Tag: Novella

Kate’s Review: “Haunt Sweet Home”

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Book: “Haunt Sweet Home” by Sarah Pinsker

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, September 2024

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

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

Book Description: On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along―is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

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

Well, Summer is pretty much over, and while I do admit I will miss the pool and other outdoor activities as the temperatures drop, Autumn is my favorite season and it’s no contest. I am also one of those weirdos who decides that Halloween Season begins the moment that Labor Day ends, and what better way to celebrate that than with a spooky book? And if you are looking for a spooky book that isn’t TOO spooky, well then do I have a good title for you: “Haunt Sweet Home” by Sarah Pinsker! Are you kind of interested in getting in the Halloween mood, but don’t want to dive in too deep, either because you aren’t a lunatic like I am or because you like your horror a little on the lighter side? Then look no further.

This is a novella, so it’s a pretty quick read, but for being quick it hit all of the correct beats and parsed out an engaging and at times eerie ghost story while also effectively taking on mediocre reality TV shows. I never got into home improvement shows, but I do have some experience with ghost hunting TV, and “Haunt Sweet Home” nails the false pretenses of reality TV and the way it can manipulate those who participate and those who consume. We follow Mara, a twenty something who hasn’t found her lot in life yet and is convinced to join her cousin’s incredibly successful reality TV show where he not only renovates and makes over houses, but also investigates hauntings. Mara becomes a lower rung PA and finds out how the sausage gets made on a show like this, but also encounters some strange, and perhaps otherworldly, characters along the way. It’s a ghost story that has a genuine self discovery theme, and I found it to be honest about the frustrations of not knowing your path as well as honest about the faux imagry of reality TV. I especially liked the way that Pinsker frames the novella with excerpts of pivotal episode transcripts for “Haunt Sweet Home”, and how they seem to show one thing, but then slowly reveal something else as the story goes on. As someone who doesn’t watch a lot of reality TV but is also deeply fascinated with the genre and how produced it actually is I really enjoyed the peek behind the curtain here.

And while I didn’t find this book particularly scary, I don’t think that being scary was the goal. And that worked in its favor, as the coziness of this tale is hard to deny and the journey of self discovery is pretty well done. Mara’s encounters with the supernatural are pretty clear if you know what to look for from the jump, and even when they are revealed its less a surprise and more of a puzzle piece that helps explain her motivations going forward, and a fairly enjoyable arc for our somewhat aimless protagonist. It’s the kind of spooky-esque read that would be perfect for people who don’t really like super scary stories, but want something to pick up during Autumn as the leaves turn and Halloween creeps up upon us. Mara had a tendency to be a bit frustrating at times, but I don’t think that was unintentional, and because of that it worked pretty well for the narrative.

Overall, if you want a more gentle and cozy horror tale for the upcoming spooky season, “Haunt Sweet Home” is a pretty good option. It’s quick, it’s charming, it has vibes for the Halloween fiends who want gentler fare for sure.

Rating 7: An introspective ghost story about bad reality TV and self discovery, “Haunt Sweet Home” is a quick read perfect for the upcoming Autumn season.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Haunt Sweet Home” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in with other Cozy Horror books.

Serena’s Review: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing”

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Book: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing” by Beth Revis

Publishing Info: DAW, August 2024

Where Did I Get this Book:

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

Book Description: Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.

But Ada doesn’t care—all that matters to her is enjoying their fine food and sweet, sweet oxygen—until Rian White, the government agent in charge, starts to suspect that there’s more to Ada than meets the eye. He’s not wrong—but he’s so pretty that Ada is perfectly happy to keep him paying attention to her—at least until she can complete the job she was sent to pull off. But as quick as Ada is, Rian might be quicker—and she may not be entirely sure who’s manipulating who until it’s too late…

Review: I’ve had a bit of a mixed reading experience with this author’s books. I read her YA science fiction novel, “Across the Universe,” years ago and really struggled with it. But then, more recently, I absolutely loved “Night of the Witch,” which Revis wrote collaboratively with another author. Given the strength of my more recent experience, I’d been eying this upcoming novella for a bit before the publisher reached out about potential coverage, and I was decided!

And I’m happy to report that the positive trajectory continues, and I very much enjoyed this short, science fiction romp of a ride! The story is told in the first person which places a lot of pressure on the strength of the narrator to carry the story. And Ada was well up to the task! At first, she had the potentially of falling into the trap of “snark machine” without much substance to back it up. But as the story continued, it became clear that Ada was not a super reliable narrator, leaving the reader to the enjoyable task of attempting to piece together what was really going on as the story progressed. I also enjoyed the presentation of the other crew members, as seen through Ada’s eyes. Again, the use of first person was very successful in presenting these characters through a limited character’s view point, with Ada’s first impressions needing adjustment as she comes to better understand those around her.

I also really enjoyed the plot and action of the story. This is a novella, so there’s a lot to crunch into a fairly small page count. Not only do you have the romantic elements (more on that later), but there was entire adventure to get through, with numerous high stakes scenes. The book starts off in the middle of one of these tense moments, with Ada stranded in her broken down ship with only minutes-worth of air left. And from there, the story quickly bounces into even higher stakes as the salvage crew gets to work. With such high stakes and so much fact-paced plotting, it was sometimes easy to miss the more detailed world-building that went into the story. But whenever I came up for air, I would look back a realize just how fully fleshed out this universe, and the life of a salvager like Ada, felt.

I also, overall, liked the beginnings of the romance, though I will say that this was perhaps one of the weaker elements of the story. While Revis does show much restraint in only marginally moving this “relationship” forward (this is all that would make any sense given the fact that the entire book takes place over a few days’ time), it still felt like a bit too much at times, too close to insta-lust. But I was so well-satisfied with the fact that the envelope wasn’t pushed too far on this point, and the fact that the next book is coming out in a few months’ time, to complain too much.

The only thing that really stood out was the manner in which the book wrapped up. After the primary action is concluded, and Ada is off on her next adventure, the book concludes with several pages’ worth of epistolary material, mostly Rian’s reports on the events of the book and various messages he sends piecing together more information on Ada itself. While all of this information was interesting and crucial to enlightening Rian (and the reader) to some of the details of Ada’s life and plan, it did read as rather clunky and tacked on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read! I blew through it in a single sit-down and am anxious to get to the next book! Readers of adventure science fiction (and those patiently waiting for more romantic science fiction to come out and catch up to the romantasy boom!) should definitely check this one out.

Rating 8: Jam-packed with adventure and intrigue, with a healthy dose of romance sprinkled on top, I can’t wait to jet off on Ada’s next high stakes adventure!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Full Speed to a Crash Landing” can be found on this Goodreads list: [ATY 2025] Science Fiction or Fantasy by a Woman

Kate’s Review: “Scanlines”

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Book: “Scanlines” by Todd Keisling

Publishing Info: Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, May 2021

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: In 1987, Congressman Benjamin Hardy III died by suicide on live television amidst accusations of political corruption. Years later, rumors of a recording surfaced among VHS trading groups and urban legend chat rooms. Dubbed the “Duncan Tape,” after the deceased cameraman who attempted to sell the video, the rumors allege that anyone who watches the tape is driven to suicide.

Or so the story goes. In truth, no one has ever seen the supposed Duncan Tape, presumably because it doesn’t exist. It’s a ghost story perpetuated on the forums and chat rooms of the internet, another handful of bytes scattered across the Information Superhighway at blistering 56K modem speeds.

For Robby and his friends, an urban legend is the last thing on their minds when a boring Friday night presents a chance to download porn. But the short clip they watch turns out to be something far more graphic and disturbing, and in the coming days, they’ll learn even the most outlandish urban legends possess a shred of truth…

Review: Every once in awhile I decide that I need to do a bit of a ‘Spring cleaning’ on my Kindle, in that I look back at books that I purchased on a whim and then never actually read. It’s such a bad habit of mine, and it’s even worse on the Kindle because since it’s digital I never actually have a physical space that is taken up by said purchase. So a couple weeks ago I was looking at my purchases, and decided it was time to pick a book to read. I opted to go with “Scanlines” by Todd Keisling, in part because it was a novella and therefore a quicker read, but also because I remembered that a lot of horror influencers had raved about it, which led to me purchasing it. I settled in one evening, knowing I would no doubt finish it in one sitting, but I wasn’t really prepared for what I found. But that’s a compliment.

“Scanlines” is a mix of a cursed media horror story with a coming of age tale, short and brutal while also having a certain nostalgic edge to it. We follow Robby, a teenager living in the 1990s in an age of dial up Internet and a lingering naïveté about the world wide web. When Robby and his friends stumble upon the notorious “Duncan Tape”, a video of a U.S. Congressman killing himself on camera and becoming stuff of urban legend (as anyone who watches it will supposedly kill themself), their lives are sent into a tailspin. This alone is already great, I love a cursed media story as it is. But “Scanlines” is incredibly clever in that it takes Internet urban legends, the violence that was so Wild West at the time (Rotten.com anyone?), and the very real suicide video of U.S. Congressman R. Budd Dwyer, and creates something deeply unsettling. And graphic. I mean the cover alone! We watch as these teenagers start to see a dead man everywhere, haunting their every step, and their desperation to solve what he could possibly want as his image follows their every move and makes them more and more desperate. The descriptions of the video, the descriptions of the twisted face, the way that these kids just unravel, it’s all so messed up and scary, and Keisling fits it all into a novella’s length without it feeling lacking or rushed. The scares are tight and relentless, and the imagery got under my skin very effectively.

But what really caught my attention with this novella is how it really captures the nostalgia of the time period. I was a teenager in the late 90s into the early 2000s, and while my Internet connection at home was pretty sparse (AOL hooked up through the home phone for awhile, then we eventually got a separate line but it was still pretty minimal), I do remember stumbling upon things that scandalized me (not the Dwyer tape thank goodness), and how it all felt so novel and like uncharted territory. Keisling has a great author’s note to go along with this book talking about how this story took some inspiration from something that did actually happen to him and his friends back in the day, and that exploration of the friendships between Robby and his friend group and the ways that dynamic functioned and changed after experiencing a shared trauma added a whole other layer to this story, pulling out some nostalgic aspects of teenage friendships as they shift and evolve, especially when life changing things happen. I found it to be moving in spite of the pretty visceral violent moments in this book. It’s a very fascination dichotomy in tone, and I thought it worked really well.

“Scanlines” was an effective horror novella that I shouldn’t have sat on for so long. I will absolutely seen to check out more from work Todd Keisling.

Rating 8: Short and nasty but also a meditative coming of age tale, “Scanlines” is a rough ride, but one that I found myself oddly moved by in a way.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Scanlines” is included on the Goodreads list “Cursed Media”.

Serena’s Review: “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins”

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Book: “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins” by P. Djeli Clark

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, August 2024

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

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

Book Description: Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins―resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories―have only three unbreakable vows.

First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.

Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.

The third and the once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.

Review: I got to meet this author back when Kate and I went to ALA in Chicago in 2023, so he’s been on my list of writers to check out for a bit. Not to mention, I’m always interested in a fantasy story featuring assassins, so this book was an obvious request for me! Plus, the title is intriguing as heck!

This was one of those books that felt familiar and a bit like a homecoming in the best of ways. This isn’t to say that the story, characters, or world were unoriginal, more so it was the fact that they all so neatly referenced many other familiar, beloved traits found in similar fantasy stories. Eveen, in particular, while still very much her own character, also reminded me of other beloved similar characters (Keesan from “Godkiller” comes to mind). She was that perfect combination of hardened, rather sarcastic warrior woman who finds her straight-forward approach to the world suddenly challenged. She was funny, powerful, and charismatic, and I would read more books about her any day of the week!

I also really enjoyed the world-building that went into this book. It’s a novella, so the author had to be judicious with how to build in the framework of this world while not cutting into the fast-paced action of the story. The entire story takes place over a 24-hour period of time, and yet between all of the fighting and running and scheming scenes, I still felt as if I understood this world of undead assassins and the powerful families who would wield them for their own goals. The concept of the undead assassins was also very interesting; it was one of those ideas you find in fantasy stories that are deceptively simple and yet brilliant when played out on the page.

While some of these fantasy elements and characters (both main and side) felt vaguely familiar (again, in the best way), the ending of this book packs a major punch with the way it resolves the greater conflict. I can truly say I didn’t see that last twist coming at all, and not only was it clever, but it perfectly wrapped up many of the threads of the story that had begun to feel impossibly knotted.

I also really enjoyed the numerous side characters sprinkled throughout the book. Eveen will always be my favorite, but her greatness was supported by the variety of other “Dead Cat Tail Assassins” we meet throughout the story, each with their own unique fight style. Rounding out the cast was the target of Eveen’s assassination mission, a young woman with a connection to Eveen’s forgotten past that is shocking and propels the entire story forwards.

I enjoyed the heck out of this story! I sat down and read it one sitting (this is helped by it being a fairly short story), completely drawn in by the fast-moving plot and hilarious main character. I definitely recommend this one for all fantasy readers, especially those looking for an action-packed story that features a compelling leading lady!

Rating 9: Crackling with action and humor, I finished the last page wishing for only one thing: more!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Dead Cat Tail Assassins” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Best Outside-the-box Speculative Fiction and Adult Fantasy/Sci-fi/Speculative Novellas by BIPOC Authors

Serena’s Review: “The Brides of High Hill”

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Book: “The Brides of High Hill” by Nghi Vo

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, May 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: The Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to an aging lord at a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. But they’re forgetting things they ought to remember, and the lord’s mad young son wanders the grounds at night like a hanged ghost.

The Singing Hills Cycle has been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, the Ignyte Award, and has won the Hugo Award and the Crawford Award.

Review: I haven’t read the other books in this series, but I’ve heard a lot about them! And being the lazy reader that I am sometimes, after dutifully checking through the previous books, I decided I was more than capable of just jumping right in on the fourth book! It helps that these are all stand-alone stories that feature the same lead character, so this wasn’t really much of a feat on my part at all. And, while it may have taken a while, I’m glad that I’m finally aboard this hype train!

Other than a passing review of the other books’ plots, I wasn’t exactly sure what sort of fantasy novel I’d be getting here. This being the case, I also can’t speak to how well this one follows in tone to the previous books. But whether it is diverging from a norm or typical of the series, this is exactly the sort of fantasy story I like! I’ve made no effort to hide my glee that gothic fantasy has been having a moment in the sun recently, and I was incredibly excited to realize that what we were getting in this book. It also might not surprise the savvy fantasy reader that this is a loose retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairytale. Gothic fantasy plus fairytale-retelling: just my cup of tea!

I very much enjoyed the balance of fantasy and horror elements in this story. For such a short book, it was very successful at building a sense of suspense and dread. There was an almost claustrophobic feel to the entire story, which I think works perfectly for gothic stories which often take place in confined spaces. Our main character also seemed to struggle to find their footing in this situation, having the goal to protect the bride not being unclear about what was going on or how to move forward. This precarious-feeling narration only increaed the disturbing mood of the story as a whole.

I also very much enjoyed the final quarter or so of the book. There were a lot of twists and turns, as well as a rather open-ended nature to the conclusion. That being the case, it’s hard to really write much of a review about the plot itself as many of my thoughts would quickly veer into the territory of spoilers.

I also liked the main character. Now, this is probably where I missed the most, jumping in on the fourth book in the series. I simply was not as familiar with this protagonist to know what was new to them in this book versus what was drawing on information that readers should have picked up from the previous books. That said, I don’t feel as if I missed out too overly much, but if you have the time, reading the first few books would likely add to the experience of this one.

Overall, I really liked this book and can understand why the series has received the acclaim it has! I’m going to add the previous books to my TBR for sure (though given the ridiculous length of that list, I make no promises!)!

Rating 8: Mixing gothic fantasy/horror with a fairytale retelling leads to an excellent, creepy, thrill of a ride!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Brides of High Hill” can be found on these Goodreads lists: East Asian Fantasy and Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024

Serena’s Review: “The Fireborne Blade”

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Book: “The Fireborne Blade” by Charlotte Bond

Publishing Info: Tor, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: Slay the dragon, find the blade. True love can’t be far behind…

Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.

A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it’s that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.

Will Maddileh prove her mettle? Or will she end up like countless knights before her―as a puddle of gore and molten armor?

Review: This was an obvious request for me just based on the cover alone! I’m always on the lookout for the next great dragon book, and, of course, the heroine front and center also places it firmly in my wheel house for reading preferences! The plot synopsis also promised a lot of classic fantasy fun: knights, dragon-hunting, and dangerous adventures full of redemption and possibly romance! So, how did it all turn out?

Well, for the most part, well enough. I know that’s not a killer start to a review, but it also sums up my reading experience fairly well. There was nothing objectively wrong with this book, and, frankly, there was a lot to like during much of it. But while we’ve seen other books shine with a reduced page count (see “When Among Crows”), this one shows the other side of the equation, one where the overall impact and pacing of the book was hampered by its short length. But let’s start with the good stuff!

First of all, I really enjoyed the structure of this book and the way it introduced the dragons of this world. In between chapters, we had inserts from past knights’ experiences with dragons, dutifully recorded by the scribes of this world. These brief tales were often the most fun parts of the book, being hilarious and terrifying in their own right and neatly delivering a ton of world-building and lore regarding the dragons and their magic.

And as for the dragons, I appreciated the mix of the “classic” dragon archetype alongside some creative new takes on their magic. For the most part, these dragons are the sort readers are most familiar with: live in caves with hordes of treasure, come out every once in a while to terrorize the land, and, of course, the best foes for a knight looking to prove their worth! But, alongside these familiar elements, the inclusion of the magical dangers that occur when a dragon dies added the dash of something new that I needed.

I also liked our main character and the cast of side characters that surrounded her. But here is where things began to fall apart a bit for me. While I liked what we were given, I also was left wishing we had gotten a bit more of a character arch. I liked the broad sweeps that we had, but the story had to rush through so many things, especially towards the end, that I never felt like the emotional stakes were as high as I was wanting. And, as for the pacing, the last fourth of the book felt incredibly rushed. I thought the way everything was resolved was clever, but it almost happened so quickly that it was over before I had fully realized what was even happening!

Overall, this was a fun, fast read, but it never quite rose to the highs that I was hoping for! The incredible potential almost ended up working against it, as I was increasingly aware of the few numbers of pages I had left as I made my way through the book. That said, if you’re looking for a high fantasy novella that delivers all of the classic fantasy goods, this is one to check out!

Rating 7: Checks all of the right boxes, but a rushed conclusion dropped my reading experience down a bit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Fireborne Blade” can be found on this Goodreads list: Sapphic Fiction 2024

Serena’s Review: “When Among Crows”

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Book: “When Among Crows” by Veronica Roth

Publishing Info: Tor, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: Pain is Dymitr’s calling. To slay the monsters he’s been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands.

Pain is Ala’s inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother’s, unless she can find a cure.

One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees.

But they only have one day before the flower dies . . . and Ala’s hopes of breaking the curse along with it.

Review: I feel like I say this every time I review a Veronica Roth book, but I’m continuously surprised by the trajectory I’ve taken with regards to reading her books. I was not a fan of “Divergent,” to the point that I didn’t even finish the trilogy. And then I completely skipped her next few books before picking up “Chosen Ones” and finding that I absolutely loved it! Since then, I’ve read several books by her and really enjoyed them all! So now, here we are: an author who originally wrote a trilogy I couldn’t even finish is now a “must read” writer for me, someone whose new books are immediately prioritized on my TBR list. Strange how these things work!

Beyond the fact that I enjoy Roth as a writer now, this novella would always appeal to me. I enjoy this sort of urban fantasy that pulls together lesser known fantasy beings and re-figures them into a current environment. On top of that, Baba Yaga is always a winning factor! And all of this lived up perfectly to my expectations! What added to the already interesting fantasy beings was the way their societies and abilities were woven into the setting of Chicago. This was one of those books where a sense of place was visceral and really added to the overall experience. I’ve only been to Chicago a handful of times, but the descriptions of the various neighborhoods and locations of the city really added to the overall feel of the story.

As for the magical beings, I really enjoyed the main three that we experienced, all who fed off of various human emotions: sadness, anger, and fear. The creativity that went into imaging how these types of beings would exist alongside humans in a seamless manner was incredible, and I enjoyed the slow exploration of how this little underworld and society existed alongside the bustling human city. On top of this, we have the monster hunters with their own horrific magic. This was all helped by focusing the story on our three main characters, all three of whom come from various parts of this world and can give us new insights as the story progresses. They also have burgeoning connections that are built and revealed between them.

I also really enjoyed the themes of pain, regret, and how we live with the choices we’ve made. For such a short book, this story really packs a wallop with the depths with which it explores some of these darker themes. We see this exploration come with the balance struck between pain and power, as well as pain as penitence. Between these deeper topics, the excellent world-building, and the incredibly complex and sympathetic characters, this book is a case study in how much a skilled writer can do, even with a very short page count.

On one hand, this book feels like a perfectly packaged story, complete with all of the elements one looks for in a full-length novel. So, of course, I don’t want unnecessarily added pages just to make it longer. But on the other hand, man, I wish we could explore this world and characters more! Perhaps, if we’re very lucky, we’ll get another book in this world. But as it stands, I definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a new take on what the urban fantasy genre can offer!

Rating 9: Fantastic! With a rich setting and sympathetic characters, Roth proves just how much fantasy world-building you can do even with a short page count!

Reader’s Advisory:

“When Among Crows” can be found on this Goodreads list, Can’t Wait Books of 2024, and should be on this list, Baba Yaga.

Year of Sanderson: “The Emperor’s Soul”

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“Year of Sanderson” is an on-going, monthly series that will post on the last Friday of each month in which I will cover various Brandon Sanderson-related things. This will largely be comprised of book reviews (some from his back catalog and some from the books being released this year), as well as assorted other topics like reviews of the items in the swag boxes that will be coming out as part of Sanderson’s Kickstarted campaign. Frankly, we’ll just have to see what we get from this series, very much like the Kickstarter itself!

Book: “The Emperor’s Soul” by Brandon Sanderson

Publishing Info: Tachyon Publications, October 2012

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Though her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead.

Probing deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that Shai’s forgery is as much artistry as it is deception.

Brimming with magic and political intrigue, this deftly woven fantasy delves into the essence of a living spirit.

Review: Aside from his full length novels (and “full length” includes books that are made up of a page count that would equal several books combined!), Brandon Sanderson has also written a good number of short stories and novellas. I’ve read a few of them but wanted to review one that I hadn’t read before for this series. As there is a second “Elantris” book slated to come out sometime in the next few years, I thought it was a good time to check out this novella that, while not directly connected to that book, takes place in the same world.

I guess it should no longer come as a surprise, but it’s always impressive just how much detail Sanderson can pack into his world-building and magic systems. All the more so in this small book! Further more, while close readers will spot the references to “Elantris,” this book stands fully on its own, meaning that the book can’t rely on previous knowledge and must impart everything that needs to be understood in its slim page count. I was impressed by how well all of this lore worked alongside a fairly compact story that also put in a lot of work in the arc of its main character.

I really enjoyed Shai as a main character. She’s a master thief and forger, relying on a very specific and rare power to pull off her feats. In this story, she is tasked with an impossible mission: to forge the soul of the emperor who teeters on death’s door. Not only was this an interesting exploration of what makes up us as people, but Shai’s story was surprisingly heart-touching as she works to gain the trust and understanding of the man in charge of overseeing her progress. This was a unique relationship, in that it wasn’t a romance, but instead was a sweet exploration of learning to understand those we initially perceive as our enemies, whose beliefs and actions we can’t understand ourselves.

The story also moves at a brisk pace, even if much of the action takes place in a small, confined room. However, as the tension builds, the reader is drawn closer and closer to Shai, attempting to understand just what her plan is. And when it all plays out, it’s a thrilling conclusion, more than making up for the slower action to start with. Overall, this was a very satisfying, short read. It perfectly illustrates many of Sanderson’s strengths as an author while also not requiring a commitment to a massive tome on the reader’s part. For those looking for an introduction to Sanderson’s work, this is a great place to start!

Rating 8: Short but effective, this book is a perfect primer for readers looking to get a small taste of the masterful work Sanderson produces!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Emperor’s Soul” is on this Goodreads list: Original Stories . . . a Breath of Fresh Air and Best Stand-Alone Fantasy Book.

Kate’s Review: “Green Fuse Burning”

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

Book: “Green Fuse Burning” by Tiffany Morris

Publishing Info: Stelliform Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a copy from the publisher.

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

Book Description: The debut novella from the Elgin Award winning author of Elegies of Rotting Stars. After the death of her estranged father, artist Rita struggles with grief and regret. There was so much she wanted to ask him-about his childhood, their family, and the Mi’kmaq language and culture from which Rita feels disconnected. But when Rita’s girlfriend Molly forges an artist’s residency application on her behalf, winning Rita a week to paint at an isolated cabin, Rita is both furious and intrigued. The residency is located where her father grew up. On the first night at the cabin, Rita wakes to strange sounds. Was that a body being dragged through the woods?

When she questions the locals about the cabin’s history, they are suspicious and unhelpful. Ignoring her unease, Rita gives in to dark visions that emanate from the forest’s lake and the surrounding swamp. She feels its pull, channelling that energy into art like she’s never painted before. But the uncanny visions become more insistent, more intrusive, and Rita discovers that in the swamp’s decay the end of one life is sometimes the beginning of another.

Review: Thank you to Stelliform Press and Beverly Bambury for sending me a print copy of this book!

The first thing about “Green Fuse Burning” by Tiffany Morris that caught my eye was the cover. When this showed up in my inbox with the cover attached to the email, I saw the cover and was just under its spell. The vivid colors, the creepy image, it just grabbed me. I also haven’t read much eco-horror, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go with this novella. I went in expecting one thing, but once I was done I realized that it completely upended all my expectations.

Horror wise, I thought that “Green Fuse Burning” had a lot of really well done imagery, and a lot of unique prose choices that make the macabre at times quite beautiful. This is a horror tale that anchors itself in nature and eco-horror, with references to climate change and an eerie and foreboding swamp that draws protagonist Rita into its spell while she tries to work on her art inside an isolated cabin on a lake that has ties to her now deceased Mi’kmaw father. From strange noises at night to standoffish people in town to images of a woman who seems to be made if fiery vegetation, the scares are both deeply unsettling as well as beautifully written (which isn’t TOO shocking as Morris is an award winning poet). The descriptions of the vegetation, the landscape, the gore, it is absolutely what I expect from horror while also being unexpectedly gorgeous. I also really enjoyed how each chapter opened with a description of the various art pieces that Rita creates while in the cabin, that gives the reader and idea of the escalating horror situations that are to come on her journey in the swamp.

But what I liked most about this book is the way that Morris examines grief and loss, and how that not only applies to losing loved ones, but also losing your connection to your heritage through that initial loss. Rita is an Indigenous woman who has a tenuous relationship with her Mi’kmaw heritage and culture, and when her main link, her estranged father, dies, she now feels adrift and as though a part of herself she never really knew has been taken from her with his death. Rita’s journey in the woods on the lake where he grew up has the expected ‘cabin the woods’ beats, but it goes deeper than that and dives into the horrors of this kind of grief. And I also liked how instead of grief being seen as something to be fought or overcome, as some horror stories have done, you get the sense that Rita’s grief isn’t something to be conquered, but something to be accepted and something to sit with. That, too, ties into the colonized nature of Rita’s grief, as within the Western lens (as seen through her white girlfriend Molly), Rita is sent away to process her grief and to come out more artistic and whole, to hide it away until she is done processing it. But as Rita is isolated in the woods and goes through her journey in the swamps and with the Lichen Woman, grief isn’t seen as something to hide, but to, in some ways, embrace.

“Green Fuse Burning” is a meditative and gorgeously written horror story that has moments of intensity, as well as moments of reflection. It’s one of the more unique horror stories I’ve read this year, and I quite enjoyed it.

Rating 8: An unsettling environmental horror that takes on grief and loss, “Green Fuse Burning” is both intense, but also meditative.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Green Fuse Burning” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Releases October 2023”, and “Horror To Look Forward To in 2023”.

Kate’s Review: “The Salt Grows Heavy”

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

Book: “The Salt Grows Heavy” by Cassandra Khaw

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, May 2023

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

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

Book Description: From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three ‘saints’ who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

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

I know that my Dad took my preschool self to see Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in the theater, and while it’s not a top tier Disney film for me, I enjoy it enough (fun fact: it’s my Dad’s favorite Disney movie). I never sought out the original Hans Christian Andersen story, but I am kind of familiar with the general concept and how different and how much bleaker it is than the more palatable for children Disney version. I never really thought about what it would be like to make it even bleaker, but author Cassandra Khaw apparently did, because “The Salt Grows Heavy” takes “The Little Mermaid” and turns it into a full on balls to the wall body horror novella. Like, FULL ON BODY HORROR GORE AND VISCERA. WORK, ARIEL.

Pretend that the water is blood and guts and you aren’t even halfway there. (source)

Now this all sounds super promising, and between that and the cover (I LOVE THE COVER) I had high hopes for this novella. Unfortunately it was a bit of a mixed bag.

But first, what I liked! WHAT AN OUT THERE AND FREAKY CONCEPT! I love the way that Khaw has taken the story of “The Little Mermaid” and twisted it into something so visceral, so splatterpunk, so disturbing and gory. Our protagonist mermaid has fled the kingdom she married into with a mysterious Plague Doctor after her children with the prince have destroyed the city and all who live there. The original tale makes a victimized mermaid a lovelorn waif, while Khaw makes her into a vengeful, held against her will and now broken free with much blood behind her heroine. This story is one of the goriest I have ever read, so graphic that when I was reading it in a public place I had to set it down a few times just to swallow back disgust. In a good way! Body horror gets under my skin, and sometimes it puts me off, but even though this was so gross and nasty and relentless, it really worked well for me.

But what didn’t work as well was how flowery and overwrought the language felt at times. It’s a creative choice and I have to respect it, and I do admit that sometimes there were moments where I really did love the beauty of the language and descriptors that were used. But I have always had a very difficult time with very flowery and complex and ornate language in the stories I read for whatever reason. It makes it easier for me to get lost, and easier for me to find my eyes glazing over. I also think that we jumped in at a point that felt a bit more like the middle of a story versus a clear beginning, and because it’s a novella we had to speed through the place where we were at to resolve everything, which meant that there could have been more world building and more detail. And I do wish that we had spent some time with the mermaid and the horrible prince, to really see a full subversion of “The Little Mermaid” instead of a subversion of what felt more like a sequel to the tale that we know.

So while I was a bit disappointed in “The Salt Grows Heavy”, I had a fun time being absolutely disgusted with some of the body horror stuff in this book. If you don’t have the same hang ups with flowery writing styles that I do and love body horror, this book would probably be a good fit!

Rating 6: I loved the concept, and I really liked some of the creative aspects of twisting “The Little Mermaid” into a body horror gore fest. But the purple prose is a bit much, which is, admittedly, more reflective of my personal preferences.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Salt Grows Heavy” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Horror”, and “Horror to Look Forward To In 2023”.