Genre: historical fiction West Africa, 15th century
Òdòdó, a powerful blacksmith, is kidnapped from her home of Timbuktu by the Narrated by Ariel Blake
Genre: historical fiction West Africa, 15th century
Òdòdó, a powerful blacksmith, is kidnapped from her home of Timbuktu by the powerful Aláàfin leader Àrệmọ. Even as she is shocked that this handsome and dangerous man wants to marry her, she recognizes the comfort and power afforded to her in her role as beloved by the king. Òdòdó refuses to marry Àrệmọ until her mother can be found to give her blessing, so she bides her time training as a warrior under Àrệmọ. Changing political tides and warring kingdoms give her a chance to utilize some of this power, giving her fiance strategic advice that he then passes off as his own.
I have mixed feelings on Masquerade. I loved the setting: a fantastical 15th century West Africa with lush worldbuilding that avoids being info-dumpy. But the story itself leans towards all-vibes with little overall driving plot in a way that didn't work for me, with side plots popping seemingly out of nowhere. We are in Òdòdó’s POV the whole book, and yet I didn’t understand her motivation for her choices, or Sangoyomi’s decisions to put Òdòdó in certain circumstances. It’s being marketed as fantasy, but there are not a lot of magical elements in the story itself. On the one hand, there’s no magic system to figure out. On the other hand, I was hoping for a little more of the fantastical.
There are elements of great storytelling, but it reads like a debut with the need for more well-rounded character development and one major plot thread. I'll be excited for Sangoyomi's next book, because her prose is strong, even as all of the elements aren’t there yet.
The audiobook is narrated by Ariel Blake, and I recommend this format to hear the rich West African names. I love listening to books that come from a narrative storytelling tradition like this. The narration kept me invested in this story.
Thank you to MacMillan Audio and Tor for ALC and eARC for review. Masquerade is out 7/2/24. ...more
Jane Edwards and her family left their hometown over a decade ago to escape the stains of tragedy, one t Genre: historical fantasy American South, 1930s
Jane Edwards and her family left their hometown over a decade ago to escape the stains of tragedy, one that has left her mute and haunted by her confession. Her sister Grace, as heartbroken over their loss as Jane, jumped from boarding school to boarding school, then to the city, is now home, pregnant, and also looking for a new start. But one day Jane sees the man who she sentenced to death with her confession, walking around their all-Black town of Awenasa, even though she saw his body taken by the river so long ago. The worlds of the ancestors and other gods have a way of mixing with reality, and Jane is called to see beyond the veil and to save Awenasa.
I love Leslye Penelope's take on reimagining parts of history, and like with Monsters We Defy, she starts with news articles and ideas from the real world and builds a magical world based on stories from the African diaspora and enslaved people set just beyond the real world of her main characters. Daughter of the Merciful Deep comes from the inspiration of towns flooded when large lakes and dams are created. What if those were all-Black towns? What if someone stood in the way of the destruction?
Jane is an intriguing POV character. She’s spent a lot of time observing her world - outside of writing, she can only communicate with a few friends who can sign with her - but she’s still a bit of an unreliable narrator because she stands at the margins even of her own society. But because she feels she condemned her sister’s lover to death a decade ago for a crime she’s sure he didn’t commit, her inner monologue carries the burden of guilt.
I love a book steeped in folklore and blended with magic, and Leslye Penelope strikes such an intricate balance between the real and the imagined.
Thank you to Redhook and NetGalley for an eARC for review. Daughter of the Merciful Deep is out now! real world of her main characters....more
Genre: YA historical fantasy New Spain (Mexico), 16th century
The old gods of the Mexican people are starting to lose footNarrated by Victoria Villareal
Genre: YA historical fantasy New Spain (Mexico), 16th century
The old gods of the Mexican people are starting to lose footing as the Spaniards force Catholic conversion on the indigenous population. A young woman named Leonora, sister of the Viceroy of New Spain, is also Pantera, the Panther, a masked fighter who protects the indigenous peoples. As Leonora, she's been baptized twice and attends mass. As Pantera, she respects the old gods and listens to the prophecies... she is, after all, an actual panther shifter. This is the start of her tale as a fighter to maintain the balance, to fight against the injustice of the Spanish colonists, and stave off the destruction of the universe that comes with the Fifth Sun.
When reading this with my eyes, I DNFed on page 5. First person present tense is very difficult for me to read that way, and I found the writing inaccessible. So I waited patiently for the audiobook from the library, and was very invested. The narration helped me connect with Lares's writing. Honestly, I also just love listening to Spanish in my ears these days (especially as I start to understand more of it).
Sun of Blood and Ruin struggles a bit with pacing, but the audiobook really helped me get past that. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of, some of whom have multiple names and identities, but again, once you settle into the narrative, that makes sense. The romance is very slow burn, but satisfying for a YA book. There’s some interesting play with concepts of dualism, especially related to the magic system, deeply rooted in the indigenous religion.
I’m really glad I gave this book a second chance. It’s pitched as a spin on Zorro - a masked vigilante from the upper class defending Mexico against Spain - and it does that well. It’s not packed with adventure, but there is still plenty of action.
Thank you to Harper Voyager for an eARC for review. Sun of Blood and Ruin is out now! ...more
Narrated by Carmen Rose Genre: horror romance, body horror
Shesheshen is an amorphous shape-shifting monster. Yes, she terrorizes and eats humans sometiNarrated by Carmen Rose Genre: horror romance, body horror
Shesheshen is an amorphous shape-shifting monster. Yes, she terrorizes and eats humans sometimes, but that’s really just for necessary nourishment. But the local landowning family, the Wulfyres, are out to kill her to break their family curse. She’s transformed herself to look a little like a human, or human enough to pass muster in town. An encounter with several hunters puts Shesheshen in a bad spot, and a young woman named Homily rescues her, nursing her back to health (unbeknownst to Homily, Shesheshen regenerates on her own, but she actually appreciates the attention). Even when Homily admits she’s out looking for ways to kill this monster, Shesheshen feels a bit like something warm and fuzzy is giving her feelings?! when she’s never had feelings before.
First off, this book was gross. Like body horror, regenerating shape-shifting monster gory details gross. Even for someone like me, for whom body horror is my favorite horror subgenre, there are some rough spots. You’ve been warned. But it was also funny. And heartfelt. And sweet. And insightful.
This is monster romance, not monster smut. And it warmed me to the core. It’s romantic in the way that Shesheshen learns to love Homily, but also to accept her changing body as a monster. (She loves being the monster she is, it just comes with some confusing feelings sometimes, you know?)
The driving Big Bad of the plot is venomous and spiteful, and not at all subtle in the ways it’s bad. Homily’s mother and sister rank up there with the more hateful mothers and sisters you’ll find in books. I, too, would like to tear them limb from limb.
Carmen Rose’s narration lends the book a smooth and humorous edge. Shesheshen’s name rolls off her tongue with just a bit of mischievousness and the sensitivity that I imagine our monster MC to have. If you can handle body horror in your ears, I recommend the audiobook!
This book is going to find a really niche home with certain readers and body-horror monster romance is apparently my new niche. When I saw Freya Marske speak in November, she said she thought horror romance was the next big thing in speculative fiction.... this is the type of book I think she meant.
Thank you to @dawbooks for a #free finished copy, an eARC, and an ALC for review. Check this out 4/2/24! ...more
2024 reread: There's nothing that isn't just absolutely perfect about the structure of this book and the trilogy on the whole. This final book ties ev2024 reread: There's nothing that isn't just absolutely perfect about the structure of this book and the trilogy on the whole. This final book ties everything together with Morozco and the Bear, and Vasya in between their world, the chyerti, and the world of Moscow and her brother and sister and cousin. It's a story of midnights and in-betweens, of war and the solace we seek afterwards.
I was glad to be rereading this trilogy in a row for the first time since The Winter of the Witch was published 5 years ago. ...more
An emotional retelling of Peter Pan, and the desire to throw away everything for the memory of a friendship that meant the world. Parry's gorgeous proAn emotional retelling of Peter Pan, and the desire to throw away everything for the memory of a friendship that meant the world. Parry's gorgeous prose and insightful words lend a new magic to Neverland, and perhaps make you see the world simultaneously through the lens of the child Peter and the adult James [Hook]. Perfectly executed in novella form. Bittersweet (I cried) and moving.
Genre: historical fantasy England, 19th century, and Neverland
When James ends up in a workhouse at the age of seven, he doesn’t expect to make friends with Peter, the boy who whispers to him in the dark and asks James to tell him stories. For the years of their boyhood together, James spins tales of a place called Neverland, weaving himself and Peter into the stories as Peter Pan and James Hook. Aging out of the children’s wing of the workhouse, Peter, insisting he doesn’t want to grow up, jumps from a ledge and flies away. James wonders if he can do the same, but falls crashing to the ground instead of flying after his best friend. James recovers and works to rebuild his life, meeting Gwen Darling, a young girl looking for adventure herself. They create new lives for themselves on board a ship, even as James can’t let go of his friendship with Peter. But twenty years later, James sees the second star to the right, and he can’t help but wonder if Peter is still out there.
This is a perfect book for Worldbuilding Wednesday. Peter Pan and Neverland live in the collective imagination - for those of my generation it's primarily through the movie Hook - and every new version of it spins a new tale. In this version, the act of telling stories builds the world of Neverland. James’s imagination springs forth the strange geographies that only a child can imagine, and inhabits the land with people from the penny dreadfuls. The crux of the conflict late in the novella hinges on the limits of a child’s imagination.
Heartless is an emotional novella. It’s an interpretation of Peter Pan, rather than retelling, and the elements that Parry borrows work so well to balance what it means to stay young, to grow up, and to chase dreams at any age. Make sure this book is on your radar. It is a tight and well-structured novella - sometimes she goes spare on plot points, but that adds to the dreamlike quality of the book; that feeling like when you wake from a dream with only the faintest grasp of what happened. Heartless is bittersweet and emotional, with gorgeous prose and thoughtful reflection.
Thank you to @subpress and NetGalley for an eARC for review. Heartless is out 1/31/24. ...more
Genre: cottagecore historical fantasy England and Austria, 1910
Emily Wilde, now tenured professor of Dryadaology at Cambridge, has plans to publish a aGenre: cottagecore historical fantasy England and Austria, 1910
Emily Wilde, now tenured professor of Dryadaology at Cambridge, has plans to publish a a map of the Faerie Otherland to accompany her Encylpoedia. This project will take her to the Alps, near to the Door that theoretically should lead back to fellow professor and exiled faerie king Wendell Bambleby’s realm. None too late, either, as he’s been poisoned by something while out celebrating on his birthday and is losing his grip on his magic. Along with her niece Ariadne, the head of the department Dr Farris Rose, and a severed faerie foot, Emily and Wendell make their way to the continent on an academic expedition.
Emily chronicles her adventures through her detailed and footnoted journals, giving us an intimate and personal and yet still academic perspective of the story. The journaling format gives us a reflected and measured tone, but doesn’t take away from the intensity of some of the experiences. Emily is far funnier than she intends to be, and I love the character that Heather Fawcett has created. I’m such a sucker for footnotes and parentheticals, and relate to Emily’s journaling with them (which Wendell calls her out on).
I enjoyed the first book, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, immensely, but I enjoyed Map of the Otherlands even more. The romantic tension between Wendell and Emily is a delight - he’s proposed to her multiple times in the way only a whimsical and carefree king of faerie can do - and Emily has responded in precisely the way a neurodivergent mortal can, with wary rejection. They’ve made it a running joke and the basis of their continuing friendship, and I looked forward to their “where would you be without me” banter.
One of the things this series does well is ties together Faerie lore from a variety of cultures. Wendell is Irish, so we see Irish folklore throughout, but we also get stories from Austria and Germany throughout this book, plus ties back to the Scandinavian folklore from book one. This rounds out the story, adding layers for anyone who has an interest in fae beyond popular romantasy.
I can’t wait for more of Emily’s adventures in book three!
Merged review:
Genre: cottagecore historical fantasy England and Austria, 1910
Emily Wilde, now tenured professor of Dryadaology at Cambridge, has plans to publish a a map of the Faerie Otherland to accompany her Encylpoedia. This project will take her to the Alps, near to the Door that theoretically should lead back to fellow professor and exiled faerie king Wendell Bambleby’s realm. None too late, either, as he’s been poisoned by something while out celebrating on his birthday and is losing his grip on his magic. Along with her niece Ariadne, the head of the department Dr Farris Rose, and a severed faerie foot, Emily and Wendell make their way to the continent on an academic expedition.
Emily chronicles her adventures through her detailed and footnoted journals, giving us an intimate and personal and yet still academic perspective of the story. The journaling format gives us a reflected and measured tone, but doesn’t take away from the intensity of some of the experiences. Emily is far funnier than she intends to be, and I love the character that Heather Fawcett has created. I’m such a sucker for footnotes and parentheticals, and relate to Emily’s journaling with them (which Wendell calls her out on).
I enjoyed the first book, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, immensely, but I enjoyed Map of the Otherlands even more. The romantic tension between Wendell and Emily is a delight - he’s proposed to her multiple times in the way only a whimsical and carefree king of faerie can do - and Emily has responded in precisely the way a neurodivergent mortal can, with wary rejection. They’ve made it a running joke and the basis of their continuing friendship, and I looked forward to their “where would you be without me” banter.
One of the things this series does well is ties together Faerie lore from a variety of cultures. Wendell is Irish, so we see Irish folklore throughout, but we also get stories from Austria and Germany throughout this book, plus ties back to the Scandinavian folklore from book one. This rounds out the story, adding layers for anyone who has an interest in fae beyond popular romantasy.
I can’t wait for more of Emily’s adventures in book three!...more
2024 reread: The way I love this book. From the pamphlets that Alan writes to the way the Alan and Jack circle one another quite literally predatorily.2024 reread: The way I love this book. From the pamphlets that Alan writes to the way the Alan and Jack circle one another quite literally predatorily. It's dark and delicious. It's the perfect conclusion to the Last Binding trilogy.
Phenomenal. Stunning conclusion to the Last Binding trilogy. Jack and Alan's romance is so different from the other two novels, and so uniquely their own, making it perfection. The overall arc of the storyline through the 3 books is so strong, and yet each book also has its own distinct plot.
I can't wait for you all to read this!! But you MUST read all three in order. This is out 11/7!
Narrated by Josh Dylan
Genre: historical romance, gaslamp fantasy England,
Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, hasn’t been able to access his magic since the death of his twin sister over a decade ago. He remains walled off from most of the magical community intentionally, pretending to live the life of an ordinary aristocrat. But a year ago, Robin Blyth and Edwin Courcey showed up on a his doorstep with a curse, and then Violet Debenham and Maud Blyth wrapped him into solving their murder mystery on board a ship, and now he’s in the thick of trying to save the pieces of the Last Contract from the hands of his cousin and Edwin’s brother who want to consolidate magic. And as much as he’d like nothing to do with Alan Ross, the journalist is maddeningly attractive and becoming a necessary part of their success.
I’ll start with this: you need to read this series in order. All three are critical to the larger plot, and you will be lost if you do not start at the beginning. That said, each book in the series does function as its own contained plot, and I’ve been impressed with Marske’s storytelling from the beginning.
The separate romances in each novel take on their own tone. Jack and Alan are completely different from Robin and Edwin, who are also completely different from Violet and Maud. Jack and Alan have a relationship built on attraction and mistrust, and while one is an aristocrat and the other is struggling to feed his family, they are more similar in personality than they are different. Jack is gruff and protective, and Alan is secretive and also caring. And oh, the sex. Anytime an author chooses to leave the door open for their readers, you hope that the sex is as explicit and well-developed as Marske writes it for us. Every intimate scene mirrors the character traits of Jack and Alan she’s already established, progresses the plot and the relationship, and leaves you panting for more.
In any early review for a third book in a series, it’s hard to go into details without spoiling previous books. So, dear readers, please pick up A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth so you can read A Power Unbound and we can all talk about the limits of magical power and the allegory of the crumbling aristocracy in the years leading up to the Great War.
I appreciated the choice not to return to the same narrator as book one, even though I quite liked David Thorpe’s narration. Josh Dylan brings a little more gruffness to the audiobook for A Power Unbound, again reflecting storytelling choices Marske herself makes.
Thank you immensely to @tordotcompub for a print galley for review and to @Macmillan.audio for an ALC so I could bump it up my list faster. A Power Unbound is out 11/7/23, and you better believe you’ll be hearing more from me on this trilogy as I count down the days to meeting Freya Marske on her US book release tour!...more
Picking up where the events of She Who Became the Sun left off at the end of the YuaNarrated by Emily Woo Zeller
Genre: historical fantasy China, 1356
Picking up where the events of She Who Became the Sun left off at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, He Who Drowned the World witnesses Zhu Yuanzhang, styling herself the Radiant King, grappling for power and facing her obstacles with sheer determination of will. She believes in her own destiny, the Mandate of Heaven to become Emperor, and will stop at nothing, not even death.
Stunning, powerful, and impressive. Those words can be used to describe every POV character in the book or the whole of the itself. There is an underlying strength to the force of the narrative, as all of the characters grapple with fate.
Shelley Parker-Chan utilizes sex and gender as commentaries on power through their duology. Zhu, born a girl but from a young age taking over her brother’s destiny and becoming a monk and then a general and a king, lives as a man but utilizes her female body when that serves her purpose. General Ouyang is the eunuch general, rising to power in spite of popular opinion that eunuchs belong as servants in the women’s quarters. Wang Baoxiang, calling himself Prince of Henan, in search of his own power, seduces Third Prince, son of the Great Khanh. Madame Zhang, wife of the Emperor, uses her body to trade for warriors, weapons, and power. It’s war and intrigue, passion - both inflamed and detached - on the driving road to establish a new Empire.
The fantasy in this duology is a light touch: the Mandate of Heaven and the ghosts that follow the main characters are as much religion as they are magic to them. The Radiant Emperor Duology is deeply researched with rich worldbuilding, fully transporting the reader to the late Yuan Dynasty, to the end of the reign of the Khans. It’s character-driven in its intrigue, and slower moving despite the intensity of some of the battle scenes.
Emily Woo Zeller narrates the duology. I’ve always enjoyed her narrations, often seeking out books she’s narrated. I first read She Who Became the Sun when it came out, and was glad to take the time to re-listen before embarking on He Who Drowned the World. (There is a short synopsis at the beginning to re-position the reader to the major threads of political and military power, but not a fully summary.)
Thank you to @torbooks @macmillan.audio and netgalley for an eARC and ALC for review. This book is perfect in dual format, especially when you need to go back an look up the names of warring families. He Who Drowned the World is out 8/22/23. ...more
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