Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 30

Persepolis Rising | Daniel Abraham

About the Book

In the thousand-sun network of humanity’s expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace.

In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity and the power to enforce it.

New technologies clash with old as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient patterns of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity — and of the Rocinante — unexpectedly and forever…

608 pages

Published on December 5, 2017

Published by Orbit

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This book was a library loan. Yay libraries!

—

I will admit to you, dear reader, that I was really, really reluctant to read Percepolis Rising. It’s set 30 years in the future, and I just… I wasn’t sure how that would translate to the overall plot. So, let me put that to bed before I say anything else about the book. Do not let the 30-year gap between the last book and this one bother you. In my estimation, it was necessary, and after a very “meh” previous book, Persepolis Rising felt reinvigorated and rejuvenated. It needed that 30 years. Trust me.

I have to admit that coming back to these books is always like going home. They are so much fun, and the characters, after so many books, have become part of me. I still think Amos and Avasalara need to be stuck on a ship together, hurtling through space because dear god that would be the best book I’ve ever read, but aside from that, this series has never really let me down. 

Persepolis Rising, as I said above, starts 30 years into the future, and this gives the entire book a really interesting dynamic. After the previous to-do’s, the solar system has had time to stabilize. Governmental systems have had a chance to evolve and change into their current incarnation. The ring gates are important, and the people who control them weld a massive amount of power. Some of the colonized planets are becoming forces of their own, and there’s a pull-and-tug of power between the established system, and those colonized planets.

Now, aside from that, there’s been 30 years for James and crew to establish themselves in the solar system, to do what they do best and just really exist. Now they are 30 years older, and wiser, and thinking about retirement and all that fun stuff. They aren’t part of the young crowd anymore, but tried and true. James and crew find themselves in another situation, which, as these things do, evolves into something bigger than he is. As this is happening, a ship from a lost colony suddenly appears. They have advanced technology and a very threatening play for power.

So, stuff happens. Lots of stuff happens, and I LOVED IT.

Persepolis Rising is really the book that breathes fresh life into a series that I’ve always loved but was starting to turn a little stale around the edges, in my humble opinion. This book is the start of a new phase of things, and nothing was really what I expected it to be. The gap of years was absolutely necessary for these events to take place. The older, wiser characters had more knowledge and insight, less cocksure and more willing to navigate tricky events with intelligence. The interplay of power, dynamics of influence and the struggle between the ruling class and its impact on those being ruled was absolutely fantastic.

This isn’t just our solar system anymore, but a ton of solar systems, and thousands of populated planets, with a diverse set of cultural norms and visions for the future. It’s a fractious group that is just made more so by the events that take place in this book. A lot of questions are posed to readers, a lot of tense situations are explored, but there aren’t really any firm answers yet. I loved that.

But what I probably loved the most was that Holden and crew aren’t really the ones holding the best hand. They’re just as uncertain as everyone else, and events don’t play out in a way I expected them to. I will say I’ve gotten kind of used to there being some epic struggle and then Holden & co ultimately ride off with more questions to answer, but the situation at hand handled and nicely packaged behind them. This isn’t that. The end of this book is much more uncertain. The questions that are unanswered are far more numerous than the questions that are answered, and the general tone was a lot darker than I expected.

This is, hands down, my favorite Expanse novel. Persepolis Rising was everything I ever wanted (except for Amos and Avasalara being stuck on a ship together because, seriously people, that would be some of the best dialogue in the history of the universe, thank you very much.). This book was darker, more intricate, the obvious start of something grand, with an uncertain ending that I just absolutely loved.

Persepolis Rising was an absolute homerun. I honestly cannot wait to see what happens next.

 

5/5 stars

Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik

About the Book

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife’s dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers’ pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed–and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it’s worth–especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

480 pages (hardcover)

Published on July 10, 2018

Published by Del Rey

Author’s webpage

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This book was a library loan. Yay libraries!

—

I was really excited for Spinning Silver. I saw it on the shelf at my library, and nabbed it. I read this puppy in about two days flat, which is great considering the pure chaos my life is at the moment. While I did love this book, I didn’t love it as much as some of the other fairytale retellings that are out there right now, or the previous book in this series.

Spinning Silver tells the story of Miryem, the daughter of a very bad moneylender, and the granddaughter of a successful moneylender. Her father basically impoverishes her family with his poor management of money. Her mother gets deathly ill, so Miryem decides to take up the family trade and be the moneylender her father can’t be.

It turns out she has a knack for the trade. She starts lifting her parents out of poverty, and gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. This rumor spreads, until she attracts the attention of the fae-like creatures who live in the permanent winter sort of alternate reality that borders her own. Added to this is the story of the handsome young Tsar, who has some magical things happening with him (I’m reluctant to say more lest I give things away), and a young girl and her two brothers who get sucked into all these goings-on.

Now, the good stuff is that Novik’s prose is always solid. She has a very lyrical, descriptive way of writing that just brings this world to life, and makes the fairytale aspects of it seem so real. I also absolutely loved the details she threw into this story. I enjoyed the religious aspects of it, the fact that issues Jews faced historically were addressed in roundabout, light ways. For example, they were mentioned as being allowed back into a city to live, but they had to live in a certain part of it, behind walls. The fact that Miryem’s religion was an aspect that quietly gave her strength, and determination in trying times. I also enjoyed all the aspects of the moneylending, the development of Wanda, and how all these different plot threads wove together. It was all very well done.

There was some stuff that bothered me, though.

Toward the second half of the book, a handful of perspectives were added, and I, frankly, felt like some of them were unnecessary and had the effect of bloating the book more than it needed to be. This made the second half feel a bit meandering, and I found myself losing interest occasionally. Things picked up toward the ending, but the journey from the middle to that ending wasn’t quite as gripping as the strong start.

There were some perspectives I really enjoyed. Miryem was probably the show stealer. Wanda came in a close second, her quiet strength really made the book interesting, and her sorrowful home life, and the subtle mysteries she lives with added a lot of texture to her narrative. Then there’s Ivana, a noble daughter who has had a rather unlucky life. There were other perspectives, but these were really the strongest, and while the others had strength, none of them really gripped me as much as these.

The ending was rewarding, and I loved how things worked out for all parties involved, each of them getting their just rewards. While I did find that the second part of the book dragged, wasn’t as strong as the first, I still really liked it. There was an enchanting quality to things, a beautiful way the world came to life, and kept becoming more and more real as details and texture were added to the weaving of it. The romance was slow burning, and predictable, but realistic despite that, and that’s probably why I loved it.

So, Spinning Silver was a great book, well worth reading, but the second half wasn’t as strong as the first. I think it was bloated by unnecessary points of view, and the plot meandered a bit before coming together for a strong ending. That’s balanced out by some great writing, fantastic world-building, and no detail overlooked. There are other fairytale-inspired books that I have enjoyed more, but this is still a very strong book.

I really enjoy books that enchant me, and Novik has the ability to do that. Spinning Silver is a worthy installment to a series that is quickly turning into one of my favorites.

 

4/5 stars

#SPFBO 2018 | Between the Shade and the Shadow – Coleman Alexander

About the Book

In the deep heart of the forest, there are places where no light ever shines, where darkness is folded by pale hands and jewel-bright eyes, where the world is ruled by the wicked and kept by the wraiths. This is where the Sprites of the Sihl live.

But Sprites are not born, they are made. On the path to Spritehood, spritelings must first become shades. They do so by binding a shadow: a woodland creature, who guides them through their training. Together, they keep from the light and learn to enchant living things, to bind them, and, eventually, to kill them.

Yet, not all spritelings are born with malice—they must earn it or they are condemned. What happens then to the spriteling who finds a shadow where she shouldn’t? What happens if that particular spriteling wasn’t born with malice at all?

Ahraia was that spriteling. She ran too close to the light and bound herself to a wolf, a more powerful shadow than any that came before it. Now a shade, her shadow marks her for greatness. But a test is coming, and the further they wander out of the darkness, the deeper they wander into danger. Ahraia’s time is coming and what awaits her at the end of her test will either make her or kill her

487 pages

Published on June 21, 2018

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This book is part of the SPFBO.

—

This book was incredibly unique. I know I say that a lot, but there’s really no other way to start this review. There really isn’t another book I can even compare this one to. This really is its own beast in just about every possible way. And honestly, I went into this completely unprepared. I think if, perhaps, I’d done a bit more research on my end, reading this book would have been a bit easier.

So, I guess my first cautionary note is to say, go into this book prepared. Between the Shade and the Shadow is one of those reads that takes effort. It’s better knowing that before you go in.

I feel like I need to get something important out of the way before I really go too far into this book.

I start an epic fantasy expecting some work on my end. I’m entering an author’s world, with their own culture, lingo, religion, magic, and whatever else. I’m not going to understand it all right away, and that’s fine, but usually there’s a starting point. Usually I begin a book and I can at least recognize some part of where I’m at, and then it expands from there. A little oddity here, and little there, but in the context, I can puzzle it out. Slowly the world unfolds for me, and I wade into it as it does so I never really feel completely overwhelmed. It just naturally opens itself up to me and we sort of shake hands and the story moves forward.

Usually.

This book didn’t do that. I wasn’t even really sure what Ahraia was until I got at least 20% into the book. It took me about that long to figure out the world she’s living in, and I’d say it took most of the book to figure out some of the terminology and cultural nuances. I remember somewhere around 15% I thought, “Ohhhhh, so THAT word essentially means ‘family.’” And it kind of baffled me that it took me that long to figure it out. Furthermore, I wasn’t sure what was so important about a shadow, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the culture until well into the book, and even at the ending, I’d have these moments where I’d think “Well, if I’d figured out what this meant when the book was starting, this entire sequence of events would have meant something completely different to me.”

Honestly, I found that to be incredibly frustrating.

And really, this book was very good. The writing was fantastic, and the plot was so completely different, I just wish I understood it more so it would have made more of an impact on me. I wish the first chunk of the book felt less like homework that I knew I did poorly at, and more like walking into a new world and shaking hands with it. There was no slow wading into the waters here, rather a huge dunking, and you either sink or swim. I’m afraid I sank.

That being said, once I could wrap my mind around this stuff a bit more, I really did enjoy the story being told. Ahraia is a unique spriteling in a world that doesn’t really have a place for her. She’s a protagonist I could really root for. I never really felt like I knew her, but her place in her world, an outsider looking in, a community trying to turn her into what they think she should be rather than what she thinks she could be was a story that spoke deeply to me.

The use of darkness was also completely fascinating. These creatures can’t live in the light at all, so they learn to live in the shadows, and manipulate the forest so they can live in vast chunks of it, and the shadows of the trees they’ve made their community in. The magic between a spriteling and their shadow is also interesting. The bond is close, and the trial that faces them, when they go from spriteling to sprite, is incredibly emotional, and a series of tests that will ultimately fundamentally change them.

Ahraia’s community is facing their own struggle. Power on the inside, power dynamics from other communities of sprites, the encroaching population of outsiders moving into the forest and changing it in ways that threaten the safety and security of the sprites.

So, basically, we have a personal journey here, Ahraia, a spriteling who doesn’t fit in, isn’t what she should be (as determined by her community), and isn’t doing what she should do, is forced to find herself in a world set against her. Her family doesn’t understand her, her community doesn’t understand her, and she’s reaching her trial, that arduous test that will turn her from spriteling into sprite. Mixed into this are family, community, and larger world dynamics, a really interesting magic system, and a whole hell of a lot of worldbuilding and lingo that kind of slapped me in the face and made reading this book harder than I would have liked.

Was it good? Yes, but you need to be prepared before you go into it or at least be in the mood for a really different, interesting, well-written book that requires some effort. My struggle with understanding the book really divorced me from it quite a bit, however, it gets rave reviews on Goodreads, so I think I might be in the minority on this one.

I kind of waffled on how many stars to give this one. My frustration was arguing for two stars, but you know, I kind of think this might be the perfect case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” The thing is, there really was a lot in this book that I have to admire. The magic was unique, the world was one of a kind in just about every possible way. Alexander literally thought of everything, and while I struggled with understanding it at first, I really have to admire the thought he put into the crafting of the book. Furthermore, he can turn one hell of a phrase. The book is graceful, with lyrical prose that read almost like poetry in parts. The fact that I bounced off of this (according to goodreads) puts me in the minority. So ultimately I told my frustration to shut up, and decided to give this three stars.

If you’re into complex, this might just be the bag of oats you’re looking for.

 

3/5 stars

#SPFBO 2018 | The Finder of the Lucky Devil – Megan Mackie

About the Book

Rune Leveau has a magical Talent for Finding things and a mountain of problems. Those problems get worse when she is approached by a charming, but dangerous cybernetically-altered corporate spy. When he says he wants her to help him find a wanted criminal called Anna Masterson, who went missing six years ago, it should be easy for a woman who’s only special gift is finding things? The problem is Rune has a dangerous secret. She IS Anna Masterson, and the spy isn’t taking no for an answer.

St. Benedict has searched for the last six years for the Masterson Files, a computer program that is rumored to do the impossible, cast magic spells. Such a program would reshape the world. For his own reasons, he’s determined to be the first to find it and the mysterious woman connected to it, Anna Masterson. Having exhausted his other options, he is left with a new hope that this Finder of the Lucky Devil can lead him to the prize he has sought for so long. But the Finder is proving difficult and he isn’t going to take no for an answer.

Set in an alternate Chicago, where technology and magic are in competition with each other, this fast paced Cat-and-Mouse chase makes The Finder of the Lucky Devil a welcome addition to your urban fantasy/cyberpunk library.

424 pages

Published on June 1, 2017

Author’s webpage

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This is an SPFBO 2018 book.

—

The Finder of the Lucky Devil is one of those books urban fantasy books that seem to be coming my way a lot recently. By this, I mean I’ve read an abnormal number of urban fantasy books that start in, or feature, bars.

This book is set in a world that is very similar to ours, but also quite different. In this world, magic and technology are basically warring. If you’re a magic user, you have to be registered, there are unions, and laws you have to follow. The police deal with magic users different than nonmagical individuals. There’s a constant tension between the two that is really played out quite well and is rife for a story.

Along with this, the world is a bit different. Instead of a central government, the world is run by corporations, which heavily influence laws and basic civilian governance. Again, this is another aspect that adds a constant pull and tug of tension in the world and even between characters.

So, into the middle of all of this drops our protagonist, Rune. She’s got a Talent for finding things, runs a bar that is about a sneeze away from being foreclosed on, and works a side job finding lost things for people who have the cash to pay for her services. Along with her come quite a few secondary characters, but more on them later.

Anyway, Rune meets a man named St. Benedict, who is looking for a missing woman and is willing to pay Rune a good wad of much-needed cash for her help. However, this missing woman and Rune are intimately entwined, and there are very real risks for Rune associated with this job, and very real fears that she has to face while she’s searching for this missing woman.

Shenanigans ensue.

There’s a lot here to love, as you can tell. The world is interesting. Rune and St. Benedict are fleshed out quite well, and after the first chapter or so things start moving very quickly. There’s always something happening, and truthfully, as Rune and St. Benedict weave their way through this twisted Chicago, things get quite interesting. I’d never really say the book was full of tension, but it was a lot of fun.

By and large, I really loved the author’s writing. She had a conversational style that made the book easy to get into, and made it feel a bit faster paced. That being said, there were some grammar and editing issues that I ran into along the way. Some long descriptions that didn’t really need to be long, and some fluffy descriptions that could have been cut down a bit in size.

As I said above, I’d touch on the secondary characters later. Basically, there were a lot of them. They came and went with shocking frequency, and other than just appearing and disappearing throughout the narrative, most of them really didn’t have much of a function other than to just be there and occasionally serve some task or another along the way.

That being said, I will throw out major props for the romance. It was understated but realistic, and more background noise and color than a central focus of the narrative. It’s pretty obvious who the romantic interests will end up being, but I just really enjoyed how Mackie dealt with their budding interest in each other, and how it played second fiddle to the actual plot.

These two points worked together to make this book feel a bit clunkier than it needed to be or otherwise would have been. Some sections felt really long, like a paragraph describing food, while in other parts, I felt, could have been expanded on. A little nipping and chopping, a little clarifying, and reducing some extra fat to expose a bit more meat would have made this really fun read something absolutely wonderful.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. I found it to be surprisingly addictive. I absolutely loved the world, the clash of technology and magic, the unique twist on Rune and her magic, and that ending was very well done.

Would I want to continue on in the series? Absolutely. Was it perfect? No, but perfect books are boring.

 

3/5 stars

Audiobook Review | The Lesser Dead – Christopher Buehlman

About the Book

The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry—

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

368 pages

Published on October 7, 2014

Published by Berkley

Author’s webpage

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This audiobook was a library loan. Yay libraries!

—

Two things to know before you go any further. 1) I don’t really enjoy horror that much. 2) I am so sick of vampires I’d rather eat an entire buffet of cockroaches than read a book about them. So, when someone said I absolutely had to listen to The Lesser Dead, I was skeptical, but game. I didn’t expect to last, but I was pretty glued to it for a few days there.

First of all, the author narrates this book and friends, he does an absolutely incredible job, to the point where this narration has to be one of my top five favorites ever. He just nails it. I love when authors read their own books, because they just get the nuances that other narrators might miss. However, not every author is a good narrator. I’m sure I would have really enjoyed this book if I read it, but to my friend who said I had to actually listen to it, thank you, because I’m pretty sure that made this book that much better.

Now, onto the book itself.

The Lesser Dead tells the story of one Joey Peacock, who was turned into a vampire at the age of fourteen. He takes up with a group of vampires who live in the abandoned tunnels under New York City. He has a mother figure, an Irish woman with a temper, and a friend/confidant/father figure, a scholarly Eastern European, and a few other characters who pepper the narrative. When this book takes place, Joey is actually in his fifties, while he still looks fourteen. He’s fallen into a bit of a routine, and even has a family (father, mother, son) that he feeds from regularly.

Joey is a rather cocksure man, who seems to really have a high opinion of himself, and his skills. He is a bit of a coward, and is really into the latest trends and styles. He can charm his way into just about anywhere, and seems rather nonplussed by almost everything. In a lot of ways, while he’s actually in his fifties, being turned at fourteen has kind of kept him as a fourteen-year-old. It’s obvious that he loves his life, and the first half of this novel is really establishing who he is, how he lives, and all the nuances of his character.

I will say that by and large, Joey comes off as a sort of carefree guy, but there’s a dark edge to him. He’s stuck in a teenager’s body, living a teenager’s life, dispossessed in the city he’s always considered home, never quite fitting in here or there. There are moments that he sort of glosses over, where you can see he’s trying to connect with people, with someone, anyone, and it just doesn’t work time and time again. It’s actually quite tragic, and the fact that the tragedy is understated, more poked at than outright discussed, makes it all the more depressing.

In the second half of the book, we are introduced to a gaggle of vampire children. It’s obvious that something is off about them, but it takes some time for it all to get pieced together, and when it does, shit truly does hit the fan. That’s when the “horror” part of the novel really falls into place.

I will admit that I thought the way the children were used in the story was kind of cliched. I guess I am kind of tired of creepy kids. That being said, I really was surprised by just how they were used, and how they changed the plot. Furthermore, the resolution of the situation and the book itself was really well done, and not what I expected at all. The surprise of the ending really boosted the book, and it fit the tone of the narrative quite well while making me kind of wonder how I didn’t catch that surprise sooner.

The writing was fantastic. This book is set in the late 1970’s, and while I wasn’t alive then, I enjoyed the details, like phone booths, and writing actual letters that are sent in the mail, and a mention of the huge boat-like cars that were driven a lot in those days. It really brought the time period to life. Furthermore, Joey has lived through a lot. He saw World War II. His mother was Jewish, so that heritage impacts him in some surprising ways that he touches on in the book. He talks a bit about the crackdown on gas in the 70’s. He discusses how fashions and trends have changed, mentions television shows that were popular back then, discusses some of the worries people had about the increasing television culture, and more. It’s interesting. I loved the time and place feel of the book. This story could have honestly been set in almost any time period, but this made it unique, and interesting, and very, very real.

So, The Lesser Dead was a book I was determined to hate, and I really ended up loving it. The audio narration was fantastic, and the story itself was fast moving, gripping, and dark with tons and tons of little details that I just adored. If you’re into dark, modern reads, vampires with a twist, or horror in general, this is a book you really don’t want to miss. I’ve never read any of Buehlman’s other books, but I intend to check some out now, especially if he narrates them.

 

4/5 stars

Audiobook Review | The Sudden Appearance of Hope – Claire North

About the Book

Listen.

All the world forgets me. First my face, then my voice, then the consequences of my deeds.

So listen. Remember me.

My name is Hope Arden, and you won’t know who I am. We’ve met before – a thousand times. But I am the girl the world forgets.

It started when I was sixteen years old. A slow declining, an isolation, one piece at a time.

A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A teacher who forgets to chase my missing homework. A friend who looks straight through me and sees a stranger.

No matter what I do, the words I say, the people I hurt, the crimes I commit – you will never remember who I am.

That makes my life tricky. But it also makes me dangerous . . .

468 pages (hardcover)

Published on May 17, 2016

Published by Orbit

Author’s webpage

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This book was an Audible purchase.

—

I absolutely adore Claire North’s books. She’s cerebral in the way I love, and hard-hitting. She takes one core idea and twists it in unique, unforgettable ways. Now, that being said, her books aren’t for everyone. Depending on the kind of reader you are, you’ll either love or hate her work. It seems like everyone falls on one side of the line with her books, and very few people sit in the middle ground.

Obviously, I’m one of the people who fall on the “love it” side of the line with her.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is incredibly powerful. The story is told by one Hope Arden, a young woman who lives a fairly normal life until she’s sixteen and the world starts forgetting her.

So, at the core of this book is the idea of being memorable. Hope, for whatever unknown reason, can’t be remembered past the point when people stop looking at her. She just vanishes from their memory, all images of her, all memory of their conversation, anything that happened between them. This is true for her parents to everyone else.

On the one hand, if no one can remember you, you can pretty much do whatever you want. There’s really nothing holding you back. You’re only arrested for as long as it takes the cop who hauled you in to leave the room.

On the other hand, if no one can remember, you are completely alone. Hope loses her friends, her family, her home. She has to basically live from hotel to hotel because no one can remember her long enough for her to pay rent, or get government support. She can’t hold a steady job for the same reasons. She has no legacy. She truly is a woman who lives only in the moment, completely and absolutely isolated in every way.

North really paints that picture in bold colors that can’t be overlooked. In fact, the emotional gut-punch of just how isolated Hope is throughout the book never really went away. The connections she forms are powerful to her remembered to her, but just momentary to others. If she falls in love, it’s just for a few hours for the other party, but a memory that will haunt her forever for her. It’s incredibly powerful.

With all that said, it’s understood that Hope has to turn to a life of crime to survive in a world that forgets her. As a thief with an eye for jewels, and a name on the black market, Hope makes her way through life quite well. She has a set of rules that she lives by like she never lets it get personal.

Until she does.

And that’s where the book really takes off. When a normal theft turns into something more, Hope is swept away in a tide of events that not only explores her forgettability but also toys with individuality, I’d even venture to say North dips her toes into the waters of a kind of slavery. There are a lot of very weighty themes being explored here, all sort of revolving around Hope’s core dynamic. While it would be easy for North to lose focus, to make a mess of all these topics, somehow, she manages to keep all the balls in the air.

Hope takes readers all around the world, weaving her narrative together with memories that help readers get a feel for who she is now, and how she came to be this person. There’re also some delightful parts where you kind of see Hope’s eccentricities, like her counting, her relentless search for meaning in just about everything she does. Her constant search for contact with other people. And oh, the tension. So much tension.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is tense, emotional, and ultimately incredibly powerful. This is one of those books that will haunt me for quite a while, with themes that make me examine the world I live in a bit differently. That’s the mark of a truly good read, in my estimation. It doesn’t just fill you up while you’re reading it, it sticks to your bones long after you finish.

As an aside, I listened to the audiobook and it was incredible. The narrator filled the story full of so much emotion, I think she was instrumental in the powerful impact this book had on me. I highly recommend it.

The TL/DR version of this review is: This book is pure genius.

 

5/5 stars

The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowal

About the Book

A meteor decimates the U.S. government and paves the way for a climate cataclysm that will eventually render the earth inhospitable to humanity. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated timeline in the earth’s efforts to colonize space, as well as an unprecedented opportunity for a much larger share of humanity to take part.

One of these new entrants in the space race is Elma York, whose experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too—aside from some pesky barriers like thousands of years of history and a host of expectations about the proper place of the fairer sex. And yet, Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions may not stand a chance.

431 pages (paperback)

Published on July 3, 2018

Published by Tor

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This book was a library loan. Yay libraries!

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I put The Calculating Stars on my hold list at the library as soon as I heard it was out. I jumped on this book, but even then, I had quite a wait to get it. This book was hot before it even dropped, and there’s a reason for that. Kowall is a well-known author, who has a lot of incredibly loved books on the shelves. People see her name, and they race to her books.

There’s a reason she’s so popular and loved among the bookish community: she’s a hell of a good writer, and she tells incredible stories.

Now, here’s where I hit you with some honesty. I’ve always loved her writing, and I’ve always respected the hell out of her stories, but I’ve also always kind of bounced off of them. I’m not sure why. There’s nothing wrong with her, and there’s nothing I can point at in her books. I honestly think this is an “it’s not you, it’s me” case, and I mean every word of that.

So, knowing that, understand, dear reader, that I loved this book. I devoured it. I couldn’t stop reading it, and at 23 pages in, I made the prediction that this sucker will get a Hugo nomination next year. It’s that good.

The Calculating Stars tell the story of Elma York. In 1952, earth is hit by a meteorite. She and her husband survive while they are on a vacation, and end up on an air force base in Ohio. As you can imagine, this throws the world into chaos, and our protagonist and her husband find themselves in the middle of it all.

This is told from Elma’s point of view, so we get more of her perspective on things, but I will say that a lot of secondary characters tend to suffer in first-person narratives. This is not that case. Kowall developed all of her characters nicely, and they all felt just as real as Elma, and Elma was quite incredible. She’s a dynamic character who is passionate and full of life. Mixed in with that, she’s a woman at a time when women weren’t supposed to do more than cook dinner. She’s Jewish, and devout, right after World War II, and she’s got anxiety, of the medical kind (throws up, flips out, etc.).

The Calculating Stars tells the story of a world trying to recover from a disaster, and the women who play a central role in helping humanity recover. Now, a lot of this is alternative history stuff, but incredibly well researched. I can’t imagine the kind of stuff Kowall had to learn to write this book. It’s just damn impressive right there. Now, this is the 1950’s, and true to the times, we’ve got a front row seat as we see how women were treated, how medical and mental issues were handled, how people act in a crisis when things like race, religion, and sex are so incredibly important.

It’s not complicated. I mean, it really isn’t. It’s uncomfortable. It naturally upsets me and gets my hackles up. I hate the discrimination, but this sort of thing isn’t complicated. We, people, complicate it, but sexism, racism – insert any ‘ism’ here – really isn’t that hard to understand. It makes life hard, though, and throws wrenches in situations, and works against people and societies. Throwing a dynamic like this into an already hard situation worked incredibly well as an exploratory device here.

This book is a fast read. It isn’t incredibly long, but more than that, the story is gripping and the narrator’s voice is incredible. The situation we’re thrown into is tragic, and incredibly emotional, but Kowall takes us through it almost effortlessly, and with great poise. Now, I will say that this book isn’t comfortable. In fact, it’s quite uncomfortable in parts. Kowall is shining a light on some of the uglier parts of our culture and society, and she does it quite realistically, but this is also one of those cases where I think that being uncomfortable is important, and examining our truths, is likewise important.

The Calculating Stars was amazing. Every bit of this book was polished. Every word mattered. Every sentence flowed. Each character was as real as my neighbor. This book instantly sucked me in, and kept me hooked to the last page. Emotional, visceral, and important, The Calculating Stars will be on every award shortlist next year, or I’m not really a human.

 

5/5 stars

#SPFBO 2018 | A Dance of Silver and Shadows – Melanie Cellier

About the Book

When Princess Liliana and her twin sister set sail for new lands, Lily hopes to find adventure and romance. But the people of Marin live under the shadow of a curse–one powerful enough to destroy entire kingdoms. To protect them all, Lily and eleven other princesses are forced to participate in a mysterious and secret tournament.

Lily spends her nights competing in a magical underground realm and her days unraveling the dangers of this new court. Although she needs the help of the Marinese prince, Lily knows she can’t let herself grow too close to him. There’s no time for romance when the duchy is about to fall to the encroaching darkness and the winner of the tournament faces a terrible fate.

But Lily and her twin have a secret advantage. And Lily grows increasingly determined to use their magical bond to defeat the tournament, save the princesses, and free Marin. Except she might have to sacrifice true love to do it.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, there’s a lot more at stake than worn out dancing slippers.

345 pages

Published on September 4, 2017

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This is an SPFBO 2018 book

—

I tend to enjoy fairytale retellings, but I’ll admit to you, dear reader, I struggled with this one.

The book is pretty straightforward. Twelve princesses have been called to Marin to undergo a tourney of sorts. The people of Marin live under an oppressive curse, and their hope is that this event can break the curse. The princesses compete in this tournament, at much risk to themselves. There’s a lot of tension, a lot of friendships formed, and some romance develops. There is a lot of finery, and castles and royal people doing regal things. Lots of magic, and hidden abilities that change the game, and intrigue. In short, there’s a lot here.

I appreciate a good young adult book. I like how the genre tends to push themes, and approach topics in a way that adults often don’t think about. A good young adult book will floor me just as profoundly as a good adult book.

My problem with this book was the tropes. Our protagonist Lily was prettier, smarter, funnier, more clever, friendlier, and more helpful than just about anyone else. What’s more, she was just gorgeous, but she doesn’t really realize how extreme her beauty is. The love interest fell a little flat to me, and she spent most of the book going over the minutiae of his deeds. Their romance was struck almost instantly, and while love at first sight can be sweet in certain situations, I think in this case it was just one more cliché marched out in a line of clichés.

Coupled with this, is the fact that there were huge logic gaps for me. Like, why didn’t the people of Marin revolt when they realized that huge balls were being thrown for these princesses every few days while they were living these hard lives? Why didn’t the princesses have guards with them? Why, if no one liked the idea of this tourney, didn’t anyone move a muscle to see if there was a way around this or at least a way for them to change the rules? And the secondary characters really fell flat for me, lacking any real development.

When I really sit back and think about it, I guess all my complaints could be summed up by me saying that I wish this book had just pushed the envelope a bit more. There is so much YA out there that challenges so many boundaries, and really blazes new trails and tells new stories, and everything else about this book was so professional, so well done, so above the bar, I just wanted… more.

I almost hesitate to say any of those complaints, because, in my estimation, the point of a book of this nature isn’t to be the most logical story ever told. The purpose is to enchant, to weave a story that seems surreal, but do it in a way that keeps the reader hooked despite the fact that it’s implausible. And you know what? This book does exactly that. It sets out to be a surreal, magical story, and it is exactly that. Mission accomplished. And, in a case like this, I’m not exactly sure my niggles over the details above are even something I should mention. Ultimately, I’m a reviewer and a judge in this contest, so I kind of felt like I had to.

This is the first book in the series, and in that respect, there was some really good foundational work being done here. Cellier laid out the groundwork for the fairytale retellings that will follow in this series, and some of this was very clever and sets the groundwork for an obviously lush series to follow.

The writing was wonderful, and the editing was likewise very well done. Despite all my complaints above, I did feel swept away in portions of this book. It was very enchanting, and easy to fall under the story’s spell, and the author’s careful crafting of it. The ending resolved things well, though I’d have liked to see more long-lasting friendships form between the princesses themselves. The romance hit a crescendo that fans of that sort of things will really love.

There was a lot of magical and political intrigue, some of which managed to surprise me. Things take turns that kept me interested, but more than that, I enjoyed how all of this intrigue twisted a fairytale so it made me look at it in a completely different light. That’s part of what I love about a really good fairytale retelling, it forces me to examine these time-tested stories, and examine how they would impact people if they happened a bit differently, which gives me some new insights into these stories.

So, yeah, I had big issues with this book, but it was balanced out by how much I enjoyed it as well. There’s a lot here that sort of undermined the great qualities of this book, but there’s also a lot to enjoy.

Ultimately, this book sets out to tell a magical story in an enchanting way, and it does exactly what it sets out to do. If I can poke holes in some aspects of this book, that’s okay. A Dance of Silver and Shadows has a mission, and it delivers.

 

3/5 stars

Red Waters Rising – Laura Anne Gilman

About the Book

In the last novel of The Devil’s West trilogy, Isobel, the Devil’s Left Hand, and Gabriel ride through the magical land of the Territory to root out evil by the way of mad magicians, ghosts, and twisted animal spirits.

As Isobel and Gabriel travel to the southern edge of the Territory, they arrive in the free city of Red Stick. Tensions are running high as the homesteading population grows, crowding the native lands, and suspicions rise across the river from an American fort.

But there is a sickness running through Red Stick and Isobel begins to find her authority challenged. She’ll be abandoned, betrayed, and forced to stand her ground as the Devil’s left hand in this thrilling conclusion to The Devil’s West Trilogy.

368 pages (hardcover)

Published on June 26, 2018

Published by Saga Press

Author’s website

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This was a library loan. Yay libraries!

— 

Red Waters Rising is the final book in the Devil’s West trilogy. Before you read this book, you need to read the others in the series.

I love this series. Every book has just done it for me. The first book knocked it out of the park, the second just solidified my belief in the fact that Gilman has found her true calling as an author and my brain and eyes are just thrilled with that career path of hers. This third book was one I was almost reluctant to start reading. I have a weird thing – when I really like a series, I never want it to end, so it almost takes an act of god for me to read that final book. However, it came in at the library and I decided it was time to put on my adult pants and finish this trilogy I’ve loved so much.

One of the things that amazes me about these books is just how much Gilman packs into 350ish pages. The books aren’t long. They aren’t doorstoppers. They aren’t something you’ll need to get your spine fixed after you lug it around. They are normal sized books, but there’s an epic level of content in them.

Now, throughout these books, Isobel and Gabriel have been traveling around this alternative “weird” west that Gilman has crafted. It’s a west full of magic, and interesting geology, folklore, myth, and plenty of mystery. People are as rough as the land they live on, and Isobel, a young woman working as the Devil’s hand, spends her days traveling across the west with Gabriel, her mentor and traveling companion.

Perhaps one of the best things about this book, which was also bittersweet, was the relationship between Gabriel and Isobel, and how it has transformed over time. Gabriel and Isobel hooked up in the first book, under the impression that Gabriel would teach her how to travel through the west, and do her job. In this third book, their relationship hits its final evolution, and while I knew it had to happen, it was a sad parting of the ways.

Isobel has grown a lot throughout the series, from a young, uncertain girl to a woman who knows who she is, and what she’s capable of. I enjoyed seeing how she’s evolved throughout the books, and the woman she’s turned into in this Red Waters Rising. In this book, Isobel is pushed in some unexpected ways, and seeing how she reacts to these situations is interesting, but it’s also really satisfying to see how she’s learned her role, and how to stand on her own two feet and reason her way through just about anything thrown in her path.

Events move along quite quickly in this book, which they have to with the length it is. As with previous books, one thing sort of rolls the ball along into another thing and then another until you reach the culminating events that make this book what it is. There’s always something happen, whether on a bit, loud level, or on a quiet personal level. Consider this book the butterfly coming out of its chrysalis. The process is interesting, intricate on every level, and the final result is beautiful, if a bit open ended.

Perhaps, if I had some small niggles with this book, it’s the fact that some obvious questions could have been asked early on that seemed to be avoided by both characters. These questions would have given answers that would have been instrumental in the events that transpired. There were a few big reveals that weren’t that surprising to me, and the ending was rather open. Some threads were tied off nicely, but Gilman left enough open so she could easily return to this world and the characters who inhabit it.

Red Waters Rising was a fantastic ending to a trilogy that I’ve loved. This series shows Gilman as her best. She’s a strong author, with a unique vision, and an incredible ability to not just craft a world but to make it so real I feel like I’m living in it. She took the West and made it not just wild, but magical and mysterious. Emotional, captivating, and absolutely addicting, Red Waters Rising was a solid ending to a trilogy that has been one of my recent favorites.

If you’re in the mood for something a bit different, but just as fantastic as any fantasy you’ll ever read, you really need to check out The Devil’s West series. Rich with historical detail, riveting plots, excellent writing, and intricately crafted characters, you really can’t do better than this. It’s different than anything else you’ll find on the shelves right now, and all those things that make it different are also all the things that make it so damn good.

So, the long and the short of it is, read this trilogy, and read it now. You’ll be glad you did.

 

4/5 stars

Fool’s Quest – Robin Hobb

About the Book

Acclaimed and bestselling author Robin Hobb continues her Fitz and the Fool trilogy with this second entry, following Fool’s Assassin, ramping up the tension and the intrigue as disaster continues to strike at Fitz’s life and heart.

After nearly killing his oldest friend, the Fool, and finding his daughter stolen away by those who were once targeting the Fool, FitzChivarly Farseer is out for blood. And who better to wreak havoc than a highly trained and deadly former royal assassin? Fitz might have let his skills go fallow over his years of peace, but such things, once learned, are not so easily forgotten. And nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing left to lose.

757 pages (hardcover)

Published on August 11, 2015

Published by Del Rey

Author’s webpage

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This was a library loan. Yay libraries.

—

This book had me in and out of tears the entire time I was listening to it. First, the narrator is absolutely out of this world amazing. If you listen to books, I highly, highly recommend you listen to these. He so smoothly tells the story that he gets me into the mindspace of Fitz, and Bee so I’m not just reading about what’s happening, but actually experiencing it.

Now, this book takes off right where the first one ends. You absolutely need to read Fool’s Assassin before you jump into Fool’s Quest. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you stop reading this review. I try to avoid spoilers, but it’s hard, and a few light ones might unavoidably drop.

In my estimation, one of the ways to tell that Hobb is such an incredible author is how she can take so much waiting, and make it interesting. I mean, vast swaths of this book are full of people waiting for something to happen that allows some forward momentum. Fitz is waiting, the Fool is waiting, Bee is traveling and sort of waiting for something to happen, and despite all of this, I was just fascinated and absolutely gripped by the story being told.

And despite all of that waiting, the intensity was through the roof. Yes, it’s a ton of downtime, a ton of the pause between events, but there is so much happening on so many personal levels, I couldn’t pull myself away. Fitz is dealing with losing his daughter, guilt as a father, learning about Chade’s secrets, adjusting to court life now that he’s back in Buckkeep. The Fool is healing. He’s still ill, still not who he used to be, but he’s growing into himself and it takes time. Chade is changing, becoming the old man that he actually is. Bee is moving across the land with strangers, waiting to see what happens next, becoming who she is meant to be.

This book, in my estimation, is ultimately one of transition. Everyone is changing, and everything is shifting.

There is a whole lot of very heavy emotions in this book, and that’s why I found myself wiping away tears and saying, “No, I’m not crying, it’s just allergies” at work a whole lot. The thing is, this isn’t an easy situation, and there’s a lot of time for Fitz to sit and stew, and he’s really in the center of a ton of change, some good, some bad. Hobb’s ability to really get into his mind, and the narrator’s ability to bring that to life, really had me feeling what Fitz felt, when he felt it, as acutely as he felt it. I was honestly amazed by how emotionally eviscerated this book left me. It flayed me, but in the best possible way. There’s a real skill when an author can get me this emotionally engaged.

So, there’s lots of waiting, and lots of emotional intensity. Things happen, however, and a lot of it is tragic. Yeah, there are some good parts, but by and large, this book is dark and weighty. There’s a lot of very heavy events that get explored, like what happened at Withywoods, for example. There are unkind, brutal people, and while Hobb’s graceful, lyrical prose effortlessly bring every tiny detail of this world and these events to life, she doesn’t shy away from discussing some of the brutality that is faced, in ways that really sent echoes through me.

Fool’s Quest is… wow. This book ripped me apart. I knew it would. I went into it expecting to leave it feeling emotionally eviscerated, but I don’t think I expected to feel this undone, and this satisfied by being this undone. There’s so much, and so little that happens at the same time, and it’s all so damn interesting in only the way Hobb can make things interesting, I was just floored by it. The fact remains, only Robin Hobb can make me ache in this way, and leave me begging for more.

But now I’m facing a dilemma. I don’t like finishing series. I hate it, in fact, and if I really love a series, I will almost never read the last book in it because I don’t want it to end. That’s where I’m at with this series. I don’t want it to end. I don’t want the high of this first read-through to go away, and I don’t want to say goodbye to Fitz and his cohorts. The idea of reading the final book in this trilogy almost makes my soul shrivel up.

So here I am, begging for more. I want Hobb to hurt me again. I want her to make me cry. I want it all. I want to read another one of her books for the first time, and walk away from it feeling all shaky-legged and soggy-souled, all used and eviscerated. Dark. I want to experience that suction cup feeling where I’m slowly pulling myself out of Fitz’s world, unsticking myself from it, re-entering my own reality, which never seems quite as shiny and detailed as hers.

But by damn, I absolutely never want it to end. Ever. There’s one book left, and it might take an act of god to get me to read it.

And this, friends, is the trials a bookworm face.

 

5/5 stars