Siavahda's Blog, page 23

July 17, 2024

I Can’t Wait For…We Kept Her In the Cellar by W. R. Gorman

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 We Kept Her In the Cellar by W. R. Gorman!

We Kept Her in the Cellar by W.R. Gorman
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror
Published on: 24th September 2024
Goodreads

There are always two sides to a story. This dark and twisted reimagining of Cinderella, told from her stepsister's POV, is perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Naomi Novik.

Eunice lives her life by three simple rules: One, always refer to Cinderella as family. Two, never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. Three, never look upon Cinderella between the hours of twelve and three a.m.

Cinderella has dark and terrifying powers. As her stepsister, Eunice is expected to care for her and keep the family’s secret. For years, Eunice has faithfully done so. Her childhood flew by in a blur of nightmares, tears, and near-misses with the monster living in the cellar. But when she befriends the handsome Prince Credence and secures an invitation to the ball, Eunice is determined to break free.

When her younger sister, Hortense, steps up to care for Cinderella, Eunice grabs her chance to dance the night away—until Cinderella escapes. With her eldritch powers, Cinderella attends the ball and sweeps Prince Credence off his feet, leaving behind a trail of carnage and destruction as well as a single green glass slipper.

With Cinderella unleashed, Eunice must determine how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice in order to stop Cinderella. Unsettling and macabre at every turn, this page-turning horror will bewitch horror fans and leave its readers anxiously checking the locks on their cellar doors.

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I don’t usually have much interest in fairytale retellings anymore – I was wild for them for a while as a teenager, but I’m meh about them now.

BUT IF YOU’RE OFFERING ME ELDRITCH!CINDERELLA??? HELLS YES I’M POUNCING ON THAT!!!

The idea of Cinderalla as a horror story is just massively intriguing. I mean, the Grimm version is pretty grim, with the punishment of the stepsisters and stepmother, and the cutting off of heels, etc. But Cinderella herself as a monster??? That…is going to be a pretty drastic change. Functionally an entirely new story, really? I would think?

(Actually, now that makes me want to know, where IS the line between a retelling and a completely new story? Because I can’t be the only one who has read ‘retellings’ that are so wildly different from the original that you wouldn’t know it was a retelling at all if they just changed the character names. ???)

How did Cinderella end up some kind of eldritch monster, anyway? Has she been like that from birth? Is it something to do with her mother’s/fairy godmother’s blessing? How did she get the name Cinderella in this version – maybe from starting fires, rather than cleaning up fireplaces? And why has the stepmother not DONE SOMETHING about the monster in the basement??? Is there no exorcism or anything available? Is Cinderella unkillable? What does the stepmother expect her daughters to do, ‘take care’ of Cinderella until they die? And if that’s the case, what happens when they do, eventually, age out of reality and die? If Cinderella is some kind of immortal, she’ll end up free eventually, won’t she?

Or is this more a case of, it’s somehow shameful to admit to having a monster in the family? And that’s why they can’t seek out any help in dealing with her? That does bring us back to, HOW did she become a monster, and is it any kind of fixable???

I kind of want to laugh at the idea of some eldritch monster creature losing a glass slipper, but okay. It would be interesting to see the slippers presented as freaky objects rather than beautiful ones, for once – because really, who would risk wearing (and dancing in) GLASS shoes? They’d rip your feet to pieces if they broke!

I don’t know, I’m just really curious about this premise, and hopeful that monster!Cinderella will be cool and that the story’s internal logic will make sense. I REALLY want to see the fairytale princess as unrepentantly evil for once!

The post I Can’t Wait For…We Kept Her In the Cellar by W. R. Gorman appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

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Published on July 17, 2024 10:50

July 15, 2024

Must-Have Monday #195

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.

TWELVE books this week!

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

The Kindness of Meat by T.J. Land
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Trans MC, trans love interest, M/M/F
Published on: 15th July 2024
Goodreads

Tony is one of a hundred security guards stationed at Green Endeavors, a cutting-edge scientific research facility on a lush jungle planet.

Like many of his co-workers, he’s a convict, working on an uncolonized alien world in exchange for years off his sentence. But while most of them are simple thieves, Tony, prior to his arrest, was heir to the infamously violent, staggeringly wealthy Red Vulture Cartel.

It would be easy for him to feel out of place among a bunch of dumb uniformed grunts and xenobotany nerds.Luckily, one dumb grunt in particular has become his best (and only) Thunder Skultz, disgraced veteran, fellow trans man, and cheerful idiot. (Possibly also the love of Tony’s life. Jury’s still out.)

So Tony’s less than thrilled when their bosses decide to expand the compound’s security and add a third member to his previously two-man team.

Her name’s Carol.
She’s unbearable.

Bubbly, chipper, naïve – everything Tony hates.

Everything that Thunder, apparently, can’t get enough of.

SCIFI ROMANCE + DRAMA, M/M/F, POLY, TRANS MAIN CHAR

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TJ Klune? No thank you, give me TJ LAND, please! I always end up having an IMMENSE amount of fun with Land’s books, no matter how far their premises might seem from what I usually enjoy… I expect this time will be no different!

The West Passage by Jared Pechaček
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.

Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.

The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for the world is about to change.

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A book that left me breathless; The West Passage is going straight onto my best-of-the-decade list. It is so weird and so beautiful and so POWERFUL and I cannot recommend it enough!

My review!

Yoke of Stars by R.B. Lemberg
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

In this newest novella from the queer, mystical Birdverse, an apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist share their tales in order to make a fateful decision. Lush and lyrical, this cross-cultural tale of the beauty of language is a gift to anyone who appreciates the transformative power of storytelling.

In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate, and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín.

Ulín has heard the Orphan Star’s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan’s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men.

In R. B. Lemberg’s newest, lyrical Birdverse novella (The Four Profound Weaves; Geometries of Belonging), an assassin and a linguist negotiate their very different languages, past betrayals, and an unexpected bond. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two hurt souls find hope in each other through a radical listening.

Lemberg has described this as their ‘fish communism novella’, and no, I have no idea what that means, but I am SO VERY INVESTED in finding out! I love their Birdverse and am excited to get back to it (although I THINK this works as a standalone – like most of the Birdverse stories – so you can probably jump in even if you haven’t read any other Birdverse stuff!)

You can read an excerpt here!

The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Desi-coded cast and setting
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

Delve into this debut fantasy and journey through the Spice Gates as Amir, a young man born with the ability to travel between the eight kingdoms, unravels the power that keeps the world in balance, perfect for readers of Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty, S.A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy, and Andrea Stewart’s The Drowning Empire.

The weight of spice is more than you know.

Relics of a mysterious god, the Spice Gates connect the eight far-flung kingdoms, each separated by a distinct spice and only accessible by those born with a special mark. This is not a caste of distinction, though, but one of subjugation: Spice Carriers suffer the lashes of their masters, the weight of the spices they bear on their backs, and the jolting pain of the Gates themselves.

Amir is one such Spice Carrier, and he dreams of escaping his fate of being a mule for the rich who gorge themselves on spices like the addicted gluttons they are. More important than relieving his own pain, though, is saving his family, especially his brother, born like him with the unfortunate spice mark that designates him for a life of servitude.

But while Amir makes his plans for freedom, something stirs in the inhospitable spaces between the kingdoms. Fate has designs of its own for Amir, and he soon finds himself drawn into a conspiracy that could disrupt the delicate dynamics of the kingdoms forever.

The more Amir discovers truth and myth blurring, the more he realizes that his own schemes are insignificant compared to the machinations going on around him. Forced to chase after shadows with unlikely companions, searching for answers that he never even thought to question, Amir’s simple dream of slipping away transforms into a grand, Spice Gate–hopping adventure. Gods, assassins, throne-keepers, and slaves all have a vested interest in the spice trade, and Amir will have to decide—for the first time in his life—what kind of world he wants to live in…if the world survives at all.

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I was disappointed by this one, but hopefully it will find readers who love it. It’s such an interesting premise!

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Representation: Asexual MC, M/M
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Lost Story takes a while to get going, but the time is spent developing the characters – and I think it’s well-spent; the characters are pretty great. Haven’t finished this one quite yet, but I’m enjoying it so far!

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Gay character, Muslim character, character with clinical anxiety and depression, trans character
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides; the Saracen Knight; and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.

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I’m very wary of King Arthur stories…but a book set after King Arthur’s death, featuring the Round Table’s misfits??? All right, sir, you have my attention!

The Melancholy of Untold History by Minsoo Kang
Genres: Adult, Speculative Fiction
Representation: East Asian cast and setting
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

A beautifully crafted, enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology, The Melancholy of Untold History is Minsoo Kang’s debut novel, steeped in history like R.F. Kuang’s Babel, epic in scope like Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, and lyrically exciting like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, interweaving four complex yet entertaining stories as they shape and create a nation’s literary narrative through the themes of love and grief.

A history professor mourning his wife. His young protégé’s search for a path forward. Four witty mountain gods with much to say and not enough time to listen. A gifted storyteller bringing a world into being out of thin air...

Famous for his dispelling of the national myth, the Historian understands the power of narrative. He has inspired another young professor to search for her own truths, while trying to understand the way fiction creates fact and how sometimes the past can only be understood by filling in holes with a new narrative. Which is exactly what he needs when his wife passes away to parse meaning out of a world that no longer makes sense.

Together the protégé and the Historian find comfort in each other. Yet they know their time together is fleeting, as time usually is. Only the gods have an abundance of time, and yet—the two discover—even that might not be so clear cut. Part of their homeland’s myth tells of four gods who squabbled and argued and destroyed and rebuilt time and again.

Or did they?

Because, of course, even the gods need mouthpieces on earth. And the one the Historian knows of—the elusive Storyteller—may have just been spinning tales for his own amusement and, ultimately, revenge. By fabricating the exploits of the gods, he could have set a course for certain events to unfold and a particular story to survive today.

Spanning 3,000 years and multiple voices—with tales within tales woven expertly together—The Melancholy of Untold History reveals a people and its individuals who seek to confront the hardships of life through storytelling. Mixing the East Asian mythos with a postmodern approach to standard sci-fi/fantasy narrative tropes, Minsoo Kang has created a challenging, beautiful, sad, humorous, and ultimately unforgettable novel of love, grief, and myth-making.

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‘Empires fall. Love dies. Myth endures.’ is one hell of a tagline. I have very little idea of what to expect, but the reviews I’ve read were full of praise, and I mean – gods, storytellers, revenge, history??? This is ticking a lot of boxes on the Things Sia Loves list, sooo…

Talio's Codex by J. Alexander Cohen
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, M/M, nonbinary character
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

Is love worth destroying his reputation?

Ten years ago, the theft of his codex destroyed Talio Rossa’s career as a magistrate in the four cities. But when his ex-wife—finally willing to forgive finding him in bed with a man—presents him a long-shot legal case, he has the chance to get his career back on track.

While fighting to rejoin the legal community, Talio uncovers a conspiracy so big it threatens the origins of the four cities themselves. Their prosperity is only thanks to their connection by magical floating waterways and the brilliance of their legal system, now regarded as near scripture.

To save his career, Talio must work with both the one who doomed his marriage and the hooded, heretical man who sets his heart aflame but is determined to plead guilty to a murder he didn't commit. To stand a chance of winning the case, saving his career and the man of his dreams, Talio will have to uncover an explosive secret destined to blow the legal system apart.

Find out what happens in Talio’s Codex by J. Alexander Cohen!

Fantasy / Thriller / Legal / Adventure / Gay / LGBT
Adult

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This…was a bit rough around the edges; much more drama than thriller, with a well-intentioned but unsatisfying (for me) exploration of religious differences and being nonbinary in a society that has no concept of that. But I hope it finds the right readers. Expect my review soon!

Wayward Children: The First Five Adventures: Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Beneath the Sugar Sky, In an Absent Dream, Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire, Lee Harris
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Asexual MC; sapphic MCs; fat MC; major trans character, major Hispanic/Latino character, major Japanese(-American?) character
Protagonist Age: 16-18ish
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

Hugo Award for Best Series

The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is the story of Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, a boarding school for children who come home from portal fantasy worlds and can’t adjust to their new lives.

"A mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy — a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics" —NPR

The first five books in Seanan McGuire's multi-Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series.

Join the students of Eleanor West, and jump through doors into worlds both dangerous and extraordinary.

This ebundle
Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway
Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky
Book 4: In an Absent Dream
Book 5: Come Tumbling Down

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Meet Nancy, cast out of her world by the Lord of the Dead; Jack and Jill, each adopted by a monster of the Moors; Sumi and her impossible daughter, Rini; Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than live up to the expectations of the world around her.

Five worlds, Five adventures, Five sets of lives destined to intersect.

Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations / No Visitors / No Quests

But quests are what these children do best...

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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A huge Wayward Children bundle! As an ebook omnibus! (I have an obsession with digital omnibuses. Omnibi???) I love this series, and this would serve to get your hands on the first five books at once, if you want that for some reason (I do think having a few sequels on hand is a good idea when starting – I adore the characters of the first novella, but imo it has the least interesting story. I think the later books are more likely to get you hooked!)

Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Historical Fantasy
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

A haunting, imaginative, and twisting tale of two sisters and the menacing, unexplained forces that threaten them and their rural mountain community.

Ferns grow knee-deep along the shoulder, laced with briars and unripe raspberries, so thick they could hide a bear. Could hide anything, really.

In 1980s Appalachia, life isn’t easy for Sheila. She endures relentless taunting and bullying at the hands of her classmates; she takes care of her great-aunt, the garden and home, and the rabbits; and forages for mushrooms in the forest, all while her mother works long, back-breaking shifts at the nearby state asylum. But it’s her peculiar little sister, Angie, who worries her the most. Angie is obsessed with nuclear war, Rambo, zombies, a Russian invasion of their community, and the ominous, tarot-like cards that she creates that somehow speak to her. As if all that weren’t enough, Sheila feels an unexplainable weight around her neck. Is it the ancient and strange mountain that they live on that casts its shadow on her, or something or someone else unknown? Unseen?

When a pair of female hikers are brutally murdered on the nearby Appalachian trail, Sheila and Angie find themselves inexorably drawn into the hunt for the killer. As the ever-present threat of violence looms larger, the mountain might be the only thing that can save them from the darkness consuming their home and their community.

Unsettling, propulsive, and chillingly atmospheric, Alisa Alering’s Smothermoss opens a hidden door into a world caught between rural gothic and fairytale, inviting the reader to renegotiate what is seen and unseen, what is real and what is haunted

Early reviews are very mixed for this one, but I’m willing to give it a try. Seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it book, and there’s rarely any way to predict which it will be for you!

The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power by Terry J. Benton-Walker, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Kalynn Bayron, Kendare Blake, H.E. Edgmon, Lamar Giles, Chloe Gong, Alexis Henderson, Tiffany D. Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar, Naseem Jamnia, Karen Strong, Mark Oshiro
Genres: Horror, YA
Representation: BIPOC MCs
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR. 13 TIMES WE SURVIVED... THE FIRST KILL.

The White Guy Dies First includes thirteen scary stories by all-star contributors and this time, the white guy dies first.

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

A museum curator who despises “diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever....

These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first.

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about… if you survive it.

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WELL. This should be awesome. Fingers crossed!

The Brightest Stars: A Hard Sci-Fi Spy Thriller by Zoe Storm
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic asexual MC
Published on: 20th July 2024
Goodreads

Estelle’s life is pretty boring, all things considered: she doesn’t have much to worry about, she spends her days on archeological digs deep below the surface of Mars and writing scientific articles on the aliens who ruled over the Solar System many millennia ago.

But nothing lasts forever. Unexpectedly, Estelle and her mentor unearth long-lost knowledge which, if revealed, could dramatically shift the balance of power between nations, and possibly even turn the ongoing cold war between the major factions in the Solar System into a blazing hot one.

So now Estelle has to flee, leave her home behind in a bid to keep that knowledge from falling into the wrong hands; and along the way, she’ll have to decide where the lines of loyalty are drawn… and whom she can trust.

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I saw this pitched as ‘Bond story from the point of view of the Bond Girl (who’s a lesbian and asexual)’ in a hard sci-fi, 24th century setting, and I am sold! I mean, I’d be sold ANYWAY, because I am a massive fan of archaeologists working on alien ruins, but a 24th-century setting?! With a QUEER BOND GIRL IN SPACE?! Hi, where do I sign???

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

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Published on July 15, 2024 01:17

July 14, 2024

Miracles and Mirabilia: The West Passage by Jared Pechaček

The West Passage by Jared Pechaček
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gender weirdness (really don't know how else to describe it)
PoV: Third-person, past-tense; multiple PoVs
Published on: 16th July 2024
ISBN: B0CGRZ1JQS
Goodreads
five-stars

A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.

Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.

The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for sure: the world is about to change.

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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~beware speech without speech-marks
~names are everything and nothing
~in the midst of surreality, a train
~eldritch is putting it midly
~a most unusual set of bee-hives

There is a castle, of sorts. It is populated with people, of sorts. It is ruled by ladies…of a sort.

A quest, of sorts, is undertaken. Two quests. Because a monster (of sorts) approaches, and the seasons are broken, and much lore has been lost. Even a quest – two quests – may not be enough to save things. Especially when neither adventurer has any idea what they’re getting into.

We’re used to stories of castles and people and quests and monsters. They’re practically commonplace! And yet I beg you to believe me when I tell you that The West Passage is like nothing you have ever seen before. It is the dream a Medieval manuscript might dream, if you gave it enough poppy and absinthe and just a little ecstasy (whether the drug or the emotion is at the potion brewer’s discretion): boldly baroque, casually surreal, full of curlicuing story and powerful honey and illumination(s). It has all the weight of an ancient myth, grand and mostly-forgotten, every detail weighted with meaning that is tantalising, transfixing, unpredictably portentous. It rests upon an extensive, solid framework that we cannot see, but can be sure is there: there is a logic to it all, a way it all fits together, but it is the logic of dreams, a way we can’t quite follow.

We are not meant to understand. Not really. The Ladies do not deign to share their secrets with mere mortals, and why should they?

Wandering here and there were cattle, nibbling at the grass. Their horns were tied with blue and yellow ribbons. Their gills flared and contracted as they breathed.

The actual prose and structure of Pechaček’s debut aren’t experimental; the tale is told linearly, more or less straightforwardly, and readers are not required (or even requested) to perform cerebral gymnastics in order to follow along. You can pick the book up and begin reading immediately without any trouble whatsoever.

But the world Pechaček has created! That is marvellously bizarre, a quietly intense strangeness infused into every element. Cows having gills is the least of it! There are ‘spoon-faced’ people, and the most, um, unconventional bee-hives you will ever encounter, and frogs laying the most incredible eggs. Much of the strangeness is beautiful; some of it is gross or ugly; most of it is neither, only is, and nearly all of it is treated with a matter-of-factness that only adds to the sense of disorientation. It would be so easy for this to have been mishandled, for it to become Too Much, but in Pechaček’s hands disorientation is delicious, addictive, freeing in a way I don’t know how to articulate or explain. Instead of being confusing or annoying or pretentious, the dissonance between how our reality works and how it works in West Passage is intoxicating. I wanted more and more and more of it, and Pechaček didn’t disappoint, showing me wonders and mysteries and miracles everywhere I looked.

A mason bee burrowed into some mortar.

It is not possible to be bored in The West Passage. Especially if you take your time with it, go carefully enough to notice every detail – because the details are, often, mindblowing. Take the quote above: a mason bee?! What is a mason bee?! What do you mean it burrows into mortar?! WHAT?!

It’s very easy to read right past delights like this, because the characters don’t bat an eye at things like mason bees, and so if you’re not paying close attention, you are likely to miss all sorts of treasures; the kinds of things and creatures and people that could only exist in a dream, that make perfect sense until you open your eyes in the morning. One has to approach The West Passage with your sense of wonder bright and fresh and ready to be wowed, but also with one’s magnifying glass ready, slowly examining each and every thing before moving to the next. Because while there is great deal that is front and centre and spotlit, there are even more mirabilia to be found tucked away into corners and between lines – like Medieval illustrations peeking out from behind a capital letter or hiding in the margins.

Making this book both a near-infinite treasury, and a book to be savoured, lingered over as hedonistically and luxuriously as possible.

Potatoes had been set to roast and were taken out for buttering and salting, then browned under salamanders and sprinkled with herbs.

(Browned under salamanders! As in, the little lizard(-looking) fire-elementals!!! This is such a perfect example of how Pechaček mixes the whimsical and mythical and practical at every opportunity.)

To go back to those Medieval illustrations – if you forced me to describe The West Passage’s aesthetic, my answer would probably be Medieval marginalia meets Pliny’s Natural History with a dash of ‘biblically accurate’ angels. If you’re not familiar with Medieval marginalia, then you are in for a bewildering but delightful time exploring it; in the article I just linked, Anika Burgess defines it as ‘from intriguingly detailed illustrations to random doodles, the drawings and other marks made along the edges of pages in medieval manuscripts’. And they can be seriously, seriously weird (and hilariously nsfw), like the inexplicable knight vs snail motif, in which the knight is almost always losing, that can be found all over 13th-14th century books. The Natural History by Pliny (written in 77 AD), on the other hand, is the world’s first encyclopedia (kinda) and is packed full of facts that are definitely not facts – such as the existence of dog-headed people, along with an island of humans who get around by hopping, since they each have only one leg with a giant foot. Put that way, it sounds comedic, and you can definitely laugh at it – but there’s a grandness to it too, a glimpse into a world even more impossible than ours, dignified in its impossibility. The West Passage reminds me of both; the secretive whimsy of Medieval marginalia, and the solemn strangeness of The Natural History – both orbiting, if not outright emanating from, the terrifyingly unearthly Ladies who definitely echo something of the ‘biblically accurate’ angels imagery.

But just as the Ladies are far more, and far stranger, than rings of golden wheels covered with eyes, The West Passage is a lot more than marginalia plus Pliny. It’s only that that is as close as I can come to describing it to someone who hasn’t read the book. It also, I hope, gives you an idea of how esoteric The West Passage is – or, no, that’s not correct. ‘Esoteric’ suggests that readers with very specific niche interests or information will understand what Pechaček is doing here, and I don’t think that’s true. I saw similarities between bits of West Passage and these interests of mine – but only similarities, not the things themselves. Possibly Pechaček drew a little inspiration from some of these things – I really don’t know – but the result is something wholly original; there are no Easter eggs hidden here for Medievalists (I don’t think), because Pechaček’s world is not built on or out of Medieval marginalia. Nor are any of Pechaček’s creations lifted out of the pages of The Natural History – there will be no spotting a dog-headed person and getting the reference.

There are no references. There are only, here and there, pieces that feel, a little, like things that are almost, maybe, a touch familiar.

But they are not.

It’s another way in which West Passage is like a dream: almost familiar, almost making sense, almost fitting inside your understanding…but fundamentally not.

(And yet, leaving you with the unshakeable certainty that it does all fit together, that it would all make sense to you if you could just…be less mortal. There is an uncanny and eldritch logic to it all – it’s just that we’ll never comprehend it.)

People and things from Grey seemed to belong to the time of songs rather than the time of stories

Like many dreams, The West Passage does not feel as though it started existing only when you discovered it; you may only be entering the story now, but it has been extant for aeons. It’s quite difficult to create a sense of age for a fictional place or culture, but here, it abounds; our merely-mortal main characters are living in the dusty remains of a once-great dynasty, bound by ancient rituals that surely had a purpose once but now have none (or little) beyond the perpetuation of dying traditions. An immense amount of history and other knowledge has been lost – some possibly deliberately – and the waning is obvious in the shrinking number of inhabitants of Grey Tower. The other Towers, which our characters visit during their respective quests, are in very different states, but have still fallen far from the heights of their heydays. What has caused this great decline is unclear, but its existence is impossible to question; Pechaček does an incredible job at making you feel the weight of ages past, and the subsequent weight of responsibility to those vague but vital impressions of past glories. A great deal of West Passage is concerned with this, with the importance but also complete un-importance of carrying on tradition because it is tradition; Pechaček depicts it alternately as despairing, farcical, and irrational – but also as the glue of community, a source of pride, and life-saving. You could read this entire novel as a debate on the value and purpose of tradition, if you like, with the conclusion being something along the lines of: ultimately, it is only by mixing tradition with a willingness to subvert or discard it that we can flourish. Which rings very true to me.

Butterflies moved in and out between the waving tendrils as if among the ribs of a corpse, perching here and there on slim pale limbs. Some of them had court dress on, others wore nothing at all.

The West Passage makes me grateful, all over again, for the word queer, because it’s not nicely, neatly LGBTQ+, but it is undeniably, fundamentally queer. I would be interested (and amused) to see other readers try and pigeonhole or attach labels to the various characters, because they don’t fit into any boxes I know of – and yet many of them, including at least one of our two main protagonists, can’t be called straight, either. The realm of the Ladies has an alien approach to gender, in particular; I don’t want to spoil it, but I was delighted by it (even when I was also confused by it – it’s the good kind of confusion, the kind that comes when you encounter something completely new to you; when your mind has to stretch to accommodate that newness, because it can’t be fit into the way you thought things were before). Yet again, this book makes me think of dreams: gender itself feels like a kind of dream, in Pechaček’s world, and gender certainly has the – the fluidity of a dream, here; impossible to pin down, quickly and completely transforming at a moment’s notice, bound by rules that are immutable in context but make little sense outside of it.

(And yet, can’t the same be said for gender in our world? Gender as a concept? Are the ways in which the Towers determine gender any stranger than the ways we do? Not really, if you stop and think about it. If you’re able to be honest about how little our world’s rules – our rules about almost anything – make objective, rational sense.)

I don’t know if it’s correct to say that gender, and its fluidity, is a major theme in West Passage, but it is important, and it is worked into the foundation of the world Pechaček’s created. The West Passage is queer in so very many senses of the word, and it would be remiss not to mention that, and celebrate that. I don’t know what to say about that aspect of the book, beyond that it brought me joy – but you should know that it’s there.

Hush now, little girl
In the waving reeds
Mother’s gone to fetch the moon
Father’s gone to sow the stars
Sleep now, little girl
In the waving reeds
For the river sings
All the song you need

The West Passage is a journey that cannot be unmade and should not be rushed, that will leave you a little wilder and weirder than you were before, with a new eye or two through which to see the world. It is a chimeric masterpiece full of chimeras of all sorts, majestic and mysterious and maybe mad, splendidly strange, unflinchingly uncanny. It is dream-spun, illuminated, magnificent; unquestionably a treasure of the decade.

It is not to be missed.

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Published on July 14, 2024 04:28

July 10, 2024

I Can’t Wait For…Keeper of Sorrows by Rachel Fikes

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 Keeper of Sorrows by Rachel Fikes!

Keeper of Sorrows by Rachel Fikes
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 3rd September 2024
Goodreads

Whoever rules the bees, rules the world. A dark fantasy adventure with a twist of Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

On a planet stripped of wind, entire ecosystems lie in ashes, leaving humans to the mercy of a sole surviving bee species on a remote isle. Whoever wins the Praxis to rule them as Keeper, rules the world.

When the next Keeper goes missing, her little sister must not only face her debilitating fear of bees, but compete in the Praxis to find her. As she braves the eerie fortress with sprawling wings of hives, murmuring murals, deceptive hedge mazes, and a host of leering gargoyles, she must also face the reigning Keeper, who’s guarding the darkest secret of all.

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Bees!!! I love bees – have since I was an itsy-bitsy Sia – and I’m always excited to see them featured in SFF. It doesn’t happen often enough!

Keeper of Sorrows seems like it’s leaning into the ecological importance of bees, which I am extremely here for. Are these bees the only pollinators left in the world? Even if there are still bats and moths and things, the last bees would still be unspeakably precious – priceless. But how much land could one isle’s worth of bees make habitable? Maybe the Keeper takes the bees to different parts of the world…?

It occurs to me that it’s very evil to have bees and…not work to establish other bee colonies in other places??? Just keeping them to yourself? Obviously it’s a power thing, but the awfulness of it didn’t hit me until just now. Maaaybe the bees are incapable of living elsewhere…but I bet it’s a power thing.

I’m not usually interested in tournament-focussed stories, but I love the sound of this creepy-weird setting. Mazes and gargoyles and murals that talk??? And what kind of people might compete in the Praxis? In this world? Who are allowed to compete? Royalty? Civil servants? Entomologists? How do they know how to look after the bees, since they presumably have never been around bees until the Praxis???

…I’m really curious about this one, okay?

To say nothing of – what makes Keeper of Sorrows a fantasy? A futuristic, post-climate collapse setting usually means sci fi, but everywhere I check, Keeper is described as a fantasy instead – including in its blurb! DOES THIS MEAN THERE WILL BE BEE-MAGIC? I am definitely hoping for bee magic!

Got a few months to wait before this comes out, but it’s available for preorder in all the usual places!

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Published on July 10, 2024 09:06

July 8, 2024

Must-Have Monday #194

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.

TEN books this week!

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

The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Lee Mi-ye
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Korean cast
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

Before the Coffee Gets Cold meets Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore in this whimsical, poignant novel about the inner workings of a department store that sells dreams

THE #1 KOREAN BESTSELLER WITH OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD

In a mysterious town that lies hidden in our collective subconscious, there's a quaint little store where all kinds of dreams are sold ...

Day and night, visitors both human and animal from all over the world shuffle in sleepily in their pyjamas, lining up to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor in the department store sells a special kind of dream, including nostalgic dreams about your childhood, trips you've taken, and delicious food you've eaten, as well as nightmares and more mysterious dreams.

In Dallergut Dream Department Store we meet Penny an enthusiastic new hire; Dallergut, the flamboyant owner of the department store; Agnap Coco, producer of special dreams; Vigo Myers, an employee in the mystery department as well as a cast of curious, funny and strange clientele who regularly visit the store. When one of the most coveted and expensive dreams gets stolen during Penny's first week, we follow along with her as she tries to uncover the workings of this wonderfully whimsical world.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.

This English translation was published in the UK last year, and now it’s being released in the US! I still love this premise so much; imagine getting to shop for dreams!

Toward Eternity by Anton Hur
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer Korean MC, Egyptian/Middle Eastern(?) MC
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

What does it mean to be human in a world where technology is quickly catching up to biology?

In a near-future world, a new technological therapy is quickly eradicating cancer: The body’s cells are entirely replaced with nanites—robot or android cells that not only cure those afflicted but leave them virtually immortal. At the same time, literary researcher Yonghun teaches an AI how to understand poetry and creates a living, thinking machine he names Panit, meaning "Beloved," in honor of his husband. When Dr. Beeko, who holds the patent to the nano-therapy technology, learns of Panit, he transfers its consciousness into an android body, giving it freedom and life. As Yonghun, Panit, and other nano humans thrive—and begin to replicate—their development will lead them to a crossroads and a choice with existential consequences.

Apparently this spans centuries, which is always interesting – especially since this is told in journal entries and things. I love that when it works, and the early reviews have been very promising!

The Dishonest Miss Take by Faye Murphy
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

"Murphy debuts with a wonderfully cozy queer fantasy...There's humor aplenty alongside the gore and action and the sweet romance between Clara and Morgan enhances the gripping plot. This quirky outing satisfies." Publishers Weekly

Clara Blakely has left her days as Miss Take, the notorious villain of Victorian London, behind her. She is a reformed, law-abiding citizen using the superpower given to her by industrial pollution to pay her debt to society. Or that’s what she would have the authorities believe. Clara has no intention of helping anyone but herself, and the last thing she wants is to be dragged into a fight against a new and murderous evil that’s stalking the streets.

Yet, despite the Hero Brigade thwarting her every move, she must take on the city’s powerful and corrupt elite by joining forces with a cheat, her hapless landlord, and a trio of trained killers, including an assassin whose skill with a knife is matched only by their skill at creeping into Clara’s heart. With stakes so high, Clara must become what no one, least of all herself, expects: a hero.

Enola Holmes meets X-Men meets Warrior Nun in this action-adventure sapphic fantasy with elements of sci-fi and steampunk. Filled with gallows humor, ridiculous violence, CGI-ready monsters, and tantalizing romance, get ready for the snarky and sassy Miss Take in this reimagining of Victorian Britain.

I mean, this just sounds FUN. Plus, a school for assassins is involved somehow? Yes please!

The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, polyamory
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

From the acclaimed author of the Chorus of Dragons series, this propulsive new standalone fantasy is Dragonriders of Pern for a modern audience.

Enter a world ruled by dragons…

Anahrod lives only for survival, preferring to thrive in the jungles of the Deep with the titan drake she keeps by her side. When an adventuring party saves her from capture by the local warlord, Sicaryon, she is eager to return to her solitary life, but this is no ordinary rescue. Anahrod's past has caught up with her. And these cunning misfits intend to spirit her away to the cloud cities, where they need her help to steal from a dragon’s hoard.

There’s only one in the cloud cities, dragons rule, and the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas―and she wants Anahrod dead.

Fans of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Rebecca Yarros's The Fourth Wing will enjoy this page-turning adventure with conniving dragons, high-stakes intrigue, a daring heist, and a little bit of heat.

My book-bestie adored this one, so I’m looking forward to trying it out for myself! And given how interesting the dragons in Lyons’ debut series were, I’m VERY intrigued to see her newest take on them.

This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Representation: Member of a fictional minority MC
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

"This Great Hemisphere is an inventive and immersive epic that follows its brave invisible protagonist as she navigates a futuristic new world that often mirrors our own. A thrilling page-turner." —Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half

From the award-winning and bestselling author of Black Buck: A speculative novel about a young woman—invisible by birth and relegated to second-class citizenship—who sets off on a mission to find her older brother, whom she had presumed dead but who is now the primary suspect in a high-profile political murder.

Despite the odds, Sweetmint, a young invisible woman, has done everything right her entire life—school, university, and now a highly sought-after apprenticeship with the Northwestern Hemisphere’s premier inventor, a non-invisible man belonging to the Dominant Population who is as eccentric as he is enigmatic. But the world she has fought so hard to build after the disappearance of her older brother comes crashing down when authorities claim that not only is he well and alive, he’s also the main suspect in the murder of the Chief Executive of the Northwestern Hemisphere. 

A manhunt ensues, and Sweetmint, armed with courage, intellect, and unwavering love for her brother, sets off on a mission to find him before it’s too late. With five days until the hemisphere’s big election, Sweetmint must dodge a relentless law officer who’s determined to maintain order and an ambitious politician with sights set on becoming the next Chief Executive by any means necessary.

With the captivating worldbuilding of N. K. Jemisin’s novels and blazing defiance of Naomi Alderman’s work, This Great Hemisphere is a novel that brilliantly illustrates the degree to which reality can be shaped by non-truths and vicious manipulations, while shining a light on our ability to surprise ourselves when we stop giving in to the narratives others have written for us.

A whole demographic of literally invisible people??? I am immediately MASSIVELY interested in the worldbuilding here, which many early reviews have assured me is excellent!

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Minor F/F, minor nonbinary character
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

The Spellshop is a cottagecore cosy fantasy following a woman's unexpected journey through the low-stakes market of illegal spell-selling and the high-risk business of starting over . . .

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people, and as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.

She and her assistant, Caz, a sentient spider plant, have spent most of the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s precious spellbooks, protecting the magic for the city’s elite. But a revolution is brewing and when the library goes up in flames, she and Caz steal whatever books they can and flee to the faraway island where she grew up. She’s hoping to lay low and figure out a way to survive before the revolution comes looking for her. To her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town in disarray.

The empire with its magic spellbooks has slowly been draining power from the island, something that Kiela is indirectly responsible for, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right. Opening up a spell shop comes with its own risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the quirky townspeople, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must break down the walls she has kept so high.

Perfect for fans of Travis Baldree and TJ Klune, The Spellshop is a romantic and cosy fantasy.

A very cosy fantasy indeed, with much whimsy and indulgence and loveliness! And a surprisingly snarky sentient spider plant. And merhorses! Enthusiastically recommended for anyone looking for a hot chocolate read where everything is guaranteed to always end well.

My review!

A Magic Fierce and Bright by Hemant Nayak
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Representation: South Indian setting and cast
Published on: 9th July 2024
Goodreads

A young technomancer teams up with a handsome thief to save her sister in this propulsive, magic-filled young adult fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gearbreakers and Iron Widow.

Adya wants nothing more than to be left alone. Content to be loyal to no one but herself in the isolated jungles of South India, she dreams only of finding her lost sister, Priya, and making enough money to take care of their family. It’s too bad that her rare ability to wake electric machines—using the magic that wiped them out five centuries ago—also makes her a coveted political pawn. Everyone seems to believe that her technomancy can help them win the endless war for control over the magic’s supernatural source.

These senseless power struggles mean little to Adya. But when her enemies dangle news of her sister before her, she’s all too quick to leap at the chance to bring Priya home—even if it means teaming up with a rakish, disreputable thief in order to do it. With the threat of invasion looming ever larger on the horizon, Adya must reconcile the kind of person she is with the kind of person she wants to be and untangle the web of intrigue, conspiracy, and deceit that threatens to take all of India down with it.

The reviews on this one are a bit mixed, but I’m still want to check it out – technomancy is one of the most fascinating superpowers/magical abilities, imo, and I don’t see it nearly often enough! Fingers crossed this iteration turns out awesome.

Beyond the Bounds of Infinity by Vaughn A. Jackson, Stephanie Pearre, S.A. Cosby, Danny Brzozowski, Timaeus Bloom, Chris Nelson, Pedro Íñiguez, Vicky Velvet, Jessica McHugh, Mary SanGiovanni, Julia Darcey, Ichabod Cassius Kilroy, Christopher Hann, Marnie Desdemona, Rachel Searcey, Jorja Osha, Jessica L. Sparrow, Cyrus Amelia Fisher, Michelle Tang, L. Marie Wood
Genres: Adult, Horror
Representation: BIPOC MCs
Published on: 10th July 2024
Goodreads

Welcome to a world of horror viewed through a kaleidoscope lens. Embark on a journey to untangle the writhing tendrils of human terror in a dimension where the possible and impossible blend-an unstable realm where comfort can be found in the coldest pits, and dark gods feast upon the sweetest suffering-where infernal sounds birth silent letters that drift along midnight shores and the unexplained lurks beneath crumbling urban structures. Step over the edge of what you think you know, and find yourself...Beyond the Bounds of Infinity!

Featuring stories by L. Marie Wood, S.A. Cosby, Jessica McHugh, and Mary SanGiovanni-alongside newer voices like Cassius Kilroy, Jessica L. Sparrow, and Vicky Velvet-Beyond the Bounds of Infinity offers a collection of weird fiction and cosmic horror stories that are diverse down to the cellular level. From Taíno folk horror to the horror of identity in a world that just doesn't understand, from cozy to apocalyptic, and everything in between, let these authors show you what fear really is, and what it means to them.

Are you brave enough to step into the madness that awaits within these pages?

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Oh this sounds FREAKING EXCELLENT! And likely to give me nightmares, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take!

The Flesh of the Sea by Lor Gislason, Shelley Lavigne
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs
Published on: 11th July 2024
Goodreads

June 25th, 1760
Jean-Baptiste,
Before I begin, I want to assure you that I am fine—in fact, you could say I am in quite good spirits considering recent events!
I’m afraid I found myself in quite the predicament—but it’s been sorted out now. My ship was boarded by a group of what I soon learned were pirates…

After Wilford Bowen is denied entry into the Royal Society of London, he sets off on a mission to discover natural marvels and earn his place in the scientific community. But his mission is off to a rocky start when he’s kidnapped by pirates, encounters parasitic wasps, and a host of other incredible Eldritch creatures. On the high seas, Wilford will need to find support within his new crew, survive dangerous encounters, collect scientific evidence of impossible beasts, all while tangling with his own complicated feelings for the friend he left Jean Baptiste de Beaupré.

With every new discovery, a new mystery is unveiled and Wilford is left wondering if the greatest secret is perhaps what is hiding in the treasure room.

Pitched as Our Flag Means Death meets Lovecraft Country

Queer longing and eldritch monsters in epistolary form? Um, hells yes! This is definitely going to be a weird one, and I am definitely here for it!

Cursed Under London by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: MLM Chinese MC, mlm MC
Published on: 11th July 2024
Goodreads

The hilarious first novel in a cosy and inclusive historical romantasy series by the writer of Horrible Histories

In an alternative Elizabethan London, Upper London residents Fang and Lazare awake from their deaths to discover they are not quite human anymore. In fact, despite having acquired the power of immortality, they’re also not quite vampire, zombie, werewolf or any of the other supernatural beings that reside in the underground city of Deep London. Thrown together by the curse they share, the two strangers set out to reverse the spell, all the while trying to ignore the intense connection between them. As they are drawn further into the shadowy world of Deep London, they unearth a dangerous plot which they appear to be right in the middle of…

I didn’t enjoy the samples of this one – the writing style isn’t to my stupidly picky taste – but I think lots of other readers will find it really fun! And I still want that cover as a poster on my wall…

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

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Published on July 08, 2024 01:44

July 6, 2024

If Faith Were Fact: The Faithful Dark by Cate Baumer

The Faithful Dark by Cate Baumer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Asexual MC, trans POV character, major bisexual character
PoV: Third-person, past-tense; multiple PoVs
ISBN: 9798989347414
Goodreads
three-half-stars

In a holy city where sins and blessings can be revealed through consecrated touch, Csilla - born without a soul - is worthless to the Church that raised her. But when a series of murders corrodes the magic that keeps the city safe, the Church elders see a use for her flaw: she can assassinate their prime suspect, a heretic with divine heritage, without the stain of sin.

The heretic, however, makes a counter-offer: clear his name and catch the real killer, without becoming a target herself, and he'll use his power to get her a soul. When their investigation catches the attention of Ilan, a ruthless Church Inquisitor demoted for his failure to solve the case, he reluctantly offers his help in order to earn back his position. He’ll bring in the murderer— or failing that, Csilla and the heretic. But as the death toll rises and their hunt pits them against the Faith, Csilla will find that salvation comes at the cost of everything she believes in.

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~what if sin could be seen?
~brace yourself for some holy torture
~giving souls to the soulless is Very Complicated (who woulda thought)
~never trust the rich
~if the statue stops weeping, it’s time to panic

The Faithful Dark was originally pitched to me as ‘Queer gothic fantasy with an ace healer, transmasc priest, and chaotic bisexual angel hunting a serial killer in fantasy Vatican’, and while that’s not perfectly accurate – Mihály is what we might call a nephil, a mortal descendant of angels, not an actual angel himself – it gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

The worldbuilding looks simple, but Baumer follows through on the implications and ramifications of every detail in a majorly satisfying way. This is a setting where the existence of souls is an objective fact, not a belief, and where holy relics can display exactly how much sin – aka shadow – a person is carrying around. Consecrated objects actually glow with the blessings said over them. Asten takes the place of God, and is referred to as They, which I like very much; we have a woman messiah-type figure called Arany, whose holy statue weeps gold even in the current day. Silgard, the city which is the main setting of the book, is the centre of the faith, literally built and blessed by the celestial.

There had been a time when the streets glowed with the divinity of those who walked on them, every footstep a benediction. Saints and angels had made this city on a river the locus of the faith, nestled safely in the center of the territories of the Immaculate Union, and built walls of stone inlaid with prayers to last until the material world fell to dust.

Dropped into the middle of this is Csilla, a young woman with no soul at all, who has been raised by the Church (which tonally is very reminiscent of Medieval-esque Catholicism) and works tending the sick and elderly.

Csilla is a sweetheart; some readers might even find her too saintly (although I didn’t). The one thing about her that niggles at me is how no one seems very interested in how she can exist without having a soul; shouldn’t she be a major theological/spiritual question mark for the Church? Why has no one tried running any experiments (with various relics) or written some huge thesis reconciling her existence with that of God? No one is at all curious or concerned??? Even Mihály, the heretic from the blurb who offers to try and give Csilla a soul of her own, doesn’t seem to question how or why Csilla doesn’t already have one. I found this extremely weird.

Anyone can see you’re raw, lighting yourself on fire to keep strangers warm.”

The hunt for the serial killer spiralled out into a much bigger plotline that was INFINITELY more interesting than a simple find-the-serial-killer story; the ‘real’ plot was concerned with one of the biggest theological issues in this world, and I was surprised that I actually kind of understood where the bad guys were coming from (although I disagree with their ultimate conclusion). It was very clever and sneaky and all tied up with sin and angels and redeeming humanity, and I loved it.

He was no demon, but angels had once been equally terrifying in their justice–perhaps all the more so because the punishments they dealt were deserved.

(I do wish we’d gotten a little more information on the holy war going on in the background, and what the world outside the (very holy) capital city looked like, but it’s clear we’ll be getting more of the latter in the next book. And in fairness, we DID see outside the city – just not as much as I would have liked.)

My biggest issue with Faithful Dark was the abrupt transitions Baumer tended to use between scenes; I wasn’t always sure how the characters had gotten to the location they were now at, or how they’d reached the conclusions they did. This got more common, and worse, the closer we got to the end of the book, and was very frustrating. But I was far too invested in the story at that point to consider DNFing it. That being said, [View post to see spoiler]

Arany’s sacrifice was what let the Church still see Asten’s hope for Their creation made manifest, reflected in consecrated glass and water and stone. The weak would never keep faith without proof of sin or power

But back to the worldbuilding: it’s pretty majorly interesting to present us with a world where faith is fact – not in the sense that everyone believes as a matter of course (although they do) but in the sense that this religion is verifiable. Consecrated objects shine. Holy statues weep for everyone to see. Checking whether someone has been consorting with demons takes seconds with tools given to every guard at every gate of the city. You can literally see whether someone has sinned, and you can see it when that sin is washed away.

(Which all does beg the question: what religion, exactly, is the holy war being fought against? Who are these others who don’t follow this Church? Why don’t they follow this Church, when there’s so much proof that this god, these priests, these tenets are the real deal?)

In the center of it all was the statue of Arany, the golden feathers of her eight wings and a dozen gold-dripping eyes alight from the ever-glowing candle fires at her feet. The shadow of her judgement was inescapable. She’d died so the world could still be good, and Csilla was leaving her legacy in tatters.

Baumer creates this world where all of this is verifiably true…and then plays with what that means, the ramifications of it – and the doubts and problems that arise even when the Church is clearly correct. For one thing, the Church doesn’t seem to be eradicating poverty or suffering, or have any explanation for why Asten turned away from the world – or how to bring Them back. And there are questions like the existence of Mihály – an Izir, the descendant of angels, very holy, capable of working small miracles…but he’s preaching a different approach to faith. How can this be? And how can the Church justify assassinating him, when he is practically a holy relic himself, living proof that angels are real?

And of course, there’s Csilla, and her soullessness. Because the various religious objects which react to souls (and sin) don’t react to her – in fact, I think her touch might actually break the consecration on some blessed objects, although I’m not completely sure I understood that correctly – the Church’s position is that she cannot sin. Which feels a bit like a riddle: she can absolutely commit acts that are sinful, like theft and murder. She just – presumably – can’t be ‘stained’ by them, since having no soul means there’s nothing to stain. But does that mean none of her actions have a moral weight/meaning? Is a moral act rendered neutral when she performs it? How can murder not be evil, just because of who’s doing the murdering? It’s the kind of thing I’d love to sit down and debate with other Philosophy and Ethics majors, and though Baumer doesn’t dive super deep into it – not bogging the story down with unnecessary amounts of introspection – it’s still this fascinating little tangle of ??? that demands answers.

Which leads us into the whole question of what even IS sin and how does it work in this setting? I was equal parts fascinated and horrified that torture does actually cleanse you of sin in this world; this is objectively, verifiably true, as various holy objects can be used to show how much ‘shadow’ a person has, and we see that post-torture, the amount of shadow falls. I mean, it has to be religious, Church-ordained torture – I don’t think any random sadist torturing a person for fun can cleanse them of sin – but still! That is so fucked up! What!!! The same seems to be true when the ‘pope’ of this world declares that some sins can be made up for with money – the rich who pay to make up for their sins actually have their sins forgiven/cleansed/whatever you want to call it! WHAT! Does this mean that this world’s God is a terrible being, or does it have something to do with a person’s self-image? If a person believes they’ve been cleansed of sin – by torture or by paying the church – are they then cleansed? Not by the torture or money, but because they now think/believe they are cleansed?

Few congregational priests came to the torture room, although they were happy enough to send others there. Hearts of iron and stomachs of silk, the lot of them.

Honestly, I’m hoping it’s that, but I do not know. It’s a very interesting bit of worldbuilding and raises (as you can see!) yet more questions. Perhaps it even hints that the Church’s understanding of sin, and how exactly Asten views sin and sinners, is very wrong…

So the worldbuilding is fabulous.

But.

The Faithful Dark does the thing I hate where, if not for the Word of God (ie, the author saying so outside of the text) I would have no idea the asexual character is asexual. Csilla isn’t attracted to anyone over the course of the book, sure, but I doubt she would be if she were allosexual either, given the a) options and b) motivations of those who express interest (…sort of) in her. At no point does Csilla say, or even think to herself, that she doesn’t feel sexual attraction to anybody ever. This is immensely frustrating when I was really looking forward to having ace rep.

I’m asexual, and I don’t know how else you can put asexuality on the page without explicitly stating it. You can show the reader pretty much every other sexuality I can think of, but asexuality is defined by an absence of a thing – you can’t show what isn’t there. You have to tell, not show. You need your character/s to discuss it, either out loud or internally; not necessarily using the word ‘asexual’ – depending on the setting, there might be another name for it in a given fantasy world, or maybe you don’t name it at all, but you explain very clearly that this character doesn’t experience ‘normal’ sexual attraction. In Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves, despite not having a word for ‘demisexual’ in their world, the MC and her love interest communicate that that’s what they both are just fine in a couple of sentences; in Sherwood Smith’s Banner of the Damned, the main character identifies as elor, her culture’s term for someone with no interest in sex with any gender. It can be done! It can be done easily and deftly!

So yes, I’m very bitter that Csilla’s asexuality is not made clear in Faithful Dark. If anything, I might mistake her as attracted to Ilan, towards the end of the book (given that Csilla is supposed to be asexual, this attraction might be meant to be romantic rather than romantic-and-sexual, or maybe not even romantic but platonic, but it’s NOT FREAKING CLEAR and that is my problem with it).

(I’m also not sure how I feel about the girl with no soul being asexual. That feels rather dodgy to me, as if the two qualities (being soulless and being asexual) are being conflated. This is another problem with a very simple solution, though; all you have to do is have another ace-spec character around who does have a soul to make it clear that there is no causal link between soulless-ness and being asexual. And would it really have been that hard to fit in another minor asexual character, given that there are probably many ace people who would join the Church (in this sort of culture/time period) to get away from the pressure to have sex and children and whatever? Csilla’s mentor/mother-figure, for example, could easily have been made ace. Problem solved.)

The Faithful Dark, then, has some mid-size issues – even if how poorly the ace rep is handled doesn’t bother you, the leaps in plot and logic made the most exciting parts of the book jerky and hard to follow. But it is an incredible plot, in a very interesting world, and I genuinely can’t wait for the sequel after the reveals we had towards the end of Faithful. On balance, I recommend it – with some reservations.

Trigger warnings: torture, on-page animal death, off-page dubious consent, disturbing amounts of faith in terrible religious tenets (like believing torture is good for you), brief mind-control, murder, whatever it’s called when someone wants to turn you into their dead girlfriend

The post If Faith Were Fact: The Faithful Dark by Cate Baumer appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

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Published on July 06, 2024 11:32

July 5, 2024

Mini-Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Minor F/F
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 11th July 2024
ISBN: 1035042320
Goodreads
four-stars

The Spellshop is a cottagecore cosy fantasy following a woman's unexpected journey through the low-stakes market of illegal spell-selling and the high-risk business of starting over . . .

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people, and as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.

She and her assistant, Caz, a sentient spider plant, have spent most of the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s precious spellbooks, protecting the magic for the city’s elite. But a revolution is brewing and when the library goes up in flames, she and Caz steal whatever books they can and flee to the faraway island where she grew up. She’s hoping to lay low and figure out a way to survive before the revolution comes looking for her. To her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town in disarray.

The empire with its magic spellbooks has slowly been draining power from the island, something that Kiela is indirectly responsible for, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right. Opening up a spell shop comes with its own risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the quirky townspeople, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must break down the walls she has kept so high.

Perfect for fans of Travis Baldree and TJ Klune, The Spellshop is a romantic and cosy fantasy.

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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I’ve loved Durst’s YA for years, so I was excited to pounce on this Adult Fantasy from her! Especially when it sounded extremely sweet and lovely – and was going to feature magic books! What’s not to love?

And The Spellshop lives up to every promise it makes.

This isn’t a Super Sirrus book, and although it touches on heavier or darker themes occasionally, you’re never left in any doubt that things will always turn out all right; difficulties are always overcome, attempts always work, and people always do the right thing in the end. It’s pure wish-fulfilment and escapism – and there’s nothing at all wrong with that! But you do need to leave your cynicism at the door and pop on your rose-tinted glasses before reading, or you’re not going to enjoy yourself properly.

As she watched, he mixed in scallions that he produced from a pants pocket, as well as a tomato.

Caz scooted forward. “You had a tomato in there?”

Larran shrugged. “You never know when you’ll need one.”

“I think you really do know,” Caz said. “How many tomato emergencies do you encounter?”

The world Durst has created here is a sugar-spun dream, beautiful and full of wonder, with enchanting beings and whimsical details everywhere you look. We don’t see much of the capital of this archipelago-empire, Alyssium, because Kiela and her bestie Caz flee it in the first chapter – but Caltrey, the island where Kiela was born and where she runs to after rebels take over the capital, is a delight. There are merhorses in the bay, who sparkle and hanker after tomatoes; cloud-elementals who’ve made a home in the local forest; and semi-feral winged cats who hang out in the town square.

“This is a ridiculous conversation that I regret beginning,” Caz said.

But all is not well in Caltrey; it’s been years since the empire sent their sorcerers to dispel the magic storms, bless the orchards, or assist the merhorses in becoming pregnant (and giving birth). Kiela and Caz escaped with a whole bunch of spellbooks from the library where they worked in the capital, and they very quickly agree that they need to use the spellbooks to help, if they possibly can. Neither of them are sorcerers, though, and they have to make sure any of their magical ‘remedies’ they sell don’t look like terribly illegal magic. Cue experimentation! Also, since they need a cover and a way to support themselves, they open – a jam shop.

It’s adorable. ADORABLE. I don’t know if jam shops exist in the real world, but the one Kiela and Caz put together (with some help from the very pretty, heart-of-gold neighbour) tickled me pink. And I was pleased that Kiela and Caz couldn’t start fixing everything right away – seeing them experiment, tweaking a spell until it worked the way they wanted (while figuring out how to cast it at all!) added a touch of realism that I appreciated.

“You know, plants aren’t nearly as emotional as humans. You should try to be more plant.”

Of course, Kiela has blue skin and Caz is a sentient, slightly snarky spider plant, so realism is not very important here. It’s more important that everything be charming. What species is the four-armed harpist? No idea, but she’s a wonderful musician. The healer with stag horns and wings? Who knows, and don’t worry about it. It’s far less important than the friendships Kiela makes on the island, the neighbour who is clearly head-over-heels for her, and the good deeds Kiela and Caz get up to with their spellbooks when no one’s looking. Durst keeps the worldbuilding minimal, and it works; you won’t get answers if you’re curious about how magic works or why Kiela is blue, but nevertheless, the setting is good and solid. Keeping it simple was definitely the right call here.

There’s a last-minute attempt at High(er) Stakes plot with a sort-of villain, and a few moments where characters touch on heavy topics (mostly to do with censorship and how magic is unfairly illegal for normal people) but when all’s said and done, The Spellshop is the epitome of cosy fantasy – all candyfloss and hot chocolate, comforting and feel-good in the extreme. I had a delightful time with it, and so long as you enjoy cosy, low-stakes fantasy, I think you will too.

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Published on July 05, 2024 01:41

July 3, 2024

I Can’t Wait For…Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg

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 Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg!

Yoke of Stars (Birdverse Books) by R.B. Lemberg
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 16th July 2024
Goodreads

An apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist trade interwoven tales in order to enact revenge. Ukrainian author R. B. Lemberg (The Four Profound Weaves) returns to their legendary Birdverse in an ode to the transformative power of storytelling.

“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading.”
―Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart

In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín. Ulín has heard the Orphan Star’s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan’s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two wounded souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.

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I love Lemberg’s Birdverse – it’s such a gorgeous, intricate setting, with so many kinds of queerness and neurodivergence displayed in dozens of different fictional cultures! I am, as I’ve said many times, a worldbuilding nut, and I swoon for the kind of imagination and attention to detail on display in Lemberg’s work!

I admit, I didn’t have a great time with Lemberg’s novel (although I’m determined to try it again at some point) but I’ve been starry-eyed for every short story and novella of theirs! Which is why I’m especially hopeful for Yoke of Stars – it’s a novella, so hopefully I will love it as much as I’ve loved their other shorter works.

This one does sound very promising; we’ve caught glimpses of the School of Assassins and the Orphan Star in some other Birdverse stories, and I’m happy to dive into both! Plus, are those little sea serpents on the cover? *crosses fingers*

And let’s be honest, I’ll always pounce on anything that promises to feature ‘the transformative power of storytelling’ – not to mention ‘radical listening’!

I’m pretty sure you can start reading almost anywhere in the Birdverse and fine, but I recommend beginning with Geometries of Belonging, a book which collects several of the short stories together. Plus poetry!

Or you can dive right into Yoke of Stars. I’m pretty sure that will be more than okay!

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Published on July 03, 2024 09:03

July 2, 2024

2024 Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag

Q3 has begun, and that means it’s time for the Mid-Year Freakout tag! *rubs hands together in glee* I have so much fun doing this every year!

How Much Have You Read?

By this time last year, I’d finished 120 books. In 2022, 114 books. This year? A solid drop. Just underlining what I’ve been noticing – I’m reading fewer and fewer books every month. It’s pretty distressing. What’s wrong with me? I don’t believe that getting my ADHD diagnosis could have made the ADHD worse, but I’m struggling to come up with another explanation, since my reading decline started just then!

What Have You Been Reading?

Unsurprisingly, Fantasy continues to dominate! Who is shocked? I’m not shocked.

‘Other’ has dropped from last year, which is interesting because it was holding pretty steady for the two years before that. Whereas Spec Fic has risen a bit – more books that were obviously speculative but didn’t fit very neatly into any SFF sub-genres.

DNFs are almost doubled from last year – almost a quarter of the books I picked up this year, I’ve DNFed! That surprises me, honestly. I guess I’ve gotten even stricter about not wasting my time on books that don’t deserve it.

The five-star reads are about the same as last year, but the four-star slice is a bit smaller.

A small but significant drop in the % of BIPOC authors. I’m really unhappy about this – I’ve been trying so hard to read more from authors of colour, and it is CLEARLY not working!

Given that the primary purpose of Every Book a Doorway is to feature DIVERSE SFF, this year I decided to do a breakdown not just of authors, but the characters too. Thus!

The only surprising thing about this is that the Cishet slice is so big! WHAT. What have I been reading?!

Not a surprise, but still a disappointment. (The Does Not Apply slice was for books like Birth of the Firebringer, where all the characters are unicorns.)

Clearly I’ve got to do another long hard look at my reading, because this isn’t what I want to be here for!

Best Book/s You’ve Read So Far In 2024

Even if I’ve been doing less reading, the reading I’ve been doing has covered some SERIOUSLY AMAZING books! Last year I listed six books for this question: this year, 20! And that’s without counting the amazing books that are sequels, since I count them for the next question!

20. That certainly makes me happy.

Best Sequel/s You’ve Read So Far In 2024

I am only just now realising that I’ve not read a lot of sequels this year! Lots of series openers and standalones, but not sequels. Huh. BUT THE ONES I READ WERE FABULOUS! And I’m obscurely pleased that four of these six were self-published.

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To

To be fair, I’m currently reading or have started almost all of these! Although I’ve just been warned by my book-bestie that From the Belly is actually way too scary for me…

Most Anticipated Release/s For the Second Half of the Year

I always have lots to look forward to and that’s how I like it. Even those of these I’ve read or am reading, I’m still excited for their release – I want to see how the rest of the world reacts to them!

Biggest Disappointment/s

Quite a few major fails from books I was really looking forward to – although I want to point out that Path of Thorns and Road to Ruin are both objectively great, they’re just not for me!

Biggest Surprise/s

As many surprises as disappointments, which feels very fair! Although not all the surprises were perfectly good ones; I’m still pissed off about Earthflown’s very strange ending, and Innkeeper’s Song was mostly a surprise in its style rather than its quality. But many of these were books I picked up on a whim and ended up utterly consumed by; The Briar Book of the Dead, for example, and The Gathering. And even though I went in with no idea of what to expect, somehow Bone Harp and Failures still managed to take me by surprise!

New Favourite Authors (Debuts or New To You)

SO MANY NEW NAMES TO ADD TO MY AUTO-BUY LIST!

(Projections is cheating a little – I’ve read the author’s YA, but this was her Adult debut, and under a new penname! So it totally counts.)

Underrated Gems You’ve Discovered Recently

Many Drops Make a Stream is an indie release, so I guess it’s not that weird that it’s not very well-known – I keep meaning to sit down and write it an awesome review to help boost it, because it truly is EXCELLENT! As is Projections, which I’ve seen no one talking about – and that one was a trad release. ???

Mad Sisters of Esi is another one where it’s kinda fair – it’s not been published in the US or UK yet, so it’s not surprising that it’s flying under the radar. It made the Subjective Chaos Kind Of Awards finalist list, though, which will hopefully bring it more attention!

And Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is the kind of cute and fluffy that my kind of reader doesn’t read very often, but it was EXACTLY what I needed when my brain was misbehaving. And so much fun!

Rereads This Year

Far fewer rereads than this time last year, but that’s fine. Several of these were to prepare for sequels; Hands of the Emperor I read to the hubby as a bedtime book, which we both enjoyed very much!

Book/s That Made You Cry

Swordcrossed got me HARD in the Feels – I wasn’t crying from sadness, they were happy/intense tears, but there were tears! Whereas Long Live Evil had me almost sobbing because SARAH REES BRENNAN YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID; and if you don’t at least tear up at the not-coronation scene at the end of Hands of the Emperor, you’re doing Life wrong.

As for The Feast Makers…I may have cried a tiny bit that the trilogy is now over. JUST A TINY BIT. But it’s okay, because it was a WONDERFUL finale, and also clarke* is going on to EVEN BETTER THINGS. My heart’s still just a wee bit bruised is all.

*not a typo, this author seems to prefer his name be uncapitalised, so that is how I will write it!

Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought So Far This Year

It hasn’t arrived yet and I have no idea what it looks like, but I trust that illumicrate’s edition of The Phoenix Keeper is going to be so beautiful! I am RIDICULOUSLY excited to see what the commissioned artists have done with it!

What Books Do You Need to Read By the End of the Year?

City of Refuge was on last year’s list, ffs. Am I EVER going to get around to reading it??? I want to so badly, and yet… Glamour Thieves, on the other hand, is my pick for the Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins – Oh My! square in the r/Fantasy bingo (I could have counted Daughters’ War, but damn it, I like to do as many squares in Hard Mode as I can!)

Empire of Silence is a weird one – I’ve read about half of it. It’s one of those where I’ve heard so many people raving about it, and specifically raving such interesting things, that I want to check it out, even though at first glance (…and second) it doesn’t look like my thing at all. I guess we’ll see how I do with it?

HERE ENDETH THE TAG! I hope you enjoyed all my pie charts, and please consider yourself tagged if you fancy having a go at this yourself!

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Published on July 02, 2024 09:56

July 1, 2024

Must-Have Monday #193

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.

NINE books this week!

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

Penric and the Bandit (Penric and Desdemona #13) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 1st July 2024
Goodreads

When Rozakajin, road-weary bandit and army deserter, spots a hapless blond young man in a country inn with an intriguing treasure map, he thinks he’s scouted an easy and lucrative victim. Attaching himself to odd traveler Penric seems simple enough, but when Roz’s old enemies catch up from behind, his plans take a turn for the much worse. When Pen’s claim that I never travel alone proves true in ways Roz never imagined, his world becomes more frightening still—but also much wider than he’d ever dared to dream.

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Ohhhhhhhh, another fool foolish enough to fool with Penric and Desdemona! This will be FUN. If you’re not following the Penric and Desdemona series, then you are missing out; Bujold has always been an amazingly addictive author, and the mostly bite-sized (there is one novel) stories following Penric, a sorcerer, and Desdemona, the demon who shares his body, are both brilliant and immensely entertaining. This is the same setting as Curse of Chalion, if you’ve heard of that (if you haven’t, go find it and enjoy!) I love how creatively Penric and Desdemona use their magic to get things done, and how wry and thoughtful and joyful this series is. Bouncing on my toes for this one!!!

Waypoint Seven by Xan van Rooyen
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 1st July 2024
Goodreads

An orphan with a terrible secret, transgender Runo ekes out a living with his found-family in the remote city of Askeria by scavenging magic detritus fallen through the Fray for his brutal scav-boss.

Life has always been a struggle for city strays, but as the High Priestess begins condemning those with unsanctioned magic to death, Runo knows the only way he and his crew will survive is if they leave Askeria for good. But escape doesn’t come cheap. Runo's crew thinks their troubles are over when their scavenging leads them to an angel, intact and—unfortunately—very much alive with their own agenda.

While trying to evade his scav-boss, save his girlfriend from succumbing to the magical flesh-eating disease known as the Rust, and worse, Runo’s past catches up with him even as he and his crew uncover a shocking truth that will not only rewrite the history of Askeria, but change the future of humanity forever.

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Rooyen is always coming up with unique worlds and magic, so I’m curious about their latest novella. Might be a little too bleak for me, but it has my attention!

The Gilded Crown (The Raven's Trade, #1) by Marianne Gordon
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, secondary M/M
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

The Witch’s Heart meets The Priory of the Orange Tree in this debut novel about a woman who can bring people back from the dead, and the princess—and only heir to the throne—that she must protect, no matter the cost.

The first time Hellevir visited Death, she was ten years old…

Since she was a little girl, Hellevir has been able to raise the dead. Every creature can be saved for a price, a price demanded by the shrouded figure who rules the afterlife, who takes a little more from Hellevir with each soul she resurrects.

Such a gift can rarely remain a secret. When Princess Sullivain, sole heir to the kingdom’s throne, is assassinated, the Queen summons Hellevir to demand she bring her granddaughter back to life. But once is not enough; the killers might strike again. The Princess’s death would cause a civil war, so the Queen commands that Hellevir remain by her side.

But Sullivain is no easy woman to be bound to, even as Hellevir begins to fall in love with her. With the threat of war looming, Hellevir must trade more and more of herself to keep the Princess alive.

But Death will always take what he is owed.

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I got to read this when it was released in the UK, and I absolutely loved it. Ignore the terrible cover and the comps; this is not romantasy, but a beautifully written political/religious fantasy, where different faiths are struggling with each other and there is much backstabbing amongst the nobility. Gordon’s prose is gorgeous, delicate and elegant, and I’m a big fan of the worldbuilding. (Although I still don’t understand why Hellevir can hear/speak to some animals/birds and not others…)

The Failures (The Wanderlands, #1) by Benjamin Liar
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC (one pov character among many)
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

In an unparalleled blend of apocalyptic science fiction and epic fantasy akin to masterpieces like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, debut author Benjamin Liar presents the first gripping installment of The Wanderlands trilogy. The vast machine-like expanse of the Wanderlands, crafted by long-lost gods, is teetering on the brink of eternal darkness. Amidst this decaying behemoth, a diverse group of heroes, driven by prophetic dreams, embark on a perilous journey. Their mission? To mend their crumbling world—or witness its irrevocable end.

Benjamin Liar masterfully weaves intricate tales across time and space. With unique world-building, this tale plunges readers into a mechanical planet-sized realm abandoned by its divine creators. It’s a tale of second chances and redemption, for these heroes have once tried—and failed—to salvage their home. Now, they’re presented with another shot at salvation or doom.

What sets The Failures apart is not just its genre-defying narrative but also its ingenious fusion of humor, charm, and profound depth. Liar’s debut, though dark and twisted, sparkles with witty prose, keeping readers riveted and eager for more. As you traverse The Wanderlands, you’ll uncover a multitude of interlinked stories, an intricate puzzle that begs to be pieced together. This is not just a book—it’s a captivating experience.

Benjamin Liar—writer, musician, filmmaker, and game designer—ventures into the literary world with The Failures as his first published novel. With accolades in music and short filmmaking, and a recent foray into virtual reality game design, Liar proves to be a multifaceted talent. Though his pseudonym might hint at deceit, one thing is certain: his storytelling prowess is undeniably genuine. Dive into this compelling epic, and lose yourself in the vastness of The Wanderlands.

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This is an impossible book to describe, so I will only say that it is phenomenal; intricate, vast, like nothing else I’ve ever seen, and I’m already pining for the sequel!

My review!

The Moonlight Market by Joanne Harris
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Joanne Harris comes a richly imagined and captivating novel of two colliding worlds.

Deep in the heart of London, a photographer walks the streets and captures whatever catches his an old man drinking coffee; a beautiful woman sipping champagne in St. Pancras station; a cloud of moths, disturbed, taking flight across the sky.

But with each photo, he captures something unseen by the eye, and as each negative develops—revealing a person he hadn’t met, a danger he hadn’t noticed, and a world he hadn’t seen—he is drawn further into a hidden war. One which he has been drawn into many times before . . . and every time, had his memories of the truth, and of the woman he loves, stolen from him.

As Tom pieces fragments of the truth together, he realizes he must weave through the war and fight his own both for the woman he loves, and for himself.

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I’ve been waiting for Moonlight Market ever since Harris described it as Romeo & Juliet with fairies! Honestly, it could be about almost anything and I’d want to read it – Harris’ prose + fantasy is a winning combo for me!

Rihasi (Tuyo Book 9) by Rachel Neumeier
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Brown MCs
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

Rihasi Gerogevet of Saraicana has a problem.

She knows just who can help her solve it: Lord Aras Eren Samaura, the king’s most powerful scepter-holder. But Lord Aras is in Gaur, a long journey from Saraicana, and getting there safely isn’t going to be easy. Especially as a lot of people are determined to make sure she doesn’t get there at all.

Kior Voeret has a secret.

The absolute last person he wants to face is Lord Aras Eren Samaura. But he can’t let a naïve, inexperienced young man get himself killed on the road. That’s all right: Kior doesn’t have to commit to going all the way to the scepter-holder’s doorstep. He can escort the young man to the border of Gaur, then walk away long before he gets close enough for Lord Aras to notice anything unfortunate.

It’ll be fine.

Really.

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Rihasi begins a new arc in Neumeier’s Tuyo universe, featuring (I believe) completely new characters. So I’m not sure what to expect, but Neumeier’s writing is wonderful and I have been MAJORLY loving the Tuyo books, and see no reason why I won’t love this one too!

You’re missing out if you skip the earlier books, but I THINK you should be able to read this one even if you haven’t read the others. I think.

Blackheart Ghosts by Laure Eve
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, major nonbinary character, assorted queer background characters
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

'A riveting tragedy of blood and desire. A masterwork of urban fantasy - and the coolest thing you'll read this year' -SAMANTHA SHANNON on Blackheart Knights

'A brilliant, bloody wild ride' - JAY KRISTOFF on Blackheart Knights

A half-drowned stranger turns up at the door of Garad Gaheris, retired King's Champion, with a hell of a story to tell. The ex-knight may have uncovered a conspiracy involving the very highest echelons of London's elite.

Current King's Champion Si Wyll, a master illusionist, still reeling from the betrayal of his lover and the death of his mentor, is poised to become the most dangerous man in London. Then a figure from his past surfaces, determined to blackmail him into a plot to change the balance of power for good.

And the city's godchildren, those born with illegal magical abilities, have had enough of being put down - but who must die to ensure their ascension?

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The sequel to the INCREDIBLE Blackheart Knights (read my review here) is finally out in the US this week! This is an epic duology that I couldn’t get enough of, and where Knights was clearly a (wildly original) King Arthur retelling (with knights on motorbikes and televised duels), Blackheart Ghosts instead dives deeper into the AMAZING urban fantasy setting Eve created for this series, digging into its underbelly and exploring all its seedy corners. Flawless!

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

From the author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy comes a heartwarming fantasy with a best friends-to-lovers rom com twist--When Harry Met Sally, but with dragons!—set in the delightful demigod and donut-filled world of Tanria.

The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla and Frank are still patrolling the dangerous land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.

Twyla might look like a small town mom who brings cheesy potatoes to funerals and whips up a batch of cookies for the school bake sale, but her rewarding career in law enforcement has been a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank's job a lot safer ... and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals covered in liquid glitter--and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon--they are more than happy to be back on the beat.

Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as the danger closes in and Twyla and Frank's investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might just be the person who has lived next door all along...

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I never quite finished The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, the first book set in this world, but it was cute and sweet and it’s still on my try-again-later tbr. Now we’re getting a new standalone in the same setting, and it sounds just as cute and sweet. Plus, a baby dragon! Who can resist a baby dragon???

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
Genres: Adult
Representation: West African cast and setting
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads

Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy becomes too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by re-forging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue that turn an entire region on its head.

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From early reviews it looks like this one is historical fiction with no fantasy elements, sigh – but it still sounds amazing, and is still going on my tbr!

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

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Published on July 01, 2024 01:13

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