Tag: Fantasy

Book Club Review: “Earthdivers (Vol. 1): Kill Columbus”

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

Book: “Earthdivers (Vol.1): Kill Columbus” by Stephen Graham Jones & Davide Gianfelice (Ill.).

Publishing Info: IDW Publishing, September 2023

Where Did We Get This Book: We both received an ARC at ALAAC23.

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

Century: 22nd and Beyond (aka The Future)

Book Description: The New York Times–bestselling author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw makes his comics debut with this time-hopping horror thriller about far-future Indigenous outcasts on a mission to kill Christopher Columbus.

The year is 2112, and it’s the apocalypse exactly as rivers receding, oceans rising, civilization crumbling. Humanity has given up hope, except for a group of Indigenous outcasts who have discovered a time travel portal in a cave in the desert and figured out where everything took a turn for the America.

Convinced that the only way to save the world is to rewrite its past, they send one of their own—a reluctant linguist named Tad—on a bloody, one-way mission to 1492 to kill Christopher Columbus before he reaches the so-called New World. But there are steep costs to disrupting the timeline, and taking down an icon isn’t an easy task for an academic with no tactical training and only a wavering moral compass to guide him. As the horror of the task ahead unfolds and Tad’s commitment is tested, his actions could trigger a devastating new fate for his friends and the future.

Join Stephen Graham Jones and artist Davide Gianfelice for Earthdivers, Vol. 1, the beginning of an unforgettable ongoing sci-fi slasher spanning centuries of America’s Colonial past to explore the staggering forces of history and the individual choices we make to survive it.

Kate’s Thoughts

Perhaps we are being a bit brazen here, doing yet another Book Club review of books that we have already read and reviewed previously, especially given that we JUST DID IT last month. But hey, it all depends on the theme that we are assigned, and when I was given “The 22nd Century and Beyond” for our newest “Centuries” theme, and we only had a few weeks time WITH THE HOLIDAYS coming up, my mind went immediately to the graphic novel “Earthdivers: Kill Columbus” by Stephen Graham Jones. After all, I really liked it, it would be a faster read, and since I’m not as versed in Sci-Fi it was the first futuristic story I could think of. It was a gamble, as Book Club doesn’t tend to go to very violent or scary works, but ultimately I feel like it was a gamble that paid off, because “Earthdivers: Kill Columbus” was just as enjoyable the second time around, and fostered a lot of good conversation.

My opinion from my previous review hasn’t changed too much, given that I just read it in the past few months, but something I will say about reading it the second time was how much more I appreciated the complexity of Jones’s overall arc (it probably helps that I had just read the second volume thanks to NetGalley right before diving in; look for that in February!). It’s definitely a lot of jumping around, but I found that I really appreciated the way that Jones set up the Columbus storyline and how he executed it, and the way that he took on pretty tried and true time travel tropes and subverted them while also drawing out the most from them.

All in all it was a great read for Book Club and a great conversation starter! Stephen Graham Jones continues to do creative and bold things with his writing.

Serena’s Thoughts

I don’t really read graphic novels other than when they come up for bookclub. And I honestly don’t know why, because I always enjoy them when I do! And this one was the same! True, it was a bit of whiplash given that the last graphic novel was a very cozy, middle grade fantasy story. And this…was not that. We have one bookclub member in particular who doesn’t read dark, graphic stories and we all were kind of watching her carefully over some of the things depicted in this one! That said, I didn’t think any of it was gratuitous, but instead focused on the very high stakes of the situations portrayed.

That said, I did struggle with this book a bit in the beginning. As Kate has read the second book, she’s better able to gauge how the overall story progresses. But as a reader just starting out with this one, there were some initial basic premise things in the beginning of this one that left me wondering. I wasn’t quite sure about the basic cause/effect that was set up for the main action of the story, for one thing. That said, as I continued to read, it was easy enough to get caught up in the action and not worry too much about some of these questions. I also really liked some of the greater points that the book was getting at towards the end. It could have been easy to write a fairly simplistic version of this story. Instead, the author doesn’t shy away from the repercussions of the choices these characters are making.

As its a time travel story, it was also a bit hard to follow at times. There were points in the middle of the book that I truly wasn’t sure whether or not I was missing something. But again, as long as I just kept with it, soon enough I was able to re-center myself in the goings on.

Kate’s Rating 9: Still a great time travel commentary with an anti-Colonial twist. This re-read made me appreciate the complexity more.

Serena’s Rating 8: A bit confusing at times and definitely the start to a larger series, but I still really enjoyed this one!

Book Club Questions

  1. What did you think of the magical/sci-fi system in this story with the time traveling cave? How does it compare to other time travel tales you are familiar with?
  2. Do you believe that the one key to fixing the future is is stopping the Discovery of America by Columbus as hypothesized by Yellow Kid? Why or why not?
  3. Tad isn’t the only person to go through the cave in this story, though we have yet to see where each of them are going. Of the other travelers (Emily, the posse looking for the missing children), whose story would you want to see?
  4. What did you think of the outcome of killing Columbus? What did you think of the portrayal of Columbus and his crew as a whole?
  5. If you could travel to one moment of history to change something in the past, what would it be? Or would you do it at all?

Reader’s Advisory

“Earthdivers (Vol. 1): Kill Columbus” is on the Goodreads list “Comic Book Club Recommendations”.

Next Book Club Pick: “An Extraordinary Union” by Alyssa Cole

Serena’s Review: “Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands”

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Book: “Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands” by Heather Fawcett

Publishing Info: Del Rey, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.
 
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
 
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
 
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
 
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

Review: Here we are in a new year starting off with one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 right off the bat! And with a highly anticipated book always comes a bunch of nerves. What if the first book was a one-off?? What if the story takes a turn in a direction that I won’t like? What if I was slightly delirious when I read the first book and it was all in my head?? (Well, less so on that last one, as the first book was well received by pretty much everyone!). But, gentle reader, I am here to assuage your fears: not only did I enjoy this book as much as the first one, I think I liked it even more!

Now, given how much I liked the first one, that’s a pretty big claim to make. But I think it’s pretty easy to back up by simply going through what I liked in the first book and how well this book built upon and expanded on those original concepts. First of all with the world-building and fairy elements. While the first book follows Emily’s experiences out in the field, this book not only does the same (this time seeing her and Wendell off to the Austrian Alps) but we also get a brief look into her life as a professor on campus. The story only briefly stays in this location, but through these insights into her life as professor, we meet other important side characters, such as another professor who is a more senior member of the faculty, and a student assistant who bewilders Emily constantly. I really enjoyed these academic elements of the story. Yes, of course, the fairy stuff is the most exciting, but you can’t have academic fantasy without the “academic” stuff as well, and I was pleased to see this book lean into this aspect of the story.

Speaking of side characters, Emily and Wendell are not the only two off on the expedition to the Alps. The aforementioned professor and student tag along as well. Through this book and the first, it becomes clear that while Emily is a great character on her own, she’s at her best when bouncing off of other characters. Wendell is the main focal point, but I think that these other two characters also allowed Emily’s character to grow and expand as well. We see her struggle to connect to a colleague who approaches their shared work in a very different manner, forcing her to reflect on her own choices, recognizing which are strengths worth fighting for and which could do with a second glance. I also enjoyed watching her interaction with the young woman, Ariadne, her student. These interactions are as hilarious as you’d expect, especially in the light of the fact that it’s obvious that Emily herself probably presented many similar challenges to her own mentor.

I also really enjoyed the fairy elements. I remember mentioning in my review of the first book that I enjoyed how vicious the members of Fae were, something that you don’t always see. Here, we get even more of the same, from some truly frightening new creatures to a much larger exploration of some of the realms of Fae itself. There were moments where this book very much walked right up to the line of horror, which is such an odd thing to say about a book that also falls solidly within the “cozy fantasy” subgenre. Yes, bloodthirsty foxes with baby faces are “cozy!” You heard it here first.

The larger exploration of Fae also touches on another area of improvement in this book (again, this is all “improving” from a very high starting point to begin with.) Due to the nature of the first story, Emily ends up as a fairly passive character in the final section of that book. It works for that story and I didn’t have an problems with it there. But I was incredibly happy to see this book swap Emily and Wendell’s roles in this story, with Emily spending the majority of the book fighting to break a curse brought down upon Wendell. And in pursuit of this, she must enter Fae without him, putting to test all of her skills as a scholar and adventurer. There is so much great stuff in this final third of the book, but obviously I can’t get into much of it without falling into spoiler-y territory. It’s all action-packed, tense, and highlights just how awesome of a character Emily is! She’s smart, brave, and, of course, unintentionally hilarious!

And, lastly, the romance! Obviously, I loved everything we got from Emily and Wendell in the first book, but we get even more here. I was mildly curious how the book would manage the change in their relationship, but they and their interactions with each other are, at the same time, exactly as before and, of course, much further along in their relationship with one another. Each is still bewildered by the other, and their bumbling around within their own emotions is just as cute as you could imagine. There were several moments that were incredibly sweet, and I enjoyed Emily’s internal exploration of what it means to love and trust another in this way. This is just the sort of romance that I love to see in my fantasy stories.

I was so happy with this book! It really met every expectation I had built up in my head and exceeded my wildest dreams in many ways. High praise, but in this case, well earned.

Rating 10: Take the high that was reading the first book and somehow expand it a million times over! Absolutely brilliant in every way!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Fantasy Romance Releases January 2024 and Historical Romantic Fantasy

Serena’s Review: “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon”

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Book: “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” by Kimberly Lemming

Publishing Info: Orbit, January 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

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

Book Description: Spice trader Cinnamon’s quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell—perfect for fans of  Legends & Lattes  and  The Dragon’s Bride. 

All she wanted to do was live her life in peace–maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the Goddess has favorite, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them… 

After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all Fallon wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And, who can blame him? But he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.

Review: I’ll be honest, I definitely requested this one purely based on the unique title and the cute cover. Both were unlike any book I’d seen before, and after reading the synopsis, I was looking forward to reading a romantic fantasy with a heavy dose of comedy, ala some of T. Kingfisher’s work. Alas, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s hard to say whether it was a book problem or a me problem or a combination of both, but this will be one of those books that I think needs just the right reader to land perfectly.

For one thing, while the book is definitely high fantasy in its world-building and magic, it was very modern in its language, both the dialogue and some of the narration. And when I say modern language, I’m not talking about standard English (a qualifier that you do actually have to make for some fantasy that calls back to older forms of English, or formal English, or what have you). No, this is modern English in that there is tons of lingo thrown all over the place. And this is where I find one of my first points about the narrow lane for readers who will enjoy this book: this is a romance book that is heavy in the “adult themes” of its romance, but on the other hand, the jargon and lingo used is very much on the younger side. It’s not a comfortable pairing. I suspect that many of the adult readers who will enjoy the romance of this story might be put off by some of the ridiculousness of the language. And, honestly, I’m not sure it’s a great example of the use of the lingo even for younger audiences. It just felt corny and try-hard much of the time.

And this points leads right into my second major struggle area: I didn’t connect with the humor at all. Most of the jokes landed with a thud, and rather than laugh, I caught myself rolling my eyes more and more. At its best, humor is not only funny but endears the characters to the reader. Here, the humorous “takes” from our main character had me rapidly losing all respect for her and becoming increasingly annoyed by her choices. At one point, Cin makes some “snarky” remark about how books always have “bandit rapists.” And while I get what the author was trying to do with this meta level of awareness, the scene itself doesn’t go any further in unpacking this trope than using its inclusion as another moment for Cin to say something “witty.” It’s not subverting a trope if you just threw it in there to make your heroine seem clever for recognizing that it’s a trope in the first place. Then, later, there are other moments where horrific violence occurs, and Cin is written as just not really caring about all of the consequences? Throughout it all, she simply became pretty unlikable.

Beyond that, I was uncomfortable with the romance itself. I wasn’t expecting a “fated mates” romance, and those are my least favorite, so that’s just a personal preference thing. But due to this nature, you never feel any true connection between these two other than lust and the fact that they are simply “destined” to be together. On top of that, the book strays hard into dubcon (dubious consent) territory. Now, I’m not a hardliner on this front, as I wouldn’t say that one character kissing another character without directly asking before is dubcon or anything like that. I think if you stray too far down those lines, the entire romance genre becomes fairly unworkable. That said, this book went way further than that. And, again, I know that some readers enjoy these types of romances, but not only do I personally not, I thought that this sort of romance sat uncomfortably against the “cozy,” “humor-centric” story that the marketing presents it to be (cover, title, even the book description itself). So, again, I think there may be a mismatch between readers and books.

Overall, I was really let down by this book. While some of these complaints are definitely personal preferences (and if they’re your jam, you may in fact enjoy this!), but I also think there are some serious quality issues with the lingo and the comedy aspects of the story. It simply wasn’t funny most of the time and instead read as very cliché and as if it was trying way to hard to be cute and quirky.

Rating 6: The humor landed with a thump and the main character became increasingly annoying as the book continued.

Reader’s Advisory:

“That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” can be found on this Goodreads list: Books with Drinks on the Cover

Serena’s Review: “The Dragons of Deepwood Fen”

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Book: “The Dragons of Deepwood Fen” by Bradly P/ Beaulieu

Publishing Info: DAW, December 2023

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

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

Book Description: Lorelei Aurelius is the smartest inquisitor in the mountain city of Ancris. When a mysterious tip leads her to a clandestine meeting between the Church and the hated Red Knives, she uncovers a plot that threatens not only her home but the empire itself.

The trail leads her to Rylan Holbrooke, a notorious thief posing as a dragon singer. Rylan came to Ancris to solve the very same mystery she stumbled onto. Knowing his incarceration could lead to the Red Knives’ achieving their goals, Lorelei makes a fateful she frees him.

Now branded as traitors, the two flee the city on dragonback. In the massive forest known as the Holt, they discover something terrible. The Red Knives are planning to awaken a powerful demigod in the holiest shrine in Ancris, and for some reason the Church is willing to allow it. It forces their return to Ancris, where the unlikely allies must rally the very people who’ve vowed to capture them before it’s too late.

Explore the mountain city of Ancris, where fast-paced adventure and intrigue abound. in this new offering from the author of the acclaimed Song of the Shattered Sands series.

Review: I know many of you may be wondering by now why I haven’t reviewed “Fourth Wing” on the blog yet. On paper, it should be right up my alley! Well, it might surprise some of you, but I don’t love writing super negative reviews for books that others seem to love! That said, I do think there’s something very curious about the ridiculous surge in popularity that that book specifically seemed to inspire (at best, I think it was a fairly generic example of a whole bunch of fantasy/romantasy books that already existed and didn’t get nearly the same reception); it tickles my conspiratorial side, let’s say. But the one very positive thing I can say for sure is that hopefully “Fourth Wing’s” popularity will bring another resurgence of dragons in fantasy fiction. I’m sure this book was well on its way to production before “Fourth Wing” even dropped, but I hope it’s just the tip of the spear as far as a trend goes.

While I had a few quibbles about pacing and such, there was still a lot to like about this book and I do think there is a solid fan base out there who will really love this one. Namely, fans of sprawling, epic fantasy. The world-building is front and center in this one, a fact that is hinted at early on by the inclusion of a two-page spread map. I love maps in books, and this one was not only interesting, but necessary to understanding the geography of the world we were exploring. This also very much feels like classic fantasy fiction, in that the reader is simply plopped down into the story with very little explanation regarding how it all works. I love this style of writing, as I’m happy to go along with a book as it slowly reveals its secrets. However, it’s something be aware of for readers who enjoy more explanation up front.

I also enjoyed the dragons, especially the fact that they were given distinctive personalities, allowing them to function more fully as characters on their own. I also enjoy this sort of dragon rider story where there is a specific bond between the riders and the dragons. Again, like “Fourth Wing,” but, you know, with actually skilled writing. I also really enjoyed the magic system at the heart of this novel. This world has two suns, each emitting different rays of magic that are then soaked up by the dragons’ scales. I also enjoyed the fact that we got to follow a scientist of this world who was studying how these magical elements affected the landscape and the world. I always love it when fantasy books include scholarly pursuits into their world-building, and it worked very well with this book.

That said, this book was definitely a slower read for me. While the reader is plunked right down into the world and into the middle of the characters’ stories, the pacing was still on the slower side. It’s also well-established at this point that I personally struggle with large casts of POV, and this book serves as a good example of why I think this choice can often have a negative effect on the pacing of the story. There’s so much jumping around from one character to the next that the reader is never given a chance to really settle into any one storyline. Instead, as one character’s story seems to be building towards something, the book switches to another POV, cutting the legs out from under any build-up in the pace of the book, forcing the reader to start all over again.

However, overall, I did enjoy this book. The world-building especially felt intricate and well thought out. I enjoyed learning about how the magic system was built into the way this society developed, and, of course, I’m a sucker for fantasy novels that delve into the politics of the various peoples of a new world. For readers who enjoy dragons but who also want world-building that actually makes sense *side-eyes “Fourth Wing” real hard*, definitely check this one out! That said, this is definitely a slower book, so readers should go in with that expectation.

Rating 8: A creative magic system and dragons galore, this is a great choice for readers looking to re-capture that “classic fantasy” feeling.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Dragons of Deepwood Fen” isn’t on any Goodreads lists but it should be on Myths & Mythological Creature Books.

Serena’s Review: “Powerless”

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Book: “Powerless” by Lauren Roberts

Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, November 2023

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

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

Book Description: She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting. He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be. Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.

Review: Well, what is there to say: tricked into reading this one by the hype train once again! That said, I’ve had a few surprises recently where books that were very hyped actually ended up being quite good! So while “popular on BookTok” is still often a red flag for me, I don’t want it to become an instant warning sign to not even check out a book. Unfortunately, this one re-established many of the reasons I’m hesitant about books that seem to be crazy hyped.

Mostly, this book felt like a conglomeration of tropes and recycled world-building. And on top of that, the writing felt very simplistic and even cheesy at times. Both of these complaints (tropes/unoriginal concepts and fairly low quality writing) are the ones that most often come up for me when I read books like this that have been highly hyped. Maybe I’m snobby, I don’t know, but it almost seems like the readers who hype these books seem to have very low bar set for the quality of what they’re reading. Don’t you want to read something different? Don’t you want a new story? A new world? A new romance? It’s all just so…tired.

It starts with the world which is pretty much just a high fantasy version of “Hunger Games.” The entire concept is also fairly crazy as this is apparently a world where everyone has powers and yet somehow society isn’t chaos?? Beyond that, those without powers are considered deadly threats for being diseased. And yet, fairly early on, we see and hear of several examples of people without powers being hidden away for years on end. If it was just a horrible stigma taken to a deadly level, then I would understand it. But I don’t understand the idea that these people are seen as actual threats to life and health when it’s very clear that this isn’t the case using any basic observational skills.

Beyond that, the seemingly endless types of abilities and powers that people in world could have served as a detriment to the stakes and storytelling in this book. It was like a constant dues ex machina. Brandon Sanderson has a few videos up on YouTube about his approach to building magic systems, and one of the points that he emphasizes is that your system, be it a strict or loose magic system, needs to have clear limitations. This book serves as a perfect case study in what happens when there are no limitations, and the end result is that it sucks out much of the coherence or sense of stakes built into the story.

From there, I felt the main character and the love interest were cardboard cutouts of the same characters I’ve read in books like this before. They weren’t necessarily bad characters, but they were so familiar, so uncreative that I simply couldn’t find myself caring. Paedyn was your heroic underdog type and Kai was your supposedly morally grey, mighty fighter type. And again, many of these character traits are simply told to the reader, often in fairly cheesy dialogue. Kai referring to himself as a monster more than once is a good example of this. But what do we actually see from him? A guy living in a violent society who, if anything, has a much more moral approach to what he does than others. So…monster? Really?

Overall, I was very underwhelmed with this book. It felt incredibly familiar and was built on too many tropes to even count. The characters weren’t bad, but they also weren’t bringing anything new or interesting to the table. The writing was also very simplistic and failed to draw me in. I know the author has a big TikTok following, so I’m sure it will do well with a built-in fanbase. But if you’re a general fantasy reader looking for the next book to pick up, I can’t say I recommend this one.

Rating 6: Not for me, I feel like I’ve read this same book many times before and don’t need to read one again.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Powerless” can be found on this Goodreads list: Best Fantasy Fiction for Teenagers

Serena’s Review: “Shadow Baron”

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

Book: “Shadow Baron” by Davinia Evans

Publishing Info: Orbit, November 2023

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

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

Book Description: Strap in for a thrilling adventure in the sequel to Davinia Evans’s wickedly entertaining debut fantasy that follows our favorite irreverent alchemists, high society ladies, and swashbuckling street gangs as they wrestle with the nature of reality itself. 

Siyon Velo might be acknowledged as the Alchemist. He may have even stabilized the planes and stopped Bezim from ever shaking into the sea again. But that doesn’t mean he has any idea what’s he doing—and it won’t be long before everyone knows it. 

To make things worse, mythical creatures once confined to operas and myths are spotted around Bezim. A djinn invades Zagiri’s garden party, and whispers of a naga slither across Anahid’s Flower District card tables. Magic is waking up in the Mundane. It’s up to Siyon to figure out a way to stop it, or everything he’s worked hard to save will come crashing down.

Previously Reviewed: “Notorious Sorcerer”

Review: Reading my review for “Notorious Sorcerer,” you wouldn’t be blamed for being a bit surprised that I’m back with a review of the second book in what appears to now be a trilogy. Well, when this one popped up as a review option, I went back to check out my review of the first one and decided that, given the specific struggles I had there, it might be a good idea to give the second book a chance. Notably, I struggled with the pacing of the first book.

The first one sped along in a way that I believe I described as “galloping.” Fast paced story can work well in a lot of ways, but in this case, it hindered my ability to truly connect to the characters. But this is also why I wanted to check out the second book. Character-wise, a decent amount was done in the first book to lay the foundation of who these people are, so I was hopeful that my connection to their stories would root me more firmly in place. And, for the most part, I was right about that, as I did enjoy this book more than the first.

Beyond the fact that I was helped for having already been introduced to this world and these characters, I do think there were some solid improvements in the overall quality of this book. The pacing did actually seem to flow better, being still quick but not so fast-paced that it left me feeling overwhelmed and unable to really settle into the reading experience. I also thought the world-building was improved this go-around. I was interested enough the first time, but I definitely remember wishing that things had been a bit more fleshed out and elaborated upon. And thankfully, that came through here as well. The slower pace also allowed for many of the elements and ideas presented in the first book to truly come to life, and I felt better able to center myself in the world that had been created.

Our main characters spent much more time apart in this second outing. This will likely work well for some readers, and not as well for others. I enjoyed it, as I think their individual storylines, largely disconnected from one another, left me better able to truly appreciate the character building that was going on for each of them. This was probably the aspect of the book that felt most “middle book” like. Some of the plot lines didn’t feel as important as others, but it was clear that the goals of these story points had more to do with moving the characters along a larger arch than it did with the storyline itself. As a character reader, I was happy with this. I also enjoyed the closer focus on the politics of this world and how our characters were needing to work within and without the system to bring improvement to this world.

Overall, I had a fun time with this book and enjoyed it more than the second one. Fans of the first book will likely enjoy the deeper look into this world, though some may be frustrated by how much time our characters spend apart. Readers who had mixed feelings about the first book, may still want to give this second one a go, as I feel it was a stronger story, overall.

Rating 8: An improvement in pacing and world-building, this second book in the trilogy will be a hit for fans of this series!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shadow Baron” can be found on this Goodreads list: Books I’m Dying to Get My Hands On

Book Club Review: “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch”

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

Book: “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” by Melinda Taub

Publishing Info: Grand Central Publishing, October 2023

Where Did We Get This Book: from the publisher!

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

Song Inspiration: “You’re No Good” by Lynda Ronstadt

Book Description: In this exuberant reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennet puts pen to paper to relate the real events and aftermath of the classic story from her own perspective. Some facts are well known: Mrs. Bennet suffers from her nerves; Mr. Bennet suffers from Mrs. Bennet, and all five daughters suffer from an estate that is entailed only to male heirs.

But Lydia also suffers from entirely different concerns: her best-loved sister Kitty is really a barn cat, and Wickham is every bit as wicked as the world believes him to be, but what else would you expect from a demon? And if you think Mr. Darcy was uptight about dancing etiquette, wait till you see how he reacts to witchcraft. Most of all, Lydia has yet to learn that when you’re a witch, promises have power . . .

Kate’s Thoughts

When Serena chose “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” for book club, I briefly thought of how I was probably one of the least Austen knowledgable in our group of friends and fellow librarians. I’ve seen plenty of “Pride and Prejudice” adaptations (okay, two: the Keira Knightley one and “Fire Island”), I hadn’t actually read it outside of reading “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. The good news is that through my adaptation consumption I knew well enough that Lydia is considered to be an obnoxious brat. So the idea of following her, AND making her a witch, was super fun, and I was excited to read it. And overall I thought that it was a fun adaptation, and it gave Lydia a bit to work with while still keeping her fairly obnoxious. In the best way possible.

Since I’m not as familiar with Austen’s work and the various paths “Pride and Prejudice” re-imaginings and revisits can take, I will mostly focus on the supernatural parts of this book. There is something really satisfying about making Lydia Bennet an aspiring witch, if only because it makes her just that more interesting, while still making her a bit of an antagonist through her actions as a headstrong and self involved girl with a loose grasp on her powers and the consequences of them. I love the idea of Kitty being an actual cat that Lydia glamoured into a sister for companionship, I really enjoyed the dynamics between the witches in the coven and how the social pressures and cattiness was still present, I also really liked the way that Taub brought in Wickham in a way that fits into the larger scheme of things by making him a demon and a bit of a caddish foil to Lydia (also, props on Taub for finding a believable way to retcon the Georgiana situation that keeps that vital plot point while also making a scenario where one can still kind of root for Wickham and Lydia to have a relationship, dysfunctional and bitchy as it may be). Toss in spells and curses and lots of witch and fantasy stuff, all while still being able to fit into the original narrative, albeit off page, is very well done. And it makes Lydia more interesting than just the vain and bratty little sister.

“The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” was a lark of a read, one that brought some fun magical mischief to a beloved tale. Even if you don’t like Lydia Bennet, this could be a fun read for a lover of “Pride and Prejudice”.

Serena’s Thoughts

Obviously I enjoyed this book. Enough to foist it upon the entire bookclub only a few months after I read it myself the first time. It also fit really well with this song prompt, as both Lydia and Wickham are villains (to various degrees) in the original story and morally grey at times in this one. And there is also a line in the song about hurting someone who was good and true, and my version of that line has it applying to Lydia’s choices regarding Kitty. Kind of a stretch in some ways, but no one can say our bookclub themes aren’t ambitious!

So, what is there new to say? As we discussed it in our bookclub, I was reminded of a few things that really stood out to me about this book. For some of our bookclub members, they struggled with the low level of action in much of the book. And that got me to thinking that this exact factor might be one of the very reasons this book stood out to me so well as a re-telling! All of Austen’s books are fairly low on the action front. There’s a lot of talking, there’s a lot of walking and talking, there’s a lot of dancing and talking, but there’s not much else really. So in that way, I felt like the slower pace and the strong focus on intrapersonal relationships really sold me on the concept of this book as a whole. Yes, there isn’t much as far as a deep dive into the fantasy elements, but I think this restraint better served the primary concept: that this is a version of “Pride and Prejudice” that could exist alongside the original.

I also enjoyed the irregular nature of the romance. This was another point that was hit and miss for some of our bookclub members, but I think, in hindsight, I also liked the way this played out. I’m not sure it would have read as well if Lydia and Wickham followed a more traditional romantic plot line. The way their “love story” plays out here is very much just the start of a possibility of romance than anything else. They are both true to their characters in that they can be selfish, a bit cruel, and are still learning how to truly value those around them. In this way, we see hints of a future for them, but it’s also clear that they aren’t anywhere near the finish line here. I thought this was a refreshing change to the typical romance plot line we see in many books like this.

For more of my thoughts, check out my original review!

Kate’s Rating 8: A creative reimagining of one of Austen’s more annoying characters, “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet” is a fun and witchy side quest for Lydia Bennet.

Serena’s Rating 9: As satisfying the second time around as it was the first, especially if you’re interested in a slower paced, very “Austen-esque” style of fantasy story.

Book Club Questions

  1. How well did this book work as a re-telling of “Pride and Prejudice?” Were there any changes that stood out to you, either in a good way or a bad way?
  2. This book is told using an epistolary style. How did that effect your experience of the tale? Did you have a guess as to the identity of the person on the receiving end of this story?
  3. What did you think of the magic system and the version of witches introduced to the story?
  4. There are many examples of female friendships and sisterhood sprinkled throughout this book, some healthy and others less so. Did any of these relationships stand out to you and why?
  5. Lydia and Wickham are both either foolish or villainous characters in the original. What did you think of these versions of these characters and their romance?

Reader’s Advisory

“The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” is included on the Goodreads lists: Austenesque – Paranormal, Supernatural, or Fantasy Books and Flipped Perspectives.

Next Book Club Pick: “Earthdivers (Vol. 1): Kill Columbus”

Book Excerpt: “Valdemar”

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Occasionally we are approached with the opportunity to promote books that may be of interest to our readers. And occasionally in lieu of a full review of the book, we will let it speak for itself by posting an excerpt from it. Enjoy!

Book: “Valdemar” by Mercedes Lackey

Publishing Info: DAW, December 2023

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

Book Description: The refugees from the Empire have established a thriving city called Haven with the help of the Tayledras and their allies. But the Tayledras have begun a slow withdrawal to the dangerous lands known as the Pelagirs, leaving the humans of Haven to find their own way.

But even with Haven settled, the lands around Haven are not without danger. Most of the danger comes in the form of magicians: magicians taking advantage of the abundant magical energy in the lands the Tayledras have cleansed; magicians who have no compunction about allying themselves with dark powers and enslaving magical beasts and the Elementals themselves.

Kordas, his family, and his people will need all the help they can get. But when a prayer to every god he has ever heard of brings Kordas a very specific and unexpected form of help, the new kingdom of Valdemar is set on a path like nothing else the world has ever seen.

Perfect for longtime fans of Valdemar or readers diving into the world for the first time, the Founding of Valdemar trilogy will delight and enchant readers with the origin story of this beloved fantasy realm.

Excerpt:

Valdemar – Chapter 1Download

Serena’s Review: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night”

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Book: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” by Carissa Broadbent

Publishing Info: Bramble, December 2023

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

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

Book Description: For humans and vampires, the rules of survival are the never trust, never yield, and always—always—guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Review: Vampires have never really been my favorite paranormal creature. It would be easy to blame “Twilight” for this opinion, but even before then, back when I was reading “Interview with a Vampire” and the like, I never quite understood the appeal. Especially not in the romantic sense. How do you form a romantic interest out of a being that literally sees you as food? That in mind, I’ve been a bit hesitant about the recent resurgence of vampire fantasy fiction. But I’m always hopeful that there is a book out there that can change my mind on some of these pre-existing skepticisms. And, here we are, a vampire book that I actually really loved!

You know how a week ago I struggled to write a review for Jennifer Armentrout’s “Fall of Ruin and Wrath?” Mostly because, while I enjoyed the book, I could also objectively look at it and recognize that, at least in this instance, the author’s quality of writing was fairly low. Well, here I am a week later with a book that truly highlights the difference that good writing makes. In many ways, these books are similar. They are romantic fantasy fiction, focused on powerful beings and the humans who are caught up in their scheming, and, ostensibly, they both have unique worlds (I use the word “unique” carefully in Armentrout’s case as it seemed that she recycled some of her own ideas in her book.) But from the very first page, it is clear that this book is operating on an entirely different level. The sentence structure was varied and dynamic, the author pulled from a large vocabulary, the narration had a distinct voice, and the dialogue was engaging and natural. It was a success in every way, and I was immediately drawn in by the style.

The world-building was also introduced organically throughout the story, while not bogging down what ended up being a very fast-moving plot. The versions of vampires we see here are recognizable, but there was also a lot of creative interpretation built into the structure of this society, the political conflicts, and the lore of this world. I was also impressed by the creativity brought to the Kejari trials. Each one of them felt fresh and unique to this world and its story. These weren’t simple battles to the death, but intricate and dangerous puzzles of danger.

Further, I’ve also read a decent number of “Hunger Games” style books with deadly competitions at the heart of the story, and too often this aspect of these stories often falls flat, with the main character surviving due to heavy swaths of plot armor rather than any real skill we’ve seen from them. Instead, here, we have clear insight into Oraya’s success, with it often coming down to her keen observational skills and her drive to push herself further than her fellow competitors, beings who have been able to rely on their physical dominance up to this point. And that’s not to say that Oraya isn’t a powerful fighter herself. I appreciated the balance that was struck here between presenting Oraya, a human, as an exceptionally skilled fighter while also remaining realistic about the disadvantages she faced when competing against supernatural beings.

I also really enjoyed the romance that builds up through this story. This is definitely a slow-burn love story. Not only does the book itself hold off on its main characters getting together until late in the novel, but the structure of the plot takes place over months, giving our two characters a believable amount of time to work together, develop a friendship and partnership, and eventually a romance, overcoming their original distrust of one another. Of course, the book ends with a fairly large reveal (I was able to predict some of it, but that didn’t make it any less engaging when it happened), so the story is left in a state of upheaval as far as their love story goes. But the author so neatly side-stepped many failure points in the development of this relationship that I feel fully confident that she’ll navigate the path ahead just as successfully.

This book definitely doesn’t shy away from the violence of this world, so readers should go in expecting bloodshed. It’s also a romance novel in that it has fairly explicit scenes when it gets to that point. But it also reads well as a straight fantasy novel, with full attention and detail given to the plot and world-building. I think this book would likely appeal to most fantasy readers in general, beyond the romantasy fans out there. I really can’t express how impressed I was with this read. These books were originally self-published, so the sequel is available on Amazon now. But I’m going to try to hold off on reading and reviewing the second one until it comes out later this spring. Gotta support Bramble’s effort to pick up indie authors like this! Who know what other hidden gems are out there?!

Rating 9: Expanding the boundaries of what romantasy is capable of, this book has it all: solid word-building, compelling characters, and a fantastic love story!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Serpent and the Wings of Night” isn’t on any Goodreads lists but it should be on Fantasy Vampire Romance .

Serena’s Review: “A River of Golden Bones”

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Book: “A River of Golden Bones” by A.K. Mulford

Publishing Info: Harper Voyager, December 2023

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

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

Book Description: From bestselling author and TikTok sensation A.K. Mulford comes the first riveting, enchanting book in the all-new Golden Court romantasy trilogy— A River of Golden Bones  begins a journey of self-discovery, romance, and adventure for a young heir as she/they comes out of hiding to save her sister from a malicious, powerful sorceress and her dangerous sleeping curse. A sleeping curse. A fallen court. A secret twin. Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom…and from the humans who don’t know they are Wolves. Each twin has their own purpose in Briar’s is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla’s purpose is to remain a secret, her twin’s shadow . . . the backup plan. No one knows who Calla truly is except for her childhood friend—and sister’s betrothed—the distractingly handsome Prince Grae. But when Calla and Briar journey out of hiding for Briar’s wedding, all of their well-made plans go awry. The evil sorceress is back with another sleeping curse for the last heir to the Golden Court. Calla must step out of the shadows to save their sister, their kingdom, and their own legacy. Continuing to hide as a human and denying who she truly is, Calla embarks on a quest across the realm, discovering a whole world she never knew existed. Outside the confines of rigid Wolf society, Calla begins to who could she be if she dared to try? Full of adventure, love, gender exploration, and self-discovery, A River of Golden Bones follows Calla’s journey through treacherous Wolf kingdoms, monster-filled realms, and the depths of their own heart in this thrilling romantic fantasy.

Review: I was initially drawn to this book due to the unique cover. It’s definitely a “second look” style, in that it is bright, colorful, and unlike any of the current trends we often see on fantasy books. That said, when I looked a bit closer and saw the golden wolf head at the top, it did drop a few points in my estimation due to the inherent “cheese” factor of it all. But still, it got the job done and I placed a request to check this one out.

Vampires are currently back in trend it seems, so it’s interesting running across a werewolf high fantasy book in our current environment. With werewolves come a whole lot of fairly routine elements and tropes, and I was fairly disappointed to see so many of them trotted out quickly here. We have the tried and true “fated mates” trope, the “werewolf protectors” trope, and, of course, a good healthy dose of fairly sexist stereotypes and society structures. And while the book does take an interesting look at the black and white nature of this aspect of werewolf society, it was very much presented through the lens of the main character’s personal identity journey. Unforunately, at times, I felt like this reinforeced other stereotypes even as it worked to deconstruct other limitations.

For example, much of Calla’s experience with her identity, particularly in the beginning of the book, is directly drawn from her sister Briar. From Briar’s figure, from the clothes Briar wears, etc., all of which is opposite of Calla’s body type and preferences. But we never hear from Briar herself. Obviously, she didn’t pick her body type. And what she wears says very little about who she is. It felt strange to have so much exploration of personal identity built around a character who was never given a voice for expressing how she felt about herself or her role.

I also struggled to connect with this story due to the competing content it seemed to offer. On one hand, most of Calla’s journey is a “coming of age” story and much of this exploration gave off very strong “YA” vibes. But then the romance was very adult, with a healthy dose of spicy scenes that are anything but young adult. The combination didn’t work well for my reading experience.

I also didn’t enjoy the romance. It felt very predictable, and I often found both characters at their most tiresome when they were together. The angst and drama was more annoying than it was enticing. Supposedly these characters had been best friends at some point, but we see nothing that would even hint at that sort of relationship on the page.

And then, to make matters worse, in the final conflict with the big bad, an individual who had committed atrocities, the climax of it all seemed to be the accusation made that Grae wasn’t going to accept Calla’s true identity. This, again, felt very YA. That somehow we have a battle going on with a murderous, horrific individual, and the real crisis is coming down to Calla’s own personal journey. Obviously, that is a crucial part of her and of her story. But one’s own individual journey and experience with others, while important, is not going to pair well when brought into a fight about life-and-death events taking place within an entire kingdom.

Overall, I struggled to really connect with anything in this story. I thought the exploration of Calla’s journey was unique and interesting, but it wasn’t enough to offset my dislike of the romance and my frustration with the strange mix of YA/adult themes throughout the book. If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that tackles gender identity, this one definitely is a creative look at the topic. But ultimately, this book didn’t work for me.

Rating 6: Fairly disappointing, with a mismatched combination of YA and adult thematic elements.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A River of Golden Bones” can be found on this Goodreads list: Best Queer Romantasy Books.