Category: Serena’s Reviews

Serena’s Review: “The Bird and the Sword”

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Book: “The Bird and the Sword” by Amy Harmon

Publishing Info: CreateSpace, May 2016

Where Did I Get this Book: own it!

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

Book Description: Swallow, Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them ‘til they’ve time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, ‘til the hour. You won’t speak and you won’t tell, you won’t call on heav’n or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, Daughter. Stay alive.

The day my mother was killed, she told my father I wouldn’t speak again, and she told him if I died, he would die too. Then she predicted the king would trade his soul and lose his son to the sky.

My father has a claim to the throne, and he is waiting in the shadows for all of my mother’s words to come to pass. He wants desperately to be king, and I just want to be free.

But freedom will require escape, and I’m a prisoner of my mother’s curse and my father’s greed. I can’t speak or make a sound, and I can’t wield a sword or beguile a king. In a land purged of enchantment, love might be the only magic left, and who could ever love . . . a bird?

Review: Now that I’ve discovered Amy Harmon, I’m probably going to just systematically work my way through her catalogue. And, surprise, surprise, when I started looking through her book list, I discovered several books I’d already flagged on my TBR list. I’d had my eyes on this one for quite a while, but now that I knew I already liked the author, it was a no brainer to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible!

Lark was born with a powerful gift, the ability to influence things around her with her voice. But in a land where magic is outlawed, Lark’s mother, in a final act as she’s lying dying in front of her small daughter, locks Lark’s voice away to protect her. Now, silenced and moving through a world that only wants to use her, Lark finds herself caught up in great wars and the fate of a nation. But will the love a King be enough to unlock her voice and with it a power that could save them all?

This is the second book that I’ve read recently that features a protagonist who can’t speak for most of the book. The last one was the middle-grade novel “Gallant.” It’s a particularly challenging choice for an author to make as it greatly limits one of the primary ways that writers establish relationships between their characters. But Harmon definitely pulls it off here. She does find a few work-arounds for this trait later on in the book, but I like how well Lark stands on her own without the use of her voice.

The book is written in first-person, so the reader is fully within Lark’s head right off the bat. We see her isolation, feel her inability to direct much of her life, and know her frustration when those around her seem to be using her and her abilities for their own benefit. Her arc is that of someone who starts out feeling powerless discovering their inner strength and becoming a powerhouse by the end of the book. And while her abilities can be amazing at times, sometimes its the quieter moments of inner strength that really cement Lark as the impressive character that she is. She stands in the face of criticism and even her own insecurity to hold on to what and who she loves.

I will say that there were times when her magical abilities were almost a bit too powerful. But by the end of the book, Harmon did come out with a villain who was a powerful enough force to challenge even Lark. But this more straight-forward conflict, while exciting and action packed especially in the final action scene of the book, was for me the less compelling of the stories. Instead, I was more invested in the quieter, slow-build romance and tragedy between Lark and the King. There was so much heart here, and while the two end up together quickly, the romance itself is slow to fully establish itself. They each need time to understand the other’s motives fully. But this slow burn makes their eventual full commitment to one another all the more sweet.

Harmon has a solid, lyrical writing style. It’s not overly flowery, but she also nails creating highly emotive scenes and characters. In a lot of ways, it’s similar to Juliet Marillier’s style. Of course, that makes it a hit for me! Fantasy fans looking for a sweet romance in a stand-alone novel should definitely check this one out!

Rating 9: Beauty and power all found within a quiet but determined leading lady make this one an excellent read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Bird and the Sword” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Slow-burn romance and Fantasy Romance.

Serena’s Review: “Nettle & Bone”

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Book: “Nettle & Bone” by T. Kingfisher

Publishing Info: Tor Books, April 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.

Review: Somehow I seem to have missed out on T. Kingfisher. She’s a fairly popular and pretty universally beloved fantasy author. And yet…here I am, I think reading my first book from her! And, spoiler alert, I really did myself a disservice by waiting this long to read her books! You can likely look forward to seeing her name crop up quite a bit from here on out.

Marra has been the lucky princess. The one to escape the confining life of a princess to grow up at a convent, largely unknown and allowed to become a grown woman free of the trappings of royalty. But while she has been afforded this quiet life, she’s watched her sisters suffer at the hands of a cruel prince. When it becomes clear that her sister’s life is teetering at the brink of her husband’s rage, Marra knows that only she is willing to risk the wrath of the prince and his kingdom to save her. And so she sets out on a perilous quest to find the power to overcome a man protected by a powerful godmother’s gift. Along the way, she picks up a ragtag troupe of fellow outsiders. Together, can they save Marra’s sister?

Oh man, I loved this book. It was everything I love about fantasy fiction. The story has a very fairytale vibe, especially in the first half of the book when Marra is attempting to complete three magical tasks to gain the aide of a powerful gravewitch. The fantasy elements included were all unique but grounded in fantasy traditions that are familiar and oddly comforting. Godmothers with curses and blessing. Goblin markets with capricious deals. And animal companions of the most bizarre sort. We have both a possessed chicken and a dog made of bones! And man, who would have thought you could get so attached to a bone dog? Tears may have been shed (but in a good way).

I also loved the way the story was told. In the first bit of the book, the story jumps between Marra’s current quest and brief glimpses of her growing up. In this way, we’re immediately grounded in the high action of Marra’s current storyline, but we are also quickly filled in on her character, life history, and motivations through these flash backs. The second half follows a more straight-forward arc, but by that time, we fully understand the stakes involved and have come to know Marra more fully. From there, the action is fast and fun. There are numerous smaller conflicts, all touching on unique magical elements, before we get to the big confrontation at the end. And there, the story definitely goes about solving this challenge in a surprising way.

Marra was such a great main character. She was strong, funny, and determined to do what she can for her sister. Her task is almost impossible from the start. And we see as the story unfolds that she is successful purely due to sheer stubbornness and the insistence that if know one else will act, even if she’s not the best person for the job, she will do it herself. There’s also a very sweet, slow-burn romance that develops in the second half of the story. For me, this was the perfect balance of a smattering of romance alongside the more central rescue story at its heart.

I also really loved the writing style. It was lyrical and descriptive when painting the magical scenes and elements, fast-paced and exciting during the action scenes, and surprisingly funny throughout the entire thing. So many of the side characters are quirky and hilarious, and there were a number of entertaining observations about people and life sprinkled throughout the book.

This book is definitely not trying to be literary fantasy or any complicated epic. Instead, it feels completely comfortable for what it is: a fun, sweet fairytale. And I think it’s important to not see it as anything lesser for that fact. There’s a tendency to dismiss these more simple, straight-forward fantasies as somehow not as worthy of acclaim as massive tomes of epic fantasy or magical realism that leans heavily on commentary of human existence. But these fantasy stories have just as much value. And I will give this the ten rating I think it deserves simply because it feels like the best of what these kinds of books can be.

Rating 10: A perfect mixture of romance, comedy, action, and tragedy with unique magical elements sprinkled throughout.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Nettle & Bone” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2022 and Recommended by Seanan McGuire.

Serena’s Review: “The City of Dusk”

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Book: “The City of Dusk” by Tara Sim

Publishing Info: Orbit, March 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city.

But their defiance will cost them dearly.

Review: While I’m always a bit skeptical of these books focused on a large cast of characters, they are also a bit unavoidable in fantasy fiction right now. And there are examples of ones done better than others. The fact that this is marketed as an adult fantasy novel does help, I think. Fair or not, I’ve seen more YA fiction struggle to create an interesting cast of characters than adult fantasy fiction. Though, there are exceptions, of course. “All of Us Villains” comes to mind. Let’s dive in!

Four families with four gods. Each god with a unique power that is bestowed on their family. And each family with an heir to the throne. But as the King approaches the end of his reign, each knows that they will be a contender to take up the crown after him. However, political machinations and worries of the material world quickly fall beneath an ongoing conflict brewing within the gods’ halls themselves. Now, the four heirs of the four families must decide what to do when the gods themselves seem to have abandoned them. With a city crumbling around them and the future perilous to consider, will they find themselves as allies? Or enemies?

So, first of all, this book is marketed as an adult fantasy novel. This really made it stand out of the pack for me, since most of the multi-POV fantasy stories over the last several years have all fallen solidly in the YA category. But I have to say, I feel like I was sold on a false product. If no one had told me this was being marketed as adult, I would have been almost 100% confident that it was yet another YA novel. The characters, their stories, and the general approach to their relationships with each other all felt decidedly YA. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I found it particularly frustrating since I went in expecting an adult fantasy novel and was excited about that. Honestly, don’t try this kind of trickery and just call a book what it is. And this was YA.

That aside, I did like a lot of what this book had to offer. The world was intricate and detailed. And the magic system, while somewhat familiar with its various “schools” of magic, felt unique enough to have me engaged with how exactly this all worked. The necromancers and their role in society was particularly interesting. Often, these types of characters are just straight up villains. So it was interesting to read a story where they were a functioning and established part of society that had their own important roles to play.

All of the characters were also solid enough. I definitely had preferences for a few of the women characters, but I didn’t actively dislike any of them (something I often struggle with in multi-POV books.) Here too were a few surprises as there were characters who showed up with POVs who aren’t mentioned in the book description and don’t come along until well into the book, making their appearance rather surprising.

There wasn’t a lot of romance in this book, but I was happy enough with what we got. I do wish there had been a more solid love story line here, as I think that a good romantic subplot can help carry a story that has a slower pace. And that right there is one of my biggest criticisms of this book. I honestly feel like it was marketed as an adult book simply because of how long and slow-paced it is. It honestly took a decent strength of will to get through it. And that’s not because it was boring, but there was just so much of it. As a debut, the author is playing a rather risky hand putting out a book like this. You really have to hope that reader’s can jump onboard early to stick it out through the slower pacing and long page count. I managed it, but I worry that some more casual fantasy fans might not want to stick this one out.

In the end, I think this was a solid fantasy story. I think the marketing of it as an adult book is going to bite it a bit since adult readers will immediately recognize the very YA feel of the book. And the dedicated YA readers might be missing out on something that they would enjoy but that has been shelved in the adult section. I also think the length will be a challenge for some. But fantasy readers who like epic tales and enjoy multi-POV stories, this one is probably worth checking out!

Also, don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this book in the giveaway we’re currently running!

Rating 7: A bit slow and too long, but a solid concept at its heart. Fans of epic political fantasy are likely to enjoy this!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The City of Dusk” is on these Goodreads lists: Best LGBTQIA High Fantasy and 2022 Anticipated Fiction Fantasy Reads.

Giveaway: “The City of Dusk”

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

Book: “The City of Dusk” by Tara Sim

Publishing Info: Orbit, March 2022

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

Book Description: The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city.

But their defiance will cost them dearly.

Giveaway Details:

While I’m always a bit skeptical of these books focused on a large cast of characters, they are also a bit unavoidable in fantasy fiction right now. And there are examples of ones done better than others. The fact that this is marketed as an adult fantasy novel does help, I think. Fair or not, I’ve seen more YA fiction struggle to create an interesting cast of characters than adult fantasy fiction. Though, there are exceptions, of course. “All of Us Villains” comes to mind.

I’m curious to see how this fantasy world is laid out. In a lot of ways, it seems a bit familiar with its various realms of magic, each specific to a god and the family who follows that god. But there’s a reason this fantasy trope is found so often: why have just one kind of magic when you can have four? The four main characters we see in this intro all sound interesting, so I’m excited to see how their stories play out and in what ways they intersect and interact with one another.

Per the usual, my review for this book will be up Friday. But don’t wait until then to get in on the chance to win a copy of this book! This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on April 13.

Enter to win!

Monthly Marillier: “Blade of Fortriu”

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“Monthly Marillier” is a review series that is, essentially, an excuse for me to go back and re-read one of my favorite author’s back catalog. Ever since I first discovered her work over fifteen years ago, Juliet Marillier has been one of my favorite authors. Her stories are the perfect mixture of so many things I love: strong heroines, beautiful romances, fairytale-like magic, and whimsical writing. Even better, Marillier is a prolific author and has regularly put out new books almost once a year since I began following her. I own almost all of them, and most of those I’ve read several times. Tor began re-releasing her original Sevenwaters trilogy, so that’s all the excuse I needed to begin a new series in which I indulge myself in a massive re-read of her books. I’ll be posting a new entry in this series on the first Friday of every month.

Book: “Blade of Fortriu” by Juliet Marillier

Publishing Info: Tor, October 2006

Where Did I Get this Book: own it!

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

Book Description: Five Winters have passed since young king Bridei ascended the throne of Fortriu. Five years, in which the people have felt a contentment unknown for generations.

But the security of a people can vanish in a heartbeat, for wolves are often drawn to fields filled with fattened sheep. Bridei is determined to drive the Gaelic invaders from his lands once and for all. And so, with his land secure and his house in order, he prepares for war.

And one of Bridei’s plans to win the war to come involves the beautiful young Ana. A princess of the Light Isles, she has dwelt as a hostage at the court of Fortriu for most of her young life. Despite being a pawn of fortune, she has bewitched all at court and is dearly loved by Bridei and his queen. But Ana understands her duty. And so she will travel north, to make a strategic marriage with a chieftain she has never seen, in the hopes of gaining an ally on whom Bridei’s victory relies.

For secrecy’s sake, Ana must travel at a soldier’s pace, with a small band led by the enigmatic spymaster Faolan. Bridei implores Ana to trust see the good in Faolan but Ana cannot see beyond his cold competence and killer’s eyes.

Then, when she arrives at the chieftain Alpin’s stronghold in the mysterious Briar Woods, her discomfort and unease increase tenfold, for this is a place of full of secrets and her betrothed is an enigma himself. The more Ana tries to uncover the truth of her new life, the more she discovers a maze of polite diversions that mask deadly lies. She fears Faolan, but he may prove to be the truest thing in her world. Or her doom.

Previously Reviewed: “The Dark Mirror”

Review: While the first book wasn’t one of my favorites, I was excited to get to re-read this second entry. I believe I’ve re-read this one at least once before, but it’s been over ten years at least. So, it’s probably one of my least remembered favorites out of Marillier’s catalogue. That’s pretty rare for me, as my habit with this author has always been that if I love a book from her, I re-read it fairly consistently over the years. I’m not sure why this one fell off my rounds, but I was all the more excited to revisit this one with so little memory of how it actually plays out.

Though Ana has grown up as a political hostage, she has known nothing but kindness, friendship, and love in King Bridei’s court. And while this makes her duty to make a strategic marriage on King Bridei’s behalf a bit easier, she is still to be sent away from her friends to marry a man she’s never met. When she arrives, she discovers that not all is as it seems in the home of her intended. Mysteries lie upon mysteries, and she begins to fear that her marriage may not be what it seems and that she, and King Bridei, may have bit off more than they can chew with this strange new lord and his court.

I don’t remember if I’ve ever really looked at the book description for this book before. But man, it’s misleading! Fans of Marillier’s books know that she always has a romance that is pretty central to her story, so you look for that when you read the blurbs for her books. Reading this one, you’d rightly think that Faolan is the romantic pairing that will come along for Ana. Nope! It’s an unnamed character who doesn’t even show up until about halfway through the book! That said, I do love said character when he appears (though, like many romantic heroes, it takes a bit for him to get his head on straight about his situation and Ana).

I also really love Ana as the main character in this book. Her position as a political hostage is a completely unique situation from any heroine we’ve read from Marillier before. But in a lot of ways, she’s very similar to the author’s other leading ladies: soft appearing but hiding a coil of inner strength like steel within herself. I enjoyed watching her put together the pieces regarding the mystery going on at her betrothed’s home. It was all believable and fell within her particular insights, things that men might not perhaps notice.

Faolan is a character who shows up again in the next book. I didn’t know this reading this book the first time, but now that I’m aware of his coming role, I did find myself more interested in his story in this book. I’ve always had a bit of a hard time really connecting to him, and I think part of that is his treatment of Ana early in this book is really quite poor. I have a hard time letting that side of him go when I read on. Ana is in a very vulnerable position, in almost every way, and some of Faolan’s callousness towards her isn’t great. That said, I admire that Marillier created a character in him who’s not immediately likable. I haven’t ever re-read the third book in this series, so I’m curious to see whether my estimation of him will change coming at it fifteen years later.

I also really liked the magical elements and the mystery at the heart of this story. Some of it was fairly predictable, but all in the best way. The story had just the right balance of fantasy, action, and romance for me, and this is definitely one of my tops picks of Marillier’s books.

Rating 9: This is a lovely story with a very sweet romance at its heart.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Blade of Fortriu” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Magic, Adventure, Romance and Forbidden Love in Fantasy/ Paranormal/ Supernatural/ Historical Fictions.

Serena’s Review: “The War of Two Queens”

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Book: “The War of Two Queens” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publishing Info: Blue Box Press, March 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: bought the ebook

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

Book Description: From the desperation of golden crowns…

Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.

And born of mortal flesh…

Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.

A great primal power rises…

Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most.

As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.

Previously Reviewed: “From Blood and Ash” and “A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire” and “The Crown of Gilded Bones”

Review: This was another massive book, so as much as I wanted to get my review out as close to the release day as possible, here we are, a few weeks later. It was partly the length. But it’s also partly that I (and a lot of others, it seems!) had a lot of thoughts and feelings about this book, so it’s taken a bit to get my mind in order with what exactly I wanted to say about this book. But, be warned, there will be spoilers for the book in this review, so read on with that in mind. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Casteel finds himself in the last place he ever wanted to be: trapped in a dungeon and in the grasp of the cruel Blood Queen. But he’d do it all again, at least Poppy is free out in the world. For her part, Poppy is lost without Casteel. Newly made queen of a people and country that barely know her, let alone trust her, she knows only that she must save Casteel as soon as possible. She is joined by Kieran, Casteel’s best friend who hurts almost as much as she does with Casteel’s loss. Together, they will work to save their King and overthrow the Blood Queen once and for all.

The way I’m going to review this book is as follows: I’m going to start with a review of the objective state of this book, then move out to my own interpretations, and then briefly discuss the fan reaction. So, first off, my general impression of this book. Anyone who has read my reviews of these books before will note that I’ve always been hesitant to say much in favor of the general quality of the writing and world-building in these books. They’ve all been bloated, poorly edited behemoths of books. I’m not sure if it’s because of the popularity of the series or what, but it seems that the publisher has taken a very hands-off approach to editing this series. This book showed many of the same flaws.

The pacing was snail-paced, with very little happening for huge chunks of time. What we do learn about the world comes through exposition. And there are so many “reveals” about the world and Poppy’s own heritage that it is well past the point of ridiculousness. I will say that I thought there were more actual grammatical/spelling errors in this book than the others. But for the most part, if you’ve read the other books, you’ll know the flaws you’re working with and none of them are improved in this book. Four books in, these flaws of bad world-building and endless secrets begin to feel as if the author just never planned her series. At some point, the story needs to move past the “discovery” phase and into the “action” phase. Either way, none of this is truly shocking. Indeed, I’ve said repeatedly that I’m really only there for the romance. And that’s where we get to the subjective portion.

This book gives us Casteel’s perspective for the first time in the series. And I think this was actually part of the problem. What should have been an exciting addition (finally the heroes perspective!) was actually a flaw that made what was happening in the rest of the story all the more uncomfortable and unlikable. We have Casteel’s thoughts almost entirely focused on Poppy and how glad he is that he is the one locked up and suffering instead of her. And Poppy? Whelp, she’s off sharing a bed with naked Kieran, developing feelings for him, and getting asked why her husband’s best friend is acting like her husband by family friends. Her answer? “It’s complicated.” Yeaahh, it reads pretty bad and checks all my marks for emotional cheating in my book (honestly, bordering on actual cheating with that naked sleeping scene). On there own, these actions are pretty condemnable from a partner who is in an established exclusive relationship. It’s all the worse when contrasted with Casteel’s thoughts of her. So, subjectively, this ruined most of the series for me. Like I said, I was here for the romance, and this effectively crushed that. Even when Poppy and Casteel are reunited, Poppy’s mentally bemoaning Kieran not being around. It’s uncomfortable, unlikable, and decidedly NOT what I want from my “soulmates” romance stories.

And this last bit gets to the general fans reactions and the author’s approach with this series. Look, we here at The Library Ladies believe in “Every book its reader, and every reader their book.” But the converse of that is true: some people make choices of what to read based on what is and what is not in their books. For romance readers, this is almost even more important than for general fiction readers. There is an unspoken but strong understanding between the author and the readers of what they are there for, be it happily ever afters, smut, etc. And this book was marketed, spoken about by the author (she repeatedly said that Cas and Poppy were the main/only relationship for the last several years), and then set up for THREE BOOKS as an exclusive soulmates-style romance.

If the author had wanted to write a polyamory romance, that’s fine! There are readers for it, and I’m sure many would have gobbled it up! Many are probably already loving the series anyways! The problem is what I said before: that’s not what this series set out to be (or at least there’s no rational interpretation of the previous books or author’s statements that could lead you to thinking otherwise). So when devoted fans get to book four and see what looks pretty clearly like emotional cheating and then a polyamory relationship, they’re going to feel misled and cheated by the author. What’s more, I’ll go as far as to say that had the author set out from the beginning to write a polyamory book (beyond the fact that she failed to truly set that up in any real way), this was a truly bad way to go about it. I can’t imagine anyone from that community would like the parallel drawn here between their accepting and consensual love with the kind of emotional cheating that Poppy and Kieran were getting up to behind Casteel’s back and without his knowledge. This is not good representation and instead plays into very negative stereotypes about the entire lifestyle.

This was a huge disappointment for me. Objectively, it has the same flaws as we’ve seen in the rest of the series. Subjectively, the romance was the only reason I was really still here, and that was badly damaged/ruined by the emotional cheating from Poppy. And thirdly, the author seems to have broken a social contract with her readership by creating a soulmates romance story, publicly calling it such for years and writing three books setting that up, and then blindsiding them with a poor representation of a polyamory relationship at best or emotional infidelity at worst.

I’ll probably check out the reviews of the next book when it is released, but I’m probably out. These books were huge time commitments, and I’m the type of romance reader who reads for the happily ever after. And emotional infidelity isn’t it, friends.

Rating 4: A case study in how to turn your rabid fan base against you and misunderstand why they’re there in the first place.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A War of Two Queens” is on several lists, but I think it most deserves to be on this one: Most Disappointing Sequels/Prequels.

Serena’s Review: “A Thousand Steps into Night”

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

Book: “A Thousand Steps into Night” by Traci Chee

Publishing Info: Clarion Books, March 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.

Review: I’ve had really good luck recently with Asian fairytales (see: “The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea”). Not only have the stories been knock-outs, but the covers have been to die for! And this cover is right up there with the rest; just lovely. And while it didn’t quite hit the highs I was looking for, it was still a solid read and a definite recommendation for those looking for fairytale-like stories not based on Western myths or set in the West.

While Miuko has never fit into her small, dying village (too loud, too honest, too willing to push the limited boundaries given to women), she has resigned herself to life as an innkeeper’s daughter. Her father, at least, is loving if a bit bemused by his extraordinary daughter. However, when she comes across a demon one late night on the road who curses her to slowly turn into a demon herself, Miuko is forced to flee in search of a cure. On the way, she picks up a magpie shape-shifter friend and learns that she may not be the only one suffering a detrimental curse.

While this book wasn’t quite what I hoped it would be, it was still a fast, fun read. What stood out to me immediately when starting this book was just how funny it was! I wasn’t really expecting that at all, but the book had me laughing out loud at times. What was especially clever about these amusing aspects were that they were strewn across the story and characters, not simply restricted to dialogue, something you often see with authors who rely on their characters’ sarcasm to carry the comedy load. Instead, the narration itself was funny, and you would even find jokes imbedded in the footnotes.

Yes, footnotes. That was a very unique aspect of the story. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the style choice to include footnotes in an otherwise fairly straightforward fantasy story. But in the end, I think they really worked. For one thing, they allowed the author to use much more of the original language without worrying that readers were not picking up on important aspects of the story or nuances between concepts. Some readers may find them distracting, but for me, they worked very well. And, like I said before, the author was smart enough to continue her light-hearted tone even into these parts of the story.

I also really liked our main character, Muiko, and her pal, the magpie shapeshifter, Geiki. Muiko was immediately relatable, but it was really when Geiki came onto the scene that the characters fell into place for me. The two had a great rapport, and Geiki himself was the funniest part of the entire book. There’s no romance in this book (something that I always want to see, but that’s purely subjective). But I do think that these two and their friendship served as a solid stand-in for a romantic plotline. And it’s always good to see books that focus on different relationships as their central relationship, like friendships and sibling relations.

My main critiques of the story comes down to the pacing and some of the choices made in the middle of the book. It does take a bit for the story to get going, but I found that I was invested enough in Muiko to wait out this slow start. On the other hand, towards the middle of the book, the story started to feel a bit formulaic and predictable. Muiko and Geiki seem to go on a near-endless number of side quests essentially. Not only did these begin to add up, but the theme of them all began to feel a bit too predictable at times, with capital “L” lessons. I get that the society found in this book is very patriarchal and the author was looking to explore the various ways that women and others suffer under such a limited culture, most particularly in their very ability to live safely. But at a certain point, it began to feel like the author had a checklist that she was working through, so much so that the plot began to feel more like a device than an organic story that explored these concepts in a natural way.

Overall, however, I thought this was a really fun read. Even if I had a few critiques about it, it’s very likely that other fantasy fans will find it perfectly enjoyable as is. Honestly, the footnotes will probably be the biggest controversial item in the book, with some readers loving them and others hating them.

Rating 8: A fun, unique fantasy novel with an excellent leading character and one of the best side-kicks I’ve read in a while!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Thousand Steps into Night” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2022 Book Releases by Asian Authors

Serena’s Review: “A Promise of Fire”

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Book: “A Promise of Fire” by Amanda Bouchet

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, August 2016

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Catalia “Cat” Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm-until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin’s fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

Review: This book ended up on my TBR list for a few reasons. For one thing, I’m still on the hunt for a new urban fantasy series to follow. And while this book wouldn’t technically fall into that category, the fast action and quippy heroine is definitely on par with what you find in that subgenre. I’ve also been perusing various romantic fantasy recommendation lists and this book has popped up on a few of them. So I went in with high hopes. Alas, this one was definitely not my cup of tea.

Cat has slowly built up a quiet and unnoticeable life as a soothsayer in the circus. There she has found not only freedom from attention but a found family in the others who don’t quite fit into the world and see the circus as a place of acceptance. But apparently Cat isn’t quite unnoticeable enough, as one day she draws the attention of a warlord who sees her magical abilities for what they are: the power to tell truth from lie. Now, captured and hauled across the kingdom to work for the warlord’s Queen, Cat begins to find her past rising up to catch her once again. Slowly, however, she begins to feel herself drawn to this warlord and his band of merry men. Could there be another future for her?

I was so disappointed with this book. And that’s mostly because when it started out, I was sure I was going to love it! I got through at least of a quarter of it and maybe closer to a third still thinking this. The writing is quick, the action is entertaining, and the dialogue was quippy and funny. Cat herself was immediately likeable and relatable. She seemed like the perfect kind of heroine to lead up a story like this (and did feel very “urban fantasy” like, for what it’s worth). I also had high hopes for Griffin as a love interest. He was definitely holding down the “dark and brooding” fort pretty thoroughly.

But then, as the story continued, it became clear that the dynamic between these two wasn’t going to change in the way I needed it to to enjoy it. The writing began to feel more juvenile. And the twist of the story began to feel so predictable and convenient that I couldn’t help being bothered by it. I almost had whiplash at how fast I went from really gobbling up a book to really struggling to even finish the thing.

I got on a pretty big soapbox when talking to a friend recently about romance novels and how the “problematic” approach to romance as a genre needs to be tempered with the escapism that we always look for in our fiction. Obviously, the terrible situations found in horror and thrillers novels are not something we would approve of in real life. So some of the relationships in romance novels may have elements in them that we wouldn’t love in real life, but because they are romance novels and have an essential promise of safety and love between the characters, it’s essentially a safe place to experience romantic arcs. Alas, this little speech doesn’t work for everything, and shortly after I made it, I came across this book.

Like I said, I wouldn’t not recommend this book because of the “problematic” relationship at its core. Indeed, this is a fairly high rated book on Goodreads. It was only that in my completely objective scale of what I can appreciate about in the traditional “alpha” romantic hero and what I can’t stand, this one fell too far in the negative direction. Obviously, the story starts out with kidnapping, so there’s a power dynamic at play there from the very start. And I was totally fine with that! It was just that as the book went on, I kept waiting for Griffin to essentially realize what he’d done in taking way Cat’s choices and, given his growing respect and love for her, giver her the choice to stay or go. Sadly, that didn’t come. Instead, Cat essentially talked herself into staying based, at least in my observation, on very few truly positive qualities to be found in Griffin and his band. Again and again, Griffin would ignore Cat’s language rebuffing him. We the reader know that she’s into it, but he didn’t come around to any of the respect I need these alpha types to have to keep my scale balanced. This is one of the reasons I’ve liked the “From Blood and Ash” series so far; the hero there has all of the moments of respect and understanding of his heroine that I definitely need to see in my romances.

I also began to be annoyed by Cat’s inner dialogue. Initially, I found her spunky and fun, just the right tone of snark and sarcasm that I like in my action fantasy heroines. But then she said “Ack!” one too many times in her head and…yeah, I couldn’t stop seeing it from then on. I really dislike this writing technique. I’m not sure what it’s meant to add, but it made Cat seem childish and silly. Something I definitely didn’t need from a heroine who is supposed to be standing up to her alpha male captor. Definitely don’t need anything that tips that power imbalance to an even worse degree.

Some of the supposed reveals were also really easy to spot. I don’t think this would have been a problem had I not been already struggling with the romance and Cat’s inner monologue. I didn’t go into this book expecting epic style twists or world-building that shocked and amazed. But on top of the other flaws, these weaker aspects also began to hurt the book more and more as it went.

This was so disappointing. Like I said, it was worse because I was so excited as I was reading the first part of the book. I even had the second one all lined up on my library hold list, that’s how sure I was that I was going to gobble this series up. And then it just tanked. Again, this book has pretty high ratings on Goodreads, and it did have that fun, quick reading style that some (including me at times) love, so this may still be for you. I really think it comes down to your tolerance level with alpha male leading men.

Rating 6: The “hero” of this book was not so heroic in my estimation, and the heroine’s inner dialogue was very cringey at times.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Promise of Fire” is on these Goodreads lists: Slow-burn romance and (strangely) Sci-Fi/Fantasy with Healthy Relationships.

Diving Into Sub-Genres: Urban Fantasy

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We each have our own preferred genres of choice. Kate loves horrors and thrillers, really anything that will keep her up at night! And Serena enjoys escaping through hidden doors into realms of magic and adventure. We also read mysteries, historical fiction, graphic novels, etc. etc. And that’s not even counting the multitude of sub-genres contained within each greater genre. In this series, one of us with present a list of our favorites from within a given sub-genre of one of our greater preferred genres.

Urban fantasy is a very distinct sub-genre of the larger fantasy genre. I believe it’s a fairly polarizing one as well: fantasy readers either really love it or really dislike it. Like some other sub-genres in much greater sprawling genres, it also gets a lot of snobbery directed to it as “low brow” fantasy literature. I think most of this comes down to the fact that urban fantasy is typically fast-moving, action packed, and focused more on an individual lead character than on creating a massive, complex world, magical system and cast of characters.

A few features that are common in urban fantasy typically come down to setting and the type of fantasy elements involved. As the title of the sub-genre implies, most urban fantasy is set in an urban environment. Almost always, urban fantasy takes place in some alternate version of our own world, with real cities featured as the backdrop. However, “urban” by no means is limited to major cities, as there are plenty of urban fantasy series set in fairly small to medium sized metro area (or even some that take place mostly in rural locations). The thing that mostly stands out is that they are decidedly NOT second world fantasy and don’t include entirely made up lands.

They also typically feature a cast of magical creatures. The leading character usually has some connection between these worlds, the world of the humans and the, often underground, world of magical beings. You see a lot of vampires, werewolves, demons, and fairies in these types of books. Urban fantasy also typically features one or two leading characters and is highly focused on following their particular tales across a series of books. And, as I mentioned above, the writing is often fast paced and has an emphasis on quippy dialogue and action set pieces.

Book: “Moon Called” by Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs writes almost quintessential urban fantasies. She has two major series, but her “Mercy Thompson” series is her longest running with the other series coming in as a spin-off. Mercy is a coyote shapeshifter, but she starts the series trying to live primarily in the human world as a mechanic. This doesn’t last long, however, when she gets caught up in an on-going mystery involving her handsome werewolf neighbor, Adam. As the series continues, the world expands massively to include vampires, ghosts, demons, and a bunch of other less well-known magical creatures. This is a fast-paced story with a heavy emphasis on Mercy’s own quippy narration.

Book: “Storm Front” by Jim Butcher

I haven’t read a lot of Butcher’s “Dresden” series myself, but there is no way to talk about urban fantasy and not mention this incredibly popular author. There’s a pretty large stereotype that urban fantasy is written by women, for women, and features women, but Butcher’s “Dresden” series puts paid to that idea as it’s probably one of the biggest series out there. The story follows Harry Dresden, a wizard who also works as a private investigator for the Chicago P.D. when ordinary crimes present with decidedly unordinary elements. Because the main character is a P.I., these books mix elements from urban fantasy, mysteries, and crime fiction into action-packed bundles of fun.

Book: “Forest of the Heart” by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint is the author I go to when I’m looking for cross-over between urban fantasy and literary fiction. Unlike the first two books on this list, de Lint’s stories operate at a slower pace and place a stronger emphasis on description and scene-setting. Technically, “Forests of the Heart” is in the middle of one of his series, but many of his books stand alone, and this was one of my personal favorites of his. The story features Bettina, a part Native American, part Mexican woman who is a witness to the ongoing conflict between the spirits that came over with settlers and the native beings who roam the land. She calls these dark beings, the ones from the other lands, los lobos and stays well clear. Until one shows up on her doorstep.

Book: “Feed” by Mira Grant

This is another book that has a lot of cross-over appeal, this time between urban fantasy and horror. Zombies exist in a kind of nebulous realm where both horror and fantasy claim them as beings to be found in their own genres. So, we’ll give zombies to urban fantasy with this one. The story is of two siblings and bloggers, Georgia and Shaun, who are documenting the ongoing zombie apocalypse. This is also a YA book (all the rest of these are technically listed as adult fiction, though I’d say they can also count as new adult). The story does lean into the gore and horror side of things, so strict fantasy fans should be aware of that. But the story does meet a lot of the other criteria for urban fantasy: fast-paced storytelling, a contemporary setting, and two main characters featured heavily at the heart of the story.

Book: “Written in Red” by Anne Bishop

Anne Bishop’s “Others” series is another wildly popular urban fantasy series. And, while it meets many of the standards of the genre (urban setting, werewolves, nature spirits, etc.) it is decidedly not a fast paced book. Instead, this is the urban fantasy series for those fantasy fans who really like to revel in the world itself. A lot of emphasis is placed on the characters and the world structure, and a lot on the politics between the humans and the fantasy creatures. Less emphasis on action, with there often only being one or two action scenes, some even happening off page. It does present an incredibly unique setting and world where the colonizers of North America found that they were by no means the most powerful to walk the land and have to find ways to not tick off the powerful magical forces that rule this continent.

Book: “Rosemary and Rue” by Seanan McGuire

And to round out my list, we return to another very popular, very traditional series of urban fantasy. Seanan McGuire’s ongoing “October Daye” series is probably one of the best out there. I, for one, am a huge fan! The story follows the titular October Daye, a changeling who is part human and part fae. Like many of the main characters in urban fantasy series, she starts out trying to maintain a life that distances herself from Faerie, a place where she feels she has been betrayed. But, so too, she doesn’t quite fit into this human world either. After a murder falls into her lap, Toby is pulled back into the fae world and must take up her old role as a knight errant. From there, the series unfolds with her becoming more and more enmeshed in the goings on between Faerie and the human world. This series stands out because of Toby herself. Given her unique situation (no spoilers!), she’s a bit of a darker character than some of the other leading urban fantasy ladies we’ve seen.

What are some of your favorite urban fantasy books?

Serena’s Review: “Scorpica”

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Book: “Scorpica” by G. R. Macallister

Publishing Info: Saga Press, February 2022

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

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

Book Description: A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe.

Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.

Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.

Review: It seems like I just finished up reviewing a book with a very similar concept to this one. “The First Girl Child” was also a fantasy with a plotline centered around the sudden loss of girl babies being born in the land. This book’s set up, however, promises to tell a very different story, centering the tale around a matriarchal society where the dearth of women means a loss of leadership, military prowess, and much more. So I was very excited when the publisher reached out to me with an eARC to review this book. Let’s dive on it!

The world is made up of five nations, all queendoms ruled by powerful leading women. This world order, so stable for so long, is suddenly thrown into question when girl babies suddenly stop being born. As the land shifts beneath their feet, each Queen must confront the peril that comes with this delicate balance being thrown into chaos. Alliances are broken. Trust is shattered. And fear seems to rising in every sector of the land.

While this book wasn’t quite what I hoped it would be, there were still several things that were quite well done. The world-building, at first, did come off as a bit simplistic with its five little kingdoms neatly divided into specific traits, such as an emphasis on military prowess, bureaucratic guile, or magical abilities. It’s kind of a YA tactic that I’ve seen all too often: a get-out-of-jail free card to replace complicated culture building when peopling one’s world. But, luckily, here, as the story continued to unfold, I did find more work put in to this world than just these easily defined kingdoms. Through the various queens we see, the nature of each people became more complex, making for a more interesting interplay between these kingdoms.

The story is also committed to it’s slower style of story-telling. This is a very dialogue-light tale, with a lot of work done in the narration itself. Sometimes this worked, and other times, less so. It took quite a while for me to become invested in the story, partly due to this slower pacing and partly due to the split POVs (a pet peeve of mine and by no means an objective ding to this book.) With less dialogue on the page, it did take a bit longer to feel like I really understood the difference between the characters. But again, as the story built, I did find myself becoming more invested in certain characters (less so in others, always my problem with multiple POV books it seems).

In some ways, the book was almost too believable. In the face of such a sudden, completely unexpected devastation as the loss of girls in a matriarchal society, most people have no idea what to do, including many of the queens we see here. On one hand, looking at how real-world countries struggle to take meaningful action in the face of disasters that happen on such a grand scope (pandemics, climate change, etc.), it’s easily believable to see the struggles of these leaders to react in any true way. Largely, many of them came off as very passive in the face of this disaster. I was pleased to see one of these queens actively moving forward, and it’s no surprise that her story was my favorite.

Overall, I liked this book fairly well. It’s definitely a slow-moving beast and is dedicated to the minutia at heart of the situation created. Those fantasy readers who enjoy geopolitical stories will likely find lots to like here. If you’re more into action and quick dialogue, however, this probably isn’t for you.

Rating 7: An interesting concept and world that is ultimately hindered by being maybe a bit too realistic.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Scorpica” is on this Goodreads list: Upcoming 2022 SFF Books With Female Leads or Co-Leads.