Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 7

Review | Youngest – Jaime Lee Moyer

About the Book

In 1909, in a California that never was, a creature in a tan frock coat watches Etta from the top of a mountain���.

Deep in the old growth redwoods of Northern California, a coven of forest witches guard the trees, the plants, and the creatures who depend on the forest. Etta Erwin is the youngest witch in the Mendocino Coven, born with more earth magic at her core than any witch in over five generations. By tradition, she���s her grandmother���s heir, destined to lead the coven when Milly steps down. None of that explains why a powerful magic user, a stranger, first tries to kill her, and then won���t stop watching her from the mountaintop.

Wyatt John Erwin was born with a sorcerer���s power, but was never trained and most of that power is out of his reach. Etta is the center of his life, and he���s determined to find a way to end the threat, no matter what that takes. But the second time the stranger attacks, he goes after Wyatt too. One of the coven witches who raised Wyatt sends a message to the Russian sorcerer���s colony near Fort Ross, asking for help. Help arrives in the form of Sebastian Stefanovich Sokolov, one of the most powerful sorcerers on the West Coast.

Etta and Wyatt���s life will never be the same. Long buried secrets and betrayals are unearthed, the danger grows, and the true nature of the threat is revealed. There���s love and joy too, lost family found, and a wish fulfilled.

And through both the good and the bad, Etta and Wyatt hold on to each other, and remember the secret is to never let go���.

260 pages
Published on June 30, 2021
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This book was sent by the author for an honest review.

Jaime Lee Moyer is an author I hugely admire. I have loved every book of hers I���ve read. She has a way with dealing with emotions subtly that just works for me. She doesn���t shy away from hard, darker moments, either. She has an unflinching ability to look at the whole human experience and present that in unique ways. I always savor her books, and I learn a lot from reading them.��

When she asked me if I���d be interested in reading her newest release, and first foray into self-publishing, I jumped on it. When I realized it was a book set in an alternative West, I got really excited. I���ve just finished writing my own fantasy series set in an alternative Wild West, so I suppose the setting itself really got my blood pumping.��

Youngest is one of those books that crept up on me, I suppose I could say. I���d qualify this one as a slow burn that leads to a raging inferno. I enjoyed the pacing, the slow and steady build of things that you don���t even really realize are building up to a pressure point until it happens. I will say, however, if you aren���t a fan of slow-burn novels, you should be aware that that���s exactly what this book is: a slow burn. A subtle build. A mix of elements and details that explode powerfully toward the end, but it takes time to get there. If you aren���t a reader who enjoys savoring, then you might bounce off this book. 

Set in an alternative California, the world of Youngest really drew me in. It���s both recognizable in so many details, and yet completely different. Moyer draws on cryptozoology and the like to create some of her creatures, like Sasquatches (I suppose Sasquatch would qualify as cryptozoology? I���m not terribly well versed in this sort of thing.). There���s also magic just about everywhere, from earth witches to sorcerers, to numerous other mystical creatures. I truly enjoyed this sense of magic and wonder, and while some of these do carry a darker edge, I liked seeing how Moyer wove so many different elements together to make the California of this book feel both rooted in reality, and otherworldly at the same time. 

The book itself is fairly narrow in scope. There���s a whole lot of worldbuilding being done, but Moyer chooses her cast and the setting carefully. It doesn���t expand a whole lot. There aren���t a lot of long journeys and unexplored places. Most of the book takes place at a cabin, and people come and go from there. The character cast that shows up is likewise tightly knit. There���s not a hundred characters for you to get to know, and there aren���t an equal amount of cities for you to remember. Instead, it���s all narrowed down to a few specific points and a few specific people. This is another thing I love, and I don���t see it often in fantasy. This narrow focus is a huge boon to the story, as it allowed Moyer to really dig into what she does best. It gave her the ability to not just create and world and characters, but to focus on all their complexities as well, and really make them shine. In a way, the setting was so vivid, it was a character in its own right.��

The themes at the center of��Youngest��are love and family, which I really enjoy explorations of in the books I read. This is also, perhaps, where Moyer truly shines. Her ability to subtly play with emotions, her unflinching desire to look at both the dark and lighter emotions and the tangled webs we often find ourselves in truly makes Youngest a book I couldn���t put down. It’s so unflinchingly human. This is, perhaps, why I think this being a slow-burn novel was the best possible thing for this book. You can���t just rush a lot of these personal and emotional developments. Moyer savors the slow build of her characters, and as a result, I truly felt connected to them, to Etta and her complexities, how torn she feels, and how she finds solace in Wyatt, the man she has spent so long loving.��

But it���s not quite so simple as that, and it never really is. While Etta and Wyatt���s relationship has long been established, there are moments of strain, moments where the relationship, solid as it is, feels the strain of being pulled in different directions by these two very different people. I loved this, because no matter how long you���re in a relationship, and no matter how long you���ve loved someone, that love and that relationship is never really easy. It requires work. There will always be bumps in the road. Furthermore, Etta���s grandmother wants Etta to lead the coven she���s part of, and there are a lot of tangled emotions in this. Along with this, Wyatt discovers his own family. So while they are solid with each other, and there is no contrived relationship angst and drama, there are a lot of things changing, and a lot of outside pressures pushing in on these two that force them to bend and grow in unexpected ways.��

There are also outside events playing a part as well. Lumber barons, and a stalker, attacks from unknown sources, and people from outside are contacted to help, which only makes matters even more complicated. Not everything is good and wholesome. There is darkness as well, but the balance is cleverly struck, with as much of this inner-family and personal drama being balanced with a nice counterpoint of outside pressures as well.��

And yet, the book never truly lost its magic and wonder to me. There are hints of a sprawling world, and more places Moyer can explore and expand if she chooses, and I genuinely hope she does. I���ve read all of this author���s books, and this one really hit the literary equivalent of the Goldilocks zone for me. Sweet and thoughtful, with characters that shine brighter than the sun and a story that became part of me,��Youngest��was an amazing read.

5/5 stars 

Review | Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants – Fez Inkwright

About the Book

 ���If you drink much from a bottle marked ���poison,��� it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.��� ��� Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland  

In both history and fiction, some of the most dramatic, notorious deaths have been through poisonings. Concealed and deliberate, it���s a crime that requires advance planning and that for many centuries could go virtually undetected. And yet there is a fine line between healing and killing: the difference lies only in the dosage! In Botanical Curses and Poisons, Fez Inkwright returns to folkloric and historical archives to reveal the fascinating, untold stories behind a variety of lethal plants, witching herbs, and funghi. Going from A to Z, she covers everything from apple (think of the poisoned fruit in ���Snow White���) and the hallucinogenic angel���s trumpet to laurel, which emits toxic fumes, to oleander (a deadly ornamental shrub), with each plant beautifully illustrated by the author herself. This enthralling treasury is packed with insight, lore, and the revealed mysteries of everyday flora���including the prevalence of poisoning in ancient Rome, its use in religion and magic, and common antidotes���making this perfect for gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and scientists alike!

257 pages (hardcover)
Published on February 16, 2021
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I���m a big gardener, and I���m also a fantasy author. When I started writing one of my current works in progress, I realized that after the pandemic and health issues and all the emotional upheaval and stress from that, I wanted to write a book that was maybe a bit softer, with a magic system that paid homage to the plant world that I love so much. But I didn���t really want a ���kitchen witch��� feel to the magic. I wanted something else entirely. I settled on a ���flower magic��� system.��

The problem is, I don���t really grow flowers. I have an absolutely huge garden, but ���flowers��� is not really part of it. I grow vegetables and fruits, and a lot of them come from all around the world, but I don���t really grow flowers. So I knew when I set out to write this book that I needed to get books about flowers, and about the specific parts of them I need for this magic system. 

Upon my search for books that fit what I needed, I ran across this one. It wasn���t really what I needed for my writing research, but it looked interesting so I sort of shrugged and added it to my cart.��

Reader, it was probably one of the best random decisions I���ve made in a while. This book was fantastic.

I���ve always been a bit drawn to the darker side of things. Darker aspects of history, of the world itself. When I saw��Botanical Curses and Poisons, I knew it was the book for me. It isn���t terribly long, but it is nonfiction, so I worried I was in for a textbook-style dissertation on the chemical compounds of… or something like that. However, I really blew through this book pretty quickly, as I discovered the topic was not only really interesting, but written in an incredibly accessible manner, along with simple drawings that illuminate rather than distract from the information being given.��

There���s a bit of an introduction section, and then the book goes through a bunch of plants alphabetically, talking about myths involved with them, or how they were used throughout history. I was hugely surprised by nearly every plant listed in this book, and just how they have been used for some pretty major parts of history, like how hellebore was used to turn the tide of a pretty major historical battle, for example, or how the nectar of the angel���s trumpet flowers were used by Victorian women at teatime to get a bit drunk. Mint is even mentioned, not because it���s a poison, but because of the mythology of the plant.��

Inkwrite takes readers on a historical and educational journey throughout the history of plants, using many of them to showcase not just their properties, but how they have been used, and their darker capabilities. And yet it was the accessible nature of his writing that captivated me almost as much as anything else. I was afraid when I bought this book that it would be full of academic jargon and heavy textbook-style prose that would put me to sleep, but what I got here were overviews of countless plants and their stories told in a style that I found surprisingly immersive rather than anything else. Added along with the line drawings in each section, and I was hooked. Plus, I must say, the production quality of this book is out of this world. I don���t typically buy physical books anymore, but this is absolutely one I���m glad I bought. It���s just gorgeous, from cover to cover.��

While each plant does get an overview of history, mythology, and the like, it is just an overview. Important information is given, and I used many of these bits of what I learned as I read to give me jumping-off points for further reading. IE: I went on many an internet deep dive doing research to learn more about these plants after I read about them. For this reason, I will say, this is a book best savored rather than devoured. There���s a ton of information here, but if you���re like me, you���ll be, ���Oh, that���s interesting, I want to learn more��� google searching as you read. It���ll slow your progress down a bit, but that���s okay, because this is one of those books that is best savored. It���s just, quite frankly, that good. 

I was surprised by most of this book. Some of these things I already knew, but even in the plants I read about that I thought I knew about, I learned unexpected things, whether it was mythology or historical usage or maybe a bit of both. It ended up being, quite frankly, one of the most illuminating plant books I���ve ever read. The accessible prose and the subject matter combined to create a book I both couldn���t put down and couldn���t stop thinking about. 

I don���t know if you���re a plant person like I am, but if you are, I highly suggest giving this book a read. It ended up being one of the highlights of my reading year so far. 

5/5 stars

Ten tips for writing believable pain

Occasionally, when I edit or read a book I come across a character who gets injured, and then for whatever reason that injury is basically forgotten within a paragraph. My mind always sort of has to catch up. How is that possible? How is it this sword-weilding orc can lose a leg and basically be fine two sentences later? (Wouldn’t that be nice if that’s how it really worked?) It just doesn’t compute with me. When pain isn’t dealt with in a realistic way, it tends to really throw me from the story.

I’m coming at this from a bit of a different direction, so let me tell you about my pain, and how it shapes everything I write. 

I have a rare genetic degenerative condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Basically, this is a collagen disorder, meaning any part of my body that has collagen doesn’t work right. My skin is too stretchy and it cuts and bruises pretty easily. My joints stretch and dislocate. The connective tissue is too flimsy/stretchy, so they don’t hold together well. In any given week, I generally have countless subluxations (partial dislocations) and a handful of severe dislocations a month. (It’s worse when low pressure systems slide through, or cold weather. Don’t ask me why.)

It’s never not painful. Dislocations hurt, no matter how much I have them, and that bone-against-bone crunch I get with a subluxation is absolutely unforgettable.

EDS is degenerative, which means it gets worse, not better (there’s no cure). It also means I’m really prone to injury. I was nearly paralyzed for three years, for example, because I got a towel out of the closet. My lower spine basically caved in on itself, and four extensive, six-hour reconstructive spinal surgeries later, and about two years learning how to use a leg I will never feel again, I’m roughly mobile on my good days. However, the smashed nerve root is still smashed, and it will never heal, so to deal with my screaming agony there, I have eight electrodes imbedded inside my spinal column. When I turn them on, they send bursts of energy up my spine and into the pain center of my brain, which sort of fuzz up the pain signals my brain receives. It’s decreased the pain I process from my spine injury by about 70%. 

So, to summarize, I live my life in constant pain of varying degrees. It impacts just about every move I make, and every day I live in this world. My experience in my body is how I base how I write and understand pain, both emotional and physical.

As with all advice like this, take what you feel is useful and bag the rest. Your mileage may vary. Not everything will be applicable to every character in every book and that’s FINE. Remember, you know your characters best, so stay true to them and their world. I wrote this, basically, based a character who sustains a physical injury in some way, but I’m sure you can manipulate these points to fit just about any situation where a character experiences prolonged pain.  

Here are a few tips to help you make your character’s pain believable: 

1. Injuries don’t just go away. 

One of my authors actually creates a timeline of character injuries, so he knows when they happen and how long into the plot they need to last for them to be believable. If you, for example, cut your finger off, you’re not just going to shrug and get on with it. That’s a serious injury and it will take time to feel it, and then heal. Same goes for something as simple as a bruise. You won’t want someone to go up to your bruise and poke it. Your character might punch someone in the face who does that.

Injuries, no matter the severity of them, take time to heal (if they can heal), and somehow, that time needs to be accounted for in your book. Maybe not the focus of it, but a mention here or there, just to remind readers that your character is injured, and they are aware they hurt, will help the injury/pain your character is experiencing feel real. 

2. Pain will change your mood. 

When I’m hurting really bad, my entire neighborhood probably knows to stay away from me. Pain tends to change moods, and everyone is different. Some people get really quiet and withdrawn. Some people get angry. I seem to become an absolutely intoxicating blend of both of those. Some people try to power through it by being overly happy. Some get depressed. Regardless, if your character hurts, they will have an altered mood, at least during the most intense part of their pain. Depending on who you are writing, they’ll react differently. I don’t know many people who get hurt, and then keep on going with their mood completely unaffected. Even if they act unaffected, inside, they’re probably screaming, and think of the energy it takes to hide that scream.

The thing to remember is, pain is going to take up part of your headspace. If you had your whole mind focused on defeating the emperor, and then you take an arrow to the shoulder, now 40% of your thoughts are going to be on defeating the emperor, and 60% are going to be focused on the pain you are feeling (Or something. You get the point.). Pain takes up space. It just does. Don’t think of it as something you feel. Think of pain as an uninvited guest, and now you have to make room for it because, depending on the injury and the timeline to healing (if there is a “healing”), that guest isn’t going anywhere. You have to feed your guest. Pain feeds on energy, and energy impacts mood. So keep that in mind when you write your injured character.

3. Pain changes how you think. 

If someone is in a lot of pain, their thoughts will likely be dominated by it. Every motion, twinge, move, gasp will first go toward that pain (remember, you have to feed your guest), and after that it will move on to whatever else you’re thinking about. I call it “pain fog” and it’s a very real thing. I’m currently dealing with some extremely severe hip issues, and as an added bonus, the big toe on my left foot has randomly decided to stay in a permanently subluxated position, and it does impact all of my thoughts. Every time I move, that motion is first dominated by my pain, and then, after I feel that initial stab, I can kind of burrow deeper to whatever it is I’m supposed to be concentrating on. It’s hard, and it’s exhausting, and a lot of times this pain-dominated brain space causes forgetfulness and flaky tendencies. I forget what I’m supposed to be doing. I forget what I’m supposed to be saying. I start talking and trail off halfway through a sentence because the pain is just blocking out everything else. I get exhausted so much faster.

Again, this doesn’t need to be a huge thread in your injured character’s storyline, but a moment here or there of something like this showing up would go a long way toward making your reader not only understand your character is experiencing pain, but believe it as well.

4. Pain takes up a lot of energy. 

I feel like I’m really hammering this point home, but it’s a big one.

This is a lot of the reason for what happens in point three. Pain takes up so much energy. Think of it like this: You get injured. Let’s say you dislocate your hip. That dislocated hip suddenly erects this brick wall in your brain. Every time you need to do, think, or say anything, you have to punch through that pain wall to get to the other side where all your regular stuff lurks. And that takes energy and effort. You can’t just punch through a brick wall in real life any more than you can punch through the pain wall. Everything you do and think will be divided. Part of your energy goes toward pain, and part of it toward everything else. The spoon theory is how some people think of it, and I think that’s a good description. For me, it feels a lot more like I’m punching through a wall, and it’s exhausting. 

Furthermore, there’s a HUGE cost when you hurt, and you try to act like you aren’t hurting. Chronic pain sufferers have amazing poker faces. My doctors can’t tell if I’m hurting or not, and I have an absolutely awful time trying to pinpoint my pain on a scale of 1-10 because I hurt all the time, so I have no idea how to quantify that. Usually, if I’m screaming, my pain level is so far off the 1-10 chart, it’s practically in a different solar system. A lot of people want to hide how much they hurt, and so they will spend a whole lot of energy hiding their pain behind a poker face of normality and the energy cost for that is just… unreal.

That exhaustion will lead your character to the other things I’ve mentioned so far: the mood changes, the distraction, the low energy in general, and basically everything else I’ll talk about here. 

Remember, pain is an uninvited guest. It’s not going anywhere, and it needs to eat. The food it likes is your energy, your mood, your comfort. Every bit of what you lose, is what pain gains. 

5. There are different kinds of pain. 

When you go to a doctor, they’ll often ask if you’re experiencing pain, and what kind of pain you’re feeling. There’s a reason for that. There are different kinds of pain. Right now, my hip is sort of burning and throbbing. My toe is feeling sharp. When I was in the hospital after my spine injury I literally felt like someone was stabbing me in my spine and twisting the knife. 

Pain isn’t a one size fits all thing. I tend to be a lot less pleasant when I’m experiencing the burning/throbbing pain, for example. That kind seems to last longer, and it’s like having a migraine lodged in whatever part of me is hurting. The stabbing pain gets me to swear a lot more, but I’m past it quicker. It’s that low throb that really sends me into mental orbit. It depresses me. It makes me angry. It makes me feel trapped in my own skin. I hate it.

It’s also not a one size fits all thing. People will react to these kinds of pain differently, and that’s fine. Take your character’s personality into account when you write their pain. How do YOU think they’d react to a burning but constant pain? And how do YOU think they’d react to a sharp, stabbing pain? Would they get over it fast? Would a stabbing pain make them in a worse mood than a burning pain? And how would this impact their relationship to the people around them while they are in the heat of it?

So, keep that in mind. If your character gets injured, likely the pain they will feel from that injury will vary, depending on what has happened. An arrow wound is not going to feel the same as a broken leg, and each will impact your character differently.

6. Pain changes what you can do. 

This might seem obvious, but I run into this problem quite a bit in the books I edit. Let’s say your character cuts off a finger. He wouldn’t then be able to Indiana Jones his way through a jungle after, leaping from one tree to another without issue. He wouldn’t pick up a sword with that hand and start swinging. Chances are, he wouldn’t want to use that hand at all, not for a little while, at least. He’d be concerned about infection. He’d need to clean it and wrap it. He could power through some things, but likely the pain would be so intense he could probably see his vision wavering along with his heartbeat. There’d be a lot of blood, and likely a touch of shock as well. His entire hand would hurt, and the last thing he’d want to do is use it. 

My leg, hips, and spine absolutely impact how much/if I can walk, for example. When I am in extreme pain, I can’t even get out of bed. So consider how injury and pain would work together to impact what your character is capable of.

This is where the timeline comes in handy. If you know your character gets a finger cut off, then you can write down how long you think that severe, shocking part of his injury would last, and you can write it accordingly. You can also plan what kind of character he is. Does he try to power through it? And if so, how does this impact his mood, judgment, and actions, because it WILL impact those things. If you think he’d start healing after 2-3 weeks, then you know about how long that presents itself in your book. You can write his plot line in that section, accordingly, altering his actions to account for his injury at any given time in that span. And keep your mind on how living with one less finger on that hand will impact him from that point forward. Maybe it won’t matter much, but there are moments it will matter. Think of Logen Ninefingers in Joe Abercrombie’s series. The loss of one finger doesn’t physically impact him overly much, but it’s accounted for in his name.

Another thing to consider is treatment. Often times, the treatment of an injury can be just as altering as the pain and injury itself. If your character gets put on opioids, for example, think of how opioids make people feel. Some people get a bit loopy, a bit high, a lot of people get nauseous from them, there’s a risk of addiction and moods tend to change as well. Driving a car and etc. will be ill advised. If there’s a magic system in your world that heals injuries, consider the cost of said magic.

Basically, consider how the treatment could change things as well.

7. Be aware of risks. 

People have died due to a cut on their foot. Back in the day, if you injured yourself on the farm, you had a very good chance of losing a limb, or dying, no matter how small the wound. So, the injury might be straightforward, but often times, especially in books that are set in secondary worlds that aren’t so advanced with medicine and technology, it’s not really the injury that’s the real risk, but everything that comes after, from infection, to long-haul symptoms, to learning how to live with this new body of yours. 

8. Be aware of what happens after.

Be aware of longer ranging issues that might be impacted from this injury. My husband broke his knee a few years ago, and ever since then, he feels cold weather in that knee really, really acutely and sometimes it impacts how much he can do. If it’s a physical wound, your character might be a bit shy about being touched there for a while even after it goes away. It’s human nature to protect our vulnerable parts. If your character flinches at the wrong moment, say, during a sword fight, that could change the tide of the engagement. If your character was sick, think of the people with long-haul COVID symptoms and how it’s impacted them. Long range symptoms aren’t beyond the realm of believability, and a lot of times they’ll add a rich layer of realism in your character’s arc if they are subtly woven in their narrative.

Basically, if your character is recovering from an illness, they aren’t going to go run a marathon a day after their fever breaks. If your character takes an injury that lays them up a while, their endurance will be lower when they start resuming normal activity after. People don’t just bounce back. It takes time to get to where we used to be, IF we can get there. Remember that, as well. Often times, people can heal, but they won’t be the same after the injury as they were before it.

More than that, be aware of emotional impacts of injuries and pain in general. It’s exhausting, it’s depressing. It really grinds a person down. If your character is coping with disability, maybe talk to some people who are coping with disability and see how it feels because there’s a whole lot of messy emotions that get tied up in that journey. If your character can just heal and move on, great, but deep pain leaves deep emotional scars and touching on those at one or two points in your character’s journey wouldn’t be amiss.

9. Susceptibility 

If you hurt yourself, especially if it’s an injury in a joint or something similar, you’ll be more susceptible to injuries there after that, and they’ll come easier and faster and harder. (I just got this lecture from my doctor about my high ankle sprain.) If you’ve had an illness that’s impacted your lungs, you might have a hard time taking a deep breath. Maybe you get sick easier.

Don’t forget to include that in your protagonist’s story. I often feel like this particular point is a missed opportunity for a lot of authors. You can use it to increase tension, and vulnerability often makes things more interesting at important points in the story. 

10. It doesn’t need to dominate your character’s storyline for it to be present. 

Seraphina, in Seraphina’s Lament was, in a lot of ways, me dealing with my disability and coming to terms with life in a disabled body. I wanted her to represent my story, so I gave her my spine and leg injury. I gave her my chronic pain and mobility issues. It was my first time trying to write my pain experience in a way people could understand and hopefully connect with, and it was extremely cathartic. 

However, while Seraphina’s pain is always present, it is not the focus of her story. There are a lot of other things going on.

It was interesting to write her because I had to spend a lot of time asking myself, “If I was in this situation, how would I cope with it?” and then writing based on my answer. So, a lot of small things that people don’t tend to think of had to be present in her narrative. How would Seraphina deal with stairs? How would she cope with walking a substantial distance? How would she deal with tense situations when she’s already mentally fogged up from pain? 

It wasn’t her whole story, though. It was just part of her story. It was an added flavor that made her experience in the world stand out. Seraphina lives her life looking through the lens of pain, but it doesn’t define her. It isn’t who she is though it does impact nearly all of her actions, and her thoughts do filter through the pain wall I mention above. It’s present. It’s always there. It’s her uninvited guest that must be accounted for at all times but she is more than her pain. It isn’t her whole story, and it doesn’t need to be her whole story to be an important part of it.

I’ll give you a bit of advice for writing pain that I give when writing asked about writing disabilities: write the character first, and then weave the pain/disability in after. Focus on the CHARACTER, not the pain/disability. Being disabled is only part of who I am. Being in pain is just a fraction of my lived experience. Your character might feel any/all/some of these ten points after their injury. That doesn’t mean it needs to subsume them. They don’t need to become the pain they feel. I advise subtle uses of moments sprinkled here and there throughout their narrative. Show them compensating for an injury during a fight. Show them rubbing their wounded leg in the firelight at night. Show them snapping at someone they care about when they otherwise wouldn’t. Show them forgetting something, or feeling depressed.

Pain doesn’t have to be big to be present.

Honorable mention: 

Remember, especially in secondary worlds, you don’t have to have things in them that are problematic. For example, castles do not have to have stairs. Wheelchairs can exist if you want them to. 

And finally, mercy killing should never be a thing. (“Oh, Bob wouldn’t want to live like this so let’s put him out of his misery.”) Think of what that’s telling to every reader who relates to Bob. Just don’t do it.

So, that’s about all I’ve got for you today. Again, take what you want and forget the rest. Go forth, dear writer, and make your characters hurt.

Review | Falling Through Stars – Staci Olsen

About the Book

After crashing her dogsled into the frozen river, Ts’ellbah fears something is wrong, something deeper than the inexplicable new scar over her heart. She feels like a stranger in her own skin and struggles to remember her closest friends and family. At first, her clan is relieved that she survived the accident. But on a night when red spirit lights stain the sky like blood, Ts’ellbah suffers her first violent seizure and sees a vision in which a revered elder encounters a mythical monster and dies. When her announcement of the elder’s death proves correct, many are convinced something evil possessed her in the dark river. They believe she killed the old man and want to cast her out. Before they do, Ts’ellbah must persuade her people that their ancient enemies have indeed returned, that they are looking for something, and they’ll destroy the entire clan to find it.

Published on August 18, 2021
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I edited this book.��

When I was contacted to edit this book, I was really excited. I am a huge, huge sucker for mythological fantasy, and this one was based on mythology that was far outside of what I normally see (Greek and Norse being the most common that I edit). Alaskan mythology, though? Now that���s one I���ve never seen before so sign me up. Also, I���ve been friends with Staci on social media for a few years now, and I���ve been reading her posts about growing up in Alaska, so I knew she had a certain passion for the topic, and her experience in the location would give her the ability to bring the landscape to life in a way a lot of others might not be able to.��

I expected to like this thing. I did not expect to be swept away by it the way I was. Precious few books in all my time editing have given me a book hangover like this. 

The story starts out with confusion. After crashing her dogsled in the frozen river, Ts���ellbeh feels a bit��� off. Like something���s wrong but she can���t quite put her finger on what it is. Her interactions are different as well, and it���s noticed. At first it���s brushed of as Ts���ellbeh healing, recovering physically and emotionally from a brutal crash, but soon, when she doesn���t bounce back to herself as she used to be, people start to worry. She loses friends. The relationship with her family changes a bit, and while they still love her, it���s obvious they are worried. There���s frisson of distance between her and everyone else. 

That subtle split is felt throughout the book, and while events twist and turn and carry themselves forward, Olsen expertly weaves the known with the unknown, and puts Ts���ellbeh in the middle of it all. Usually, I like having a bit of a direction as I read, some understanding of the conflict, but while there are outside conflicts, Ts���ellbeh���s real dilemma is herself. At the core of this novel is her struggle to know herself, and to be able to have a place in this world she���s found herself in after she wakes up from this brutal, tragic accident on the ice.��

In fact, the way Olsen played with this division between ���pre-accident Ts���ellbeh��� and ���post-accident Ts���ellbeh��� was nothing short of genius. This feeling of unease and a soul-deep discomfort pervade the narrative, and the reader knows what Ts���ellbeh knows, which isn���t much, and we learn as she learns: in fits and starts. Weird things happen around her, and weird things happen to her, and she can���t quite make sense of any of it. But when that ���Ah ha��� moment hits in the end, all the pieces fit into place and you���ll realize just how cleverly Olsen has been with dropping subtle cues, and guiding readers to this point of revelation. When I hit that point, I had to sit back and process it a bit, because suddenly the entire book took on a different light and I was just completely awestruck, to put it mildly. 

Things aren���t all wonderful, though. A lot of Ts���ellbeh���s closest relations think she might have become possessed by an evil spirit after her fall in the river, and so not only do we feel this divide between Ts���ellbeh of the past and present, but there���s also division between her and her community, felt most keenly in the loss of many of her closest friends. Isolation is real, and it is written in such a way that I felt it. It changes how she lives and interacts with her community. Her longing to be accepted is powerful, and the moments when she finds just that are extremely emotional and memorable. 

Falling Through Stars��is about a lot of different things, like finding yourself in a world where you might feel lost, but more than that, this is a book about family and love. I loved how bright those threads were. I told Olsen at one point, I love how close this family unit is. I don���t think we get enough of that in fantasy. These quaint scenes with a husband and wife bickering while their child plays, and Ts���ellbeh might not know who she is or where she fits, but she never loses her devotion to her family, which is her North Star throughout the novel. Her personal arc is glorious, exploring the many different facets of friendship, family, and love that can be felt in so many different contexts.

Olsen spares no detail, and under her hand, life in this remote Alaskan landscape burns bright. I could almost smell the forest and feel the cold. I could feel the mosquitos as well. The wild is both untamed, and yet I felt a very deep respect for not only these places, but for the people who lived there and made it their home, coexisting with nature and striking a delicate balance I doubt many of us will ever fully understand. I loved the details woven throughout the book, of how food was stored, and hunted, and how people worked together, how the salmon were used throughout the year, why animal fat was necessary��� it was all there, and it was fascinating. It was one of those rare books where I feel like I not only read a really good story, but I learned some important things as well.��

Mythology and lore are woven expertly throughout the story. They are always present, because it���s part of everyday life, but it���s also different than anything I���ve read before, and it���s beautiful. When it all came together in the end, I was left with this overwhelming sense of having gone full circle, but not just that, it was the right way for the book to end as well. It was the perfect finale to a story that really knocked the air out of my lungs. When I was done reading it, I was left with a unique sadness, because I���ll never get to read this book for the first time again.

Do I really need to summarize this review? It should be clear by now. I adored��Falling Through Stars. Fans of books based on mythology need to pick this one up. It���s one of my favorite books I���ve read all year.��

5/5 stars

Review | The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics – Olivia Waite

About the Book

As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover���s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn���t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess��� London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.

Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband���s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project���instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.

While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?

336 pages (kindle)
Published on June 25, 2019
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Sometimes I���m in the mood for something different. Something maybe a bit softer, less fantasy. I happened upon this book on the random, and at first I thought ���Nah, that���s not really up my street��� but I couldn���t stop thinking about it, and about how good it would feel to just read a book that had nothing to do with what I was writing, nor what I was editing. 

So I ended up buying it, and I read the entire thing in about two nights, which is extremely uncommon for me these days. 

The Lady���s Guide to Celestial Mechanics was nothing short of delightful, a slow-burn friends-to-lovers story, the book seemed to cover so many different aspects of life and reality in the Victorian era, all of which made the relationship between Lucy Muchelney and Catherine St. Day that much brighter. And yet, it���s steeped in realism as well, in science and learning, and the role of women in society. 

The book starts with Lucy having to watch her ex get married, and her heart is breaking. These first few pages really impressed me, and this is honestly why I bought the book. The pain Lucy feels in this moment is so sharp, so well-written, so��real��I couldn���t look away. I knew that any author who could nail my emotions down like that in the first few pages was an author I needed to pay attention to. I was soon delighted to learn that the rest of the book is similarly realistic. Emotional notes that were so real they felt like they were part of me seemed to be the hallmark of this tale. Not everything is sad. There are a whole lot of funny, flirty, awkward, and frustrating moments as well, but it was the emotions in all of these scenes that really made me sit up and pay attention.

Lucy and Catherine are coming at their relationship from different directions. Catherine can���t imagine that loving a woman is a thing that happens. Lucy, however, knows that it is possible, though neither of them are certain about each other. There are a lot of flirty glances, uncertain thrusts into potential romance, moments that are so subtle and yet decadent when the author takes her time revealing and even relishes the different layers of romance, ardor, and falling in love. 

Yet this isn���t just about love and desire. There���s science, art, and learning as well, and I loved how these two different threads balanced each other out. On the one hand, I was captivated by Lucy and Catherine. On the other hand, I found them both interesting on their own. Catherine, who is a widow trying to make her way into a secure, comfortable, and predictable future and Lucy, who has a passion for scholarly studies. In a world run by men, there are some definite moments where I was extremely frustrated by how they were being treated by the men in their lives, but again, that���s part of the realism of the age.��

Their lives come together over a French text that Catherine asks Lucy to translate, and while they are both connecting over this project, life keeps spinning on around them, as life does. In this patriarchal society, Catherine and Lucy find validation in each other, and the freedom to be who they are, despite society���s strictures. And yet, the weaving of this personal story through a novel replete with respect and even passion for scholarly pursuits, mathematics, science, art, gave the entire thing a sense of wonder that I found truly captivating, and helped me connect with the characters a much deeper level.

There is heartbreak here as well. A chapter near the end of the book just about gutted me, but I powered through to the ending and I am glad I did. 

So, where does that leave us? 

The Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics really blew my socks off. It wasn���t the kind of book I usually read, but it was an absolute delight in every sense of the word. It was a warm hug on a cold night, and the kind of book I fully intend on reading again, and again, and again��� 

5/5 stars

Review | Dark Sea’s End – Richard Nell

About the Book

Feared pirate and scoundrel ���Lucky��� Chang has a dirty secret: he loves his crew, and would die to protect them. As he���s dragged from prison to face the dark sea and a dangerous new world, he just might have to.

Zaya, warrior and skald from the land of ash, knows she has a destiny. Having left her homeland with only a knife and a dream of adventure, she finds herself captured by pirates. To discover her fate, and become a hero from the book of legends, she must first survive the sea.

With a monstrous pilot as guide, and an ex-assassin as captain, Chang, Zaya, and the crew of the mighty Prince sail into uncharted waters. There they may find new lands and wealth, as well as glory beyond their dreams, or nothing but their doom.

Set in the same epic world as the award winning Kings of Paradise…this new series from author Richard Nell can be read on its own, or as a continuation of the Ash and Sand trilogy.(

Published June 1, 2021
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This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I���m a big fan of Richard Nell���s books. Well, not just his books but I think the man himself is pretty cool too. He���s got an absolute boatload of talent. When I���m feeling like I need to take a fantasy break, Nell is an author I can always turn to. No matter how burnt out I���m feeling, his books are ones I welcome.��

Dark Sea���s End��takes off immediately after the events of his previous trilogy, however, you don���t have to have read his trilogy to appreciate these books. This is a totally separate series, which will appeal to old readers, new readers, and people like me (I forget things.). That being said, Nell adds on to the world readers will know in some remarkable ways, showing us new terrain, cultures, and peoples. In fact, I found the worldbuilding to be just as remarkable as the story itself, with no detail overlooked and steeped in carefully revealed history, which gave the entire book a sense of time as well.��

Nell drops his readers right into the middle of the action as soon as the book starts, and while there are always things happening, I never really felt like those things made this book as dark as Nell’s previous trilogy. More rooted in adventure,��Dark Sea���s End��has plenty of action, and yet it���s part first-contact and discovery story as well. I was quite amazed with just how much Nell packed into these pages. The story is pretty relentless, with ceaseless forward motion, and yet I never felt like Nell overlooked or glossed over any important details, worldbuilding, or moments with his characters.��

And oh, those characters.

Nell has a knack for making his characters shine. Usually, I find them to be just as interesting, if not more so, than all the other aspects of his book. Told from three different POVs, each character is from a dramatically different place socially, physically, and emotionally, than all the others, and their motivations are just as individual as they all are. A true master of voice, it is impossible to get any of them mixed up. They stand completely apart. 

That being said, they are all used perfectly to show different aspects of the events in this book, and each narrative serves to give readers a more well-rounded perspective than they otherwise would have. And Nell doesn���t just stop there. His secondary characters are just as dynamic and interesting as the POV character, shining like brilliant stars while they are on the page.��This is essential, because so much of this book is new and brilliant, from landscapes to culture to history. I felt like the different perspectives were brilliantly used to show me nuances of all this I otherwise would have missed.

Nell explores a bunch of deeper themes here, using perspective and history, social and familial obligation in some cases, to do just that. There are moments of discomfort for his characters, but I found the way he pushed them past their comfort zone to be almost gently done. He didn���t just shove them out on a limb and watch them fall. Rather, he brings them to points where they are asking important questions, and then gently has them probe their own souls throughout his narrative arc to find their answers. Not everything is resolved, but I loved how he used his story to poke at these deeper themes, like religion and personal gain, without ever really feeling like he was hitting me over the head with it or using it as a hammer to fundamentally break his characters.��

There were points when I was reading this book when I thought, ���Nell really is having one hell of a good time writing this book, isn���t he?��� I mean, I could practically feel how much fun he was having. The pace is pretty breakneck and there are some amazing action scenes, but beyond all that, the��Dark Sea���s End��is full of a sense of wonder, and curiosity that really worked for me. There���s something addicting about reading a book you know the author really loved writing. That passion is there, on every page and it made the book burn bright.��

Different in tone from his previous work, yet no less wonderful for it,��Dark Sea���s End��is a brilliant start of a new series. No long expositions, or infodumps, this book might be a bit more accessible to readers looking for a fast-paced adventure story. Yet, there are deeper themes at play here as well. Superb character development and Nell���s incredible knack for prose that positively shine,��Dark Sea���s End��is a homerun.��

Absolutely brilliant. 

5/5 stars

Review | Where Oblivion Lives – T. Frohock

About the Book

Born of daimon and angel, Diago Alvarez is a being unlike all others. The embodiment of dark and light, he has witnessed the good and the horror of this world and those beyond. In the supernatural war between angels and daimons that will determine humankind���s future, Diago has chosen Los Nefilim, the sons and daughters of angels who possess the power to harness music and light.

As the forces of evil gather, Diago must locate the Key, the special chord that will unite the nefilim���s voices, giving them the power to avert the coming civil war between the Republicans and Franco���s Nationalists. Finding the Key will save Spain from plunging into darkness.

And for Diago, it will resurrect the anguish caused by a tragedy he experienced in a past life.

But someone���or something���is determined to stop Diago in his quest and will use his history to destroy him and the nefilim. Hearing his stolen Stradivarius played through the night, Diago is tormented by nightmares about his past life. Each incarnation strengthens the ties shared by the nefilim, whether those bonds are of love or hate . . . or even betrayal.

To retrieve the violin, Diago must journey into enemy territory . . . and face an old nemesis and a fallen angel bent on revenge.

355 pages (paperback) 
Published on February 19, 2019
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I���ve been following this author since just before she released her very first book. I look back on her storied career, and I���m just so impressed by everything she���s done, and the high quality of work she has always, ceaselessly provided her readers. It also makes me feel like I���ve been bopping around genrespace and writing reviews an abnormally long time, considering blog turnover rate these days. Ah, well. 

Anyway, I���ve been reading Frohock���s books since she���s been publishing books, and they always land really well for me. Each book is a bit different, she has a way with tackling social issues and history that really works for me. Plus, she mixes that with some extremely fluid prose and yeah, it���s great. It���s like her books were written with me in mind. They weren���t, but I can flatter myself. 

Where Oblivion Lives takes off after the previous Los Nefilim novellas, yet it is also a good entry point for new readers. Somehow, Frohock managed to do what a lot of authors struggle with: creating a book that will keep tried-and-true readers engaged, while also serving as a good entry point for new readers who haven���t visited this particular world of hers before. That being said, the novellas are absolutely amazing, and give this book a real sense of depth and history that perhaps made me appreciate some aspects of it more than I otherwise would have. 

Don���t get me wrong, it���s a good book, regardless. I just think having some background before I went into this probably upped my enjoyment a touch.

Heavily focused on plot, Where Oblivion Lives is set in 1932, an interesting time when tensions in Europe are rising as the world changes and events start barreling toward an impending World War II, which isn���t too terribly far away. Set against this backdrop of tension and change we have one Diego, who is a rare individual born of both an angel and a daimon, and is struggling to prove himself to the Los Nefilim, a group that monitors daimon activity. 

Diego���s story was extremely powerful. He has a lot going on, from nightmares and lost violins, trying to prove himself to the Los Nefilim group, political tensions all around which impact things. Plus there’s daimons and powerful music and so much more. The poor guy doesn���t really catch a break, and yet through that, readers get a real sense of who he is. He is probably one of the purest characters I���ve ever read. And don���t misread that as me saying he���s without flaw, because he���s not. He���s just who he is and it���s really rare I come across a character when I read that is this unabashedly complex, complicated and yet somehow manages to shine so bright in the face of everything. 

The historical period Frohock deals with here is very interesting, and I will admit, this is one reason I wanted to read these books. As someone who has probably done about the same amount of research into the same time period but on the Russian side of things, I always find myself incredibly interested in not just how other authors research for their writing, but how they use that research in their writing. 

The world Frohock creates is our own, but it���s one steeped in magic and otherworldly creatures like angels and soul-eaters. Barreling toward very real wars (Spanish Civil War, World War II), it���s also on the cusp of a supernatural war as well. I loved how Frohock managed to infuse her book with a sense of time and place, and her research and devotion to her craft made me feel like I wasn���t reading about somewhere else, but I was reading about here and now. I was living the story.

The magic system is based on music, and Frohock���s writing is up to the task. What I mean by this is, she carefully selected her words for the greatest impact. Some turns of phrases in this book were stunningly beautiful, to the point where I felt like the book became a song in its own right. Rather than prose telling a story, the prose here felt like another shining layer of paint on an already brilliant landscape. 

Family and love are the shining beacons that fill this book. Diego is a bit of an outsider, and it did not take me long at all to empathize with him deeply. I feel, at times, a whole lot like Diego: outside, looking in. However, Diego���s love and devotion to those he cares about are almost as magical as the magic system itself, and perhaps that���s what I���m touching on when I say he���s one of the purest character���s I���ve read. Yes, he���s flawed, but at the core of his being, his true strength is his devotion, and it shines so incredibly bright. 

Where Oblivion Lives��blew me away. It���s one of those books that swept my legs out from under me and left me reeling. A lot happens in these pages, not only with plot, but a lot of subtle details as well, which creates this perfect balance between relentless forward motion and personal growth. The world is so real, I felt transported there. The magic system is beautiful, and the prose are the icing on top of a positively decadent cake.��

If you haven���t read Frohock���s books yet, you really need to change that.

5/5 stars

Review | The Body Scout – Lincoln Michel

About the Book

Kobo has some problems. His cybernetics are a decade out of date, he’s got a pair of twin sister loan sharks knocking on his door, and his work scouting for a baseball league run by pharmaceutical companies is about to go belly-up. Things couldn’t get much worse.

Then his childhood best friend-Monsanto Mets slugger J.J. Zunz-is murdered at home plate.

Determined to find the killer, Kobo plunges into the dark corners and glittering cloud condos of a world ravaged by climate change and repeat pandemics, and where genetic editing and advanced drugs mean you can have any body you want–as long as you can afford it. But even among the philosophical Neanderthals, zootech weapons, and genetically modified CEOs, there’s a curveball he never could have called. 

304 (kindle)
Published on August 10, 2021 (Note: Goodreads says August 10, Amazon says September 21).
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I absolutely love near future and social SciFi. It���s a genre I don���t read enough of, and it���s one that, if done well, will really leave me thinking some deep thoughts for a long time after I read the book. I adore the genre. I really do. So, the other day when I was flitting through Netgalley to see if anyone had anything on the offer that looked interesting, I saw this book and jumped on it. 

I will be honest, though. I almost bounced off this book pretty hard when I just started reading it. The reason being, there���s a lot of baseball, and I think baseball is about as interesting as watching paint dry (I���m sorry, don���t throw things at me) so yeah. However, I have a feeling my threshold for interest in sports is abnormally low, so don���t let that deter you. Just be aware. If you don���t like reading about sports, aspects of this book might be something you need to power through.��

That being said, the plot quickly takes off and things get moving in a whole bunch of different directions. At times, the worldbuilding was a bit overwhelming, and I think some readers could get a bit lost in the rapid fire details, but I actually liked that aspect of the book. I loved how much thought and attention the author put into just about every aspect of the world, the evolving culture, the relationships and more. This is a book that obviously took a lot of careful thought to write, and that paid off with a fascinating story set in a world that is similar enough to ours to be believable. It did the thing I love these sorts of books for: It made me think.��

In this near-future world, body modifications are the hot thing. The body you are born with is more a suggestion than anything else, and people pay good money to modify and upgrade themselves. They go in debt for body modifications. They hire people to hunt for the right body modification. Sometimes modifications become outdated. It���s a whole thriving, wild industry and it���s the core of this book.

Baseball comes into this because while the game is the same as the we know now, the players have changed. They���ve modified their bodies for improved performance, and our protagonist, Kobo, has his finger on the pulse on the modification market. He gets called by his professional athlete brother, who is a bit out of sorts, seems off, and Kobo isn���t that surprised. Sometimes this sort of thing can happen with mods. However, Kobo is surprised when his brother ends up dead. The League hires him to investigate his brother���s death, and we go down a Who Done It rabbit hole that had some impressive twists and turns.��

The plot is pretty relentless. It doesn���t take much time to get to the mystery at the center of this book, and then it takes even less time to realize that not everything is as it seems. In this future vision of our world, evolution is guided by humans, and there���s a lot of deep, dark secrets into just how things are progressing on that front. So while Kobo���s investigation is interesting, it was really the world itself that almost gripped me more than anything else, and the social and personal problems that ensued from a future where humanity is so dramatically focused on modifications for personal improvement. 

The Body Scout��is pretty relentlessly paced. There���s never really any downtime, which reminded me a lot of some noir books I���ve read, where no one really has time to rest. It’s constantly one thing, then another, then another. Things are just constantly moving, which keeps it interesting, but perhaps I would have longed for some quiet moments occasionally. Some pauses in the motion to give both Kobo and the reader time to breathe and really digest the story a bit more.��

Kobo was a character that I instantly liked. He���s flawed, self-absorbed, and focused on surgeries and modifying his own body with very little regard to the debt he finds himself in. However, as the book progresses, Kobo grows and evolves. He���s not the same man at the end as he was at the beginning. He starts to feel some empathy. He starts to look at the world a bit differently. Still flawed to his core, I found his personal arc, how the events he was enmeshed in changed him, to be rather fascinating and extremely well done. 

I will say, baseball stays a theme throughout this book, and I did detach from that part of it because��� baseball��� but that���s my personal flavor and that���s not the author���s problem. I will also say that this was an absolutely wonderful debut offering. It was wild, and unexpected, with some of the best near-future worldbuilding I���ve seen in a long time. The plot was intricate, and the author���s attention to detail truly floored me. So, if you���re a fan of near-future SciFi, and you don���t mind baseball, you���ll probably want to check this one out. 

4/5 stars

Review | A Troll Walks into a Bar – Douglas Lumsden

About the Book

A troll in a pin-striped suit walks into a bar. He’s looking for Alex Southerland, private investigator and summoner of elementals. A gorgeous dame is going to come to Southerland with a case, and the troll tells him that he is going to turn the case down–or else! But Southerland doesn’t respond well to threats, even from a seven-and-a-half foot, five-hundred pound enforcer. Besides, he needs the dough! The stubborn P.I. soon finds himself mixing it up with trolls and gang bosses, cruising through downtown streets in an outlandish beastmobile borrowed from a glorified pimp, and encountering corrupt city officials, creatures of legend, the sleaziest attorney in the city, a were-rat, and an irresistible–if homicidal–refugee from the ocean depths. Framed for a murder he didn’t commit, Southerland weaves his way from seedy neighborhoods to the dazzling lights of downtown–and from one savage beating to the next–to clear his name and uncover a shocking secret.

Published May, 2021
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I���m not a person who goes out of my way to read noir. I don���t mind the genre, but it���s just not my go to. A really good detective story can be entertaining, but it���s pretty far down on my list of things I eagerly look to read. So, when I started hearing whispers about this series, my first thought was, ���That sounds interesting, maybe I���ll read it someday.��� Recently, however, I found myself in the mood to read something a bit different, maybe not quite as intense as what I normally read, a bit of a detour from the usual. 

Insert A Troll Walks into a Bar. 

Set in a secondary world steeped in magic, there was an instant feel of ���same but different��� than our own world. While this place does have its own geography and history, there were a few times while I was reading when I wondered if this wasn���t a really cleverly reimagined version of our own world. However, the magic and the different races (trolls, gnomes, etc.) of creatures make it its own thing through and through. This world does have its own history, which is drawn upon and truly makes the world Lumsden created feel real and well-realized. Furthermore, it was steeped in atmosphere. I could almost smell some of the rooms Lumsden took me to, and saw the city, the alleyways, the dingy places as well. I loved how well-realized so much of this book was.

The magic was interesting, involving elements and/or summoning elementals. While it���s always part of the story, it never overwhelmed the plot itself, and rather felt like it was a nice addition to the book rather than something that overpowered it. I how our P.I., Alex Southerland, used it to help him get out of some sticky situations and the like. More, the addition of other races, from were-creatures to trolls, to witches and etc. fill the book with a sense of magic and wonder that I really wasn���t expecting to find in a story like this.

Recently, I edited a fantasy noir book that had a very similar tone to this one. When I talked to the author, he said he loved Raymond Chandler books and really wanted to write something sort of in homage to Chandler. I have to say, without ever having read a Raymond Chandler book,��A Troll Walked into a Bar��reminded me a whole lot of that book I edited. I���m not saying the two are overly similar but I am saying there were a few things with tone and prose that had a similar perfume in both books. For example, there isn���t a high emotional punch in this book. There are emotions, but the story is told almost one step removed, and after talking to the person I edited for, I learned that���s the style in books like these. You���re sort of being told what���s happening from one step back, and you have the room to infer emotions, personality quirks and the like on your own. At first, I���ll admit, this style sort of threw me. It absolutely is unique to the genre and something that grew on me, though it took time to do so.��

I will say, however, this particular point might be the one that people struggle the most with as they read. It really is its own unique style.

As with most noir books, the plot starts out small and then gets bigger and bigger as things keep moving along. Alex Southerland gets hired by the obligatory beautiful woman. On the surface things look like they���ll be pretty open and shut, but as soon as Alex starts poking around, that ball starts rolling, getting larger and larger as it goes. Basically, Alex soon learns he���s in over his head. He���s mired in a mystery he doesn���t quite understand, and it���s far larger than he ever anticipated. Soon, he���s being threatened, and framed for murder, and right when you think there���s no way this is going to end well for anyone involved, there���s a delightful twist. Like most noir books, I often found myself wondering when this guy managed to take a break, but that again seems to be a bit of the style with these books. The ball gets rolling, and it just does not stop until the very last page, with a very satisfying ending.

One thing I loved about this book was the early 1900s vibe, which felt so true to the story being told. Small details added in here or there gave the novel a very vintage feel mixed with modern details. It was truly unique and something that really stuck out as I read. Alex is a bit more modern in this setting, and some of the issues he deals with have been likewise smoothed out and modernized. But the feel is there, and it���s strong. From occasional slang, to how people dress, and various other aspects of the book, I just truly loved this balance of vintage and modern that Lumsden struck. 

So, where does this leave us? 

Breakneck and packed with unexpected twists,��A Troll Walked into a Bar��grew on me. A true fantasy noir in every sense of the word, this book is sure to appeal to fans of hardboiled detective stories.��

4/5 stars

Nonfiction Review | Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland – Christopher R. Browning

About the Book

Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of  RPB 101 were not fanatical Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever.

While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition.  

Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work, with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today.

271 pages (Paperback)
Published on April 6, 1993
Buy the book

I���ve been reading about, and researching, the Eastern front of World War II for YEARS. I���m fascinated by it. When I was in school, all I learned about was mostly what happened in France, and the UK and I understand why. To young Western minds, those places make more sense. 

However, the Eastern Front is far more fascinating. I feel, in a lot of ways, that by not knowing what happened in these areas, we don���t really understand the war. The things that happened in Eastern Europe are tragic and horrible, and often so hard to hear about it takes a long time to get through books and articles on it, but by not knowing this stuff, we are not hearing the stories of thousands and thousands of people who will never be heard.��

It���s important to know these things. It���s important to be uncomfortable sometimes. It���s important to never forget. 

One of the things that interests me the most regarding this sort of thing is how ordinary people became part and part and party to absolutely horrible actions. There have been studies over the years about how people act when put under strict authority, and there have been plenty of books about how the war was perceived by those inside and outside of Germany, but I will absolutely never stop being completely baffled by these people who went out and did absolutely unbelievable things, and then returned home later, ���Yes, I���d like potatoes with my roast. Work was fine today. How are the kids?��� Another book that touches on this a bit is here.��

Ordinary Men��is one of those books that profoundly impacted me, and I���d honestly suggest anyone with a passing interest in World War II to put this on their essential reading list. Now, make no mistake, this is not an easy book to read. Before the author even gets to Reserve Battalion 101, he goes over a bit of the relocation actions going on in some places like Poland, Vienna, Ukraine and the like. And when I say ���relocation��� I mean, you get to read reports written by the officers who sat on the trains that were moving thousands of people were moved to death camps. You get to read one officer complaining that his butter was rancid (no mention of a train packed full of people going to a death camp, just a complaint about rations and how they didn���t survive the heat), and another talking about how the trains were so overstuffed, 2,000 people died, and they shot so many people they used up all their ammunition and all the additional ammunition they were given, so they had to resort to throwing stones at those trying to escape.��

Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a group from Hamburg, mostly working-class men from middle class backgrounds. They were older, in their late thirties to mid-forties, which meant at the time they were conscripted into World War II, they were old enough to have grown up in a time before Nazi ideology took root (meaning, many of them were not party members). They were used for many purposes, mass executions, moving Jewish individuals to death camps, and the like. By the time World War II was over, it was assumed they had moved 45,000 to death camps like Treblinka, and another 38,000 murdered in mass executions.��

What makes these men interesting is how normal they were, and how they took to the tasks they were given. The author gets his information from interviews done with 200+ surviving members of RPB101 in the 1960s and tells what happened from those interviews, showing how the group was divided, and why these seemingly ordinary men undertook such actions seemingly willingly. 

The author suggests that one of the ways this group did what they did was largely based on group dynamics. He explained he thought the RPB101 was broken into three groups:��

Sadists, who went out of their way to torture, beat, humiliateYour average soldier who was just following orders. A group of men who asked to be excused from killing the Jews. 

There was no punishment inflicted upon those asking to be excused, but it is important to note that no one complained about taking people to death camps. They knew what they were doing. They knew what would happen there, but as I���ve seen in many other books, ���out of sight, out of mind��� is powerful. Once they had done their duty, the rest wasn���t up to them, and I think largely they mentally excused themselves from the burdens of those deaths. 

I find the fact that no one was punished for opting out of the executions interesting. I was watching a documentary about the Einsatzgruppen last night, and the officer in charge of the actions in Ukraine specifically ordered every soldier in his area kill at least one Jew. The reason why was twofold: First, it implicated everyone. Secondly, it spread out the burden of the action (More people doing a thing meant less work for everyone involved.).

So, in some ways the lack of punishment was the most interesting detail to me, but it worked hand in hand with the pressure to conform. Punishment wasn���t necessary, in most cases, because leaving the dirty work to their comrades, for some, likely became unbearable. In a tightknit group, wherein the only real social contact are people in their group, being a nonshooter often isolated people beyond what they could tolerate. There was no wider network of social support. If you become isolated and an outcast from your own group, especially in wartime, what do you have left?��

Browning explores a bit of not just the circumstances surrounding RPB101, but also how things changed over time. He shows how powerful conformity and authority can be. While I do think it is important to note that these are just his interpretations of events, and he has come under fire for this book (notably from Daniel Goldhagen���s book��Hitler���s Willing Executioners), this is an interesting book to read because it shows that not everything is black and white. Even the worst things in the world can have some uncomfortable gray.��

I do think it is important to understand that this is just the author���s psychological interpretation of events, and not bedrock fact. The only way we will ever know why any of these men did what they did is if we ask them, and they aren���t alive anymore so we are left with bits of history, stories, interviews, eyewitness accounts and the like. It is, however, an important and compelling book which gives the reader pause. We are not so far from depravity as we like to think, and perhaps that is the reason Ordinary Men is so haunting.

4/5 stars