T. Kingfisher plus a Sleeping Beauty remix. Sign me up. I’m here for it. Mostly because I love Sleeping Beauty, and some of it because I really wantedT. Kingfisher plus a Sleeping Beauty remix. Sign me up. I’m here for it. Mostly because I love Sleeping Beauty, and some of it because I really wanted to see what Kingfisher was going to do with it. I wasn’t disappointed; in fact, I was absolutely, positively delighted. I think this is my favorite Kingfisher novella thus far.
It all starts with an underpinning question that can twist the whole tale on its head: there’s two reasons anyone would go to such lengths to hide a sleeping princess behind a huge mess of thickets of thorns, masses of briars, a forest of trees, and tons of huge bushes. It’s either to keep other people out, or to keep something in. Kingfisher wants us to contemplate the latter: What if Sleeping Beauty is the dangerous one?
Somehow this premise excited me so much I was almost giddy as I read this charming and somehow sweet (I don’t know why my clock ticks this way, but it does and I don’t question it) fairy tale told from the point of view of Toadling, a changeling who was actually meant to be the real princess she’s now guarding as she sleeps. Toadling doesn’t have much magic in her, so almost everything she has goes into keeping the changeling child that’s disguised as a human asleep and trying to make sure no one comes near the hidden tower where the small child eternally slumbers. Not even Toadling goes near her too often, for fear the magic will become unstable and wake her.
The world building in this story is just so unbelievably detailed and rich, even though it mostly takes place in one place. There are interludes as Toadling tells her story to a traveler from (what was then called) Anatolia, as it seems he’s determined to get through the briar thickets and the hedge of thorns and up to the hidden tower to see the princess. Toadling doesn’t have it in her to hurt practically anyone, especially not a nice person who’s the first person she’s spoken to in over 200 years. She thinks it’s important to impart to him the history of who the princess is and why she’s in the tower so he really decides against trying to break the spell. While these could be considered info dumps, they’re really more of a fairy tale inside a fairy tale: two stories nested within one another, and they’re both fascinating and well-written.
This is what’s so vital about novellas: Knowing how to pack the most punch with less than 200 words to work with. Despite this being a novella, this felt like a whole and complete story. Nothing was rushed, nothing felt missing, and it was such a satisfying read. It’s well worth the five stars I rated 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.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Fantasy/Folklore/Fairy Tale Retelling/Folklore/Found Family/Historical Fantasy/Novella ...more
If there’s one fusion of genres I’ve come to appreciate a great deal in the last couple of years it’s science fiction and noir. It’s not a new genre, If there’s one fusion of genres I’ve come to appreciate a great deal in the last couple of years it’s science fiction and noir. It’s not a new genre, having roots going back 30+ years, but it’s new to me. The first novel I read with this kind of flavor to it was last year’s The Paradox Hotel, which I absolutely couldn’t put down (just like this book), rated five stars (just like this book), and which occupies a well-deserved spot on my crowded bookshelves (which this book does as well, thanks to Knopf and Penguin Random House). There’s something about the cold, implacable march of science with its empirical laws and rules of evidence and the cool, calm facade of a detective who has their own laws and rules of evidence to follow that simply creates a fascinating, mutually beneficial relationship that can result in some of the most fascinating stories about the human condition. Titanium Noir is a story that has a lot of story to tell and most of it isn’t pretty, but all of it is about some kind of love.
No noir novel is complete without a socioeconomic divide (in this case, a river and lake divide one side from the other–the rich and the not-rich). In the world of Titanium Noir, money doesn’t only mean you live in nicer houses and have better healthcare. It also means you might just make enough money to become a Titan. Not a titan of industry, but one of a select number of people who can afford to be injected with a genetic therapy formula called T7, which will rewind and repair all damage time or injury has inflicted on you. A literal bodily reset. The monetary cost is astronomical. Changes to your body? Yeah, there’s some of those too. You won’t ever be the same again and people will never look at you the same way again. You’re a Titan now, and there’s power in merely being you. The power exchange is too great to overcome now.
Our protagonist, Cal Sounder, is a private detective on paper. In reality, he walks the thin line between the police and the Titans. He looks into things on the Titan’s side of the fence for the police from time to time and he looks into things on the poorer side of town for the Titans from time to time. This time around, he’s been retained by the police as a consultant on a case a little too hot for them to handle: A Titan has been murdered.
The worldbuilding in this book is simply great. Take the gritty, icy streets of Chicago in winter and marry it to the neon city you’d see in an anime like Ghost in the Shell or Akira, and that’s the feel I got from the book. Crazy nightclubs, dirty dive bars, weird socialist social clubs, fusion restaurants, an elite university, a multinational conglomerate, apartment buildings, and a pig farm. This book visits a great many locales, all different from one another and fascinating in their own way given the landscape.
Cal has that same cool, implacable facade of a practiced detective, but with far more leeway than a badge. His morals are a lot more flexible, too. That’s why he’s good at his job. He’s an enigmatic and charismatic character. He’s far more than he seems and capable of far more than you’d be able to discern, but it’s not until the book puts him into a situation that you get to see that Cal Sounder is a man of quick reflexes, wit, resources, and more. He has the trademark cynicism and wariness that comes from being surrounded by criminals and death as a profession, but he has one bright thing in his life and he keeps going, knowing she’s still around and waiting.
The dialogue in this book is amazing. It’s all over the place in tone, just like human conversation should be, but you can read the shifts in tone as if they were being spoken and not written. It has razor-sharp wit, barbed sarcasm, tired musings over cups of bitter coffee, weary late-night conversations, exasperated arguments in hallways and alleyways, demented and dislocated words and phrases uttered under pain and duress, words softly spoken by soft lamplight in the late hours, and pessimistic rants from exhausted cops expressed at all hours of night and day.
The plot is engrossing from the start, leaving the book an absolute page-turner you can’t put down. It absolutely feels like you can’t stop reading, because you never know when something bonkers, bloody, revelatory, or just plain interesting is going to happen. The book just keeps moving because Cal just keeps on moving. Unless he’s hurt. Then he stops for a minute.
The ending might surprise you. It might not. I loved the ending, even though I guessed who the killer was. Keep in mind that the ending and the killer are two separate things. This is a story about love, after all. It’s just about different kinds of love. The killer and the ending are not about the same kinds of love. No matter what, though, this book is absolutely a killer read.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. I also received a physical early review copy of this book from Knopf and Penguin Random House as part of their influencer program (thank you). All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
“Oh she wants to conquer the world completely But first she'll conquer me discreetly The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals “Oh she wants to conquer the world completely But first she'll conquer me discreetly The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals in witchcraft And one kiss and I'm zapped
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me When a girl like you has cast a spell on me…
…The female of the species is more deadly than the male…”
This classic rock song by the English band Space was something I hummed off and on while reading Beware the Woman, which I’ve come to think of as the love child of Rosemary’s Baby and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s legacy from generations of female authors reading The Yellow Wallpaper and saying, “Oh heck no”.
This isn’t just feminist psychological thriller at its finest, though. It’s also a deep satirical commentary on the waning power of the aging white male in his isolated mountain stronghold, a member of the boy’s club, where women aren’t welcome and should be home with the children and minding the house. In this book, boys will be boys until they get married to a good girl and have kids; and all girls are just tempting little Eves walking around just asking for it. These rural mountain communities are places out of time in a way, yet they are filled with men and boys who think they have every right to know everything about a woman’s body and to make decisions about it for them.
Right from the start, our protagonist Jacy tells us she’s always had a bad picker. I’ve known women who have bad pickers. I myself have an inadequate picker, but not exactly bad. Somehow, between a fit of whimsy and that glow of brilliant new love, Jacy ignores her knowledge of having a bad picker and decides choosing to marry her boyfriend Jed after a short courtship is the best choice she’s ever made. She decides there’s nothing wrong with Jed. He’s perfect.
See, I don’t care if this major point of foreshadowing may seem a bit too obvious. I don’t care at all. Why? Because this book hooked me as soon as I opened it. I was trying to decide which ARC to read next and I opened this one and all of a sudden I was more than ten pages in and couldn’t put it down. You should have seen me absolutely devouring this book: I snapped at anyone and everyone who pulled me away from it. I just wanted to keep reading. If I could’ve cooked my mom’s lunch while reading it, I would’ve. The first few pages hook you hard, and the first ten percent just reel you in nice and steady. Once Jacy and Jed have reached Jed’s father’s house, the frenetic energy from the very beginning slows to a steady thrum so it can pick up what feels like a sense of awkwardness at first, then anxiety, then foreboding, then dread, and then it becomes outright paranoia and panic before it becomes outright desperation as the book head into the 80% mark. From there, it’s a wild, frenetic ride that’s everything I had hoped it would be.
I felt so satisfied by this book. The ending, pacing, plot development, character development, and sublime way Megan Abbott weaves those deep and dark themes into the narrative made Beware the Woman into one of the most satisfying thrillers I’ve read so far this year.
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: 5 Star Read/Domestic Thriller/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Suspense Thriller ...more
On the day the physical ARC of this dark, twisted, and audaciously funny novel showed up on my doorstep I knew I was going to love it when I read it sOn the day the physical ARC of this dark, twisted, and audaciously funny novel showed up on my doorstep I knew I was going to love it when I read it simply from one little thing that has since been removed from the cover but was on my copy: If you look in the lower left hand corner of my picture, in very fine print, it says, “For legal purposes: a novel”.
Cheeky. I snickered over that small bit of fine print for a little bit and even took a pic of it and sent it to my bestie because I thought it was that cheeky.
How to Kill Men and Get Away With It isn’t a cheeky book, however. It’s dark, twisted, wicked smart, tragically funny, merciless in its anger, and unforgiving in its social criticisms. Katy Brent managed that rare feat of literary alchemy of perfectly weaving exposition into narrative without skipping a beat or losing a single bit of momentum in what had to have been a hard book to keep on track and keep even in both tone and pacing.
While men are the most obvious target of anger and criticism in this book, don’t think that a single character (including Kitty, our protagonist), is immune to being a target of the book’s criticisms. The second largest set of people this book targets with anger and criticism are people who are glued to their social media accounts and what they’ll do to grow their accounts, keep their followers, and keep the money from collaborations and sponcon coming in. The third largest set of people to be razed and criticized are the rich and their tendency to do things purely for the power of virtue signaling (eco-tourism, holding huge charity galas, visiting orphanages in war-torn countries, adopting war orphans only to have nannies raise them, etc).
Kitty Collins is the vegan heiress to a meat corporation. She’s been on her own since she was 18 and her mom moved to the south of France. Her dad went missing a couple of years before then. Kitty may be rich, but her posh apartment was set up for her by her mom before she left the UK and Kitty doesn’t spend any of the money she gets from being the heir to what she thinks of as blood money: she gets plenty of money and free products from just being Kitty Collins, one of the most popular influencers on Instagram. Her only family are her fellow astronomically-high follower count influencers, who she fully admits all have eating disorders, daddy issues, and absolutely have love affairs with alcohol and drugs of different shapes and sizes. They don’t tend to hang around other people, because who else is really worth their time?
Kitty doesn’t really like people, but especially men. When one follows her out of a bar after she turns down his advances they have a physical argument and the man falls onto a broken half of a champagne bottle, which goes straight into a major artery. Kitty can’t help him and knows it wasn’t completely her fault, so she leaves the man there and goes home.
The next day, she feels revitalized. She feels like she’s glowing. She doesn’t feel any guilt or remorse for what happened. She feels energetic and better than she has in some time. She took out a predator. A man who wanted to take what she wasn’t willing to give. She has no issue with that. She wouldn’t change a thing.
I love how Katy Brent engineers Kitty Collins’ “code” for killing to make it look like Kitty is doing her own kind of virtue signaling by committing these vigilante murders: No kids, no women, no disabled people, no veterans, no homeless people, etc. As if murder isn’t murder no matter how you frame it. Not to mention, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and rules were made to be broken. As Kitty sits down to write herself her “code”, you can’t help but get the feeling that this code is going to come back and bite her in the butt later. You have to be careful with murder. You can’t risk recklessness. That’s how you get caught.
The barbed, mocking tone that permeates this book is a joy to read simply because it matches up so nicely with the vacuousness of social media culture. Think of how easy it is to mock the people who are famous simply for being…them? How does one get famous and rich simply for being spotted at that one party that one night at the same time as that one celebrity and now somehow they have 10K more followers on Insta and are being sent sponcon and asked to collaborate for companies that aren’t scams? But once you’re up there with the influencers who have more followers than the population of a decent-sized city, what else is there? Who else is there? All day, every day, you’re just treated like an empty piece of meat for the public to consume. What will you do about it?
I was provided a digital galley of this title by NetGalley and the author. I was also provided a physical ARC of this title by the folks at HarperCollins through their influencer program. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
In theory, I love noir mysteries. In reality, I need to be in the mood and have enough patience for them, because a good noir mystery can’t be rushed In theory, I love noir mysteries. In reality, I need to be in the mood and have enough patience for them, because a good noir mystery can’t be rushed and I’m very impatient and prone to distraction.
I will tell you it took me a lot of patience for me to read this book, because it definitely isn’t a book you will want to rush through and it isn’t one that will allow you to do so anyway. I will also tell you it took me almost two whole days of off and on reading to finish the book, which is a long time for me (just me, I know I’m weird and everyone thinks I must be a robot for being able to read more than one book a day) and I still loved the book, so that means it was really worth taking my time with this terrific neon-noir murder mystery.
Heck, even simply calling it a “neon-noir murder mystery” seems like shortchanging it. It’s closer to “neon-noir murder mystery conspiracy thriller suspense novel”. There’s a genre mashup for you.
Jordan Harper writes like he’s an architect: He builds this book using bricks made up of some of the most striking and sharp sentences I’ve seen in quite some time. I stopped more than once to re-read some of the sentences or to read them aloud because they were just that hot. And then those amazing sentences helped to make up well-structured paragraphs that housed this heavy, sordid, dark story of people who have enough money that humanity means nothing to them anymore, the people who are employed to make sure secrets stay secret, and a race to both try and save the day and see if there’s such a thing as redemption after a certain point in your life.
If you’re looking for levity in any way, don’t look here. While there is humor in this book, it’s the humor borne of cynicism and seeing too much bad in the world. It’s gallows humor, heavy sarcasm, and sometimes even crude. It’s all right in line with the tone of the book and the characters, but this book isn’t written for the laughs–it’s written for the tragedy and sins of the rich, the famous, and the people who take out the trash.
I’m trying to think of everything I could say about this book, but keeping in mind the genre, I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say it’s a long ride, but it’s a wild one, and at the end you’re not going to regret taking your time with this one.
Mulholland Books provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you.
File Under: Crime Fiction/Noir/Mystery/Thriller/Crime Thriller/5 Star Reads ...more
!!! #bookreview !!! Title: The Serpent and the Wings of Night Series: Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 1 Author: Carissa Broadbent Publisher: #indieauthor (this edi!!! #bookreview !!! Title: The Serpent and the Wings of Night Series: Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 1 Author: Carissa Broadbent Publisher: #indieauthor (this edition) Publication Date: August 30th, 2022
I’ve actually had this book sitting in my Kindle since around the time it was published. Why did I hesitate to read it? Probably because I was pretty sure I’d like it and didn’t feel this overwhelming push to read it right away. That feeling only increased once the second book in this duology came out. There was this feeling of, “Okay, well, now they’re out there and I can chill. No pressure to read them right this minute”. But I’ve been feeling the urge to read some good romantasy lately and a Throne of Glass-like vibe has been resonating with me, so when an ARC I was reading today turned into a DNF I decided to read this.
So, yeah. I was right. I loved it. Loved it the way only devouring about 500 pages in less than seven hours can feel. Like it’s an old friend. Like it’s good for the soul. Like it’s good gossip and a warm cup of coffee on a classic fall day.
Is it the best romantasy I’ve read this year? No. Was it just what I needed today? Yes. Did I immediately go download the sequel to immediately start absorbing tomorrow? Yes. Do I now want to own physical copies in addition to my ebooks? Yes! It was fun, it was sexy, it was violent, and I need more. ...more
This is a collection of essays about criminology and criminal justice I didn’t even know I needed. I feel like I’ve just been injected with a huge dosThis is a collection of essays about criminology and criminal justice I didn’t even know I needed. I feel like I’ve just been injected with a huge dose of knowledge that’s going to take some time to totally soak in, but it feels almost like a vaccine: now that I have read and know these things I can’t unknow them and unthink them. Honestly, I don’t want to. I would rather have this inoculation–this knowledge–in my system than not. Because I have taken a bite of this apple and even though that apple was bitter, I am all the better for that bitter apple. The bitterness will help me remember to stay angry and remind me of my sadness while reading some of these essays.
Evidence of Things Seen is split up into three parts: What We Reckon With (essays about the types of crimes that highlight the social inequities in this country and why they continue to be an issue); The True Crime Stories We Tell (essays about how social media intersects with true crime and how that can affect the time in which a crime is solved or how it can negatively affect the parties involved); and, Shards of Justice (essays featuring discourse on the future of criminal justice).
The first part of the book, What We Reckon With, is by far the largest section of the book, as it takes up almost half of the collection. None of the essays in this collection are bad, but in this section, I found that I was captivated and felt most passionate about an essay called “‘No Choice but to Do It’: Why Women Go to Prison”, by Justine van der Leun, which calls into question why women who are forced to commit heinous crimes by their abusers under extreme duress (like the threat of murder) are charged alongside their abusers as if they are just as guilty of the crime instead of the victim of one. “The Golden Age of White-Collar Crime” by Michael Hobbes is a long essay I thought would bore me (which is a point made about white-collar crime in the essay itself) but actually managed to ensnare me instead by explaining very well how is it that every time another old, white man gets arrested for doing something heinous with money and destroying a bunch of people’s lives all he seems to manage to get is a couple of years in Club Fed. It’s a long but rewarding read. “Picturesque California Conceals a Crisis of Missing Indigenous Women” by Brandi Morin reports on a phenomenon that’s well-known to anyone who lives in Northern California (which I do, though not as far north as she’s reporting on), and that’s the extremely high rate of indigenous Native American women who just up and disappear from reservation lands in the upper third section of the state. If you’ve ever seen the true crime docuseries “Murder Mountain” or read up on “trimmigrants” (the migrant workers, largely female, who make the trek up to the Emerald Triangle every year to harvest the marijuana crop), you might be familiar with how during harvest season it’s not only indigenous women who go missing. It’s a serious problem in general in Northern California; but for Native American women it’s so much worse, because they just get snatched up off their reservations and are never seen again.
In part two, The True Crime Stories We Tell, there’s only one essay I didn’t like too much, and that was “Who Owns Amanda Knox?” by Amanda Knox. The essay itself brings up plenty of valid points about how it feels sometimes that she has a doppelganger walking around that is the Amanda Knox everyone thinks she is instead of the Amanda Knox she actually is and that’s the Amanda Knox people keep thinking they can vilify and make money off of. The only reason I disliked this essay is because it felt a bit whiny. I understand she feels truly victimized after being wrongfully convicted by the Italian government twice, but she has her own podcast and a platform with which to voice her frustrations. I just felt like her essay wasn’t at the same level as the rest included in this collection. The other three essays in this section are all equally interesting and well-written.
In part three, “Shards of Justice”, the first essay, “Will You Ever Change?” by Amelia Schonbek completely floored me. It’s one of the best essays in this whole collection in part because it talks about restorative justice, which is one of my favorite rehabilitation tactics to avoid recidivism rates. In this case, the type of restorative justice they’re talking about is surrogate dialogue. Surrogate dialogue takes the victim of a crime and a perpetrator of the same crime (but a completely unrelated one), and puts them at the same table across from one another. Each of them has an advocate and there is a facilitator to keep everyone in line and stand witness for the non-profit running the program. In order to engage in this program, the victim has to approach the program themself and the perpetrator (who has to be out of jail and be evaluated before being approved for the program) has to want to use this surrogate dialogue to help victims heal. It’s a community service. I found this essay to be touching and thought-provoking, because even though programs like this show great potential to reduce recidivism rates, no one wants to fund them.
Another highlight of this section is “The Prisoner-Run Radio Station That’s Reaching Men on Death Row” by Keri Blakinger, which touches on how music is a universal language, even in prison. It’s a touching and emotional essay about how even the residents of Death Row, cut off from Gen Pop, can be part of the great prisoner community by being allowed to write into their prison radio station and have their words heard or their song requests played.
Don’t forget to read the introduction or the editor’s note. They’re both interesting and informational reads. The introduction has a whole lot to say about the late, great author James Baldwin, who was writing essays about how systemic racism ran long and deep in our criminal justice system long before anyone was willing to listen.
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: 5 Star Review/Anthology/Biography/History/Nonfiction/True Crime ...more
‘“Hey, you know what Waco stands for?” went one. “We Ain’t Coming Out.”’ - Quote from Koresh
The siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas t‘“Hey, you know what Waco stands for?” went one. “We Ain’t Coming Out.”’ - Quote from Koresh
The siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas took place when I was in my freshman year of high school. That was a landmark year for my family because my parents had finally saved enough money to buy us a brand-new house and we had moved in just the year before and were settling in. I was still an awkward, tiny girl with glasses and I knew there was something wrong with my brain but didn’t know exactly what it was yet. I just knew I wasn’t like other kids. I had a ton of friends, but I was also paranoid and insecure in my friendships. So believe me when I say, Waco was the last thing on my mind at that point in time in my life. Things like Ruby Ridge, the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, and Waco wouldn’t become something I even gave some thought to until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (incidentally, I visited that bombing site in the summer of 1995 during a cross country trip and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so devastated before in my life).
Cults and cult leaders have been of great interest to me ever since I became interested in true crime in my late teens but David Koresh has been a topic I’ve largely stayed away from because of how volatile it can be and how much misinformation is out there about the events that happened at Mount Carmel. But Ruby Ridge and Waco are tied intrinsically to the alt-right and the fight against gun control legislation in the present day, so I felt it was time to go in and read something that might give me some insight as to how Waco ties into today’s arguments against gun control and just what went wrong during that siege that made so many people upset and paranoid.
I should note: I did not fact check this book or Talty’s research. I did not have the time to do so. I am aware there is a ton of conflicting research and books on Koresh and on the siege of Mount Carmel. I am also an atheist, so I may come off as dismissive or unconcerned with the Branch Davidians religious beliefs. This is not intentional. I deeply believe in the part of the first amendment where we get to practice whatever religion we want and also be free not practice any religion. I love the first amendment, full stop. I also should note I am pro gun control, in a very, very strong manner, so I will try to keep away from discussion about weaponry. I’m not here to fight. I just want to review this book.
I was very impressed with the first half of this book. In my opinion, Talty did an excellent job not only researching David Koresh’s childhood and family history, but he also did a tremendous job of humanizing the future cult leader. As a reader of fiction and nonfiction, I know how important it is to humanize the “villain”. David Koresh was a human being. His followers were human beings. His family are human beings. The survivors are human beings. None of these people just popped up out of a cabbage patch. Understanding David Koresh when he was just little Vernon Howell is absolutely vital to understanding how he ended up a dangerous and criminal cult leader. Reading the chapters involving Koresh’s childhood broke my heart, made me angry, and made me wonder just how many times there might have been a different choice that could’ve been made or a different way things could’ve gone that would’ve led little Vernon Howell away from the path that ultimately led him to Waco. We’ll never know, of course, but the sadness of a wasted life weighs on me, and it’s going to leave me thinking for just a while.
It’s when Vernon Howell joins the Davidians that the sympathy for him as a child begins to evaporate and turn into condemnation and sorrow: Condemnation for Vernon, and sorrow for those who fell under his spell or became his victims of sexual assault and/or abuse. It’s clear by this point that Vernon Howell had either not escaped the copious amount of serious mental illness that ran through his family or the severe abuse he had received as a baby, child, and teen had damaged his brain enough to cause some sort of traumatic brain injury that had never been treated. It’s another thing we’ll never know and can never be fully explained.
As much as I condemn the Branch Davidians and David Koresh for what they built, what they approved of, what they allowed David Koresh to do to their wives and children, and for their blind fanaticism, I was absolutely astounded at the ineptitude of the ATF and FBI.
Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing all took place before the formation of the department of Homeland Security (which wasn’t formed until after 9/11). Back then, the alphabet agencies not only didn’t share, they didn’t share well. If they were forced to share, it was a dominance fight every time. It was alpha males everywhere, banging their fists against their chests, all determined they were the best agency for the job and sometimes even willing to pull the rug out from under one another’s feet. Waco is an excellent example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing and sometimes even the right hand is unsure of what its supposed to be doing and the left hand is just hanging out not doing their job and acting like frat boys. Up until reading this book I hated Homeland Security, but boy does this book make it look like an excellent idea. What Waco needed was interagency cooperation from the bottom to the top and a very, very clear chain of command. One chain of command. Instead, it seemed like there were about 3-4 chains of command running around and sometimes people were just guessing at what they were supposed to be doing.
Waco could’ve ended sooner and maybe even more peacefully if all these little boys had cooperated, shared information, and had one clear chain of command. Instead, there was chaos.
I did feel like the second half of the book wasn’t as interesting to read as the first, if only because a lot of the time it felt repetitive when reading the transcripts between David or Steve and either the negotiators or one of the other agencies. I’d swing from bored to angry at how our government was acting to sad because I knew how the story was going to end.
The book is a compelling read, especially if you’ve never read much about Koresh or what happened at Waco. What happened there changed the sociopolitical fabric of America that reached into the minds of people who are leaders of the alt-right today. It’s an important part of American history, and you should take the time to understand why this happened and why people have every right to be upset with our government’s part in what happened there.
Because, in the end, the Branch Davidians needed to be taken down, but they didn’t deserve what happened to them. They deserved to go to jail. And a large part of why everything went so wrong was because of our government and the inability to listen or to humanize these people. It’s an important lesson we all need to learn.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Read/Biography/Cult/History/Nonfiction/True Crime ...more
It’s there in the title and you should take it as a warning: This book is savage. It’s a painful, visceral, heartbreaking read that reached right intoIt’s there in the title and you should take it as a warning: This book is savage. It’s a painful, visceral, heartbreaking read that reached right into my stomach, womb, heart, and brain with long fingers filled with beautiful words, ugly secrets, horrific scenes, and nauseating characters in a way no book has for a good long time now.
I don’t get book hangovers that often, but I’m telling you that after I closed this book I felt like a deflated balloon, a crushed soda can, or maybe even a flattened cardboard box. I feel drained, dried out, and just worn at the seams.
Tiffany McDaniel has weaved a spell on this book that I don’t think will allow any reader to escape unscathed. You might try your hardest to harden your heart, but I can guarantee that between all the dark, dirty, sad, and desperate things that occur during this book you will definitely find yourself feeling something, and McDaniel’s writing will pierce you deeply.
I found myself thinking of my review for Erin Kate Ryan’s release from last year, Quantum Girl Theory, where I said: “Is every missing girl the same as every other missing girl, or do some missing girls count for more?…When do people just give up on missing girls, and when does a missing girl stop being just a missing girl and becomes more of a distant memory?” This book’s thesis is rightfully on the side of some missing girls counting for more, but the book is also clear in pointing out that no one cares about missing girls much at all, no matter who they are or what they do for a living–not as long as men make all the rules and enforce them. As long as men hold the reins, we will be under their hooves.
McDaniel’s prose is bewitchingly beautiful, even when what’s happening is horrible and depraved. This book has the most melancholy and lovely passages told from the POV of the river, and even as the river describes matters such as the decomposition of the human body, there’s something poetic and naturally calming about these passages, like the river is trying to reassure us readers that she is taking care of the bodies that find their way into her waters, that the breaking down of their physical bodies is something natural and nothing to be afraid of. It was what happened before those bodies entered her currents that’s to be feared. What’s simultaneously gutting and healing are these quasi autopsy reports that crop up periodically throughout the book, which you would have to see for yourself to understand what I’m talking about.
There is not a single character in this book who is even close to whole. They’re all broken into pieces, but how many pieces differ from character to character, and varies depending on where each character is in their life as the book goes on. The way McDaniel writes them, though, you could think that even the most shattered people are the most lovely and the people who seem like they might actually be living a more complete life are carrying the ugliest secrets.
A special toast to McDaniels for the courage she showed not only in writing this book, but in the way she chose to write it. It couldn’t have been easy to make the choices she did, but she made them all the same. Not only was I close to gobsmacked, but I couldn’t think of a more perfect ending.
I was provided with 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: General Fiction/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Crime Thriller/Murder Thriller/OwnVoices/5 Star Reads/Crime Thriller/Genre Mashup ...more
This novel, written with great care and love by Emilia Hart, is most obviously about women and their connection to the earth and to nature. To what beThis novel, written with great care and love by Emilia Hart, is most obviously about women and their connection to the earth and to nature. To what being kept away from it does to us and what being steeped in it does for us. That’s the way it’s always been.
It is also, under the surface, a treatise on how men fundamentally can’t (and therefore don’t or won’t) understand that connection women have to the earth and consistently covet them and snatch them up like magpies and then cage them and guard them sometimes to the point of violence. Men are the hunters. Women are the hunted. The more innate power a woman carries, the more men will be drawn to her. That’s the way it’s always been.
Weyward takes these two ideas, both of which are true if you dig down to our evolutionary roots, and soaks them in magical realism, lovely prose, vivid imagery, terrific world building, and careful character construction to weave together three timelines featuring women of the Weyward family line and how these two themes affect(ed) their lives, relationships, travails, and how the rest of their lives panned out. Each story is filled with earnest and heartfelt emotion.
While at times a touch too on the nose or melodramatic, this novel is one I’d definitely recommend picking up for a lyrical and moving read.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Magical Realism/Women’s Fiction/5 Star Reads ...more
Dudes, give into the hype surrounding this book, because it’s every bit as good as everyone says it is. This book is the literary equivalent of these Dudes, give into the hype surrounding this book, because it’s every bit as good as everyone says it is. This book is the literary equivalent of these addictive little frozen chai milk tea-flavored mochi bites they sell at Trader Joes. I just can’t help but keep putting those morsels into my mouth, and I just couldn’t help but devour this book page by compelling page.
Oh, how I love to loathe a book’s protagonist. What’s more is I love how much I hated just about everyone in this book. They were all awful, save Mrs. Liu. She’s an angel. But otherwise? Each and every other character in this book is either so inconsequential I could dismiss or forget them as easily as June (our protagonist) does or I could just outright think each and every one of them was an absolutely awful person in their own way. And, to my amusement and for the shade of it all, I adored each and every one of them for being the horrible human beings they were.
Because that’s who they are. Human beings. And that’s part of what I took away from this book. We’re all human beings living in the shades of grey, and between cultural diaspora, socioeconomic strata, generational trauma, and social media none of us know how to be genuine anymore or know how to handle people who actually are genuine. There’s a general distrust between each and every one of us here in America, because America runs on individualism and that need to be the one wearing the crown, and white people largely and genuinely don’t know what to make of other cultures where collectivism, trust, and generosity make the world go ‘round. We white people want that feeling for ourselves (I know I do), but most of us aren’t willing to give up our individuality, prestige, and money for such a life. And that’s sad.
The first act of this book upset me greatly, to the point where I was growling and shaking my Kindle because I was so mad. Please don’t mistake this for criticism of the book, because it’s not. This section of the book should make you upset. It should make you mad because you’re reading the process of taking one author’s hard work and stripping away her unique voice only to supplement it with another’s. You see large sections of important historical events get cut from the book for the sake of not triggering readers. Terrified young women become softer. June and her editors essentially vivisect the original author’s manuscript until it becomes a neutered version of the original, all set for proper public consumption. Now it’s not a tour de force piece of historical literary military fiction–it’s just a solid historical military fiction novel. It’s a ghost of the novel it could’ve been. That’s a travesty in and of itself. The fact that June, the original author’s white friend, rebrands herself in order to sell this novel and keeps using absurdly twisted logic to justify her actions is almost an even larger travesty.
This book has so many terrific points to make: About how there’s a difference culturally in how stories are passed down from the old to the young. About how some white people think all Asian people look alike and their names sound alike but never think about how white people all look a lot alike. About how social media is poisonous to everyone, but especially creative souls. About cancel culture, how easy it is to be canceled for something that happened years and years ago and how you can never recover once that happens but how men still always bounce back quicker from scandals than any woman does. How fast the news cycle runs and the pressure to publish or perish doesn’t stay in academia but extends into the publishing industry as well, and how important it is for authors to be firm and specific when it comes to negotiations with film studios over film rights.
You make your own hell. You make your own prison. June did both of these things the moment she decided to take her dead friend’s manuscript and make it hers. It hems her in by shame, greed, anxiety, and fear. She sees no way out and she definitely doesn’t know if she wants out. The only way she’s going away is if she’s forced. There’s that Protestant Work Ethic wrapped in vice.
I don’t think I need to tell you to pick this up. It should be a foregone conclusion. It’s sharp, biting, shady, witty, and will make you angry three ways to Sunday. It’s worth every minute you spend on it. You won’t be able to put it down.
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: 5 Star Read/AAPI Fiction/Literary Fiction/OwnVoices/Satire ...more
There’s really no way Eliza Jane Brazier could’ve titled this book anything different, because Girls and Their Horses is the perfect title for this boThere’s really no way Eliza Jane Brazier could’ve titled this book anything different, because Girls and Their Horses is the perfect title for this book and all it encompasses. It’s not only the present-day horse girls who the title applies to–it’s also the horse girls of the past and the horse girls of the future.
I seriously don’t think Eliza Jane Brazier can write a bad book. Her writing is just so freaking compelling, propulsive, and engaging. This story starts off slow and steady and just keeps building the story, narrative, relationships, suspense, rewards, consequences… It just keeps building and building everything up like a really good suspense novel does until a really well done turn that’s sublimely plotted.
I admire how well EJB writes characters. From the bottom to the top they’re all completely fleshed out and unique. No one gets left out in terms of having their own voice. In this book that’s especially important since the cast skews largely female and between teenage daughters and mothers. The dynamics there vary between mothers and daughters, sisters, friends, fathers and daughters, and boys and girls. For each dynamic and character there’s going to be a different push and pull. EJB is blessed in her talent to keep everything straight and consistent throughout the book.
I’m not saying the book is perfect, because it’s not. I found certain aspects of the book predictable. Not all of it. Not the most important part of the book. That kept me guessing all the way up until it was revealed. But some of the rest of the mysteries I could guess. That’s not entirely bad, though. Not when the book is this good. And it’s really good.
All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Suspense ...more
For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. (King James Version, Mark 5.8-9)
It’s 1905 in Pennsylvania, and we’re at a Catholic orphanage for boys. Our protagonist, Peter, has been at the orphanage for seven years, ever since his father shot his mother (accidentally setting the house on fire in the process), and then put his shotgun under his own skin and pulled the trigger in front of young Peter. Since that night he’s been at St. Vincent’s, and is almost ready to enter the priesthood himself, if he can decide he loves serving God enough to give up hopes of marrying the Hill girl down the road someday.
It’s early winter in Pennsylvania, and everyone is trying to get ready for the time when they’ll all be hunkering down as the snow falls, the rough roads become impassable, the game goes to ground or is all hunted down, and there is not even one root vegetable left in the ground. The orphanage, already living on Christian charity alone, barely has enough food to feed their charges, which number close to 40. They are completely full of growing boys of all ages, and not one of them isn’t living with their own inner demons.
Not the biblical ones, silly.
Not until one night, when the county sheriff brings his horribly injured and possessed brother to the door of the orphanage and begs the priests to help save his brother’s soul. That night, something dark is let loose on hallowed ground and into the vulnerable souls of damaged boys.
The thing about darkness is that you never know who it’s going to affect, why it’s going to affect them, and just how bad it’s going to be when it hits them. Sometimes it’s the ones you suspect the most. Sometimes, it’s the last ones you expect.
This book is stark and bleak, but vividly drawn with gore and terror. There’s a great juxtaposition between heroism and sainthood. There’s another great juxtaposition between being made evil and being primed for evil (we’re leaving the moral/philosophical argument about the notion of evil out of this since this book is set in a highly religious landscape and has a lot of biblical references). This book is no Hobbes v. Rousseau treatise: Everyone in this book is uniquely gray in their own way. It’s how they have dealt with their personal demons, how they have lived their life in the orphanage, how they have helped the other orphans, and how they handle the demonic infestation that endangers them all that helps to shine a light on their true natures.
Don’t think the adults are exempt from this same judgment. They have to face the same God, after all.
I was absolutely thrilled by the evil children, because I loves me some evil children. Especially if demons are involved. There’s a good deal of blood, guts, decay, and gore, so that makes me a happy horror fan. The fight scenes are violent and bloody and I’m here for it. It’s super violent and there’s a ton of death. It has an almost cinematic vibe to it, which absolutely thrilled me.
I don’t issue a laundry list of TW/CW, but I am going to say that if you are the type of person to have triggers involving kids, animals, or religion, then I think you might wanna stay away or look for a comprehensive trigger list online.
Otherwise, let the blood fly!
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Gothic Fiction/Historical Fiction/Horror/Occult Fiction/Occult Horror ...more
This book was so much dang fun to read! I knew from the very beginning I was going to love it, and I was totally sucked in from page one. I just sat hThis book was so much dang fun to read! I knew from the very beginning I was going to love it, and I was totally sucked in from page one. I just sat here all day, avidly reading page after page, only getting up to grab some lunch (which I ate one-handed while I continued to read) and to refill my iced coffee (because caffeine).
I knew I would love a book about a total boss woman who decides to defend the legacy her and her husband built in Washington after he went and tarnished it like an idiot. What I didn’t expect was to love this greedy, ambitious, shallow, vain, unscrupulous, whip-smart, and borderline sociopathic boss woman so much. She’s everything I’ve always imagined the ideal politician’s wife to be, save that most politician’s wives don’t see people as toys that can be taken out and played with at will and then discarded carelessly when she feels they have no use anymore. Her lack of impulse control and her childlike understanding of politics only made me love her more, because it caused the book to edge on satire at times, showing the true colors behind all politicians: they are all just petty children looking to not be picked last for kickball on the playground. They are all adolescents in a high school cafeteria looking for the ideal place to sit for maximum popularity. They are all part of a clique facing the peer pressure to take this or try that. But Jody Asher? Jody Asher is a singular woman who wants to be Captain of the kickball team, the most popular girl in school whom everyone wants to sit next to at lunch, and never have to fit into a clique because she is every clique and everyone both loves her and fears her.
In short? She’s the Regina George of Washington D. C. and I am here for it.
This book would be a good book if it was just about Jody and her efforts to restore the glory of the Asher legacy her idiotic husband left her with, but Rouda adds a layer to the cake with a glorious game of bad blood between Jody and her college friend/Think Tank founder, Mimi. That whole layer of the cake should and will remain a huge spoiler should it be revealed in a review, so this reviewer will keep her trap shut and let you find out when you go to read the book, because it’s catty, juicy, and metaphorically bloody. In short, it’s a delight.
I’m here for all of Jody Asher’s blind ambitions and political fumblings, coasting on her husband’s years of service and a lot of hidden dirt to get what she wants. I’m here for her efforts to try and at least give somewhat of a crud about her fellow humans. Most of all, I’m here for what was just a really clever and sharp book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granting me access to this title.
File Under: Thriller/Political Thriller/5 Star Books/Crime Fiction/Mystery/Suspense ...more
Last year there were a plethora of fantasy novels and series launched with their roots set in the myths, legends, and folklore of East Asia. Some of tLast year there were a plethora of fantasy novels and series launched with their roots set in the myths, legends, and folklore of East Asia. Some of them were great (I personally loved “The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea), and some simply missed the mark. No matter how well each book was received, I was simply overjoyed to see all these books bringing these beautiful stories, some of which have never been heard by readers in far-flung countries, brought to life in their own way by Asian authors or authors of Asian descent.
“Song of Silver, Flame Like Night”, is my first fantasy read of 2023, and I enjoyed it more than I have any East Asian mythology retelling novel in many months. It was nearly 500 pages, but it was 500 pages worth of time well spent steeped in a world that not only reminded me of some of my favorite epic animes like Inuyasha, but also of Wuxia films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. It even, in a cheeky way, reminded me just a tiny bit of Kung-Fu Panda. (I tried not to go there, folks, but I couldn’t help it). I know that the blurb mentions that readers who like “The Untamed” might like this, but I’ve never read the books or seen the show (though I have a friend who’s a superfan, so I do know the basics, and I can see where the appeal would lay).
I knew this book was going to be good when it took off right away interchanging worldbuilding and character building for our female protagonist in between weaving incredibly vivid imagery of the surroundings and sprinkling in exhibitionism in the form of show and not tell. It was as if Zhao was tap dancing in these fast-moving opening scenes, masterfully trying to show us her world, her character, what everything looks and feels like, and also sneaking in the “why” of it all anytime there was a chance. I kept trying to highlight and note in my Kindle so I could come back, but by the time we got to what most “Hero’s Journey” devotees would call “The Point of No Return”, I had completely forgotten about taking notes and highlighting because the story had swept me away. And it kept me swept away with its clever dialogue, hypnotizing stories within the story, colonizing, sadistic, conquering villains, complex and unique supporting characters, and our female protagonist’s male love interest, who’s story is sad and heavy and fills him with a weighty self-fulfilling prophecy.
Even knowing this is the first book in a series, Zhao wasn’t unkind when writing the ending of this book and decides to leave us grounded, even if it is a bit rocky. It’s sure better than a cliffhanger. A lot of plates are spinning and a lot of balls are in the air, but at least most loose ends that could’ve been left loose for readers to wonder about until the next book in the series is released were tied up so we can be just hungry enough when the next installment comes to shelves.
NetGalley and Delacorte Press provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Reads/YA Fantasy/Myth Retellings/Fantasy Series/Coming of Age/Fantasy Romance/Historical Fantasy/Myth Retellings/YA Book Series/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance ...more
I absolutely adore stories that read as both horrific and beautiful at the same time. Absolutely elegant prose filled with gore and terror. Colorful aI absolutely adore stories that read as both horrific and beautiful at the same time. Absolutely elegant prose filled with gore and terror. Colorful and evocative imagery juxtaposed against apathetic and dismissive dialogue. Compassionate concern wrapped in manipulation and poison. This novella is Hans Christensen Anderson, Poe, Dickinson, and Shelley tossed into a cauldron and simmered together into a black magic soup. And it is delicious.
I don’t normally give warnings. I don’t like them, because I feel it ruins the story. Especially if you’re reading dark fantasy or horror. In my opinion, you should pretty much be buckled in and ready for whatever when you open up a book in these genres. In this case, I am going to warn you this book isn’t for people who want to avoid gore or body horror. Just trust me on this.
Clocking in at around 115 pages (depending on your format), Cassandra Khaw makes efficient and effective use of every single word, using brilliant sentence and scene construction to bring this story together in the most economic, efficient, and elegant way possible. It’s not a complex story at its core: It’s two characters simply traveling together to see what’s over the next mountain. That’s generally what most stories are about, really: What’s over there? It’s a classic journey. In a full-length novel, the characters would be waylaid several times by side quests and subplots. In this novella, our two protagonists reach their first side quest and that’s where the vast majority of the story takes place.
I love that. I love that these two characters abandon their journey for what they think will just be a little while: First out of curiosity, then out of obligation, then out of vengeance, and then…Well, that would be spoiler territory.
It’s lovely and ghastly and perfect, in my opinion. Macabre, sinister, and sad. I highly recommend it.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Dark Fantasy/Horror/Mythological Fiction/Novella/Body Horror ...more
Oh holy sweet cuteness I declare Christian a cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs, if only from himself.
Saxon James just somehow knows hOh holy sweet cuteness I declare Christian a cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs, if only from himself.
Saxon James just somehow knows how to write books that are 33% cute, 33% sweet, 33% sexy, and 1% angst. And no, I won’t be budged on those numbers. You would think that I’d get tired of it, but I absolutely NEVER tire of Saxon James, and that’s down to her versatility as a writer in every other way.
Saxon is not an author you go to for plot, and that’s okay. There are many great authors known for being stronger in other areas than plot. With Saxon, it’s characters. It’s like she has some sort of character generator in her head and it spits out the most fascinating motley crews for her to write the best stories for, and we get them in all shades of the rainbow. Sometimes their backstories are happy, sometimes they’re sad, but they’re always interesting. Best of all, all of her characters are unique, distinctive, and aren’t simply there for window dressing. They usually always have a role to play, however small.
I’m very, very picky about books with a plot that hinges on the fake relationship/engagement/marriage trope. Mainly because books with that trope make the main characters look like very stupid people who have no idea how to communicate, and then you get to the 80% mark in these books and the conflict always comes to a head with… you guessed it! A major communication problem! I had given up on reading them altogether until Saxon and Eden Finley lured me out with their Fake Boyfriends series.
Luckily, Saxon sees the errors in most fake relationship trope books, knows it well, and has found a host of ways to work around it. In this book, the way through is fast-burn, confidence, taking a leap of faith, determination, and words of affirmation. Boy, does it work. It works so, so well. The chemistry between Emile and Christian is through the roof from the moment they meet, and it makes the whole book absolutely combustible.
Christian’s found family of misfit artists are all going to be the stars in the rest of this series (save Molly, if I’m correct), and they’re all absolute peaches who you will want to hug and bake cookies for.
Well done, Saxon, for birthing yet another book series for us all to go crazy for!
I was provided a copy of this book by the author. All opinions and views expressed in this review are my own. Thank you.
Okay, can I just let you guys know right off the bat that I devoured this book all in one sitting in about three and a half hours? This book is 352 paOkay, can I just let you guys know right off the bat that I devoured this book all in one sitting in about three and a half hours? This book is 352 pages, so that’s about 5 pages a minute, on average. I’m a speed reader. That’s been the case my entire life. But in this case I think it’s fair to say I absolutely devoured this book in the way I usually only reserve for books that utterly captivate me and drown out the world around me until the book is the only thing I know and see.
I love a good piece of meta fiction, and while The Last Word isn’t completely meta, the catalyst for the plot is definitely a sharp bit of meta that anyone who’s been contacted by a wounded or narcissistic author about what they feel is an unfair or nasty review they don’t deserve and demand you take it down (and/or stalk you online…maybe talk trash about you on social media) or know someone who has. Authors who, for some reason, don’t understand when you put your work out for public consumption it then becomes up to the public to decide its merits and deficits because art is subjective.
Just that part of the book alone was enough for me to be drawn in completely, along with Emma’s (our protagonist) spot-on analysis of an independent author’s truly horrible horror novel that she dares to give a one-star review on a certain bookseller’s website. Let’s just say he doesn’t appreciate her review and threatens to go further in revenge than just online stalking or social media trash talking and Emma is almost completely alone on an isolated strand of beach houses in northern Washington with only her beloved dog, Laika, and a single neighbor down the beach named Deek for company. Emma came to Washington with more emotional baggage than physical and with a goal in mind. She just isn’t there yet. In the meantime she plays Hangman with Deek via telescope, reads free and bargain deal books on her eReader en masse, drinks a lot of ginger tea, and plays with Laika on the beach.
It’s not long at all–only a day or so, maybe–before Emma starts to get that feeling all of us thriller readers know is coming: the feeling of being watched. Emma just feels like she’s being watched very closely.
From this point in the book, the plot starts to accelerate quickly, while the POV shifts between the narrative in third person omniscient and the narrative told like a story from the antagonist’s POV. This section of the book is riveting as it shows just how delusional and unbalanced our antagonist is while simultaneously showing the story from what some call the “God Perspective”. This is also another meta point to the plot, as the antagonist points out more than once that “the author is God”.
The contrast between the antagonist, with his conspiracy theory dog whistles and definite incel personality and Emma, with her loyal dog and huge heart, make for a fascinating show-down. One is filled with bravado, narcissism, and power he didn’t earn but only manufactured for himself from delusions and what he probably read on social media sites. The other may have a huge heart, but it’s a wounded one housed in a vulnerable body with a depressed mind, all of which stems from very real emotional trauma and pain. Emma doesn’t start off believing she can survive this ordeal, but she has hidden strength and enough resilience to know she doesn’t want someone like our antagonist to be the one to take her (or her dog!) down.
Yes, this book may be a bit predictable in spots, but it’s enough of a surprise where it counts that I was happy as a clam. It’s rare that I get surprised by thrillers, but this book definitely got me going, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I couldn’t stop reading and the time just flew by. I definitely think you should put this on your TBR. Heck, just go and read it now. It’s clever, quick, and an absolutely fantastic 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.
With every book she writes, Rachel Griffin just gets better. I loved Wild is the Witch, but I absolutely adored Bring Me Your Midnight. I adored everyWith every book she writes, Rachel Griffin just gets better. I loved Wild is the Witch, but I absolutely adored Bring Me Your Midnight. I adored every page. You guys, this book made me cry. If you know anything about me, you should know I don’t cry easily from reading, so for a book to move me enough to make me cry (and more than once!) is a huge feat, and for me is one of the markers of a truly excellent novel (well, I don’t expect comedies to make me cry, obviously).
What isn’t there to love about this book? Griffin already had the talent for world building and writing stunningly beautiful prose that evokes the natural and lush landscapes her books tend to take place in (in Wild is the Witch it was forests, and in this book it’s a gorgeous island redolent in meadows, idyllic forests, and a picturesque shoreline). For the magic system world building in this story she seems to have upped her game and stretched her muscles a bit into a wider stretch of the paranormal than her previous books, but it’s used very well and to great effect.
The storyline itself is not only interesting but it’s a sweeping, gothic, romantic fantasy that I gladly sunk into, letting the familiarity of an “arranged marriage for the sake of politics” trope alongside the “FMC has doubts because she really hoped her husband would love her and she doesn’t want to leave her friends and family” trope run along as it get swept up in intrigue over a parable about climate change, cults of personality, and how you can’t make people change their way of thinking with facts. People change their ways of thinking with their hearts.
The main characters in this book, Wolfe and Mortana, are absolutely wonderful. Watching them come together, both capricious and cautious at the same, is a delight. The beautiful and sad subplot of Mortana’s and Lily’s friendship was especially moving for me. The constant looming date of Mortana’s marriage to Landon, the son of the mainland’s governor, is also something that evoked a lot of emotion in me. I’d tell you why, but spoilers abound.
All in all, it’s a gorgeous book that’s elegant and wonderfully written. An excellent novel all-around.
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: 5 Star Review/Fantasy/Romantasy/Gothic/Paranormal Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance ...more
The Invocations is the type of book I live to read. Love to read. The kind of book that when I open it during my ARC reading I do a fist pump and congThe Invocations is the type of book I live to read. Love to read. The kind of book that when I open it during my ARC reading I do a fist pump and congratulate myself on finding an absolute gem of a novel that speaks to me on every level–that resonates with me on a molecular level.
The Invocations is the kind of book I read the ARC of, then buy a physical copy of and put on my bookshelf so I can read it and show it off and recommend it to people again and again.
Am I the “target audience”? Heck no. I’m in my mid-40s. The Craft came out the year I graduated high school. Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out the year after. I was a fan of the movie before the show, for pete’s sake. My own era of witchery came and went before I even had my first kid. You know what has come and not left since then, though? My anger. My rage. My fear. My fear of men. My rage at systemic patriarchy. My anger at myself for still being so afraid, even though I know there’s still so many reasons to be afraid every single day. (Then there’s more rage). It’s those feelings that make this book something I completely vibe with, along with how much I adored every single female character within.
Krystal Sutherland pulls no punches with her female characters and I’m loving it. I’m never here for females who approach this world like it’s not out for our blood. I’m never here for female characters who think we’re safe or who are complacent. Jude, Emer, and Zara are all angry at the world in their own ways and none of them are complacent about it. They’re all trying to fight in their own ways. Sure, in the beginning they’re all fighting in self-serving ways–but when they find a common cause and common enemy (hint: it’s a man) they band together to stop it. They fight through pain, blood, sweat, tears, dirt, and more. They sacrifice. Because they know no one else will.
It’s not an easy book to read. My belief is that books like this shouldn’t be an easy read because women’s lives aren’t easy. Books like this remind us it’s okay to be angry. That we can be angry. That we should be angry. And it does it in a glorious, gory, blood-soaked, demonic way. I loved 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.
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