C.B. Calsing's Blog, page 2

A Review of Yolanda Sfetsos's "Wings of Sorrow"

Props to this cover artist.
Excellent and evocative.

Yolanda Sfetsos's "Wings of Sorrow" is a modern take on a more classic gothic novel, based
in myth and set on an appropriately windswept cliff, complete with anachronistic manor and neighboring lighthouse.

Thera inherits her aunt’s house, and she decides to go clean it out before listing it. Hector, her horror-writing husband, comes along for the potential inspiration. The house immediately draws him in and the words begin to flow. Thera, however, is battling the ghost of her aunt and her ominous warning that nothing good will come of Thera and Hector staying at the house.

The premise of this story is intriguing with the genders sort of swapped from the more traditional tellings. The why of things, which we learn from the ghost and Thera’s forgotten memories, are equally fascinating. The delivery, however, left something to be desired. The truth comes out in a lot of exposition where I would have liked to see more mystery-solving and discovery by the characters involved in the immediacy of the plot. As a reader, I felt plenty of sympathy for Hector, but I found Thera a bit distant.

A quick and entertaining read with a good setting and an engaging premise, “Wings of Sorrow” would be a good read for any fan of horror. I received a copy from NetGalley.

A Review of Genoveva Dimova's "Foul Days" (audiobook)

Genoveva Dimova’s “Foul Days” is a fun paranormal mystery suitable for fans of Van Helsing and similar monster-story revisions. 

Kosara is a witch who, one fateful night, must trade her shadow in order to escape from her former demon (dragon?) lover, Zmey the Tsar of Monsters. With the help of a copper from the other side of the wall, she must recover her shadow before she fades away completely. Together, they battle various monsters as they run to ground the clues to help save themselves and the city of Chemograd. 

I really enjoyed this story. It was fun, action-filled, and the world-building was spot on. It felt like a soviet-era spy novel, but with witches, ghosts, and other ghouls. I would absolutely read any follow-ups. 

The narrator, Zura Johnson, did an excellent job with the different characters’ voices and the emotion needed to tell this story.  

I definitely recommend this book. It’s a fun summer read or listen and kept me engage from page one. I received a copy from NetGalley. 

A Review of Victor Dixen's "The Court of Miracles" (audiobook)

Victor Dixen’s “The Court of Miracles” is the follow-up to “The Court of Shadows.” In an alternate reality, King Louis XIV became a vampire. Three hundred years after his transformation, he still rules France and a great deal of the rest of Europe. A few determined humans are attempting to fight back. One, Mademoiselle Diane de Gastefriche, has made it into his closest circle, that of his squires. He sends her and two others into the underworld of Paris in a bid to flush out a new vampire that may be a threat to him. But Diane has her own agenda. Who will succeed? 

Though this was clearly a sequel, I was not lost at all as far as the world-building or character relationships went. The author did a good job supplying enough background information without overburdening the text with exposition. I enjoyed the main character, her drive and the conflict she faces. In addition, the mix of magic and science was entertaining, as was the idea of a world in which the Sun King still rules. The only thing that threw me off a bit was some of the language which seemed anachronistic to the setting. This may be the fault of the translation. In this alternate reality, there are no cars or television, but the speech of the young people sounded an awful lot like modern American. 

The narrator, Carlotta Brentan, did a great job with the first-person narration. Her voice worked well for the young Diane, and there was plenty of variety with the other characters as well. 

This was a fun listen and a welcomed addition to the world of vampire literature. I look forward to the next installment. I received this book from NetGalley. 

A Review of Bethany Baptiste's "The Poisons We Drink"

Bethany Baptiste’s “The Poisons We Drink” gives us an in-depth look at civil rights through the lens of the supernatural. In her world, witchers and humans live side by side, but all is not peaceful between the races. Humans restrict how many witchers may gather at one time, and a law to require registration for all witchers is coming up in Congress. 

Many witchers want to stop this bill, and young Venus, a brewer of love potions, and her crew are drawn into the intrigue and battle surrounding the bill. There are casualties, both lives and relationships, as secrets are revealed and Venus battles her own inner demons to keep her family together. 

This was an awesome book told with heart and experience. Venus is a strong yet fractured protagonist, and her allies and enemies are well drawn and multifaceted. Baptiste did her subject matter justice, and readers will leave with more than just entertainment by the end. I hope we can revisit these characters in another installment set in this world. It would be worth the journey. I received a review copy of this novel from NetGalley.

A Review of A.M Vergara's "Firefax" (audiobook)

A.M. Vergara’s “Firefax” is a bit hard to find on Amazon. Search for the author’s full name: Amelia Maria Vergara. Every time I attempted to search by the title, Amazon would autocorrect to “Firefox.” The extra work to find this title is worth it, however, if you are a fan of a certain sort of retro adventure story. 

The Firefaxes are assassins. Some work for the family business; some work for spy networks on both sides of the Revolutionary War. One of them knows the secret of the island where the family has been hoarding its spoils of war for centuries, and another spy wants that gold for himself. The rest of the Firefax family must follow their eldest brother to the island, both to save one of their own and to protect their fortune from potential thieves. 

This reminded me a lot of the book “The Twenty-One Balloons,” as well as quite a few other novels from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century: “Herland,” “The Mysterious Island,” “The Lost World.” When the earth wasn’t completely mapped out by satellite and there was the possibility of hidden lands full of wealth and adventure. If this is a subgenre of fantasy/ adventure you like, then this would be a good fit for you. I was a bit put off by what sounded like perspective changes in the middle of paragraphs, but maybe on the written page, there are better clues for the readers that a POV switch has arrived. 

The narrator did a good job bringing all the characters to life. It was a fun, action-filled story with a good amount of tension and a kick-butt heroine. I would definitely like a follow-up with more adventures from the survivors. I received this book from NetGalley. 

A Review of Premee Mohamed's "And What Can We Offer You Tonight" (audiobook)

Premee Mohamed’s “And What Can We Offer You Tonight” is an ambitious, speculative-fiction novella. The main character, Jewel, is a prostitute in a very good house, but her situation goes horribly wrong when, first, one of her friends is murdered by a client. This friend then comes back to life to find revenge for her own murder. Then, another friend is mutilated by his own client. When Jewel and her dead friend go after the attacker, Jewel puts her own comfortable existence at risk. 

Novellas are hard to write because they often must cut corners on one element or another: lack of characterization, lack of exposition, lack of narrative drive... Limiting the world-building to mostly inside the brothel walls and using a first-person perspective helped with that. I would like more background regarding Jewel and the world in which she exists. How did she get where she was? Why did the world become what it is? What magic exists to bring people back from the dead?

The narrator, Elana Dunkelman, did a great job. She was a good fit for Jewel’s first-person narration. She made this audiobook a very fast, satisfying listen. I definitely recommend it. I received this book from NetGalley. 

A Review of Robert Jackson Bennett's "The Tainted Cup"

In a world where leviathans rise from the ocean, march across land, and threaten civilization, Din and his boss, Detective Ana Dolabra, must find a devious killer whose murders are putting the world even more at risk. 

Robert Jackson Bennett’s “The Tainted Cup” is a masterpiece of world-building. Told in the classic mystery style of the first-person narrative from the perspective of the detective’s assistant, this book has the tropes of Doyle and Christie that you want, but in a fantasy setting rich in complicated detail. I enjoyed how different everyone was, the science/magic of the grafts people receive to enhance their skills, and the looming threat that a giant beast from the sea could destroy the town at any moment.  

I loved this book. I savored it. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and read, not so that I could fall back to sleep, but to see what would happen next. Looking back over my reviews of 2023, I’d have to say this is easily in my top three. I recommend “The Tainted Cup” to fans of both fantasy and mystery. I received the title from NetGalley.

A Review of Stacia Stark's "A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty" (audiobook)

“A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty” is book two in Stacia Stark’s Kingdom of Lies series. 

Prisca, a hybrid, and Lorian, an elf, have been thrown together in a battle against a nefarious human king who uses other people’s magic to keep him young and in power. His reign of over four hundred years must come to an end, but exactly how can they bring that about? 

This is standard fantasy with some very spicy scenes thrown in. I usually don’t read erotic romance to review, since it’s my job to edit said genre, but I do enjoy a fantasy adventure, so I took a crack at this one. Having not read the first book in the series, I was a bit lost at the beginning. This series does have the feel of one really big book that was split into three parts, so you can’t skip the prequels. I eventually figured out what was going on and afterward enjoyed the ride. I look forward to the next book in the series. 

I like it when a book has multiple first-person perspectives (the direction a lot of romance is taking), and the producer uses multiple narrators. The experience is much more satisfying than the female narrator trying to do the male protagonist’s voice or vice-versa. Tim Paige and Meg Sylvan did a great job working against each other as the narrators. 

If you like fantasy romance with the heat turned way up, "A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty" is going to be a fun read or listen for you. I received it from NetGalley.

Review of A.S. Thornton's "Son of the Salt Chaser" (audiobook)

I listened to the first book of this series, "Daughter of the Salt King" in June of last year. I realized I didn't post the review here, though. I've put it at the end so you can see my feelings on that as well.

A.S. Thornton’s “Son of the Salt Chaser,” the sequel to “Daughter of the Salt King,” is a fantasy romance that draws on the lore and motifs of the Middle East. 

Saalim, the genie Emel loves, has become human, and with this transformation, has forgotten their shared past. Now Emel is a refugee, following him to this city by the sea. She hopes she can rekindle their relationship, but his betrothal to a girl from the other side of the ocean may make that difficult. Instead, Emel finds comfort with Kas. But all is not as it seems, and Emel and Saalim slowly uncover secrets and information that will change their futures. 

Like the first book, this is a very solid fantasy romance with lovely world-building and wonderful settings. I really enjoyed the developing relationships in the new setting, how old ones changed and new ones sprung up. I thought it was going to follow a similar romantic arc to Sarah J. Maas's “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” where a new love interest enters in the second book, but it doesn’t exactly follow that template. 

The narrator, Vaneh Assadourian, made her return from the original story. I was very happy to have her back. I don’t like it when the narrator doesn’t do the next book in a series. She did an excellent job yet again with the tension and the voices of the various characters. 

A.S. Thornton’s “Son of the Salt Chaser” is a great romance for a chill afternoon. I would recommend it to any fantasy romance lover. I received it from NetGalley. 

And now my review of "Daughter of the Salt King"A.S. Thornton’s "Daughter of the Salt King" is a romantic, fantastical romp. It possesses some grim details, but they add to the dire stakes.
Emel is the daughter of a king. Her one role in life is to secure favorable allies for her father through marriage. If she does not do this before her twenty-third birthday, she is cast off. When her fiance is killed trying to protect her father from rebels, Emel finds herself in possession, for a brief time, of her father’s jinni. Slowly they fall in love, even as the king continues to try to marry off his daughter. Because Emel freed the jinni from his vessel once, she can make wishes, but what are the right wishes to make? What consequences will she face for her decisions?
This was a tight, fun story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It probably could have used a couple of trigger warnings for other readers (Emel is not always welcoming of the advances of her suitors). But it is a solid romance with an exotic flair. More authors should explore the fantasy and folklore of parts of the world other than Europe in the world-building.
The narrator of the audiobook, Vaneh Assadourian, did an excellent job with the source material. She was able to flesh out the different characters and perspectives well. It was easy to tell the difference between the characters, and her accents added to the flavor of the story.
Overall, I enjoyed Daughter of the Salt King by A.S. Thornton. It would make for an excellent vacation read, perfect for any upcoming summer vacation. I received this audiobook from NetGalley.

A Review of Hunter H. White's "Treasures of the Lochs" (audiobook)

Hunter H. White’s “Treasures of the Lochs” was a fun, fast-paced read that anyone who liked “National Treasure” will enjoy.  

You know the trope: a less-than-perfect son, Carter Porter, is dealing with a mystery surrounding his recently deceased father. Between Carter’s drinking, divorce, deaths of his daughter and father, and an attack on the historical site he was supposed to be guarding, Carter is having a bad run. It gets even worse when his car share driver is shot to death. When a mysterious letter arrives with the promise of a first-class ticket to Scotland, Carter takes it without thinking. In Scotland, inn worker Hassie Douglass is dealing with her own loss: her grandfather’s terminal lung-cancer diagnosis. When she finds some gold coins on the edge of Loch Ness, she believes they’ll help get her father better care. Instead she is drawn into a plot to find and steal a centuries’ old treasure meant to help the Jacobites put a Stuart king on the English throne. She and Carter, along with a dog and an amateur historian, fight to save the Jacobite treasure along with exploring one of the oldest stories in Scotland: Is Nessie real? 

I enjoyed most of this book. It’s a pretty tropey treasure-hunter adventure with likable characters who are fairly three-dimensional. The magical element was fun, but I think there was a missed opportunity in rooting it more firmly in Scottish and Gaelic folktales and mythology. The biggest issue I had was some of the dialogue. One interaction between several of the characters was so rife with exposition that I sort of tuned out to a lot of it. The dialogue just didn’t sound natural. 

Laura Darrell supplied a great narration. She had to switch between several accents: American, Scottish, Russian, Italian, English... The tension she imparted to the story worked great too. I listen at 1.5 speed, and the pace was appropriate for the narrative.

This seems to be the author’s first published novel, and I look forward to seeing what Hunter H. White does in the future. I received this audiobook from NetGalley.