle scenes: Great worldbuThis book had all the components of a great LGBTQ+ Asian folklore remix turned into an epic high fantasy with great wuxia battle scenes: Great worldbuilding, interesting characters, a great plot, fantastic prose, fantastic battle choreography, and the exposition is deftly woven into both the narrative and the dialogue and never dumped.
So why am I rating this book three stars? Because this book simply failed to make me care about any of it. There were so many characters I never got a chance to get invested in any of them, we got to the home of the Liangshan bandits and I didn’t ever feel very invested in their mission, we didn’t get to meet the Emperor until close to the end of the book so whether or not he actually cared about what his subordinates were doing was always a toss-up (at least to me), and I truly didn’t understand the character of Lu Junyi. I didn’t understand her motives, her goals, her aims, or her emotions. To be honest, there are so many characters it feels as if we don’t ever get to feel any of their emotions unless it’s pain, anger, or anxiety.
So what I felt like I read was a plot-and-atmopshere driven slog of a nearly 500 page novel I felt no investment in. I didn’t care what happened to anyone in it or what the outcome was.
So why did I keep reading? I genuinely like Huang’s prose, her worldbuilding, her imagery, the battle scenes, and the work she was doing with alchemy and physics. It was interesting enough for me to slog through. I wouldn’t read it again and I personally don’t recommend it.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Personal policy dictates that this review will not appear in my social media accounts due to receiving a rating of three stars or less. ...more
Emily Wilde is essentially a cultural anthropologist who specializes in ethnographies of fairies. Anthropologists have one job and one job only: to obEmily Wilde is essentially a cultural anthropologist who specializes in ethnographies of fairies. Anthropologists have one job and one job only: to observe and report. It’s the Prime Directive. They are to observe their subjects and then report on them while making as little contact with the subjects as possible. The titular Encyclopaedia Emily Wilde considers her life’s work as she sets out on the journey within this book requires her to go one step further than your standard cultural anthropologist and become an ethnographer: an ethnographer spends a great deal of time researching the subjects of their research before setting out to not only observe and report, but also to make contact (every scientist’s dream is to be the one to make first contact) and learn all manner of things about their subjects and their society with as little cross-contamination between our world and theirs as possible.
Emily Wilde herself was the singular most enjoyable thing about this book, and the only reason I kept reading. She reminded me a great deal of both myself and my sister, owing to my sister being a cultural anthropologist herself and me being a cultural geographer. To female scientists such as ourselves, getting those rare opportunities to write groundbreaking research and getting used to all the men in the room talking over us and around us is something that’s all too familiar. Underestimation is the name of the game, and Emily Wilde is having none of it. When you’re a female scientist you get used to having trust issues and the feelings of having to push yourself to extremes in order to prove you can run with the big names, which are usually all male.
And this is where we have a big problem with the book: I was serious when I said Emily Wilde herself was the only thing I liked about this book. I love just about everything about her, from her passion for her work to her dry, wry banter with the enigmatic and charismatic Wendell Bambleby. I love how she has a very hard time people-ing and enjoys the quiet companionship of her books and her dog, Shadow, over anyone else. Her unimpeachable academic ethics and perseverance would make her my own personal hero, if I were a Cambridge student in this novel.
But this novel is set up as an epistolary novel, meant to be read as journal entries, and that’s where this book fails the most. It never once felt like an epistolary novel to me. The writing is too smooth, too linear, the entries too equal in size, and read too much like a traditional fantasy romance narrative to ever come across as journal entries. It was not only extremely annoying, as the promised epistolary format was one of the aspects of the book that enticed me the most, but it felt like since it was supposed to be in an epistolary format it ended up looking like a sloppy epistolary novel. Either way, it’s false advertising.
I also didn’t enjoy the character of Wendell Bambleby all that much. Not only was he barely sketched out as a character, in my opinion, but what was sketched out was shallow and flashy. I get that this seems to be the first book of a series, and maybe we’ll get to know him more in later books, but in this first one he might as well have been a flashy and well-dressed convenient plot point.
I hope this series grows to be much better than this first book has turned out to be. I think it shows promise, especially if author Heather Fawcett doesn’t make a single change to the fabulous Emily Wilde. Let Emily be Emily and the books will be all the better for it.
NetGalley, Ballantine, and Del Rey Books provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you. As per my personal policy this review will not appear on social media or any bookseller website due to the 3 star or lower rating.
File Under: Folklore/Mythology/Fantasy Romance/Books in a Fantasy Series/Historical Fantasy/Epistolary ...more
“A Fire Endless” moves at a faster clip than the first half of this duology, “A River Enchanted”, but it both gains and loses some things in the trans“A Fire Endless” moves at a faster clip than the first half of this duology, “A River Enchanted”, but it both gains and loses some things in the transition between the two books.
What “A Fire Endless” lacks that “A River Enchanted” was filled with was ample lyrical prose, bringing the world of Cadence to life around you with brilliant world-building and character development. There was a certain prosaic and even bucolic feel to “A River Enchanted” that “A Fire Endless” simply doesn’t have time for, nor does the book carry the same tenor that would allow for that, and it caused me to long for that pastoral feel the first book had, but I knew this book had other matters to concern itself with.
What “A Fire Endless” gained that was lacking in “A River Enchanted”, beyond the expected deep look into the lands of the West, is a deep dive into the character development of both Sidra and Torin, as well as a long and serious look into the cultural and spiritual history of the isle of Cadence as a whole. Most surprising was the truly revelatory character development arc of Torin, which not only leads to some of the most evocative imagery in the book but also some of the most poignant scenes.
As is usual for the second half of a duology, the action and plot do move a bit faster, much like when you have reached the crest of a trail and need to start the way back down to the bottom. You always end up moving just a bit quicker. That doesn’t make this book any less satisfying. The two books, when read back to back, make quite the cozy, fantastical, satisfying read… even if it means reading almost 1,000 words in the process. I don’t feel any of it is time wasted. Rebecca Ross is one of the best fantasy writers working today.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.
File Under: Coming of Age/Fairy Tale & Folklore/Fantasy Romance/Steamy Romance ...more
This book has a whole lot of promise, but never has a chance to deliver, which is a shame because I would have loved to have seen all the potential inThis book has a whole lot of promise, but never has a chance to deliver, which is a shame because I would have loved to have seen all the potential inside the pages come to fruition.
My grandma, when she first met the man who would become my husband, said, “This one’s still too green,” meaning that he wasn’t quite finished ripening yet. Hadn’t quite grown all the way up yet. She was right. That’s how I feel about this book. It has the feeling of not quite being done. It still needs some time in the oven.
The reason I say this is because there’s just so much going on in this book: non-linear timelines, shifting POVs, shifting of characters at the wheel, shifting of POVs within the same character’s section, and more. And yet, this book has very uneven pacing and I have a feeling that which character you like reading about most will be different for different readers (I liked reading Chloe’s POV the most, but someone else might like reading Kate the most). Usually, uneven pacing is a sign the book is either too long or that it’s too busy giving attention to some sections while not giving enough attention to others. Either way, it’s an editing issue.
While the story itself is compelling, the way it’s told is not. I just couldn’t sink myself into it like I have other ghost stories and horror tales that have been released this year. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for granting me access to this title. Due to the 3 star or lower rating this review will not appear on social media or bookseller websites. ...more
I honestly don’t know what I just read, but I do know I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t get the point of it. I don’t even know for sure if there was a poinI honestly don’t know what I just read, but I do know I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t get the point of it. I don’t even know for sure if there was a point.
“High Times in the Low Parliament” reads like a genre mashup of political satire, fantasy, and drug-fueled fairy tale. It’s a novella, so it’s not like the story itself is a hefty tome to take on for a bit of light reading, but at the same time I like anything I’m reading (even novellas) to at least have a point or to have a message of some sort I can take away with me to let my brain chew on for a while. Neither of these things happened with this story and it left me with that awful feeling of having wasted my time when I could’ve been reading something else that would’ve fulfilled me and really commanded my attention.
If you like LGBTQIA+ short stories way off the beaten track, then you may enjoy this little diversion from the real world. It just wasn’t for me.
Thanks to Tordotcom and NetGalley for access to this title. Due to the 3 star or lower rating this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website....more
For those of you who have never heard of Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle novellas (which I would rate E for Everyone, as they are essentially mythologicFor those of you who have never heard of Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle novellas (which I would rate E for Everyone, as they are essentially mythological tales worth reading for both the young and the old), know going in that each novella is a standalone story, but I do recommend you at least read the first novella in the series, “The Empress of Salt and Fortune”, so you can get a good grasp of who Chih and Almost Brilliant (the two characters who do carry over from one novella into the next) are, and also because it’s a brilliant introduction to what Vo is doing with this universe of mythological tales from Asia.
And, if you are already a fan of Chih and Almost Brilliant, welcome back, but I am going to tell you that while Nghi Vo is always a brilliant writer, I didn’t like this entry in the cycle as much as I utterly enjoyed the previous two entries.
“The Empress of Salt and Fortune” was revelatory to me: like watching a flower bloom in time lapse or an intricate piece of origami being folded directly in front of you, the hypnotic, captivating, and prosaic tale of revenge served cold (and fierce) lured me in and kept me hooked until the very last beautiful word. Nghi Vo is currently one of my favorite writers simply because of her way with atmosphere and how she can draw you into the worlds inside of her books with a unique magic not many authors possess, or maybe just not possess in the same manner. But the Singing Hills Cycle differs from her novels like “Siren Queen” in that the main characters of this series aren’t there to tell their own stories–they serve as the book’s receptacle to observe, record, and report the supporting characters’ stories. In a way, Chih is a cultural anthropologist, one who specializes in folklore and linguistics. The creed which anthropologists abide by is “observe and report”. Chih, along with Almost Brilliant, simply move about the world, gathering everyone else’s stories so they can be recorded for posterity. This mission is most sacred to Chih, as everyone’s stories are worth telling and hearing.
“Into the Riverlands” has a story to tell, of course. In all actuality, it has more than one; but maybe that’s the problem. I loved the silent, reverent way Chih sat with the Grandmother in “The Empress of Salt and Fortune”, because I could feel how much respect Chih had for the story and storyteller. In this novella, however, it seemed there was simply too much going on besides storytelling for the story to be given any respect or weight. It was simply bits and pieces told in between what I felt were scenes that could’ve been excised in favor of more story time.
Does this mean I didn’t like it? I didn’t say that. Any Nghi Vo is better than no Nghi Vo. And I love the Singing Hills Cycle for what it offers readers of all ages. So I will always recommend it, for the young or old.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for granting me access to this title in exchange for fair and honest review.
File Under: Fairy Tale and Folklore/LGBTQ Friendly Reads/Novellas/Standalone Fantasy ...more
I missed out on Lauren Blackwood’s debut novel from last year, Within These Wicked Walls, and I’m really regretting that right now as I sit here and dI missed out on Lauren Blackwood’s debut novel from last year, Within These Wicked Walls, and I’m really regretting that right now as I sit here and digest Wildblood, because it took all of maybe two pages for her to wrap me around her finger with some of the most striking and lovely prose I’ve read in this genre in months, and then I was completely swallowed by the intense characterizations and intricate worldbuilding before I had even hit 5% into the book. I don’t know what to call Lauren Blackwood but some sort of dark fantasy enchantress who knows her mission, researches the heck out of it, and then sits down and somehow comes out the other end with intense tales of adventure, love, horror, evil, friendship, and self-discovery set in times past whose morals and other lessons could be applied to current times and not just to the times in which the books are set (in this case it seems to be Jamaica in the early 1900s).
Yes, I do have some complaints about this book: I didn’t like Dean and felt let down by the resolution to his part in the story. I also can both recognize the need (through the time period and where he comes from) for Thorn to be a Christian and to be vocal about it without being thrilled by it. I felt his psalms and prayers took up space in the book that could’ve been used elsewhere. I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority in this opinion. I also wasn’t happy with Blackwood’s decision to not have Victoria contemplate at any point in time what it would mean to leave the compound and go out into a world she’s never been in. She never asked any questions about what it was like out there, or what she would do, or if she would have to wear certain clothing. There were scenes that would’ve allowed for this kind of small talk and intimate conversation between her and Thorn, but it never happened. I don’t know if that’s because Blackwood meant for Victoria to not think about those things because of one reason or another, but by the time I got to the resolution of the book, I found myself facepalming a little because Thorn should have put some thought into matters. Then again, he seems the impulsive type.
The worldbuilding, the setting, the magic, the mythology, the folklore…it all added up to make this book so entrancing at times. If you add in Blackwood’s lovely prose, her ability to tap into her character’s inner narratives and emotions, and her ability to draw from the history her world is built on, it all makes for a bright, emotional, adventurous, fantastical read. I loved it.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Reads/Coming of Age/Folklore/Fantasy Romance/Historical Fantasy/Myth/Standalone/Dark Fantasy ...more
For all that steampunk seems to have been a pop culture phenomenon that lurked in subculture before becoming mainstream for a couple of years a while For all that steampunk seems to have been a pop culture phenomenon that lurked in subculture before becoming mainstream for a couple of years a while back before fading back into the subculture once more, you could believe it was part and parcel of the YA literary landscape with the passion and zeal A. G. Howard builds an entire novel around it in “Shades of Rust and Ruin”. The alchemy of this novel is amazing: A substantial fantasy world built around the fey mixed with steampunk and a dash of cyberpunk, a chunk of plot built around one interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s poem “The Goblin Market”, a smidge of wink nudge references to the movie “Labyrinth”, and both an ode and a dirge to sisterhood. In my opinion, the only flaw this book has is its tendency to be so in love with its own world it can’t help but tip into overly descriptive at times. Even then, you can’t help but forgive the author just a little, since the world is fascinating enough you kind of want to linger a little yourself. But we’re not reading this book for a grand tour of a fantasy world: we’re here for the story. And what a story it is.
Phoenix has a fear of Halloween, and for good reason: Her parents died on Halloween and her sister died on Halloween. Usually, Nix and her Uncle sit vigil at home from midnight on the 31st until midnight on November 1st, staying together and never leaving the house, completing simple rituals together to remember the family they’ve lost and to keep each other afloat for the 24 hours they are determined to stay awake and ensure they stay safe and alive together. But then Nix’s uncle breaks their routine to run a few errands and doesn’t come back, forcing Nix to leave the house as well, despite her desperate fears. Turns out, she had good reason to fear.
The less said about the plot of this book, the better. I hope no one posts a whole bunch of spoilers or reviews that are simply summaries of the plot, because going in blind is so much better. Trust me on this. Before I go any further in my review I will say this: The ending of this book made the whole book worthwhile. I pumped my fist and literally said, “Yes!”
Much of this book hinges on the story arc present in Christina Rossetti’s much-beloved poem “The Goblin Market”, but there’s more than one interpretation of this beautiful work. The more popular interpretation (and the only one I had heard of up until this book) was of the two main characters, Laura and Lizzie, being lovers who try their best to keep one another safe from the greedy eyes and hands of men. In “Shades of Rust and Ruin”, the interpretation of the poem is adjusted so that Laura and Lizzie are sisters and the goblins were actually goblins. So bear this interpretation in mind when you go to read this book, because it did take some mental rearranging for me to not get a little creeped out when I discovered how much this book leans on the poem.
The world-building in this book, as I’ve mentioned before, is mind-boggling. It’s colorful, it’s allegorical, it’s metaphorical, it’s figurative, and it’s incredibly imaginative. There’s a world living on a world that’s parted from “our” world by a veil. There’s a funhouse scene early on that is both incredibly intense and incredibly well-crafted. It has the feel of a demented Wonderland crossed with a dark Legend of Zelda. If it weren’t an adrenaline-fueled moment in the book I would’ve wanted to sit there and meditate on the whole scene for a minute.
Writing about the magic system would be fruitless because it would only result in the dreaded spoilers, so I won’t give it a go, but the characters are unique and varied, with the primary cast being large enough to cause the author to struggle just slightly with giving them all page time enough to fully develop identities, save for Nix. Once again, I believe this choice wasn't inherently a bad one, it was a choice made in sacrifice of the plot and the world. It made sense to me when I was reading the book, and maybe it will be clear to you when you read the book too.
I’m going to note that while this is a YA fantasy horror novel, it does tip heavily toward the darker and meaner side of the genre and while I’m firmly against censorship in reading I believe if you’re a parent and you have a younger reader who has picked up this book you might find them having questions or deep feelings regarding the book and its themes. They may especially have questions about the ending. I will stick by my assessment that the ending is absolutely the way the book should’ve ended and was a fantastic dismount (stuck the landing!), but some less mature readers may not feel the same. Heck, this ending may prove to be controversial to all readers.
I highly recommend this novel, goblin warts and all.
Thanks to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for granting me early access to this title. ...more
This book was a breath of fresh air in a vast sea of dark fantasy novels. I sincerely can’t think of one thing I didn’t like about it.
Oh! I know! It’This book was a breath of fresh air in a vast sea of dark fantasy novels. I sincerely can’t think of one thing I didn’t like about it.
Oh! I know! It’s that I don’t have the second book in my hands right this second.
“One Dark Window'', and Gillig’s writing in general, remind me of Hannah Whitten, Ava Reid, and even a bit of Margaret Rogerson. I’m loving these fantasy writers who aren’t afraid to shy away from the dark side of fantasy, especially when it comes to instilling that dark side in their female protagonists. Shying away from toxic masculinity where they can, giving their females power and agency to make their decisions about what to do with that power–for ill or for good–and not insulting their readers by beating it into our heads that balance is the key, because we all know that by now.
At the same time, Gillig also reminds me of those same writers because of the evocative imagery, the lush prose, the thought and care put into her very intriguing magic system (and can I just say I’m loving it?), and the care she puts into her characterizations.
What does seem to set Gillig apart here is her imagination. Nothing in fantasy is original, but Gillig has found new and unique ways to spin just about every trope, trick, and “way of doing things” to her own tune. I’d give you some examples, but there be spoilers. Let’s stay away from those shoals.
If you’re looking for a great dark fantasy read, I definitely recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for granting me access to this title.
Please note this review is being written as part of a series of backdated ARC reviews that were due earlier in the year but, for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to get to them by the publication date.
File Under: 5 Star Books/Fantasy Series/Dark Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Fantasy Romance ...more
Even the most unassuming of covers can contain a gem of a book. Something I love about fantasy novels is that since the author is building the world, Even the most unassuming of covers can contain a gem of a book. Something I love about fantasy novels is that since the author is building the world, the “world” is essentially their oyster. You can take a little from this time period, some from that folklore, some from that mythology, a smidge from this culture, a splash from that religion… you get my meaning. This is how we build fantasy worlds. All genre authors stand on the shoulders of giants going all the way back to the most epic of stories such as Gilgamesh.
A.G. Slatter is unembarrassed to admit she has plucked from quite a few different plants and bushes to form the bouquet that creates the world “The Path of Thorns” is set in. She took great care in her planning, research, selection, and execution, because the result of this meticulous worldbuilding is indeed a fantastic story mashup that is the love child of two Romantic authors: Charlotte Bronte and Mary Shelley. Indeed, Slatter’s storyline is summed up by the author herself as “Jane Eyre meets Frankenstein”. The result is an absolutely brilliant and engaging storyline of a young cunning woman who impersonates a dead woman in order to infiltrate her mother’s ancestral home as a governess in order to destabilize the power structure and avenge her mother’s death. There’s a lot more to the plot than that, but oh! The spoilers! Knowing less going in is definitely for the best when reading this book. I went in after only reading the blurb and loved that.
My favorite part of the book, aside from the morally gray and chaotic neutral main character who is, in turns, completely in her element one moment and in way over her head the next, are the stories and fairy tales that are told from time to time within the book. They are beautifully written in a unique and dark manner, truer to the form of classic oral tradition tales than the ones that eventually got sanitized and written down. They are cautionary tales, meant to warn people about the dangers of the world and to make themselves more self-aware. Sometimes they run directly into a territory I like to call, “You need to check yourself.”
The cast is colorful, unique, and deeply flawed. Even the children have their flaws, though they are the flaws of children and can be easily forgiven.
It’s truly a diverting and entertaining read. I wished it had gotten darker, but maybe that’s because I always want things to get darker when it comes to magic and gothic fantasies.
Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for granting me early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. ...more
When I was still in college (I graduated in 2017), I heard an episode of “Stuff You Missed in History Class” (I think that was the podcast anyway) aboWhen I was still in college (I graduated in 2017), I heard an episode of “Stuff You Missed in History Class” (I think that was the podcast anyway) about an operation Japan came up with during WWII that involved yanking teenage girls out of school to spend all day, every day, cutting and pasting together huge balloons made of washi paper that would then be turned into bombs set adrift across the Pacific Ocean using the jet stream air to carry them to the west coast of the US. Back then, when I first heard about it, I was fascinated by the topic, and even more fascinated that it actually worked (not to any real efficacy; but still, some of those balloons did reach the US mainland). That quirky little historical fact still pops up in my mind from time to time, as some historical facts do, because those balloons were the first weapons able to cross oceans. Good answer for a pub quiz, at any rate.
This operation is one of two true historical horrors that Alma Katsu uses as the basis for “The Fervor”, her latest excursion into historical horror fiction. The other being, of course, the Japanese internment camps here in America that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor. Katsu also uses these events as a clever opportunity to weave in the anti-Asian sentiments that have become more vocal and more evident ever since COVID appeared here in the US and some people (*cough*) felt it was the fault of Asian people (it didn’t seem to matter which Asian country or province you hailed from) that the disease had made it to our shores.
I find it funny that when it comes to fantasy books, I have to really be impressed when Japanese demons and spirits are part of the story in order to consider it a good book, but I get absolutely giddy as a schoolgirl when they make an appearance in horror novels like this. I think it’s the symbolism of it all. In a fantasy book they’re actual characters that are portraying the demon or spirit, but in a horror book like this, they are a symbol for something larger and more meaningful than simply being a fox spirit. They are the portents. They are the foreshadowing. They are some of the exposition. They are part of the plot and storyline. They are part of the cultural makeup of some of the characters. They portray inner thoughts and feelings of characters that we aren’t receiving in other ways. So to see them here makes me so happy.
The narrative here is tightly woven and well-directed. Even though the book takes time to get the characters where they need to be for the big finish, it never feels like wasted time. There are things that absolutely need to happen in order for there to be no plot holes or loose ends, and Katsu trusts us readers to stick with her as she sets a steady pace in order to get there on her clock. You can trust that if she leaves a character (since this book is told from a few different POVs) in a sticky situation and we are worried for them she will get back to them in a few chapters and we’ll pick up and get our questions answered. No loose threads, no holes left open for the plot to fall through. The story stays steady and beating strong.
This is my first Kastu novel (I’ve read a couple of short stories), but it won’t be my last. I was thoroughly engaged.
Thanks to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam Son’s for granting me access to this novel. This review is coming from my ARC backlist. ...more
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