Category: Serena’s Reviews

Serena’s Review: “Shield Maiden”

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

Book: “Shield Maiden” by Sharon Emmerichs

Publishing Info: Redhook, October 2023

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

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

Book Description: Both epic and intimate, Sharon Emmerichs’s extraordinary debut novel reimagines  Beowulf  from the perspective of a young woman reclaiming her power. 
 
All her life, Fryda has longed to be a shield maiden, an honor reserved for Geatland’s mightiest warriors. When a childhood accident leaves her tragically injured and unfit for the battlefield, her dreams are dashed—or so she thinks. But a strange, unfathomable power is awakening within her, a power that will soon be put to the test.
 
For when foreign lords and chieftains descend upon Fryda’s home to celebrate her uncle King Beowulf’s fifty-year reign, she realizes not all their guests come with good intentions. Treachery is afoot, and Fryda must gather her courage to fight for her people…as a queen should—as a shield maiden would—and as only Fryda can.
 
But as Fryda’s power grows stronger, something ancient hears its call. For buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon awakens…and Fryda must prove herself once and for all.

Review: I’m not overly familiar with the story of Beowolf. I know the general plot points, but I’ve never read any versions of the original, only loose re-imaginings. So, to continue that trend, I guess, I was happy to check out this book, another story that approaches the original from a unique angle, this time that of a young woman whose dreams of becoming a shield maiden have been hindered by a tragic accident when she was young.

This book was a bit of a struggle for me, which is too bad, because it was one of the fall titles that I was especially looking forward to. But first, I’ll cover some of the things that worked for me. For one thing, the overall writing I think is fairly strong. I wasn’t distracted by any strange turns of phrase, and the plot moved along smoothly, if somewhat slowly, throughout the story. I was also surprised by some of the choices the author made with perspective, especially the chapters sprinkled throughout that come from the point of view of the dragon that makes an appearance at the end of this story, as with the end of “Beowolf.”

But this last point also gets to a few of my problems with the story. While the writing was strong enough, I felt that the structure of the story was strange. Given the fact that the dragon had not one but multiple chapters of its own, I expected it to play a much larger role in the story itself. As it stands, the dragon only shows up at the end and is very succinctly dealt with, making the build up to this confrontation feel strange in hindsight.

I also struggled with the main character. I liked the exploration of her life attempting to become a shield maiden, seemingly thwarted at every turn by not only her role in life but also the devastating injury she sustain as a young girl which left her with limited use of one of her hands. But beyond these larger strokes, her choices and naivety throughout the story were increasingly difficult not to become frustrated by. She has not only one friend who is enslaved, but her love interest has also lived as a slave of the household. And yet Fryda seems largely unaware of what life is like for these two, close friends she’s known since children. Not only that, she is surprised when she learns of things they experience and the limitations of their existence.

I also struggled with the romance, which was very disappointing, as I went in with high hopes for this aspect of the story. But right from the beginning, I knew this wasn’t going to be for me. In the first scene in which we meet these two, they are obviously both into one another, but in both of their perspectives, the reader is subjected to fairly ridiculous inner thoughts and even outwards expressions of doubt about the other. At one point, they outright ask those around them if they think the other is into them! I believe this book is marketed as an adult fantasy, and this depiction of romance was incredibly juvenile, even by YA standards, a category to which this book shouldn’t belong.

All of this aside, I definitely think there is an audience for this book. For all that the romance wasn’t for me, I think it’s the kind that will appeal to a lot of other readers. If anything, I will admit that it was a breath of fresh air that both characters were rather straight-forwardly interested in each other, without either being grumpy or an “enemy” of the other. But, for me, this book was a bit of a let down.

Rating 7: Solid writing and an approachable romance will likely be a hit for many readers, but I was put off by some of the structure of the book as well as the overly YA nature of the love story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shield Maiden” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Based on Beowulf.

Serena’s Review: “A Multitude of Dreams”

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

Book: “A Multitude of Dreams” by Mara Rutherford

Publishing Info: Inkyard Press, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: Princess Imogen of Goslind has lived a sheltered life for three years at the boarded-up castle—she and the rest of its inhabitants safe from the bloody mori roja plague that’s ravaged the kingdom. But Princess Imogen has a secret, and as King Stuart descends further into madness, it’s at great risk of being revealed. Rations dwindle each day, and unhappy murmurings threaten to crack the facade of the years-long charade being played within the castle walls. Nico Mott once enjoyed a comfortable life of status, but the plague took everyone and everything from him. If not for the generosity of a nearby lord, Nico may not have survived the mori roja’s aftermath. But does owing Lord Crane his life mean he owes him his silence? When Lord Crane sends Nico to search for more plague survivors in the castle, Nico collides with a princess who wants to break out. They will each have to navigate the web of lies they’ve woven if they’re going to survive the nightmares that lie ahead.

Review: I pretty much went and placed a request for this book so quickly that I failed to notice much of anything about it…other than the fact that I loved the cover art! When I slowed down and took the time to actually look into the book I was requesting, I was pleased to realize that it was another book by Mara Rutherford, the author of “The Poison Season,” a book I read last winter and very much enjoyed. I also found it very amusing that this book sounds like a medieval, fantasy version of Covid lockdowns, with one of our main characters having spent many years “sheltering in place” in a castle.

While I did have a few quibbles with this one, overall I thought it was a fun, stand-alone fantasy. I liked both of our main characters, especially Imogen. Her history and experiences in the castle were interesting and lead to a lot of great character dynamics between her, her father the king, and her three sisters. But starting here and throughout the rest of this review, most of my main quibbles were that I wish there was a just a bit more…something to this book. These relationships, built around a shared secret, were all rich and ripe for delving into the complex nature of family relationships, especially when external forces twist them. There were moments when the story tackled these concepts, brief flashes into the complicated feelings that Imogen has towards her father, in particular. But I felt like these brief brushes against deeper wells of emotions often left me feeling frustrated that we weren’t devoting more time and attention to these themes.

Nico’s story is the much more action-oriented of the two. His was also the one that lead to probably the most surprising twist of the story. I was honestly not expecting this book to take the turn that it did, but once it did, I was able to catch up quickly to the type of story we’d be reading. After that, some of the other twists and turns were more expected, but not displeasing in their own right. When Nico and Imogen meet, their relationship progresses fairly quickly. It does verge a bit too closely to “instalove” for my taste, given that the entire book takes place over a few days. But as the love story isn’t the main focus of the story, I wasn’t overly bothered by the fact that it came on so quickly.

I will say, I did struggle a bit with the use of Judaism in this book. The author mentions in her note that she wanted to explore how the Jewish population was often targeted when disasters like plague struck a region. But while I think this exploration on its own is interesting (indeed, I think it’s actually been a topic I’ve seen covered in a handful of other fantasy titles within the the last few years), I wasn’t sure that the execution worked as well here. Mostly because the inclusion of Jews made me question the world-building itself. There were no other recognizable ethnic or religious groups included. Instead, the entire world is clearly second-world fantasy (some of the twists and turns take the story to a truly fantastical place), so it was throw me off to suddenly stray across a reference to the Jewish quarter. It simply read as strange. And beyond that, again, here, this was very much a theme and section of the book that was only touched on briefly here and there. It was never truly central to the story. That being the case, to not really make the treatment of Jewish communities a true central portion of your story, the inclusion felt strange when no other recognizable parts of our world were there alongside it. It almost felt like the author had written the entire book in one draft, and then decided she wanted to cover this topic of history as well and simply went back and just inserted references to Judaism into the completed text. It was strange.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. I read it very quickly and did enjoy the two main characters especially. However, I was also left wanting more from a lot of the themes that were briefly touched upon in the story.

Rating 7: A good read for those looking for a fresh YA fantasy, though it fails to deeply explore many of the themes it introduces.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Multitude of Dreams” can be found on this Goodreads list: Raven & Crow

Serena’s Review: “The Fragile Threads of Power”

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

Book: “The Fragile Threads of Power” by V.E. Schwab

Publishing Info: Tor, September 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory―Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years―and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland’s absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own―but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.

Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she’s the only one who can bring them together―or unravel it all.

Review: I can fairly confidently say that this was my most anticipated read of 2023. Not only have I enjoyed every V.E. Schwab book I’ve read, but my favorites by were were the three books that made up her “Shades of Magic” trilogy. And its been years and years and years since those books came out! I wasn’t even expecting a return to this world as the original trilogy ended quite neatly. But not only are we returning to the world, but we’re returning to the same main characters (plus a few extras) several years later! The best of the best.

And yes, there was a lot to like about this book! First and foremost, for fans of the original trilogy, I’m happy to report that our main characters are just as awesome as you remember them, perhaps even more so as they tackle the ever more complex relationships between one another. I was a bit concerned going in that Lila, Kel, Rys and Luc would be relegated to background characters who just flitted in and out of the main storyline. But rest assured, they play vital, central roles to everything that is happening. Per my experience with the first trilogy, Lila is still far and away my favorite character of the four. As the book plays out, the story jumps backwards in time at several points to show how are characters have lived over the last eight or so years. Through these flashbacks, we get to see Lila as a captain, Lila as a reluctant leader, and, best of all, Lila as a support system for Kel as he deals with the loss of his magic. Of course, her “support” comes in the very hard-nosed style that we all would expect from her.

For his part, Kel’s story was heart-breaking as he traverses the various stages of grief over the loss of the central portion of his identity. Schwab doesn’t shy away from the very dark places that this kind of loss can inflict on people. Rys probably gets the least page time, but for this book, at least, his story is the most straight-forward: learning how to become a king at a very young age. Alucard was the one who surprised me the most, however. In the original trilogy, he felt like the least of the four characters (not necessarily in preference, just in page time and the amount of story given to him). But here he is probably the most central character of the four to the main arch and mystery that makes up the plot of this book. I really enjoyed getting to spend more time with this character, and I’m very intrigued to see where he goes from there.

Now, to the new characters. Yes, of course, they are very good as well, especially Tes, the young girl with the extraordinary ability to see and manipulate magic itself. Her history was interesting, with a complicated and, at times, frightening family. And her abilities open a lot of pathways forward (perhaps too many? She definitely has the potential to run the story into the “Superman problem” where a character is so over-powered that essentially any conflict going forward could be solved by that one person simply intervening). I also liked the Antari queen that we meet in White London. There’s an interesting mystery building there, but I have to admit that she was my least favorite of the group. Not because she was a bad character in her own right, but because she had some stiff competition and there were a few mysteries that I feel are leading in a very obvious, dark direction which makes me struggle to truly connect ot her.

So, that’s a lot about characters, and there’s a reason why: Yes, I mostly read for characters, so that’s common of my reviews. But in this case, the characters were truly the heart of the story. As much as I enjoyed this read, and I really, really did, it definitely suffers as being the first book in a trilogy. Almost 90% of the story is devoted to understanding how our familiar characters ended up where they did and introducing the new characters and their history. Beyond that, there’s a rather short, simple mystery that is resolved at the end. But it’s also clear that Schwab is placing much larger pieces on this chessboard, and much of this book is spent properly positioning everything. That alone is why I had to knock this one down from a 10 star rating. But on pure enjoyment, pure joy at seeing beloved characters back on the page again, this is definitely a top tier book!

Rating 9: It’s a rare feat to return to a beloved fantasy trilogy, pick up fan favorite characters and manage to not break anything in the process, but Schwab makes it look easy! A triumphant return that’s nothing less than masterful!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Fragile Threads of Power” is on this Goodreads list: [ATY 2024] Touch of Magic.

Serena’s Review: “A Study in Drowning”

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

Book: “A Study in Drowning” by Ava Reed

Publishing Info: HarperTeen, September 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effy’s tattered, dog-eared copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.

But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favorite author is a fraud.

As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Review: First off, what a fantastic cover! I think this one is my favorite of the year, so far. It sets the tone for the novel and is just interesting in its own right, with little details that pop out the longer you look at it. Other than that, this book was an obvious choice to read this month. I struggled a bit with Reid’s most recent book, but I really enjoyed her first. And even in the more recent one, my struggles came down to some personal preferences, as her writing and world-building is beyond reproach, as far as I’m concerned. And man, am I glad I got to this one! This is now my favorite book by this author, overtaking “The Wolf and the Woodsman.”

Per the usual for Reid at this point, she tackles some dark, complicated themes in this book. Specifically, this one deals with the challenges that women historically have faced when daring to venture into realms previously dominated by men. After being denied entrance to the most prestigious, and her preferred, college, Effy must settle for being the only woman in the second, lesser choice. Her experience goes wrong from the very start, and while the majority of this book doesn’t take place at the college itself, her inner journey is largely based around the events that occurred there.

But beyond real world dangers, Effy’s life has been one of constant vigilance against the dark beings that haunt her, beings that she believes are signs of her own mental weakening. This book is promoted as a gothic fantasy, and I can’t think of a better example of the subgenre. You can feel the atmosphere dripping from the pages, with descriptions of crumbling staircases, flooded basements, and a landscape that is unsteady beneath the feet. The side characters only add to this pervasive sense of building doom. The man who runs the house is mercurial and cryptic, his family history full of cobwebs and deceptions. And their are other beings, lurking around corners, with Effy never quite sure how much is real and how much is in her head.

The book is also marketed as an academic rival romance, which I think is less on point. Effy and Preston are rivals for a hot second before quickly coming to a mutually beneficial agreement of cooperation. And, really, I don’t have a problem with that in this case. There are so many other mysteries on hand that I was happy to see the romance play out in a fairly straightforward manner. Effy has enough on her plate without long bouts of snark and delayed understanding between the two. Instead, their romance follows a slow, steady progression, serving as a solid backbone to all of the uncertainty around them.

There is clearly a lot of thought that has went into building this world. Effy and Preston’s nations are at war, there is a religious system built up around folklore and the deification of great artists, there’s a tragic history of large swaths of the countryside suddenly being swallowed by the sea. While I liked all of it in its own right, I was left wanting a bit more from all of these arenas, at the same time. I’m not quite sure what purpose was served by the nations at war, as this never plays into the story in any meaningful way? And while the religion and folklore received more attention, I was still left with some questions by the end.

However, wanting more is probably one of the best problems to have with a book! As I said above, this book is all about the atmosphere. Effy and Preston are good characters, but now after reading three books by this author, I think I can say that the strengths of her writing lie more with her world-building and dark fantasy elements. Fans of gothic fantasy should definitely check this one out!

Rating 9: Reid presents a master class on how to write a gothic fantasy, delivering a story where the sense of place is just as much a character as any of the human (or not!) variety.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Study in Drowning” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2023 Dark Academia Releases and 2023 Gothic.

Serena’s Review: “Witch of Wild Things”

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

Book: “Witch of Wild Things” by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: Legend goes that long ago a Flores woman offended the old gods, and their family was cursed as a result. Now, every woman born to the family has a touch of magic.

Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands.

What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart.

With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.

Review: Cozy fantasy is a term that I both am a bit skeptical of (it seems like another way of differentiating “serious” SFF from “that woman stuff” which I don’t think benefits anyone) and a subgenre that I’ve struggled to enjoy. But I do like romances and I do like sister drama and I do like low-level family magic, so I thought this one was definitely worth a shot. However, in the end, I don’t think this is the best example of any of these themes.

But I’ll start with what I did like. For the most part, the main character was a good lead. I enjoyed her voice, and in particular, her relationships with a few of the women in her life were very interesting and explored a level of complexity that I hadn’t expected. For example, Sage has a close friend who has a struggling marriage, and I appreciated the care that went into the balancing act that is supporting a friend in this situation where, to an outsider, the problem and solution seems easy, but to the friend whose life is in the balance, things are much more complicated. I also really appreciated the exploration of Sage’s relationship with the woman who took over the care of Sage and her sisters when they were young. There were some very nice points about grief and the burdens we can place on those around us when caught up in devastating positions. But, even here, there were moments where the depiction of this relationship took a bit of jarring turn towards the simplistic, with Sage taking on a rather “perfect victim” persona that left me wanting.

And this speaks to many of my problems with the other relationships in this books. Many of the characters, including Sage herself at times, came across as simple and without any real depth of character. The romantic hero is the most bland example of handsome perfection that I’ve come across in a long time. Pick out some romance hero tropes, and he checks them all of neatly, right in a row. And then the relationship between Sage and her angry younger sister, Teal, verged on the ridiculous at times, with Teal coming across as an unbelievable caricature of irrational anger.

Beyond this, I struggled with the overall tone of the novel. At times, Sage definitely took on a more YA sounding voice, testing my ability to believe her to be a 29 year old woman who has actually lived in the world. This isn’t helped by the inclusion of some truly cringe-worthy AOL conversations from her teenage years. And, unfortunately, these blasts from the internet-past can’t be simply skipped as they are key to understanding the unfolding relationship between Tenn and Sage in the present day.

There were bits and pieces of the story that I liked, which did help me get through it. But I often found myself struggling to really invest in any of these characters or care about the romance at the heart of it. I do think there are readers who will enjoy this, but I think the biggest failure lies with its inability to depict adult characters who…well…behave and think like adults.

Rating 6: Not for me, though I do think the depictions of the beautiful location and some of the lyrical moments had merit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Witch of Wild Things” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Mushrooms, Toadstools, Fungus and The Witches.

Serena’s Review: “Together We Rot”

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

Book: “Together We Rot” by Skyla Arndt

Publishing Info: Viking Books for Young Readers, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: Wil Greene’s mom has been missing for over a year, and the police are ready to call the case closed–they claim she skipped town and you can’t find a woman who wants to disappear. But she knows her mom wouldn’t just leave…and she knows the family of her former best friend, Elwood Clarke, has something to do with it.

Elwood has been counting down the days until his 18th birthday–in dread. It marks leaving school and joining his pastor father in dedicating his life to their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But when he comes home after one night of after a final goodbye with his friends, already self-flagellating for the sins of drinking and disobeying his father, he discovers his path is not as virtuous as he thought. He’s not his father’s successor, but his sacrifice. For the woods he’s grown up with are thirsty, and must be paid in blood.

Now on the run from a family that wants him dead, he turns to the only one who will believe him: Wil. Together, they form a reluctant partnership; she’ll help him hide if he helps her find evidence that his family killed her mother. But in the end they dig up more secrets than they bargained for, unraveling decades of dark cult dealings in their town, led by the Clarke family.

And there’s a reason they need Elwood’s blood for their satanic rituals. Something inhuman is growing inside of him. Everywhere he goes, the plants come alive and the forest calls to him, and Wil isn’t sure if she can save the boy she can’t help but love.

Review: This is definitely one of those books that crosses genres between what Kate and I both like to read. She, of course, would be drawn by the creepy nature of the story, especially the focus on the dark cult. While I like the paranormal aspect of it, and the spooky, haunted forest that sounds right out of the best kinds of fairytales. I think I can safely say that we both liked the cover. Through some snooping on Kate’s personal Goodreads, she also read this book and liked it, overall. For me, it was a bit more hit and miss.

But let’s start with what did work. And the first thing that comes to mind is the atmospheric nature of the story. As I said, I was partially drawn in by the mention of a cursed woods, and man, that cursed woods really hits well. Not only do large chunks of the story take place in the woods themselves, but the author has a real talent for evocative writing, making the trees themselves come alive. This same skillful writing also very much works with the more creepy aspects of the story. There were definitely some scenes and descriptions that were truly horrific, but some of these same scenes were also rather beautiful? While others were simply gruesome. Either way, the author’s writing style definitely leant itself to these more descriptive, lyrical moments of the story.

I struggled more with the pacing and the characterization of the two main POV characters, and, to lesser extents, the side characters. Both of these quibbles come down to the same thing, I think: this is an incredibly short book. On one hand, I always want to applaud authors who don’t feel the need to write massive tomes. But on the other hand, there is also a point where a book can suffer for its brevity, and that’s the case here. While Wil and Elwood had the makings of excellent characters, there simply wasn’t enough time in the book to really flesh each of them out, let alone the complicated nature of their relationship. For all that we are told that they used to be close, they had a fight, and then this book sees them coming together again, the reader is never truly given enough of this history to invest in this changing relationship. Instead, where there was room for a lot of depth of feeling and growth, we are left with a story that goes from “enemies” to “lovers” in the blink of an eye, undermining the supposed seriousness of their original falling out.

The same problem shows up in the overall pacing of the story. Because the book is so short, the reader is jumping from one scene to the next quite quickly. The entire story also only takes place over a few days, adding to this rather frenetic reading experience. While I think books that tell a story that plays out in a short time span can work, they still rely on enough substance to be woven in to allow the reader to fully invest in the characters and the situations they are experiencing. And unfortunately, some of that greater substance was lacking.

Overall, I think this book had a lot of potential, and even fifty or so more pages added on could have bounced this up to an 8 rating for me. As it stands, I think the author has a real skill for lyrical, evocative storytelling, so I’m definitely interested to see what she does next! Fans of contemporary paranormal horror will likely enjoy this one, but go in more for the creepy forest and religious cult than for the characters.

Rating 7: A sure hand on the lyrical style of her writing, I simply wish Ardnt had allowed us more of it than what we got here in this shorter, paranormal horror story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Together We Rot” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Folk Horror and Moody stories about small towns with secrets and magic.

Serena’s Review: “Murder at Midnight”

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

Book: “Murder at Midnight” by Katharine Schellman

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, September 2023

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

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

Previously Reviewed: “The Body in the Garden” and “Silence in the Library” and “Death at the Manor”

Book Description: Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Ashley Weaver, when a body is found shot to death after an unexpected snowstorm, Lily Adler quickly realizes that some people will stop at nothing to bury their secrets this holiday season.

Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to returning to Hertfordshire to spend time with the family of her late husband. She is also excited that Captain Jack Hartley, her friend and confidante, will be visiting his own family after a long voyage at sea. With winter quickly approaching, Lily is most excited at the prospect of a relaxing and enjoyable Christmastide season away from the schemes and secrets she witnessed daily in London.

At a neighborhood ball, she soon becomes reacquainted with a friend of her late husband, Peter Coleridge, a wealthy man who not only manages Irish investments, but also a fund that most of the locals of Hertfordshire take part in. There, she also learns Jack’s sister, Amelia, is the subject of much of the neighborhood gossip—although Amelia refuses to explain if there is any truth to it. For a brief moment, Lily wonders if she ever really left London.

When a snowstorm forces several guests, including both the Adlers and the Hartleys, to stay the night, Lily quickly deduces that all is not well this holiday season. In the morning, a maid discovers the body of a guest in the poultry yard, shot to death—and he is the same man that is scandalously linked to Amelia.

Lily accepts the offer to assist in the investigation, but will she find more than what she bargained for the more she digs? Or will she herself be buried deep within the snow?

Review: Time for another historical mystery review! At this point, I’m really only up-to-date with this series and Sherry Thomas’s “Charlotte Holmes” series. There’s just not enough time in the day to get to all of the books I want, and, unfortunately when push comes to shove, I’ll often prioritize SFF over historical fiction and mysteries. But I do seem to be able to manage to keep up with these two series. I was particularly interested in this latest Lily Adler book due to the fact that while I had enjoyed all of the books up to that point, I had real problems with the latest one. So in my mind, the quality of this latest book would be really telling for my continued enjoyment of the series! And I’m happy to report that while we may not have recaptured the highs of the first book or two, this one is a solid entry in the series and enough of a return to form to ensure my continued reading of these books.

There was a lot to like in this new Lily Adler book. For one thing, I really love this style of mystery, where a large group of suspects (and victims!) are trapped in a location together and must solve a murder. The format allows for a large cast of characters, tons of red herrings that are believable, and much emphasis placed on interpersonal relationships, something that I always focus on in my reading. I also enjoyed the exploration of the group dynamic, which we see done expertly here. As Lily and her companions go longer and longer trapped together in this house, we see the breakdown of conventions and norms, the reduction of individuals to their more basic instincts, and the tendency for people to circle the wagons and “other” anyone who doesn’t fit within strict definitions of right and wrong. For her part, Lily Adler sweeps through these tensions with grace and a practical eye for how these dynamics can relate to guilt and innocence, misplaced fear or rightfully felt concern to hide one’s involvement in a crime. I also really enjoyed the fact that while I was able to piece together some clues to the mystery, there were many other twists and turns that I didn’t spot coming!

I also really enjoyed the continued interpersonal and romantic dynamics. In the previous book, a new love interest was introduced, and while I didn’t have any issues with this character on his own, I was already firmly in the corner of Lily and Jack. So of course I was beyond pleased when Jack himself returned in this book and played a fairly central role. But I also was surprised by how much I enjoyed the continued exploration of Lily’s relationship with this other suitor. The relationship took a few surprising turns, and I was impressed by the way the author used this relationship to highlight the true choices that women faced in this time, even when partnered to a good man by every definition.

I also really enjoyed meeting some new characters, notably Jack’s younger sister Amelia who plays a central role in this story. We also get some POV chapters from her, which I very much enjoyed. Fans of the series are sure to enjoy this one!

Rating 8: All in all, this was an excellent entry in the series. I was glad to see the return of fan favorite characters, and was pleased to see an improvement in the mystery itself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder at Midnight” can be found on this Goodreads list: Historical Mystery 2023

Serena’s Review: “Godkiller”

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

Book: “Godkiller” by Hannah Kaner

Publishing Info: Harper Voyager, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: Kissen kills gods for a living, and she enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skediceth, god of white lies, who is connected to a little noble girl on the run.

Elogast fought in the god war, and helped purge the city of a thousand shrines before laying down his sword. A mysterious request from the King sends him racing back to the city he destroyed.

On the way he meets a godkiller, a little girl and a littler god, who cannot find out about his quest.

Review: I was drawn in by the fantastic cover art for this novel, but I stayed for the book description of a young woman whose mission in life is hunting down gods. I’m always a sucker for fantasy novels that deal with wars with gods as I think the themes of religion and fantasy play so well together, each dealing with belief and how that shapes an individual, for good and bad. And this one definitely lived up to my expectations!

While the above book description mentions both Kissen and Elogast, I still went into it with the expectation that this was a single POV story, probably because the title implies that the godkiller, Kissen, would be the main character. And, while I would argue that she still is, the story is in fact not only a dual POV between Kissen and Elogast, but also includes the young girl, Inara, and, surprisingly, the god Skedi as well!

And while Skedi by far has the fewest chapters, I do think his inclusion was integral to the success behind the general premise of this story. The prologue and Kissen’s story set up one clear narrative with regards to gods: they are dangerous and bring only harm to those around them. But Elogast’s history and perspective, and Skedi’s very existence, complicate this narrative. What’s more, Skedi is not a perfect rebuttal, being a very flawed individual in his own right. Instead, his POV serves to highlight the chaotic nature of the gods in this world and to blow wide the discussion regarding inherent nature and how that plays into the ways we regard those around us.

I also really enjoyed the relationships that are built up in this story between all of the different characters. Yes, there is the slow-burn romance between Kissen and Elogast, always a winning feature for me who enjoys a love story included in my fantasy. But all of the characters had nuanced and interesting relationships between them as well! Kissen and Inara, with Kissen’s long-standing dislike of children being slowly worn down in the face of Inara’s strength and persistence. Between Inara and Skedi, we see a long-standing friendship tested with betrayal and misunderstanding. Between Skedi and Kissen, we see how immediate distrust and bias can push people (and gods!) into harming those around them and betraying their own most basic moral baselines. For his part, Elogast’s relationships to all of these characters was the most straight-forward. But I think his more steady character type served as a necessary foundation upon which to anchor much of the chaos created by those around him.

I will say, however, that my one big quibble came down to the geography of this world. This is such a weird, obsessive point that I know many people won’t even care about, but for me, I kept hyper fixating on it throughout the book. The story includes a map in the beginning (yay maps!) and it lays out one of the major cities as across a large body of water from the rest of the world. And then much of the story itself it taken up with the characters travelling to this city. And yet, it seemed like they travelled completely by land, were able to spot the city from quite a distance across land, and generally never acknowledged the layout of the map. I could very well have been missing something, but throughout the book, I kept getting confused about their actual route and looking at the map and just being even more confused. I did read an ARC, so maybe the artwork or these references weren’t finalized (though the word “references” underplays how much the geography plays into the main storyline). Weird quibble, but I couldn’t complete my review without mentioning it as it did take up a serious amount of my reading time, flipping back and forth between the text and the map.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It felt refreshing in an often-crowded genre, while also relying on some tried and true character types. There were some legitimately surprising twists and turns towards the end of the novel that lay out an interesting path forward for the next book.

Rating 8: A deceptively simple premise belies the depths to be found in this fantastic fantasy debut tackling themes of religion, family, and what makes up one’s very nature.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Godkiller” isn’t on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Gods and Goddesses Books

Serena’s Review: “House of Marionne”

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

Book: “House of Marionne” by J. Elle

Publishing Info: Razorbill, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: 17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training.

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Brimming with ballgowns and betrayal, magic and mystery, decadence and darkness, House of Marionne is perfect for readers who crave morally gray characters, irresistible romance, dark academia, and a deeply intoxicating and original world.

Review: Well, I’m predictable at least. If you give me a beautiful cover and mention the words “dark academia” in your book summary, there’s a decent change I’ll check out your book. Also, “Bridgerton” season three has been taking foreeeever to come out, so the reference to ball gowns and high society is a nice little perk to my current interests. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases where a lot of excellent individual ingredients were thrown into a single pot, but the end result was a mess.

But, first, some of the good individual ingredients. I liked the writing style, overall. It did fall a bit on the younger side of YA for my own personal preferences, but everything ran smoothly and I had a clear idea of the scenes we were exploring and the characters making up this world. It seems silly to point out, but whenever a writer manages to tell a story without throwing me out of the narrative with awkward word choices or jilted or repetitive sentence structure, that’s already a great win, and Elle manages all of that here. Overall, I was pretty into the book in the first little bit. I also like a lot of the ideas that make up this world, but this is also where things began to fall apart a bit.

Once we get to the magical world of it all, we quickly discover there are several different societies with different histories and priorities of magic. Luckily for me, I always check out the end of a book, author’s note, etc. before really starting a book, so I was able to discover an appendix with the histories of all of these houses. However, unless a reader also happened to look at the back of the book like I did here, the world-building given in the actual text is very confusing and sparse. The details provided in the appendix were sometimes key to understanding some of the politics of this world, and by hiding this information at the end of the book, it presents a challenging reading experience.

There were also aspects of the world and magic that seemed fairly arbitrary. For example, the women have these tiaras that are essentially part of their heads? And the men have masks? And somehow these are connected to their magical abilities? It’s all very obscure and never explained in any way. Instead, it’s easy to see the author simply picturing this world in this way, and then plopping it down in the book without much support for the entire concept. There were other aspects of the world and magic like this that, as I went a long, became increasingly frustrating to just roll with.

I also really struggled with Quell. Fairly early on, she comes across as a very unserious person who isn’t appreciating the reality of her situation. We’re told that her mom has had them on the run her entire life to protect Quell from those who would harm her for her strange magic. But then the second they are separated, Quell chooses to run straight to the very people her mother has been running from. It’s a bizarre choice, and one that isn’t well supported unless Quell is just a dunderhead. From there, she proceeds to become a Mary Sue, quickly conquering magical tasks that others have been struggling with for years at the school. The were some legitimate twists and interesting choices that Quell makes towards the end of the book, but these were too few, too late.

As is often the case, if I struggle with the main character, I also struggle with the romance. For what it’s worth, I didn’t actively dislike the romantic interest. He was perfectly fine for the type of character he was supposed to be. But my increasing frustration with Quell made my interest in the progression of this romance to wane fairly quickly. Again, there were some interesting turns towards the end in this regard as well. But also again, it wasn’t enough to save my overall reading experience.

Rating 6: A frustrating main character and confusing world left me feeling fairly turned off on this YA fantasy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“House of Marionne” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Releases September 2023 and Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2023

Serena’s Review: “The Phoenix King”

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

Book: “The Phoenix King” by Aparna Verma

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: The Ravani kingdom was born of a prophecy, carved from unforgiving desert sands and ruled by the Ravence bloodline: those with the power to command the Eternal Fire.

Elena Aadya is the heir to the throne—and the only Ravence who cannot wield her family’s legendary magic. As her coronation approaches, she will do whatever it takes to prove herself a worthy successor to her revered father. But she doesn’t anticipate the arrival of Yassen Knight, the notorious assassin who now claims fealty to the throne. Elena’s father might trust Yassen to be a member of her royal guard, but she is certain he is hiding something. 

As the threat of war looms like a storm on the horizon, the two begin a dangerous dance of intrigue and betrayal. And the choices they make could burn down the world.

Review: This book was originally self-published as “The Boy With Fire” before it was picked up by Orbit to be traditionally published under this new title. As such, it already has a fairly devoted fan base who really loved it and, I’m sure, were very excited to get this new version of the book. For me, I hadn’t heard of the book originally, but was excited to check it out, not only due to the hype of previous fans, but because the synopsis sounds right up my alley. I obviously really loved “The Poppy Wars,” so any comparison there is a good sign. And then I was also intrigued by its connections to Hinduism and Indian mythology.

But, while the book overall did have positives, I found myself struggling to read it. Before I get into any of the negatives, I do want to talk about the aspects of the book that I appreciated. For one thing, the writing was very evocative and strong. This very much read as an author who has a firm grip on their own voice and style. The plot moves smoothly (if slowly) and the characterization is fairly solid. I also really liked the book’s depiction of religion and how it is explored throughout the story. While I don’t have a strong knowledge of Hinduism, I liked what we saw here with how it was applied to this fantasy world. As far as world-building goes, I also liked the general idea of mixing fantasy and sci-fi elements into one story.

However, while these all were strengths of the story, my actual experience of reading the book felt like a slog. I think a lot of this has to do with pacing. This book is not short and it takes a long time for any real action to begin. However, at the same time, some of the information is presented in a way that feels rushed or under-explained. The pacing wasn’t helped by the multiple POVs that make up the story. There are many challenges of writing a successful multi-POV novel. The one I’ve most often talked about is the difficulty of writing voices and characters that feel distinct from one another and who have enough of an arch to justify their own page time. But another challenge is the fact that switches in POV can disrupt the pace, and I think that was one of my struggles here.

My second real sticking point was with the characters. I feel like I’ve been running into this problem a lot with some of the recent adult fantasy novels I’ve read lately, but, again, the female POV character, Elena, read much closer to a YA heroine than an adult. Again, no shade on YA heroines, but if a book is billed as an adult fantasy, I expect the adult characters to be going through arcs and challenges that would be typical of that age group. Instead, we see a lot of naivety and a coming-of-age story from Elena, themes which are much more in line with a YA storyline.

For his part, Yassan was more interesting to me, but I did end up becoming quite frustrated with a reveal we get towards the end of the book. I won’t spoil what it was, but it was the kind of reveal that made the fact that we had been in Yassan’s head for large chunks of this book suddenly feel disingenuous. Yassan is not aware that he’s a character in a book and needs to hold back certain information for climatic purposes later in the story. It makes zero sense that he wouldn’t refer to these things in his own inner thoughts, so when it’s later revealed, it’s like a dash of cold water to the reader’s face, casting you out of the reading experience.

Similarly, I didn’t really buy the love story between these two. It wasn’t objectively bad, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between then, and was generally not very invested in their romance. Overall, this was a disappointing read. It definitely has strengths, and I’m sure it will resonate with some readers. Unfortunately, it just didn’t hit right for me.

Rating 7: While the writing is solid and I enjoyed the themes around religion, I struggled to connect with the characters in this one.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Phoenix King” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Indian Inspired Fantasy Books and South Asian Fantasy