Month: June 2023

Highlights: June 2023

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It is now officially summertime, and with June comes some things to look forward to. The first is more time outside, whether it’s on the deck or at the pool. The second is the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago (yep, we are going again!), where we get time to really dive into what’s cooking in the literary and library worlds. And third is, of course, new titles that we can’t wait to read! Here are just a few of the titles we are looking forward to this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “Garden of the Cursed” by Katy Rose Pool

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I’ve really enjoyed other books I’ve read by Katy Rose Pool, so that alone was enough for this title to make this list. But also, just look at that awesome, unique cover! It also just so happens that the book was marketed as a YA fantasy perfect for fans of “Veronica Mars.” Well, I am that, for sure! It also sounds like a very strange combination, so I’m largely just intrigued by what that even looks like! Yes, it features a young woman who seems to investigate stuff, but so do lots of books! Can’t wait to see what this one has in store.

Book: “Psyche and Eros” by Luna McNamara

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Why I’m Interested: After the awesome hit that was “Atalanta” last month, I’m riding high on the potential of these Greek tale/Greek god re-imaginings. And what’s more perfect than the romantic tale of Eros and Pysche? I have to say, I’m a bit wary about the description mentioning that the story has been shifted and re-centered on the Trojan War, as I’m not sure why this change is necessary to the story or what it will add. But who knows? It could be a brilliant switch! Either way, I’m excited to check this one out.

Book: “And Break the Pretty Kings” by Lena Jeong

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Another fantastic cover on this one! I was immediately interested when I found out that it was based on not only Korean myths, but Korean history, something I’m not overly familiar with and would love to learn more about. It’s the story of a young woman who, on the night of her coronation, discovers a powerful, and frightening, ability within herself. After her brother is captured, and the political ties between the kingdoms become even more perilous, Mirae must set out to save her queendom from a terrifying future. Count me in!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Lore Olympus: Volume 4” by Rachel Smythe

Publication Date: June 6, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Oh I don’t know, maybe because I am OBSESSED WITH THIS COMIC? If I need to be more descriptive, I’ve been so enamored with the way Rachel Smythe takes on these characters from Greek Mythology and gives them a modern twist, and I would follow Hades and Persephone to the ends of the Earth in hopes of seeing how their story ends up. With Hades trying to distract himself from Persephone by falling into old habits with Minthe, and with Persephone feeling like an outsider at school because of her connection to Hades, things aren’t looking so hopeful for our would be lovers. And now Ares is showing up to stir up some drama, no doubt! Well whatever happens, I’m still obsessed and just know this is going to be another winner.

Book: “Night’s Edge” by Liz Kerin

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Tor Nightfire has had some awesome horror books lately, and given that I’m always down for a bleak vampire story, “Night’s Edge” by Liz Kerin is almost assuredly right up my alley. And when you throw in mothers and daughters as a theme, I am even more game, even if I have to steel myself emotionally. Mia has had to put her life on hold ever since her mother Izzy was infected by a sara, now confined to drinking blood, hiding from the sunlight, and trying to go undetected lest society find out she is on the loose and uncontained. But when Mia meets the charismatic musician Jade, she starts to think that she wants to have a life of her own, away from her mother. But Izzy may not be so willing to give her daughter up. Why do I get the feeling this one is going to hurt my heart along with creeping me out?

Book: “The Only One Left” by Riley Sager

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Summertime brings the promise of a few things for me, and one of those promises is that I will almost certainly have a new Riley Sager book to look forward to. And this summer it’s “The Only One Left”, which appears to be a Lizzy Borden meets “Dolores Claireborne” mash up and OH MY GOD THAT SOUNDS AMAZING AND UNHINGED. Kit is a caregiver who is returned from suspension, after a mistake on the job nearly cost her everything. Newly back on the schedule, she is assigned to Lenora Hope, an elderly recluse in a mansion by the sea…. who quite possibly murdered her entire family decades earlier, and is now wheelchair bound and nonspeaking. When Kit realizes that Lenora can use a typewriter to communicate, they start to get to know each other, and Lenora starts to open up about what happened… But Kit isn’t sure if she can trust Lenora… Sager always has lots of twists and I imagine this will be no different.

What books are you looking forward to this month? Let us know in the comments!

Serena’s Review: “The Grimoire of Grave Fates”

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Book: “The Grimoire of Grave Fates” by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, June 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: Amazon | IndieBound | WorldCat

Book Description: Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect.

A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome–but there are some who aren’t so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone’s least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor’s body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy’s students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone’s a suspect.

Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo’s best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort’s mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo’s halls. But they’re about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn’t always play by the rules. . . .

Review: I was definitely intrigued when I heard about this upcoming fantasy anthology. Not only was it a collaboration between a huge number of famous authors, but the idea of a murder mystery taking place in a school of magic as the foundation upon which the anthology is built upon is compelling as heck. Add an eye-popping cover, and you’ve got me! This is definitely a change of pace from the types of fantasy stories that I typically read, so I was very excited and curious to see what it had to offer.

I’m going to skip over my usual summary paragraph here, as I think the description given by the publisher is more than enough, and it’s hard to add more with anthologies that are, by their nature, built upon many layers of different characters, themes, and stories. So let’s get right to the review! First of all, I’d like to state how impressive of a project I think this book is. Collaborations are always tricky, but I have to imagine the more authors you include, the harder it is to ensure that the finished product feels complete and even. This is all the more difficult when you’re writing a murder mystery, a specific genre that requires careful plotting, close regulation of what information is made known and when, and a neat balance of pace to keep the reader engaged while not also losing them as the book builds to its final conclusion. But I think, overall, this aspect of the book came together very well, and none of the individual stories stood out as ill-fitting with the larger story as a whole.

That said, I didn’t wholly love this read. On one hand, this is purely a subjective opinion as I’m not a huge fan of anthology stories, in general. I have a long record here on the blog of my struggles with a book rising at the exact rate at which an author adds POV characters. The more you have, the more I’m going to have a difficult time connecting to the story. Obviously, that is unavoidable here. I did like several of the individual chapters, but this then lead me to become increasingly frustrated as, again and again, I lost these characters just when I was beginning to become invested in them. And even in multi-POV stories, there’s always the anticipation of returning to a beloved character, which isn’t the case here. I also liked the level of diversity that is included, but there were also moments where it began to feel a bit like “diversity Bingo” and less like a natural and organic collection of individuals.

I did like the magical elements we had in the story as well. There were a few particular characters who had very unique ways of practicing their magic that I was especially interested in. But, again, I was always left wanting just a bit more. And, while every chapter did move the murder mystery along, bit by bit, the overall experience did begin to feel a bit tedious. However, as I said, I struggle with this approach to story-telling in general, so this could definitely be more of “me” problem than an actual problem with the book itself. On top of that, the writing style did err towards the younger side of YA; again something that is really subjective to the preferences of the reader. If you’re a fan of anthologies or love any of the authors involved in this project, this is likely a book you’ll enjoy. If you tend to enjoy adult fantasy more, this might not work quite as well.

Rating 7: A cool concept and an impressive feat of collaboration, but the large cast of characters and the slow pace of the larger mystery itself left me struggling to fully connect to the book.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Grimoire of Grave Fates” can be found on this Goodreads lists: YA Releases June 2023

Kate’s Review: “American Vampire, Vol. 8”

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Book: “American Vampire, Vol. 8” by Scott Snyder & Rafael Albuquerque (Ill.)

Publishing Info: Vertigo, February 2016

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Vampires in space? It’s 1965. Pearl and Skinner escaped The Gray Trader with more questions than answers, and their search for clues leads them to … NASA! You’ve never seen vampires like this before!

Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque continue their epic Eisner Award-winning story, as Skinner Sweet and Pearl touch more of the key moments in American history.

Review: It really has been a trip returning to “American Vampire” after I fell off of it a few years ago. And when I was approaching the penultimate volume, “Volume 8”, I was a bit cagey about how I was approaching the end. Partially because I felt like Scott Snyder just introduced a storyline that, to me, seemed like it needs to have perhaps a FEW volumes to wrap it up in a way that didn’t feel rushed. But also because even in the face of this new storyline, there were some hanging threads that we hadn’t addressed (hello James Book as a vampire?). So I was nervous going in, having been burned in the past when a story seems like it had to wrap up really quickly, maybe before it was ready. But I’m happy to report that my hesitance was unfounded, because “American Vampire: Volume 8”, was a stellar entry to the overall mythos!

I remember looking at the cover of this and thinking to myself ‘oh come the fuck on’, but honestly Snyder did a really good job of building up a great narrative to send Skinner Sweet into outer space that I bought hook line and sinker while it mirrors American history. We are now in the mid 1960s, and the Space Race and Cold War is at the forefront. Pearl and Skinner had a nearly deadly run in with the mysterious Gray Trader, a vampire that has power, strength, and influence that neither of them has ever seen, and are now back with the Vassals of the Morning Star, who have tapped them to join up to help try and stop this new foe. This involves satellites, Russian surveillance, and a long sleeping creature called the Tiamat that could awaken at any time and prompt the Russians to send nukes flying to prevent it, even if it means the end of the world, with the Gray Trader actively trying to set the wheels in motion to make it happen. So the VMS, with Felicia Book back in play, want Pearl and Skinner to help prevent nuclear armageddon by keeping the Gray Trader’s movements at bay by working against the satellite surveillance Russia has been using to keep an eye on the Tiamat’s potential reawakening . And it is such a creative way to take on ideas of the Space Race and the Cold War and apply it to this story. It’s really one of the more creative ways that Snyder has approached significant moments in American history and compared and contrasted it within the vampire narrative, and he pulls it off within the story, even if that story ends with sending Skinner freaking Sweet into outer space. I believed the reasoning and I really enjoyed the story arc.

But the most interesting and satisfying aspect of this book is a moment that I have been waiting for since I started “American Vampire” all those years ago: Pearl and Felicia Book finally, finally meet. And not only meet, but are teamed up on their own part of the Gray Trader mission that involves breaking into Area 51. TWO BADASS VAMPIRE LADIES TEAMING UP AT LAST?!?!?!

IT’S ABOUT TIIIIIIIME!!!! (source)

I love Pearl and Felicia as we all know, and I love how their differences and their differing perspectives and experiences both serve to bring out the best of them as a team. Whether it’s company woman with a lot of experience and leadership strength Felicia, or renegade but compassionate Pearl, there is no sexist bullshitting around with them being mistrustful or jealous of each other. They are very different, but their differences make for a fantastic team dynamic and I loved seeing them both come together and have their own mission. Their thread is the moment that shines the most in this volume and it has been a long time coming to see them together.

I know that the next volume of “American Vampire” is the final one. I THINK that we have pulled things together enough that we could be on the verge of sticking the landing. But at the same time, we still haven’t seen Jim Book in vampire form arrive to meet up with everyone else yet, so maybe I am anxious. Regardless, I liked “Volume 8” and what it did for moving the Gray Trader story along! Let’s see how Snyder wraps this all up!

Rating 8: Interstellar vampire horror with a dash of global peril and deepening conspiracy, “American Vampire, Vol. 8” is setting up a finale that has a lot of, uh, stakes in play.

Reader’s Advisory:

“American Vampire, Vol. 8” is included on the Goodreads list “Vertigo Titles: Must Read Comics A-E”.

Previously Reviewed: