Tag Archives: book review

Quick Review: The City Inside

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Title: The City Inside
Author: Samit Basu
Release Date: 7 June 2022
How I Got It: borrowed from the library
Rating: 0 Stars, DNF

The City Inside by Samit Basu sounds like it should be made for me. Near-future scifi with a cyberpunk feel, set in a vaguely fascist India…? Totally up my alley! And yet, I have gotten through 3 hours of the 9 hour audio and I’m just bored. Generally speaking, I try to give books a good solid chance to pick up before I decide to DNF. Depending on the length of the book, somewhere around a quarter or a third or so. The City Inside is not a large book. It’s not that long. I’ve given it a full third to hold my interest, and yet!

The world-building and layering of details is impeccable. And I still think the general premise is intriguing. It focuses on an Indian woman named Joey in Delhi who is a “Reality Controller” — she creates and edits filmed streaming content. When Joey suddenly offers acquaintance Rudra, the outcast son of a wealthy family, a job to save him from an awkward situation, the two accidentally stumble across a tangled web of conspiracies that could destroy their lives. This is a great premise! This should work for me! (Also, the cover art is PHENOMENAL!)

But it feels like almost non-stop exposition. A full third of the way through the book and I feel like NOTHING has happened. Certainly nothing to keep my curiosity or interest in any real sense. And, frankly, very large portions of the book (premise, character, and plot) feel like knock-offs of large parts of Moxyland by Lauren Beukes, and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, with a bit of Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson thrown in for good measure.

This book might appeal to others. Maybe a gateway drug to more solid cyberpunk novels (like the three mentioned above). But honestly, my free time is at a premium and there are far too many books on my TBR pile to bother trying to slog through this one if it’s boring me this much. So, time to move on.

Verdict: DID NOT FINISH.

Book Review: Dust & Grim by Chuck Wendig

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Title: Dust & Grim
Author: Chuck Wendig
Release Date: 5 October 2021
How I Got It: borrowed from the library
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My close friends know this about me, but I suppose it’s probably not common knowledge on my social media accounts: I love middle grade fiction. I’ve raved on this blog before about Artemis Fowl (which I adore with my whole heart) but it doesn’t stop there. I love a lot of middle grade fiction. I used to read a lot of it when I was in my undergrad, and working at a Borders Bookstore as the children’s and YA expert. I’ve fallen a bit out of touch with some of the current releases though, so I decided I needed to change that. 

To start with, I picked up Chuck Wendig’s first foray into middle grade: Dust & Grim. I love Chuck Wendig’s adult fantasy and horror, and I’ve been following him on Twitter since 2010, where is a delightfully hilarious (and staunchly progressive) oddball. I trust him and his work well enough to go into Dust & Grim blind, so I picked it up at the library without looking at reviews and dove in.

And what a delight!

Here’s the basic premise: Molly Grim is a 13-year-old girl with a problem — her penniless, worthless, neglectful father has just died leaving her with nothing. But! There’s a bright side, turns out that the mother she has never known (also deceased) owned a funeral home which is half Molly’s by rights, and which is currently being run by the 18-year-old brother she has never met. Molly and her brother Dustin never knew the other sibling existed until the day Molly shows up at the funeral home with her lawyer uncle demanding that Dustin either sell the funeral home and give her half, or buy her out of the property. She’s not exactly nice about it, because she’s lost and snarky and feeling defensive. Dustin is not exactly nice about it either, because he’s got bigger things to worry about. Turns out, the funeral home is not your normal run-of-the-mill kind. It’s a funeral home for monsters, and Dustin is still trying to prove to the monster community that he can handle his mother’s old job, young though he is.

As you might imagine, things get messy quickly. Molly, while staying in the residential section of the funeral home with her brother, deals with ghosts, terrifying spectral wolves in a forest that is far larger than it should be, and her uncle pressing her to find dirt on her brother so they can strong-arm him into giving her the money she is owed.

I don’t want to say too much more for fear of giving some things away. But the book features a charming fay, a wizard who is also a chef, and the most normal/boring vampire ever seen. The book is the perfect balance of suspense and horror, with Chuck Wendig’s signature brand of snarky humor and pop culture references, all appropriate for a middle grade book but still absolutely enjoyable for an adult. One thing I particularly loved was Molly’s love for cosplay. Her big plan in life is to go to an art school that specializes in fashion and costume design. She spends the whole book devising various cosplay outfits that help her to face whatever new obstacle comes her way. She also makes lots of pop culture references — some real references like Star Wars and some that are made-up but obviously veiled references to things like Sailor Moon (I assume this was a matter of getting the rights to use the actual brand names). I giggled my way through most of it, and found a few descriptive sections genuinely creepy.

I will warn that, while the first chapter was sufficiently intriguing to start with, the next few chapters were a tad slow to get the action moving. There were a few points early on where Molly seemed slow to connect the dots and I wanted the book to just get on with it. But once things pick up, they really pick up, and the last third of the book especially is fast-paced and highly entertaining. The ending, while having a perfectly satisfying conclusion, leaves room for the possibility of further installments. I really hope the book does well enough that the publisher will pick up a sequel or two. I’d love to see more of Molly and Dustin. I think this could make for another really fun middle grade series like Artemis Fowl or the Percy Jackson books. I have my fingers crossed!

PS: in the spirit of getting back into current middle grade fiction, I also picked up Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao (which looks AMAZING) and hope to have time to read that one and review it as well soon!

Book Review: Last Call at the Nightingale

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(Apologies for the delay!)

I think I’ve said this before, but Katharine Schellman is an absolute delight on social media. She is so kind and generous with her fans. There is, of course, a certain amount of patience and politeness expected from authors when they interact with fans on social media, but that’s not what I mean. I mean she is genuine and kind and friendly and generous with her time. I have had a couple “conversations” with her on twitter, which mostly consisted of me raving about how much I loved her three Lily Adler books (reviews of which can be found here), and her telling me how much she appreciated the support.

Well, during one of these conversations she asked me if I would be interested in an ARC of her next new release book, Last Call at the Nightingale, which is not part of her Lily Adler series but the start of a new mystery series set in the 1920s. Reader, I’m sure you can imagine what my response was!

Of course I jumped at the chance! Mostly because I love absolutely everything she has written so far, and also because I am actually obsessed with the 1920s and love historical fiction set in the 20s. She asked for my mailing address, and I gave it to her, and then a couple weeks ago the ARC arrived in the mail. She even sent a nice little note with it, which I will treasure.

It took some effort to get the quiet time and space needed to sit down and read it. I knew I was going to need a whole free evening because, based on previous experience, a Katharine Schellman novel is a read-in-one-sitting novel. I did that with both books 2 and 3 of the Lily Adler series, and it is clearly going to be the standard for these. Finally, I did find the time, and true to my prediction, I read the entire book in one sitting.

So, here’s my review, lol!

Title: Last Call at the Nightingale
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: 7 June 2022
How I Got It: gift from the author
Rating: 5 out of 5!

Last Call at the Nightingale is a new mystery set in New York in 1924, and follows the misadventures of Vivian Kelly as she stumbles into a murder mystery, gets in over her head, and flirts her way both in and out of trouble. Vivian Kelly and her older, prim-and-proper sister Florence, are both Irish-descent and orphans, and therefore poor, disdained, and in desperate need of any respectability they can muster. But Florence has enough respectability for the both of them, and Vivian much prefers to be the wild child quietly working as a seamstress during the day, while spending her nights dancing with abandon at the Nightingale, the speakeasy that feels more like her home than any other place she has ever been. During one of her many late nights at the Nightingale, Vivian and her best friend Bea, a waitress at the speakeasy, accidentally stumble across a dead body. And not just any dead body – judging from his expensive clothes and the secrecy around his death, this dead body was someone important.

At first, Vivian intends to stay well clear of the trouble. Then, she gets caught up in a raid at the speakeasy. Poor and unwilling to call her sister for help, she is bailed out by the owner of the Nightingale herself: the dangerously alluring Honor Huxley. Honor has a deal for Vivian: in exchange for the bail money, Honor would like Vivian to snoop for her, get in close with anyone who might know about the dead man, and find out who killed him. This will be especially easy for Vivian, Honor claims, because Vivian likes to make friends and knows everyone who frequents the speakeasy, and because Vivian was just that night dancing with one of the men Honor suspects was involved – the charming Leo Green, newly arrived from Chicago.

And so Vivian finds herself questioning maids, sneaking into the offices of wealthy women, being attacked and threatened by brutes, and flirting with the increasingly attractive Leo, all in the name of finding a killer and paying off a debt.

This book was SO MUCH FUN. The 20s New York setting is well executed and believable, details and ambience applied with a deft touch. The smoky speakeasy, the crooked cops, the realities of living as a poor woman in the middle of the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age. The characters themselves were absolutely the highlight. I adored Vivian – the absolute definition of disaster bi who is constantly being pulled in different directions by her attractions to both Honor and Leo (you and me both, girl!), and her smart mouth that got her in and out of trouble on quite a few occasions. Vivian’s best friend, Bea, was also a highlight – a well-educated black woman working at a speakeasy to support her mother and keep her siblings in school. There was also Danny Chen, a Chinese immigrant who works as Honor’s bartender and second-in-command at the speakeasy.

And then, of course, there were Honor and Leo, the two equally attractive people pulling Vivian in different directions. Honor is dangerous and intelligent and more than a little manipulative and absolutely SEXY. Leo is gentle and charming and honorable, with an aura of safety about it. Like Vivian, I was pretty in love with them both by the end.

I was kind of in love with all of the characters actually. I was live-tweeting a bit while I read the book, and I think some of these tweets are pretty indicative:

On top of all that was the mystery itself. And BOY was it twisty! I thought I had it figured out about halfway through, but I realized I was wrong at about the ¾ mark. Then at about the 80% mark the CHARACTERS think they have it solved, but I KNEW they were wrong – both because it didn’t feel right, and because there were (of course) like 30 or 40 pages left… (lol). When the final pieces came together and Vivian had it all figured out I was shocked. Did not see it coming at all.

Here, my tweets are pretty good gauge there as well:

This novel was HIGHLY enjoyable. I really loved all the principal characters. And I really hope the book does well enough to guarantee a second installment (and hopefully many more of that *fingers crossed*). The book releases on June 7th. The supply chain being what it is, I highly recommend pre-ordering, but alas, I know that is not always possible. In any case, if you enjoy a good twisty mystery novel and historical fiction set in the Jazz Age, you should definitely pick this one up!

What I’m Currently Reading!

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Hello folks, and sorry for the minor delay! Busy days, busy days. I have a couple book reviews I need to get written soon, and should have one for you next weekend. For today, here’s some of the books I’ve been reading lately. Plus a couple book playlists, because anyone who knows me knows I love a fun book-themed playlist!

So without further ado, what Amanda is currently reading:

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings – this book is releasing in June, and I’m reading the arc right now. This book is EXCELLENT! It features a magical New Orleans where magic is performed through music, ghosts haunt the city, and graffiti has come to life and wanders the streets driving people mad if they walk through the paint. I have no idea how it’s going to end! You can definitely expect a review when I finish this book.

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh – this is the last book that came out before Thich Nhat Hanh’s death in January, though it actually a collection of some previous talks, writings, interviews, etc that had been compiled by his students following his stroke a few years ago. I have a hardcover copy of this book, but I am  also listening to the audiobook right now, particularly while I work.

Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne – this is also an arc I’m reading, and the book will be out in July. It’s a feminist, semi-historically-grounded take on the Rapunzel fairytale. I’m not very far into yet, but it is very good so far and I’m curious to see how the author will twist the traditional elements of the tale.

Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather – I read and reviewed the first novella, Sisters of the Vast Black, last year and loved it. This novella is a direct continuation so, of course, I had to grab it! I haven’t actually started this one yet, it’s next on the pile as soon as I finish one of the above, lol.

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman – I actually JUST finished this one (another arc for a book releasing in June) and this will likely by the review I get written up for next week!

So that’s what I’m currently reading. You can likely expect reviews for most, if not all, of these (time depending, of course). In the meantime, here’s a couple of the book playlists I’ve put together lately, just for the fun of it!

Playlist for Nettle & Bone – here’s the playlist I made to go with Nettle & Bone, which I just reviewed a couple weeks ago. This book officially released last Tuesday, so if you haven’t bought it yet, GET THEE HENCE!

Playlist for Spindle Splintered – I didn’t actually write a review of Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow because I read it last year when the blog was dead in the water. But the sequel is coming out soon, so I might read that and then review both together… possibly. In the meantime, have a playlist!

Playlist for King of Infinite Space – here’s another one for a book I read last year and didn’t review. King of Infinite Space by Lindsay Faye is a queer, modern-day, magical realist take on Hamlet, and it is EXCELLENT. I cried so bad at the end! I pulled this playlist together for it right after finishing the book. Enjoy!

Ok, that’s all from me for today! Expect a review next Saturday!

Re-Reading The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce

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I recently re-read the entirety of The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce, one of the parts that makes up her massive Tortall universe. I have been a fan of Tamora Pierce’s work since I first read the Magic Circle series (ironically one of only a small number of books NOT in her Tortall series), when I was in middle school. I can’t quite remember when I first picked these up — I’m guessing probably 7th grade, so around 1997.

Of course, after reading and loving the Magic Circle books I went back to pick up her first quartet: Song of the Lioness, which is the first installment in the Tortall universe. And loved those as well. I have since read every single book Tamora Pierce has released. Most of them multiple times. But my favorites have always been, and remain, The Immortals Quartet, the four books that immediately followed Song of the Lioness and really first opened up the setting from that first series into the far reaching universe it is now.

The four books in this quartet consists of: Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, and Realm of the Gods. It features the main character Daine Sarrasri, a 13 year old girl (in the first book) who discovers that she has a special kind of magic that allows her to speak with animals and understand their thoughts and behaviors from a uniquely insider perspective. She THINKS like “The People” (what animals collectively call themselves). Daine is an orphan, her mother and grandfather murdered by raiders in her small village, and the book opens with her gaining employment with a pony trader named Onua who taking a herd of ponies from Daine’s home country of Galla, to Tortall (where most of Pierce’s books are set). The first book follows Daine as she befriends Onua, the powerful mage Numair Salmalin who becomes her friend and teacher, and a whole bevy of characters in Tortall. In this first book, we also see the emergence of magical beings called Immortals (beings like centaurs and dragons but also horrifying creatures like human-spider hybrids called spidrens and Daine’s nemesis the carrion-eating Stormwings) who, though not gods themselves, were trapped in the realm of the gods by human mages centuries ago but who have mysteriously escaped their confinement.

I originally had the books with these covers, but they were sadly destroyed during flooding from Hurricane Ike in 2008

Throughout the series, Daine gains control of her magical ability and learns not only to speak with animals but actually shapeshift into them. She and her friends discover how the immortals escaped the realm of the gods, and befriend quite a few of the immortals, including a basilisk, a baby dragon that Daine adopts, and (much to Daine’s surprise and chagrin) even a Stormwing. The third book features Daine “losing her temper” (understatement of the decade) which remains one of my favorite parts of the entire series. In the fourth book they must wage full-out war against their enemies (both human and immortal), and Daine learns that her father was a minor hunt-god (which is how she comes by her magical ability), and she and Numair are temporarily trapped in the realm of the gods and must travel the dangerous terrain to return home.

I re-bought the books with these covers a few years ago. I don’t love these designs… I like the originals much better, but what can ya do…?

I love these books for a lot of reasons. Whereas most of the books in the Tortall series deal with lords and kings and knights, this series brings in much more focus on the commoner. Though Daine ends up befriending the king and queen of Tortall, and several nobles and knights (including the most famous lady-knight, Alanna — main character of the Song of the Lioness), Daine herself is a commoner, as is Numair (despite his fame now as a powerful mage), and Daine brings that much needed perspective to all these “fancy folk.”

I also love getting the fascinating perspective of the animals that Daine is friends with. Pierce showcases quite a lot of research (and obviously plenty of imagination) in giving us the inner voices and lives of horses and ponies, wolves, birds, squirrels, and all sorts of other animals. The addition of all the different immortals is a ton of fun as well — I love a big menagerie of magical creatures. I think it was a really nice development as well for Daine (and most of the characters) to assign moral qualities to each species of immortal as a whole, only to then slowly learn that these immortals are just as nuanced, as much a mix of good and bad, as humans themselves are. It was a powerful lesson to learn for the characters, and a nice way to introduce that kind of nuance to the target middle-grade/YA audience (particularly back in the 90s).

Perhaps most of all though, I am a SUCKER for the romance that is laced through the last two books between Daine and Numair. I will admit that this romance would probably not fly if it was written/published today. Daine is 13 and Numair is something like 26 when they meet. They are 16 and ~29 in the fourth book. Such an age gap, when one party is under 18 years old, would send up all kinds of red flags today. And I’ll admit that even just shifting Daine two years forward, so that she’s 18 by the last book, would probably look better on paper.

That said, I believe there’s room to discuss the age issues within their own context. Pierce is writing within the context of a medieval-ish (albeit a fantasy version) world, and it is discussed within the book series that having a girl married at 14 or 15 is perfectly within the realm of possibility and reasonable expectation. We accept this in other contexts — consider, for instance, that in Pride and Prejudice, Lydia is 15 years old when she marries Wickham, which is not only legal but relatively normal at that point in history. In addition, it is made very clear that Numair himself is painfully aware of the age difference, which is why he doesn’t say anything until Daine herself presses the issue. Also: as a kid reading these books, I was also very in love with Numair Salmalin, so I was hardly going to fault Daine for being too young for him. And the way the relationship develops between them over the course of the books, especially the last two, is just so sweet and cute that you can’t help but be enchanted (well, I can’t help it at any rate).

It had been quite a while since the last time I had re-read these books. But I’m finding myself in a major re-reading mood lately — I think because between work-stress and general-state-of-the-world stress, my anxiety has been at record highs and re-reading comfort books is just safer right now. I read each book in about a day, so the whole quartet in less than a week. And I gotta say, I love them just as much now at the age of 36 (nearly 37 – my birthday is in 2 weeks, fun fact!), as I did when I was 12. Some books never lose their enchantment and joy, no matter how old you get, or how many times you read them. This series is clearly one of them, for me at least.

3 Charming Graphic Novels by Ethan M. Aldridge

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[Note: apologies for the delay on posting this review! I had it mostly written well in advance, but then I forgot to finish cleaning it up and adding images and getting it scheduled to post on Saturday as usual. *sigh*]

For a change of pace, I thought I’d talk a bit about a few graphic novels I’ve read in the last few months. I’ve been following this artist/comics illustrator on Twitter named Ethan M. Aldridge (@ethanmaldridge) for AGES. I really love his style — all hand-drawn line art and watercolor with this really great dreamy quality to it.

He sells prints online, and I’ve been meaning to grab a few but funds are tight so I have to keep frivolous purchases to a minimum. But I did finally grab his first two graphic novels last autumn: Estranged, and Estranged: The Changeling King. And I loved those so much I went ahead and pre-ordered his most recent publication, the new graphic novel The Legend of Brightblade.

Title: Estranged, & Estranged: The Changeling King
Author: Ethan M. Aldridge
Release Dates: 2018, 2019
How I Got Them: bought them from my local comic shop
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In Estranged Vol 1, the main characters are Edmund and The Childe — Edmund is a changeling, a magical being sent to replace a human infant by his biological mother, the Queen of the Fae. Edmund knows what he is, that he is not human, but he has long kept that secret from his human parents and older sister for fear of their reaction. He desperately wants to keep the secret safe, but also he wants to know why his biological parents sent him away in the first place. The Childe is the human that Edmund was sent to replace, who has been living among the Fae all his life as a kind of foster-son/pet for the royal family. He has spent his life trying his best to earn the respect and affection of the Fae, but they largely dismiss him as just a cute, powerless oddity.

When the King and Queen of the Fae are attacked and overthrown by a powerful sorceress named Hawthorne, The Childe escapes to the surface world of the humans and, with his companion the wax golem Wick, enlists the help of Edmund and his/their sister Alexis. They must work together to struggle past the complexities of their shared families and destinies, and save the fae kingdom of the World Below from Hawthorne.

Estranged Vol 2: The Changeling King, brings us back months later, with The Childe and Edmund switching back to their original worlds after the end of the previous volume. The Childe has now reclaimed his name, Edmund. And the changeling once known as Edmund is now called Cinder. Cinder has become the new king of the World Below, but when the magic begins to drain from their world, Cinder returns to his adoptive family for help. Together, Cinder, Edmund, and their sister Alexis — as well as Cinder/Edmund’s very confused human parents — must travel through the labyrinthine World Below to fight enemies old and new, and find a way to restore magic to the kingdom.

These two graphic novels are so wonderful. The relationship that develops between the three “siblings” – Cinder, Edmund, and Alexis — is truly delightful and one of my favorite things. I particularly love Alexis: she loves both the brother she was raised with and the biological one she comes to know over the course of Vol 1. She is protective, caring, and kick-ass (and she starts to learn some magic in the 2nd volume, which is awesome!). The art style remains beautiful throughout, and the creativity of some of the fae creature designs are very cool. I also really love the ending of Vol 2 (I’m not giving it away! You’ll have to read to find out!). I’m really hoping Aldridge writes a third volume, but there’s been no news on that yet.

Title: The Legend of Brightblade
Author: Ethan M. Aldridge
Release Date: March 2022
How I Got It: ordered online
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Ethan M. Aldridge’s newest graphic novel, The Legend of Brightblade, is not in the same universe as the two Estranged graphic novels. It takes place in a high fantasy realm, clearly inspired by Dungeons and Dragons aesthetics, and features a team of adventuring bards. This graphic novel opens with a little backstory: the hero Brightblade and her two companions saved the land from a highly powerful dragon, bringing about a new era of peace. Years later, Brightblade is the ruler of the land, attempting to forge a treaty with the trolls with whom they have long feuded. Brightblade has three children: two daughters and a son, whom she expects to fulfill their roles as rulers and peacemakers, but the son, Prince Alto wants nothing more than to be a bard and go on adventures.

So, he runs away. With little knowledge of the outside world and only his instrument and the magic he can control by playing, he dashes off and forms his own little troupe with two other misfit bards: a self-taught troll bard, and an apprentice blacksmith who would much rather play her violin. These three intrepid bards run into trouble, accidentally uncover a plot to sew chaos at the human-troll treaty-signing, and discover that their misfit natures are precisely what they need to win.

Like the two Estranged graphic novels, The Legend of Brightblade is hand-drawn and watercolor, in a beautiful fairy-tale-like style that I just can’t stop raving about. All of these graphic novels are technically middle-grade, and though they are not (for the most part) explicitly queer, they have that feeling. If that makes sense. All three graphic novels have similar themes threaded through them as well: issues of family obligation versus personal goals and desires, featuring characters who are all trying to find their own identities and be true to themselves. Each one is a quick read, great for a nice relaxing afternoon with a cup of tea. They are utterly delightful and light-hearted and fun, all about finding yourself and forging your own path. They make me smile, and I highly recommend all three!

Double-Review: Lily Adler Mysteries 2-3

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Back in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, I read an ARC for Katharine Schellman’s debut novel and the first of the Lily Adler Mysteries: The Body in the Garden. I devoured it in 3 days. And it was a revelation for me for a couple reasons. First, I just love a good historical mystery, and this was a very good historical mystery novel. Second, I’d been dealing with an inability to read for going on 5 or 6 years in 2020 due to extremely severe depression. While the cloud had been starting to lift in mid-2019, and my brain was finally starting to reanimate a bit, reading (except for audiobooks, which had literally saved my life from about 2014-onward) was still proving almost-impossible. And then I read The Body in the Garden, and it was like a strong wind blowing the clouds away to reveal clear skies. It was like the floodgates opening wide.

I don’t know if it was just a matter of good timing, and that my brain was just about ready to open up again anyway. I don’t know that another book might not have had the same effect. Frankly, it doesn’t really matter. Lily Adler is forever cemented in my mind as an integral element of my ongoing recovery. (It’s also just a really really good book).

So, of course, when the second installment, Silence in the Library, released in August 2021, I leapt for it. And I read it in a single night, in a single sitting in fact. And then I got my hands on an ARC of the third book about a month ago (and read that book in one sitting as well).

So, I thought I would do a double-review of books two and three as I continue to try and convince everyone I know to buy and read these books. My review for the first book can be found here: “Book Review: The Body in the Garden.”

Title: Silence in the Library
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: August 2021
How I Got It: bought from indie mystery bookstore, Murder by the Book
Rating: Five Stars

Let’s begin with the basic plot premise. Silence in the Library opens a few months after the events of the first novel, with Lily having to face possibly her most difficult challenge: dealing with a visit from her father. When Lily’s father demands that she pay a visit to one of his oldest friends, who has recently re-married, the visit quickly goes to hell when the husband is murdered, leaving the new bride in hysterics and the dead man’s adult son (from a previous marriage) the most likely suspect. Add in a shifty cousin who may or may not have been in need of more money, a maid who is murdered before she can tell Lily something she knew, and Lily’s father hindering her at every turn, things get wildly out of hand.

What the first book did well, the second book built upon beautifully. The writing is crisp, the research and historical context impeccable, the mystery compelling, and the characters charming. The core mystery of the novel is clever and twisty, though I confess I like to make a game of seeing if I can solve the mystery before the characters (my mother and I also compete like this when watching murder mystery tv shows – of which we watch a lot), and I succeeded this time. Clearly, I can’t spell it out here without giving everything away, but I told my mother my theory well in advance and was right.

The main character, Lily Adler, is a brilliant, stubborn, somewhat reckless woman, and I love her. I want to be her when I grow up (yes, I am grown up, I am almost 37, but shush, let me have this). In the first book, we see her shaking off the paralysis of her widowhood, and in the second book we see her really stepping into this role she has chosen for herself.

But, of course, there is also the complication of her emotionally-cold, judgmental, domineering father, who has arrived to disapprove of everything she does. Her father’s awful treatment and verbal lashings seem to shake Lily on a few occasions, and she has to fight off the knee-jerk reaction to revert to her more timid childhood-self. Watching the ways Lily alternately defies and bends to her father’s moods is highly relatable (at least to those of us who have parents with… shall we say, powerful personalities?) and deeply inspiring.

The characters I adored in the first book: Captain Jack Hartley, Ofelia, and the Bowstreet Runner Simon Page are all in attendance for the second book. The Captain is as witty and charming and protective of Lily as he was in the first book (and may possibly be developing less-than-platonic feelings for his best friend’s widow). Ofelia, now happily married, continues to be a supportive both as a friend and as a cohort in Lily’s mystery-solving pursuits. And Simon Page, who started out by resenting Lily, has developed a begrudging respect and appreciate for Lily and her skills.

In the middle of the plot-madness, Lily is faced with several red herrings, and a very handsome and charming former soldier that she must (clumsily) attempt to flirt with for information. We also get a glimpse into Simon Page’s personal life and a few scenes from his perspective — something I had not even realized I needed until I had it. (I already respected Simon Page, now I really love him).

Throughout the novel are several disabled and neurodivergent characters of different backgrounds and abilities who are all written with complexity and empathy, and not painted with broad strokes and stereotypes. There are, of course, instances of these characters being treated with derision and cruelty in sadly-historically-accurate ways, but at no point does the text (or the main characters) excuse or condone this behavior, and the perpetrators face consequences for their bigotry.

Just as in the first novel, one of the best parts is the dialogue, which is at turns sharp, warm, and downright hilarious at some points. Lily, Captain Jack Hartley, and Ofelia in particular, all play off each other so well with their differing flavors of sarcasm, dry wit, and gentle teasing. (I continue to adore Jack Hartley.)

And the ending is satisfying while also packing a potent emotional punch.

Title: Death at the Manor
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: 9 August 2022
How I Got It: ARC provided by publisher
Rating: 4.5 Stars

In the third book of the Lily Adler Mysteries series, we go farther afield as Lily Adler leaves London for a few months visiting friends and family in the country. The novel deftly shifts tone in an homage to Regency-era Gothic Literature (think Castle of Otranto or The Woman in White), as Lily must confront a supposedly-haunted country estate in the village where her aunt lives, and attempts to solve a murder that everyone else is content to attribute to a ghost.

In this installment, after Captain Jack Hartley leaves to return to his ship (having been stuck on land for so long due to extended repairs), Lily leaves London to visit her aunt in a small village in the country, bringing her Ofelia and Ofelia’s (ridiculously sweet) husband Ned along with her. Her aunt and her aunt’s friend/companion have been living as two “respectable unmarried women” in a small cottage for decades, and are the only family Lily actually likes. But once there, Lily and her friends accidentally find themselves entangled in yet another murder. While touring a nearby manor to hear about the rumors of a ghost haunting the estate, the Lady of the manor is discovered dead in her locked bedroom, with only her two adult children and four servants (the others having left because of the ghost) as the possible suspects.

At first determined to leave the matter to the authorities, Lily quickly changes her mind when the local authorities admit defeat in the face of the locked door, and accept that the purported ghost must be the cause of death. So Lily and Ofelia, with the grudging assistance of Ned and Lily’s aunt, decide to the solve the murder themselves. An added complication comes from the fact that the charming widowed soldier from the previous book, the ever-attractive Matthew Spencer, happens to live in the same village, and offers his assistance as well, much to Ofelia’s consternation.

The mystery of this installment was especially fun for me because I love a good locked-room mystery, and this one is very well done. The characters run through every possible suspect with increasing confusion and uncertain, and it is a ton of fun to watch the whole thing unfold and try to play along. (I guessed right, again, by the way, but it took me longer than usual and I wasn’t too far ahead of Lily figuring it out lol).

The nods to the gothic genre were also a ton of fun (particularly because as an English Lit grad school I read and studied Regency and Victorian era gothic novels and love them anyway!) I mean, who doesn’t love ghost stories, and creepy dark hallways and billowy white curtains and ominous men standing in shadows and secret passages?

Like Silence in the Library, Death at the Manor gives us an opportunity to see and learn more about different characters. This time we get some concentrated attention paid to Ofelia and her husband Ned, both of whom I adore. We also see a lot more of the charming widower Matthew Spencer. And Lily’s aunt and her aunt’s friend were both delightful as well. (There’s some queer rep in there as well, but spoilers!)

I did, however, feel that the story misses Jack (just as the characters do). When I was starting to read the book, I announced on twitter that if Jack did not make some dramatic mid-book return I was going to be distraught. And reader: I was distraught. For one thing, I simply love that character. For another, he adds so much humor and snark to the dialogue, and does such a good job of keeping Lily on her toes (while Ofelia keeps him on his, lol). That said, I still read the entire book in one setting and loved it and have no real complaints. (The 4.5 stars rating is an only semi-serious, kinda-joking protest on Jack’s behalf.) I also missed Simon Page, who likewise does not make an appearance in this installment.

When I was lamenting the loss of Jack on Twitter, the author, Katharine Schellman, kindly assured me he would return in the next one. Thank goodness. (By the way, Katharine Schellman is an absolute delight on social media as well. She is so kind and generous and friendly with her fans/followers, which is by no means required.) We also know that she has been contracted for a 4th and 5th book (at minimum, I hope), but that they won’t be out for some time.

The worst part about reading arcs far ahead of release date, especially for books in a series, is that you have ALL THAT MUCH LONGER to wait for the next one. Le Sigh. I suppose I’ll probably just re-read all three books at some point this summer…

Book Review: Nettle & Bone

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Title: Nettle & Bone
Author: T. Kingfisher
Release Date: 26 April 2022
How I Got It: received an ARC from publisher
Stars: 5 out of 5 (maybe 6 out of 5, I can do that, right? I mean, it’s my blog)

Today’s book review is for a book that is a currently the top contender for my favorite new release book of the year (obviously, its plenty early still, but…). Ursula Vernon, publishing under the pen name T. Kingfisher, has written quite a few very popular, well-received, and award-winning novels (her recent middle-grade novel A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking won several awards including the Locus, the Nebula, and the Mythopoeic Awards), so I knew she would be good. But I hadn’t yet read any of her works before I received the ARC for this one, Nettle & Bone.

Nettle & Bone is a dark fairy tale for adults, that borrows heavily from a myriad of fairy tale traditions and features many of the elements we would expect such as: princesses, damsels-in-distress, princes, knights, witches, fairy godmothers, curses, impossible tasks, and plenty of magic. Yet Kingfisher takes these familiar well-worn tropes, and twists them into new shapes and puts them to new purposes. The result is a story that feels both familiar and brand new, both magical and horrific.

The main character is Marra, a princess and third daughter of the royal family. When Marra is a child, her eldest sister is married off to a prince in a political marriage meant to protect their tiny harbor kingdom from the two much larger, more powerful kingdoms on either border. Then, when that eldest sister dies during an accident only a year later, Marra’s second sister is married to the same prince, for the same goals. At that point, Marra is shipped off to a convent — ostensibly for her protection, but really because the prince fears she may marry and have an heir before HE does. There, Marra is raised as an “almost-not-quite” nun for the next fifteen years, learning embroidery, gardening, and midwifery and living a peaceful if isolated life.

Everything Marra thinks she knows about life comes crashing down around her ears when, at the age of thirty, she finally comes to understand the truth about her sisters: the prince is evil and abusive and brutal,Marra’s eldest sister was beaten to death in a rage, and the middle sister, Kania, is in danger of the same fate. The only thing that has saved Kania’s life so far is her constant pregnancies, which keep ending in miscarriage, but during which the prince controls his more violent tendencies in hopes of producing an heir. When Marra finally understands the full extent of her sister’s predicament, she comes to a decision: the prince must die.

Thus begins an epic quest, during which Marra finds a wise and powerful grave-witch called the dust-wife (who’s familiar is a chicken possessed by a demon) who gives her three impossible tasks. In her quest, she also collects the loyalest and bestest of dogs, a disgraced knight, and her mediocre fairy godmother. Together, they set out to defy the roles prescribed to them, face a powerful magic that protects the prince, and endeavor to do the truly impossible: kill an evil prince and come out the other side alive.

Lyrical, dream-like, and sharp as a razor, this novel will cut through you with its heartbreak, beauty, wisdom, and hope. It asks the reader to consider how far one is willing to go for family and duty, what the difference is between justice and revenge, and what to do when the thing you hate most about yourself is precisely the thing that is needed. 

Marra is one of those characters that will stick with you long after you finish reading. She considers herself simple and not particularly intelligent or useful, and yet she is resourceful and brave and stubborn. Her determination and her rage are palpable. I simply adored her. I also really loved the other members of her ragtag team of ersatz assassins, particularly the dust-wife and her demon chicken.

The novel also features some of the best sentences I’ve read in quite a long time, including an opening-line that shot through me like an arrow. When I started reading this ARC, I opened the ebook, read the first line and STOPPED. And just sat there for a minute. And then I texted the first line to my best friend in a frenzy. Here, let me show you:

“The trees were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen. The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires.”

If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks like a lightning bolt, I just don’t know what to say to you.

Here are a couple of other lines that struck me like lightning as well:

“He isn’t my prince,” Marra said acidly.
“If you plan to kill him, he is. Your victim. Your prince. All the same. You sink a knife in someone’s guts, you’re bound to them in that moment. Watch a murderer go through the world and you’ll see all his victims trailing behind him on black cords, shades of ghosts waiting for their chance.”

And:

“Lots of people deserve to die,” said the dust-wife finally, “not everybody deserves to be a killer.”

I mean, OOF! Here’s another:

“She had the ruined fragment of the godmother’s tapestry, but unless it started glowing or talking, it didn’t seem like it was going to do any good. Another of life’s little intelligence tests, and as usual, Marra had failed to even learn the question.”

And just one more (sorry, these just PIERCE ME):

“Agnes wiped her eyes. “Dammit,” she whispered. “I have to go be impressive. I have to go be the wicked godmother. I can’t cry.”
“She’s at peace now,” said Fenris.
Agnes gave him an ironic glance. “She’s been at peace for centuries, I think. I still get to cry about it.”

WORDS OF WISDOM MY FRIENDS.

Ok, I won’t bombard you with anymore quotes, I think you all get the point. This book is filled with such amazing lines at turn poetic, pithy, and fucking brilliant. I absolutely devoured this book. It is very likely going to stay at the top of my fave reads of the year list for quite awhile at least. Everyone needs to buy and read it and be likewise amazed and flummoxed.

[CW: domestic/spousal abuse, violence, a semi-graphic description of magical teeth-pulling, and vague mentions of cannibalism; also, for those who need to know about the pets: the dog survives]

Book Review: Hall of Smoke

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Title: Hall of Smoke
Author: H.M. Long
Release Date: 19 January 2021
Source: ARC provided by publisher
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I had the pleasure of receiving an ARC of this book from the publisher, through my work, and WOW am I glad I got to read this! Hall of Smoke, from Titan Books, is the debut release for author H.M. Long. This standalone novel is epic fantasy vaguely inspired by Norse/Germanic cultures, featuring a kickass heroine and gods who literally walk the earth. The basic premise is this:

The world has fallen into chaos as gods wage war against each other, using their human followers and acolytes as pawns and weapons. In the distant past, the new gods had emerged and defeated the old gods, caging them away. These new gods walked the earth, calling their chosen peoples to follow them. But now the old gods have escaped, and all people may perish in the wake of their rage. Caught in the middle is Hessa, a priestess for the goddess of war Eang. When she is exiled by her goddess for disobedience, Hessa unwittingly becomes the only surviving member of her order, her home temple having been attacked and ravaged by invaders from the mountains. Now she is on a quest to fulfill the orders of her goddess and kill a man she has already failed to kill twice. On the path of this quest, she will encounter people from an empire with armies more numerous than the stars in the sky, face down gods old and new, and learn to question everything she has ever been taught about the gods and her place in the world.

It is difficult to discuss why this book is fantastic without getting too spoilery, but I shall attempt it. The main character, Hessa, is powerful and intelligent, complex and flawed, pious and full of doubt. She makes mistakes. She contemplates giving up. She is forced to question and reconsider everything she has ever believed. The entire novel moves with breathless, relentless intensity as Hessa encounters setback after setback. I swear she could NOT catch a single break. The people she encounters are by turns compassionate, brutal, and cunning. The people who tried to help her usually failed or died, or ended up betraying her. And yet she never gives up. She keeps pushing forward. And it was so amazing to witness.

The world-building is rich and textured, with an enormous pantheon of petty, violent, vengeful gods. As I mentioned, the cultures are at least vaguely inspired by Norse/Germanic tribes, filled with blonde and red-head, axe-wielding warriors, and mountain men, and earth-worshipping nomadic tribes. One of the main antagonizing forces (one of several) also appears to be based on the Roman Empire: they are invading from an outside land, with an empire that is far more vast and powerful than Hessa had been able to imagine (bigger even than she had assumed the WHOLE WORLD to be), they have an all-powerful emperor under a uniting government, with a highly skilled and regimented military. So yeah, very Roman. But that is not to say that H.M. Long just plopped a carbon copy of these cultures into her book with different names. She has clearly done her research (I believe she is a historian who specializes in Norse culture?) but she also gives it all her own spin, her own creative world-building twists. And it works very very well.

On top of all that, the intensely-driven plot packs all the excitement, drama, and bloody fight scenes you could possibly hope for. The fight scenes are extremely well written, with all the visceral edge-of-your-seat brutality you might expect from the finest of action films.

I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good epic fantasy in the vein of Brandon Sanderson or Robert Jordan, and especially if you want a good epic fantasy but need a break from the giant sprawling series that won’t be complete for another ten or fifteen years. And I cannot wait to see what H.M. Long writes next!

You can pre-order the book at all the usual places, including: Indiebound, Bookshop.org

It is also (spoiler alert!) the January adult book option for the Fox & Wit book subscription box service (which is where I work, fyi). We might have a few copies left for pre-order here: Fox & Wit Adult Book Subscription.

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

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Title: The Name of the Wind
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Release date: 2007
Source: owned
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Name of the Wind is one of those enormous epic fantasy books that gets talked about a LOT. It’s on a lot of people’s lists of best fantasy novels. And there is always a certain amount of awe and trepidation involved because the book is SO DAMN LONG. It’s been on my list of books I really need to get around to for AGES, and when I set up my reading challenge for 2020, and I knew that this book would be one I read. But of course, I ended up saving it for last. Literally. This was the last book I finished to complete my 2020 “Storm the Castle” Reading Challenge.

I suspect most people who would be interested in reading this book have already. I feel I’m pretty late to this party, but I will still try to avoid spoilers, just in case.

The Name of the Wind is told through a framing device: an innkeeper of the Waytstone Inn, in a remote village, is approached by a Chronicler and asked to tell his story. For, you see, this simple unassuming innkeeper is in fact the great adventurer and hero Kvothe, in hiding for reasons unknown. There are many rumors and myths about him, but the Chronicler wants the REAL story, and after much cajoling, Kvothe agrees to tell it. The entirety of the book takes place in a single day, as Kvothe begins to tell his story. But, of course, the story covers years of his life, beginning from early childhood through his teenage years at the University.

Kovthe, red-haired and a genius by all accounts, comes from a clan of traveling musicians and performers, but when his entire clan is slaughtered in a mysterious event, he finds himself homeless and alone living on the streets for years. Eventually, he makes his way to the great University where he intends to learn everything it is possible to learn, and become an Artificer, who wields magic. Along the way, he is reviled and beaten, heralded as a prodigy, makes friends and enemies, and falls in love with a very cryptic and mysterious girl.

As Kvothe in the present tells the long, winding story of Kovthe of the past, it becomes increasingly clear that he is now a broken, despondent man, who has given up and is merely waiting for death. But how and why he has come to this is a riddle that we do not solve in the first book (there is a sequel called The Wise Man’s Fear, and a mythical third volume that has yet to be released).

The world-building in this novel is ASTOUNDING. It is rich and detailed and complex and fully embodied. The characters are similarly developed. Obviously, Kvothe himself is enormously complex and fascinating — equal parts endearing, awe-inspiring, and infuriating. I cannot count the number of times I pulled my hair out in frustration while thinking “no, don’t! Stop!” But the other characters are often just as developed and interesting. Kovthe’s main love interest, Denna, is an equally fascinating character. Occasionally, Rothfuss drifts toward the “temptress” cliches, but for the most part she is a fully-developed personality all her own, who is NOT by any means, merely a damsel in distress, or a lovelorn girl waiting for her hero to return to her. She is complex and cryptic and has her own motives and plans, thank you very much. In addition, many of Kvothe’s friends are equally interesting and endearing. I particularly love Kvothe’s most devoted friend/servant, Bast (who is not human and who would absolutely kill for Kvothe without a second’s hesitation). And one of Kvothe’s teachers, Elodin, is strange, hilarious, and clearly insane (or perhaps not?).

I have this book both in print and in audiobook form, and I jumped back and forth between the two for awhile, before finally sticking with the audio so I could “read” while I worked. It took me two months to get through this book. Partly because it is just so long, but also because I was reading four or five other books off-and-on at the same time. But the length of time it took me to read it is NOT a bad indication of its quality. It is an absolutely amazing book — beautiful and breathlessly exciting. The prose is GORGEOUS. The sentences carefully wrought by a writer who clearly knows what he’s doing and is very deliberate in his word choice and cadence. And I got through the last five or six hours of the audiobook in one breathless rush because I needed to know what would happen next. (I would also add the the narrator of the audiobook, Nick Podehl, is EXCELLENT.)

I will definitely be reading the sequel, though I don’t know exactly when. I am a little concerned about the fact that people have apparently been waiting for years for the third one and there has been no news in a very long time. So if you have never read this book before, and want to, I would caution you about. You may be waiting for the third book for a long time. Some people have speculated that Patrick Rothfuss has just quit writing, and disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving us all with cliffhangers and unanswered questions for the rest of our lives. But he did release a novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things (and what an awesome title is that!?), back in 2014…  so he was at least still writing six years ago? However, the novella is a companion story about one of the side characters from the novels, so who knows?

In any case, I really enjoyed this novel. If you are a fan of epic fantasy in the vein of Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson, I would highly recommend this book. (Though, again, you have probably read it already. I’m pretty late to this party!)