February 2024 – The Library Ladies

Kate’s Review: “Blood Sisters”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Blood Sisters” by Vanessa Lillie

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

There are secrets in the land.

As an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land’s indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.

While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.

When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes, Syd knows she must return home. She refuses to let her sister’s disappearance, or the remains, go ignored—as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.

But not everyone is glad to have Syd home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her back. Still, the deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in the town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.

The truth will be unearthed.

Review: During the holiday season, I took a Saturday where I spent the whole day doing shopping for my loved ones, and while I was wandering around Target trying to find gifts that would stand out as winners, I saw the book “Blood Sisters” by Vanessa Lillie. While I was supposed to be finding gifts for others, I bought it for myself, which I acknowledge is ironic but what are you gonna do? It took me a bit to get to it (as that tends to go with books I own), but I did eventually get to it at the start of the month, not sure what to expect. This was definitely one of those roll of the dice reads, but it was a gamble that mostly paid off!

I really loved the mystery of this book. It was part procedural, part social commentary, part family drama, part self discovery, and Lillie mixed it all together and balanced all of the elements pretty handily. There is a fairly straight forward hook for our investigator Syd Walker, a BIA archaeologist who has left her hometown in Oklahoma for the East Coast, but is called back when a skull is found in her hometown and she is recruited to go investigate. But when she does return home, a place where she herself was almost murdered along with her sister Emma Lou, she not only has to face the trauma she left behind, but also the fact that Emma Lou is now missing. This would already be enough to go with, but Lillie adds in the past violence, in which Syd has blamed herself for her friend Luna’s death, who was also at the sleepover in which Syd and Emma Lou were nearly killed, as well as the very true and bleak truths about small town poverty, systemic oppression of Indigenous people and how that is seen in communities, missing and murdered Native women, meth, and the beginnings of legalized drug abuse in the form of pill mills and the opioid epidemic, as Oxy is being prescribed quite a bit in Picher (as this takes place in 2008). It’s a lot, but Lillie strings it all together and connects the dots pretty well, setting up motives, red herrings, suspects, and an undercurrent of violence while people are trying to survive. There were lots of surprises that caught me off guard, and it really kept my interest.

I also liked how complicated Syd’s background was due to the aforementioned trauma, as well as other factors of growing up in Picher and the difficulties that came from that. Syd is a serious and driven investigator, who is more than happy to call out the bullshit of people, but is also hindered by her own single mindedness in some ways. She is also plagued by her own insecurities, and it comes through in her relationship with her wife Mal, who is newly pregnant right as Syd has to go back home. I tend to have a hit or miss reading experience with female protagonists who have a tortured background that has continued to affect them and affects their storyline in a book I’m reading, especially thrillers, but I thought that Syd was compelling and earned her complexity and the bad decisions that come out because of it.

There is a bit of a flip side with the character of Syd, however. While I liked her background, and I liked how complex she was due to her trauma and disconnection with her family and identity, I found the first person voice to be pretty simplistic. At times it read more like a YA protagonist with how she would always be explaining exposition or spelling out implications that could have stood on their own for the reader. This doesn’t necessarily apply to the details that were about Indigenous culture and history, as there are many, many people in this world who are completely unfamiliar with those themes (as someone who used to do interpretation of the history of the Dakota in Minnesota at Fort Snelling, I can assure you MANY people don’t know or don’t care to know this stuff), so spelling it out in simpler or blunt terms is warranted. But other things, like Syd’s anxieties about parenthood, or frustrations with Emma Lou and her assumptions about that, or even just thoughts about what is going on mystery wise, didn’t read like a seasoned BIA archaeologist/investigator, but like a total greenhorn. It made for more telling rather than showing, and I much prefer the latter, especially in mysteries.

“Blood Sisters” was a solid thriller mystery. If Vanessa Lillie were to continue the adventures of Syd Walker, I would definitely keep going. At the very least I will pick up Lillie’s next novel to be sure.

Rating 7: A really well done mystery and an interesting perspective and main character is hampered a bit by a narration that does a lot of telling and not as much showing.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Blood Sisters” is included on the Goodreads list “52 Book Club 2024: #46 Featuring Indigenous Culture”.

Serena’s Review: “To Cage a God”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “To Cage a God” by Elizabeth May

Publishing Info: DAW, February 2024

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

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

Book Description: To cage a god is divine. To be divine is to rule. To rule is to destroy.

Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia, the sisters have grown up to become living weapons. Raised to overthrow an empire―no matter the cost.

With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.

While Sera reunites with her estranged lover turned violent rebel leader, Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess, whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire―or bring it all down.

Review: Let’s just say, I’m glad this is the cover for the U.S. version of the book. Check out the U.K. one if you don’t believe me! I mean, it’s definitely a statement…but it’s also not the type of cover I’d necessarily want starting out at me from my shelves! However, what truly caught my interest was the promise of a Russian-inspired fantasy world in which two sisters head up a rebel cause. I mean, that checks a pretty decent number of my personal preferences right there. Add in a dash of romance, and yep, I was excited to check this one out!

This book was a very hot and cold affair as far as my changing enjoyment levels throughout the story. It started off great, I will say. I was immediately drawn in to both Sera and Galina’s narration and their different styles. Here, finally, was a case where the two POVs felt distinct but each was enjoyable. I even felt fairly confident that the prickly but powerful Galina was going to be my favorite of the two. However, this strong start didn’t last. Much to my dismay, as the book progressed, we were introduced to a whopping three OTHER POV characters. And five…five is just too many.

And in this case, it was incredibly apparent that at least two of them had no business having POVs at all. We had a fair number of chapters from one of the Queen’s handmaidens, and yet every single chapter we heard from her, she literally went through the same exact story beats: the Queen killed her sister when her sister was a handmaiden, the Queen is violent and may kill her at any moment, she hates the Queen. Rinse and repeat and get ready to hear the same story about six more times, all to conclude in…yeah, nothing really. From there, we also got a handful (maybe three or four? not enough to amount to anything, that’s for sure) of chapters from Sera’s love interest, Vitaly. Again, this character had no arc or story of his own. The entire purpose of his chapters, apparently, was to give readers a glimpse into his mind as he repeated over and over that he was a bad guy, but he’d do anything for Sera. Which…we’d already heard him say aloud several times to Sera herself, thus completely negating any reason to hear directly from this character himself.

Lastly, we also had chapters from the Princess Vasilisa’s perspective. These, at least, were more worthwhile in that Vasilisa has the remnants of an arc to be found, in that she has had a troubled upbringing with her mother, the Queen, and must face the reality of her mother’s violent and unchanging nature. I’ll also say that this character having POV chapters was fairly necessary for this romance. Not for the reasons you’re thinking though! But because if she didn’t, we’d have had about a grand total of three interactions between her and Galina to build up a romance. As it stands, I really struggled with this romance either way. It’s classic instalove, and if you actually add up the time Galina and Vasilisa spend together, it rounds out to a few hours! Total! Before they’re professing love and Galina is insisting to Sera that Vasilisa will turn on her mother and side with the rebels. And she’s right, a few hours was all it did take! It’s all pretty crazy, and the focus on this romance was one of the reasons my interest in Galina’s storyline dropped quickly from my favorite to one I barely cared about.

Sera, instead, became my favorite character and actually took up the bulk of the action of the book. She’s the only one who is truly doing anything much of the time, and almost all of the action scenes come through her storyline. And if we had taken out Vitaly’s unnecessary chapters which I think managed to actually hurt the romance, I would have enjoyed this second chance love story as well.

Honestly, this book was a bit of a hot mess. The world-building and fantasy elements (the idea of gods being caged within people who can then harness their powers) all had a lot of potential. But the story fell apart due to failures of craft. There were moments when the writing was incredibly strong, but others when it felt all over the place. And then, worst of all, the decision to include so many POV characters, especially when so many of them had no real arcs of their own, really hurt the overall book. If things had been kept to just Sera and Galina’s stories, I think the story would have been massively more successful. As it stands, the bones of a good book can be seen in this one, but the author got into her own way too many times for it really come together. If you enjoy large casts of characters, however, you may still want to give this a shot. Sera’s story is still enjoyable, if you go in focusing on that.

Rating 7: I enjoyed one of the main characters a lot; unfortunately, she was one of five POVs, which drastically reduced my overall experience.

Reader’s Advisory:

“To Cage a God” can be found on this Goodreads list: Russian motifs in fantasy

Kate’s Review: “Earthdivers (Vol.2): Ice Age”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age” by Stephen Graham Jones, Ricardo Burchielli (Ill.), Patricio Delpeche (Ill.), & Emily Schnall (Ill.).

Publishing Info: IDW Publishing, February 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

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

Book Description: Guest artists Riccardo Burchielli ( DMZ ), Patricio Delpeche, and Emily Scnall join Stephen Graham Jones— New York Times best-selling author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw —for a mission to the Ice Age exploring America’s pre-Columbian past!

When Martin and Tawny’s children disappeared, the couple barreled into the desert to track them down at any cost. Instead, they ran afoul of another group of rovers who claimed to be saving the world by traveling through a cave portal to the year 1492 to prevent the creation of America—an idea that defied belief until the grieving parents were lured into the cave and vanished in time and space.

Now alone, Tawny must adapt to the wild marshlands of prehistoric Florida, circa 20,000 BC, and the breathtaking and bloodthirsty megafauna are the least of her problems when she’s caught in a war between a community of native Paleo-Indians and an occupying Solutrean force. Tawny’s odds of survival are in free fall, but she’s a mother on a mission…and she’s holding on to hope that the cave brought her here for a family reunion.

In the tradition of Saga , the next chapter of the critically acclaimed sci-fi epic is here in Earthdivers Vol. 2 . Collects Earthdivers #7-11.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this graphic novel!

When I first started Stephen Graham Jones’s fantasy/Sci-Fi time travel series “Earthdivers”, for whatever reason I thought that it was only going to be focused on what the first volume covered: the time travel assassination of Christopher Columbus. Why I thought it was only going to be that is beyond me, but when that arc came to an end at the start of “Kill Columbus”, I wondered where we were going next, with no clue or idea as to what the path was going to be. Who were we going to follow now? Was it still going to be historical fiction time travel-y? Our protagonist’s storyline pretty much definitively ended, what is going to happen now? And then I saw the cover for “Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age”, and I was blown away. BACK IN TIME TO THE ICE AGE?! HELL YES! And when I saw that we were following another time traveller, this time Tawney, a mother who was searching for her children, I was all the more excited. And shocking absolutely no one, “Earthdivers: Ice Age” is suspenseful, intriguing, and enthralling.

I really love that we are starting to explore stories of other characters in the book who have fallen afoul the mysterious cave. In “Ice Age” our focus is on Tawney, a grieving mother who had been looking for her missing twins when she and her friends were lured into the cave by Emily as an act of self defense. When Tawney wakes up, she is no longer in the 22nd century, but all the way back to the Ice Age and the Paleolithic era of humans. This is such a great choice, narrative wise, as it not only opens up a slew of possibilities as to what stories are going to potentially be told next (after all, there were multiple people who ended up in the cave around the time that Tawney did….), but it also gives us lots of different character possibilities. Tawney was a good first choice, because her motivation is based on her love for her kids, and it drives not only her want to survive in this wholly new setting, but also the choices that she makes while there. I really loved Tawney as a main character for this volume, and I loved the idea of the Ice Age as a setting and having her have to figure out how to survive in this totally new environment. Whether it’s dealing with smilodonts, having to adapt to the cold, or trying to find ways to communicate with the people she meets and connects with, it makes for a gripping story of a stranger in a strange land.

And in true Jones fashion, “Ice Age” also taps into societal injustices that feel very true today and places them even in the Ice Age. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this volume, as I thought that the Ice Age would have different hardships, but Jones keeps with the fighting against colonialism theme, using the clashes between Indigenous people and Solutreans (a controversial theory that Europeans settled in the Americas during the Ice Age by traveling over the frozen waters, HERE is a pretty good write up as to why it’s unlikely and also racist). It’s genius because it’s laying not only another kind of invading force story, but also tapping into Tawney’s inner turmoil about how to proceed when she finds herself protecting and becoming attached to a Solutrean child, as she sees her own children in him. These led to some really emotional beats, as Tawney, unlike Yellow Kid in “Kill Columbus”, draws lines when it comes to children as victims, no matter how much it could seem like a ‘greater good’. I also love how Jones has taken this fringe theory of Solutrean discovery and torn it apart by having Tawney basically fight back against the invading forces with her know how from her own time period. It’s very creative and makes for a really interesting volume! Throw in some more backstory for the Earthdivers and their motivations, as well as world building for the ravaged planet they are trying to reset, and the story arc continues to build on its complexity in very rewarding ways.

And finally, the artwork. We have some new artists in this volume, Ricardo Burchielli, Patricio Delpeche, and Emily Schnall. I liked the new styles that they brought, as while they still fit in with the previous Volume, they did bring their own aesthetics and signatures to the work.

I’m still really digging “Earthdivers” and how outside the box Stephen Graham Jones is taking it. I can’t wait to see who we follow through the cave next, and what time period it’s going to be.

Rating 8: Another creative and intense time travel story from Stephen Graham Jones! I’m loving the world building at the creative time and place.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but would fit in on “Graphic Novels & Comics By The Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native Peoples of the World”, and “Time Travel”.

Not Just Books: February 2024

While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!

Serena’s Picks

Movie: “Oppenheimer”

I was sad that I missed this one in the theater, but it came out in the middle of the family vacation we had planned and it just didn’t happen. So I’ve been patiently waiting for it to come out on some streaming service, and finally it dropped on Peacock. I knew the broad strokes of this story, but it was impressive just how much Nolan managed to pack into this movie. It took a bit to accustom myself to the flashes forward and backward in time and the brief glimpses we get into scenes before jumping to another, but as the story pulled together, it became clear just how effective this choice was. We see the complicated nature of both the man and this point in history, and it was fantastic all around.

Video Game: “Hogwarts Legacy”

It took me a bit to get to this one, but it was one of my most anticipated games in a while! There were a lot of great reviews for it and the previews all looked gorgeous. And man, did it deliver! It was clear that this one was made for fans of the series, both books and the movies. The decision to retain the same castle and landscape design from the movie was especially exciting, as it was great being able to wander around exploring all of the nooks and crannies that we saw on the screen. The game also did an excellent job of incorporating pretty much every location and magical event that fans could want. The storyline itself was fun enough, but I think I probably would have been happy just wandering around the castle and landscape for the entire time. Indeed, I probably spent about 90% of my time doing just that.

Kate’s Picks

TV Show: “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

Okay, remember how last month I mentioned that I had been prematurely picking “Drag Race” in these lists with the past two iterations, and how it came back to bite me? Well good news! I did wait for Season 16 to make itself more known, and it’s a pretty good season. It probably helps that my friend David has been in town post- Ph.D studies, and we’ve been watching it together. This has been a stellar season thus far, with a great cast of queens (I’m rooting for Sapphira!), some pretty good twists to keep it fresh, and after a long time gone a solid villain who is making GREAT reality TV (we love to hate Plane Jane!). It was extra special that David and I (and other friends) were able to go see a few of the queens from this season perform at a drag brunch in Minneapolis to see their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent in person!

Film: “The Iron Claw”

My husband and I had planned to see this one on a double date back around the New Year, as he is a pro wrestling fan and I too enjoy the performance art, but then he contracted COVID and we had to cancel our plans. But I finally watched it this past month, and my goodness, it was devastating. “The Iron Claw” follows the Van Erichs, a legendary pro wrestling family that was beloved in the wrestling community, but was plagued by tragedy. In that three of the four wrestling sons of Fritz Von Erich all died young, two of the deaths the result of suicides after trauma, medical ills, and mental health collapse (horrible fact: in real life there was actually another wrestling brother who ALSO died of suicide, but the movie cut him out because it was just too much). Zac Efron plays the Kevin Von Erich, who helplessly watches as his brothers die one by one, all while their emotionally abusive father Fritz pits them against each other and pushes them to the breaking point. Honestly, Efron was robbed when it comes to acting accolades, as he REALLY embodies the steady, reliable, and ultimately devastated last brother standing. I spent the majority of the movie sobbing and yelling about what a horrible father Fritz Von Erich was and how toxic masculinity wrecks lives.

Joint Pick

Video Game: “Pentiment”

We seem to bounce back and forth between disturbing cult documentaries and video games that we play together. So we’re back to video games at the moment (don’t worry, we have a super messed up cult story coming up next!), and this time we decided to try something new. “Pentiment” is definitely one of the most unique games out there. It’s essentially a murder mystery, but the visuals are really what makes it stand out, with a heavily-stylized art style that draws inspiration from its Medieval setting and illuminated Biblical texts. We’ve only just started, but we can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!

Serena’s Review: “Fathomfolk”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Fathomfolk” by Eliza Chan

Publishing Info: Orbit, February 2024

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

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

Book: Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears.

But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk — sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below.

For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when a water dragon is exiled to the city.

New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything. Frustrated by the lack of progress from Mira’s softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremist group, leaving Mira to find the headstrong youth before she makes everything worse.

And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.

When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem. Both she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.

Review: This has definitely been a highly anticipated read for me when I was looking forward through my TBR pile for the spring. The book summary lays out a pretty complicated, rich-sounding world that I was excited to dive into, and the cover art seem to paint a picture of the exact sort of romantic, fairytale-like tone that I look for in much of my fantasy. Plus, it was being marketed as an adult fantasy novel, which on its face doesn’t seem like much. But while there are a bunch of adult fantasy novels published all of the time, there aren’t necessarily many that sound like this.

I’ll just get it out of the way now: I didn’t really enjoy this book and probably would have DNF’d it if I hadn’t received an ARC from the publisher. But before we dive into my struggles with the story, let’s start with a few positives. As the book summary hints towards, there is a lot of creativity and detail to the worldbuilding in this book. I don’t know tons about all of the cultures that were drawn upon to create this world, but it was clear the author was pulling from a number of them and blending them into a unique world. I also really enjoyed some of the details that went into the little things, like the descriptions of the street vendors and the foods they would sell. There was definitely an experience, especially early in the book, of wanting to simply walk down these streets to see it all.

That said, as beautiful as the cover art was for the story, it did mislead me a bit about the time period and setting of this book. It clearly is using elements of historical building styles, implying a less modern setting than what we have here. I was surprised to find cable cars and trams and the like as I read further. There’s obviously nothing wrong with this sort of setting, but it did feel like a bit of a bait and switch as far as my expectations went. (To be fair to the book, I didn’t catch some of the book summary clues; so that’s on me for focusing too much on the cover). I’ll also add that while I enjoyed a lot of the details that went into the world-building, as the book continued, the thing as a whole began to a bit disjointed, with everything and the kitchen sink seemingly thrown in the book. As more and more was added, I felt more and more disconnected from what I was truly supposed to be focused on.

None of this was helped by the fact that I didn’t enjoy any of our three main characters. At times annoying, at others incredibly naïve, and at others clearly biased themselves, each character in their own way was fairly unlikable. Again, writing characters who learn and grow can serve as an interesting arc, but between the three, I simply couldn’t find anything to grab onto at any point. I felt like I was just bouncing from one to another in a fairly robotic manner, caring little for who I was reading currently or who I was going to read next. None of them felt truly consistent in their worldviews or even their goals; for a book about sea creatures, I felt out to sea myself as a reader, lost in the flotsam of a plot that didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast.

I also found the pacing to be incredibly slow (often the case for a book that has to establish several POV characters while also building up a complicated world). However, as the story progressed, the pacing never really increased alongside it. It was one of those books that simply felt bland much of the time. There was nothing terrible about the writing, but it also wasn’t engaging and there were some form questions at play with the way scenes would end abruptly or other descriptive elements wouldn’t quite fit.

Overall, I was very disappointed by this book. Most of the time it felt like a chore to read, and I never really found anything that struck my interest or compelled me to want to continue reading. I won’t be continuing with the series, and I can’t strongly recommend this one. If you have a strong interest in Asian folklore, perhaps this is worth checking out, but even then, I think there are stronger examples of books like this out there.

Rating 6: An interesting premise fell apart in the face of a lackluster plot and unlikable lead characters.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fathomfolk” can be found on this Goodreads list: Asian Mythology Inspired Books

Serena’s Review: “The Tainted Cup”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Tainted Cup” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Publishing Info: Del Rey, February 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

Review: There were many reasons this book quickly ended up on my TBR list. For one thing, I really enjoyed Bennett’s “Divine Cities” trilogy when I read it years ago (I enjoyed those books so much that I’ve toyed around with the idea of trying to sneak a re-read in here on the blog). I also somehow never got around to reading his most recent series. So I was pleased to see this book coming out as it was a way to re-acquaint myself with a favorite author without having to commit to a series with a number of pre-existing books. But, almost as important as the author, I’m pretty much always interested in reading a book that is a play on Sherlock Holmes and Watson. And this one sure sounded like a unique take! Not only do you have the classic brilliant detective/assistant character dynamic, but somehow that is then superimposed on a fantasy world that is besieged by kaiju like creatures?? What an odd mix and also count me in!

Let’s start with the world-building first! I was impressed by how fleshed out this world was, and by the careful balance the author struck between the various aspects of the story. It would have been very easy for the entire plot and world to be sucked up by the grandiose nature of the Leviathons. Obviously, gigantic creatures that besiege a continent during certain seasons are an intriguing focal point for a story. However, I was impressed by the way these gigantic threats were held largely in the shadows, serving as a looming threat which inspired more dread than anything else. Used carefully in this manner, the book was then better able to focus on the kind of society and world that would be built up under these sorts of conditions. Not only do you have the balance of constant military action needing to mingle with civilian life, but the Leviathon bring extreme contagions that affect the environment. In many ways, it was these contagions that served as the greater point of horror throughout the story. Not only is the central murder gruesome (a tree bursting out from within a living body), but as the story unfolds, we see many examples of the ways that humanity has had to work to survive in a environment and ecological system that is actively adapting to kill them off.

For all the excellent fantasy elements that went into the world-building as I described above, this book is truly a mystery story at its core. You could take almost the entire plot, adjust the manners of death and a few other small details, and plop it down in any old real-world story and it would largely work as it stands. And, again, the fact that the mystery itself is not over-shadowed by these, at times literally, larger-than-life fantasy elements is proof of the tight control that Bennett has over all of the elements that make up this book. While the fantasy stuff was, well, fantastical, as the story unfolded, my investment was largely focused on these two main characters and the increasingly complicated mystery that they were slowly working through. There were all of the good red-herrings and misdirections that one looks for in a mystery novel, as well as the satisfying payoff when all is finally revealed.

The third point of success came down to our two main characters. The story is told from the perspective of Din, our “Watson-like” character, as he works with a brilliant, but eccentric investigator, an older woman named Ana. I think Bennett did a brilliant job with these two, perfectly honing in on many of the dynamics that make the “Sherlock/Watson” duo such time-tested favorite. Din is endearing and an approachable “everyman” type character. He is at times bewildered by his strange boss and her ways, but loyal and devoted to supporting her in their investigation. I also liked the hints of his own struggles and secrets that are slowly revealed over the course of the story. We also see the strengths that he brings to this team and that, while brilliant herself, Din has unique contributions that are crucial to their success. In this instance, he has a unique skill (pulled from some of the magic systems of the world) to essentially permanently memorize everything he sees. But, even here, not everything it as it seems.

For her part, Ana is an excellent character in that she is used effectively but sparingly. The risk is always to overplay a character like this, but Bennett wisely and carefully chose his scenes and moments during which to play up Ana’s strange, but brilliant, approaches to investigation. The author also nailed the perhaps predictable, but no less appreciated, moments where Ana effectively lays out all of the pieces of the puzzle as if they were oh, so obvious. While anyone who reads a mystery novel with a detective like this at its heart knows that these sorts of scenes are coming, these moments are somehow always just as satisfying as ever. Especially when the author has been sparing with the build up, as Bennett is here.

I really enjoyed this book! I could probably go on and on praising it, but I think we all get the idea. I’ll say perhaps that the pacing, especially in the first third of the book, was a bit on the slower side. But as that time is spent laying down the building blocks of this world and who both Din and Ana are as characters, I think the slower start is earned. If you enjoy mystery novels as well as unique fantasy settings, definitely give this one a shot!

Rating 9: Genre-blending at its finest, Bennet’s brilliant take on the Sherlock/Watson character duo is only one part of many that makes this creative fantasy novel a must-read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The tainted Cup” can be found on a lot of generic Goodreads lists like this Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024, but it should be on Sherlock Holmes Retellings and Reimaginings.

Kate’s Review: “The Bad Ones”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here

Book: “The Bad Ones” by Melissa Albert

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, February 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC23.

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

Book Description: Goddess, goddess, count to five. In the morning, who’s alive?

In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town.

Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local folklore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games…

An arresting, crossover horror fantasy threaded with dark magic, THE BAD ONES is a poison-pen love letter to semi-toxic best friendship, the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief.

Review: Thank you to Flatiron Books for providing me with and ARC of this novel at ALAAC23!

It has been more than half a year since Serena and I attended to Annual ALA Conference in Chicago, but we have my last straggler of an ARC that I got while on that fantastic trip. When I saw that “The Bad Ones” by Melissa Albert wasn’t coming out until February, I placed it in an organized pile, and coming back to it in January was like letting go of that trip (though we’re planning on going to San Diego in fourish months, so, I’m not exactly shedding nostalgic tears). I loved the cover when I first got it, and it still really stands out as an eerie yet poppy image of a creepy angel. I didn’t really know what to expect, honestly, and once I was in it I started building expectations. Some of which were well exceeded! Others of which were not.

But as always, first the good. I really thought that Albert captured the complicated, sometimes toxic, and certainly enmeshed relationship between our narrator Nora and her missing best friend Becca. You get to see through Nora’s perspective as well as a series of flashbacks for Becca just how close these two girls are, and how they mean so much to each other, but how that can also lead to codependence and an unhealthy relationship. I thought it was great that neither girl was being judged for this, per se, but how it is also pointed out that both girls, especially Becca, have some pretty hefty baggage that is seeping into their interactions, and how that isn’t fair to either of them. Albert is careful not to villainize Becca, and instead looks at the ways that teenage girls can be failed by a community that tries to hide or look away from trauma or predation, and how that can damage a person. I also did like seeing Nora slowly piece together the mystery of her missing best friend, and the other missing people who disappeared on the same night, and how that connects to the town’s past. The mystery itself was well conceived and it had me guessing for awhile.

But the downside of all of this is that “The Bad Ones” is a horror/supernatural/dark fantasy tale, and I think that this was the weaker aspect of the novel. I liked the slow reveal of Becca and Nora’s Goddess Game and how it was far more powerful than Nora realized, and I REALLY loved the imagery of the creepy angel statue in the cemetery that was looming throughout the narrative (it reminded me of the Black Angel in Iowa City, which I loved to visit when I was in town seeing my Aunt). But once we got into the full on nitty gritty of the horror and supernatural aspects, and we got one of the big reveals in the last third of the book, I was left underwhelmed, as it was suddenly a whirlwind of wrapping things up and tying it all together. The revealed motivations of the bigger picture (no spoilers) were also pretty well worn territory, thematically wise, and while I liked said motivations, it didn’t set itself apart from other stories like this. This could, however, be more about my own vast experience with these kinds of stories, and me not being the target audience.

“The Bad Ones” is a book I found entertaining and enjoyable, and I know exactly who I would recommend it to. I will definitely be keeping my eye on Melissa Albert going forward, as this one had lots of potential, horror wise, and lots of wins, realism wise.

Rating 6: I really liked the mystery at hand and thought that the exploration of enmeshed friendships was interesting, but the supernatural and horror bits weren’t as fleshed out as I had hoped they would be.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Bad Ones” is included on the Goodreads lists “Bubblegum Horror”, and “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Serena’s Review: “A Tempest of Tea”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “A Tempest of Tea” by Hafsah Faizal

Publishing Info: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, February 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling upon a band of misfits, Arthie formulates a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not every member of her crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

Review: Yet another book that is promoted as a “Six of Crows” read-alike! And, spoiling my own review, I will say that this is one of the few of these books that I’ve read recently where that comparison does seem to hold true! I hadn’t read any other books by this author, but I do know that other readers very much enjoyed her other fantasy series, so I was excited to see what all the fuss was about on that front, too. There were a few things that I think could have improved this read, overall, but it was also such a fun time that I mostly didn’t mind!

But let’s start out with the unequivocally good parts of the book. The story was definitely at its most successful during its main character’s, Arthie’s, POV chapters. And, really, if you have the main character right, you’re already mostly there as far as a good reading experience goes! This is also where the book most resembles “Six of Crows.” Arthie reads as a very similar character to Kaz from that duology. Both are morally grey characters with dark histories that are slowly revealed as the story unspools. And in both cases, morally grey means, you know, actually morally grey. In that Arthie can be manipulative, cold-hearted, and single-mindedly focused on her own goals in spite of others.

But also like Kaz, she is supremely loyal to those she cares about, in this case, her chosen brother, Jin. As I’ll get into, I think the romances were the weakest points of this book. In counterbalance, this sibling relationship between Arthie and Jin was the true heart of the story. Through Jin’s perspective as well, we see how these two characters have essentially re-constructed their lives around one another and their shared goals. As the story unfolds, this relationship is tested and pushed, and much of the stakes regarding their character arcs came down to this counterbalance of trust and secrets.

The world-building was also interesting, with a unique take on vampires and half-vampires, essentially. Some of the details about these beings, and about the world itself, were delivered in a bit of a ham fisted, expositional manner early in the book, but as the book continued, I was pleased to see this tendency smoothing out. I liked the general themes that explored colonialism and imperialism, but, again, I wish at times there had been a bit more subtlety in some of this messaging. Our characters’ stories speak for themselves, and I wish authors would trust readers to draw the correct conclusions without having characters just outright say some of these points.

The plotting was also good, though the story does take a bit to really get going. There’s a lot of planning that goes into the heist itself, and then when it all actually goes down, we find that that’s not even the true peak of the conflict. Instead, the last 25% of the book really sweeps the reader up into a rush of action, reveals, and numerous twists and turns. I was able to predict a few of these switches and turns, but I was also honestly surprised by others, which is always refreshing.

I will say, however, that the book is let down by its romances, both the unfortunate love triangle that is set up for Arthie, and also Jin’s more straight-forward romance with the third POV character, Flick. This was frustrating because I feel like a few adjustments to these romances would have easily elevated this book to a truly excellent level.

First off, Flick didn’t need a POV of her own. Her story had a few interesting moments, but it all could also have been explored through Jin’s perspective and his burgeoning relationship with Flick. Not only would this then allow Jin and Arthie to have more page time, as the true main characters, but by pushing Flick’s development to character interactions with others, we’d actually have better relationship building between her and Jin on the page. As it stands, the reader is mostly just told that Jin and Flick have this burgeoning relationship, but we barely see them truly interact or speak to each other.

And then with Arthie, do away with the love triangle all together. As it stands, it feels like this book spent almost the entire time building up one side of this relationship, only to pull the rug out and point to the other relationship as the end game on literally the very last page. Which, frankly, is a waste of the reader’s time and energy. Arthie is such a great character as it is, and her history and relationship with Jin was more than enough to ground her story in an interesting arc. We could have had small teases of a relationship in her future, but we didn’t actually need anything in this book. As it stands, because there are three POVs and then two love interests for Arthie, her page time is so reduced with each of these romantic options that there’s no opportunity for anyone’s interest in one another other to be more than pure lust-at-first-sight. Which…does not make a compelling love story for any of them.

So, that’s how I’d move this book from an 8 to a 10: remove Flick’s POV, get rid of the love triangle, limit Arthie’s “romance” to more hints of a future plot point, and spend the increased page time (without Flick’s POV) to further build on the Arthie/Jin sibling bond, which is clearly the true heart of this first book, regardless of what comes next. Fixed it! As it stands, however, I still very much enjoyed this book. Arthie was a fantastic character, not only in her own POV chapters but as we see her through other character’s eyes, and the plot and final action of the book perfectly primed me to want to jump into the next book. If you’re looking for a fun, fantasy heist book, this is definitely one to check out!

Rating 8: Some adjustments to the romances may have improved it, but this was a still a romp of a fantasy heist ride that is sure to please fans of “Six of Crows!”

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Tempest of Tea” can be found on this Goodreads list: Some of the Most Interesting Covers

Kate’s Review: “Island Witch”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Island Witch” by Amanda Jayatissa

Publishing Info: Berkley, February 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

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

Book Description: Inspired by Sri Lankan folklore, award-winning author Amanda Jayatissa turns her feverish, Gothic-tinged talents to late 19th century Sri Lanka where the daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal village.

Being the daughter of the village Capuwa, or demon-priest, Amara is used to keeping mostly to herself. Influenced by the new religious practices brought in by the British Colonizers, the villagers who once respected her father’s craft have turned on the family. Yet, they all still seem to call on him whenever supernatural disturbances arise.

Now someone—or something —is viciously seizing upon men in the jungle. But instead of enlisting Amara’s father’s help, the villages have accused him of carrying out the attacks himself.

As she tries to clear her father’s name, Amara finds herself haunted by dreams that eerily predict the dark forces on her island. And she can’t shake the feeling that it’s all connected to the night she was recovering from a strange illness, and woke up, scared and confused, to hear her mother’s frantic. No one can find out what happened .

Lush, otherworldly, and recalling horror classics like Carrie and The Exorcist , Island Witch is a deliciously creepy and darkly feminist tale about the horrors of moral panic, the violent space between girlhood and adulthood, and what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

If a book has references to “Carrie” and “The Exorcist” and adds in the promise of feminist rage in a not as seen setting, I am absolutely going to want to get my hands on it. That is just catnip for me, really. So seeing the description (and FANTASTIC) cover for Amanda Jayatissa’s new horror novel “Island Witch” really, really caught my interest. I love horror that takes on wider societal themes, I love feminist exploration within the genre, and there is also THAT AMAZING COVER. I was really excited to read this book, and had really high hopes. But I’m dismayed to report that they weren’t really met, at least not as much as I had expected them to.

I’ll start with the good, though. What I really liked about this book was how Jayatissa takes on the concepts of misogyny, religious zealotry, and colonialism and imperialism with her setting of 1800s Sri Lanka, as a young woman named Amara is seeing her village slowly turn against her and her father, the local Capuwa (or demon priest, as he performs rituals and exorcisms to ward off demons) when mysterious attacks leave men dead. Amara is an intriguing main character, as she finds herself a target of her community as their Christian belief system sees her and her family as threatening, and starts to realize that there are other dangers beyond the potential demonic attacks. I love how Jayatissa explores the way that Amara’s community, former friends, and even at times family holds her gender against her, her family against her, and her non-Christian beliefs against her, and how Amara’s desperation to clear her father’s name becomes more about clearing her own. Jayatissa doesn’t shy away from violence, sexism, prejudice, and trauma, and Amara’s journey harkens to other feminist horror tales of women taking back their power from those that want to take it away and snuff it out. I also found a lot of the demon lore and other horror aspects to be pretty good, and at times more ambiguous as opposed to cut and dry about good and evil.

But I had a really hard time with the first person perspective of this book, because while trying to show Amara’s coming of age, and her journey to find out the truth about what is happening in her community and both the dead men and the women they left behind, made for a lot of telling instead of showing. I definitely get that Amara is starting out as a somewhat naive and hopeful person, and has to become more hardened as she is finding out dark truths about those around her and the potential demonic activity, but her voice was very stilted, and at times hamfisted in execution. There were many times that it took me out of the story, and her inner thoughts would project a very obvious plot point that was coming up because of how much telling she was doing. It was too bad, because I think that had Amara’s voice been a little more complex this would have connected a lot better with me.

“Island Witch” was a mixed bag for me. I loved the effort and the greater themes, but the narrative style muddled it up a bit.

Rating 6: Overall I liked the themes of misogyny and colonial oppression and group think, but I thought that the voice of the main character was a little more simplistic than I had hoped for, and made it a stilted flow.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Island Witch” is included on the Goodreads lists “Popsugar 2024 #40: A Horror Book Written by a BIPOC Author”, and “Historical Fiction 2024”.

Book Club Review: “An Extraordinary Union”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Our current theme is Centuries, where we were given a random century and had to pick a book based during that time period. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “An Extraordinary Union” by Alyssa Cole

Publishing Info: Kensington, March 2017

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

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

Century: 19th

Book Description: As the Civil War rages between the states, a courageous pair of spies plunge fearlessly into a maelstrom of ignorance, deceit, and danger, combining their unique skills to alter the course of history and break the chains of the past . . .

Elle Burns is a former slave with a passion for justice and an eidetic memory. Trading in her life of freedom in Massachusetts, she returns to the indignity of slavery in the South–to spy for the Union Army.

Malcolm McCall is a detective for Pinkerton’s Secret Service. Subterfuge is his calling, but he’s facing his deadliest mission yet–risking his life to infiltrate a Rebel enclave in Virginia.

Two undercover agents who share a common cause–and an undeniable attraction–Malcolm and Elle join forces when they discover a plot that could turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy’s favor. Caught in a tightening web of wartime intrigue, and fighting a fiery and forbidden love, Malcolm and Elle must make their boldest move to preserve the Union at any cost–even if it means losing each other…

Kate’s Thoughts

It’s a bit of an anomaly that I have read a romance author before reading the book selected for book club should that author be a romance author. But in the case of “An Extraordinary Union”, I actually had read TWO books by Alyssa Cole! One of them was her “Hamilton” inspired novella “That Could Be Enough”, which was cute, and the other was her thriller novel “When No One Is Watching”, which I really loved. So I had read Alyssa Cole before book club met, and I MAY have been the only one? ANOMALY I SAY! And while “An Extraordinary Union” wasn’t the usual book that I pick up on my own, I kind of knew what to expect.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I really liked the idea of spies for the Union during the Civil War, and that one of said spies is a Black woman who has gone deep undercover in hopes of turning the tides of the war. I liked Elle a lot, and I found her motivations believable and was invested in her getting out of her dangerous position while also sticking it to the Confederacy. While I don’t usually do spy books, this one kept my interest because of my background in learning about and presenting this time period at my historical society job. But at the same time Cole balances this aspect with the charming romance between Elle and Malcolm, while also bringing up and parsing out the complications that would arise during this time period for a mixed race couple. I was worried that there might be some sticky aspects to this given the historical context, not only with societal racism, but also misogyny/ misogynoir, but I did feel that Cole did a pretty good job of addressing these things and making sure that Elle and Malcolm were on equal footing, or as close to equal footing as possible.

And this is an ongoing series! So if you like “An Extraordinary Union” and the themes and plot points, you can keep on going! I am considering it, as the set up for the next book is pretty intriguing. Overall I found it to be a solid romance novel with a setting that felt unique.

Kate’s Rating 7: A historical romance filled with intrigue and a backdrop of a critical time during the Civil War, “An Extraordinary Union” is entertaining and sure to please people who like the genre!

Book Club Questions

What did you think of having Elle as a protagonist in this book? Along with that, what were your thoughts on Malcolm as a love interest for her?
What did you think of Cole comparing and contrasting between the two backgrounds that Elle and Malcolm came from, and how they are both from marginalized backgrounds?
What did you think of Susie as one of the antagonists in this book? How did she hold up or subvert the Southern Belle stereotype in literature?
Have you read any fiction books that take place during the Civil War that have stuck with you? What was it about that book or books that resonated?
How does this story compare to other historical romances that you have read?
Would you keep reading on in the series?