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Review – Sky Breaker: Tales of the Wanderer

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I would highly recommend this collection of stories to anyone looking for a uniquely cohesive anthology experience and those who have an interest in cosmic horror.

Taylor from Maed Between the Pages

“

It’s quite rare that I give an anthology five stars as the nature of story collections is that some will work for you and others won’t; and while I do have favorites in Sky Breaker, none of the stories felt like a weak link.

All of the authors in this collection are given a premise: that portals have opened up all over the planet and there is some malevolent force behind that desires to be free that people call The Wanderer. The plethora of different tales that come from this one base idea is fascinating. Some are dark and vicious or mournful, some take place in the raging sea on the backs of whales or in desolate wastelands, while others get you to chuckle when someone throws a shoe. I was filled with excitement with each new story…what world would I get to visit this time?

“He raised his gaze skyward. Instead of the flickering red and purple aurora that  decorated spring skies like sparkling gems, a rent in the fabric of the sky yawned across the horizon.” – Darkwhale by J.E. Hannaford

Some standouts for me:
Swampers by C.F. Welburn.
The first story in the collection and it still stuck with me until the end. The world building contained within these few pages is masterfully done and I found myself wanting to read more about this place despite the bitter story told. We learn of secrets long kept, betrayals, and the inevitability of human nature as we enter a universe where the portals have been harnessed for trade between nations.

Topher the World by Derek Power.
A much needed chuckle in the midst of many other serious stories. Sometimes it’s a joy to read from a main character who doesn’t take themselves too seriously and that is done beautifully here. But don’t let that tone fool you, there is also a fantastically written battle scene in the installment as well…I felt like I was watching an anime.

Stormchild by Lee C. Conley.
Everyone who watches my booktube channel knows that I have a morbid fascination with the sea- you won’t find me anywhere near it in person, but I’m obsessed with all forms of media about it. So when I learned that this story dealt with a captain at war with a leviathan at sea, I knew I would be hooked. Themes of obsession and revenge give this tale a dark tinge that lingers. I was also very impressed with the descriptive writing. I felt I was on the ship witnessing the battle for myself.

I would highly recommend this collection of stories to anyone looking for a uniquely cohesive anthology experience and those who have an interest in cosmic horror. Will definitely be purchasing a physical copy for myself!

Check Out Some of Our Other Reviews

Review – A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Reviewv- Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

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Review – Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

“Tomorrow is tomorrow. Over there is over there. And here and now is not a bad place and time to be, especially when so much of the unknown is beautiful.”

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a collection of discordant elements: California’s San Gabriel Valley, cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship with a deep love and fascination for fresh-made donuts. However, instead of Light From Uncommon Stars feeling overly jangly like a tin can full of pennies…this book comes together like a bit of sugar-dusted magic. 

The premise involves three women, Shizuka Satomi, Katrina Nguyen, and Lan Tran. All are women running from something and grasping for something that will, in the most literal sense, save them. 

Shizuka, long ago, made a deal with the devil. To escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. Enter Katrina, a young transgender runaway that catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent; Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But where does a donut shop fit into all of this?

“Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.”

“As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.”

The first thing you notice when reading this story is that humanity is laid bare. The good, the bad, and the deplorable are brought into the light for all to see. Maybe it is because it involves Faustian bargains. Ultimately, who you are will shine through because it has to. The music and the devil know what is in your heart. I think that is why one of the main characters is transgender. Aside from the beautiful queer representation, they are being their most authentic self. Who they really are, is brought out to the forefront in a very emotional and unflinchingly raw way. 

And I am here for it. 

The book also touches on the importance of the concept of a found family. Who we are born to is not necessarily whom we end up with as our nearest and dearest. Sometimes, our family is a bunch of alien space refugees running from a galactic war who run a donut shop. 

Light from Uncommon Stars is also a sensual experience. Music and food can be luscious and evocative of memories of bygone times. Aoki uses them as mute characters. When speaking of music, “What would happen if someone played their existence not only to its inevitable end, but also to its inevitable beginning? What if someone played their music to its inevitable everything?” Or, when talking about bread, “A good bread tastes like home.” 

My only caveat to this lovely story is a point brought up by the amazing reviewer Gautam Bhatia: this story is heavily steeped in American culture. This might make this story difficult to connect to if you are unaware of some of the minutiae of American culture. 

If you have an opportunity to read this book, you should. It is an entertaining, heartwarming experience that speaks to the heart of what makes us both human and who we are inside. It takes absolute courage to be your most authentic self, and these three female protagonists, each on their own path, show that courage in different ways. 

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Review – Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

About Across the Grass Green Fields

A young girl discovers a portal to a land filled with centaurs and unicorns in Seanan McGuire’s Across the Green Grass Fields, a standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-wining Wayward Children series.

“Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to “Be Sure” before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines―a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

My Thoughts

“She knew better now. The world was bigger now. She was bigger now, and that made all the difference.”― Seanan McGuire, Across the Green Grass Fields

Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire’s newest addition to the Wayward Children series is bringing us a touching and verdant tale that takes place amongst centaurs and unicorns.

Seanan McGuire, author of countless novels, novellas, comics, short stories, and songs, has an inborn connection to myths and legends. In reading her stories, it seems like McGuire takes tales of old and twists them, turns them on their head, and serves them to her readers like an exquisite delicacy. I have gorged myself on her stories in the past. I can say that I have enjoyed what Seanan has written for her full catalog in one way or another. Even the stories that don’t 100% connect with me as a reader, I can appreciate her mastery as a writer. Luckily for me, she is a prolific writer, and I have many choices in stories.

All that being said, I enjoyed Across the Green Grass Fields, as I have enjoyed or loved the other books in her Wayward Children series, but this one was not my favorite. I came out of the story almost ambivalent to the plot.

The story starts with the main character, a little girl named Regan. Regan is different than other girls in the story. You see how Regan is kind and empathetic and how she stumbles in personal relationships as McGuire details the intricacies of those relationships with her peers. Girls can be mean, the mean girl stereotype is there for a reason, and she is getting the full force of it due to her “best friend.” While Regan is ten at the start of this story, that is only in years as Regan is far wiser in some ways than your average ten-year-old girl.

Regan has one passion, and that is a love of horses. According to Regan, this is an acceptable passion for a young girl. Had she had a passion, for say, bugs, she knows that she would be ostracized and shunned as some of her classmates had been. She keeps most of this love to herself and does not share it with her schoolmates. This self-awareness plays a significant role in Regan’s character’s development as the story moves onwards.

As the story continues, Regan ages, and her schoolmates physically develop. But, Regan seems stalled in her childlike stage. She is standing on the precipice of starting that terrible transition to adulthood but not quite getting there.

She goes to her parents with the question, “Why?” Why is she different than the other girls? Her parents let her know that she is intersex. I am delighted that McGuire took such a real and pertinent issue and gave it the treatment it deserves. Regan is an example of one of McGuire’s strengths, in that she treats and creates children as real human beings. They feel fear, panic, and emotional turmoil and are not treated with, pardon the pun, kid gloves.

Regan reaches out to a “friend” and explains to her friend what being intersex is. She wants to talk about a momentous thing in her life so she reaches out to a “friend.” The “friend” reacts as I can imagine some children reacting and starts yelling at her, calling her a boy and telling the school. What should be an intimate moment between friends turns into taunting and jeers from uninformed and cruel kids. Regan runs out of her school.

At this point, Regan finds a door.

If you are familiar with any of the Wayward Children books, you understand the significance of a door and what it means for the child. The door is to a place, unlike your home. In previous books, a door led children to a land of mad science and death, a goblin market, or lands made of candy. Each land changes the child.

In this child’s case, the land that Regan walked into is one called Hooflands. A land of centaurs, unicorns, and other creatures of the same ilk. Perfect land for one who loves all creatures equine. It is said when a human child comes through a door into the Hooflands; it portends to change. By the act of her coming to The Hooflands, her human nature wills a destiny into effect. One that will affect the citizens of The Hooflands and change the world they know. Regan does not believe in destiny.

“Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

The second and third part of Across the Grass Green Fields details the land of centaurs and unicorns. It is an unusual lake on the mythos behind these creatures. McGuire’s Worldbuilding is lush and verdant. Like any of her other stories across multiple genres, there is always a slightly dark edge to everything. What may be green and gorgeous with towering trees and emerald green moss will likely be housing monsters.

This speaks to McGuire’s familiarity with folk tales and legends. Before Disney, stories such as The Little Mermaid and Hansel and Gretel were tales of fancy as much as cautionary. Good does not always conquer evil. Sometimes the witch does eat the children, and the mermaid might not get the prince. And, of course, everything has teeth.

Regan spends years living amongst the creatures of The Hooflands. She becomes a wild girl, probably who she was always meant to be. She also learns self-reliance, kindness, strength of will, and character. I like who Regan becomes; it feels like a proper extension and growth for her as a character. But, as a human is an omen for significant change in the Hooflands, Regan has a destiny that will be fulfilled. Even if she doesn’t believe in fate and wants to be left alone with her found family.

“She still didn’t believe in destiny. Clay shaped into a cup was not always destined to become a drinking vessel’ it was simply shaped by someone too large to be resisted. She was not clay, but she had been shaped by her circumstances all the same, not directed by any destiny.”

The fourth and final act of the story is where Across the Green Grass Fields lost me a little bit. This book has beautiful writing, a great explanation of centaurs’ matriarchal society, and touching descriptions of the real friendships Regan makes. But, beyond the lush details, the actual plot and final crescendo of the story fell flat for me. It felt anti-climatic in the face of such excellent writing. However, I have to say that Regan’s very practical nature is entertaining to read. The vital thing to note about the ending, even though I found it anti-climatic; it is in line with Regan’s character.

One of the major themes of Across the Green Grass Fields has to do with destiny or lack thereof. Regan believes in her future, her own path. It will not be defined by what and who thinks it should. That idea starts slow when dealing with her peers’ preconceived notions and eventually crescendos at the end of the story. Regan becomes more comfortable in her shoes and does not care if that bothers anyone.

Overall, I enjoyed this addition to The Wayward Children series, great characters, and a lush world. It is solid, but I think it lacks the same oomph that other books in the series have. I will continue reading the Wayward Books, taken as a whole series; they are lovely and some of McGuires best writing.

Check Out My Other Reviews

Review – A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) by Seanan Mcguire

Review – The Unkindest Tide (October Daye #13) by Seanan Mcguire

Review – Night and Silence (October Daye #12) by Seanan McGuire

Read the Wayward Children Series and Across Grass the Green Fields

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Review – WE BREAK IMMORTALS by Thomas Howard Riley

“He wasn’t exactly hideous, but his face looked like two hawks had crashed into each other in midair.”

“We Break Immortals” is a book with a lot of buzz in the writing circles I travel in. It’s reputation? A masterpiece of worldbuilding, and a true tome, at nominally double the size of most epic fantasy books which already lean towards the voluminous. I had also heard that it read fast, despite its girth. I just had to see for myself what the hype was about, so onto the TBR it went. I was not disappointed at all by this first installment into author Thomas Howard Riley’s “Advent Lumina Cycle.” It was a fabulous book!

The story’s protagonists are a fascinating trio.

Drug-addicted Aren is a minor nobleman, and also what is known as a “glasseye”. Glasseyes are a combination of magic detectives and hunters, who use a monocle (hence the glasseye nickname) to assist them in tracking down rogue magic users. Aren is guilty about his dependency, mourning the death of a beloved mentor, and drowning his sorrows in women and the Malagayne he is addicted to. But he is intelligent – in fact he is more scholar than fighter – and has a streak of decency that shines through an otherwise complicated character.

Devil-may-care mercenary Coren is an expert swordsman, who is a killing machine, but only if the price is high enough. Coren has few loyalties, and is all about his next job, his next profit, his next courtesan, and his next drink. Fortunately for Aren, one of those few loyalties includes Coren’s friendship with the glasseye. Because Coren’s swagger and stab-first, ask-questions-later attitude is going to come in handy, as his friend faces overwhelming odds in his mission to track down the lunatic sorcerer.

Finally Kelumen is perhaps the most damaged of all three main characters. She is clever, passionate, and brave, but also obstinate, cantankerous, and frequently turns off and pushes away even those who care about her most. But she’s also quite skilled and powerful in the magic arts, and also determined to track down the same mad sorcerer who Aren has in his sights. She is just as obsessive as Aren to succeed, with the added incentive of protecting her dear friends and husband who will be part of the sorcerer hunt.

When the three storylines become confluent, things get explosive! What unites the three is their determination to hunt down the greatest threat to humankind the world has ever seen. But due to confusion, animosity and mistrust, will they kill each other first before they can unite to battle their common foe? And with the seemingly unbeatable powers of that foe, who will end up hunting who?

The three main characters were a complete hot mess and you will love them! Aren’s addiction, his obsessive desire to get the bad guy, his arrogance, being haunted by his past, combined with his prodigious mastery of the studies of magic, and its use, make him extremely interesting. He’s got a huge fear of failure, because he’s never failed in his previous assignments. Now he’s literally got the fate of the world on his shoulders, and despite his innate goodness and fortitude, he’s cracking at the seams just a bit.

Kelumen is perhaps the most damaged of the group. She too is a rogue magic user, but has joined a group hunting down other rogue magic users. She comes from a hard knocks background, is very acerbic, hot-headed, vengeful, and not always reasonable. She is only accepted initially by the group because she’s married to the group’s leader.

Roughish Coren is more of a caricature of your favourite rake who is great at fighting and clever enough to keep himself alive, with plenty of humour, charm, and panache. But he’s friendship and devotion to Aren brings out his best qualities, and he is not short on courage. The surrounding cast are also well-drawn, and the big baddie is appropriately terrifying. Overall, kudos to Riley on the vivid characters he has created.

When an author can combine exemplary character work with compelling themes, a book is already at a four star grade. But Riley exceeds this. The themes in this book were fantastic. Love, loss, grieving, torture, trauma, addiction, greed, suspicion, government sanctioned assassination, and more, there was plenty that was compelling about what Riley touches upon in the book.

This book is a lot darker than I initially realized, and as I continued to turn the pages, I was trying to classify it. Was it “grimdark”, or merely “dark”? Regardless, there are action scenes aplenty, some very disturbing ones included, and there are times things are quite frenetic, and there is plenty of blood spilled in gruesome ways. The results of the visceral battles, which include lots of magic being wielded, especially in the second half of the book, can be very heart-rending. Don’t get attached to any particular character, is my counsel, because Riley has no misgivings whatsoever to kill off darlings. If you want to have a great death scene as a character, ask Riley to write you in!

As noted in the latter stages of the book the action is virtually unabated. Riley can write great fight scenes, with huge stakes. Truly exhilarating!

I loved the lust, sex, and romance in the book, which was very intense, and extremely well done. The heat factor definitely added to the book for me in a good way!

Finally, break out the REAL superlatives! As I must give some very, very high praise here regarding the magic system. “We Break Immortals” simply has the most detailed, thorough, and most complete hard magic system I have EVER read thus far in a fantasy novel. The achievement here is gargantuan!

There is a comprehensive appendix specifically to explain the magic system, and it is needed! While my personal preference is definitely soft magic, I must bow to the imagination, intricacy and skill on display by the author in this regard. Wow!

In addition, the various realms, histories, and cultures, and oh boy those gorgeous maps of Riley’s world, and a great cover, make this the kind of epic fantasy that looks incredible on your shelf. I know this is an aesthetic thing that has nothing to do with the writing, but I can’t help gush about it.

Don’t be intimidated by the 1000 plus page-count! This book has plenty of moments where it reads like a sleek 300-pager as opposed to the absolute chonker that it is. Overall, it is very fast paced.

My only quibble is that at times the prose was a bit off for me at certain junctures of the book (mixing the more classic/formal style with slangs), but once more, personal preference seemingly is the issue, not the author’s writing. Overall the book is very well written, with some great humour, philosophical lines that will stay with you, and plenty of heart and poignancy.

“We Break Immortals” is a prodigious achievement, full of action, incredible magic, passion, and bloodshed! I am eager to see more of where Riley takes his “Advent Lumina Cycle”. Five bright stars!

 

*Thomas Howard Riley is part of the BWGB writing team, this in no way influenced the review of his novel. 

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Television Review – House of the Dragon S1 – “Second of His Name”

“Second of His Name” is probably the weakest of the three House of the Dragons episodes so far. This is partially due to, yet another massive time skip when I think everyone is quite invested in the story as is. We could have easily done a couple of episodes on the aftermath of Queen Aemma’s death as well as the marriage of Alicent Hightower to the King. Part of this is since they didn’t start the series with the Dance of the Dragons beginning, in my humble opinion, so we’re caught between the show moving too fast and getting bogged down in a season of backstory simultaneously.

The episode can be summarized as taking place in two parts: the Great Hunt and the Stepstones War. A Great Hunt has been arranged for the celebration of Prince Aegon’s second birthday and King Viserys is already getting pressure to marry his daughter off as well as name his son the new heir. Waiting two years with the infant mortality rates seems reasonable, sadly. Meanwhile, Daemon and Corys are not doing great in their war against the Crabfeeder.

We start with a three-year time skip and unfortunately, it makes Rhaenyra look terrible because it looks like she’s been in a snit for literally that entire time. Milly Alcock is forced to play a bratty teenage daughter for an entire hour of runtime, and it removes a lot of the awesomeness we saw with her for the past two episodes. Rhaenyra is just mean to Alicent the entire time and the fact it’s meant to have been a years-long estrangement doesn’t make her look any better. She also pouts about her arranged marriage versus trying to think of bolstering her claim to the Iron Throne by making allies.

This episode really belongs to Emily Carey and Alicent Hightower is at her most sympathetic. If we’re meant to infer that she’s spent the past three years trying to rebuild her friendship with Rhaenyra, no matter the betrayal, it’s something that shows she has the patience of a saint. We also see she’s not overly enthusiastic about stealing Rhaenyra’s birthright. Which Otto points out that the majority of the realm would see as the reverse.

Surprisingly, Otto is shown to be a trifle more sympathetic this time around as well. While still a scheming weasal, he’s clearly not interested in just destroying Rhaenyra to get what he wants. He wants her married off to a Great House and a comfortable retirement. He also is interested in marrying her to his grandson, 16-year age difference or not. Seriously, Viserys seems to be the only man with any sense of age issues in the realm and he still married a teenager.

We get some build-up for a possible Rhaenyra and Cristin Cole romance, however. They get to spend the majority of the Great Hunt alone together as well as making it clear that Cole is personally very loyal to Rhaenyra for raising him up to the Kingsguard. I’ll even go so far as to say part of her problem is Rhaenyra is suffering some sexual frustration while being terrified of marriage due to her mother’s horrific death as well as the political ramifications. Really getting some serious Elizabeth I vibes here.

Viserys is at his worst here but he’s also starting to show some spine. Sadly, it seems that he’s finally picked on the fact that everyone thinks of him as a weathervane. Blow on him and he goes whichever direction you want. Unfortunately, growing a spine primarily means that he’s become a drunk and willing to yell at everyone who annoys him until they back down. He’s gone from being a harmless but otherwise good man to being more and more just Robert Barthaeon the early edition. Thankfully, he’s not taken to spouse abuse yet.

The battle scenes are both the best and worst part of this episode. The plot armor is strong with Daemon Targaryen as he shrugs off multiple arrows as well as stands up to a hundred men before bringing down his dragons. On the other hand, I also like the implied politics of it all with the reason the Crabfeeder was winning is because he had a nation standing behind him while it was just Daemon as well as House Velaryon trying to take him down. Sometimes dragons win wars, other times its logistics.

In conclusion, I liked it more than Rings of Power’s opening episodes, but I think I’m going to be continued to be disconcerted with all these massive time jumps, and I know there’s still more ahead since The Dance of the Dragons is a decade or so aware. I always love dragons on screen, though, especially when they’re frying people and could have used more of that. Just keep Rhaenyra being awesome, give me some more Matt Smith’s Rogue Prince, and throw in more dragon action–that’s all I want show.

7.5/10

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Review – A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

“Why is everyone so slavish to texts written thousands of years ago?” he snapped. “Gods can change. Grow apart. Try new things. Besides, Set was a jerk.”

First of all, I’m in LOVE with this world. Vibrant, beautiful, and intriguing, I am in for all of the installments of this series. Set in steampunk Cairo brimming with magic, djinns, angels, and humans all living together, the atmosphere never gets old. We follow our main character Fatma as she takes on a new case for Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. She has handled many difficult cases before, but this one seems to be bigger than anyone first realized.

As Fatma pursues answers all over Cairo, we are introduced to a plethora of other creatures and characters in this world. All of them are intriguing, but I am completely enamored with Siti and the Angels; I can’t wait to see them explored in future works in the universe as they seems to be connected to larger forces at work in this world. Which also leads me to mention the politics in this universe. With so many different species living in close quarters to each other, the political landscape can get a bit dicey. Who holds the most power, and for how long? Clark grapples with these large scale debates as well.
The only reason I took 0.5 stars off was because I was able to guess the mystery of “who-dunnit” quite early, so the tension of the detective side of the story was lacking for the second half of the novel for me. However, I did enjoy the twists and turns included in the journey the reveal!

Also, the audiobook narrator did a wonderful job; I felt so immersed in the world and the voices for each different character were distinct. Though I definitely want to read this again physically and tab the shit out of it. I already bought a physical version for my shelf, and will be keeping up with all the releases going forward.

One piece of advice I would like to offer is to pick up Clark’s novellas in this universe first as they will provide the reader with context that will help them immediately sink into the word when picking up A Master of Djinn. The novellas are: A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and The Angel of Khan el-Khalili.

4.5 stars. Audiobook.

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Review – THE COURT OF BROKEN KNIVES by Anna Smith Spark

“A wise man who’s ignored is about as effective as an idiot who’s listened to.”

Welcome to my review of the darkest, bleakest, book I have read so far this year: “The Court of Broken Knives”, Book One in “Empires of Dust”, by Anna Smith Spark.

If you have been reading my reviews this year, you will note that I have read some books that are considered quite nihilistic.

Among them, “Beyond Redemption” by Michael R. Fletcher, “The Darkness That Comes Before” by R. Scott Bakker, “Gardens of the Moon” by Steven Erickson, “Conqueror’s Blood by Zamil Akhtar, and “Seraphina’s Lament” by Sarah Chorn.

Well the aura of cynicism, pessimism, violence, and pain in this book, for me, trumps those other books. This book is unabashedly, uncompromisingly pure grimdark fantasy. It might actually be THE DARKEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ.

But, in saying all that, is it good? Actually, it’s quite brilliant, though one may find it very unsettling.

“The Court of Broken Knives” is set primarily in Spark’s fictional Sekemleth Empire. Sekemleth’s capitol city is Sorlost, a fabled city of incredible opulence and decadence. Yet this dissipation is leading to the inevitable downfall of the empire, and nothing seems capable of stopping the decline.

Enter the ambitious Lord Orhan, an influential member of the Empire’s aristocracy. Orhan is a visionary patriciate, and of course envisions himself at the top of the governing order, not the current Emperor, who seems woefully inadequate, at best. Orhan believes the empire is critically weak, and ripe for attack, and that the current sovereignty is incapable of defending the realm, so preoccupied they are with excess and having grown complacent and soft.

So, to solve this issue, Orhan decides to overthrow the Emperor and his cronies, by cold blooded murder. Orphan hires a gang of mercenaries from outside the Empire to sneak into Sorlost under false pretences, and assassinate the Emperor and nobility loyal to him. Then Orhan can help restore the magnificence of the Empire, or so the plan goes.

The leader of Orhan’s sellswords who will penetrate the city and carry out the gruesome plot is Tobias. Tobias is an veteran soldier, tough, pragmatic, and dependable. He’s pretty sure the mission is suicide, but he takes it on with courage and skill. His men trust him, don’t challenge his authority, and are inspired with him as the person in charge. Tobias is just the right man to lead the perilous mission, but he is challenged on many fronts, including the management of one particular recruit, named Marith.

Marith is seemingly a novice at soldiery, but he quickly shows immense bravery and promise, if not some odd, mysterious behaviour, that evolves into something much more foreboding. Unearthly handsome and of noble bearing, Marith hides dark secrets that pose a danger to all those who are in his orbit, including his mercenary comrades. He is tormented, a true psychopath, merciless, filled with a lust for blood, and he seems to be turning into someone even more sinister. Whatever he becomes, it could change the fate of not only Sorlost, but the world.

Even is his darkness, as noted, Marith is incredibly comely and charismatic. Many people find him irresistible. One of the people drawn to him, harbours a forbidden desire for the young man shrouded in darkness, and carries a lot of darkness of her own. That is High Priestess Thalia, titular head of the heinous religion of Sekemleth. The savage demands of Thalia’s position, and her religion, take their toll on her mental and emotional state. Because of this, in an unprecedented move, she seeks to flee the confines of her eminent role, which is an appointment for life. But her attraction to Marith draws her into something immeasurably more monstrous and depraved than she is trying to escape.

This book is a lush, character-driven dark fantasy, and the four aforementioned characters drive the plot of the novel. While they are fascinating and extremely well-drawn, they are four of the most detestable main characters one is going to meet in fantasy. They are horribly and seemingly irrevocably broken, and everyone around them pays the price for their emotional and psychological scars .

If one considers their upbringing and some of the trauma inflicted on them, and the general horrific and unforgiving world Spark has depicted that surrounds these people, as excusing some of their depraved behaviour, there might be some small measure of empathy for them. Otherwise, most readers will find them beneath contempt.

One will not find much comfort in the secondary characters either. Some of the other mercenaries, hired assassins, have some tiny redeeming qualities, but those characteristics are overwhelmed by the unsavoury attributes. The best that can be said about them is they have twisted senses of humour, and some sense of honour and duty to their chain of command, and perhaps some personal loyalty to each other.

This is the kind of book trigger warnings were created for. It is not that terrors are consistently written in graphic detail. Predominantly, they aren’t. It is more about the TYPE of terrors explored and the depth of the debased behaviour, WHO commits the atrocities, and the QUANTITY and quality of the disturbing themes. Human sacrifice – including of children, sexual violence, murder, genocide, torture, mutilation, unhealthy obsessions, mania, revenge, oppression, drug and alcohol addiction, mental disorders, depression, betrayal…you see where I am going here. The themes are extremely bleak, just as stark as our characters.

The world Spark has created may be charmless, but that does not mean the worldbuilding is not fantastic. The realms, cultures, religions, and history are very skillfully crafted, and the world seems fully realized, with hints of even more depth to Spark’s world waiting in the wings to be revealed in future novels. Fantastic beasts (including yes, DRAGONS) demons, lore, lineages, a magic system that is more teased than shown (and I love that) and more, the incredible settings described will resonate with the reader. Additionally, the maps which are part of the book are magnificent.

Perhaps what struck me most about the novel other than the misery of the world and the circumstances of the characters was the absolutely sensational writing. Spark has accomplished something truly memorable here with the style in which she writes. Traversing tenses, point-of-views, and interjecting phrases that read poetry, I truly meshed with the writing style of this book. It might not be for everyone, but for me it was mesmerizing. Spark uses repetition, inversion, plays on words in a fresh and inventive way that truly makes her world come vividly alive. This is a writer of considerable talent and gravitas.

“They line up in long rows, stretching away into the horizon. Rank upon rank of them. Gleaming silver armour, silver-gilt bronze over fine white cloth. The blood shows through the white and marks them as His soldiers, who will fight until they’ve lost every drop of blood in their bodies and beyond. They carry the long spear, the sarris…no shields. His armies do not need shields. Shields are to stop a man dying. It does not matter how many of them dies. Only that they kill as they do so. A shield is a coward thing. Their helments cover the eyes but leave the mouth bare, to bite and spit and scream. Ten times a thousand pais of eyes stare through white-tempered bronze. They wear red horse-hair plumes that nod in the wind. He likes His soldiers plumed like birds in His colours. Seen from above, standing on the walls of a city looking down at thme, they must look like a great field of flowers. Like the rose forests of Chathe must have looked before they burned them. They stand in perfect silcence, still as standing stones, still as teeth in a dead mouth.”

The plot is masterful, the action scenes are bloody and frenetic, and all the intrigue, skullduggery, twits, and violence will have the reader compulsively reading on to see what is coming next, with one eye closed in fear of how low things will sink next.

Grimdark has always been a challenging sub-genre of fantasy to define. Nonetheless, common definitions always seem to include 1)an absence of redeemable characters 2)unpredictability of the plot as these highly flawed characters make incalculable decisions that will continually shock the reader, and 3) an unforgiving world that breeds and supports the kind of environment that spawns, enables, and can also crush these same characters. In grimdark, there are no real winners, only damaged survivors, and a lot of collateral carnage along the way to some sort of victory.

I don’t know how this series is going to end, but I can’t foresee main characters such as what I have read in “The Court of Broken Knives” frankly being worthy of survival. The crimes the four primary players have committed by the end of the book are reprehensible enough for a whole city full of exclusively evil people. Some of them may have ambitions to re-make the world, but I see no way in how the world would benefit from their existence, and seeing those plans come to fruition.

The grimdark icing on the cake for this novel is that I see virtually no hope in this world, nor for any positive outcome for these characters. I believe it is this complete lack of hope in the book, in my opinion, that has set “The Court of Broken Knives” apart from the other top dark fantasy novels I have read, in terms of its “darkness” factor. Nary a glimmer of optimism to be found here.

If your little grimdark soul is dancing with glee at the prospect of this sort of fare, look no further, this is your book!

The novel is outstanding, and I will be reading everything that Spark writes – consider me hooked. Five luminous stars! A true grimdark masterpiece.

And yes, I can definitively say, as I hope I have adequately illustrated here, “The Court of Broken Knives” IS the darkest fantasy book I’ve ever read.

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Review – A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

“she’s a barbarian, don’t hold that against her”

 

About

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Whether they succeed or fail could change the fate of Teixcalaan forever.

“and—bleeding starshine, if she pulled this off she was going to write her very own epic poem about herself”― Arkady martine, a desolation called peace

My Thoughts

A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine’s next installment in the Teixcalaan following her Hugo award-winning novel A Memory Called Empire is just as culturally rich and profound as A Memory Called Empire was. Still, instead of focusing the guts of the story on the understanding of what memory is, A Desolation Called Peace focuses on how we communicate.

“On the flagship Weight of the Wheel:
“You’d have to ask medical,” said Two Foam.
“Someone ask medical,” said Mahit. “I can’t talk to anyone. I’m not a citizen.” And she smiled, terrifying and far too beautiful with all those teeth exposed, gesturing to her entire lack of cloudhook.”

Arkady Martine quoted in the first book, “This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.” The first novel, A Memory Called Empire, was about the power of memory and specifically what memory is. Cultural memory can devour and expand inside of you and push the “you” out and replace it with a new transformed you.

It can devour.

This abstract idea was wrapped in an exciting murder mystery that kept the story moving and gave it an understandable hook for readers to latch on to. Desolation is about memory again, but I think it expands on the idea of how memory is expressed through language and communication. This time the grander idea is wrapped in an exciting first contact story between two disparate creatures.

The story starts up right at the end of the first book. We have a huge looming threat of an advancing alien empire that is both figuratively and in some cases literally devouring up the edges of the Teixcalaan Empire. As this is a first contact story, no one knows who or what these aliens are. I applaud Martine for her description of the aliens. Often, writers create aliens that have some sort of likeness to humans so that readers can empathize and understand them. I get that.

However, if you think about aliens in a real sense and how infinite the universe is, they could be anything. Douglas Adams made me think hard about this when he created a planet with living mattresses wallowing around in the muck.

“She’s a barbarian, but don’t hold it against her. She’s brilliant.”

We cut back and forth between Nine Hibiscus, the yaotlek of the campaign, Mahit Dzmare, and the newly appointed Undersecretary to the Minister of Information Three Seagrass. Three Seagrass was Mahit Dzmare liaison in the first book. Also, we have the young perspective of young Eight Antidote, the clone of the previous employer who is very much like his predecessor, but with notable differences. Each of the characters represents a different perspective on the aliens and how they will affect the future.

Mahit Dzmare is back on Lsel station. In the first novel, we learn that she has a faulty imago machine, courtesy of the ministry. They would like her to download herself to be stored, but they will know that she has an updated imago machine if she does that. She is in a politically tricky position. The ministry would like her line terminated and probably her as well.

Three Seagrass is at home in the shining city when she learns of the alien issue. She decides that she needs to get to Mahit post-haste to work together on the first contact problem and understand what the aliens want. This allows Mahit to leave the station and accompany Three Seagrass to the Weight of the Wheel, the Teixcalaan flagship.

I had a difficult time with this part of the story. Yes, Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass are a great pair to work on this problem. But, the first contact with an alien species is such a complicated conflict. Martine sped through a bit of that. I am reminded of the movie “The Arrival” and this scene specifically:

“Dr. Louise Banks: So first, we need to make sure that they understand what a question is. Okay, the nature of a request for information along with a response. Then, we need to clarify the difference between a specific “you” and a collective “you”, because we don’t want to know why Joe Alien is here, we want to know why they all landed.

And purpose requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out: do they make conscious choices? Or is their motivation so instinctive that they don’t understand a “why” question at all? And, and biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.”

I felt like much of the ideas of collective “you” and understanding intent were skipped. I understand that A Desolation Called Peace is a weighty novel as it stands, and some streamlining was necessary. Also, Martine does explain the process that Mahit and Three Seagrass go through when dealing with the aliens, but it seemed just a touch too easy for a first contact scenario.

Along with the deep political intrigue betwixt the characters, there is significant character development in all of them. Young Eight Antidote begins to get first-hand experience in politics and protecting its people and culture. Mahit starts to develop a deeper and more complex symbiotic bond with Yskandr. And while they are two separate people, they begin to meld and share ideas. This character development is in service to the overarching plot and the discussions about what communication is and what part language and memory plays in it.

Mahit’s experience on Teixcalaan has been invaluable. It has allowed her eyes to be opened up to worlds outside of her own. This, in turn, has allowed her to see her own culture with a critical eye. Does that make her dangerous to Teixcalaan or Lsel station? Possibly. I think her new perspective on things is one of the most exciting parts of this story.

I am looking forward to seeing where Martine takes hers and Three Seagrass’s character.

The story continues and gets vastly more complicated. The aliens are a terrifying threat, and all of the characters, including a couple of new ones, are tested mentally and emotionally. Everything comes together in an unexpected climax.

What is A Desolation Called Peace? I was curious as to the phrase choice of desolation. A desolation has two definitions that I know of, and it applies to the story in different ways. Desolation can be “a state of complete emptiness or destruction.” A Desolation Called Peace is a first contact story, and the aliens bring desolation in their wake. They destroy all before them wholly and thoroughly. They are a desolation, living destruction.

Secondly, the word desolation is “anguished misery or loneliness.” Much like how Mahit feels at the beginning of the book. I found that more in-depth and particular word choice is found throughout this book, and I am quickly coming to associate this kind of next-level writing with Arkady Martine.

Upon further research, the title of the story is seemingly based on one of Tacitus’ speaking about Calgacus, “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.” It is no shocker to me that the title A Desolation Called Peace would have historical significance. Arkady Martine is a historian, and the detailing and worldbuilding reflect that upon each page.

Every piece of this story flows and melds into others. It is an exquisitely written book. Martine is a master at language, character building, and history, and that mastery is evident in every facet of the story.

A Memory Called Peace was an excellent book, wholly deserved of the awards and acclaim it has received. But that was Martine’s debut. It feels like now, with Desolation Called Peace, Martine is settling into her groove. I will read anything that she writes; her work is that good, and I recommend it to any science fiction or political intrigue lover.

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Check Out My Other Reviews

Review – Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #17)

Review – The Ikessar Falcon by K.S Villoso

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Review – Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

It is going to take a lot to save us

About Project Hail Mary

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian–while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

 

 

“Stupid humanity. Getting in the way of my hobbies.”― 

andy weir, Project Hail Mary

 

My Thoughts

Andy Weir, the author of The Martian and Artemis, brings us another dose of science fiction fun with Project Hail Mary. And when I say fun, I mean fun. His stories aren’t light and fluffy, his protagonists are flawed, but his characters have an optimistic quality that helps balance out some of the dark in life. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading his stories, and Project Hail Mary is no exception.

“When I’m stressed out, I revert to imperial units. It’s hard to be an American, okay?”

I am relatively new to the church of Weir. Weir’s church? I started a deep dive on his projects last month, obviously starting with The Martian. It is the most known of his stories and was made into a big-screen movie starring Matt Damon that won a slew of awards. What is so incredibly cool about Weir’s personal story is how The Martian came about. The Martian started as a serialized novel. Chapters were appearing daily on Weir’s website, where his 3000 followers vetted the science. It became so beloved that Weir took it and put it up on Amazon as a .99c story. It became a bestseller, which then was made into a movie, then awards, so on and so forth.

Before any of the hoopla around The Martian, Weir wrote a short story called The Egg. It got a following, so much that some have started following it as a philosophy of life or religion a la L. Ron Hubbard. Much to Weir’s chagrin. It, too, was made into a short film and had 20 million hits on youtube. What I am saying here is that folks love his work. It resonates.

This brings us to Weir’s newest novel, Project Hail Mary that is releasing in May of 2021. The premise is thus, “Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish… it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.” Ryland is a brilliant and very ordinary person. There isn’t a glorious charisma about him. But he is an immensely likable character who faces the arduous task of saving the human species. Not only does he have to puzzle out how to save humanity, but he also has to do it with no memory. Alone. It seems like a very similar premise to The Martian, but it isn’t. The vastness of scale changes the dynamics of the story. Ryland has the fate of existence resting on his very confused shoulders.

Ryland is in many ways similar to Mark Watney. This is either because there has to be a little bit of open-mouthed awe and a general sense of optimism to be a scientist or astronaut. Both require an ability to believe that there is more out there and reach for it with both hands. Or, this type of character is one that Weir enjoys and understands. Some authors write snarky protagonists that quip their way through scenes. Weir writes intelligent, optimistic, and ridiculously resourceful scientists. I’d happily read either type. That overt sense of optimism permeates Weir’s writing, and sometimes a bit of happiness goes a long way.

“Maybe it’s just the childish optimist in me, but humanity can be pretty impressive when we put our minds to it.”

Much like The Martian, Project Hail Mary has a whole lot of science. That is Weir’s style. And, much like The Martian, it can get info-dumpy. But, I think it depends on how much you enjoy science, physics, and math. I appreciate those subjects, and Weir’s descriptions got me excited and interested in the idea that the story was theoretically possible. Knowing how much Weir enjoys science, I am betting much of it is possible. Maybe, not probable. But when the fate of all human existence hangs in the balance, humanity would do some crazy things.

Aside from the exciting plot, a significant part of this novel is the supporting characters. Without spoiling the story, one of my favorite characters was that of Eva Stratt. She is tasked with putting together the team, science, and space ship to save humanity. She is a bulldozer in high heels. But surprisingly, instead of going to type and making her a bitch, she is ruthlessly efficient. I would be intimidated to be around her but not because she was going to tell me off. More because she would be weighing and measuring my usefulness.

There are other great characters in the story that, again, without spoiling it, show Weir’s appreciation for science fiction. And, as a science fiction lover myself, I appreciated how he constructed them. I know that you will like what he did too. Rocky is one of my favorite characters in science fiction now.

Project Hail Mary is a great story. It is filled with all the things that made The Martian great but added in a thrilling tale and another empathetic protagonist. It was delightful, and I plowed through it, finishing it off in one day. Come for the fun story; stay for the great characters.

Check Out My Other Reviews

Review Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst

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Book Review: Claimed by the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart

Claimed by the Orc Prince  is an orc/elf M/M fantasy romance that is by turns charming, thoughtful, and scorching hot.

The setup of Claimed by the Orc Princeis a classic arranged-marriage trope, but make it gay: Taegan, a male elf, is offered in marriage to Zorvut the Relentless, a male orc, in an attempt to broker peace between warring nations. The only scandal in this match is the race of the two characters and their warring societies. Not only is the marriage of two male characters shown to be a normal occurrence in these cultures, but there are details of the characters’ physiology that allow males to get pregnant and carry children. The book also deconstructs the trope of elves being effeminate and orcs being toxically masculine. While the races in the book do follow the tradition to an extent, the individual characters show qualities that transform the source material into something fresh.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is Zurgut’s reticence. Taegan is worried because of orcs’ reputation to be brutish, not to mention impossibly well-hung. The latter is a feature Taegan comes to appreciate, but he is quite anxious at first. Zurgut turns out to be quite the opposite. Though his dominant side is not in question, he shows sensitivity, restraint, and respect, insisting on sleeping on the floor for a while until circumstances maneuver them into the bed together (another classic trope I am 100% here for).

The fantasy plot is the weakest link; it’s standard fantasy, with some politics and peril and all the usual stuff, and I don’t have a great deal to say about it other than that it didn’t distract me from the main event: the romance.

I found the romance plot endearing, not too slow-burn, and with plenty of spicy scenes, which is exactly what I want in a romance. I really enjoyed the relationship between these two. They start as fairly traditional types, but there’s enough growing nuance and tenderness that by the end I cared about them as individuals and as a couple. As for the spicy scenes, here’s where Hart really shines. Though I’m not a huge fan of the size trope (Zorgut is, well, huge), the sex was plentiful and entertaining to read. We get nice glimpses of character between the thick layer of steam, but there’s an erotica aspect here as well—it’s as much about the sex as it is about the emotions. Which, for me, is perfect.

In summary, you should read Claimed by the Orc Prince if you want hot M/M action and some interesting takes on classic tropes, wrapped up in a quick-reading fantasy romance plot with perfectly queernormative worldbuilding.

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