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Mt TBR Report: March 2021

Friends, I’m feeling very tired. I am continuing to deal with some health issues and some significant changes to household routine. So, I have decided to embrace the trend towards short and/or fluffy in my reading for the time being. You can continue to expect to see a lot of romance on my lists in these reports.

Recently on Twitter, I came across this thread from Sandstone detailing a method she’s been using to bust through her own recent reading slump. With April beginning, I thought I would give it a go. So far, I’ve found it to be very effective; it forces me to be honest about what I actually want to read instead of what I think I should be reading.

I don’t yet know whether I will stick to it for the long-term. Doing so will require me to accept there are quite a number of books on my pile that I feel I should read but will probably never get around to. Perhaps that would be for the best.

Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing the results at the end of April.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2021: 426
Mt TBR @ 28 February 2021: 429
Mt TBR @ 31 March 2021: 425

Items Read

22. Thorn by Intisar Khanani. First book in the Dauntless Path. Reread. Reviewed here.

23. Brambles by Intisar Khanani. Short story prequel to Thorn. Lovely, but entirely unnecessary.

24. The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani. Second book in the Dauntless Path. Reviewed here.

25. Witchmark by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. First book in the Kingston Cycle. A former military doctor now working at a veteran’s hospital gets drawn into investigating the murder of a fellow witch. There was a good balance between the different elements: investigation, romance, action and family dynamics. Miles’s struggle with bureaucracy was very relatable and his relationship with Tristan very sweet. I wanted to shake Grace, though.

27. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. YA fantasy. First book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. A cartographer in the army is whisked away to court when she reveals a dormant magical power. Thought I’d better get to this before the Netflix series starts at the end of April. I found it a captivating read, very grounded in the YA genre. However, it’s not a story that stuck with me for long.

28-32 slow motion, double vision, rose blush; where the spirit meets the bones; with great power; on top of the world with you; my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand by AppleJuiz. Fanfic of the Tom Holland Spiderman movies. AppleJuiz is my favourite writer in this fandom for the way they nail the voice of MJ. They do a great job of striking a balance between the intellectual self-awareness and the emotional awkwardness. Peter is likewise a great balance of absolute disaster and observant sweetheart. Anyway, I was most delighted when AppleJuiz started writing new fic in this fandom. What’s listed here is a mix of new works and old rereads. One day I’ll have to get to their AtLA fic.

33. Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier. Historical fantasy. First book in the Blackthorn and Grim series. Reread for book club. I liked this book a lot when I first read it. However, while rereading it I really noticed the trope of sexual woman as villain, which somewhat soured it for me. Nevertheless, I still love the characters of Blackthorn and Grim — Blackthorn for her feminist rage and Grim for his sweetness and loyalty.

34. Two Rogues Make A Right by Cat Sebastian. Historical m/m romance. Third book in the Seducing the Sedgwicks series. Will kidnaps his childhood friend, taking him out to the country to nurse him back to health. A charming story between a ray of sunshine and a bramble bush. I enjoyed the exploration of the agency of the chronically ill. I also loved the depth of loyalty between the characters, the sense that they would march into hell and back for each other.

35. Deadlock by Moira Rogers. Paranormal f/m romance. Third book in the Southern Arcana series. An empath doctor finds herself thrown together with a werewolf alpha after an attack on another empath. I’ve been a bit meh about the other books in this series, but it starts to find its stride in this book.

DNF

Stormsong by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. Second book in the Kingston Cycle. Dame Grace sets out to save the kingdom while trying to evade the interest of a beautiful and intrepid reporter. I loved the first book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It was very much a case of it being me and not the book. There is a lot more politics in this book and I just didn’t have the bandwidth to read about a privileged young woman discover her privilege (though I could, no doubt, learn a lot from it).

Acquisitions

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
Stormsong by C.L. Polk
By Earth by T. Thorn Coyle

The post Mt TBR Report: March 2021 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

If you’ve been following along with my posts for a while, you’ll know that this year hasn’t been the best time for my reading. And if you’ve been following me for a long time, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Intisar Khanani’s work. My review of Thorn dates back to the second year of this blog. In the time since then, Thorn was picked up by a major publisher, revised and rereleased last year. The Theft of Sunlight is Khanani’s first full-length work since 2016 and serves as something of a companion novel to Thorn. It also proved the perfect book to bust through my reading slump.

The kingdom of Menaiya has been plagued for years by Snatchers stealing their children. No one knows who these Snatchers are, and those few children who manage to escape risk a curse awakening in their blood that leaves them a husk of their former self. The only cure for this curse also wipes their memory… and any clue as to the identity of the Snatchers. When the sister of a friend is the latest to go missing, Rae decides to travel from her family’s horse ranch to stay with a cousin in the royal court. There, she hopes to persuade someone to investigate properly. Instead, she finds that someone is her when she is recruited to serve as an attendant to the foreign princess about to marry into the Menaiyan royal family.

Thorn and The Theft of Sunlight have something of a complicated relationship. Thorn was a retelling of the Goose Girl set in an original, richly imagined world. The Theft of Sunlight is not a retelling. Instead it has taken the world set up by Thorn and built on it, filling out some of the elements and themes. Although it’s not a direct sequel, the characters of Thorn are still present and get plenty of screen time. The Theft of Sunlight gives enough context that it can stand alone reasonably well. But for a full appreciation of the nuances of what’s going on (and if you care at all about spoilers), I’d highly recommend first reading Thorn and The Bone Knife (a short story included in the 2020 republication of Thorn).

While I enjoyed seeing more of Princess Alyrra and Prince Kestrin, Rae is undeniably the star of the show. She is pragmatic, down-to-earth and deeply loyal. But she does not give that loyalty blindly. Indeed, she has some serious misgivings about serving the Princess after her first day on the job. Even her cousin’s husband is treated with a wary affection, for while she likes him and approves of his deep love of her cousin, Rae is also aware that Lord Filadon is a nobleman through and through, with his own agenda and manipulations.

Rae is not without her flaws, however. She is blunt-spoken and somewhat prickly because she is used to being judged by her disability. She is also aware of her own tendency to be similarly judgemental, particularly when she feels someone is too pretty to be trusted. Her self-awareness and resolve to do better makes her more sympathetic.

As well as continuing the story of some of Thorn‘s characters, The Theft of Sunlight also picks up some of its themes. In particular, it touches on the risks of living as a young woman. It is not always safe to walk the streets alone in certain neighbourhoods; sometimes it’s not even safe in company. This was present in Thorn, too, but The Theft of Sunlight takes it one step further, showing how much of self defence relies on the notion of being able to run. But what does one do when one isn’t able to run?

Another theme that is expanded upon is the rule of law versus the honour of thieves. Both books in the series show a broken justice system where victims are ignored or gaslighted. When the guards aren’t interested in investigating, the protagonists have turned to thieves for help and a more makeshift kind of justice. While this turns out reasonably okay in Thorn, the limitations are highlighted in The Theft of Sunlight. Not all thieves are honourable or loveable (though some definitely are). And in some cases, Rae’s alliance with Red Hawk brought her significantly more trouble.

Issues of justice, human trafficking, abuse and questionable power dynamics aren’t exactly light going. I found them balanced out with the author’s trademark style. While there are some absolutely awful people, her protagonists genuinely care about others. They are concerned with kindness and doing the right thing. Nor are they alone, since there are affectionate moments with many secondary characters. It’s a tone I feel will appeal to fans of The Goblin Emperor and the work of Becky Chambers.

Investigative novels can get a bit bogged down with talking between characters and thinking through the clues. However, the pace here remained good with enough action to keep things lively. The one downside is that the story finished on a terrible cliffhanger, with the sequel not expected until next year.

I can’t wait.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Published: March 2021 by HarperTeen
Format reviewed: E-book (mobi), 528 pages
Series: Dauntless Path #2
Genres: Fantasy YA
Source: NetGalley
Available: Abbey’s ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Indiebound ~ Kobo

The post The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

Mt TBR Report: February 2021

My reading for this year continues to be a lot slower than it has in the past. This seems to be a general trend, but I also found myself contending with some major changes to routine and I still haven’t found my new groove. A recent obsession with the game Hades probably hasn’t helped. My reading for the month mostly focused on shorter, more fluffy content. I’m considering revising my reading goals down so they don’t become a source of stress. It seems I’m just not feeling it at the moment.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2021: 426
Mt TBR @ 31 January 2021: 430
Mt TBR @ 28 February 2021: 429

Items Read

14. Blackwood by Pia Foxhall. M/M shifter romance. First book in the Perth Shifters series. Reread.

15. The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall. M/M shifter romance. Second book in the Perth Shifters series. Reviewed here.

16. Near Miss by Narrelle M. Harris. Contemporary f/f romance. A short story about the lead singer of a band and a hair dresser who keep almost meeting. Sweet and optimistic, though a little too reliant on the concept of fate for me.

17. Frostgilded by Stephanie Burgis. Fantasy romance. Epilogue novelette to The Harwood Spellbook series. In the midst of Winter Solstice celebrations at her college and a visit from her in-laws, Cassandra attempts to prepare for a very special anniversary with her husband. Another sweet story, predictable but perfect.

18. Five for Heaven by KJ Charles. Fantasy romance. Epilogue short story to the A Charm of Magpies series. Having fled China to Japan, Stephen hopes Lucien and the rest of the crew will settle in for a while. I enjoyed seeing the ways in which this “happily ever after” hasn’t been all smooth sailing, though the affection between all the characters remains as strong as ever.

19. Mission: Improper by Bec McMaster. Fantasy romance. First book in London Steampunk: The Blue Blood Conspiracy. When large groups of people start to go missing without a trace, passionate rivals are forced to join a new taskforce and team up to solve the case. Entertainingly full of action and suspense.

20. The Mech Who Loved Me by Bec McMaster. Fantasy romance. Second book in London Steampunk: The Blue Blood Conspiracy. When the forensic investigator is given her first proper case outside the laboratory, she’s paired with a rebellious mech for protection. The series seems to be leaning heavily into the idea that opposites attract. I particularly enjoyed seeing the softer side of Kincaid, both with his family and with Ava.

21. The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard. Dark fantasy. First book in the Dominion of the Fallen. Read for book club. In an alternate history Paris, something keeps killing off members of one of the great magical Houses. A bit too grimdark for my tastes. While I appreciate characters with flaws, these characters seemed almost solely flaws and nothing else. A shame, because the worldbuilding was quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed the Chinese dragons.

Acquisitions

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
From Baby Brain to Writer Brain by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Witchmark by C.L. Polk
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

The post Mt TBR Report: February 2021 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall

Published: Self-published in November 2020
Format reviewed: E-book (epub), 252 pages
Series: Perth Shifters #2
Genres: Romance, contemporary fantasy
Source: Kobo
Available: Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Booktopia ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.

Omega Aodhan Donne has buried his past, his life revolves around his chocolaterie, Little Star, a place where he creates sweet and happy memories. Demisexual, and used to being shoved in the friends category by the time he falls for someone, he throws all his energy into creating romantic moments for others in his store, neglecting his needs. His highlight for two years has been the man who visits his shop every Tuesday.

Beta Thomas Wilson is an historian who believes the past should be unearthed, working as the curator at Western Australia’s only shifter museum, educating children and adults about shifter history. Quiet and hard-working, he allows himself to visit Aodhan at Little Star once a week, as a treat.

When Aodhan decides he wants to get know Thomas better, he offers him a window into a complicated history that influenced the lives of shifters in the whole of Australia, and faces the possibility of Thomas learning too much about his dark past.

After deciding to take it slow, their unconventional relationship becomes a whirlwind, sweeping them up together and blowing open the doors hiding their painful pasts. They couldn’t face their truths alone, but if they’re willing to face them together, Aodhan and Thomas may get the love they’ve always yearned for.

February is the month for romance novels. But not every romance novel is light and fluffy. The Gentle Wolf shows how romance can tackle heavy issues while still exploring the joy of new love.

Character is crucial in a story like this. Both Aodhan and Thomas are likeable, sympathetic people. They work hard and are devoted to their respective professions.

Aodhan strives to make his chocolaterie, Little Star, a safe haven — a place for joyous moments for his customers. This is partly a coping mechanism for dealing with a very traumatic past. However, the scenes at the cafe also show his genuine caring for other people. We get to see how he engineers opportunities to better the lives of his employees — creating a secure job for a formerly homeless man and facilitating training for his assistant — while also taking a very sincere interest in their lives.

Thomas is passionate about shifter history and dedicated to educating the community. Like Aodhan, he’s a great boss who values the specialist knowledge of his employee and encourages her to research and design her own exhibits.

Thomas’s museum is one of the places where the worldbuilding really shines. The story is set in contemporary Perth, albeit an alternate history version where wolf shifters outed themselves to the public in the 80s. Although shifters have gained the general acceptance of the public, there’s still a lot of ignorance prevalent. By allowing the reader to sit in on part of a school group Thomas is educating, the author allows us to not only see Thomas in his element, but also show us how shifters fit into the science of this world.

This also ties in to one of the most brilliant things about this book: its grasp of intersectional marginalisation. Although it is touched on only briefly, it is made clear that while shifters are present in both Indigenous and Anglo societies, each have different attitudes and cultures involving shifters. More relevantly, the story shows that even though shifters have emerged into public consciousness and have won themselves rights, those rights aren’t distributed equally. Alphas remain privileged in both shifter and human societies, while omegas have little protection from abuse. This has been a particular theme not only of this book, but the series as a whole.

As you might have gathered, this is a book that comes with some trigger warnings — which is helpfully announced up front and the details included in the back to assist both those who need the warnings and those looking to avoid spoilers. Readers with sensitivities around child abuse, incest and PTSD will want to tread carefully. No abuse is ever shown explicitly on screen, but remains a shadow cast over the story.

Which may make the novel sound like it’s all doom and gloom. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a story about healing, and while that is often difficult for the characters, the author makes sure to share with us their moments of joy. Aodhan takes genuine pleasure in being a wolf, and there are some lovely scenes of gatherings with friends, not to mention the excitement of new love. Plus, getting to see the characters begin to come to terms with their issues is cathartic.

It should be noted that healing is not a fast process, so some readers may find the book a little slow. However, I found it entirely suitable to the subject matter and never felt like it dragged. I did feel there was a bit of an imbalance between the characters, with more focus being devoted to Aodhan. But this also felt somewhat appropriate. The issues that these characters face, while both serious, are not equal: Thomas experienced one abusive relationship as an adult, whereas Aodhan faced years of abuse by his family as a child. It makes sense that the latter is going to have a greater impact and need more time and energy to come to terms with.

One last thing that should be mentioned, particularly in relation to representation, is that Aodhan is demisexual. I’m not the best person to judge the quality of this depiction, but I found it a refreshing choice for a romance novel, particularly one that features explicit sex. It is made clear that although it takes Aodhan a fair bit of time before he feels sexual attraction to a person — needing to be around them and establish a friendship first — he is still more than capable of feeling that attraction.

On the whole, The Gentle Wolf is a thoughtful and intelligent romance novel that deals sensitively with some difficult topics. It is a very fitting addition to the Perth Shifters series and I hope to see more in the future.

The post The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

Mt TBR Report: January 2021

My reading for 2021 has been off to a bit of a lacklustre beginning; January involved lots of short bits and pieces, and I seemed to go in fits and starts.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2021: 426
Mt TBR @ 31 January 2021: 430

Items Read

1. The Absinthe Earl by Sharon Lynn Fisher. Alternate history, fantasy romance. First book in the Faery Rehistory series. A young Englishwoman conducting an anthropological study of fairies is convinced by an Irish lord to accompany him as he investigates a mysterious ruin. This was not my jam. It was way more bonkers fantasy than alternate history and the romance suffered from more sex than emotional intimacy.

2. Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller. Reviewed here.

3. The Left-handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. Alternate history, fantasy. Susan travels to London to search for the father she never met. Instead, she finds a magical society responsible for keeping order between the worlds. Another book that was more bonkers fantasy than alternate history, although this one pulled it off much better by being less angsty and more fun. Although the age of the protagonist should put this more in the category of New Adult, it had more of a YA vibe about it. There was a light romance subplot that felt a bit shoehorned in and could have been dispensed with entirely. But on the whole, a lot of fun.

4. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Reread.

5. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. Reread.

6. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. Reread.

7. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. Reread.

8. Network Effect by Martha Wells. Science fiction. Fifth book (and first novel) of the Murderbot Diaries. Murderbot and its human associates are kidnapped. They must free themselves and come to the aid of an old friend. As delightful as I’d hoped, action-packed and full of feelings. My one complaint was that some of the pseudo-technical jargon got a little hard to follow in places, but it didn’t slow me down much.

10. Fierce Protector by Kit Rocha. Post-apocalyptic romance. A vignette following the Beyond series. Hawk picks up a puppy for Jeni. Cute enough, but didn’t do much for me. Perhaps it has been too long since I read the original series.

11. The Way the Sky Curves by J.C. Hart. Fantasy romance novella. First book in the Kotahi Bay series. A young woman with powerful magic flees her abusive boyfriend and back to her estranged family. I very much enjoyed the setting: a magically protected corner of New Zealand. However, there were pacing issues, particularly around the development of relationships.

12. Cravings by Kit Rocha. Post-apocalyptic romance. A vignette following the Beyond series. In the final stages of her pregnancy, Noelle prepares to hand over her job and Jasper works on the nursery. I liked this a little better than Fierce Protector, mostly for the way it showed the community looking out for each other.

13. Uncle Ashwin by Kit Rocha. Post-apocalyptic romance. A vignette following the Gideon’s Riders series. Ashwin’s super soldier training has left him unprepared to be an uncle. Sweet and hopeful.

Acquisitions

Unnatural Order edited by Lyss Wickramasinghe and Alis Franklin
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven
Near Miss by Narrelle M. Harris
Brambles by Intisar Khanani
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty
The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster
The Prince of Secrets by A.J. Lancaster
You Are Not Your Writing by Angela Slatter
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Talking to My Country by Stan Grant

The post Mt TBR Report: January 2021 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller

Published: October 2019 by University of Queensland Press
Format reviewed: Paperback, 280 pages
Genres: Young adult thriller, magical realism
Source:
Available: Publisher (print and electronic) ~ Abbey’s ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Indiebound ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Stacey and Laney are twins — mirror images of each other — and yet they’re as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey works hard at school, determined to get out of their small town. Laney skips school and sneaks out of the house to meet her boyfriend. But when Laney disappears one night, Stacey can’t believe she’s just run off without telling her.

As the days pass and Laney doesn’t return, Stacey starts dreaming of her twin. The dreams are dark and terrifying, difficult to understand and hard to shake, but at least they tell Stacey one key thing — Laney is alive. It’s hard for Stacey to know what’s real and what’s imagined and even harder to know who to trust. All she knows for sure is that Laney needs her help.

Stacey is the only one who can find her sister. Will she find her in time? 

Ghost Bird belongs most comfortably in the genre of the YA thriller. A certain subsection of this genre likes to play coy about the presence of supernatural elements. Examples include Black by Fleur Ferris, Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein and Flight of the Fantail by Steph Matuku. By the end, each of these books definitively answers whether the speculative elements played with are considered real within the story’s world. Ghost Bird also has definitive answers, making it very at home in this subgenre. However, its identity as an Indigenous Australian Own Voices narrative makes it difficult to call the story a speculative one. After all, referring to what may be a part of a living Indigenous tradition as fantasy or speculative seems neither respectful nor accurate.

Cleverly, this tension between Western and Indigenous thought is one of the central themes of Ghost Bird. The story is written in first person present tense from the perspective of Stacey. She is intelligent, rational and takes her education very seriously — too seriously, according to some of her family, who feel she should be paying more heed to traditional ways. However, the death of her grandmother left Stacey disillusioned with those teachings, and so at first she brushes off her dreams about her missing twin. After all, they’re probably just a product of her worried subconscious, right? And the secrecy with which her elders treat certain important information hinders Laney’s rescue, adding to Stacey’s frustration (and is much in keeping with the trope of useless adults in YA). It is up to her to do the research, interview the people and put together the clues. Thus, the dichotomy between Western rationalism and Indigenous teachings is not shown as a clear-cut matter, with both ways having their advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, Stacey needs both to succeed.

Clearer cut are the lines of race that divide the town. The book is set in a small Queensland town with a long history of conflict between the Indigenous population and the white settlers. This conflict is shown in a number of ways throughout the story. Most obviously, certain extremely racist members of the township serve as the manifest villains of the piece. Laney goes missing after she and her boyfriend make a raid on their property and it’s not immediately clear whether this was due to the farmers or to something sinister living in the taboo caves on the corner of their property. These characters also represent a physical threat to Stacey and her friends as they go to investigate. However, racism is also present in less direct ways. The readers are shown the contrast in how the police handle missing persons cases based on race. We’re also told about the effective segregation in place at the local pub and even to some extent the town as a whole.

In addition to the conflict around race, we also get to witness the divisions in the Indigenous population of the town. Stacey’s family had been feuding with the Miller family since time out of memory. Which becomes a problem when Stacey suspects Mad May Miller has some understanding of what’s going on.

All of this conflict is balanced out with a large and affectionate family. Certainly, Stacey has her issues with both her sister and her mother, but they stem from a deep and genuine love and there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to protect them. We also get to see her relationship with her grandparents, full of small gestures that speak of love. And her cousin Rhiannon provides some much-needed company on Stacey’s adventures. In many ways, Rhiannon serves as a stand-in for the absent Laney, being close in both age and affection to Stacey. She also provides a boldness that Stacey lacks, inciting her to break the rules in ways Stacey might not otherwise have considered, thus moving the plot along.

There is the suggestion of romance present in the narrative, barely there by the standards of most YA. This light touch worked well, given the story’s strong focus on family. Other relationships took priority.

Since its publication, Ghost Bird has received some critical acclaim, winning the Norma K. Hemming Award for Long Work (alongside From Here On, Monsters by Elizabeth Bryer), the Queensland Literary Award’s Young Adult Book Award, the Readings Young Adult Book Prize, and receiving Honours from the Children’s Book Council of Australia. However, there are a few things that may mean some readers struggle to find it accessible.

Foremost among these is the time in which it’s set. This is not a contemporary story, but occurs back in 1999. This is a curious choice, but may have been made to circumvent the advent of mobile phones, making it more difficult for Stacey’s often absent mother to check up on her. It also relieves the need for the author to update the pop culture references made. While it may be very nostalgic for readers of a certain age to moon over Tupac or bop along to TLC’s Waterfall, it may also make it a little harder for a contemporary teenager to relate.

There’s a further stumbling block for non-Australian readers in the use of Australian dialect. Most of it is fairly easy to intuit, but there are one or two instances that may prove more arcane for some readers. Relatedly, a stylistic choice has been made to skip using apostrophes to denote abbreviations related to dialect, for example “Ya could always go and help im.” I found this lack a mercy, since their inclusion often makes for cluttered lines. However, I once again acknowledge it may make things more difficult for some readers.

This is not a book that tiptoes around delicate sensibilities. There’s plenty of swearing, a bit of violence, an attempted sexual assault on screen and the implication of domestic violence off it.

Despite all that, my final criticism of the story is that it is just a shade slow-paced in the middle. Stacey spends just a little too long waiting for news and not putting pieces together.

However, on the whole, it is a thoughtful and engaging work — an excellent debut novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. I will be on the lookout for more from this author in the future.

The post Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

2021 Reading Goals & Mt TBR Report: December 2020

Happy New Year! I hope those of you celebrating had wonderful holidays. I could have used a little more reading, but had a wonderful time with family.

This is usually the part where I look back over my reading stats for the past year, but I have decided to forego the navel-gazing this time. There were a couple of trends I’ll note, all of which were related to COVID-19. The major lockdown period for my hometown ran from March until the end of May (we have been very lucky). During those months, I read more than average and the books I read were largely sourced from my existing TBR pile. Library loans for 2020 were significantly down on previous years, due to the closure of the library.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2020: 427
Mt TBR @ 30 November 2020: 420
Mt TBR @ 31 December 2020: 424

Items Read

161. The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex by Tamsyn Muir. Science fiction short story in the Locked Tomb series. The academics of the Sixth house unseal the study of one of their most notorious members and find themselves with a mystery on their hands. A fun, though somewhat bittersweet look back at the childhood of some of the side characters from Gideon the Ninth.

162. Good Neighbours by Stephanie Burgis. Fantasy short story. Hoping for some peace and quiet, a grumpy inventor moves next door to a spooky castle. A charming meetcute. I’m looking forward to reading more.

163. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. Contemporary romance. A plus-sized fashion blogger is offered the chance to star in her favourite reality TV show. I found this one a little difficult going for the way that it digs into fatphobia, but I also appreciated it all the more for that. I wasn’t wholly sold on the end, since it felt like it remembered at the last minute that it was supposed to be a romance novel. And, indeed, it doesn’t feel much like a traditional romance novel but something more akin to women’s fiction.

165. Critical Role: Vox Machina – Origins, Vol. 1 by Matthew Mercer, Matthew Colville and Olivia Samson. Six would-be heroes find themselves drawn together as they investigate dark happenings in a swamp-side town. I’m not familiar with the oeuvre of Critical Role, but I am a D&D player, and I found the story accessible enough. It shows the influence of its original medium in the kinds of characters and the wordiness of many of the panels. Not exactly deep, and a little dark in places, but an enjoyable read.

166. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Classic fiction. A young, naive woman travels to Bath for the first time, where she makes a number of friends of varying quality. I can see why this is not one of Austen’s more popular novels; the hero in particular felt a little flat to me. However, the parts satirising Gothic novels were very entertaining.

167. Crossroads by Moira Rogers. Paranormal romance. Second in the Southern Arcana series. After yearning for each other for years, a recently-turned werewolf hooks up with the princess of the US werewolves. Unfortunately, their union is cut short when the princess’s twin sister arrives, in fear for her life. As I have said before, Moira Rogers is another pseudonym Kit Rocha used for some of their earlier work and it shows. It has much of the same feelings of community and found family, but this has a lot less of the polish.

168. Death at the Blue Elephant by Janeen Webb. A collection of short sci-fi and fantasy stories. It leans a little too horror for my taste, but all well written.

Acquisitions

Silk and Steel edited by Janine A. Southard
The Pearl by Tiffany Reisz
The Councillor by E.J. Beaton
Rebuilding Tomorrow by Tsana Dolichva
Curse of Bronze by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Mythos by Stephen Fry
Heroes by Stephen Fry
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian

Reading Goals

My reading goals for 2020 were fairly modest. I set my Goodreads goal for 150 books and made 159. I also aimed to read or get rid of the ten oldest books on my TBR pile and got through seven of those.

Since these goals served me reasonably well, I have decided to repeat them for 2021. For the ten oldest books, I shall carry over the three from last year that I didn’t get to and add seven more to fill out the number. I’ve also cheated a little with the titles to avoid tackling too many tomes in one year. The titles are:

The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Choosing Happiness by Stephanie Dowrick
The Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Bobby K. Ward
The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker
The Illiad by Homer
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Wish me luck! In the meantime, if you have reading goals for the year, I’d love to hear them.

The post 2021 Reading Goals & Mt TBR Report: December 2020 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

My Favourite Reads of 2020

As usual, Earl Grey Editing will be shutting down over the Christmas break. I’ll be on holiday from today until 4 January.

Since this is my last post of the year, I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite reads of 2020. This comes with the usual caveat that these are not books that were necessarily published this year, just read by me this year.

Speculative fiction

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. When a postgrad student in computer game narrative discovers a mysterious book in the university library, he finds himself caught up in a battle to save a strange and magical refuge. This book was quite divisive in my book club and I was in the minority of those who loved it. I found it to be a beautiful tale crammed full with symbols and stories. The structure is twisty, switching back and forth between the main plot and several interconnected stories; I wouldn’t recommend listening to this one on audio. The pace might strike some as slow in places, but I thought it did some very clever things in relation to time–which is a key theme… or character. I also liked the inclusion of a queer romantic plotline.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. When the Emperor calls the heirs of the nine houses to a trial of necromantic skills, Gideon finds herself dragooned into serving as a cavalier to her most hated enemy: the head of her house. I was a bit dubious this would live up to the hype, but while I knew it was something akin to lesbian Warhammer, no one told me it was actually a manor house murder mystery in disguise. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. An ambassador to a powerful empire investigates the death of her predecessor while navigating the intricacies of foreign culture and politics. This won the Hugo Award for Best Novel this year and deservedly so. Mahit is very relatable as she tries to stay alive long enough to figure out who to trust. The book balances intrigue and action in a satisfying way, while delving into issues of identity and colonialism.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. The youngest, half-goblin son of an elvish emperor inherits the throne after an accident kills the emperor and his heirs. I’m very late to the party on this one, to my regret. This is a very gentle story with a sweet protagonist who is just doing his best to deal with the overwhelming obligations he’s suddenly inherited as well as the trauma of his upbringing.

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace. A ghost hunter strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier to go into the underworld and find his partner. I found it bleak to begin with, but got sucked in by the relationship between Wasp and the ghost. It was refreshing to see a strong platonic friendship between a man and a woman. The worldbuilding was also a great mix of fantasy and science fiction, which I adored. And the ending was pitch perfect.

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer. Steph and her mum have been on the run for years. Her only friends are a chat group in an online community called CatNet. Unbeknownst to Steph, the group is run by a sentient AI who goes by CheshireCat. When danger threatens Steph and her mum, CheshireCat steps in to try and help. This was such a great story. There’s a wonderful feeling of found family, particularly as the members of CatNet come together online (and, later, in person) to help Steph. CheshireCat reads convincingly as young, despite being an AI–their intentions are good but the actions they take have ramifications they haven’t predicted. In addition to the romantic interest, the queer vibes are somewhat reinforced by CheshireCat’s “coming out” as an AI. It’s an action-packed story with a bit of violence; people with sensitivities to stalking and domestic abuse should tread carefully.

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri. The illegitimate daughter of a governor comes to the attention of the Emperor for her magic. She is married off to one of the Emperor’s mystics as a way of enslaving her powers. A brilliant book. Mehr is a racial minority in the territory governed by her father, but protected by his position. I loved that this privilege is shown as having pros and cons. On one hand, she hasn’t had to worry about her safety or comfort. On the other hand, her sheltered ignorance puts her in danger. The story also comes with a deliciously slow-burning romance. The sequel, Realm of Ash, was equally brilliant, sealing Tasha Suri as an author I’ll be following in the future.

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings.  A young lady in a rural Australian town goes searching for clues about the disappearance of her father and brothers. Delightfully atmospheric, with a very poetical turn of phrase. I loved seeing scraps of fairytales and folklore be twisted into something new and Australian flavoured. The structure was also clever, involving one overarching story containing several other stories which can be read discretely, though as they are all set in the same region we also get to see how they influence the overarching story in subtle ways.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. In 1920s Mexico, a poor young woman accidentally frees the Mayan god of death. She must set out on a road trip to collect his missing parts before he drains the life from her. This was a brilliant story, full of nuance. The balance between the romance elements and Casiopea’s independence was deftly handled. Her antagonistic cousin was shown as having understandable motives, while not letting him off the hook for his actions. Highly recommended.

Romance

Just go ahead and assume I’d include on this list pretty much everything Courtney Milan has ever written. But for a representative sample:

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan. A duke incognito returns to the village he used to visit yearly in the hopes he can convince the woman he’s in love with to marry him. The characters were adorable. I found Chloe’s preoccupation with her lists and ambitions very relatable.

Non-fiction

Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men by Caroline Criado Perez. Takes an accessible look at the gender bias in design and data collection, and the ways this ripples outward to affect every part of society. Well worth reading.

A is for Arsenic: The poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup. An examination of fourteen of the poisons used in Christie’s novels, detailing the origin and history of the poison, how it affects the body, known cures, real-life cases and how they were used in the novels. I’ve not read any of Christie’s stories, but I still found this utterly fascinating.

Poetry

Late in the Day: Poems 2010-2014 by Ursula K. Le Guin. Pretty much what it says on the cover. I have a soft spot for nature poetry, and Le Guin, of course, has a way with words.

The post My Favourite Reads of 2020 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

Mt TBR Report: November 2020

There are two months of the year that historically bad times for my reading and both precede months of major celebrations. One is August (just about everyone I know has a birthday in September). The other is November. This year hasn’t proved any different, though a last-minute surge meant that my overall TBR stats broke even with last month.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2020: 427
Mt TBR @ 31 October: 420
Mt TBR @ 30 November: 420

Items Read

150. Unclaimed by Courtney Milan. Historical f/m romance. Second book in the Turner series. Reread.

151. Unraveled by Courtney Milan. Historical f/m romance. Third book in the Turner series. A tightly repressed judge finds himself falling for a young woman being coerced into interfering with criminal proceedings by the local crime boss. This was a bit of a change of tone from the rest of the series, leaning into thriller territory a bit more. But it was packed full of feels and a delight to read.

153. The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. YA speculative fiction. A prince living on a technological island in the sky crashes to the land below and into the life of a young magician, the last of her people’s living gods. I really struggled to get into this book and suspect it was a case of me rather than the book. It’s fairly standard YA fare: action, betrayal, romance.

154. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Magical realism. Book club pick. In 1920s Mexico, a poor young woman accidentally frees the Mayan god of death. She must set out on a road trip to collect his missing parts before he drains the life from her. This was a brilliant story, full of nuance. The balance between the romance elements and Casiopea’s independence was deftly handled. Her antagonistic cousin was shown as having understandable motives, while not letting him off the hook for his actions. Highly recommended.

155. Birthday Gift by Courtney Milan. Historical fiction. Prequel short story to the Turner series. Reread.

156. Out of the Frying Pan by Courtney Milan. Historical fiction. Short story following the Turner series. Richard Dalrymple starts to realise fear has led him into becoming a bit of a terrible person. Not necessary for the series, but satisfying nonetheless.

158. Wrapped Up in You by Talia Hibbert. Contemporary romance novella. A superstar actor returns home to England for Christmas with his twin best friends, with the intention of wooing the recently-divorced Abbie. If Will wasn’t modelled after a British version of Chris Evans, I will give up drinking tea. This book was chock-full of feels, stomping a little on my heart for good measure. I especially appreciated Will’s earnestness and was entertained by the way Abbie’s grandmother kept trying to throw them together. A perfect read for the festive season.

159. Jung and the Tarot by Sallie Nichols. Non-fiction. Less a survey of Jung’s relationship to the tarot than a highly subjective interpretation of the Major Arcana using a few of his tools. While interesting in places, it wasn’t really what I was looking for. Also, being written in 1980, I found it very dated at times.

160. Travelogues by Kathleen Jennings. The subtitle sums it up best: vignettes from trains in motion. Part poetry sketchbook, part travel journal. These were composed from a series of tweets made while journeying in the US and the UK. There are some beautiful turns of phrase and the writer shows her training as an artist through her attention to colour.

Items Acquired

Good Neighbors by Stephanie Burgis
Mission Improper by Bec McMaster
The Mech Who Loved Me by Bec McMaster
The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall
Frostgilded by Stephanie Burgis
Wrapped Up in You by Talia Hibbert

The post Mt TBR Report: November 2020 first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.

Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke

Published: December 2020
Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)
Series: Poison Wars #2
Genres: Fantasy
Available: Abbey’s ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Indiebound ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.

When I decided to revive the Earl Grey Editing blog, I’d originally intended to resume at the beginning of 2021: a new year, a new start. Then I heard that Hollow Empire was being released in December and I knew I couldn’t wait. City of Lies was such a stunning debut that I needed to get my hands on the sequel ASAP.

Two years have passed since the siege of Silasta. On the surface, the city has healed. Tensions still exist between the Darfri and the Silastans, but work is being done to bridge the rift. This has brought changes to the city: the population has increased, bringing correspondingly higher rates of crime.

Nevertheless, the Oromani siblings have prospered, lauded for their role in saving the city. However, the popular view of them is quite different. While Kalini is held up as the beloved saviour of Silasta, the secretive nature of Jovan’s role and its association with poison means he is commonly viewed as a sinister and shadowy figure in the background. This view of Jovan becomes a particular problem when it becomes apparent that an enemy is waging a subtle war to smear his reputation.

The characters remain one of the strongest aspects of this series. Although only two years have passed, Kalini and Jovan feel like they have matured, having had time to settle into adulthood without their Tashi. Nor have the other characters remained static. Tain has less of a presence in this book than the previous, but it’s clear that being poisoned has had an ongoing impact on his health. Hadrea remains as prickly as ever, in part due to her dissatisfaction with her training as a Speaker. Her irascibility serves to make the cracks in her relationship with Jovan all the more plain.

However, Hollow Empire isn’t a book solely about bringing the old gang back; it features new characters, too. With his Tashi gone and now that he’s not reeling from one disaster to the next (well, at least in the beginning), Jovan must ensure a proofer is ready to step up in case something happens to him. Enter Dija. Although she’s only 13 years old, she’s smart and wise beyond her years, level-headed in a crisis… of which there are plenty to test her mettle. She’s also good with people and quick to play the wide-eyed innocent, making her an excellent spy — and bringing together the strengths of both Oromani siblings. I rather hope we might see her as a point-of-view character in the future. Seeing her awkward, yet affectionate relationship with Jovan was a highlight of the book.

This relationship also affords a chance for the reader to experience along with Jovan the flip side of the relationship between proofer and apprentice. As an apprentice, Jovan trusted his uncle implicitly, bearing through the poisonings that were part of his training and working hard to develop the knowledge necessary for the role. As the teacher, Jovan is faced with the necessity of repeatedly poisoning a child, a fact with which he struggles, even as he knows the necessity. Compounding this is the disapproval from some of those closest to him, playing into his self-consciousness over his somewhat sinister reputation in the city.

The book also introduces the first gender nonbinary character of the series. Al-Sjease serves as the Oromani family’s household manager, a sweet person who respects their employer’s privacy and offers wisdom when it is most needed. The cast was already reasonably diverse in relation to race, so it’s nice to see Hollow Empire follow that lead along the axis of gender. It also expands its representation of disability. Although Jovan’s compulsiveness and Kalini’s chronic health issues are less prominent than in the previous book, Silastra’s new Warrior-Guilder sports a prosthetic leg. This is nicely underplayed, shown as a part of who she is and not a big deal.

As with the previous book, Hollow Empire deals with lots of weighty subjects. A key plot development centres around Kalina’s forthcoming appointment as Ambassador to the Talafan, a country which offers a patriarchal contrast to the more equitable Silasta. This allows some of the feminist concerns present in the series to be explored in more detail. Issues regarding consent, sexual harassment, and the disenfranchisement of women are all touched on. As Tain and the city seek to learn from past mistakes, issues of reparation are also brought up. There were some very relatable parts around the short memories of institutions and their reluctance to change.

In fact, if there’s one criticism I have of the book, it’s that there was too much going on. There wasn’t the time to dig into all of these themes in a satisfying way. I also felt that some of the sense of place that characterised the first book was missing from this one, sacrificed to the twisty plot. I particularly felt this in the parts that took place outside the city, and therefore couldn’t rely on the weight of the previous book to carry it through.

However, Hollow Empire remains an excellent intrigue. There were red herrings and more than enough twists to hook me in and keep me there from beginning to end. It was absolutely worth an early return to reviewing just for a chance to read it. I have my fingers crossed for another book in the series.

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