Siavahda's Blog, page 35

Must-Have Monday #166

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.

This will be the last Must-Have Monday of 2023 – I won’t be doing one next week, since it would be going up on Christmas Day and that just seems a bit silly. I do have one book to feature from next week, though!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this year’s Must-Have Mondays – and I know I’m looking forward to next year’s!

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

Deal in Divinity by Chely Penn
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 18th December 2023
Goodreads

Lots of people have demons, but they’re not usually literal.

Heaven and Hell are warring on Earth, and Ander Castillo is stuck in the middle. Ever since demons broke through the gates of Hell and decimated humanity, Ander, along with other “blends”—humans with angelic blood—has been hiding in Gardners, one of the few remaining sanctuaries. The decrepit city is watched over by strange, distant angels, who protect its residents but offer no advice or comfort.

Leaving Gardners is a death sentence, but love drives Ander to attempt the impossible and set out beyond the walls to find the foster brother he lost long ago. Yet Ander’s no true angel, and a few feathers on his neck can’t save him from the monsters running wild over Earth. Soon enough he faces an impossible choice: a vicious death or making a deal that will tie him to a bloodthirsty demon. Forever.

Everything is not as it seems, though. Ander’s left wondering if evil can wear an angel’s face or love can hide in a demon’s luminous eyes. As he and his new deal-bound “partner” are drawn into the affairs of entities far beyond them, Ander’s strength and resolve are tested, and only love and loyalty will give him a chance at a future worth living.

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I am intrigued! Stories with angels and demons (and beings inbetween) often don’t quite fit my taste, but I’m always hoping – and, ‘feathers on his neck’??? Plus, my heart’s already melting at the thought of a quest to rescue a foster sibling. How often do we get to see that? MORE FOSTER/ADOPTED SIBLING LOVE, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

Resurrections by Ada Hoffmann
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Autistic MCs, queer MCs, queer autistic MCs
Published on: 19th December 2023
Goodreads

This collection of short stories and poems by Ada Hoffmann traverses extraordinary universes packed with faeries, cyborgs, talking otters, punitive gods, lovestruck sea creatures, fossil hunters, extraterrestrials, and much more. Exploring themes of love and self-existence, community and otherness, and perseverance, Resurrections is a wondrous blend of genres and literary forms.

In “Jenny’s House,” a young girl brings a slimy souvenir from a playdate gone wrong to show-and-tell. “Variations on a Theme from Turandot” is the story of a devout slave’s struggle with a stubborn, ruthless princess, replayed as an epic opera every night. In “Transitional Chords,” an unmotivated conservatory student finally connects with music when he falls victim to an otherworldly voice. “Harmony Amid the Stars” chronicles a spaceship’s inhabitants’ descent into madness through a cleaning lady’s diary. “I Sing Against the Silent Sun” is about the unbreakable bond between a fugitive and his ship’s AI.

Each universe contains an intricately crafted history, cast of characters, places, and paradoxes. From layered magical realms to beauty supply storerooms, Hoffmann brings often-overlooked characters and perspectives to life and lets their unfettered reality expand our imaginations. Resurrections is a glimpse into the spectrum of human existence, flitting from world to world in Hoffmann’s spectacular style.

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A collection of SFF short stories and poems from one of my favourite authors! I admit I didn’t enjoy most of them, but there were enough that I loved that I still think it’s worth a read.

My review!

A Little Heart: A Tale of Love and Destiny (Chronicles of the Graswangtal School of Witchcraft #1) by Vladarg Delsat
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Wheelchair-bound MC
Published on: 24th December 2023
Goodreads

Enter the school of sorcery where a girl with a fragile heart discovers the power of an unbreakable bond.

In a life where the fragility of existence is a constant companion, Helen seeks solace in the pages of books, using them as a shield against the ticking time bomb of her weak heart. Little does she know that the world of witchcraft has plans of its own.

Transported to the mysterious Graswangtal School, whispered to be brimming with magical secrets, Helen's reality takes an unforeseen twist. Along this extraordinary journey, she crosses paths with Philip, a kindred spirit who becomes her guiding light in a world filled with wonder and uncertainty.

Amidst ancient spells, moonlit dances, and the allure of forbidden knowledge that bestows godlike powers, their bond deepens. The universe they craft together is one of passion, empathy, and an everlasting love that defies all odds.

Discover hope in their remarkable journey, witness the enchantment of their connection, and experience a love that dances to the rhythm of their heartbeats. Embark on an epic saga that hints at adventures yet to unfold.

Let the magic of love and witchcraft guide your heart...

If you're a fan of magical adventures, deep friendships, and heartwarming tales of love, A Little Heart is a great read that will captivate your imagination and leave you believing in the extraordinary magic of the human heart.

Get your copy today and immerse yourself in a world where sorcery and love collide, and where destiny is written in the most unexpected ways.

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A new magic school story! With, judging from the cover, A MAIN CHARACTER IN A WHEELCHAIR! Oh my actual gods?! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a magic school story that even included anyone with a disability, never mind featuring one! And this sounds so lovely and sweet. Definitely trying it out!

Beyond the Fringe: An Arcana Imperii Collection by Miles Cameron
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 31st December 2023
Goodreads

Return to the Universe of the ARCANA IMPERII with a collection of novellas from Miles Cameron.

Following the events of ARTIFACT SPACE, the galaxy continues to change and expand. Frontiers are challenged and what was once a safe space becomes contested, hostile, and unpredictable.

From normal people caught up in the unstoppable machinations of politics and war, to spies faced with making the ultimate sacrifice for their nations, these stories follow the DHC as it faces a challenge to everything it holds dear - human rights, fairness and equality. When a rogue system questions their values and power, how can they stay true to their beliefs and protect their citizens?

And what are these rumours about new aliens lurking beyond the edges of known space?

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I adored the first book in this series, Artifact Space, and I’ve been so impatient for Cameron to wrap up his Age of Bronze trilogy (for that I’m enjoying that too!) and get back to this setting already! But this collection should help keep me going until we get book two next August. Besides, I love this setting so much, it’ll be great to get to see more parts of it than we could just following Nbaro, the MC of the series!

Belated Features!

I didn’t do a Must-Have Monday post last week because I wasn’t aware of any releases I was interested in – but I found out afterwards that there was one. I missed it! So I want to feature it now, and while I’m at it, feature a book I didn’t hear about until after it was released (and am currently reading and enjoying!) because I think both of these are books to pay attention to!

Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora by Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Olha Brylova, Iryna Pasko
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi
Published on: 12th December 2023
Goodreads

A desperate trek through the icy canyons of Mars, a doll-sized family with giant-sized opinions, a defiant princess whose fate must remain a secret… Welcome to the wild, colorful, and ever-blossoming landscapes of the Ukrainian imagination. Embroidered Worlds presents a bold glimpse into fantastic storytelling throughout Ukrainian culture, from science fiction, fantasy, and horror to slipstream, fairy tales, and more.

This collection gathers 30 short stories from writers living in wartime Ukraine, their work translated into English for the very first time, as well as from international authors of Ukrainian heritage. Come, now, and experience the magic, the terror, and the wonder-filled surprises of the worlds they’ve brought to life.

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I think the ebook may have released earlier, but the paper edition of Embroidered Worlds came out last week, and I missed it! But it’s very much the kind of book I’m here to feature, so…here it is!

Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology by Wole Talabi
Genres: Science Fantasy
Representation: African-coded/inspired cast and setting
Published on: 19th November 2023
Goodreads

WELCOME TO THE SAUÚTIVERSE
“The Sauútiverse project...aims to rival other popular science-fantasy properties, such as George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards universe, with a grounding in African culture and a depth of imagination...this feels like the start of something monumental.”
—Publishers Weekly

Contributors include: Nebula Award winner Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, World Fantasy Award nominee Eugen Bacon, NYT bestselling author Tobias S. Buckell, Caine Prize nominee T.L. Huchu, Adelehin Ijasan, Stephen Embleton, Akintoba Kalejaye, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Xan Van Rooyen, Dare Segun Falowo, Eye Kay Nwaogu, J. Umeh, and Somto Ihezue. With a foreword by Fabrice Guerrier, Founder of Syllble Studios.

Mothersound is the first anthology of stories set in this fictional shared world based on a blend of African cultural worldviews. Edited by Locus award nominated editor Wole Talabi with contributions from around the African continent and diaspora, Sauúti is filled with wonder, mystery, and magic.

African-based intergalactic worldbuilding
Space travel
Humanoid and non-humanoid creatures
Artificial intelligence
Intricate magic system based on sound, oral traditions, and music

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I missed this one when it first came out (which: HOW?!) but once I heard of it, I had to have it. I’m neck-deep in the Sauútiverse right now, and I am enchanted. I’ve not finished this book yet, but if you’re looking for incredible worldbuilding, and science fantasy inspired by African traditions…then my GODS is this for you!!!

Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #166 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Some Phoenixes Among the Ashes: Resurrections by Ada Hoffman

Resurrections by Ada Hoffmann
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Autistic MCs, queer MCs, queer autistic MCs
Published on: 19th December 2023
ISBN: B0CKLSKHYS
Goodreads

This collection of short stories and poems by Ada Hoffmann traverses extraordinary universes packed with faeries, cyborgs, talking otters, punitive gods, lovestruck sea creatures, fossil hunters, extraterrestrials, and much more. Exploring themes of love and self-existence, community and otherness, and perseverance, Resurrections is a wondrous blend of genres and literary forms.

In “Jenny’s House,” a young girl brings a slimy souvenir from a playdate gone wrong to show-and-tell. “Variations on a Theme from Turandot” is the story of a devout slave’s struggle with a stubborn, ruthless princess, replayed as an epic opera every night. In “Transitional Chords,” an unmotivated conservatory student finally connects with music when he falls victim to an otherworldly voice. “Harmony Amid the Stars” chronicles a spaceship’s inhabitants’ descent into madness through a cleaning lady’s diary. “I Sing Against the Silent Sun” is about the unbreakable bond between a fugitive and his ship’s AI.

Each universe contains an intricately crafted history, cast of characters, places, and paradoxes. From layered magical realms to beauty supply storerooms, Hoffmann brings often-overlooked characters and perspectives to life and lets their unfettered reality expand our imaginations. Resurrections is a glimpse into the spectrum of human existence, flitting from world to world in Hoffmann’s spectacular style.

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

Highlights

~nonbinary sky-otters with anxiety
~so many flavours of autistic!
~i’m not smart enough for this poetry
~LOCK THE DAMN DOOR
~much meh, but oh the greats are GREAT

It’s almost always really difficult to rate short story collections; inevitably, some stories are better than others, so how do you spin a rating out of that?

Resurrections is especially difficult, because I really did not enjoy myself for most of it – I very nearly DNFed it – but the stories I liked (all in the second half of the collection) I really loved.

So???

Resurrections is gathered into four parts; Dusk, Midnight, The Small Hours, and Dawn. I will be honest: I didn’t see or sense any rhyme or reason to the divisions. Or to the collection as a whole. And that’s really how I felt about most of the stories (and almost every poem): that I just wasn’t getting it. You know the feeling when you read something, and there’s the niggling suspicion that this is supposed to be very High Brow and you’re just not smart enough to grasp how clever it all is? That hit me with the very first story – Variations on a Theme from Turnadot, which is, as best I could make out, about the characters in an opera coming to life and manifesting through the actresses/singers who play them in order to, very slowly, change the opera’s ending. But I didn’t understand exactly what happened in that ending – did the characters swap hearts? something like that? – and I didn’t enjoy the story for itself; I was bored, for all that I recognised at least some of the Powerful Themes I ought to have been impressed by. Or at least interested in.

That was my experience with most of the collection; I was bored or confused or both. I didn’t see the point of stories like Jenny’s House or Back Room or Harmony Amid the Stars, and I really disliked the premises (although that’s a matter of personal taste – I don’t like stories with unhappy endings, or bad shit happening to kids). (A note: I was told there would be content warnings, but my copy didn’t have any. I’m pretty sure they’ll be in the finished copy, though.) Nightmare IV was a wishy-washy floaty thing that was barely a story at all, as was The Button. I had no idea what was happening in Rabbit Pulls a Magician Out of Her Hat, which is written in an experimental style I couldn’t figure out. And so on.

Some stories had interesting premises, but I was left unsatisfied; I wanted more, novellas rather than short stories, something with room to explore more and give me more answers about what was going on.

And let’s be real: I’m not a poetry aficionado. There are poets I adore, and some styles/modes I find fascinating or impressive, but it’s been a long time since I read a poetry collection. Most of the poems here, I couldn’t make head or tail of. I’m positive I missed the nuance and deeper meaning of the ones that did make some kind of sense to me. I’m not smart enough for this kind of poetry, and I don’t enjoy it.

But it’s not all bad! A Spell to Retrieve Your Lover From the Bottom of the Sea is a beautiful and strange tale of magic, love, and autonomy; The Herdsman of the Dead explores overcoming depression (I think?) through a wonderfully folkloric trip to the land of the dead; and Fairest of All takes the idea that the myth of the changeling is inspired by autistic children and runs with it – right into fairyland, and polyamory with a nonbinary sky-otter! Two stories return us to the world of Hoffman’s Outside trilogy, which was a nice surprise, and I Sing Against the Silent Sun, co-written with Merc Fenn Wolfmoor and set in Wolfmoor’s Sun Lords of the Principality series, is an aching masterpiece of resistance, love, and the power of words and voices. Queer and autistic rep abound throughout, in the stories I didn’t enjoy as well as the ones I did; I really appreciated that all of Hoffman’s autistic characters were different – their autism presented/manifested in very different ways, just like it does in real life. (But then, I’d expect no less from the writer of the Autistic Book Party!)

All in all, I think the Greats are more than worth the price of admission, and I think readers who more regularly enjoy short stories will probably enjoy more of the stories here than I did – I’m used to, and my preference is for, big thick doorstoppers, after all. I know I’m not the best person to be judging short stories!

But the Greats here really are amazing.

Grab your copy next week!

The post Some Phoenixes Among the Ashes: Resurrections by Ada Hoffman appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

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 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino!

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 16th January 2024
Goodreads

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different; she also possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings.

For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?

A blazing novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life in our universe, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a remarkable evocation of feeling in exile at home and introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

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The moment I read the blurb for this one, I knew it was going to rip my heart out. But (probably) in a good a way!

I know I’m far from the only one who grew up feeling Different, but as a kid I actually spent years constructing an elaborate explanation for how I was secretly Not Human. So…this kind of caught me in the gut. Even if my fantasies went in a, well, more fantasy direction, this is very nearly the same thing, so Beautyland kind of immediately feels intensely personal.

Taking a step back from All The Feels – how whimsically delightful is the idea of communicating with aliens via FAX MACHINE??? That just makes me grin uncontrollably. I love it!

It’s being marketed as more literary than sci fi, so I don’t know how much we’ll get to see of the alien side of things. But I DO know I’ll be reading it either way.

The post I Can’t Wait For…Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

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 The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland!

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Published on: 30th January 2024
Goodreads

From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it's feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.

Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.

Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara's and Jude's predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.

As Zara and Jude enter Emer's orbit, they'll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.

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I really enjoyed the decadent prose and eerie strangeness of Sutherland’s debut, House of Hollow, so hearing that her next book was going to be about teenage witches? Oh HELLS yes!

The blurb is giving me some of the same vibes as Claire Legrand’s Sawkill Girls – which is great, since that’s one of my all-time faves. Wild girls, girls willing to be not-nice, girls who are raging and dangerous and powerful – that’s my catnip, and Invocations sounds like it’s going to deliver in spades. ‘though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night’??? GIMME!

I love that one of the major driving forces of the story is a bond between sisters – I am SO HERE for siblings going to the end of the world for each other, or in this case, trading part of their souls! I’m already rooting for Zara hard. I really hope she can bring her sister back.

There’s plenty of intriguing hints in the blurb about the worldbuilding here – demons exist in this ‘verse; what are they, where do they come from, what can they do? What do they want souls (or bits of them) for? What makes a witch? What can they do? Given how unexpected and unique the twist was in House of Hollow, I doubt that Sutherland’s going to present us with anything simple and/or predictable, and I already know she can weave the intoxicating, uncanny atmosphere that goes great with supernatural elements.

Suffice to say, I am EXCITED!

The post I Can’t Wait For…The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #165

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.

SEVEN books this week!

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

All the Hidden Paths (The Tithenai Chronicles, #2) by Foz Meadows
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown achillean MCs, M/M, major mute character, brown queernorm culture, multiple minor nonbinary characters
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

The follow-up to Foz Meadows's A Strange and Stubborn Endurance , a sultry political & romantic fantasy exploring gender, sexuality, identity, and self-worth.

With the plot against them foiled and the city of Qi-Katai in safe hands, Velasin and Caethari have begun to test the waters of their relationship. But the wider political ramifications of their marriage are still playing out across two nations, and all too soon, they’re summoned north to Tithena’s capital city, Qi-Xihan, to present themselves to its monarch.

With Caethari newly invested as his grandmother’s heir and Velasin’s old ghosts gnawing at his heels, what little peace they’ve managed to find is swiftly put to the test. Cae’s recent losses have left him racked with grief and guilt, while Vel struggles with the disconnect between instincts that have kept him safe in secrecy and what an open life requires of him now.

Pursued by unknown assailants and with Qi-Xihan’s court factions jockeying for power, Vel and Cae must use all the skills at their disposal to not only survive, but thrive – because there’s more than one way to end an alliance, and more than one person who wants to see them fail.

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The sequel to last year’s A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and officially one of my favourite books of the year, All the Hidden Paths is a gorgeous book full of intrigue and Feels, with that magic x factor that just makes you happy. I loved it so much I read the arc twice, and I plan on reading the fininished version too!

My review!

Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4) by T. Kingfisher
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

Marguerite Florian is a spy with two problems. A former employer wants her dead, and one of her new bodyguards is a far too good-looking paladin with a martyr complex.

Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.

Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts. . .

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WHO HAS NOT BEEN WAITING FOR A NEW WORLD OF THE WHITE RAT BOOK??? Especially after how Paladin’s Hope ended!!! I cannot WAIT to dive into this one!!!

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.

Jacqueline Millender is a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate, and thanks to a generous donation, she’s just become the director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring—she's built a whole brand around rethinking the very concept of empowerment.

Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands her dream job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's instantly swept up into the glamourous world of corporatized feminism.

Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who is finishing up medical school when Jacqueline recruits her to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something much larger at play.

As Ava, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in Jacqueline's system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly unhinged and dangerous in what she is willing to do—and who she is willing to sacrifice—to keep her dream alive.

At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.

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This is likely to be the wrong kind of stressful to me, so I’ll probably skip it, but it seemed worth including for other readers!

A River of Golden Bones (The Golden Court, #1) by A.K. Mulford
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic nonbinary MC
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

From bestselling author and TikTok sensation A.K. Mulford comes the first riveting, enchanting book in the all-new Golden Court romantasy trilogy—A River of Golden Bones begins a journey of self-discovery, romance, and adventure for a young heir as she/they comes out of hiding to save her sister from a malicious, powerful sorceress and her dangerous sleeping curse.

A sleeping curse. A fallen court. A secret twin.

Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom…and from the humans who don’t know they are Wolves. Each twin has their own purpose in life: Briar’s is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla’s purpose is to remain a secret, her twin’s shadow . . . the backup plan.

No one knows who Calla truly is except for her childhood friend—and sister’s betrothed—the distractingly handsome Prince Grae. But when Calla and Briar journey out of hiding for Briar’s wedding, all of their well-made plans go awry. The evil sorceress is back with another sleeping curse for the last heir to the Golden Court.

Calla must step out of the shadows to save their sister, their kingdom, and their own legacy. Continuing to hide as a human and denying who she truly is, Calla embarks on a quest across the realm, discovering a whole world she never knew existed. Outside the confines of rigid Wolf society, Calla begins to wonder: who could she be if she dared to try?

Full of adventure, love, gender exploration, and self-discovery, A River of Golden Bones follows Calla’s journey through treacherous Wolf kingdoms, monster-filled realms, and the depths of their own heart in this thrilling romantic fantasy.

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This is another that probably isn’t for me, but I’m kind of delighted to see a trad-pubbed romantasy with a trans/nonbinary MC!

Him by Geoff Ryman
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Nonbinary or trans MC
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

“Women, of course, can not be sons of God.”

In the village of Nazareth, virgin Maryam and the wife of Yosef barLevi gives birth to a miracle: a little girl. She is named Avigayil, after her grandmother. But as Avigayil grows, it’s clear she believes that she is destined to be someone greater than just the daughter of Maryam. From fighting with the village boys to challenging the priests in the temple, Avigayil is determined to find her way. And then comes the day when Avigayil declares that not only is she a boy, but she is also the Son of God. A gripping, thoughtful sci-fi novel, tackling family, the multiverse and the survival of love through immense change and crisis.

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This sounds extremely up my alley, but from the glimpse I took of the arc (I refused to read the whole thing because of formatting issues) the writing is quite dry… I’m willing to give the finished version a shot, though.

This was out in the UK earlier this year, and now it’s time for its US release!

A Death at the Dionysus Club (Julian Lynes and Ned Mathey, #2) by Melissa Scott, Amy Griswold
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 7th December 2023
Goodreads

Secrets, Magic and Murder…The gentleman’s clubs of Scott and Griswold’s Gaslamp fantastical London are full of secrets and the ones that Julian Lynes and Ned Mathey and their circles are even hidden than most. Beneath their respectable, or less respectable, façades, they are a haven…or a torment for men who desire each other’s company. Now someone is leaving a trail of murder victims, each one found without a heart. Each one somehow connected to Lynes, Mathey, their friends, their enemies and the communities that they belong to. Finding the murderer could reveal everything, leading to certain ruin for some, and the loss of all they hold dear for Julian and Ned. How far will they go to solve the mystery and stop a killer?

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The second book in the Julian Lynes and Ned Mathey series! I loved these books, and I’m so glad they’re being republished by Queen of Swords. I hope this raises the chance of us getting more books with these characters!

Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #165 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

End of the Year Book Tag

I nabbed this one from Imyril over at There’s Always Room For One More, but I believe it was originally created by book vlogger Ariel Bissett. Tag yourself if you want, and link me so I can see your answers!

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

AHAHAHAHAHA! Of COURSE I do! Gods, so many. I made a list of books I have to finish because I think they might be contenders for my Best of 2023 list, some of which I haven’t even started yet.

Of the ones I have started…

SO MANY.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

No? I don’t really associate books with seasons, and off the top of my head I can’t think of one I’d consider autumnal…

Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

A few! Paladin’s Faith and All the Hidden Paths are both out this Tuesday (well, the UK has to wait till January for AtHP), but Beyond the Fringe, a collection of short stories set in the same setting as Artifact Space (which made my Best of the Year list in 2021) won’t be released until the 31st – the very last day of the year! I still contend this is a very weird day to publish a book on, but I like that I’ll have something to look forward to all month.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Derring-Do for Beginners is one of the books that I think has a shot at ending up on my Best of 2023 list, whereas Cold Fire and The Seep are ‘just’ books I desperately want to read – I massively enjoyed Cold Magic, to which Cold Fire is the sequel, and I loved Chana Porter’s sophomore novel The Thick and the Lean, which means I definitely need to check out her debut!

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?

I don’t think it would be super surprising for a TJ Land book to end up on my favourites list, because Land’s stuff is awesome – and this one involves a thief with dwarfism and an asshole dragon, which sounds very promising to me. And I’ve been loving both Knock Knock, Open Wide (which is creepy as fuck and gorgeous) and the sensuality of Land of Milk and Honey (I’m not a foodie in real life, but I love foodie fiction, for some reason).

Have you already started making reading plans for 2024?

Of course – I’m obsessed with my Most Anticipated lists! In no particular order, here are some I’m VERY much looking forward to!

US Cover

And now, I should really get back to reading+reviewing as fast as I can. Slán!

The post End of the Year Book Tag appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

This Way to Perfection: All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows

All the Hidden Paths (The Tithenai Chronicles Book 2) by Foz Meadows
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown achillean MCs, M/M, major mute character, brown queernorm culture, multiple minor nonbinary characters
PoV: 1st-person, past-tense; third-person, past tense
Published on: 5th December 2023
ISBN: B0BQGK3WMV
Goodreads

The follow-up to Foz Meadows's A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, a sultry political & romantic fantasy exploring gender, sexuality, identity, and self-worth.

With the plot against them foiled and the city of Qi-Katai in safe hands, Velasin and Caethari have begun to test the waters of their relationship. But the wider political ramifications of their marriage are still playing out across two nations, and all too soon, they’re summoned north to Tithena’s capital city, Qi-Xihan, to present themselves to its monarch.

With Caethari newly invested as his grandmother’s heir and Velasin’s old ghosts gnawing at his heels, what little peace they’ve managed to find is swiftly put to the test. Cae’s recent losses have left him racked with grief and guilt, while Vel struggles with the disconnect between instincts that have kept him safe in secrecy and what an open life requires of him now.

Pursued by unknown assailants and with Qi-Xihan’s court factions jockeying for power, Vel and Cae must use all the skills at their disposal to not only survive, but thrive – because there’s more than one way to end an alliance, and more than one person who wants to see them fail.

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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~Gift is the best gift
~husbanding is tricky
~mysterious bear-cats are mysterious
~who’s out to kill which one of us?
~we are not tragedies

*Spoilers for book one, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (reviewed here)!*

If you think I didn’t drop absolutely everything when the arc of All the Hidden Paths arrived in my inbox, then you are SORELY MISTAKEN.

Not only did it not disappoint, I loved it so much I read it again – twice before release day!

Beginning just weeks after the end of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (and I do recommend at least rereading the last chapter of Endurance, if not the whole thing, before diving into this one) All the Hidden Paths is a luxurious paragon of a book, opulent in prose and emotion, deliciously indulgent without ever skimping on the plot. When I started reading, it was almost a shock – I’d forgotten that THIS was what reading was supposed to feel like, that ephemeral, ever-chased sensation of being completely, deliciously submerged, embraced by the story and embracing it in turn. After months of struggling to focus on anything at all, All the Hidden Paths made my brain feel pampered.

Endurance kept the story tightly focused on Vel and Cae and their immediate surroundings – Cae’s family, and city they reside in and rule, Qi-Katai. We saw some of the ramifications of Vel and Cae’s marriage, but only in terms of the small-picture; Velasin’s fears about what a Tithenai marriage might demand of him, some small amount of unrest in Qi-Katai, and of course, Laecia’s reaction to seemingly being dismissed in favour of Cae. It was really all family politics, though we didn’t know it until Laecia’s role in events was revealed.

All the Hidden Paths, on the other hand, explores the wider ramifications of Vel and Cae’s marriage – which is, after all, supposed to cement political relations between Tithena and the violently queerphobic Ralia. With everything going on in Endurance, there wasn’t really a moment to consider how Ralia might react to their treaties and trade being tied to a marriage of two men, but since AtHP opens with the asa – what we’d call a queen – of Tithena summoning Velasin and Caethari to court, well…now we, and poor Vel and Cae, have to consider it. Especially when they reach the asa’s court, immediately running into all the various factions who each have their own opinion on the matter. It only makes matters worse that Cae is now – by default, not anyone’s choice, including his own – his grandmother’s heir, raising him to the highest levels of Tithenai nobility.

And, uh. Cae is not good at politics. He’s far too straightforward. Vel, on the other hand, is a political genius (even if he wouldn’t call himself that) but he’s greatly hampered by the fact that he knows nothing about Tithenai politics. Throw in Cae’s mourning for the deaths of his father and sister, Vel’s trauma, a series of increasingly suspicious ‘accidents’ along the road, and very bloody intrigue at court, and you have a recipe for an unputdownable tapestry of intricately interwoven silk threads.

“We’re both new to husbandry,” he said, leaning back. “It would be stranger, I think, if we were savants at it.”

Vel and Cae’s relationship continues to make my heart melt like warmed candle-wax. Both of them fear stepping wrong with the other, but I was pleasantly surprised by how often they were able to talk to each other about their fears – and when they don’t talk, it’s for very good reasons. We saw a little of this in Endurance, but AtHP really drives home the fact that Vel and Cae come from wildly different cultures. Velasin has had it drummed into him that he can’t love another man openly; just holding Cae’s hand where other people can see is a Thing for him (albeit a pleasant one), and he genuinely has no experience with what we’d consider a normal romantic relationship, where you have to make up after fights and talk out your feelings when they’re complicated. I despise stories where everything could be solved if characters just talked to each other, and don’t for Extremely Contrived Reasons, but here the communication issues stem from believable and understandable cultural differences, and I really loved how Meadows explored that, and how Vel and Cae (with Markel’s help, of course!) managed to navigate it.

“I can feel the pair of you mother-henning me from here,” Vel called from the bathroom door. “It smacks of conspiracy.”

“You’ll be cared about and you’ll like it!” Cae called back.

Which is not to say that AtHP is all Relationship Drama, because it very much is not. (Thank goodness.) AtHP is Intrigue with a capital I, much more so than Endurance, which had a strong investigative plotline. AtHP does too, but it feels different, maybe because there are so many more players on the board now, so many different political agendas grappling with each other, and we’re more aware of all of them. It feels more familiar, in a way – I love stories about courtly intrigue, and as a sucker for lush description of beautiful things I’m unashamed to say that I also loved the Tithenai court itself, with all the gorgeous clothes and jewels and such on display.

Thei flashed him a broad grin, and for the first time, Cae realised that thir incisors were set with gemstones: little chips of diamond that winked in the sun.

We gain a whole swathe of new secondary characters, including a new PoV character, and even if I didn’t like them all as people, I loved them as part of the story. Everyone from Asrien, another Ralian who gets caught up in the currents around Vel and Cae, to Asa Ivadi, who makes for a fiendishly clever and refreshingly sensible monarch, were fabulous. Even the most minor characters are fully fleshed-out here, with a great deal to contribute even when they’re not directly plot-relevant – for example, Meadows is careful to include many secondary and background female and kemi (third-gender/nonbinary) characters, more than enough to reinforce the gender equality of Tithena in the reader’s mind. Which genuinely added to the reading experience for me: I can’t count the number of times I’ve read a supposedly gender-equal/neutral story where all the minor and background characters happen to be men, but that’s not a trap Meadows has ever fallen into in any of their books, and especially not here.

“Ah,” said Vel, who’d clearly reached a similar conclusion. “Markel. Good morning. We didn’t hear you come in.”

“That was extremely apparent,” Markel signed, looking pained.

Beyond the decadent prose, gorgeous worldbuilding, and rich romance, there’s a quiet but powerful theme running through AtHP that is beautiful but hard to define; it’s a little bit queer joy, and a little bit queer hope, and a lot queer defiance, and mostly all those things mixed up together. As a gay man who internalised the belief that he could never be happy, Velasin has a lot of unlearning to do; after having to live as a tightly-knotted, shrunken-down version of himself in Ralia, he now has the opportunity to stretch and grow, because Tithena gives him unlimited space to be himself. To be joyful is often a form of defiance, especially when you’re talking about queerness, and reading along as Velasin really processes his new freedom – freedom that isn’t going to be taken away, even if worst comes to worst and he and Cae divorce, or he loses Cae in some other fashion – made me glow with all the Feels (and maybe tear up, once or twice). Sometimes it’s painful; the scenes where Velasin aches for what he could have had, if he’d just been born Tithenai, are heartbreaking. Meadows writes with such compassion and understanding, such raw and honest emotion, that I think even readers who have never had to be in the closet will feel the gut-punch.

But what I mean to say is, in a lot of ways AtHP is a book about refusing fear, about defiantly choosing joy instead; about believing that happiness is possible even when you’ve spent your whole life being told otherwise. I can’t overstate how well it’s done, nor how deep it hits even for those of us who have been very lucky in our freedoms. When it’s not making the pleasure centres of your brain light up and glitter, AtHP feels like a big, warm, fierce embrace of the most fragile part of you – your inner child, your deepest insecurities, the scars that will never go away – and a promise that you can be happy. That you will be happy. That you are beautiful just by virtue of existing, and no one can take that from you.

I am not a tragedy.

All the Hidden Paths is a book that brought me joy; a book that shimmers like silk as it wraps itself around your heart. It’s a jewel cut to perfection, every facet – characters, adventure, intrigue, romance, worldbuilding – absolutely flawless, the star of Meadows’ crown (thus far!) When I’d forgotten the pleasure of reading, the reason it’s the biggest part of my life, this book gave it back to me, and for that alone I’d be unspeakably grateful and unrepentantly rhapsodical about it – but it’s also, simply, a work of art that proves once again that Meadows belongs among the truly greats.

It’s perfection, easily one of the best books of the year, and I genuinely can’t recommend it enough.

The post This Way to Perfection: All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

In Short: November

This month was a bit up and down, but my meds have been tweaked (yet again) and I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my mood. YAYNESS! Now if I can just channel that into getting things read and written…

ARCs Received

Someone You Can Build a Nest in, Fathomfolk, and Merciless Saviors are all some of my most anticipated reads of next year, so yes, there was squeeing when I was approved for their arcs! Be the Sea was a book I hadn’t heard of before it showed up on Netgalley, but it looks very promising indeed. A Magical Girl Retires has an incredible premise, and A Dark and Drowning Tide is giving me Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries vibes, but dark and gothic and sapphic, so that looks like it’s going to be a very fun time as well!

Read

20 books read this month – I think I’m slowly getting back into my groove! I’m afraid the first collection of Welcome to Night Vale episodes, Mostly Void, Partially Stars, failed to move me – as did Cursebreakers, which I was really looking forward to. The Navigating Fox actively pissed me off, and I am so grateful I finished Harpist in the Wind because now I don’t have to look at Patricia McKillip’s Riddle Master trilogy EVER AGAIN. (I’ve enjoyed a lot of her other books, but I hated this trilogy with a passion.)

But A Power Unbound and System Collapse were both, as expected, delights, I fell completely in love with Shadow Baron and Godly Heathens, and The Free People’s Village ripped my heart right out of my chest, which frankly was uncalled for. This was my second time reading All the Hidden Paths, but honestly, it was just as exquisite this time around. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of rereading Meadows.

To the best of my knowledge, 20% of this month’s books had BIPOC authors. Better than most months!

Reviewed

I really wanted to get more reviews written this month, but it just didn’t happen. I’m pretty happy with how the Godly Heathens review turned out, though.

DNF-ed

To Cage a God and So Let Them Burn were already on my in-progress most anticipated of 2024 list, but I’ve had to cut them – imo, they’re both pretty terrible. The Scandalous Letters of V and J I might come back to in the future, but the rest were total disappointments.

ARCs Outstanding

I’m behind, I’m behind, I’m behind. I think six of these have already been released, and where are my reviews??? Nowhere to be found. Sigh. I’m working on it, but slowly.

Misc

This month I had to give my Kindle a factory reset – the battery kept dying, and the last time this was a problem, the reset fixed it. I think it’s worked, but that leaves me with the Herculean task of putting all my books back on it, and arranging them in collections and all again. I’m a bit obsessive about it, so it’s going to take me a while!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Sunday Soupçons feature, and I’m pretty torn about it. I’m tempted to just start posting my mini-reviews as their own posts – my mini-reviews tend to be as long as most bloggers’ normal reviews anyway! – but I like my little banner graphic, and I will admit it makes no kind of sense, but mini-reviews snuggled up together in one post feels cosy??? So you might see me going back and forth for a bit, posting some mini-reviews individually, and some (especially shorter ones) still grouped in Sunday Soupçons, while I figure out which I prefer.

Last but CERTAINLY not least – HE Edgmon featured my review of Godly Heathens on their insta!!! *swoons* Thank you to the SNEAKIEST OF SAMS for linking them to it <3

Looking Forward

I only found out by PURE CHANCE that Miles Cameron’s Beyond the Fringe is out next month – at the very end of next month; the 31st of December is possibly the weirdest day of the year to release a book, but whatever, I’ll take it. It’s a collection of short stories set in the world of Artifact Space, which I adore – next year we’re getting the sequel!

December also has us getting Ada Hoffman’s first short story collection, and long-awaited sequels in the forms of All the Hidden Paths and Paladin’s Faith. I can’t wait for any of these!!! (I’ve read the arc of All the Hidden Paths twice now, but if you think I won’t be reading the finished version too, you clearly don’t know me very well!)

Wishing all of us a delightful December!

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

November DNFs

Five DNFs this month; mostly disappointing arcs.

To Cage a God (These Monstrous Gods #1) by Elizabeth May
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 23rd January 2024
ISBN: 0756418828
Goodreads

The 1st book of an epic new, Imperial Russia-inspired dark fantasy duology of gods, politics, and deadly magical powers from a Sunday Times bestselling author

As a child, Galina’s village was decimated in a battle between the alurea, a ruling class possessed by gods imprisoned in human bodies. A stranger offers her shelter—and justice against the empress who slaughtered her family. The bargain is Galina will become a vessel for a deity of her own. And when the time comes, she will be a weapon used to take control of the throne.

Twenty years later, the woman who invoked Galina’s god is dead, and she’s on the run with her foster sister, Sera. Both women are fugitives struggling to adapt to the deities within their bodies and forced to finally attempt the mission they were groomed infiltrate the palace and overthrow the cruel empress to end the brutal reign of alurea.

But their duty grows complicated when Sera’s ruthless former partner catches up with her, and Galina finds herself on the verge of losing her heart to an enemy princess. As secrets and lies come to light, both women will discover what they’re willing to do for their people—and how far they’ll go to occupy a blood-soaked throne.

For readers eagerly awaiting the next season of Shadow and Bone or those hoping to find similar reads with a more adult audience and more queer representation, These Monstrous Gods is the perfect new dark fantasy to fall in love with.

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 been obsessively anticipating this book for over a year..so you can imagine how crushing it was to find it simplistic, blunt, info-dumpy, and packed full of embarrassingly cliched tropes.

Red flags started waving in the opening pages, when words even my dictionary didn’t recognise showed up scattered at random throughout otherwise very normal – I’ll even call it ‘basic’ – prose. It read like May trying to make her writing sound smarter, or possibly more Adult, but the effect is jarring and annoying.

The extended winter had taken a toll on the iatric plants in her garden

Turns out ‘iatric’ means ‘medicinal’, but it’s such a rare word that even as I write this up, my browser is underlining the word in red, sure it must be a typo. Couldn’t you have just written ‘the medicinal plants’ or ‘the healing plants’?

Or, just a little later

Despite Sera’s best efforts, the night ended with a pair of vitreous eyes gazing into nothingness.

Listen, if you want to write your entire novel (or novella, or short story, or whatever) in 3-dollar prose, then go for it! But randomly sticking words my Scrabble app won’t accept as valid into otherwise very normal writing does not work. It sounds stupid. It’s confusing. You’re being ridiculous.

Who describes the eyes of a dead person as ‘vitreous’? Really? Really? You couldn’t just use ‘blank’ or ‘glassy’ or ’empty’, any of which are of the same level of vocabulary as the rest of your writing??? What are you doing?

So the prose annoyed me, but unfortunately the story is worse. Although the set-up of how exactly gods end up in the nobility is pretty interesting – people are born with the sigils summoning one specific god on their bones! How does that work??? – the magic itself is nothing special, and the plot. My gods, the plot. The great plan to infiltrate the empress’ household is dreamed up in approximately four minutes, begging the question of why these two MCs didn’t do this literal years ago (they’ve been trying to live on the down-low most of their lives), and is pulled off ridiculously easily. No one is the tiniest bit confused, or even very interested, in how a noble could possibly have been raised as a peasant all this time, while wielding literal god-fire.

And I’m not even going to start on how it makes no sense whatsoever for the leader of the rebellion to figure out how to summon gods into non-nobility – and not make an army of them. No. Just two little girls. Okay. Sure. That – yeah, that makes sense.

Not.

“But have you ever considered fucking someone who doesn’t have knives on him?”

Sera let out a low chuckle, her eyes still fixed on the colorful chaos unfolding before them. “Where’s the challenge in that?”

And the characters – I’m sorry, they couldn’t be more generic if they tried. Generically evil empress. Generically traumatised-by-what-she’s-done alcoholic. Generically snarky and Strong WomanTM older sister who doesn’t need a man. Which, never mind, let’s give her a love interest anyway who is such a generic Bad Boy stereotype I actually had to put the book down and close my eyes for ten minutes after reading his humiliatingly bad dialogue.

Sera sighed in exasperation. “I’ve forgotten you’ve never come by a single thing honestly.”

“That’s not true. I once won your sweet affection with nothing but a lethal blend of charm and well-sharpened blades.”

I. I don’t even know what to do with this. Sir, you are talking about yourself. Who describes themselves as a ‘lethal blend of charm and well-sharpened blades’? What is wrong with you?

“You should know by now that I can spot you in any crowd, whether it’s one hundred, one thousand, or one million.” He stepped closer, until his breath feathered over her cheek, and he murmured, “Hasn’t it always been that way?”

ABSOLUTELY NOT. What is this garbage??? I did not agree to read crappy Bad Boy paranormal romance, wtf? Did I fall into – I actually don’t remember the last time a book made me cringe this hard. Black Dagger Brotherhood? The Merry Gentry series? Vampire Diaries? I don’t know, BUT SOMETHING FROM THAT ERA.

Also, ‘I can spot you in any crowd, whether it’s one hundred, one thousand, or one million’ is not just a cringe line, it’s poorly phrased. It should be something like ‘any crowd, whether it’s one of one hundred people, one thousand, or one million’. Still not a good line, but at least that makes technical sense now.

“I suppose you have a certain deranged appeal.”

A slow smile crept across Vitaly’s face. “Is there any other kind?”

When it was revealed that the love interest’s – Vasily’s – presence is the only thing that calms Sera’s god – who otherwise hates her and refuses to let her use its power – I noped the fuck out.

This is just embarrassing, and a book/author combo that is being massively let down by its marketing – which is promising something To Cage a God absolutely cannot deliver. (Like being an Adult Fantasy, which – shoving as many curse words as possible into a manuscript doesn’t actually fix it reading like bad YA, thanks.)

FAIL.

The Dragons of Deepwood Fen (The Book of the Holt, #1) by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy
Representation: Brown MC
Published on: 5th December 2023
ISBN: B0BXKGMG5Z
Goodreads

This 1st book in a new fantasy series from the author of the acclaimed Song of the Shattered Sands series follows an unlikely pair as they expose the secrets at the heart of the mountain city of Ancris.

Lorelei Aurelius is the smartest inquisitor in the mountain city of Ancris. When a mysterious tip leads her to a clandestine meeting between the Church and the hated Red Knives, she uncovers a plot that threatens not only her home but the empire itself.

The trail leads her to Rylan Holbrooke, a notorious thief posing as a dragon singer. Rylan came to Ancris to solve the very same mystery she stumbled onto. Knowing his incarceration could lead to the Red Knives’ achieving their goals, Lorelei makes a fateful decision: she frees him.

Now branded as traitors, the two flee the city on dragonback. In the massive forest known as the Holt, they discover something terrible. The Red Knives are planning to awaken a powerful demigod in the holiest shrine in Ancris, and for some reason the Church is willing to allow it. It forces their return to Ancris, where the unlikely allies must rally the very people who’ve vowed to capture them before it’s too late.

Explore the mountain city of Ancris, where fast-paced adventure and intrigue abound. in this new offering from the author of the acclaimed Song of the Shattered Sands series.

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 really don’t understand how people keep fucking up dragon-rider stories, and yet here we are again.

First off, the dragons are really boring. Different things can be done with the ground-up scales of different coloured dragons, but the dragons themselves are somewhat intelligent animals, not sapient, and at least in the first chunk of the book (I read to the 20% mark) there was nothing magical about them. No sense of wonder attached to them at all, which was really disappointing. I did really like that the different cultures in this world have very different views on how to treat dragons, whether psychically bonding to them is okay or not, and which dragons are acceptable to keep (the dominant, coloniser culture hunts down many of the colours because they’re considered too dangerous/unholy), but the dragons felt very tacked-on to the story – maybe later they become a bigger part of the book, but as far as I could tell, the titular dragons of The Dragons of Deepwood Fen are barely part of the story at all.

Secondly – and honestly, the worse sin – Beaulieu does not. stop. telling. I’ve seen other early readers complain that the book is slow, and it is – but of course it is; this is the opening book in a secondary-world epic fantasy. There’s a lot for us to learn! It’s practically supposed to be slow, as we gradually learn about the world the author’s created and the people and creatures in it.

But Beaulieu doesn’t give us that time – everything is just infodumps, and it drove me up the WALL. Especially when, barely five minutes into the book, we’re casually told via infodump what the bad guys’ Threat To The World-level big plan is! That was just dropped in our lap like it was nothing, and it had no impact at all – how could it? I hadn’t been in the world long enough to even know about yet the evil god they were even talking about, but Beaulieu is already giving away their plans to set said god free??? Wtf?

Those other readers are not wrong, by the way; Dragons of Deepwood Fen is slow. So somehow, this book manages to be slow as hell and too rushed.

(Ironically, despite all the infodumps, info I actually needed to understand why everyone cared about the palisade was not forthcoming; I had no clue why it was driving so many different political forces. It was talked around, not talked about, and I get that sometimes you want to have the reveals later, but if your characters are interacting with a thing, and I don’t understand why they care so much about it, there’s a problem.)

There are maybe twice as many POV characters as the story actually needs, the villainous Hissing Man is so capital-e Evil he’s a caricature, and while the dialogue is mostly perfectly fine, whenever someone powerful is trying to be intimidating or whatever, the speech becomes incredibly awkward and fake; it comes across like actors trying to deliver a badly-written script.

And while I am willing to engage with political intrigue – which seemed like it was going to be a big part of the plot, albeit kind of clumsily – I did not sign up for a police procedural story about drug trafficking, which it really looked like Deepwood Fen was turning into.

The actual prose itself is not bad, and the worldbuilding is great when you scrape away the serious meh of the plot and most of the characters – so two point five stars it is.

Evergreen by Devin Greenlee
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Achillean MC, M/M
PoV: First-person, present-tense
Published on: 16th January 2024
ISBN: 1649375379
Goodreads

The Secret Garden is gorgeously reimagined in this deliciously dreamy urban fairytale about a dryad who risks immortality for love, from debut author Devin Greenlee

All seventeen-year-old Quill wants is a break from the family business. Flowers, plants, the generations-old garden. What he wouldn’t give for a taste of the outside world. Normalcy. But his mom won’t let him out of the house, telling him he’s just not ready…

All because he’s a dryad. Well, not just any dryad, but a male dryad—the first ever. And unlike everyone else in his family, he hasn’t a lick of magic. Just a shock of green hair, matching green eyes, and a growing frustration that there’s an entire world out there waiting to be discovered. Until the night when the outside world—specifically his new neighbor—discovers him.

Liam Watson lives in a culture filled with electronics, mobile devices, and social media—where there is no magic or even the belief in it. And as much as Quill finds Liam irritating (he’s so cute it’s annoying), he can’t help himself.

Now Quill’s getting a taste of the outside world and of Liam…and he wants more. But all is not well in this magical, urban garden, and someone—or something—is changing the very essence of it.

And wherever Quill goes, the danger grows…

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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This was just…really simple and basic in scope and execution, both. It reads to me like a Nanonovel – your first draft (minus, to be fair, all the typos etc you’d find in an actual first draft).

First-person present-tense is my most despised form of narration, and only works for me when a) the prose is gorgeous OR b) there’s something really interesting about the main character’s voice and perspective. And neither were the case here. Quill is actually an incredibly boring MC, with seemingly no curiosity – about himself, the magic garden he cares for, or the outside world in general – or ambition beyond getting out of the house. I would have expected him to be spending a lot of time watching documentaries or looking stuff up online, since he can’t go outside and interact with the human world – but there’s nothing like that at all.

There’s no wonder to the magic here – I was kind of stunned at how mundane and obvious all the magical plants were, and how they were described so plainly. The worldbuilding around the dryads themselves was embarrassingly (and mindnumbingly) simplistic, and the plot is so contrived no amount of suspension of disbelief would ever make me buy it. The ‘relationship’ was all very cringey dialogue and insta-lust, basically, and neither of the characters felt like PEOPLE – they just had a few traits each, rather than actual personalities.

No thank you.

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Jamaican-coded setting & cast, asexual MC, sapphic MC
PoV: Third-person past-tense, dual PoVs
Published on: 16th January 2024
ISBN: 0316534846
Goodreads

Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.  

When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.  

As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.

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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This is an absolutely amazing premise…let down by writing I couldn’t stand, and a flavour of stupid that is just EXHAUSTING.

It was an odd, but I don’t think bad or wrong, choice to set Let Them Burn after the big Mockingjay-esque war wherein San Irie – the Jamaica-inspired setting – fought off its colonisers, the Langley Empire. It would have been a difficult story to write, and it probably wouldn’t have stood out nearly as much from all the other rebellions we’ve seen in YA. But the downside is that Cole has to continuously info-dump us with past events, and it’s not done very skilfully.

I could probably have lived with that, though – there were decent odds it would only be an issue in the beginning and things would smooth out as the book went on. And I really liked that the two POV characters – Faron, a sort of Chosen One, and Elara – are sisters, who are very close and supportive of each other. We don’t get to see loving sibling relationships often enough, imo.

But the actual writing is just not great. It’s plain, it’s blunt, the phrasing often grates my internal sense of writing rhythm (I don’t know how to put it better than that, this is a problem I run into all the time). The dialogue is clunky and comes across as very false, very forced – aside from Faron and Elara, the dynamics between the characters were just so unconvincing, particularly the (very different) relationships both sisters have with Reeve, the son of the leader of the Langley Empire who switched sides during the war. Faron doesn’t trust him, and their meant-to-be-snarky banter is cringe-inducing; whereas Elara considers Reeve her best friend, which would be fine if not for lines like this.

His nightmares, his guilt, his trauma were different, but she had connected with the sorrow in his eyes that matched her own.

That is just so clunky.

More examples for you;

Port Sol was a powder keg. It would only take an ember for it to erupt.

There’s a reason that situations described as powder kegs are said to need a spark to erupt; a spark jumps into being when the right materials bang together, or from malfunctioning electrics, etc. A spark is easy to make and can come into being suddenly, without warning, is my point. An ember is what you get when the fire has already been burning for a while already – so it doesn’t make sense with this particular metaphor.

broad as a building

What – what the hell does this mean??? Buildings come in all shapes and sizes; this is completely unhelpful description. I might have let it slide if it were describing a human – you kind of vaguely understand what is meant if you describe a big person as being built like a building. But this is describing a dragon. And it’s kind of vitally important that I can picture your dragons the way you want me to – and size is a big part of that! Dragons of Deepwood Fen described the length of dragons in terms of horses; this one was six horses long, this one ten, etc. Even though horses are not all exactly the same length, they’re close enough that you can understand what the writer is going for. But broad as a building? I don’t know what that means!

Then we have passages like this

Aveline opens the airfield to the public.” It was a stupid idea, but Faron understood the politics of it. Aveline had taken the throne as a teenager, after all, and people wouldn’t allow for her to rule from the shadows. If her every action would be scrutinized, why not allow that scrutiny on her own terms?

For context, this is referring to the fact that the queen apparently allows the public to wander onto the military airfield as they please, so long as her guards are present. Which already strikes me as incredibly stupid. But I genuinely don’t understand what Cole is trying to say about the ruling from the shadows thing, or how it’s relevant to opening up the airfield. It reads like nonsense. People are always going to be watching what the queen is up to, so she…opens up the airfield? And this is somehow a kind of defiant thing, her exerting control on the situation? What???

But that was nothing compared to the sheer unbelievable idiocy of the riot control. See, there are trade talks going on, right? And the queen is worried about a possible riot, because a lot of her people aren’t happy about the talks. So she asks the military to step in.

Who do the military send in??? To help prevent, or manage if they can’t prevent, a fucking riot?

THE CADETS WHO SIGNED UP LITERALLY THIS MORNING.

THIS.

MORNING.

Apparently, security detail was a job for green cadets, not experienced soldiers

Hi, what the actual fuck??? What kind of reasoning is this?! No one with half a brain cell would EVER sign off on something like that! These kids – and they ARE kids – have had no training yet! They haven’t even been cadets for a full day at this point! AND you stuck them on horseback, despite the fact that at least some of them haven’t ridden horses very often! I can’t even count how many kinds of stupid and dangerous this is!

And it’s so obviously just to get Elara – who signed up that morning – into the capital. When I can think of half a dozen other, better ways to get her there without even trying.

Blatant and handwavey idiocy contrived because you couldn’t come up with a reasonable way of getting your characters where you need them is not something I can put up with.

I’m not even going to get into how forced and awkward the dragon-bonding scene was. Nope, nope, nope.

TL;DR: great premise written like a first draft, at best. I wish the editor or someone had asked for a few more rewrites, because damn, this could have been incredible – and instead, it’s just an incredible letdown.

The Scandalous Letters of V and J (French Letters, #1) by Felicia Davin
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MCs
ISBN: B0BS75KQRB
Goodreads

Paris, 1823. Victor Beauchêne has led a stifling existence, unrecognized for both his cleverness and his gender, except in the pages of his meticulous diary. Abruptly cut off from his family’s fortune, he takes the opportunity to start a new life in a shabby boarding house with his beloved spinster aunt Sophie. There, he stumbles upon two kinds of magic: a pen with eerie powers of persuasion and a reserved, alluring art student named Julien.

Brilliant, unconventional Julien is also Julie, a person whose magical paintings can transform their body or enchant viewers. Haunted by a terrible episode in their past, they’ve come to Paris for artistic success—the ordinary, non-magical kind. Victor, too handsome and far too inquisitive, is a dangerous distraction from their ambitions.

Drawn to each other, Victor and Julie strike up a cautious correspondence of notes slid under doors. It soon unfolds into a passionate romance. Outside the bedroom, their desires clash: Julie wants to distance herself from the world of magic and Victor wants to delve deeper. When the ruthless abuser from Julie’s past resurfaces, he aims to take control of her powers and ruin more lives. Victor and Julie are the only ones who can stop him. Do they trust each other enough to survive the threat to their love and their lives?

The Scandalous Letters of V and J is a historical fantasy romance with two nonbinary main characters, told primarily in letters and diary entries. It is approximately 100,000 words long and sexually explicit.

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I started reading this in May when it was released, and I think I just have to admit that I’m bored with it and not going to finish. V and J are the sort of characters I would admire as people were they real – they’re both pretty virtuous in their own ways, though V would be horrified they heard me say it – but aren’t that interesting to read about. I didn’t feel their chemistry, was kind of unimpressed will the way in which V discovers magic, and I can’t really tell you much about the plot because my attention kept wandering away from it.

Having made it to the 60% mark, I could push on and finish it… but I just don’t want to. I don’t care. Thus, I’m done.

(Possibly petty, but: I love epistolary formats, and got a jolt when I ran into the first ‘normal’ scene, written in omniscient third-person. Noooo, don’t do that, it could have been a journal entry! Why wasn’t it???)

Better luck next month!

The post November DNFs appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher

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 Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher!

Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4) by T. Kingfisher
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 5th December 2023
Goodreads

Marguerite Florian is a spy with two problems. A former employer wants her dead, and one of her new bodyguards is a far too good-looking paladin with a martyr complex.

Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.

Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts. . .

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Ursula Vernon (aka, T. Kingfisher) announced on her Patreon last week that Paladin’s Faith – the fourth book in the Saint of Steel series, and the seventh in the World of the White Rat setting – is ready and about to be released!

You definitely don’t have to have read the other series set in this world, and each of the Saint of Steel books (so far, I can’t speak for this one for sure, but I presume this one too) do work as a standalone. So you could jump straight into Paladin’s Faith. But this series is incredible in so many ways – not to mention unbelievably funny! – that you would be missing out on such an experience if you skipped the earlier books!

Besides, Marguerite was a major character in the first book, Paladin’s Grace (which you can read my review of here). So at minimum you should read that one, if you haven’t already.

The third book, Paladin’s Hope, ended on – not a cliffhanger exactly, but a revelation that had me shrieking into my pillow, because WHAT THE FUCK. Presumably, Paladin’s Faith will go into that more – I mean, it had better, BECAUSE I HAVE QUESTIONS AND AM FROTHING AT THE MOUTH FOR ANSWERS, OKAY??? So I may or may not have WHOOPED OUT LOUD when I saw we were getting book four. And so soon!!! We only have to wait about two weeks from the announcement! EEE!

Gimme gimme GIMME!!!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.