Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Kate’s Favorite Reads of 2019: Picks 5 Through 1

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! Like past years I won’t be including re-reads, and I also realized that sometimes my opinion of a book could change and evolve after I had read it, so some surprises may be up near the top. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “Twelve Days of Christmas” Giveaway! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, ten to six. 

43263388Pick Number 5: “Trace of Evil” by Alice Blanchard

“Trace of Evil” Review

This procedural mystery perfectly combined a can do female detective, the baggage that she carries, and the secrets and dark sides of a small town. I loved Natalie Lockhart, the detective who is determined to solve a number of missing persons cases and who is pulled into the murder of her colleague’s wife. Blanchard created a realistic and relatable main character, and created a mystery that is sure to suck in fans of thrillers, especially if said fan also has a love for stories about witches and witchcraft. So, basically me. “Trace of Evil” kept me guessing and kept me interested, and I cannot wait to see where Natalie Lockhart goes next!

35887567._sy475_Pick Number 4: “On the Come Up” by Angie Thomas

Goodreads Info

This is the second book on this list that didn’t make it to the blog, and I’m thinking that I will need to start making exceptions for Angie Thomas. “The Hate U Give” was the book that became an instant YA phenomenon (and made it onto my list the year it came out), and “On the Come Up” was a fantastic follow up. Bri is an aspiring rapper who has dreams of following in her father’s footsteps. He was an up and coming performer when he was murdered. But Bri’s mother would prefer that she focus on her studies. And when her mother loses her job and some very real threats of homelessness and hunger start to loom, Bri becomes more determined to become famous to she can help her family, no matter what. Thomas has once again written a gritty, heartfelt, and emotional story, and it solidifies her as an incredibly talented author.

43263680Pick Number 3: “Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo

“Ninth House” Review

This book took me by complete surprise this year, as I’ve had an on and off appreciation for Leigh Bardugo’s books over the past few years. I picked up “Ninth House” on a whim, and ended up being completely enthralled by it. Alex Stern is part of the Lethe House, a group at Yale that keeps an eye on the other Secret Societies, as the use of magic and rituals has gotten out of control in the past. Alex is a fish out of water at the prestigious school, but the offer of a free ride in exchange for her talent to see ghosts seems like a good deal. But, obviously it’s not as easy and uncomplicated as all that. Bardugo creates a fun twist to a familiar setting, and weaves in the themes of privilege and entitlement into her supernatural dark fantasy. Definitely the best horror/dark fantasy of the year for me!

29225589._sx318_Pick Number 2: “Bloom” by Kevin Panetta

“Bloom” Review

This is an example of a book that I gained more and more appreciation for as more time passed. When I initially reviewed “Bloom” by Kevin Panetta, I gave it some high praise, but held off on giving it my highest rating of a ten. Looking back, I really don’t know why I did that, because whenever I think of it I burst with joy. The love story between two young men that centers in a bakery is sweet and gentle and it was such an enjoyable graphic novel that I keep thinking about it months later. The anxious and big dreamed Ari meets his match in the low key and loyal Hector, and their slow building relationship has ups, downs, joy, and heartache, and I loved following every moment of it. On top of that, the illustrations by Savanna Ganucheau are done in such away that conveys the overall heart and gentleness of this story that they complement it completely. I loved “Bloom”, and imagine I’ll revisit it again and again.

40538634Pick Number 1: “Highway of Tears” by Jessica McDiarmid

“Highway of Tears” Review

My number one pick book of 2019 was also one of the hardest reads of the year. Albeit necessary. True crime is incredibly popular right now, with numerous books and podcasts and TV shows dedicated to the subject, and one of the worst cases in the history of Canada is the disappearance and murders of dozens upon dozens of Indigenous Women along Highway 16. “Highway of Tears” is a detailed and compassionate examination the disappearances and murders, the society and Government that has enabled racism and prejudice that adds to the unsolved status of the cases, and a heartbreaking story of many of the victims, stories that otherwise have fallen by the wayside. This was an emotional and important read, and I cannot recommend it enough, even if it will leave you feeling devastated.

So there’s my complete list! What were your top five reads of 2019?

Serena’s Favorite Reads of 2019: Picks 10 through 6

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! For me, the word “favorite” is an important part of this list. As I go through the last year’s worth of reading, I often found that some books would strike particular chords within me more deeply than others, even if, quality-wise, another book might be stronger. Of course, this just makes it all that much harder to put them in any order. But here it goes! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, ten to six. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!”

39603796#10: “The Wolf in the Whale” by Jordanna Max Brodsky

“The Wolf in the Whale” Review

This was one of a few books to make this list that were complete surprises for me. It was the debut book for the author and one that had very little buzz when I first received an early copy. But boy, did it blow me away. With its unique setting of early civilization in the North American Arctic region, its compelling and complicated leading character, and the sparse, but fantastic, use of mythology and fantasy elements, this book was firing on all cylinders the entire time. The story definitely had some dark themes, and it handles a love interest with a controversial past in what I thought was a smart manner. There was a lot of crying on my part, but this unique, confident fantasy novel definitely stuck out to me when looking back over the year.

44059557._sy475_-1#9: “The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan” by Sherry Thomas

“The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan” Review

I love fairytale retellings. This is a mixed blessing, as I see it. On one hand, there are a ton of them, especially recently. On the other hand, because I feel compelled to read them all, I end up being disappointed quite a bit. And “Mulan” has been one of those stories that has served up nothing but disappointment for a while now. And then this book came out and did every. single. thing. I wanted. It takes enough elements from my limited knowledge of the original tale to remain familiar, but also brings in new portions of the story that make it feel refreshing. It’s definitely not Disney’s “Mulan,” but that’s also a good thing in this case. The love story is sweet, the action is exciting, and the story addresses a wide range of themes including bravery, honor, and family. If you’re looking for a good fairytale retelling, or, like me, had been waiting for THE “Mulan” version that would really hit home, definitely check this one out!

35839460#8: “The Kingdom of Copper” by S.A. Chakraborty

“The Kingdom of Copper” Review

This book came out in the early part of this year, way back in January. And I’ve been waiting this whole, long time for the next one! And it’s still not here! But I shall work on patience and maybe just go re-read this one in the mean time. The first book in this trilogy impressed with its complicated world-building and engaging main characters who must tread almost impossible lines of grey. Here, all that was excellent from the first book was simply expanded upon. It was also one of the smartest uses of a time jump between books that I’ve read in a long time. I was truly surprised by the direction the book went and the very real ways our main characters had both changed and stayed the same between one book and another. It also ended on one heck of a cliff-hanger, so, yeah. Back to the fretting until…oof, June.

28876#7: “Temeraire” series by Naomi Novik

“His Majesty’s Dragon” and “Throne of Jade” and “Black Powder War” and “Empire of Ivory” Reviews

It seems like every year I end up with at least one favorite that isn’t just one book but a series of books that I’ve blown through over the year. And this year it was Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series about dragons during the Napoleonic Wars. I’ve been a fan of Novik’s for a while (in fact, I think her most recent novel, “Spinning Silver” was my top pick last year), but I’d always held back on reading this book because of its weird premise. I mean…dragons in the Napoleonic Wars. But silly me! It’s been awesome so far. I’ve been blowing through the series way too fast for my own good, but I find everything about them so engaging that its hard to stop myself! I love the language of the books, reading like great historical fiction. The action is exciting, new, and shockingly, incredibly believable. And on top of all of that, the characters of Temeraire and his captain, William Lawrence, are an incredible duo whom you can’t help but fall in love with. I’ve already read the next in the series, so that review should be up soon! But if you, like me, love Novik’s other books but haven’t checked this series out yet, definitely give it a try!

36524503._sy475_#6: “The Bones Houses” by Emily Lloyd-Jones

“The Bones Houses” Review

I love books like this. Not only this story in particular, but books that come out of complete nowhere and blow me away. I literally knew nothing about this story when I requested In fact, looking at the cover, I was suspicious that this was going to more a “Kate book” than one for me, so if anything, my expectations were on the negative side. Oops! I loved this lovely fairytale story (sort of a retelling of “The Black Cauldron”??). For one thing, it’s a standalone, which automatically shoots it forward in my rankings. But on top of that, it perfectly mixes whimsy and horror, all while exploring topics like loss, grief, and family. The romance is sweet, and the two main characters are each strong and compelling. There’s also a fantastic goat. If you haven’t heard of this one (it seems to be flying below radar, sadly), get thee to the library or bookstore!

So that’s ten through six. Next time I will give a countdown of my top five. What have been some of your favorite reads of 2019?

Kate’s Favorite Reads of 2019: Picks 10 Through 6

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! Like past years I won’t be including re-reads, and I also realized that sometimes my opinion of a book could change and evolve after I had read it, so some surprises may be up near the top. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “Twelve Days of Christmas” Giveaway! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, ten to six. 

41837243Pick Number 10: “Lock Every Door” by Riley Sager

“Lock Every Door” Review

It took a lot of mulling and hemming and hawing to decide which book was going to be the first to make the Top 10 of 2019. But the book that eventually got the honor was Riley Sager’s “Lock Every Door”, which means all of Sager’s books have been in my Top 10 in the years that they’ve been published. This book got the spot because it was compulsively readable, it had some delicious homages to the creepiness of the Dakota in New York and “Rosemary’s Baby”, and kept me guessing for a majority of the time. Sager still finds ways to surprise me and I greatly, GREATLY look forward to his books every year, and “Lock Every Door” was a wicked and paranoia inducing thriller that will make you question if you’re actually safe in your own home, and if perhaps someone is watching your every move.

38225791Pick Number 9: “Two Can Keep A Secret” by Karen M. McManus

“Two Can Keep A Secret” Review

Karen M. McManus is well on her way to becoming a YA mystery guru, with her debut “One of Us Is Lying” becoming a runaway hit and it’s sequel “One of Us Is Next” coming out early next year. And between those was the (as of now) standalone “Two Can Keep A Secret”, a YA mystery involving missing people, a small town with secrets, and intrepid twins who are new in town. “Two Can Keep A Secret” sucked me in and made sure that I was fully invested in twins Ellery and Ezra and their transition to the town of Echo Ridge. Ellery and her love interest Malcolm were some of the best YA characters I read in 2019, and their romance and tangentially shared traumas that involve a notorious tragedy came together and wove a story I was completely obsessed with. I still think that fans of adult thrillers would find a lot to like in McManus’s books, and “Two Can Keep A Secret” would be the perfect place to start!

42527866Pick Number 8: “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei

“They Called Us Enemy” Review

Being a “Star Trek” fan I was of course very interested in reading Takei’s graphic memoir about his time in an interment camp during WWII, and “They Called Us Enemy” became one of the best graphic novels I read in 2019 because of it’s scary timeliness. Takei recounts a traumatic and disgusting part in American history where American citizens were imprisoned because of their race and ethnicity, and he gives it a personal and vulnerable spin. Takei’s story is combined with how Executive Order 9066 came to be, and gives a comprehensive and easy to follow history lesson of one of our nation’s greatest shames. Given that there are internment camps along the border now in 2019, it goes to show that perhaps history isn’t so hard to repeat. “They Called Us Enemy” is necessary reading, and one of the most powerful memoirs of the year.

35133922Pick Number 7: “Educated” by Tara Westover

Goodreads Info

Ah ha, the first book of my Top 10 of 2019 that didn’t make it onto the blog due to time and theme! But I would be remiss if I left the fantastic “Educated” off my list. This memoir tells the story of how Tara Westover went from a fundamentalist and abusive home where her education and worth were thrown by the wayside, to becoming an incredibly educated and  independent woman free from her toxic family’s influence. “Educated” is a story that I couldn’t put down and read in one night, and Westover’s deeply personal tale was hard to read at times (from her mentally ill father who isolated the family, to her complicit mother,  to her abusive older brother and the violence he heaped at her), but at the same time it was completely inspirational as she did everything she could to escape. There’s a reason this was such a runaway hit. If you haven’t read “Educated” yet and were mulling it, do it. DO IT.

60931Pick Number 6: “Kindred” by Octavia Butler

“Kindred” Review

The speculative fiction/historical fiction/science fiction epic from Octavia Butler was the stand out book club pick of the year for me! I had always meant to read “Kindred” but hadn’t gotten around to it, but when we picked it for the club it was finally time. This story of a black woman sent back in time to an Antebellum plantation has been hailed as a classic of sci-fi, and it’s commentary on race, racism, and privilege is still resonant in the decades after it was first published. Butler isn’t afraid to tell violent truths about slavery in America, and she also finds ways to show how it still continues to haunt society in the 20th Century, and beyond (which she probably hadn’t intended, and yet here we are). “Kindred” is a hard read, but it’s excellent, and necessary if you want to see what speculative fiction can achieve when it comes to commentary on society.

So that’s ten through six. Next time I will give a countdown of my top five. What have been some of your favorite reads of 2019?

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!

Happy holidays fellow book lovers! And in honor of this time of year when presents  giving is everything, we’re hosting our third annual “12 Days of Christmas” Giveaway. But, tricky us, it’s actually two giveaways, each one comprised of six books from our preferred genres. Read on to see what books are included in each prize package and enter for your chance to win! Both giveaways are open to U.S. residents only and end on January 4.

Serena’s Prize Package

“Jane, Unlimited” by Kristin Cashore (My review)

“To the Waters and the Wild” by S. C. McGrath (My review)

“Song of the Crimson Flower” by Julie C. Dao (My review)

“Flamebringer” by Elle Katharine White (My review)

“The Shadowglass” by Rin Chupego (My review)

“The Unbound Empire” by Melissa Caruso (My review)

Click here to enter!

Kate’s Prize Package

“Before She Knew Him” by Peter Swanson (My review)

“The Hunting Party” by Lucy Foley (My review)

“The Last Astronaut” by David Wellington (My review)

“Searching for Sylvie Lee” by Jean Kwok (My review)

“Last Things” by Jacqueline West (Goodreads Info)

“Joyland” by Stephen King (Goodreads Info)

Click Here To Enter!

 

Serena’s Review: “Reverie”

46299614Book: “Reverie” by Ryan La Sala

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, December 2019

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley

Book Description: All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different.

As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know.

Review: Another gorgeous cover, another intriguing book description! To be honest, I really had very little to go on when requesting this book. Part of it may have spoken to my withdrawals from “The Starless Sea” with some of the similar-sounding descriptions of mystical worlds each with their own story. December always seems to be a bit thin in the pickings, too, so anything that sparks interest is usually a go around now. Alas, even no expectations were too many for this book.

Kane knows very little about himself or his life. Found half dead on the side of a river, he only feels a sense of…difference. About him?About the world? About the mystery behind what happened to him? So when three others show up claiming to be his friends, he jumps at the opportunity to learn more. But he quickly realizes that this mystery is much greater than a near-drowning. Now, worlds are opening in the middle of the ordinary places in the world, each with their own stories and histories. How does his own experience connect with these mysteries? And is that even the biggest problem Kane faces now?

Ah, too bad. Another story that falls into the too simple and too common box of “missed potential.” These types of books are almost the hardest to review because there is nothing overtly wrong or offensive about the book, and, more often than not, they still have good qualities that hold them together. But by the final page, I’m left with an overwhelming sense of indifference and a fixation on the hours spent reading this book instead of some other book.

Amnesia stories, to start with, are very hard to pull off. The main character of the story is a necessary blank, having no point of reference of history, prior relationships, ongoing emotional struggles to draw upon. This leaves their observations and reactions feeling hollow. It’s hard to feel connected to a character who isn’t connected himself. This is the problem with Kane in a big way. Through the entire book, I just never really cared about him. He was instead mostly just a blank slate around which to build this story and magical world.

The world-building and writing was both a hit and a miss for me as well. On one hand, several of the descriptions of events and places were beautiful and new. But on the other hand, they weren’t the type of descriptions that read easily. I’m not sure how to put my finger on this. But I found myself having to re-read several lines to really put together how a particular metaphor was being used or what was being described. Perhaps having just read “Starless Sea” made this particular misstep hit home a bit harder than it would have at other times. That book, too, used very unique language to describe strange and new imagery. But there, somehow, the words flowed in a way that wasn’t distracting and didn’t throw me out of the story quite as badly as a similar style did here.

I also struggled to fully understand the rules of the world. How exactly do reveries work? What are their boundaries? There was definitely an interesting idea to be found here, but between the blank that was Kane and the distracting writing, I was already too out of this story to be able to turn my brain off and just go with the flow.

All of that being said, I did like Kane’s love interest, and in many ways, he had a lot more character building given to him than Kane himself did. And, while the writing style did kick me out of the flow of things every once in a while, there were also some legitimately lovely pieces of word play. But, in the end, my main takeaway was that this book didn’t accomplish all that it set out to. It was too bad. Others, however, might still enjoy this story. If you’re looking for a unique, LGBT fantasy, this does do well on all of those counts. Just not really my cup of tea, I guess.

Rating 6: Nothing terrible, but amnesia strikes again at taking down its main character and the unique word play hurts the flow of the story more often than it helps.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Reverie” is on these Goodreads lists: “2020 Queer Sci-Fi Fantasy” and “Oooh Shiny! December 2019.”

Find “Reverie” at your library using WorldCat!

Kate’s Review: “The Twisted Ones”

42527596._sy475_Book: “The Twisted Ones” by T. Kingfisher

Publishing Info: Gallery/Saga Press, October 2019

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Book Description: When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher. 

Review: Of all the horror genres, folk horror tends to be one of the few that I have a hard time sinking my teeth into. While I love the movie “The Wicker Man” (and “The Blair Witch Project”, if you can classify it as such? I feel like maybe you could?), I still haven’t seen “Midsommer” and don’t feel a huge draw to do so. I’ve read a few folk horror novels, and none of them really stood out to me as particularly engrossing or engaging. But I am always wanting to give the subgenre a chance. Because of this, I wanted to read “The Twisted Ones” by T. Kingfisher. After all, while it was described as ‘folk horror’ by some reviewers, the idea of monsters in the woods slowly creeping up was too good of a premise to pass by.

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Have I been burned by this premise before? Yes. Yet I keep the faith that I won’t be frustrated every time I pick up such a book. (source)

“The Twisted Ones” starts out with a lot of promise. A woman named Mouse (our first person narrator) has gone to her grandmother’s house (along with her dog Bongo) to clean it out after she has died. Mouse and her grandmother didn’t get along, as her grandmother was a TERRIBLE human being, but Mouse was close to her stepgrandfather, Cotgrave, and as she’s cleaning memories of her time with him bubble up. At night she has to contend with her grief and guilt regarding Cotgrave, her anger at her grandmother, and strange noises she hears outside that Bongo just won’t leave alone. As one might guess, the noises aren’t just harmless nature sounds, and soon Mouse finds herself being drawn into stories of ‘twisted ones’, and stumbling into landscapes that shouldn’t be there. Throughout all of this, I was definitely enjoying this story and the slow burn that Kingfisher was putting forth. I liked how through Mouse’s narration we are tuned in with her own initial skepticism (and delightful snark), though we have a dread in our gut that the noises and the weird blurs of animals running around in the dark aren’t just run of the mill North Carolina fauna. As it slowly becomes clear that Mouse and Bongo are dealing with something sinister and threatening, the tension is so tightly wound that the reader will potentially look out their own dark window at night and worry about what they will see. The building tension is grand, as are the supporting characters that Mouse meets while she is in the cabin in the woods. From Foxy the eccentric woman down the road to Tomas the helpful handyman, Mouse and the cast of characters feel real and sympathetic, to the point where you care about them and what happens to them.

All that said, once we get to the heart of the horror and find out what these creatures are any why they are here, the fear and scares immediately departed for this reader. I think that when it comes to ‘monsters in the woods stories’, I am only interested until the monster is revealed. The terror and dread is the unknown, the strange noises in the woods, the blurs in the moonlight. When we get to portals and interactions with the actual beings face to face, and the other revelations as to what they may or may not with Mouse, my interest was completely lost. But I think that has more to do with a lot of my own folk horror tastes, which are firmly placed more towards ambiguity and the unknown. I am far more taken in by an unseen Blair Witch who may or may not be stalking a group of filmmakers in the woods, than I am by a reveal of ‘monsters in the woods aren’t real but used to control the town’ two thirds of the way through the narrative. You have me when it’s ambiguous in folk horror. The moment you explain it, my interest wanes.

This is very much an instance of my own personal tastes getting in the way of the story, and that shouldn’t dissuade ride or die folk horror fans from checking it out. “The Twisted Ones” has some tense moments and scary themes regardless of how I felt about the last third of the book. So don’t take my word for it. Give it a go if this sounds like a book that will keep you up at night and out of the woods.

Rating 6: This had some tense moments and a fun and snarky narrator, but the big reveal was a bit of a let down. That said, it could be just me, and not the book itself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Twisted Ones” is included on the Goodreads lists “A Walk in the Woods”, and “Best Supernatural Books, No Romance, No Series”.

Find “The Twisted Ones” at your library using WorldCat!

Serena’s Review: “The Weight of a Soul”

43517326Book: “The Weight of a Soul” by Elizabeth Tammi

Publishing Info: Flux, December 2019

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley

Book Description: When Lena’s younger sister Fressa is found dead, their whole Viking clan mourns—but it is Lena alone who never recovers. Fressa is the sister that should’ve lived, and Lena cannot rest until she knows exactly what killed Fressa and why—and how to bring her back. She strikes a dark deal with Hela, the Norse goddess of death, and begins a new double life to save her sister.

But as Lena gets closer to bringing Fressa back, she dredges up dangerous discoveries about her own family, and finds herself in the middle of a devastating plan to spur Ragnarök –a deadly chain of events leading to total world destruction.

Still, with her sister’s life in the balance, Lena is willing to risk it all. She’s willing to kill. How far will she go before the darkness consumes her?

Review: I’ve read a few Vikings stories in the past year or so and largely enjoyed them all. Mythology is always a win for me, so it’s been fun to see Norse mythology getting its day in the sun after Roman and Greek had staked out the genre for so long. Combine those things with a story about sisters and this book was a no brainer for me to request. Sadly, all of those things together still somehow didn’t prove to be enough for me to really enjoy this book.

Lena and Fressa have grown up together to be as close as sisters can be. But while Lena is set out to lead a quiet, predictable life as a healer, it is Fressa who draws people to her with the sheer force of her vitality. So it is a shock when Fressa is suddenly found dead. But the life of a Viking is one of violence and sudden endings, so life moves on, for everyone but Lena. Driven to discover not only what happened to Fressa but to bring her beloved sister back, Lena sets out on a mission that will test the boundaries of life and death and draw her into the dark places of the world and herself.

So, as I said, this book wasn’t a hit for me. Even the things I liked are couched between things I disliked. For example, I liked the sisterly relationship. However, the story jumps through plot elements so quickly in the beginning that I was never able to feel fully connected to Fressa, thus lessening the impact of her death and my own commitment to the lengths (some pretty bad) that Lena went to in her attempts to bring her sister back.

I also enjoyed the mythology aspect of the story. However, again, there was really very little of it and only two god characters played a part and even then were more plot devices than anything else. The goddess, in particular, I felt was underwhelming and non-threatening, not something you want from an all-powerful being.

The pacing of the story also felt very off. As I said, the beginning of the book rushes through many important plot points. It’s attempting to not only set up the relationship between the sisters, but between them both and Fressa’s fiance, the girls’ parents, and  a few of the other village members as well. Between this and the brief attempts at history and world-building, the story feels like it’s simply jumping from one plot point to another. And then, suddenly, when Lena begins her journey, the brakes are pumped, hard. The rest of the book felt plodding, meandering, and frankly, rather boring. This left the overall pacing of the story feeling jarring and mismatched.

Beyond this, Lena was simply not a very likable character. The story is all set up to explore some deeper themes with regards to grief and the morality of choosing who lives and dies. And Lena, being a young woman presumably studying to be a healer, seems like a character primed to interact with these tough situations and choices in a compelling manner. Not so. While her descriptions of grief were at times beautiful and touching on some good ideas, the morality of her decisions was pretty terrible. And, even worse, she seems to think nothing of the terrible things she does.

It’s all well and good to have a character get so caught up in their own sorrow that their worldview becomes myopic to the point of a loss of their own morality, but the interesting part there is having the character explore this topic in some meaningful way. Or simply be from there after written as a villain. But Lena is unquestionably the hero of the story and yet she never seems to really care about the things that she does. As I said, it seems even more questionable when paired together with the empathy that it would have taken to be a healer. I was also not a fan of the romance of this story. It felt unnecessary at best and at worst it made Lena even more unlikable.

The idea of balancing a lost soul with the “weight” of another equal soul is a very interesting idea (though the end result is fairly predictable for fans of the genre), but much its potential was wasted behind choppy pacing and an unlikeable main character. Frustratingly, it seems like only a few minor tweaks could have really improved the story. Flashbacks, for example, would have worked better for the scenes before Fressa’s death and would have broken up some of the more plodding bits of the last half of the book. Ah well, what could have been alas was not! Fans of Norse mythology may like this book, but I think in the end it doesn’t live up to its own potential.

Rating 5: The unlikable main character was the last nail in the coffin for a book that unfortunately wasted several good aspects.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Weight of a Soul” is on these Goodreads lists: “YA & Middle-Grade Norse Mythology” and “YA Vikings.”

Find “The Weight of a Soul” at your library using WorldCat!

Kate’s Review: “Monster, She Wrote”

44594661Book: “Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction” by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

Publishing Info: Quirk Books, September 2019

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Book Description: Weird fiction wouldn’t exist without the women who created it. Meet the female authors who defied convention to craft some of literature’s strangest tales. And find out why their own stories are equally intriguing.

Everyone knows about Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein; but have you heard of Margaret Cavendish, who wrote a science-fiction epic 150 years earlier? Have you read the psychological hauntings of Violet Paget, who was openly involved in long-term romantic relationships with women in the Victorian era? Or the stories of Gertrude Barrows Bennett, whose writing influenced H.P. Lovecraft? Monster, She Wrote shares the stories of women past and present who invented horror, speculative, and weird fiction and made it great. You’ll meet celebrated icons (Ann Radcliffe, V.C. Andrews), forgotten wordsmiths (Eli Coltor, Ruby Jean Jensen), and today’s vanguard (Helen Oyeyemi). And each profile includes a curated reading list so you can seek out the spine-chilling tales that interest you the most.

Review: Even though horror is hands down my favorite literary genre (or genre of any kind of consumable media), that doesn’t exclude it from my general lack of experience with ‘the classics’. Sure, I’ve read books like “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”, and “The Turn of the Screw”, but in general I have kept my horror experiences fairly solidly in the 20th century and beyond. On top of that, a lot of what I’ve read has been fairly male dominated. So when I saw that “Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction” was a book that was coming out, I decided that I needed to educate myself about horror classics, specifically those written by women, and to expand my ‘to-read’ list to fit the recommendations made within this book.

And boy are there many recommendations! “Monster, She Wrote” gives us a list of female authors of horror and speculative fiction, gives a comprehensive but succinct biography of each of them, and explains the importance and significance of a few of their works, or at the very least gives us the plot and lets us suss out the significance for ourselves. Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson are sure to cast a wide net throughout the genres, covering a number of different authors and subgenres within the genres. Each section is divided based on the subgenres, which I liked because it made is so I could give extra focus on the kinds of stories that really tickle my fancy and to hone in on the authors that perfected the stories. While they, of course, cover some of the heavy hitters like Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson, they also are sure to bring in diverse perspectives, including women like Toni Morrison and Helen Oyeymi, so that the texts discussed and recommended aren’t incredibly white in nature (side note, I loved that “Beloved” was included in this book and Morrison by association. It’s one of my favorite books and at it’s heart it is, indeed, a very effective ghost story). I also got to learn about a number of authors who I had either only heard of in passing, or had never heard of, and because of this I now have added people like Edith Wharton and Anne Radcliffe to my list of ‘must reads’, as well as modern voices like Oyeymi (I will be talking to my Mom so I can borrow her copy of “Boy, Snow, Bird”). Finally, at the end of each biography we get a handy dandy list of books to try out, split into three categories, labeled ‘Not To Be Missed’, ‘Also Try’, and ‘Related Work’. These suggestions are stories by the authors themselves, as well as other stories and tales by different people whose themes are either direct call backs or similar in tone. How great to have a curated and well put together list of suggestions!

It’s also important to note that throughout all of these biographies and personal histories of these women authors, there are hints and senses of the difficulties and obstacles that many of them faced or face as women living at their respective times in their respective societies. These hardships could be due to gender, class, or race, and Kröger and Anderson, while never focusing on it, absolutely acknowledge it and make the reader realize that women voices in the genre have been very important and formative, and yet have been downplayed or, in some cases, almost forgotten (there were a few instances in which an author’s ‘Not To Be Missed’ work was noted as being out of print. How incredibly upsetting).

Any horror or speculative fiction fan ought to do themselves a favor and read “Monster, She Wrote”. You will undoubtedly get some new reading ideas, or gain new appreciation for authors you already love, or authors you have yet to discover.

Rating 8: And informative and expansive history of significant female voices in horror and speculative fiction, “Monster, She Wrote” has a lot of reading ideas and a lot of fun and interesting facts about an array of authors.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Monster, She Wrote” isn’t on many Goodreads lists as of now (why?), but it is included on “Best Books About Genre Fiction”.

Find “Monster, She Wrote” at your library using WorldCat!

Book Club Review: “A Christmas Carol”

5327We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing bookclub 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 “American Girl Readalikes”, in which we each pick an American Girl book and a book that can be connected to it, however tenuous as it may be.

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: “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens

Publishing Info: Chapman & Hall, 1843

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

American Girl Book: “Kirsten’s Surprise” by Janet Shaw

Book Description: The celebrated P.J. Lynch captures the spirit of Dickens’s beloved tale in a richly illustrated unabridged edition.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge opens on a Christmas Eve as cold as Scrooge’s own heart. That night, he receives three ghostly visitors: the terrifying spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Each takes him on a heart-stopping journey, yielding glimpses of Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit, the horrifying spectres of Want and Ignorance, even Scrooge’s painfully hopeful younger self. Will Scrooge’s heart be opened? Can he reverse the miserable future he is forced to see?

Now in an unabridged edition gloriously illustrated by the award-winning P.J. Lynch, this story’s message of love and goodwill, mercy and self-redemption resonates as keenly as ever.

Kate’s Thoughts

It’s just me again this time around, as Serena was unable to make book club this session. But I’m going to do my best to bring in some deep thoughts about a Christmas classic that has been part of the Western zeitgeist for generations. We read “A Christmas Carol” along with “Kirsten’s Surprise” because of the obvious Christmas theme, and honestly, this is going to be a fun cycle of reads because of the connections we make between the American Girl books and the other books we read. This was my second time reading Dickens, as I read “A Tale of Two Cities” in high school, and while I could have sworn that I read “A Christmas Carol” at some point I realized as I was reading that I was probably just creating a memory from the countless, COUNTLESS adaptations I’ve seen over the years. Going in and reading the original text was a fun way to get into the holiday spirit, reading wise.

For anyone who may not know, “A Christmas Carol” is a holiday ghost story in which a bitter selfish man is visited by three (technically four) ghosts to learn about the true meaning of Christmas, and to realize he has to change his dickish ways. I’m so familiar with the story I figured that reading it was going to be just par for the course, but I really enjoyed reading this story in it’s own, original words. The ghosts are sufficiently spooky, the pathos is (for the most part, but we’ll get there later) definitely heartwrenching, and the messages of benevolence and charity resonate throughout the years. Ebenezer Scrooge is a complex character whose journey of self reflection and redemption is old hat, but even though I know the story and know how it was going to go I did like seeing him change. Dickens may have been a little ‘on the nose’ by today’s standards when it comes to Scrooge’s reactions as his journey goes on (lots of head hanging, guys), but it is still satisfying to see him realize that he can change and should change for the good of others and for the good of himself.

The greater metaphors that Dickens was going for in the text, specifically Tiny Tim representing the oppressed and downtrodden in England’s lower classes at the time and the references to child labor, are admittedly pretty well played out these days. I myself don’t really care for Tiny Tim, thinking he’s saccharine and cloying (except for Calvin in “Scrooged”, he is ADORABLE and it probably help that he doesn’t talk), but having the context of what Tiny Tim actually is supposed to be was helpful. Because the symbolism is better in the original text, and doesn’t manifest as a sweet faced but constantly coughing/limping/wise beyond his years child, I appreciated Tim more in the book than I usually do. The setting of the Industrial Revolution and knowing how friggin’ AWFUL that was for the lower class in hindsight made me appreciate these messages all the more. Even beyond Tim there are references to children having to go get jobs and not knowing if and when they will see their loved ones come Christmastime, and gosh if that didn’t just make this book a little sadder.

And finally, the ghosts are great. From Marley to Past, Present, and Yet To Come, Dickens made well characterized and freaky spirits that would have perfectly fit into the ‘telling ghost stories at Christmas’ aesthetic that was so popular during this time period. We should bring that back, quite frankly.

I enjoyed reading “A Christmas Carol”. It was a lovely way to get into the holiday spirit!! If you haven’t read it and have a few hours during this holiday season, it is worth the read.

Rating 8: An enduring Christmas classic.

Book Club Questions

  1. There have been many adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” over the years. Which one is your favorite, and why? How faithful of an adaptation was it compared to the original text?
  2. Scrooge has a very clear transformation in this book, and on the page it is made evident from the get go when he feels bad and when he should feel bad for his actions. Do you think there could have been more nuance in his change, or did you appreciate the blatant moments of him realizing he was wrong throughout the story?
  3. “A Christmas Carol” was one of the first Christmas stories to leave a country or pastoral setting to take place in an urban setting. Do you think that the story would have worked as well if it took place in the country instead of London? Why or why not?
  4. What are your thoughts on Tiny Tim? Is he still an effective character as time has gone on?
  5. Why do you think this story has endured for so long and resonated with so many people?

Reader’s Advisory

“A Christmas Carol” is included on the Goodreads lists “Favorite Christmas Books”, and “Ghost Stories”.

Find “A Christmas Carol” at your library using WorldCat!

Next Book Club Book: “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi

Serena’s Review: “Realm of Ash”

43192642._sy475_Book: “Realm of Ash” by Tasha Suri

Publication Info: Orbit, November 2019

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

Book Description: The Ambhan Empire is crumbling. A terrible war of succession hovers on the horizon. The only hope for peace lies in the mysterious realm of ash, where mortals can find what they seek in the echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But to walk there requires a steep price.

Arwa is determined to make the journey. Widowed by a brutal massacre, she’s pledged service to the royal family and will see that pledge through to the end. She never expected to be joined by Zahir, the disgraced, illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden magic in a desperate bid to save those he loves.

Together, they’ll walk the bloody path of their shared past. And it will call into question everything they’ve ever believed…including whether the Empire is worth saving at all.

Previously Reviewed: “Empire of Sand”

Review: While I had some struggles with “Empire of Sand,” I was intrigued enough by the world-building and fantasy elements presented in that first book to be pleased when I was sent a copy of its sequel. I hadn’t looked into this book before hand, but was happy to find that it wasn’t a direct sequel and instead picked up the story years later following Arwa. I was even more happy when I closed the book and could look back with satisfaction on a sequel that I felt surpassed its predecessor.

All of Arwa’s carefully crafted plans for life, that of a good nobleman’s wife who is loyal to family and the Empire, crash around her in tragedy and death. Now, a young widow with secrets swirling around her, Arwa looks to re-orient her life in service of some larger purpose. To do this, she is asked to work along side the illegitimate prince, a young man who has risked much in his own quest to save all he cares for. But in their theorizing and study, Arwa and Zahir begin to question all that they have learned and must decide what truths shall guide them going forward.

I re-read my review for “Empire of Sand” before writing this review, and it was an interesting experience. For one, I had forgotten much of that book, which I guess makes sense considering one of my biggest complaints had to do with my coming away from it with a very “meh” attitude. It’s no wonder that I forgot many of the details if that was what I thought at the time! (I’ll just add here that given that I remembered so little of the first book, it’s safe to say that while reading that one can add elements to the enjoyment of this book, it’s by no means necessary for understanding it or becoming engaged in the story its trying to tell.) But it was also noting the other things that I noted in that book and how they directly correlated with why this one was a stronger read for me.

For one, while I did like Mehr and had few complaints with her, even in my review I noted that I enjoyed her interactions with Arwa. Being the much younger sister with no real memories of their mother, Arwa was less in the position to straddled worlds than Mehr and also had a closer relationship with their stepmother. I was very happy to discover that it was her story we were reading here. While Arwa has the same mixed heritage as Mehr, she was raised as a traditional daughter of the Empire. Her mother and her now long-lost sister and the heritage and culture they both represented have been largely missing from Arwa’s life for some time. But when the tragedy that kills her husband spares her own life, we see Arwa begin taking steps down her own path to self-discovery. It’s an interesting one, too, given that she begins her arc from a completely different position than Arwa. Her original goal is to nothing more than serve the Empire. When she discovers truths about her own people and the Empire itself, she begins to see her own life and those around her through very different eyes.

One of the main challenges I referenced in my review of the first book was in the awkward position it put itself in with needing to straddle the lines between adult fantasy and YA. Much of the pacing and detailed world building fell more inline with the former, but some of the character beats were strikingly familiar to those found in many YA fantasies of the time. This book had a few moments that were similar…why do these character have to immediately feel heart flutters or having unwilling attractions to the romantic interest in the very first meeting?? I’ll never understand why this is done or felt to be needed. For a book that takes such time setting up its world, cultures, and political motivations, the author is clearly trusting readers to stick around for the ride. But when the romance comes along, what? They think readers are going to bounce if the heroine isn’t immediately noting some level of attraction?

But! That little side-vent aside, I found that this book seemed much more settled as a straight-up fantasy, not dedicated to YA. Arwa is a bit older and is a widowed young woman to boot. While her first marriage was not a love match, she’s still not an idealistic teen raging against the world, but a young woman who has lived in the world (though this, too, was limited by the conservative nature of her marriage). Overall, it felt like there were noticeably fewer beats that hailed from YA fantasy, and the book felt more comfortable in its own skin.

The pacing was still rather slow, however. But here, too, much of the work laid down in the first book helped make these depictions feel more natural as they were only laying more on top of a foundation that had already been built. I particularly enjoyed the added fantasy elements and the court politics that come to play.

In the end, I came away from this book much more satisfied than I had with the first. As a whole, it felt more complete and self-assured. I found Arwa’s arc to be more compelling with its exploration of grief and new love, ostracization  and self-acceptance. Fans of the first book are sure to be pleased with this one. And, while made stronger by being read after that book, I think it can still be an approachable read for new fantasy-loving readers as well. And, of course, don’t forget to enter to win an ARC copy of the book!

Rating 8: A stronger outing than the first and a heroine who is equally, if not more, compelling!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Realm of Ash” is on this Goodreads lists: “2019 Adult SFF by Authors of Color.”

Find “Realm of Ash” at your library using WorldCat!