Sally Bend's Blog, page 21
August 4, 2024
Book Review: King’s Dragon by Kate Elliott (fantasy)
Author: Kate Elliott
Publication Date: February 1, 1998 by DAW Books
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Various
One of my favorite things to do on a vacation road trip is to browse used bookstores for big, thick, chonky, mass market paperbacks from the 80s and 90s, books that never found their way onto my shelves at the time, but which promise a nostalgic return to that era. Sometimes I settle in with one and realize pretty quickly there was a reason we never connected . . . and sometimes I get so lost in one that I simply can’t fathom how I missed it at the time.
King’s Dragon is definitely one of the latter – so much so that, halfway through the first book, I picked up the other 5 at a used bookstore last weekend. Somehow, my only exposure to Kate Elliott when the series was originally published was through The Golden Key, which I enjoyed, and you’d think the mere association with fantasy queen Melanie Rawn would have put her on my must-read list. For whatever reason it didn’t, but I’m quite happy to have missed it then, because it gives me a new series in which to immerse myself now.
This is largely a reimagining of Medieval Europe, clothing familiar people and places in new names and new colors, but Elliott makes enough significant changes to make it her own. For one, the singular God of the Catholic church has been replaced with the duality of Lord and Lady, and the symbolism of the cross with that of the circle. There’s one heretical schism within the religion that I lack the understanding to compare to history, but there’s another around the role of magic within the church that I loved – because, yes, there’s magic in this world, along with mythological beasts and other elf-like/dragon-like races.
Going along with the Lord and Lady aspect, the world here is largely matriarchal, with women holding both secular and religious authority, and even ‘commoner’ women having influence and authority that would be anachronistic in our world. There are a lot of memorable characters in this, both good and bad, but far more of them are women than men, and that was exciting. Speaking of characters, there are two protagonists within the tale, Alain and Liath, and while both have hidden pasts and secrets, with unusual powers or affinities revealed throughout the book, neither is played as a simple ‘chosen one’ trope. They have significant character arcs in this first book, but it’s clear they’re only just claiming their places in the world, with bigger things ahead.
It’s been a very long time since I sat down and read back-to-back books in a series, but I’ve already started on Prince of Dogs, and I can’t offer a better recommendation than that.
Rating: 
1/2
August 2, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
July 31, 2024
Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Last Witch in Edinburgh by Marielle Thompson (fantasy)
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.
My choice for this week blends witchcraft, queer love, and resisting the patriarchy . . . and I am so down for this!
The Last Witch in Edinburgh
by Marielle Thompson
Fantasy, Historical Fiction
384 pages, Paperback
August 20, 2024 by Kensington
This lush, atmospheric novel blends witchcraft, queer love, a vibrant Edinburgh setting, and Scottish folklore for a propulsive and emotional story exploring what it means to resist the patriarchy and find your voice.
In an alternate Edinburgh of 1824, every woman lives in fear that she will be the next one hanged for witchcraft. All it takes is invoking the anger, or the desire, of the wrong person. Nellie Duncan, beautiful and unwed, keeps to herself until she encounters the Rae Women’s Apothecary. There, fiery Jean Rae and the other women provide cures and teach others that they too can aid the winter deity, the Cailleach, embracing her characteristic independence, agency, and craft, in turn becoming witches themselves.
Nellie finds a place and a purpose at the shop, and a blossoming romance with Jean, as she learns about nature-based craft and a witch’s ability to return to life after death. But the Cailleach has an ancient enemy intent on stripping the power of the deity and all her witches, leaving a wake of patriarchal violence and destruction.
When heart-breaking disaster strikes, Nellie flees and spends the next two centuries hiding from the world—until love gives her the courage and the motivation to come back. Nellie’s past is waiting for her there, and hanging witches is no longer the only means of oppression. But this time, Nellie refuses to run—either from her foes, or from her resolve to awaken others to the unimaginable power that can come with fighting the patriarchy in its many forms—and finding one’s own magical inner-strength.
July 29, 2024
Book Review: The Dominion and the Sugilite: Episode 6-7 by B.J. Frazier (erotica)
Episode 6 | Episode 7
Author: B.J. Frazier
Publication Date: June 28 & July 12, 2024
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Various
The Dominion and the Sugilite is a serialized erotic science-fantasy soap opera by B.J. Frazier, one set on a female-ruled planet where the power exchange is the foundation of a fantasy-themed society fueled by the magic of gems known as sugilite. If you missed my review of the first 5 installments, you can catch up here.
There’s a lot going on here – it is, after all, a soap opera – and that makes it hard to talk about without getting into spoiler territory, so I’ll keep my notes to a thematic level.
One of the things Miss Frazier does with the series (and these chapters in particular) is play with expectations of gender and gender roles within a matriarchal femdom society. For instance, there’s a storyline involving Neelam & Dayra, two women who are breaking taboos by exploring a forbidden femdom/femsub relationship. Then there’s the epic catfight between two strong-willed Dominas that leads to a submissive male being asked to restrain them. Oh, and did I mention that one of the women has a daughter in a submissive rebellious phase?
For all the subversion of femdom roles and dynamics, however, men are not exactly elevated in the narrative to compensate. Obadiah is a distasteful, dirty old man, a preacher with (gasp!) a taste for young men, and Gaius is a horny centaur (with delightfully unique speech patterns) who delights in challenging the rules of the Dominion, going so far as to coerce a submissive male into penetrating a woman.
Whether you’re bingeing the series or devouring each new episode as it is released, this is episodic erotica that moves fast, shifts quickly between scenes, and always teases with a cliffhanger. I’ve got 2 more episodes waiting for me, so watch for those reviews soon!
Rating:
My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 26, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
July 24, 2024
Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The World Within by Dani Finn (romantasy)
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.
My choice for this week is not just a lovely romantasy, but a lovely sapphic transfeminine romantasy. Squee!
The World Within
by Dani Finn
Romance, Fantasy
200 pages, ebook
September 14, 2024 by Dragonheart Press
Lila’s life is almost perfect.
She’s finally opened her luxury sex shop and wellness center in a rehabilitated ancient temple. The painted faces are lining up to buy the new alchemical vibrators and unwind in the spa and baths. And she gets to work with her two best friends every day.
So why is there an empty place in her chest?
Enter Avisse, the delivery woman, a single mom with a quick smile and eyes that flash from hard to soft in an instant. There’s a spark, and a kiss, and a promise of dinner next time Avisse is in town.
Until then, Lila’s got her hands full with the shop, not to mention the mystic portal she’s discovered in the temple basement. What lies beyond will turn their lives—and the World Within—inside out.
This steamy sapphic fantasy romance stars a transfeminine heroine and includes meditation magic, alchemical trans healthcare, and family lost & found.
The World Within is intended for an adult audience. Content warnings include explicit, consensual sex scenes, societal transphobia, and child peril.
It’s set in the Weirdwater universe and includes some characters from The Living Waters and Unpainted but is meant as a standalone.
July 23, 2024
Book Review: Dragons of Eternity by Weis & Hickman (fantasy)
Author: Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Publication Date: August 6, 2024 by Random House Worlds
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Various
Dragons of Eternity marks the end of an absolutely wonderful return to the world of Krynn, and an absolutely delightful reunion with the Heroes of the Lance. Nostalgia can be a finicky thing, with the magic of our youth often impossible to recapture, but Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman have absolutely nailed it. Reading this final chapter in Dragonlance Destinies, I was transported back to the floor outside my high school cafeteria where I lost myself in the original Dragonlance Chronicles.
If you’ve been following along with the trilogy, a combination of time travel and alternate realities has conspired to bring together Companions alive, dead, and not yet dead for a pivotal adventure. What began with Tasslehoff and grew to involve Raistlin and Sturm comes full circle here in more ways than one, taking us back to the fateful night that launched the original trilogy and opening up the story to the likes of Tanis, Flint, Laurana, Goldmoon, and more. The twist is that they’re converging from different timelines, which means there’s reuniting of friends on one side, urgent introductions to strangers on the other, and awkward explanations in between.
Alternate timelines/realities are one of my favorite tropes in fiction, while prequels are probably my least favorite, so I had mixed feelings going into this series, but Weis & Hickman have done a masterful job. Somehow they’ve managed to navigate things so that the story explores some fascinating what-if scenarios as they work to restore what should happen, but chaos allows for the kind of genuine tension you don’t often find in a prequel.
Kitiara and Flint are two notable beneficiaries of the Graygem’s chaos (for very different reasons), but it’s Raistlin who gets the biggest opportunity to alter his story (which I loved), and Tasslehoff who is presented with the biggest moral dilemma in restoring history (which tugged so hard at my heartstrings). This is a reunion with old friends, a chance to explore old stories in a new light, but it’s also a significant addition to the Dragonlance canon, both in terms of story and characters. Speaking of characters, I was not a fan of Destina in the first two books, often resenting how she was forced into a familiar story, but she comes into her own here and ultimately won me over.
A success in terms of nostalgia and storytelling, a triumph of recapturing familiar magic while creating something new, Dragons of Eternity is the kind of epic fantasy that just makes your soul sing.
Rating:
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 19, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
July 17, 2024
Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Queen: A Novel by Nick Cutter (horror)
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.
My choice for this week is the latest from the author of The Troop, The Deep, and Little Heaven – all of which I loved!
The Queen: A Novelby Nick Cutter
Epic Fantasy
384 pages, Hardcover
October 29, 2024 by Gallery Books
The national bestselling author of #HorrorBookTok sensation The Troop returns with a heart-pounding novel of terror about a young woman searching for her missing friend and uncovering a shocking truth.
On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity’s been missing for over a month. Most people in town—even the police—think she’s dead.
Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another…but Charity carries a secret that even she is unaware of. A secret engraved into her DNA helix. For Charity is also known Subject Six, the crown jewel of Project Athena—a clandestine and unorthodox gene manipulation experiment, the brainchild of tech titan Rudyard Crate. And when Charity’s gene sequencing actualizes during a traumatic event at a high school party, it sets in motion a chain of events that will end in tragedy, bloodshed, and death.
And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story—the real story. In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly dreadful breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend—a person she never truly knew at all…
Curious about what you’ve been missing? Read my previous reviews of Nick’s work HERE.
July 15, 2024
Book Review: The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston (fantasy)
Author: Cameron Johnston
Publication Date: August 13, 2024 by Angry Robot
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female
“I’m getting too old for this shit.”
“This is my boomstick!”
“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!”
If you immediately recognize all four of those catchphrases, (a) you’re my kind of people, and (b) you’re the perfect audience for The Last Shield.
This is heroic fantasy for readers who aren’t afraid to get down and dirty, to be dragged through the mud, and to scrape and curse for every inch of progress. Cameron Johnston has crafted a tale that grabs you by the throat in the opening chapter and never lets go. It’s intense and brutal in a way that only grimdark usually is, but there’s an inescapable feeling of stubborn hope to it that’s gleefully infectious. You just know that, no matter how much it hurts, Briar is going to kill every traitorous son-of-a-bitch, even if it means dragging herself through hell to do it.
I picked this up because of the “gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle” tagline, and there’s really no better way to put it. Swap out Bruce Willis for Linda Hamilton, change the setting from a downtown skyscraper to a medieval castle, and recast Helena Bonham Carter doing her best Angelina Jolie impression in Alan Rickman’s role, and you’ve got an idea of what to expect. There are tall towers, narrow staircases, secret passages, and an entire wing of the castle ready to fall down at the slightest misstep. Feeling old and tired, hobbled by a badly damaged leg, and left without even a sword, Briar has to outwit, outmaneuver, and outfight a small army of brigands, traitorous Shields from her own ranks, a deadly foe with a taste for poison, and a slightly mad sorceress.
The stakes? Oh, just the life of the Lord Regent, the future of the kingdom, and (should the villains get their hands on the vault of mystical weapons) the fate of the world.
Action-packed and populated by characters you’ll love to cheer for (and against), this is cinematic fantasy that demands a comfortable chair, a dark room, and plenty of popcorn. Briar is an amazing character, a woman you can’t help but admire, and the villains are well-developed as well, with personalities that make them immediately memorable. Yes, there’s violence galore, surprising brutality on both sides, and some shocking bits of magical mayhem, but there’s also hope, (dark) humor, humanity, and even a welcome twist on the romance at the heart of Die Hard. It’s a story that seems to hit a climax with every chapter, but there are always more villains to kill, more stairs to climb, more skeletons to face, and less time to do it.
I liked, but didn’t love, The Maleficent Seven, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Cameron Johnston here. I really wanted more of what I’ve coined maturesmirk fantasy a la Kings of the Wyld or The Blacktongue Thief, and I’m pleased to say The Last Shield delivered. This is the most fun I’ve had between the pages of a book all year.
Rating:
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
