Exciting February and March New Releases!

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As part of my job I have to keep track of upcoming book releases — usually months in advance (I’m currently reading arcs for JUNE). Here are some new releases from February and March that have been on my radar. (This is obviously not every book release from February and March. There are a couple very impressive blogs that keep track of that, but I am not one of them. I don’t have that much brain power…) These are just the ones that I am personally excited about.

Temple of No God by H.M. Long — released Feb 1st (this is the sequel to Hall of Smoke, which I reviewed in December 2020 here.)

“After a brutal war between the gods, Hessa – High Priestess of the Eangen – has brokered a fragile peace. Through great sacrifice, she has forged an alliance between warring tribes and introduced her people to the true god.

But a new threat is growing across the southern border. In the remnants of the once-great Arpa Empire, three factions are vying for the imperial throne, and the vast well of raw magical power only accessible to the Arpa Emperor. Already beating back former Arpa legionaries at her borders, Hessa knows she cannot let this chance slip by. She must intervene, for the safety of her people.

With the peace she has sacrificed so much for at stake, Hessa must venture into the heart of enemy territory, where warring Arpa factions are not the only danger she must face. A sinister new cult is on the rise, one with the power to suck the life from everything it touches. With enemies on every side and her fragile alliance beginning to waver, Hessa must decide who to trust – no matter what it may cost her…”

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist — released Feb 22nd

“Med school dropout Lena is desperate for a job, any job, to help her parents, who are approaching bankruptcy after her father was injured and laid off nearly simultaneously. So when she is offered a position, against all odds, working for one of Boston’s most elite families, the illustrious and secretive Verdeaus, she knows she must accept it—no matter how bizarre the interview or how vague the job description.

By day, she is assistant to the family doctor and his charge, Jonathan, the sickly, poetic, drunken heir to the family empire, who is as difficult as his illness is mysterious. By night, Lena discovers the more sinister side of the family, as she works overtime at their lavish parties, helping to hide their self-destructive tendencies . . . and trying not to fall for Jonathan’s alluring sister, Audrey. But when she stumbles upon the knowledge that the Verdeau patriarch is the one responsible for the ruin of her own family, Lena vows to get revenge—a poison-filled quest that leads her further into this hedonistic world than she ever bargained for, forcing her to decide how much—and who—she’s willing to sacrifice for payback.”

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — released Feb 22nd (there were a LOT of Feb 22nd releases…)

“When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.

Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to…”

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh — released Feb 22nd

“Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.”

Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather — released Feb 22nd (this is a novella, and the sequel to Sisters of the Vast Black, which I reviewed last year here.)

“Not long ago, Earth’s colonies and space stations threw off the yoke of planet Earth’s tyrannical rule. Decades later, trouble is brewing in the Four Systems, and Old Earth is flexing its power in a bid to regain control over its lost territories.

The Order of Saint Rita—whose mission is to provide aid and mercy to those in need—bore witness to and defied Central Governance’s atrocities on the remote planet Phyosonga III. The sisters have been running ever since, staying under the radar while still trying to honor their calling. 

Despite the sisters’ secrecy, the story of their defiance is spreading like wildfire, spearheaded by a growing anti-Earth religious movement calling for revolution. Faced with staying silent or speaking up, the Order of Saint Rita must decide the role they will play—and what hand they will have—in reshaping the galaxy.”

Gallant by V.E. Schwab — released March 1st

“Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?”

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft — released March 8th

“When Margaret Welty spots the legendary hala, the last living mythical creature, she knows the Halfmoon Hunt will soon follow. Whoever is able to kill the hala will earn fame and riches, and unlock an ancient magical secret. If Margaret wins the hunt, it may finally bring her mother home. While Margaret is the best sharpshooter in town, only teams of two can register, and she needs an alchemist.

Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist–yet. Fired from every apprenticeship he’s landed, his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret and her bloodhound Trouble. Margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her.

Although they make an unlikely team, Wes is in awe of the girl who has endured alone on the outskirts of a town that doesn’t want her, in this creaking house of ghosts and sorrow. And even though Wes disrupts every aspect of her life, Margaret is drawn to him. He, too, knows what it’s like to be an outsider. As the hunt looms closer and tensions rise, Margaret and Wes uncover dark magic that could be the key to winning the hunt – if they survive that long.”

Comeuppance Served Cold by Marion Deeds — released March 22nd

“Seattle, 1929—a bitterly divided city overflowing with wealth, violence, and magic.

A respected magus and city leader intent on criminalizing Seattle’s most vulnerable magickers hires a young woman as a lady’s companion to curb his rebellious daughter’s outrageous behavior.

The widowed owner of a speakeasy encounters an opportunity to make her husband’s murderer pay while she tries to keep her shapeshifter brother safe. A notorious thief slips into the city to complete a delicate and dangerous job that will leave chaos in its wake. One thing is for certain—comeuppance, eventually, waits for everyone.”

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May — released March 29th

“In the aftermath of World War I, a naive woman is swept into a glittering world filled with dark magic, romance, and murder in this lush and decadent debut.

On Crow Island, people whisper, real magic lurks just below the surface. Neither real magic nor faux magic interests Annie Mason. Not after it stole her future. She’s only on the island to settle her late father’s estate and, hopefully, reconnect with her long-absent best friend, Beatrice, who fled their dreary lives for a more glamorous one. 

Yet Crow Island is brimming with temptation, and the biggest one may be her enigmatic new neighbor. 

Mysterious and alluring, Emmeline Delacroix is a figure shadowed by rumors of witchcraft. And when Annie witnesses a confrontation between Bea and Emmeline at one of the island’s extravagant parties, she is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where the boundaries of wickedness are tested, and the cost of illicit magic might be death.”

Book Review: A River Enchanted

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Title: A River Enchanted
Author: Rebecca Ross
Release Date: 2 February 2022
How I Got It: received an ARC through work
Stars: 5 out of 5

Let me just say that the somewhat lackluster cover does not do justice to the story it contains…

Rebecca Ross, author of several popular YA novels such as Sisters of Sword & Song, and Dreams Lie Beneath (among others), gives us her first adult fantasy novel here with A River Enchanted. This novel is the first in a duology (no word yet on when precisely the sequel will be released but to be fair, this did JUST come out), and is inspired by Gaelic/Scottish folklore. It is a beautiful, lyrical novel set on a magical island (that I imagine looks a little like the Hebrides, or the Isle of Skye) that reads like a grown-up fairy tale.

The Hebrides, an archipelago of Scotland

In this story, a young man named Jack Tamerlaine, who was banished from the island a decade before and stayed on the mainland to train as a bard, is summoned home from his position teaching at a university. Despite his resentments and misgivings, he answers the call because his Laird (leader of his clan) claims to need him. However, when he arrives home, on the magical island called Cadence, he discovers two things: the first is that despite the deep hurts the island’s people had caused him, it still feels irrevocably like HOME, and the second is that things are far more dire than he could have guessed.

The daughter and heiress of the clan Laird, Adaira, is actually the one who secretly called Jack home. A fact that infuriates Jack, as Adaira was his rival and tormentor as a child. But Jack is forced to listen when she explains that young girls are disappearing from their families without trace or explanation, and she has called him home to fulfill his role as bard and help her uncover the mysteries of the island that might help them recover the missing girls. In their clan, the bard of the clan is a both a political and magical role, and only he has the skill to do what is required — calling up the magical spirits of the island to demand answers. To complicate matters, no one is sure of the missing girls are the result of spirits gone violent, or the clan on the other side of the island, with whom the Tamerlaine’s have had a deadly feud for generations.

Over the course of their investigation, Jack and Adaira must confront their past history together. As they face down the powerful spirits of the island, they unravel secrets buried deep in their pasts — secrets that will change everything they thought they knew about their clan and themselves. And in the process they will also confront their own feelings, and develop a bond neither of them could have ever predicted.

Beyond the two (very interesting and entertaining) main characters, there are a handful of other characters who receive a lot of “screen time” and attention, and whose complexities bring so much depth to the story as a whole. There is Adaira’s cousin, the captain of the guard, who is burdened by hate and shame. And there is the captain’s second wife, who loves him but is afraid he only married her as a caretaker for his daughter from his first marriage. And there is Jack’s little sister, who he did not know existed until his return to the island, and who immediately becomes his greatest source of love and anxiety (for fear that she will vanish like the other girls have). And Jack’s mother, who possesses a magic that allows her to weave secrets into cloth, and who possesses a dire secret of her own.

There’s a lot to love about this book. It will be a treat for anyone who enjoys Scottish-infused fantasy, and loves a fast-paced adventure story. It also features a compelling rivals-to-lovers romance subplot, which is always a delight. Particularly because Ross does such a great job conveying the hidden depths of emotion in both Jack and Adaira long before either one of them are willing to admit to themselves. Both characters are intelligent and stubborn and loyal, and when they finally start getting on the same page it is an absolute joy to read/witness.

Perhaps even more than the love story, however, I appreciated the underlying themes about the power of music — as something that binds communities, and both hides and speaks truths, and as a kind of magic all to itself. Anyone who is a musician, or really loves music, will feel these ideas deeply.

At its heart of hearts, though, this is a story about secrets: secrets that bind people together, and tear them apart; secrets that weigh down a soul and a community. And about sacrifices: the sacrifices one is willing to make for power, and the sacrifices one is willing to make for love, all kinds of love that can save not only individuals but whole communities.

Just be prepared for a less-than-happy ending, which will hopefully (*fingers crossed*) come out alright in the sequel.

Though I have a long way to go, and many many books to read between now and the end of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if this book ends up in my Top 5 favorite reads for 2022. Just saying.

Once More With Feeling

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Please tell me you get this reference? Don’t make me feel old…

I keep trying to do this, and I keep failing, but here we go again. One last time. I swear, if I fail to keep up with the blog this time, I should probably just wave the white flag.

The problem is that the amount of free time I have is very limited (between work, family obligations, and all those stupid grown-up things like house-cleaning and grocery shopping), and I have a LOT of hobbies. I have so far been unable to find a balance that allows me to fit the maximum number of hobbies into my very limited store of free time.

But of course, my main goal has been to write more. If I have only one or two hours of free time all week, and I want to write, I am going to choose fiction writing over blog writing. Just a fact of life. And that actually WORKED(!) for me last year. I wrote more in 2021 than I have ever written in a single year in my life. Over 200,000 words! I finished the first draft of one novel I started in Nov 2020, wrote the entire first draft of a novella, and then about ¾ of the first draft of ANOTHER novel in the second half of the year. So, writing has been going SHOCKINGLY well lately (*knock on wood*) (well, I say that, it HAD been going well until December and I haven’t been able to get back into it the last couple months), and I don’t want to mess that up.

That said, I also read a lot. And I do want to share what I read, and write reviews, and promote the books and authors I really love. I talk a lot about the books I’ve been reading on Twitter, but it’s not the same as writing a full review, and I know it. I want to do that for the authors I think deserve more attention. It’s just so hard to find the time! And yes, I know I could post reviews on Goodreads. But the amount of time it takes to write a semi-decent review is going to be the same whether I post it here or on Goodreads, and frankly, I don’t LIKE Goodreads, so…

In any case, I’d like to try again. I want to make this work. So, here’s my plan. I am going to try to give myself a strict schedule, and block out time specifically for blog writing/posting once a week. And I am going to wait to start posting until I have a few pre-written and ready to go to give myself a bit of a buffer (for instance, I’m writing this in mid-February but I probably won’t post it until I’m ready to get the weekly-schedule going). And am I going to try to keep myself to a weekly post schedule… I’m thinking every Saturday evening, for the moment.

Alright alright alright!

Not every post will be a book review, of course. You’ll notice from my old posts that I did sometimes talk about other things, that will no doubt remain true. But I will be focusing most of my energy on book reviews, both of books I read last year and kept MEANING to review, and of books I’m reading this year. And I suppose… (*grumble grumble grumble*) I could maybe possibly make a new Goodreads account and cross-post reviews there. Maybe. I don’t know. I just don’t like Goodreads interface, or the attitudes of some of the readers/reviewers there, or the weird amount of power Goodreads has acquired over authors… Anyway… not my point, moving on.

So, I guess if I have any readers left (not likely, I realize, but one never knows…), this is your heads-up to start expecting posts from me again.

I haven’t forgotten about you guys!

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Hello all! Apologies apologies apologies! It’s been ages since I posted. And I won’t be posting much here, just a quick note to prove I haven’t actually forgotten about this blog. I’ve just been so swamped. Work is kicking my butt, and because its Camp Nano right now, any free time I have lately has been devoted to writing.

What’s especially sad is that I’ve actually read a TON recently, but I just haven’t had the time and/or energy to sit down and write any of the many book reviews I should be doing. Sorry! I will get to them eventually… I hope…

In the meantime, I just wanted to share a few book-adjacent links to things I’ve read lately that I thought were interesting or newsworthy.

First off: Peter S. Beagle finally won his lawsuit! I’ve been following this story since the news first broke in 2015 and I am so so so happy that he has finally won back the rights to his own work. The full article is here at File770 (which, by the way, is one of the best new sites/blogs for SFF news out there): “Peter S. Beagle Regains Control”

Next, this really fascinating (and horrifying) article about Sarah Gruen, author of Water For Elephants among others, and her obsessive crusade to get a man freed from prison, posted on The Marshall Project.

Then, the short story “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalype” by Rae Carson, published on Uncanny. I nominated it for the Hugo this year, and it just made the finalists list!

And lastly, of course, the Hugo Finalists list was just announced yesterday, in case you missed it. Sadly, a lot of the things I nominated did not make the cut, though a few things did, but alas. That is often how it goes. There are just so many great things to read every year. You can find the full finalists list here: Hugo Awards 2021.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got in me for the moment folks! Apologies again. I do have a lot of great books to share with you all, as soon as I can find the energy! Bye!

March New Releases on My Radar

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As I did back in February, I would like to share a quick list of a few of the books that have been released in March that I made note of. These are books that I have not had a chance to read yet, but which caught my attention when I was looking for ARCs to consider for work. They sound interesting and promising, and I will probably read them eventually.

  1. The Unbroken by C.L. Clark —

This debut novel is an epic North African-inspired military fantasy by a queer woman of color, and it sounds AMAZING. The publisher’s blurb reads:

“Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.
Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.
Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale.”

Fun fact: I actually know the author. I don’t know her WELL, but we worked together as instructors one summer at the Duke University Talent Identification Program (a summer program of college-level course work for high-achieving high schoolers), and we’re still “Friends” on Facebook. She probably doesn’t remember me much (I don’t really stand out) but I remember her and she was VERY cool. At the time, she was just out of her MFA program and working on a number of short stories, so I was so excited to see the news when she announced her publishing deal. I WILL be reading this book when I can find more free time.

2. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro —

of course, Kazuo Ishiguro is very famous. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature for cryin’ out loud! And this is his first new work SINCE winning the Nobel. What’s exciting is that while Ishiguro is most well-known for his works of realism, he has dipped his toes into speculative fiction a couple times, and this new novel is staunchly in the realm of science fiction. The publisher’s blurb for this one states:

“Klara and the Sun tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.”

3. Lost in the Never Woods by Aidan Thomas —

I love a fun twisty retelling of a classic fairy tale or children’s story. Don’t even get me STARTED on Alice in Wonderland retellings! I’m OBSESSED. So of course this book caught my eye! The blurb reads:

“It’s been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road, and gets pulled into the mystery haunting the town.
Peter, a boy she thought lived only in her stories, claims that if they don’t do something, the missing children will meet the same fate as her brothers. In order to find them and rescue the missing kids, Wendy must confront what’s waiting for her in the woods.” 

I mean: YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU! This sounds exciting and amazing, and I will definitely be picking this one up eventually!

4. In the Quick by Kate Hope Day —

Something else I am ALWAYS obsessed with is space and astronauts. The cover ALONE of this book had me like WOAH. I mean, LOOK AT THAT COVER! The blurb describes it as:

“June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention, who leaves home to begin a grueling astronaut training program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station, but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was twelve years old, and while the rest of the world has forgotten them, June alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive.
She seeks out James, her uncle’s former protégée, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry’s fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the love that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create–and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.
Equal parts gripping narrative of scientific discovery and charged love story, In the Quick is an exploration of the strengths and limits of human ability in the face of hardship and the costs of human ingenuity. At its beating heart are June and James, whose love for each other is eclipsed only by their drive to conquer the challenges of space travel.”

I will absolutely 1000% be reading this one eventually. Women astronauts! Dangerous missions and space exploration! Yes! I am also slightly amused because June is my mother’s name, and she’s always saying it’s a pretty uncommon name that you don’t see in media or pop culture much and I’m like: well here ya go!

Book Review: A Confusion of Princes

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I apologize for the long absence! The last couple months have been…. well, they’ve been a THING. But, I have read a good number of books in the past few weeks that I keep meaning to write reviews for, so hopefully I will have plenty of things to say in the next few weeks (provided I can find the time and energy to get them written up). Some of the book reviews to expect include: Gideon the Ninth (I know I know it took me long enough!), Peaces by Helen Oyoyemi, An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris, and a couple upcoming ARCs. But first! We have a book that’s been out quite awhile that I just now got around to: A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix.

Title: A Confusion of Princes
Author: Garth Nix
Release Date: 2021
Source: owned
Stars: 2.5 out or 5

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Garth Nix. I first fell in love with his work with Sabriel, and the rest of the Old Kingdom series, but I also own quite a few of his other works including Shade’s Children, Angel Mage, The Left-handed Booksellers of London (his newest book, which I haven’t read yet but is on the list for this year) and a bunch of his short stories. I have been meaning to read this one, A Confusion of Princes, for ages but just never got around to it. But for my 2021 Reading Challenge, this book fit the Space Opera category, and I needed a break from some of the longer/darker books I’d been reading, so I figured now was a good time.

A Confusion of Princes is a bit of a departure for Garth Nix. For one thing, its science fiction rather than fantasy (Shade’s Children is also science fiction, but it’s still not his usual fare). For another thing, the main character is a teenage boy (most, though not all, of Nix’s books tend to feature girls as the main character). It’s also a space opera, which I love, and which is not all that common in the realm of Young Adult fiction.

The basic premise is this: the main character is a young man named Khemri, a prince among hundreds of thousands of princes in an enormous intergalactic empire. The emperor rules the empire by means of the Imperial Mind, a psychic connection to the hundreds of thousands of princes, through which the Emperor makes their will known. The princes themselves (who are all called princes but can be any gender) are not from a hereditary line, but are rather chosen as young children from among the general population, and then genetically and technologically modified and trained to fulfill their roles. And for the most part the Imperial Mind leaves them to their own devices, so long as they adhere to certain rules, and they, therefore, run amok across the universe, commandeering whatever resources they desire and feuding with each other. What makes these princes even more powerful, however, is that they cannot die — or rather, they do not STAY dead: whenever they die (provided they have remained in the good graces of the Emperor) the Imperial Mind downloads their consciousness into a new body, exactly the same as the previous one.

Prince Khemri has just graduated from his training and is ready to take his place as a full prince within the empire at the opening of the novel. He is naive and arrogant and believes himself above all normal humans and all other princes. He is absolutely certain that he will be chosen as the next emperor when the current Emperor abdicates the throne as expected every 20 years. As he leaves the safety of his training ground and is sent to join the Navy, a common proving ground for new young princes, he quickly discovers that nothing is as he imagined it, the princes are often more like glorified pawns for the Imperial Mind, and someone or something has secret plans for him personally.

If I go much further into the plot than that, I will start to risk any number of spoilers, so we’ll see how well I can dance around them.

Here’s the thing: I tried to like this book. I really REALLY tried to like this book. And I did finish it, so I didn’t HATE it. BUT I nearly gave up and DNF’d it at about the halfway point because I just wasn’t FEELING it. The premise is absolutely fascinating to me, and while the writing is not Nix’s BEST, it’s hardly BAD. And yet… I think I can boil it down to two main problems, for me at least. 

First, the plot felt like there was both too little and too much happening in a relatively short novel. In quick succession we move from Khemri’s intro and training, to his appointment to the Navy and year spent there, to his re-assignment to a secret installation where he trains for several months more (which takes like two chapters?), to being sent on another secret assignment that takes like half a year, to a big event at the Emperor’s main… not sure what to call it, headquarters? Home world? Whatever… and then the final big test/battle thing. A lot happens. Khemri get shuffled around a lot. And yet at the same time there were big sections of the book where I was just kind of bored. I felt that a lot of what happened would have been far more interesting if it had a) been more fleshed out, and b) probably written for an adult audience rather than a YA. And I realize that’s something of a controversial statement, but I have nothing against YA. I read plenty of YA. All of Garth Nix’s other works are YA and I have never had a problem with them before. I just didn’t feel that this particular plot/premise really WORKED as a YA. If it had been written in a more adult style/aesthetic, with a bit less “teenage ridiculousness” and a bit more realism and acknowledgement of the complexities involved, I think it would have been far better. To me it seemed like each of those different sections could almost have been their own “season” of a tv series, for instance.

The second problem for me was Khemri himself. I just could NOT like him. Now, I’m not saying every character needs to be “likable” by which most people mean: I would like this person and be friends with them if I knew them in real life. No. I have no problem with complicated, “unlikable,” amoral, main characters. But if you have a main character through which the entire story is seen/told, particularly in first-person as this one is, the main character has to be at least be TOLERABLE, right? But he just ANNOYED me. He was arrogant, he was whiny, he was insufferable. To be clear, these were obviously all conscious choices for the story, and part of the POINT of the story was to witness his transformation. Essentially, Khemri spends the majority of the novel learning to be HUMAN. I get that. That can make for interesting character development. But this time it just didn’t work for me. He was still just ANNOYING. I wanted to smack him through most of the book. And again, I think if this had been a longer adult novel, with more time spent acknowledging and wrestling with the complexities of the character and the imperialistic system that produced him, it might have worked better. But alas, I did not get that.

One last critique is the ending: I could tell about a third of the way through the novel that it was going to end one of only two ways. There were two very obvious options, and only two. And right on cue, one of those endings peaked around a corner before being like “no, just kidding, it’s the OTHER ending!” It wasn’t a BAD ending. Just very very obvious. And it felt a tad un-earned. For the same reasons stated above, pretty much.

If you are a completist who must read every book by a beloved author (as I often am), then by all means go try it! Maybe the main character will not annoy you as much as he annoyed me. But if you are just looking to try something by Garth Nix, please please please for all that is holy, go read The Old Kingdom series instead! They are beautiful and astounding and complex and wonderful! But every respected author with a lengthy oeuvre is due at least one or two misses, and this might be Nix’s.

Personal Update, March 5th

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Hello all! I apologize for the long silence. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. After the freak snowpocalypse down here in Texas, I had a rough week without electricity for nearly five whole days, and water off and on as well. It was very cold and very stressful, particularly because my mother and I rescue strays (we have 10 cats and 7 dogs right now!) and it was far more difficult to keep THEM safe and warm than it was to keep ourselves warm. But we all survived, and by the following weekend the temperatures were going back and it almost felt like the whole experience had been some insane fever dream.

It kinda feels like the week didn’t even happen. Like the whole week was some kind of strange black hole.

In any case, after that I had a ton of work to get caught up on and last week and this week I’ve just been working my ass off to make sure I stayed on schedule. Which I did, thank goodness. But it’s been a very exhausting couple of weeks, and I haven’t had the energy to do much reading or writing by the time I get home, so I usually just end up staring blankly at the tv for a couple hours before passing out.

Right now, I’m trying to finish a handful of books, and then I’ll start putting together some reviews. I’m also debating whether or not I want to pay for the premium access (or whatever it’s called) on Disney+ so I can watch Raya and the Last Dragon without having to wait god knows how long. If I do, I’ll make sure to do a review of that as well, so stay tuned!

In other news, I’ve been writing more consistently of late and I started posting a fanfic on Ao3 (Archive Of Our Own). I haven’t written, let alone publicly shared, a fanfic since 2005, so this is a very big deal for me. This fic is also the longest sustained bit of writing I’ve managed to keep up with since 2011 (I’m currently at around 60k words and still going!). I’ve been debating whether I wanted to share a link to the fic here or not because, frankly, I am far more comfortable with people reading my stuff when they can’t attach it to ME personally. Only my two best friends and one or two Tumblr friends even know what my Ao3 handle is. So how about this, if anyone is REALLY curious, its a new fic, and its in the Dresden Files (tv-verse) fandom. If you find it, congrats. DON’T TELL ME, I’ll die of embarrassment.

Oh yeah! And I finally finished this cross-stitch project I’ve been working on for months. So I’ve got that going for me, I guess.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got for now. Hopefully I’ll be back shortly with a book review or two. I hope you’re all doing well! Bye!

Quick Update

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Hey folks! Sorry for the radio silence! Currently dealing with the apocalypse down here in Houston! Been without power off and on (mostly off) for three days now. It’s back for the moment, but I’m trying to conserve battery life for the inevitability of it going out again. Catch you all as soon as things are stable again!!!

Excuse me, I have to go watch tennis

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Please indulge for a few minutes as I go far off theme (I do mention a book though!) and allow me to express my love for tennis.

I love tennis. More specifically, I love to WATCH tennis. I don’t play tennis. Everyone always asks me this. Have you ever noticed that pretty much the only sports people assume if you like to watch it, you MUST play it, are tennis and golf? Every two out of three people in the United States are probably football fans, baseball fans, or both, but when someone says they were enjoying watching the Super Bowl last Sunday, you pretty NEVER assume they must PLAY football as well. Right? But apparently the only people who enjoy watching tennis (or golf) must be people who also play it?

So let me get that out of the way: no, I don’t play tennis. I think, now, that I might have enjoyed it when I was younger (perhaps), but I was never given the opportunity to learn it as a kid. And as I got into high school it became very clear that I was never going to be the athletic type. I have absolutely HORRENDOUS hand-eye coordination, so even those physical activities I enjoy are NOT the kinds that involve either catching or hitting balls out the air. (I’m reasonably fit and stay that way with other things: walking, swimming, some light weight training, etc.)

But I LOVE TENNIS. I watched it intermittently as a kid because my dad liked to watch it for awhile. I didn’t watch a ton, just sort of catching a match here or there, and I only knew a handful of the very well-known names in the early 90s. I liked it, but it wasn’t something I focused on or obsessed over.

It was in college that I found myself watching it again, with more focus and interest. Within a year I had gotten hooked. I understood all the basics of the game, I was learning all the major (and not so major) players, and I was beginning to see the nuances. NOW, twelve or thirteen years on, I am kind of an expert, if I do say so myself. I’m pretty sure I could commentate if I really wanted to. I know almost every player in the top 100 of both men’s and women’s by name AT LEAST, and I’ve seen most of the play at least once. I can analyze styles and tactics. I know stats. I just KNOW THIS SHIT.

And my god I love it. I have never much cared about the usual sports people watch. I find baseball extremely boring. I don’t mind basketball or football, but I’ve just never CARED. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why I liked tennis, but not those other more commonly-watched sports. I think it simply comes down to the fact that I much prefer solo sports, over team sports. I find solo efforts far more impressive and compelling. So I love tennis. I also love a bunch of other less-than-common sports: motorcycle racing, gymnastics, figure skating (yes, figure skating is a sport, I DARE YOU TO DO A QUADRUPLE AXEL OFF A KNIFE SLICING THROUGH ICE).

I cannot do justice to the wonders of tennis. The speed, the agility, the power, the grace, the endurance. Few athletes of other sports are in such amazing physical shape as a good tennis player. Few other sports require the constant running and moving and endurance that a Majors match in tennis requires (no baseball player is running back and forth and smashing 100 mph balls for two or three or four hours STRAIGHT with almost no breathers). A good tennis match is a little like ballet (and ballet dancers are also athletes, I will fight you on this).

You know who else loved tennis and could absolutely do justice to its beauty: David Foster Wallace. (Side note: unlike me, Wallace did actually play junior’s tennis, and by all accounts he was pretty damn good.) He wrote a whole series of essays about tennis, and they are fantastic! Poetry! About tennis! Probably his most famous is this essay about Roger Federer published in the New York Times: “Roger Federer as Religious Experience.” You can read all five of his essays in this collection: String Theory: David Foster Wallace On Tennis. He says it when I never could. I just love it.

Like David Foster Wallace, Roger Federer is definitely my favorite player. He’s the first player I really remember watching as a kid, even. He is… magical. He’s probably nearing the end of his career now — he’s 39, which is getting up there for a tennis player, and he’s had a couple knee surgeries — but even if his record is eventually broken (it always happens eventually because sports just keep evolving and people keep finding new limits for the human body), I will still believe is the greatest men’s tennis player ever. I say MEN’S tennis player, because of course, there’s always Serena Williams.

And, I mean, need a say more? Serena Williams has won 23 Majors. She won her last Major while PREGNANT. Can any athlete beat that? No, probably not. The woman is power incarnate. End of story.

I could go on about all the other players I love… (I even named one of my cats Petra, after Czech women’s tennis player Petra Kvitova), but I won’t. You get the picture.

All of this has been brought on by the fact that the first major of the season, The Australian Open, started on Sunday (at the same time as the Super Bowl, so you can guess what I was doing while the rest of my family was watching football). Last year was rough for those of us who are obsessed with tennis because most of the season was canceled due to COVID (which was absolutely the right decision, but I still missed it!). The season is still going to be… different… this year because of the continuing pandemic, but tournaments are finding ways of dealing with it, and hopefully the vaccine will allow more tournaments to return to mostly-normal throughout the year. But in the meantime, I have the Australian Open right now! I have tennis again, and all’s right with the world.

Some New Releases, Jan-Feb 2021

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Hello folks! Since I am always scouring publisher catalogues for upcoming releases for work, and finding far more interesting titles and ARCs than I could ever possibly have the time to actually read and review every month, I thought it might be fun to share a list every month or so, of new releases that caught my eye, even if I haven’t actually had a chance to read them yet.

So, without further ado, here are some new and upcoming releases for January and February 2021 that I have not read yet but which I thought sounded cool and which I had considered at some point or another as a possible option for my work at Fox & Wit.

January: 

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht (5 January):  this one is a space opera with a space-western vibe, marketed as being for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop, and it sounds AMAZING

A Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner (12 January): queer historical fantasy about a woman thief who gets a job as a bodyguard for a mysterious rich young woman, and proceeds to fall for her fellow bodyguard (queer women bodyguard romance FTW!)

The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick (19 January): dark political intrigue fantasy from authors Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms (under the pseudonym M.A. Carrick), and the first of a new trilogy

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor (19 January): Nnedi Okorafor is one of the best science fiction/fantasy writers out there right now, she writes Africanfuturism and this new novella about the daughter of death sounds AMAZING

February:

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (2 February): this one, from debut author Everina Maxwell, is a queer space opera (can you tell I really love space opera?) about an arranged marriage that leads to love in what the publishers are calling Red, White and Royal Blue in SPACE

History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel (2 February): new novel from Sylvain Neuvel (best known for his Themis Files series), is a alt-history scifi-thriller look at the space race in the 40s, and a first-contact story all in one!

Amid the Crowd of Stars by Stephen Leigh (9 February): oh look! Another space opera! Who would’ve thought!? This novel is a grand scale philosophical examination of the implications of interstellar travel, alien contact, and the evolution of the human species

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard (9 February): a new novella from highly regarded Vietnamese fantasy author Aliette de Bodard gives us a romantic fantasy the publishers call a cross between The Goblin Emperor and Howl’s Moving Castle 

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (16 February): Sarah Gailey moves away from fantasy for this new tech thriller novel about a woman and her clone, their dead cheater of a husband, and what it means to be a PERSON

Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh (23 February): somewhat of an outlier from the rest of this list, is the new mystery novel from Nalini Singh, I love a good mystery/crime thriller, though I haven’t had a chance to read one in awhile, and this one about a mother everyone thought had stolen half-a-million dollars and disappeared until she suddenly turns up dead, sounds particularly twisty