Siavahda's Blog, page 14

Strong Until It Starts to Rot: Motheater by Linda H. Codega

Motheater by Linda H. Codega
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black bisexual MC, sapphic MC, F/F, minor gay character
PoV: Third-person, past-tense; multiple PoVs
Published on: 21st January 2025
ISBN: 1645661814
Goodreads

In this nuanced queer fantasy set amid the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, the last witch of the Ridge must choose sides in a clash between industry and nature.

After her best friend dies in a coal mine, Benethea “Bennie” Mattox sacrifices her job, her relationship, and her reputation to uncover what’s killing miners on Kire Mountain. When she finds a half-drowned white woman in a dirty mine slough, Bennie takes her in because it’s right—but also because she hopes this odd, magnetic stranger can lead her to the proof she needs.

Instead, she brings more questions. The woman called Motheater can’t remember her true name, or how she ended up inside the mountain. She knows only that she’s a witch of Appalachia, bound to tor and holler, possum and snake, with power in her hands and Scripture on her tongue. But the mystery of her fate, her doomed quest to keep industry off Kire Mountain, and the promises she bent and broke have followed her a century and half into the future. And now, the choices Motheater and Bennie make together could change the face of the town itself.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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~calm down mr bluejay
~magic vs mining
~don’t mess with a Neighbor

This book made me feel extremely autistic.

Not at first. The first half, maybe even the first two-thirds, are incredibly strong – and the prose is absolutely lovely throughout. I have never visited Appalachia, but Codega’s writing is rich and atmospheric, and the setting is – pretty literally! – a character in its own right. And the fact that none of our main characters are uncomplicatedly Nice/Good People? *chef’s kiss* Magnificent, and much approved!

“Faith’s only part of it. There’s more fire in me than blood. You pull on my red-string it’s liable to lead you to Old Scratch himself. You want to be a witch?” Motheater hissed, eyes wide. “For magic, you have to tie yourself to something greater, to a baptism. You bind yourself to power, an old creature, an ancient thing; the Witch-Father, the Devil’s Wife, the Moon Raker, the Drunken Child, the Last Bride. The old witches, the nightly powers. Then you give, and they give back.”

…But.

Look: it is possible that I was just being Extremely Autistic, and missing the obvious. But it sure felt like, the closer we got to the final pages, the more characters were suddenly changing long-held views without any warning – or, worse, any explanation. I could not figure out, even after combing back over what I’d read, when, or why, Esther decided the mining company coming into town might not be a bad thing. There seemed no groundwork laid for Motheater deciding she was the cause of the problem; she just abruptly comes to the conclusion that everything is her fault, actually, and I couldn’t figure out her reasoning. The (magical?) bond between Bennie and Motheater comes out of nowhere; it just seems to appear, suddenly, not grow over time. Bennie’s Intense Aversion to the whole scene with the tree was utterly baffling: I didn’t understand at all what was going on, when she’d been so into and excited by magic just the day before. Everything Esther did was for Kiron, until suddenly the book was all ‘she hasn’t been looking after Kiron at all actually, major fail!’ Despite previously deciding that Zach is more than culpable in nearly killing Motheater (actually killing her, as far as he knew) she goes back to thinking he’s a paragon later, apparently forgetting all her anger and disgust with him.

I just. What?

The moths were a Milky Way above them, soft silverine stars dotting the ceiling.

The characters aren’t the only thing that stopped making sense. I have no problem with soft magic systems – I love them! – but this one was contradictory. Literally: on one page Esther cannot cast a spell, isn’t able to, but then does it anyway a page later in the same scene. You become a Neighbor (a badass, extremely hardcore Appalachian witch) by making a bargain…but at one point Character A is made into a witch by Character B, which, how??? What??? Character C tells Motheater off for not tending to the souls, but then it’s revealed that Character C has been gathering them this whole time? What’s the problem then?

Hopefully some of that got fixed in copyedits – I did read an arc, after all, not a finished copy – but it was majorly frustrating.

The use of biblical quotes for Esther’s magic – for Appalachian magic in general – is something I’ve come across before, and I think was done really well here! And to be clear, the magic very much felt like magic, which I appreciated. I liked how wild and strange it felt, how earthy it was. But when so much of the plot rested on it…it did get frustrating, having no concept of where the limits were, what was and wasn’t possible. Nothing about it was really explained – Kire, the local mountain, is alive and sentient (in its way), and so are at least some trees, and some animals at least some of the time? I would have really liked to learn more about the framework of Esther’s magic; not the mechanics, but who or what the spirits are that she references sometimes, why she can do this but not that, how can this fucker over here use magic too? What’s the belief system, here?

There were quite a lot of writerly decisions that I didn’t like. Bennie, a Black woman, playing pretty useless sidekick to the white, powerful Motheater, for one. The way the ending fell out, for another. But there were also a lot of word choices that made me want to tear my hair out: for instance, at one point, Codega writes ‘warp and woof’ – which, hi, virtually none of your readers are going to know that woof is a technical, historical term for ‘weft’! Which means you using it there is just going to make us think of dogs! Or the insistence of using the word ‘cleavage’ to describe rocky surfaces, which PAINFULLY undermines the dramatic showdown with the sentient mountain in the climax! Come on.

The very worst, though, is the choice of the Big Bad, which I remain utterly confused about. It’s not much of a spoiler: although Bennie starts the book looking to shut down the mining company, which she believes is responsible for the deaths in the mines, by the halfway point everyone is very clear on Kire, the mountain, being the monster who needs to be stopped.

Whatever White Rock was doing couldn’t compare to what Kire threatened. White Rock’s miners disappeared in ones and twos. If Kire woke up, it could destroy the entire operation. Hundreds of White Rock’s miners, killed all at once, lost to an Appalachian appetite.

Some lip-service is paid to the idea that Kire’s anger at being mined is justified, but fundemantally, this is a book about Appalachian mining that decides the environment is the problem.

Play that back: we’re talking about mining. Mining coal, specifically. In rural, poor, Appalachia. And instead of the aggressive, indifferent-to-life, greedy, destructive mining companies being the issue…it’s the environment itself.

…That sure is a Choice That Was Made. One that seems extra wtf with the climate crisis going on outside.

To be clear, Motheater isn’t pro-mining companies or anything. I don’t think Codega intends for the book to be read that way. I’m just not sure how else I’m supposed to take it, when the monster that needs slaying is the mountain instead of the corporates. Did nobody in the editing process think that was a weird narrative decision??? Nobody???

Motheater’s short lashes, her cheekbones like chopped crystal, stunning like a mountain ridge.

I don’t know. The first half of this book was beautiful. I didn’t enjoy the last third at all. The ending wasn’t what I wanted; the Big Bad was definitely not what I wanted. I’d be happy to try another book from Codega in the future. But this one, I am, reluctantly, not a fan of.

Trigger warning: fairly graphic animal sacrifice

The post Strong Until It Starts to Rot: Motheater by Linda H. Codega appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Point of Hearts by Melissa Scott

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Point of Hearts by Melissa Scott!

Point of Hearts: A Novel of Astreiant by Melissa Scott
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay MC, bisexual MC, M/M
Published on: 20th March 2025
Goodreads

Secrets and danger stalk the streets of Astreiant…

Point of Hearts, Astreiant’s pleasure district, is being disrupted by an influx of scheming nobles who have descended upon the city for an aristocratic wedding. Mysterious carts smuggling something unknown through the night time streets and civil unrest are creating suspicion and turmoil. Adjunct Point Nicolas Rathe and his lover, Philip Eslingen, captain in the City Guard, are keeping an eye on an aristocrat under self-imposed house arrest when Rathe is injured during a riot. Pursued by false accusations, Eslingen takes him on the run to Point of Knives while they try to unravel a plot against the queen and her government that could destroy the city they love. Can they count on alliances from their pasts to keep them safe long enough to solve the mystery?

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NEW ASTREIANT NEW ASTREIANT AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

We were originally told this would be out around December last year, if I remember correctly, BUT I FORGIVE AND FORGET ABOUT ANY DELAY BECAUSE IT’S 240 PAGES AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

(A novella!!! They said it would be a novella!!! IT’S NOT A NOVELLA WE’RE GETTING A WHOLE NEW NOVEL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!)

So if it’s not obvious, I really, REALLY love the Astreiant series; I’ve been following it since it was with Lethe Press over a decade ago, and have happily purchased the new editions that came out with Queen of Swords press last year, AND kept up with the wonderful short stories on Scott’s Patreon. But the last time we got a new Astreiant book was in 2018! It has been some time! And we got many wonderful books from Scott between then and now (Water Horse may be my favourite of all her books so far) but YOU SEE PERHAPS WHY A NEW ASTREIANT BOOK IS AN EVENT!

If you’re not familiar with this series, you have plenty of time to get up to speed – Point of Hearts isn’t out until March! Plus, each book works perfectly well as a standalone, so you could probably just hop right into Point of Hearts without reading the others first, if you wanted. (But why would you want that???)

The series follows two queer men, Rathe and Eslingen, in their lives in the city of Astreiant: think matriarchal Elizabethan setting and you’re pretty much on the mark. Rathe is a pointsman, basically a detective, and Eslingen is his ex-mercenary lover who always winds up helping solve the mystery. It’s a queernorm world where astrology is not only real but extremely powerful, twice a year everyone’s ghosts come back to say hi, and flower-arranging can kill you. There’s so much political intrigue (although much of it is not the politics of the nobility, if that matters to you), the prose is rich and wonderful, and every last character is so incredibly human.

(Plus, although he doesn’t appear until book three, there is Sunflower, who is the Best Doggo!)

Passionately pleading with you to give this series a go – then you can flail with me as we wait for March!!!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Point of Hearts by Melissa Scott appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #219

Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.

EIGHT books this week!

(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)

Lupus in Fabula by Briar Ripley Page
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs
Published on: 13th January 2025
Goodreads

Lupus In Fabula collects thirteen stories about the interplay of lust, violence, yearning, and grief; about becoming a monster and loving monsters; about transformation; about strange occurrences in sad, mundane lives. Whether you prefer witches and werewolves, grisly body horror, or surreal scenes of small town decay, this collection offers something to sink your fangs into.

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Not sure how this one ended up on my radar and pretty sure it’ll give me nightmares, but I do not disapprove!

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Hawaiian nonbinary lesbian MC
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

HAMMAJANG | adjective. Definition: In a disorderly or chaotic state; messed up. Chiefly in predicative use, esp. in all hammajang. Etymology: A borrowing from Hawaiian Pidgin. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.

Edie is done with crime. Eight years behind bars changes a person - costs them too much time with too many of the people who need them most.

And it's all Angel's fault. She sold Edie out in what should have been the greatest moment of their lives. Instead, Edie was shipped off to the icy prison planet spinning far below the soaring skybridges and neon catacombs of Kepler space station - of home - to spend the best part of a decade alone.

But then a chance for early parole appears out of nowhere and Edie steps into the pallid sunlight to find none other than Angel waiting - and she has an offer.

One last job. One last deal. One last target. The trillionaire tech god they failed to bring down last time. There's just one thing Edie needs to do - trust Angel again - which also happens to be the last thing Edie wants to do. What could possibly go all hammajang about this plan?

Ocean's 8 meets Blade Runner in this trail-blazing debut science fiction novel and swashbuckling love letter to Hawai'i about being forced to find a new home and striving to build a better one - unmissable for fans of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

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A must for fans of sci fi heists! Which I am not, alas, but I’ve still liked excerpts from this one and I have massively enjoyed the author talking about the Hawaiian rep!

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Representation: Disabled Nigerian MC
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.

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From most authors I’d dismiss ‘the future of storytelling is here’ as grandstanding, but from Okorafor, I’m hopeful it might actually be true!

We Lived on the Horizon by Erika Swyler
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

A novel about a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI as they are drawn into a catastrophic war.

The city of Bulwark is aptly a walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted.

Saint Enita Malovis, long accustomed to luxury, feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. The lone practitioner of her art, Enita is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

A complex, imaginative, and unforgettable novel, We Lived on the Horizon grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.

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I’ve not read Book of Speculation, but this premise has had its hooks in me since I first came across it. I’m not sure why! Just. Kinda obsessed with the idea of descendants of a meritocracy based on virtue???

The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

A poignant and enchanting novel about a magical bookstore that transports a trans man through time and brings him face-to-face with his teenage self, offering him the chance of a lifetime to examine his life and identity to find a new beginning.

When Darby finds himself unemployed and in need of a fresh start, he moves back to the small Illinois town he left behind. But Oak Falls has changed almost as much as he has since he left.

One thing is familiar: In Between Books, Darby’s refuge growing up and eventual high school job. When he walks into the bookstore now, Darby feels an eerie sense of déjà vu—everything is exactly the same. Even the newspapers are dated 2009. And behind the register is a teen who looks a lot like Darby did at sixteen. . . who just might give Darby the opportunity to change his own present for the better—if he can figure out how before his connection to the past vanishes forever.

The In-Between Bookstore is a stunning novel of love, self-discovery, and the choices that come with both, for anyone who has ever wondered what their life might be like if they had the chance to go back and take a bigger, braver risk.

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I have only heard good things about this one; it promises many Feels!

Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy, #1) by Ed Crocker
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC/s
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.

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Here for a world without humans, please and thank you!

How To Survive This Fairytale by S. M. Hallow
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 16th January 2025
Goodreads

You are not a hero.
You don't get your True Love.
This is the part where you lose everything.
This is the part where you rewrite your story.

After losing everything in service to the Evil Queen, and driven to the edge of sanity by a cruel narrator who won't let him die, Hansel must bring himself to do the forge his own destiny or give up on his Happily Ever After.

For fans of T. Kingfisher's THORNHEDGE and Tamsyn Muir's HARROW THE NINTH, comes a story crafted by S. M. Hallow. Twining together a dark fairy tale retelling with mental health and disability representation plus queer normative world-building splashed with a cozy horror game vibe, HOW TO SURVIVE THIS FAIRYTALE is rewriting Happily Ever Afters.

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…I am very intrigued. That blurb is so mysterious, and I need answers. I am also wary, because I have been promised tragedy…but answers, I need them!!!

The Baby Dragon Café (The Baby Dragon, #1) by Aamna Qureshi
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Published on: 16th January 2025
Goodreads

The perfect read for fans of Pumpkin Spice Café and Legends and Lattes!

When Saphira opened up her café for baby dragons and their humans, she wasn’t expecting it to be so difficult to keep the fires burning. It turns out, young dragons are not the best magical animals to keep in a café, and replacing all that burnt furniture is costing Saphira more than she can afford from selling dragon-roasted coffee.

Aiden is a local gardener, and local heart-throb, more interested in his plants than actually spending time with his disobedient baby dragon. When Aiden walks into Saphira’s café, he has a genius idea – he'll ask Saphira to train his baby dragon, and he'll pay her enough to keep the café afloat.

Saphira’s happy-go-lucky attitude doesn’t seem to do anything but irritate the grumpy-but-gorgeous Aiden, except that everywhere she goes, she finds him there. But can this dragon café owner turn her fortunes around, and maybe find love along the way?

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It’ll be a while longer before we get the paper edition, but the ebook is out this week! And I will be pouncing on it, obviously, because BABY DRAGONS! That’s genuinely all I need to be sold on a book, please and thank you!

Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #219 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

In Short: 2024

I couldn’t find an End of Year tag I liked, so I invented my own! Because I have way too much fun looking at stats and things.

How much did you read?

I read fewer books in 2024 than I did in 2023 – 215 compared to 241 in 2023. That’s the first time I’ve read less than the previous year since 2017.

At first glance, that’s a little odd, because I was unemployed for the whole of 2024, and you would think that would leave more time for reading. But the lack of routine really did a number on me, which negatively affected all of my Fun Stuff, and there was a ridiculous amount of stress, which, likewise. So a bit of a drop’s not that strange, really!

Not counting books I only tried a few pages of, I DNFed 80 books last year. Which brings my total of ‘books attempted’ to 295. (And means I DNFed 27.11% of all the books I tried.) That seems pretty high, but is a lot lower than I was braced for!

In 2023, I had 57 DNFs – out of 298 (57 241). So, 19.13% of my reads attempted. Significantly less than last year!

When we count books attempted, it was 298 in 2023 – and 295 in 2024. Which is barely a drop at all! Interesting. That seems to suggest I actually read about the same amount in both years – it’s only the DNFs that changed. Did I take more risks in 2024, which didn’t always pay off? Was I a bit unluckier in the books I attempted? Or did a more stressful year = less patience = me DNFing books I might not have a year ago? I know of no way to tell.

What did you read?

Surprising no one at all, Fantasy dominated my reading this year (when doesn’t it?) Honestly I think I’m a bit surprised it was only 3/4s of my reading!

Honestly, I’m very surprised I read that many straight books! Wtf.

Well, this is just depressing. I genuinely don’t know what to do about this – I keep trying to pick up more BIPOC authors, but I’m just not finding ones I enjoy, and I’m not willing to finish books I don’t enjoy just so I can say I’m reading more BIPOC authors. That seems…weirdly dishonest, or something?

I’ve tried all the names on all the rec lists, and I don’t know where to look for more. Suggestions are very welcome!

% of 5 star reads

Of the (215) books I finished reading in 2024, I gave 107 five stars. That’s just under half! (49.77%, to be exact.) Which seems pretty freaking excellent!

(Although I think this has more to do with how quick I am to DNF something I’m not enjoying, than it does my skill/luck in picking up books I’ll love!)

(And of course, if we count it as out of 295 (books attempted) instead of 215 (books finished), it becomes 36.27%. Significantly less!)

Coolest Covers

My favourite covers of last year belonged to books I REALLY didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another! But that doesn’t change the fact that the covers themselves are amazing. I love covers that look like other things (Sky on Fire, which is a mountain fastness and a dragon, or Strange Beasts, which is both a building and a skull) and ones that have tons of tiny, perfect details in them (like Dragonfruit or Emperor and the Endless Palace). And I have a very obvious preference for illustrated covers, thank you!

First book that blew you away

Tainted Cup was so much fun! I’m pretty wary of anything that even vaguely resembles Sherlock, and I got definite Sherlock/Watson vibes from the blurb. But happily it really wasn’t Sherlockian at all, for all that Ana is a genius at putting info and deductions together! Lots of plant weirdness (this might be my favourite of all the worlds that Bennett has created so far) and a murder mystery I actually ended up invested in, which NEVER happens!

My review!

Last book that rocked your world

I got to read an arc of this just before the end of the year, and HI YES IT WAS FIREWORKSICAL!!! I want to read it at LEAST one more time before I review it…because I’m completely speechless and just FLAILING DELIGHTEDLY and what are words??? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO TALK SMARTLY ABOUT IT OKAY???

A book more people should know about

Originally published in the 90s and reissued in 2024, The Fortunate Fall is an amazing far-future sci fi about a woman who is a ‘camera’ – like a streamer, but who streams her senses, thoughts and emotions! She uncovers the messy underbelly of an old war while forming a strangely intense relationship with her newest journalist partner…the writing is amazing and I’m so impressed by all the sci fi concepts I’ve never seen anywhere else before!

Favourite reread

I reread the Very Secret Garden duology and the Master and Mages trilogy every year, and continue to enjoy them immensely – but I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed rereading Feast Makers right at the end of the year (I read the arc, ofc, and was then reading the final version). It brought me so much joy! Which shouldn’t have been surprising, but somehow it was. The intensity and vibrancy of it, maybe.

New-to-you authors now on your auto-buy list

Wendy Palmer and Matt Weber are two self-published authors whose work makes me feral; after Pechacek’s debut The West Passage I will read anything he writes ever; and The Mountain Crown was my (appallingly late!) introduction to Karin Lowachee, which has convinced me that I need to read everything she’s ever written as well as anything she writes in the future!

Books you didn’t get to

I did start a few of these, but they all got set aside for one reason or another (reasons all to do with me, not the book itself!) And most I didn’t start at all! Gah.

biggest Letdown

I had such incredibly high expectations for the finale of the Redwinter trilogy…and although McDonald went in very non-traditional directions, which I usually approve of, I absolutely hated it. Such a letdown after how amazing the first two books were!

biggest (positive!) surprise

I’ve spoken a bit about Relics of Ruin before, but I’ll say it again: I picked it up on a whim after not really enjoying the first book in the trilogy, AND IT PULLED ME UNDER LIKE A RIPTIDE. (And when I went back and reread book one, I fucking loved it, so I have no idea what was wrong with past!Sia when she read it the first time!)

best ambush predator book

All three of these were books I didn’t know about and definitely wasn’t anticipating – they all sprang out at me out of nowhere! And I’m so glad they did, because I completely adored them!

(Now I just need The Gathering to get a whole bunch of sequels…!)

Book of the year

OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t pick just one. Obviously. I went into more detail about all of these (Brimstone Slipstream standing in for the whole Street of Flames series, ofc) in my Best of 2024 list!

Review you’re most proud of

I think it’s a three-way tie – between the two reviews I wrote for Metal From Heaven (one, two) and the one for Feast Makers.

(I seriously doubt it’s a coincidence that both those books are by the same author.)

I poured everything I had into all three of those – something I don’t always have the spoons for, and not every book needs a review written in your soul’s blood. But these did, and I managed to write something that felt worthy of them.

(And I was so proud to write an analytical, ‘grown-up’ review for Ancillary Review of Books! Still feels like such an accomplishment to be accepted by them.)

Non-review blogger thing you’re most proud of

My rec list of disability in SFF. I was so surprised by the response to it! It was really touching and made me so happy!

5 star predictions for 2025

The only reason Saint Death’s Herald isn’t included here is because it wouldn’t be a prediction; I’ve already read it, so I KNOW it’s a five star book!

Feel free to use these questions yourself if you feel like it – just link me to your version so I can come check out your answers!

The post In Short: 2024 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Landlocked In Foreign Skin by Drew Huff

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Landlocked In Foreign Skin by Drew Huff!

Landlocked In Foreign Skin: A Sapphic Sci-Fi Novella by Drew Huff
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary sapphic MC
Published on: 28th January 2025
Goodreads

"LANDLOCKED IN FOREIGN SKIN is a blend of far-future science and ancient folkloric religion...sharp and quirky."
-- Ai Jiang, Stoker and Nebula award-winning author of Linghun and I Am AI

How far would you go to reclaim your stolen body?

The Fisherman would do anything.

Anything to return to their natural, monstrous state in the alien oceans of Europa. But they've been kidnapped, trapped on a human ship, forced into human form--very pathetic--and dragged into a mad human princess's plot to find an eldritch god. A princess that also seems...very interested in sharing a bed. Strange. All of this is strange.

The Fisherman can't fathom why anyone would want to be human.

Small wonder. The Fisherman's been ripped from their underwater home under Europa's ice, and stripped of their skin--the nebulous outer layer that enables them to shapeshift for survival. Imprisoned on a ship that's hunting for a mad undersea god, they must help the crew find it if they want to retrieve their skin and return home.

Dame Isobel, a cruel princess, owns the ship, desperate to find the god in the hopes that it will heal her mortally-injured girlfriend. The Fisherman is stuck in a female human form and pulled into a toxic romantic relationship with Dame Isobel-- in a world where being LGBT is punishable by death. In the midst of this insanity, it's quite clear to the Fisherman: Humanity is confusing, inefficient, and messy.

When Isobel reveals that she will never let the Fisherman go, even if they find the mad god, the Fisherman knows:
It's time to get violent.

Landlocked In Foreign A Sapphic Sci-Fi Novella has mature content and some violence, as well as profanity. Reader discretion is advised.

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I have no idea if I’m going to be able to handle this – self-declared horror wimp over here! – but damn, I am HOOKED by this premise! I adore non-human characters, and the Fisherman sounds properly alien and monstrous – what ARE they? If they come from the ocean of Europa – that’s one the moons of Jupiter!!! And – they’re usually a shapeshifter? How did Isobel steal their skin? HOW CAN THEY GET IT BACK? This has hit me in the same places selkie stories hit me…except the Fisherman is probably MUCH more equipped to get vengeance.

I can sympathise with Dame Isobel to a point – who wouldn’t do unspeakable things to save the person they love? But I’d be surprised if things end well for her… What kind of eldritch god is hanging out on JUPITER, anyway? Will this be a wholly original being of Huff’s creation, or might this be a god whose name we’d recognise???

And. I mean. ‘The Fisherman can’t fathom why anyone would want to be human.‘ IS THAT A VIBE, OR WHAT?

‘it’s time to get violent’ look, I’m HERE for this, okay, this sounds epic in all the ways, and I REALLY want to see the Fisherman when they decide they are Done With This Shit!

Just a few more weeks!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Landlocked In Foreign Skin by Drew Huff appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

10 Jan-June Books I’m Grabby-Hands For

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog!

Since you can see ALL my most-anticipated reads on my Unmissable list, I thought it made more sense to highlight some books I’m looking forward to, but that I’m not confident enough in to declare Unmissable (yet – I suspect at least some of them will turn out to be!)

Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy, #1) by Ed Crocker
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC/s
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.

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I am always Mighty Interested in books with no humans in them at all – Books of the Raksura, anyone? – and that’s what Lightfall is promising. I don’t remember where I first heard about this one, or what was said at the time – I only remember that whatever it was, it made me WILD to get my hands on this. And all the reviews I’ve seen have been mighty positive, which is promising!

We Lived on the Horizon by Erika Swyler
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 14th January 2025
Goodreads

A novel about a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI as they are drawn into a catastrophic war.

The city of Bulwark is aptly a walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted.

Saint Enita Malovis, long accustomed to luxury, feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. The lone practitioner of her art, Enita is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

A complex, imaginative, and unforgettable novel, We Lived on the Horizon grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.

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I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about We Lived on the Horizon that has hooked itself inside my head, but it lives rent-free in my brain now. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I heard of it!

But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo, H. Pueyo
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 11th February 2025
Goodreads

The Shape of Water meets Mexican Gothic in this sapphic monster romance novella wrapped in gothic fantasy trappings

The old keeper of the keys is dead, and the creature who ate her is the volatile Lady of the Capricious House⁠―Anatema, an enormous humanoid spider with a taste for laudanum and human brides.

Dália, the old keeper’s protégée, must take up her duties, locking and unlocking the little drawers in which Anatema keeps her memories. And if she can unravel the crime that led to her predecessor's death, Dália might just be able to survive long enough to grow into her new role.

But there’s a gaping hole in Dália’s plan that she refuses to see: Anatema cannot resist a beautiful woman, and she eventually devours every single bride that crosses her path.

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Everything about this sounds FUCKING WEIRD, with sapphics and spider-monsters galore! How could I NOT want to pounce on it???

The Season of Dragons by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 14th February 2025
Goodreads

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune needs a dragon to protect him.

Dimity, Dido and Chambrey Iverwold no longer have a family dragon. Without their patron, they are alone in a world of invitations, assemblies and matchmaking. This season, with Chambrey finally in control of his fortune, the hungry fortune hunters are circling. Dimity is determined to save her brother from the worst fate of all: an unwise marriage.

Enter Mr Rackham: proud family friend, reliable gentleman hero, and nephew of Lady Beautrice de Bramble, one of the land’s most intimidating dragons. Another young lady might think Mr Rackham was the answer to her prayers, but all Dimity can see is yet another eligible gentleman who needs to be saved from his own terrible life choices.

When you don’t have a dragon, your only option is to BE the dragon.

A cozy fantasy tale of pride, prejudice and dragons from the author of Tea & Sympathetic Magic.

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Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of one of my all-time favourite trilogies, the Creature Court. (Someday I’ll be a good enough reviewer to be able to write something worthy of those books, I swear.) The Season of Dragons sounds VERY different from that trilogy, but it also sounds like an incredibly fun time!

Wooing the Witch Queen (Queens of Villainy, #1) by Stephanie Burgis
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MCs
Published on: 18th February 2025
Goodreads

In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?

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If this wasn’t written by Burgis, I’d probably pass, but why would I pass on anything written by Burgis??? She’s consistently written books that charmed my socks off, and I’m fully expecting her to do it again with Witch Queen!

Go Luck Yourself (Royals and Romance, #2) by Sara Raasch
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, M/M
Published on: 11th March 2025
Goodreads

It’s enemies to lovers in this sexy and delightful holiday mash up that pairs the spare prince of Christmas with the crown prince of St. Patrick’s Day!

Someone has been stealing Christmas’s joy, and there’s only one clue to the culprit—a single shamrock.

With Coal busy restructuring Christmas—and their dad now having a full midlife crisis in the Caribbean—Kris volunteers to investigate St. Patrick’s Day. His cover: an ambassador from Christmas to foster goodwill. What could go wrong?

Everything, it seems. Because Prince Lochlann Patrick, Crown Prince of St. Patrick’s Day, happens to be the mysterious student that Kris has been in a small war with at Cambridge. They attempt to play nice for the tabloids, but Kris can’t get through one conversation without wanting to smash Loch’s face in—he’s infuriating, stubborn, loud, obstinate, hot—

Wait—hot?

Kris might be in some trouble. Especially when it turns out that the mystery behind Christmas’s stolen magic isn’t as simple as an outright theft. But why would a Holiday that Christmas has never had contact with, one that’s always been the very basis of carefree, want to steal joy? Can a spare prince even hope to unravel all this, or will Kris lose something way more valuable than his Holiday’s resources—like his heart?

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I adored the first book in this series, but I’m a little wary that a St Patrick’s Day-themed romance might be too ridiculous for me! I really hope not, though; I’m rooting for Go Luck Yourself to be just as fun as Kissmass was!

Afia in the Land of Wonders by Mia Araujo
Genres: Fantasy, MG
Representation: West African-inspired cast and setting
Published on: 15th April 2025
Goodreads

In her stunning literary debut, Mia Araujo presents a gorgeous reimagining of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, spinning a new story that is accompanied by arresting, ethereal illustrations about twin sisters and how one must venture outside the safety of their home, into the wilderness, in order to find herself and true happiness.

Afia has always felt like half of a whole. Her twin sister, Aya, is perfectly happy with fulfilling their family's expectations of them. But Afia dreams of exploring the world beyond her secluded cliffside home of Dafra. She dreams of adventure.

When she meets a charming shape-shifter named Bakame, who dazzles her with promises of a magical land called Ijabu, Afia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. Although it will mean leaving everything she has ever known behind, including her beloved sister, Afia follows Bakame into the forbidden forests surrounding Dafra, from which no one has ever returned.

Filled with magical sights, a charismatic Queen and her intriguing court, Ijabu is everything that Afia has ever dreamed of. But she soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and this fantasy world demands a terrible price. With the help of a mysterious trickster, Afia must evade the Queen's hunters and the lost dreamers of Ijabu, who wish to pull her deeper into their web.

Now, Afia must find the courage to survive while standing on her own--or risking losing herself completely to the wonders of Ijabu.

Debut author-illustrator Mia Araujo weaves an extraordinarily luminous and beautiful story, inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, about what it takes to find your true self, even if it means facing your deepest fears.

"Nothing short of an amazing adventure into a fantastic world, Mia Araujo has crafted a beautiful narrative, made all the more incredible by stunning visuals that overflow with heart and soul." -- David F. Walker, Eisner-award winning author of Bitter Root and The Second Chance of Darius Logan

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I’ve been OBSESSED with this book since I first heard about it, and the beautiful art is definitely not helping. (Or rather, it’s absolutely helping, in that it’s making me completely feral.) I don’t care about Alice in Wonderland at all, but I’ve enjoyed a few retellings, and I have very high hopes for this one! Bonus: you can see some of the enchanting art from this book here!

Reignclowd Palace by Philippa Rice
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 12th June 2025
Goodreads

'Once you’ve entered the world of the artist Philippa Rice, you’ll never want to leave' Charlotte Runcie, The Telegraph

Pre-order the cosy, craft-filled fantasy where magic is in every ornate palace corridor and cobblestoned street . . .

--Evnie Treedle makes magical things and for the last few years she has been selling them in magical knickknacks shop, the Magpie Nest.

But everything changes when one day Evnie’s crafting abilities catch the attention of the nearby Reignclowd Palace. She is asked to become their resident spellsmith… the original spellsmith suddenly ill under mysterious circumstances.

Evnie is soon put to work making and mending magical objects. Yet, problems start to appear when she realises there’s much more at stake than friendship or romance; a dragon looms over the kingdom looking for a soul to devour, and it’s eyes are set on their princess.
--
'Rice is immensely talented and versatile who works with sculpture and textiles and collage, and that smorgasbord of knowledge transmutes into her work' Zainab Akhtar - Comics & Cola

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A UK-only release (at least at the moment; US when???) but I’m completely in love with the idea of a magical knickknacks shop!

A Holy Maiden's Guide to Getting Kidnapped (Scandals of the Gifted, 1) by Katy Nyquist
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Representation: Face blind MC
Published on: 17th June 2025
Goodreads

A Holy Maiden should never drink, get kidnapped, nor kiss a Dark Lord, but Ysabel is breaking all the rules to escape her fate as a human sacrifice.

In a world where magical powers are commonplace, Holy Maiden Ysabel is revered as a goddess among her people. She’s the only one able to heal the sick and injured with a simple touch. But her spectacular gift comes at a steep price. For each person she saves, she loses a day of her own conscripted life. To add insult to injury, she’s supposed to maintain a pure image even though she’d rather drink and play dominatrix until her sorrows fade away.

After the corrupt Head Cardinal Jiang abuses her gift, forbids her from leaving the city, and takes her brother hostage, Ysabel doesn’t dare drag anyone else into her problems—especially since it won’t change her fate. But when Dark Lord Kaine arrives at her clinic doorstep grievously wounded, she’s touched by his refusal to accept her healing lest it cost her another day of her life.

The mysterious and sexy Dark Lord awakens forbidden desires in Ysabel, and the nagging survival instinct she tried to drown with booze and drugs comes back with a vengeance. She’s less impressed, however, when he threatens to sack her city in return for his injuries. Fortunately, she can flirt her way to an alliance against the Head Cardinal instead.

Armed with only a ferociously loyal female bodyguard named Alzira, Ysabel attempts to make the most of her mere months left to live, protect the refugees around her city, prevent a war, and hide her face blindness. But before her life flickers to its sad end, she must either die a proper Holy Maiden or risk it all to run off with Kaine.

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Definitely a step outside of what I usually read, but what’s the point if you never dip your toe outside your comfort zone??? This sounds like so much fun, and I’m surprised but delighted that we’re getting a face blind MC! I wonder if that will contribute to shenanigans?

Memory of Olympus (Gunmetal Olympus #2) by Maria Ying
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MCs, F/F, F/F/NB, queernorm world
Published on: 25th June 2025
Goodreads

Decadent cyberpunk cities. Giant mechs and monsters. Greek mythology retold like no other.Before the rampage of the colossi, before the killer cyborg Persephone was made... there was the rule of the Titans.

Under the iron fists of the Twelve Titans, Elysium glitters, casting its cruel light upon the face of Olympus. The city grows in leaps and bounds, the terraforming projects expand by the day, and the Titan's children—organic and otherwise—are each tasked with conquering the planet in the Titans' name. But unbeknownst to them, their children chafe under their tyranny, and little by little the flickers of revolt ignite...

Memory of Olympus is a collection of short stories taking place during the Titans' rule and after the Titanomachy, where the gods find themselves, establish themselves—and go to war against their makers. This also includes a preview of the next Gunmetal Olympus book, The Persephone Effect.

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No one was as surprised as I that I ended up loving the first book in this series: Greek myth retellings? MECHAS? These are not things Sia generally enjoys at all! And yet. I find myself very interested in a collection of short stories set in this verse – I wonder whose backstories we’ll get more glimpses of???

Which books are YOU most looking forward to in the next six months???

The post 10 Jan-June Books I’m Grabby-Hands For appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #218

Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.

We have SIX books for the first Must-Have Monday of 2025!

(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)

Common Accord by K.N. Brindle
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 1st January 2025
Goodreads

In a single conversation, Jes Moran lost a ship, a job, and a marriage. Now, with not much more than a cool head, a few clever scams, and an odd assortment of friends-a seasoned spacer, a washout young pilot, and an alien engineer on the run from a vicious cabal-they might just have a shot at a future.

A rag-tag crew is one thing. A skip-ship cobbled together out of parts rescued from the recycler, though? Well, when you're at the bottom of the ladder, you grab for the rung you can reach.

When a hot tip for a big score finds its way to Jes's ears, a plan starts to come together. But the ship is barely space-worthy, and the crew isn't the only interested party. The cargo could set them up for life if they can get to it in time. It could also make them a target. Everyone is playing for keeps. But there's one thing that nobody bargained

Jes Moran really doesn't like to lose.

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I didn’t run a Must-Have Monday last week, so I’m including Common Accord in today’s! I’ve heard very good things about Brindle’s fantasy series and I REALLY want to check out this sci fi! (Not sure if it’s a standalone or the start of a series but I’m into it either way!)

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Representation: Disabled MC
Published on: 7th January 2025
Goodreads

Giant turtles, impossible ships, and tidal rivers ridden by a Drowned girl in search of a family in the latest in the bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire.

Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.

Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she'd been missing from birth.

It was cumbersome; it was uncomfortable; it was wrong.

It wasn't her.

Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake--and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyrreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people.

But even in Belyrreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure.

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NEW WAYWARD CHILDREN BOOK THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!1! I’ve seen so much love for this instalment from early readers – like I needed any more reason to be excited!

Secret Spark (Vector City Supers #1) by Kelly Farmer
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: F/F
Published on: 7th January 2025
Goodreads

A hero? A villain? Maybe a little of both in this sapphic mistaken identity romance.

Sadie Eagan lives a fairly humdrum life in Vector City. Working at a coffeehouse is much safer than opening her own café. If only the local Superheroes and Villains would stop crashing through windows and driving up insurance rates. Then she meets her hot new a fit woman with amber eyes, a disarming smile, and an air of mystery. Obviously, this means she’s one of the city’s Superheroes. And dating a literal hero would break the cycle of being with partners who take advantage of her.

Joan Malone does have a secret identity—only she’s Spark, a notorious Supervillain. Shooting fire has always made people afraid of her. She’s been trying to get out of villainy to open a food truck with her twin brother. When her cute and bubbly neighbor assumes Joan’s a Superhero, well, Joan doesn’t correct her. Sadie is the nice girl Joan has dreamt of being with. Though she hates hiding things from someone who understands wanting a better life.

Joan has to keep some rather inept Villains at bay while getting the Supers off her back. And oh yeah, while proving to Sadie not all bad guys are bad and not all heroes are heroic. Not that Sadie’s paying attention—it’s too exciting hanging out with a Superhero.

Only she’s fallen for the bad girl. Again.

A rift with the other Villains forces Joan to choose what she truly wants. Can she be the goodhearted person Sadie thinks she is?

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I am so charmed that she wants to open a food truck, somehow that delights me!

Tavern Tale: A Sapphic Side Quest by Kristina W. Kelly
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 7th January 2025
Goodreads

What if the side quest is really the main quest?

Divine, a healer of the Goddess of Souls, has chased the thief who stole her talisman across half of Trelvania. The talisman is the key to accessing her magic well, and without it, she is powerless. While chasing her betrayer, former girlfriend, and servant of the Goddess of Condemnation, Divine meets Saph, a flirty tavern owner with an eyepatch and a proposition. Saph will help Divine locate her talisman if Divine helps her complete a mysterious quest in a chest.

Inspired by RPGs and set in scenic autumn, prepare for an adventure with gods and goddesses, deceitful exes, axe throwing, and fantastical creatures. Can Divine learn to trust again and find romance in the middle of finding her magic?

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Well this sounds adorable, I approve!

This is Not a Vampire Story by Simon Doyle
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: MLM MC
Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Victor Callahan holds a secret as ancient as the shadows.

Employed as a night porter in a quiet Irish nursing home, the teenager watches over a group of men he once knew a long time ago. Victor has orchestrated their reunion for a final farewell, a goodbye to those whose lives have shaped him through the years.

But can he keep his secret from Lakeshore Manor’s oldest resident, James O’Carroll?
As he cares for these remnants of his past, memories of a bygone era haunt him—of wild adventures on the rugged Irish coast, of forbidden love hidden beneath the threat of eternal night, and of a shipwreck that changes everything...

Gloria Pinto, the night nurse, doesn’t like him. But maybe she has her own secrets.
THIS IS NOT A VAMPIRE STORY weaves a tale of timeless bonds, the cost of immortality, and the lengths we go to for love.

But is love more important than life? Victor is about to find out.

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The first I heard about this book was when one of the reviewers I pay attention to was suddenly gushing about it all over my feed, and having looked through other early reviews too, I’m convinced that there’s something very special here!

Dudes Rock: A Celebration of Queer Masculinity in Speculative Fiction by Jay Kang Romanus, Johannes T. Evans, Oliver Fosten, Rick Hollon, Sam Inverts, Franklyn S. Newton
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer MCs
Published on: 10th January 2025
Goodreads

What does masculinity mean to you?

Whether the answer is "toxic" or something more aspirational, speculative fiction can help you find the language to talk about it. The stories in this anthology visualize all the different ways masculinity might look in a world different than our own, for better or worse.

Imagine living in a universe where you'd feel safe telling your best friend you've always loved him, or where smoking hot demons exist to indulge all your worst impulses. From buff aliens to gender-affirming werewolf bites, Dudes Rock is about celebrating everything that queer masculinity can become beyond the confines of a single world, and we want you to rock with us.

Featuring stories by Chase Anderson, Johannes T. Evans, Oliver Fosten, Jonathan Freeman, Rick Hollon, Sam Inverts, S. C. Mills, Franklyn S. Newton, Jay Kang Romanus, Aubrey Shaw, Simo Srinivas, Candy Tan, and Scott Vaughn.

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Some of my fave indie authors are in this, which would be more than enough reason to pounce on it even if the topic was not also interesting!

Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #218 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

A Book I Read Over and Over: Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett

Point of Hopes (Astreiant, #1) by Melissa Scott, Lisa A. Barnett
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay MC, bisexual MC, matriarchal setting, queernorm world
PoV: 3rd-person, past-tense, dual PoVs
ISBN: B007Q3W0K2
Goodreads

Nicolas Rathe is a pointsman, a dedicated watchman in the great city of Astreiant. During the annual trade fair, with a city filled with travelers and merchants, someone is stealing children. The populace is getting angry and frightened and convinced that a foreigner must be to blame. Rathe calls on the aid of both an out-of-work soldier, the handsome Philip Eslingen, and the necromancer Istre b’Estorr.

The art of astrology is a very real power in the kingdom and plays as much a role in politics as greed and intrigue. Rathe finds himself struggling to find the children before a major astrological event brings about catastrophe.

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~matriarchal Renaissance/Elizabethan setting
~detective work!
~what if astrology really mattered actually???
~clock-fuckery
~royal succession intrigue

These days, there aren’t many books that I reread over and over; I don’t have time, not if I want to keep up with all the news books I want to read (of which there are so many!)

But the Astreiant series is one I come back to again and again, and have done for years – this latest reread of Point of Hopes was my sixth. My SIXTH! Since it was brought back into print in 2012!

That should tell you a lot.

So what is Point of Hopes and why should you read it?

Because I say so, duh

Ostensibly, Point of Hopes is a police procedural; in the city of Astreiant, children are going missing, and one of our main characters, Rathe, is a more-or-less policeman trying to find them. Our other main character is Eslingen, a soldier who is taking a break from soldiering to work as a more-or-less-bouncer, and he and his employer become the targets of their neighbours’ suspicions when a local child disappears. Rathe and Eslingen get thrown together, and shenanigans ensue.

But this really isn’t a detective novel. Instead it’s a delicious, languid exploration of a matriarchal city in a Renaissance-esque world where your birth stars have real, measurable effects; a slow, gentle, rich novel that rewards the kind of reader who likes to take their time. It’s a very soothing book, one I reach for when I’m stressed – maybe because of all the sensory detail, which forces me to slow down and be calm. Point of Hopes is unhurried, and you won’t find much tension in it until near the end; if you want fast-paced and loud, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

I never get tired of the total immersion into the worldbuilding of this setting; this is a book where you can smell the cooking and hear the vendors calling their wares in the markets. And even without the fantastical elements – like the importance of the (completely original) zodiac and how it affects everyone’s lives – Astreient feels like it’s drawing from a historical period I don’t see often in Fantasy. Rathe is a pointsman, someone who tries to solve crimes (‘scoring a point’), but the pointsmen have only been around for a generation or two at this point, and there are still people appalled at the idea of commoners enforcing the law. A small but constant undercurrent in Hopes is the issue of unlicensed printers – printed newsheets are everywhere, but we don’t see many books. The guilds wield real power, but are still subservient to the monarch and nobility. And there are women everywhere – running the points-stations, owning businesses, butchers and soldiers and magists. As I said, Astreient is matrilineal, arguably matriarchal; property passes from mother to daughter, families want girls rather than boys, and marriage is extremely rare – and when it does happen, it’s more of a business arrangement than anything romantic. Reading Point of Hopes, all the minor, background characters that would usually be men are women instead – which is only noteworthy because it stands out by contrast to, oh, every other book I’ve ever read.

(I’d like to point out that this is a believable matriarchal setting – that is, there’s no heavy-handed Male OppressionTM in the way we often see with SFF matriarchies. Women just happen to be in charge most of the time, here; but there are male business owners too! The Surintendent of Points (kind of a police commissioner???) is a guy! Honestly, your stars often matter a lot more than your gender in this setting.)

It’s interesting to me that Scott and Barnett created a matriarchal society, but chose to make both their PoV characters men. I feel like I should have something clever to say about that, but I don’t; it just seems noteworthy. Maybe it was just a case of male readers being more likely to read about other guys than women, so making Rathe and Eslingen dudes was about appealing to a wider readership. I do not know!

Point of Hopes is what we call ‘pre-slash’ in fandom spaces; that is, it’s reasonably clear that Rathe and Eslingen are probably going to end up romantically involved, but they don’t get together in this book. (I suspect this is mostly because the book was originally published back in 1995, and keeping the queerness on the down-low was a tactical decision; their relationship is established but still subtle by the next book to be published, Point of Dreams in 2001, and in 2012 we got a novella about the beginning of their romance.) For a good chunk of the book, Rathe and Eslingen don’t even know each other; they don’t meet until Eslingen’s employer is accused of being one of the child-thieves, and they spend very little on-page time together until the climax. So as well as not being your usual kind of police procedural, this is also in no way a typical romance – in fact, it probably shouldn’t be called a romance at all. (From the many Melissa Scott books I’ve read, this is a common approach for her; queer relationships abound in her books, but generally her characters aren’t very demonstrative in/are pretty private about their feelings – they usually have something more serious and urgent to attend to instead!)

Which brings us back to the question: what even IS this book? All I can really tell you is – it’s fun. A soothing kind of fun. It’s rich and languid and exploratory, and I reread it (and every other book in the series!) every single year. I can’t believe so few people know about it!

So I really must insist that you give it a go.

The post A Book I Read Over and Over: Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire!

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Published on: 7th January 2025
Goodreads

Giant turtles, impossible ships, and tidal rivers ridden by a Drowned girl in search of a family in the latest in the bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire.

Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.

Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she'd been missing from birth.

It was cumbersome; it was uncomfortable; it was wrong.

It wasn't her.

Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake--and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyrreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people.

But even in Belyrreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure.

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Does this need a Can’t Wait Wednesday post??? I mean, probably not? If you care about the Wayward Children series, you already know there’ll be a new instalment soon! And if you weren’t sure about the date, it’ll be NEXT WEEK!

I would love to know the thought process behind which characters get books in this series when – since we already saw how Nadya ends up in an earlier book, it’s interesting to me that we’re going to zoom in on her here. But I trust McGuire; I know I’ll enjoy this newest WW adventure!

This seems like a good time to mention that there’s 30 hours left on Kickstarter for the special edition omnibus of the first three Wayward Children books. I’ve backed it, and if you love this series you’ll likely want to too – just look at the illustrations!

A great start to 2025, methinks!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

In Short: December

Whew, what a month! I’ve been ill, but even more disruptive was that we MOVED HOUSE! As I type, I am currently surrounded by TOWERS of boxes – how on earth do we accumulate so much stuff??? But the new house is wonderful (you should see our yard!) and throughout all the chaos there has been some seriously wonderful reading!

ARCs Received

SO MANY INCREDIBLY EXCITING ARCS! Several of these are on my Unmissable SFF of 2025 list, but the others look fantastic too. (Although alas, I’ve already DNFed The Gentleman and His Vowsmith. Not for me!) And of course, I SHRIEKED when Saint Death’s Herald appeared in my inbox – I’ve been checking for it every day, multiple times a day, but an amazing publicity person sent it to me in-between my daily checks!

Read

18 books read this month – more than November! Impressive, considering how busy I’ve been! And the vast majority of these were phenomenal – Sonata Form was a deep, meaty read with dragons and Welsh-inspired worldbuilding; Heatstroke Heartbeat pivoted and was very different from the previous book in the series, but ripped my heart out repeatedly; The Wolf and the Wild King I only found out about at the last minute, through KA Doore’s round-up of 2024 Queer Adult SFF, but it was beautiful, intimately mythic; I felt a little betrayed by The Ragpicker’s ending, but it’s still a post-apocalyptic masterpiece; Saint Death’s Herald was a sparkling, fizzy rollercoaster that broke me and put me back together kintsugi-style; and The Witch Roads, while imperfect, I devoured in 24 hours while in a lot of pain and moving house, so! I think that speaks for itself!

Powder and Feathers was a very unconventional tome, kind of Dark Cosy slice-of-life? Hades Calculus put the Greek gods in charge of a domed city on an un-terraformed planet, with mechas and a LOT of queerness, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to! Kimmy was super fucked-up, but undeniably excellent.

Plus many wonderful rereads – the highlights being Saint Death’s Daughter, of course (what excellent timing that I was rereading it when Saint Death’s Herald appeared!); In the Night Garden, Catherynne Valente’s Arabic Nights-esque stories-within-stories jewelled puzzle box, was every bit as breathtaking as it was the first time I read it; and The Feast Makers had me punching the air and cheering at 2am – such a perfect goodbye to one of my favourite trilogies!

Reviewed

I didn’t get nearly as much writing done as I wished to, but considering how hectic December was, I’m at peace with that.

DNF-ed

A new record for DNFs! Fifteen in one month, jeez. Plenty of these weren’t objectively bad, though; Lady Eve’s Last Con and The Enchanted Lies of Celeste Artois were both excellent, but I just wasn’t clicking with them, and Kalyna the Cutthroat and My Darling Dreadful Thing will both wow the right reader!

ARCs Outstanding

Woo, down to only 21 outstanding arcs! That’s a nice drop from last month’s 32!

Unmissable SFF Updates

I added the last Unmissables to the 2024 list – my last few 2024 reads that I wish everybody knew about! – and I had fun running the stats on how that list worked out. (Spoiler: I am bad at predicting which books I’ll love!)

How did my predictions/anticipated reads for December go? I declared five books Unmissable for this month, and–

three were DNFs (Rebel Blade, Hammajang Luck, and North Is the Night)one I haven’t gotten to yet (Sister Snake)one was a four-star read (Infernal Bargains)

So again, another month of very flawed predictions!

And the 2025 Unmissable list is LIVE!

Misc

I had fun running the stats on 2024’s Unmissable list as a whole, even if it very much underlined that I am pretty terrible at predicting unmissables. OH WELL. It’s still a lot of fun to try!

And of course, I published my Best SFF of 2024, as well as my favourite Backlist SFF that I read this year!

Kila put together a database of queer SFF releases coming out in 2025 – I strongly recommend checking it out, and keeping an eye on it going forward, because they’re also including self-pubbed and indie releases, and it can be so hard to hear about those! You can message Kila on bluesky if you know of any books that could be added – including you’re own, if you’re an author!

Looking Forward

2025 is starting off strong – we’ve got a new Wayward Children book, a standalone from Nnedi Okorafor, baby dragons, and Appalachian magic! Lightfall and We Lived on the Horizon both caught my eye, but I haven’t seen any reviews from anyone I trust yet. Fingers crossed!

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2025 be good to all of us.

The post In Short: December appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.