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Review – A Drowned Kingdom by PL Stuart

“A Drowned Kingdom is a breathtaking piece of fantasy. Absorbing, contemplative, and wrought with pain and hope, Stuart has created a stunning world that I can’t wait to return to and inhabit again with these brilliantly realised characters. An easy 5/5.”

Some fantasy authors like to start off their books with a propulsive, action packed prologue or first chapter that grips you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Other authors start low key and atmospheric that gives you a sense of the churning magmatic story, building and rising to a crescendoing eruption. P. L. Stuart’s A Drowned Kingdom falls under the latter and is all the more absorbing and impactful because of it.

A Drowned Kingdom is book one of The Drowned Kingdom Saga and follows the Second Prince of Atalantyx, Othrun who must lead his exiled people across the Shimmering Sea in search of a new home on a mysterious continent inhabited by pagan worshippers, mages and contend with the bitter rivalry between clans.

The first thing I want to talk about is P. L. Stuart’s prose. He writes with such elegance and poetical poise that I found myself immersed and enveloped by his words which caused me to take care in my reading, consuming the world he was creating. I studied Classical Studies many years back and we had to take a critical look at such works as the letters of Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and the letters of Cicero, a Roman philosopher and political theorist. A Drowned Kingdom is written in the first person by Second Prince Othrun, framed in a narrative much like a chronicle and I could just imagine archaeologists or historians unearthing these big tomes of the exodus of Othrun and his people, much like reading Pliny or Cicero. It felt like a story told rather than read.

This immersive first person narrative also helps to create a deeply rich and textured history and culture that feels essential and personal to the exiled Atalanteans. Their heritage and their belief in the Single God is critical to their everyday lives and their hope of finding a new home. Stuart presents religion and faith in such an authentic and fascinating way, particularly the clash between monotheistic and polytheistic beliefs of the Atalanteans and the pagan clans of the continent. Prince Othrun, as he attempts to build alliances to rebuild his kingdom, starts to learn more about the power of the pagan beliefs and his inner struggles with his own faith is critical to his character’s arc.

A Drowned Kingdom is very much a character driven story and as such, as mentioned at the beginning, this is a slow burn novel. Stuart allows us to inhabit the world with the characters, get to know their strengths, their flaws, their fears and motivations. Political machinations, divided loyalties and family power are at the heart of the first part of the book before we move on to asking questions about a civilisations survival, rebuilding a fallen kingdom and maintaining its legacy. Prince Othrun is a man of many strengths, but also a flawed man. He is at times elitist and dismissive of other beliefs other than his own and much of the book explores his own questioning.

The framed narrative or first person narrative is one of my favourite mode of storytelling, though I know it isn’t for everyone, so I would always put that at the forefront of recommending this book to anyone. Two of my favourite authors write this way, Patrick Rothfuss and Christopher Ruocchio. P. L. Stuart now ranks with those guys for me. A Drowned Kingdom is a breath-taking piece of fantasy. Absorbing, contemplative and wrought with pain and hope, Stuart has created a stunning world that I can’t wait to return too and inhabit again with these brilliantly realised characters. An easy 5/5.

 

*Both PL Stuart and Luke Winch are a part of BWGB; this does not affect the reviewing of PL’s book.

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#SPFBO8 Semi-Finalist Review – BAKER THIEF by Claudie Arseneault

I endorse “Baker Thief” to move forward to the semi-finals round in Before We Go Blog for SPFBO 8.


I have provided an honest review of this book below for purposes of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) Number 8 competition in which this book is entered, and assigned to Before We Go Blog for judging. My next SPFBO read was the steampunk fantasy/sci-fi “Baker Thief” by Claudie Arsenault. This was a fantastic, fun, thoughtful novel that combined superpowers, witches, non-romantic love, police procedural, semi-dark fantasy with a cozy fantasy feel, and some of the most positive inclusion and diverse representation I have read in any fantasy book. Let me qualify this review by saying I am cisgender, heterosexual male, therefore, I am not a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, though I consider myself an ally of that community. I beg indulgence in my analysis here, as I likely will be inadequate or inaccurate in appropriately capturing all the elements in this book related to LGBTQIA2S+. Please forgive me, in advance. I will do my best to do justice in this regard.    The book centres around the primary characters of Claude and Claire, and Adéle, their intensifying relationship.   Claude and Claire are the genderfluid, aromantic owner of the Croissant-toi, a lovely pastry shop that delights its loyal customers with tasty, comforting food and a warm, caring atmosphere. They utilize the “he/him” pronouns as Claude, while Claire uses the “she/her” pronouns. But Claude and Claire are hiding a secret lifestyle, as a burglar by night.  The reason for the nighttime thievery? Claude and Claire discover that their city’s utility company is engaged in a reprehensible practice, and aim to stop it. The city is – by force – corralling those residents who are magic-users, draining them of their life force, and tapping into that life force as a means of a substitute for hydro-electric power in the city.   The conduit for this new power obtained are bright red gems called exocores, which contain the essence of the magic-users inside. Claude and Claire are also a magic-user. The brave and good-hearted Claude and Claire elect to steal the exocores to prevent this horrible exploitation, and save their magic-user brethren.  So by day, while Claude bakes treats and lifts the spirits of his clientele, by night Claire prowls the rooftops of the city, stealing exocores. Then everything changes when Claude and Claire’s beloved twin sister, a magic-user herself, vanishes, making their crusade to save the city’s mages a lot more personal. Meanwhile, Adéle is a police officer, who has relocated to the city where Claude and Claire live. Nervous about fitting in with her new service, just prior to her first day on the job, she is the victim of Claire’s theft. Adéle is perturbed that she has her own exocore stolen by the jovial, nonchalant, but capable thief, puzzled by Claire’s demeanour, and frustrated by her inability to immediately thwart the thief.  Adéle vows to track down Claire and bring her to justice, impressing her new colleagues in the process, and redeeming herself from the embarrassment of letting Claire get the upper hand. Little does Adéle realize that the personable and charismatic baker Claude whom Adéle is developing feelings for, and pondering dating, is also Claire, her nemesis.  But when Adéle uncovers the true nature of Claude and Claire’s secret vigilante activities, will she be on the side of the law, or the side of what’s right? And what about her burgeoning feelings for them? And theirs for her? The characters in this book were stupendous, and the job that Arsenault did with characterization is marvellous.  As someone in law enforcement, I really gravitated towards Adéle’s character, the issues she faced balancing her morals with her duty, some of the challenges of working as a police officer within police culture (which has many positives, however definitely has many concerns, including a propensity to become toxic). She is also very human, with a physical challenge in asthma, and many human frailties. I love when a peak behind the tough and outwardly invincible exterior of coppers reveals their very mortal and highly vulnerable side. Claude and Claire were also fantastic. I was reminded of the duality in all of us, through Claude and Claire’s gender fluidity. People are complex and made of many different sides, where even the opposite characteristics can be contained in one person. Claire is saucy, flamboyant, brilliant, enchanting, while Claude is witty, reserved, gentle, charismatic.  While I wanted a bit more out of the supplementary characters being fleshed out, the protagonists were so strong that it did not detract from my overall enjoyment, however slightly from the overall score. Still, I adored the fact that there were characters with prosthetics, disabled characters, characters with mental health concerns. The depictions were well-rounded and amazingly representative, if not sometimes left somewhat less explored to the depth that I would have desired.  The themes in the book are poignant. Aresenault takes the dilemma of an aromantic character and a demisexual character trying to sort out the boundaries, context, unique needs, comfort zones, and challenges of their relationship, and I found it extremely compelling. Arsenault illustrated that non-romantic love can be just as interesting as non-romantic love, and actually takes many of the common tropes associated with romantic love and flip some readers’ expectations, brilliantly. The author also pulls no punches about the difficulties of dealing with having to identify with a gender that one does not feel they belong to.  There is assuredly some darkness to the book, including human experimentation, genocide, police violence, with perseuction, usury, even torture and murder of the witches. However, in the queer-normative society, not Utopian by any means, it is free of queer persecution. This was a refreshing take in terms of worldbuilding. Yet the darkness is presented in such a contrastingly humour, light style and flavour, the book often feels very much, as alluded to in the beginning of this review, like cozy fantasy, as opposed to dark urban fare.  And oh, that worldbuilding, which had me at being analogous with Quebec. As a Canadian who has visited and fallen in love particularly with Quebec City, upon which I believe the main setting is based, I could literally taste and smell the cuisine, feel the cobblestones beneath my feet, and drink in the sights while reading this book. Replete with the colloquialisms of Francophone society, the witticisms, even French-inspired neopronouns, this world had me captivated, and I loved spending every minute immersed in it.  Love for this book truly snuck up on me, and by the quarter way point, I was fully invested, and absolutely enamoured with it. The diverting themes, the trope subversion, the allosexual aromantic representation, the levity, wit, and light-hearted touch balanced with the darker themes, were so skillfully done. The trans, ace and aro spectrum characters, the enchanting and familiarly comforting setting, the mystery and police thriller elements, everything hit me in the feels.  I endorse “Baker Thief” to move forward to the semi-finals round in Before We Go Blog for SPFBO 8. If I consider a book a five-star read, those are the books I will be recommending to be put forward for advancement to either a quarter-final, semi-final, or final round of SPFBO within Before We Go Blog. For “Baker Thief,”  my score is 4.50, rounded up to 5 out of 5 stars. Check Out Some of Our Other Reviews

#SPFBO8 Review and Cut – The Empire’s Lion by Nathan Tudor

#SPFBO8 Review and Cut – The Night Comes Alive by Ross Hughes

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Review – The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

On a cloudy autumn day, I attended the execution of Broset Shveldar.

THE GRIEF OF STONES by Katherine Addison is the third installment of The Goblin Emperor series as well as the second in The Cemetaries of Amalo series. Confusing? Well, it shouldn’t be. All three books are set in the same universe, but this is only the second installment of the adventures of Thara Celehar, Witness for the Dead. It is his job to talk to the dead and give them justice if they have any lingering regrets.

Thara Celehar has been continuing his work in the city of Amalo when he finds himself recruited for yet another murder investigation. In this case, a beloved noblewoman heavily involved in the education of young girls has died mysteriously, and an autopsy confirms it was poisoning. Thara soon finds himself investigating a school for young girls, the insidious new technology called photography, and more.

I think The Grief of Stones is slightly better than Witness for the Dead because we introduce Thara Celehar’s apprentice, Velhiro Tomasaran, who is a young widow that has recently come into her own power to communicate with the dead. She provides a much needed contrast to Thara’s stoic and conflict-adverse nature. She’s not even that emotional but Thara is so introverted that she still comes off as a refreshing change of pace.

I like how Katherine Addison continues to build her strange fantasy steampunk world. We discover, for example, the profession of photographer is considered an unseemly one. This is because everyone assumes every photographer is a pornographer and pervert. It is a thoroughly disreputable profession despite the fact that it has a large interest from older noble women who use it for other things (presumably).

I actually really enjoyed the investigation into photography, particularly lurid photography, because the scandal of having posed for pornography is a rarely-used trope in fantasy for obvious reasons. The fact Thane Celehar has almost no opinion on the subject due to his own complicated relationship to obscenity laws (correction: he’s got many opinions but they’re “safe, sane, and consensual and it’s none of my business”) makes for an interesting take as well.

This continues to be an entertaining and fascinating occult mystery series with Thara using his ability to speak with the dead as well as investigative techniques to track down numerous problems. There’s also a number of fun subversions like our protagonist not even having to talk to the corpse since the murderer knows he’s cooked the moment that a Witness for the Dead is brought in.

Amalo feels like an authentic city with all of its sleaze, class differences, racial tension, and more. I wouldn’t say its realistic but I believed in the characters despite the fact they have a massive haunted hill that includes a tomb with a lich in it. Still, it’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite settings and while I’d prefer to follow the Goblin Emperor, Maia, I’m willing to stick with Celehar for the time being.

Review – The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

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Review – The War of the God Queen by David Hambling

WAR OF THE GOD QUEEN is an indie dark fantasy by David Hambling. I’m a huge fan of his Harry Stubbs series that I reviewed previously on this site (link: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-the-elder-ice-and-broken-meats-by-david-hambling/). However, I was surprised to hear about him moving from writing occult detective novels and horror to a more fantastical series set during a Hyborian Age-like Bronze Age.

This is a direct sequel to The Dulwich Horror but has more in common with Brian Lumley’s later Titus Crow novels than the previous occult mysteries. Which is to say the best response to dealing with Cthulhu and his ilk is to stab them in the face. It also doesn’t require reading said book to understand it.

The premise is that the protagonist of The Dulwich Horror, Jessica, has been cast back into time. It is a pulpy adventure that takes place in a pre-Bronze Age Stone Age civilization. References are made to A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and the Barsoom novels with a joke that the protagonist, Jessica, isn’t like any of those supermen with their knowledge of engineering as well as military tactics.

Jessica is a Edwardian woman who finds herself soon the head of a time-lost band of women who are all of varying ethnicities. They avoid becoming the property of the local tribes due to some fast thinking and the belief they’re goddesses. They have an enemy in the Spawn of Cthulhu, however, who threaten to wipe out humanity before it can ever become a threat to even the lowliest of his servitors.

Much is made of Jessica trying to survive in a time without any form of metallurgy, hygeine, or amenities. It is also a work with a feminist slant as the women band together to try to assert their dignity. It is also a adventure about slaying prehistoric eldritch monsters. I liked the latter element a lot more and note this is a very Pulpy Conan-esque view of the Bronze Age and almost wish he’d gone full Howardian.

David Hambling has an engaging and entertaining writing style as well as a fascination with time travel. The Cthulhu Mythos here is less inscrutable and more overtly malevolent but it works well for a story about women attempting to avoid becoming fodder for their Innsmouth-esque plot to take over the world. Thankfully, all of the implied ick that kidnapping women from across time to breed monster babies is thwarted as well. It’s not that kind of book. It’s more, “stab the crazy squid cultists in the face.”

If this sounds like your sort of thing then definitely check it out. I love David Hambling’s occult mysteries more but this was a quirky and fun book despite its sometimes dark subject matter as well as offbeat concept.

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#SPFBO8 Review and Cut – The Empire’s Lion by Nathan Tudor

“This book will be a real winner for people who like their fantasy to be thick (in all the best ways), heavily world-built, and deeply rooted in Roman history.”


What it’s about:

She left a slave. She returns a conqueror.

As an Adept, Reiva blasts fire from her hands and leaps over walls. But when her first solo mission leaves her half-dead amidst a heap of massacred allies, she gets just one chance at redemption.

The Empire orders her to crush the one kingdom she thought she would never see again: Talynis, the land of her birth, the land she left in chains.

Standing in her way is the Wolf, a vicious assassin hellbent on killing Adepts—and a single cut from his cursed blade will destroy Reiva’s magic forever.

Even if she can survive, victory may come at a price too high to pay…

My Thoughts

I think the thing that caught my eye first and foremost is the beautiful cover on The Empire’s Lion. It does everything a cover should do; it draws your attention, and gives an excellent vibe of what you’ll find within the book. I knew it was Grecco/Roman + magic immediately, and sinking into the first pages, that impression is quickly and efficiently confirmed.

The Empire’s Lion is a chonker (849 pages on my Kindle) but anyone who knows me will know that this isn’t a problem in my eyes! If you connect with a chonker, you just get more to love! More to savour! Tudor’s writing is crisp and clean, and I liked Reiva. The worldbuilding is solid, but I found the rapid-fire of names that I needed to learn in early chapters slowed me down some. This, of course, is a matter of taste and style and not at all a flaw; I understand how hard it is to set the scene when you’re a big worldbuilder. I found Avi’s chapters were more guilty of this, whereas Reiva’s chapters were build more gently and it made her POV much easier to connect to.

Don’t assume that just because the book is heavily world-built that it’s slow! Reiva gets herself into trouble very quickly and the action hangs on to you and doesn’t let go.

The biggest barrier for me was Tudor’s narrative style, which often felt like I was being held and arm’s length. There’s a distance to his prose that sometimes undercut the urgency of the action. For some reason, this stood out more in Avi’s chapters, which is probably why I connected to those chapters less than Reiva’s.

I very much liked the effort Tudor put into the in-world texts that opened every chapter. It made the world live and breathe, setting an excellent tone. In fact, it was in the epigraphs that I found my favourite line, and a theme that I love seeing crop up in fiction:

‘Much is made of Lazarran virtue. But there is no greater Lazarran vice than pride—and it was our wounded pride that drove us to resort to such underhanded treachery as happened in the siege of Dav-maiir.’

Ultimately, I am a character reader first and foremost. So while I found Tudor’s worldbuilding well executed and his concepts intelligently assembled, the style of his prose made it difficult for me to sink as deeply into his characters as I like to. Again this is not something that is necessarily a flaw in his style, it’s simply my taste showing. It often felt like his characters were keeping me out rather than drawing me into the knitty gritty of their beating hearts, which made it difficult for me to keep up when things got muddled up in the sharp-as-a-knife action.

This book will be a real winner for people who like their fantasy to be thick (in all the best ways), heavily world-built, and deeply rooted in Roman history.

However, for the purposes of SPFBO, this is a cut.

My condolences to the author, and I wish Tudor the very best of luck.

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Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for August

Kindle Unlimited is a service that can theoretically provide you with limitless numbers of books for the price of one normal release every month. This is a tremendous blessing for those of us who are fast readers. I pretty much have read every single Red Sonja comic ever written thanks to Dynamite Entertainment putting almost all their comics on the service.

However, what we here at Before We Go want most is good Kindle Unlimited books. As such, here is a recommendation of a bunch of entertaining ones that I’ve enjoyed and can say rise above the dross.

1. Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for January
https://beforewegoblog.com/five-recommended-kindle-unlimited-books/

2. Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for February
https://beforewegoblog.com/five-recommended-kindle-unlimited-books-february-edition/

3. Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for March
https://beforewegoblog.com/five-kindle-unlimited-recommendations-for-march-2022/

4. Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for April
https://beforewegoblog.com/five-kindle-unlimited-recommendations-for-april-2022/

5. Five Kindle Unlimited Recommendations for May
https://beforewegoblog.com/kindle-unlimited-recommendations-for-may/May

1.Against All Oddsby Jeffrey Haskell

Space Opera is one of my favorite genres and I hate that it’s so hard to seperate the wheat from the chafe. Against All Odds is about the heroic adventures of a space captain named Jacob Grimm, who finds himself unfairly blamed for a war crime. I really enjoy Jeffrey Haskell’s writing style and he manages to create a easy-to-understand as well as well-written setting for his characters to tool around in.

Read our review

About Against All Odds

The wrong crew. The wrong ship. The right Captain.

Idealistic navy lieutenant Jacob Grimm just wanted to honor his mother’s sacrifice in the last great war. When he’s forced to return fire and destroy a squadron of ships to save his own, he thinks he’s the hero…

Until they discover the ships are full of children.

Disgraced and denied promotion, Jacob’s career is over. That is until the head of ONI needs a disposable officer to command a battered destroyer on the rim.

There’s just one problem, Interceptor hasn’t had a CO in months and the ship is a mess. Worse, the system he’s assigned to is corrupt and on the verge of all-out civil war with the Alliance.

However, no one told Jacob he was disposable.

Pirates, smugglers, and Caliphate spies complicate the situation and one captain with an old ship can’t enforce the law, let alone stop anyone.

The single greatest discovery of all time is about to change intergalactic politics forever. If Jacob doesn’t find a way to succeed, then it won’t just be the end of the Alliance, it will be the end of freedom for humanity.

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2.The War of the God Queenby David Hambling

War of the God Queen is a semi-sequel to the horror novel The Dulwich Horror. Despite this, you don’t need to read the latter to understand the former. Basically, Jessica is a young woman from the 1920s who finds herself involuntarily transported back to the Bronze Age where the spawn of Cthulhu reign. Not wanting to become one of their slaves, she stages a breakout for other time-lost slaves to wage war against the Spawn. I really enjoyed it.

About War of the God Queen

Jessica: a modern woman, thrown back into the bronze age, alone and lost among a strange people.

Amir: a nomad warlord, fighting a hopeless battle against monstrous invaders, looking for a miracle to save his people.

To Amir, the beautiful stranger is a sign from heaven. And Jessica, though no warrior, has hidden talents even she does not appreciate. When Jessica recruits other women abducted through time, they find ways to fight back against the seemingly invulnerable Spawn, and wage a war like nothing ever seen — with the future of humanity at stake. But the Spawn are not Jessica’s only problem…

You’ll love this epic fantasy driven by characters facing the challenge of becoming what they could only dream.

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3.Backyard Starship by JN Chaney

Val Tudor is an ordinary guy, as much as ex-Army Intelligence officer can be, when he receives word his grandfather has died. Much to his surprise, in the barn behind the house, Val discovers that his grandfather left him a starship as well as remit to become a galactic peacekeepers. Basically, the FBI of the galaxy. The books are procedural space adventures and I really enjoy them.

About Backyard Starship

When Van Tudor returns to his childhood home, he inherits more than the family farm.

His grandfather used to tell him fantastic stories of spacemen and monsters, princesses and galactic knights. Little did Van realize, the old man’s tales were more than fiction. They were real.

Hidden beneath the old barn, Van’s legacy is waiting: a starship, not of this world.

With his combat AI, an android bird named Perry, Van takes his first steps into the wider galaxy. He soon finds that space is far busier and more dangerous than he could have ever conceived.

Destiny is calling. His grandfather’s legacy awaits.

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime with USA Today Bestselling Author J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert in this brand new science fiction series. If you’re a fan of found spaceships and galactic quests for glory, this might just be the story you’ve been waiting for.

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4.The Vilification of Aqua Marine by Megan Mackie


I’m a big fan of superhero literature and am always willing to give them a chance. In this case, Aqua Marine is a young woman who is the daughter of the world’s most infamous supervillain and wants to be a hero. Unfortunately, her powers absolutely suck and she’s only able to manipulate a cup of water’s worth at a time. A chance encounter with a handsome supervillain almost kills him and

About The Vilification of Aqua Marie

One Parent was a superhero, one parent was a supervillain, Aqua Marine is a work in progress.

Despite Aqua Marine’s super lineage, this wannabe superhero can only control a cup of water at a time. Not very effective as far as superpowers go. Never mind being able to stop the new nefarious villain, The Overlord of the Dance from taking over part of the city.

That is until she discovers there is a cup of water in the human heart when she accidentally blows his out.

Now her villainous mother wants her to join the League of Extraordinary Evil.

Aqua Marine would like to hide under a rock.

And Overlord of the Dance is apparently not quite dead yet, and he would like to have a word with her about becoming his new nemesis.

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Aqua Marine’s is a slip and slide, with capes.

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5.Agents of MORTAL by MK Gibson

I’m a big fan of MK Gibson and his various series. So I was very interested in this story as well as its unusual setting. Basically, Alaska has been turned into a preserve for all of the world’s fairies and supernatural creatures including gods. Unfortunately, due to the fact the government sucks, humans are still expected to police them. This is the job of MORTAL and they are more like the cast of Reno 911 rather than a deadly efficient spy agency. It’s funny and good for an afternoon’s read.

About Agents of MORTAL

What happens when all the myths, legends, and things that go bump in the night come out to the world as real? Well, the world does as it always does: It rejected them.

Welcome to Avalantis, Alaska, the world’s first supercity with over 50 million myth and mundane citizens and home of those rejected by society. Although due to pesky things like murder end explosions, there are a few fewer citizens. When the former Greek god Hermes dies, three unusual cops from the Avalantis PD are recruited into a secret organization known as MORTAL, who has apparently been watching the Myths for longer than mankind realizes.

Their mission is to find and apprehend the mysterious figure known as “The Laughing Man”, the one responsible for a recent string of deaths. These three new recruits will have to use all their skill, strength, and wits to find and defeat the “The Laughing Man”. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

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Review – The Cape is a Lie: The Ballad of Kevin by M.K. Gibson

I really enjoyed this book and think that it nicely creates a believable superhero world that explains away some of the strangeness of MCU or DC comics-like settings.

THE CAPE IS A LIE: THE BALLAD OF KEVIN by M.K. Gibson is a work that I was automatically going to be attracted to because it is a comedic superhero story (like I write) and by one of my favorite indie humorists. M.K. Gibson’s Villains Rule, Technomancer, and Agents of MORTAL books have all been extremely enjoyable. They’re rarely books to take seriously but they’re easy to just sit back and enjoy the mayhem of.

The premise is that Kevin Coello is halfway between a legitimate independent journalist and a Twitch streamer. He has the business of reporting om the huge battles that routinely happen between the various superheroes (Capes) and supervillains (Cowls) that occur in his home city of New Fransisco. This is his primary source of revenye and Kevin gets closer than anyone else to these life-threatening conflicts between good versus evil.

Kevin’s life takes a turn for the surreal, though, when there’s some inconsistencies in his last battle. One of the supervillains could take a punch to the face from the most powerful super in the world but said “ouch” when he hit her with a bread roll. There’s footage missing from the televised version of the conflict that the other networks shared and even his online version (but not his original tapes that haven’t been hooked up to the net).

Kevin is an unlikely hero, though, and not prepared to jump to the conclusion that there’s anything sinister afoot. He’s been a fan of superheroes since his childhood, after all, since a group of them rescued him from the destruction of San Fransico where his parents died. Kevin’s friend, Cool Greg, is less than enthusiastic about the whole thing and advises our antihero to let it go. But, unfortunately, people are already cluing into the fact Kevin knows a lot more about the inner goings on of superheroes and their identities than they let on.

I really enjoyed this book and think that it nicely creates a believable superhero world that explains away some of the strangeness of MCU or DC comics-like settings. I saw the twist coming from a mile away but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good one. The appeal is following Kevin as he slowly puts together the pieces and just what is really going on.

There’s a surprising amount of moral ambiguity too as the Capes are targets of a hate group that is group that is wrong about 99% of everything they believe but may be right about one thing. There’s some strong X-men vibes with superhumans being a racial allegory and caught between extremist ideologies. Pretty heavy stuff for what is a light ridiculous comedy that could have starred Simon Pegg or Jack Quaid.

Does the book have some flaws? There’s a bit of gross out humor where Kevin throws up every time that he’s stressed about people trying to kill him, which is surprisingly often, and that wasn’t to my taste. I also felt that Kevin was a bit too quick to accept some arguments but I also didn’t have my suspension of disbelief broken either. It’s a solid and entertaining book that I strongly recommend as an afternoon’s read.

4.5/5

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Review – The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

“But in grieving for a murderer, thou art not grieving for the monstrous. Thou grievest for the man who failed to reject the monstrous act.”

WITNESS FOR THE DEAD is a spin-off novel, not a sequel, to THE GOBLIN EMPEROR. The Goblin Emperor was a delightful steampunk fantasy about the ascension of a half-goblin, half-elf to the Emperorship of his developing nation. One of the side characters was Thara Celehar, a medium capable of speaking with the dead who assisted the protagonist in securing his reign. Now he has his own book and I was very excited to read it, albeit a bit disappointed because I wanted to read more adventures of the aforementioned goblin emperor.

The premise is that Thara has been assigned to the city of Amalo, that is a decidedly awful vice-ridden city that is in desperate need of someone to witness for the dead. Unfortunately, the local clergy are more interested in playing politics than they are tending toward their flock. After offending virtually every ally he could make, Thara ends up recruited to solve multiple mysterious deaths and find himself neck deep in other plots.

The primary crime he’s investigating is the murder of an opera singer who had an infamous reputation around the city as a compulsive gambler, mooch, and blackmailer. The problem is not coming up with a list of who would do her harm but who in the city of Amalo didn’t want to do her harm. Nevertheless, it is part of the duty of a Witness for the Dead to find justice for the dead so he must track down the killer, no matter their motivation.

Celehar’s adventures aren’t limited to just dealing with this one murder, though. He finds himself wrapped up in numerous other strange and unusual cases that usually start mundane but quickly become less so due to his gift. He’s asked to consult on a will dispute, only to find fraud and political pressure brought against him. We also get fascinating scenes like a trial by ordeal involving visiting a haunted hill.

I really enjoy Katherine Addison’s world-building that is entertaining and a strange mix of steampunk as well as traditional high fantasy elements. This world has photography, streetlights, trains, airships, and printing presses but also ghosts as well as supernatural races. Goblins and elves lack their traditional fantasy qualities with them being largely indistinguishable from humans. It adds an interesting racial dynamic since elves tend to treat goblins as second-class citizens.

Unfortunately, I do have one small complaint and that is Thara Celehar is kind of on the stoic side. He’s reserved, calm, and doesn’t really go through any sort of changes in the story. Instead, he serves as a fulcrum for exploring the world. A bit like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poroit, he’s a tool for unearthing other people’s secrets rather than a changing character.

In conclusion, Witness for the Dead is a really excellent book. I think if you liked The Goblin Emperor you’ll love this but you don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this. The stakes are surprisingly low and that makes a more interesting fantasy novel, IMHO.

4/5

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Review – A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

“You have to make the best of whatever story you were born into, and if your story happens to suck ass, well, maybe you can do some good before you go.”

A Mirror Mended continues the story started in A Spindle Splintered, with Zinnia traveling into various versions of the Sleeping Beauty tale to save the princess from her own story. It’s obvious that Zinnia is creating as many happy endings as possible because she feels she has no control over her own fate. She knows that her illness will catch up to her (sooner rather than later) and she will die. As far as avoidance techniques go, it’s a pretty creative one. It’s also alienated her from her best friend, Charm.

After one night of a particularly zesty victory celebration, Zinnia finds herself traveling into another fairytale- except for the first time ever, it’s not another version of Sleeping Beauty. Instead, she comes face to face with the Evil Queen from Snow White.

I’ve never been a big fan of Snow White (especially the Disney version) and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it dumped on its head. Since Zinnia meets the Evil Queen first instead of Snow White, she’s treated to an opposing view of what really happens in the story. Doubly interesting is that this villain knows she’s the bad guy and even knows her own fate (which is really rather grisly).

Just like Zinnia, Eva (short for “Evil Queen”) is looking for a way to escape her story. The book focuses mainly on their changing relationship and how they learn from each other. Now, before you think “boring” and write the book off- there’s also a fair amount of fairy tale shenanigans, including battles, magical witches, and romance. At the end of the day, though, the relationships and character growth were what kept me interested.

I was a little concerned at first because Charm is in very little of this book. I was worried that it wouldn’t give Zinnia the chance to continue to grow as a character without having someone who understood the entire situation. Fortunately, Eva is a quick study and more than made up for the missing Charm (weak pun intended).

Zinnia was in fine form, her snarkiness shining through, but Eva stole the show. Her mix of naivety and condescension made her a blast to read! She was always a force to be reckoned with, and it didn’t go well when people forgot that.

Author Alix E. Harrow packed a ton into such a short book. Every now and again I wished that more time could have been spent on a particular part (especially when a certain character helps raid a castle), but such is the nature of shorter books. I just enjoy Harrow’s writing so much that I’m always eager for more.

Is A Mirror Mended my favorite Alix E. Harrow book? No. But’s it’s well written, added a new facet to the Fractured Fables storyline, and kept me highly entertained.

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House of The Dragon – Season 1 Episode 1

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON is the prequel series to HBO’s fantastic (for the first few seasons or so) GAME OF THRONES. It’s a pretty distant prequel as well, taking place two hundred years before Daenerys Targaryen attempts her epic quest to assume the Iron Throne, which absolutely ended wonderfully and everyone lived happily thereafter. As you can see from my intro, there’s some bitterness and ill-feeling leftover from Season Eight’s finale which many fans share. Can House of the Dragon recapture the magic?

Do we want it to?Yes. With caveats, yes.

Yes, very much so.

The premise is King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) is having a really crappy two day as he loses both his wife and his heir, a boy, a day later. Viserys is a different kind of monarch in Westeros in that he is neither a religious fanatic, lunatic sadist, or utter incompetent. He’s a bit conflict adverse but that’s hardly the worst quality to have in a setting where conflict is resolved with mass murder. The Targaryens have been rulers in Westeros for a century and they’re at the height of their power due to having a dozen or so dragons.

The issue is succession with Viserys having no sons, one daughter, one brother, and a cousin who was already passed over to make him king. Westeros would very much like to have a man as their king, so that would indicate Daemon (Matt Smith) should be the king but he has the problem of being a relentlessly debonair rogue that everyone is afraid will have them killed when he ascends. Probably because he would. To be fair, they’re all a bunch of scheming bastards and he has a Han Solo meets meets the Tudors ruthlessness.
Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) wants to skewer Daemon’s chances by unexpectedly supporting Viserys’ daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), as the heir instead. This will end up shooting him in the foot as his daughter, Lady Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), already is in position to comfort the grieving Viserys that is old enough to be her father verging on grandfather. Really, Otto all but tries to pimp her out in his grief over his widowdom and she’s suitably disgusted. It’s also doubly awkward because Rhaenyra and Alicent are besties, bonding over being the smartest people in the Red Keep but kept from power by their sex. Oh and the fact they’re teenagers.
A lot of this is set up for later episodes in the series and if you aren’t interested in a show about who will sit on the Iron Throne, backstab one another, betray their loves, or curiously ignore all the incest going on then why are you watching Game of Thrones? I mean, House of the Dragon? The big thing this series has both for and against it is that it is a return to the pageantry, beauty, crassness crossed with high society, violence, and sex of GOT. It feels a trifle more aware of its female audience this time with Matt Smith there to be balance out the fanservice but it’s very much a show that feels like, “Can we just pretend we never had that messy breakup?” The answer would be no except…dragons.

Damn you, HBO, but you got me with the dragons. It’s like that moment in Peter S. Beagal’s The Last Unicorn where Christopher Lee talks about seeing unicorns for the first time: “Each time I see the unicorns dragons, my unicorns dragons, it is like that morning in the woods and I am truly young, in spite of myself.” I mean, young again in this case refers to 2019 but that feels like a very long time ago with the Pandemic and other things that make me long for Westeros. Watching George R.R. Martin’s work on screen again is like going on a date with your ex after you’ve both grown and remembering the good times while forgetting the bad. But it’s the dragons that got me here and dragons that will keep me to stay.

I could nitpick about details: Rhaenyra is being set up as the plucky young heroine who should be queen because why shouldn’t a girl be queen without ever questioning the fact that a hereditary despotism’s problems are not what sex the ruler is. Matt Smith is doing triple duty as the comic relief, romantic lead, and a handsome rogue with some truly dark qualities. Some Tyrion-esque humor would have been appreciated but the season is young.

There’s some very uncomfortable parts in this episode with the caesarion scene being genuinely traumatizing. The contrast between it and the violence of the tournament is powerful stuff, though, and underscores that this is a patriarchal society that is no woman’s land. It may be a little too heavy on this theme but the central conflict being between Alicent and Rhaenyra is something that I think will provide plenty of fodder for future episodes.

In conclusion, you’ve probably made up your mind on whether or not to see House of the Dragon. However, I give this a stamp of approval. It could end up disappointing me and we break up the same way we did before for the same reasons. However, so far, things are very good and I am way more excited for this than any program this year.

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