Siavahda's Blog, page 45
May 27, 2023
Intimate Majesty: Witch King by Martha Wells
Witch King by Martha Wells Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Brown cast, secondary F/F
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 30th May 2023
ISBN: B0B9KVV7JH
Goodreads
"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING....
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
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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~women ready to burn the world down to get their wives back
~pain-magic packs one hell of a punch
~ghost-ships that don’t know they’re ghosts
~family means a lot of different things
~‘I’m the demon’ indeed!
~anti-imperialist heroes FTW
Witch King is a story spun out of silk: endlessly soft, smooth and flowing, richly coloured. Quiet as silk is quiet; and surprisingly, impossibly strong, as silk secretly is. Luxurious even when plain; unembroidered, because it does not need to be. Its quality speaks for itself.
It is a masterpiece.
Not the kind we’re used to. As I said; it’s soft, and quiet. This is not a tale of clashing armies and Dark Lords that need overthrowing. There is a quest of sorts, but not the kind you’re thinking of. The battles are more like skirmishes, even if some of them are devastating. World-changing.
Witch King is the story of what happens when the world-changing adventures are over; what does the world do with its heroes, when it decides it doesn’t need them anymore? Intertwined is an earlier timeline, letting us trace the thread of how, exactly, our main character became capital-k Known – but it stops where most stories are just getting going. Wells carefully, deliberately avoids what most of us would think of as the real story, the big story, the dramatic and cinematic war against evil – we see its beginning and its aftermath, but not the war itself, not really.
It’s puzzling, and fascinating, and here, for this book, this story, it is also exactly right. Witch King is not a sweeping, grandiose epic; it is a smaller story, and because it is small it feels more human, more real, more believable. Like something you could reach out and touch, if you could just work out the right magic for slipping your fingers past the print and paper. Because it is a story woven out of human connections and human moments it is easy to grasp, easy to fall into; you come to care about the characters quickly and completely, because they are people, not characters.
People with extremely impressive skill-sets, yes. But still people.
Kai leaned on the rail, concentrating on being enigmatic and not looking as if he was frantically trying to come up with alternate plans
(I do not mean to suggest that Witch King is cosy, or that the stakes are low. Neither of those things are true. But even during the fights, I found it oddly peaceful. Maybe because it pulled me so completely out of my world and into Kai’s; it’s been a while since any book had me this subsumed in its story. Every time I stepped away from Witch King was like surfacing from deep water, like taking a breath I didn’t know I needed – but it was also disorientating; it took me minutes to adjust to this world again, after being so deep in Kai’s.)
If you zoom out a little, and look at the big picture Wells is painting, then this is a story of a group of people – allies who become friends who become family – who pulled their nations together to fight off an indisputably evil empire…and now have to stop that Alliance from becoming a new empire.
(It probably wouldn’t be as terrible a one as their old enemies were. But empires never work out – I say that as someone with a UK passport – especially for the ones being devoured by and into said empire, and our characters know this. Kai and his companions are fiercely, passionately pro-independence for everyone, which is a philosophy I can definitely get behind – and so they are not going to let this happen.)
You might expect this to be fairly grim and cynical, but it isn’t. Kai and co definitely feel betrayed, and oh boy are they pissed, but there is never any sense of futility, of why-even-try, of the despair of having to fight the same fight again. For one, because it’s not the same fight, not at all: there is no genocidal enemy army on their doorstep this time (thank all the gods). And two, because Kai and co are just…not like that. The book opens with Kai and the absolutely amazing Zeide confused and angry and somewhat scared, but from the get-go there is the very clear sense that they are both people who will never lie down and give up; not so much ruthless – they have strict moral codes – but endlessly determined, and maybe even more importantly, capable. They are world-wise and street-smart and they know – they know – exactly what they are capable of, and that there is nothing the world can throw at them that they cannot handle.
“I’m starting to think that a mortal Prince-heir who wanted to consort with a demon in human form may not be a completely trustworthy person.”
Is it obvious that I adore them???
And then we switch to the older timeline, and it is such a startling but wonderful contrast: by the time we see Kai’s past we are used to him being the unstoppable Witch King, so the sudden pivot to his younger, more innocent self is a lot. Past!Kai was definitely someone who, when pushed past his breaking point, was trapped in despair. (For very, very good reasons. I would have despaired too, if I’d been in his position.) And yet Wells wields her words so deftly that I was never left feeling like past!Kai and present!Kai weren’t the same person; it was so easy to see how the one grew into the other.
The answer came back on an eddy in the current: Why should I trust?
Always a good question. Kai replied, I wore chains once, too. He sent the whale an image, a memory, of the old Cageling Demon Court in the Summer Halls of the Hierarchs, how we had huddled there with diamond chains around his throat and wrists, the perpetual rain soaking his ragged clothes, searing his skin.
What we get, what we see, is his origin story, in a way; the painful journey that is him…not so much finding himself as finding his feet, realising his own strength, his own potential, his own capabilities. And we don’t need to see more than that. We don’t need to see him decimating battlefields, because it’s so very clear that he could; that he will; that he did. It would have been redundant for Wells to have actually written the war-parts. And Witch King feels perfectly complete without them. I would absolutely love to have seen more of Kai’s world, and I desperately hope Wells comes back to this verse eventually, but the story told here is perfectly self-contained. We see, are shown, experience everything that we need to and not one bit more. It’s an incredibly elegant efficiency of storytelling that I’ll be mulling over for years.
“Stop being overdramatic.”
Kai would love to, if dramatic things would stop happening to him.
Although both timelines in the book have huge implications for the Big Picture story, Witch King feels more tightly focussed on the Small Picture; you have to zoom out to comprehend the prevent-a-new-empire plotline because the view we have is so zoomed in. At its heart, Witch King is intimate and personal, something small and precious and held close. This novel is a snapshot, a magnifying glass held over a quiet corner, a story woven together out of human connections rather than grand destinies. The driving force of the present-day plot is less ‘we must stop the coalition from becoming an empire’ and more ‘where is our friend’ – it just so happens that the latter is vital to achieving the former; Tahren Stargard, Kai’s friend and Zeide’s wife, is a very important member of the Rising Worlds coalition, and necessary for the renewal of the alliance. So yes, technically, they’re doing a Big Epic Thing – their actions will help prevent a new empire from rising – but the motivations feel much more personal.
Which is definitely on purpose; by ignoring (for the most part) the wider world and zooming in so tightly on a small handful of characters, Wells humanises them in a way few epic fantasy writers can – because Witch King is wholly made up of the kind of small human moments most of us would never think to include or see in an epic fantasy story. Kai discovers a game-changing power because of a moment of simple, fearless curiosity from someone who has every reason to fear him; a small overture of compassion is the beginning of the alliance that will bring down their great enemies; the forging, loss, and creation of new family bonds changes the course of history. The devil (or demon) is in the details, and the details are tiny, the kind that never make it into the history books but which we know from our own experiences can be life-changing.
Think of the teacher who took a chance on you, the stranger who asked if you were okay, the coworker who covered for you just because. All of us, I hope, have experienced those moments, and Wells has built her epic fantasy out of them, and the idea of it alone would be breathtaking even if the execution wasn’t fucking flawless.
Is everyone going to love this book? No – especially those who go in thinking it’s going to be something it’s not. I’m really worried that readers who only know Wells from Murderbot will be confused and upset by how absolutely not-Murderbot it is, and I suspect even some fans of epic fantasy will feel cheated by a story that does not do what we expect epic fantasy to do. And even I, who am passionately declaring this not just a Best Book of 2023 but also a new all-time favourite of mine, will admit that Witch King left me pining to see more of the incredible world Wells has created here than the small corner of it she showed us.
And yet – as someone who fell in love with Wells’ fantasy as a teenager, and has been following her career ever since – as someone who adores Murderbot and reveres Wheel of the Infinite and would really like to wake up as a Raksura tomorrow, please-and-thank-you – I think this is Martha Wells at her best. Prose, plot, themes, characters, worldbuilding – they all shine like flawlessly cut jewels, a parure of perfection. This is a book that makes your heart happy, that steals your breath away, that fills you with so much hope for people and for the world. I love it. There is nothing else like it. I will treasure it always.
If you are looking for unconventional, beautiful, character-driven fantasy – if you walk into Witch King with your eyes and heart open – I genuinely believe you’ll find a new all-time favourite waiting for you too.
Magic portal artwork by Tithi LuadthongThe post Intimate Majesty: Witch King by Martha Wells appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 24, 2023
Utterly Enchanting: Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual biracial/latina MC, F/F, bisexual MC
PoV: Third-person, past-tense, multiple PoVs
Published on: 30th May 2023
ISBN: B0BGHVQGDS
Goodreads
In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
In the great tradition of Ninth House, The Magicians, and Practical Magic, this is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric novel that draws readers into a vast world filled with mystery and magic, romance, and intrigue--and marks the debut of an extraordinary new voice in speculative fiction.
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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It did not. Because Ink Blood Sister Scribe is every bit as magical as the spellbooks within its pages.
What struck me immediately was how easy Ink Blood Sister Scribe was to read; the elusive quality of airport thrillers and escapist beach reads, but wrapped around a surprisingly rich centre – a bonbon of a book, ridiculously delicious. Pages turned without effort, drawing me deeper and deeper, anticipation looped around my throat and fear for the characters leaden in my stomach. I was desperately anxious that all these entirely fictional people be okay and get their happy ending; Törzs wastes no time in establishing emotional connections between reader and read, making me far more deeply invested, and much faster, than I’m used to!
One of the ways she does this is by giving every character small quirks of personality that make them seem instantly and deeply human. I don’t think characters need to be likeable, and sometimes they don’t even need to be very interesting, so long as you give them something they’re passionate about, something small enough for the reader to understand, and maybe empathise with. Esther is slowly translating a (non-magical) book in order to connect to the lost side of her heritage; Joanna is trying to make friends with a feral cat and convince him to come inside and live with her. Small things, human things, that mean such a lot on an individual level that we can’t help being drawn in to the characters’ passion for them.
Story-wise, the blurb is a bit misleading; the death of Esther and Joanna’s father isn’t really a catalyst, so much as the removable of an obstacle that allows Esther and Joanna to finally discover things he chose to keep from them. The actual catalyst is Esther; at 18, she was told by her father that she had to run, and keep running. Magic doesn’t work on Esther, for some inexplicable reason, which means the wards that kept her family safe didn’t function while she was within them. So she had to leave to keep her family safe. But there’s a rule: she can only spend a year in any one place. Come November 2nd, 11pm Eastern Standard Time, Esther must run again; spend 24 hours moving, before settling in a new place.
Why? Because if she doesn’t, the people who murdered her mother will find her. So Esther’s followed the rule faithfully – until the start of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, when her relationship with the (extremely awesome) Pearl is judged too precious to abandon.
So she doesn’t run.
That’s what kicks the story off.
I flew through this book, and massively resented anything that took me away from it. Törzs’ prose is light, almost breezy at times, but without sacrificing thematic meatiness or some seriously complex character dynamics. Despite dealing with some majorly dark themes, this is a book that made me laugh over and over, both when the characters themselves were being funny and with the marvellous turns of phrase Törzs whips out that just nail some deep and ridiculous aspect of the human condition;
the closet of her sexual subconscious was full of petticoats.
He’d never felt so passionately all-caps about another person
I mean, you know exactly what she means with these two lines! They’re funny and more than a little ridiculous and you get it instantly, because yes, that is exactly the right way to describe The Thing. These lines are two of my favourite examples, but there are plenty more; I had to take many brief pauses to read certain passages aloud to my husband, else he’d have no idea why I was cackling my head off.
“He’s British,” Lisa said to Collins. It sounded accusatory.
“So was Bowie.”
Lisa put a hand to her heart. “Touché.”
The story itself is…wonderful. I don’t want to say much about it – and I strongly suggest you try to avoid any other reviews that go into detail about it – because the twists and reveals strike like lightning, and that is something you should definitely experience for yourself. I was able to see precisely one (1) twist coming, and it was a fairly minor and obvious one; all the rest left me gaping. If I have one critique, it’s that the Big Explanation near the end was one that I don’t think any reader could have put together; there weren’t enough clues, we had to be told because the pieces we needed weren’t given to us. But that’s an extremely minor quibble, because by that point, the Big Explanation isn’t really all that big – important to the characters, yes, but it doesn’t really affect the plot and doesn’t matter so much to the reader. The clues to the bits that matter are all there, although I defy you to figure out what’s coming before it hits – this is a case of, it’s so clear in hindsight!!! but so very un-obvious as it’s playing out. The theory I spent the last two thirds of the book building was utterly wrong – and that delights me. YAY FOR BOOKS NOT BEING PREDICTABLE AND ALSO TRICKING ME LIKE THE FOOL I AM!
Despite how dark some aspects of this are, this was my comfort book, oddly cosy even when the characters were on the run or fighting for their lives. I’ve said this already, but it was easy to read, a blessed relief when the brain-fog attacked – but it’s not insultingly or annoyingly simple. It’s twisty and emotional and I wanted to flail my arms around frantically a great deal more than once. And the magic system! I am in awe of how simple and brilliant is the magic system Törzs has come up with, a clever, so-unique twist on the idea of magic books! It all fits together so well; it’s easy to grasp but still wondrous, still enough to give you goosebumps or make you shiver or have you laughing with awe-wonder-joy. It almost seemed to marry the best parts of hard magic systems with the best parts of soft ones, and I’m so excited to see what my favourite readers think of it when this book is released next week.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fascinating bundle of contradictions that cohere into a real delight of a book. It’s light, but rich and complex; it’s dark, but bewilderingly cosy. It’s easy to read without ever feeling dumbed-down; deliciously more-ish without being rushed. It’s about magic and sisterhood, and yet another 1%-er greedily hoarding resources and happy to murder to acquire more. It’s about making friends with a cat, and ruinous obsessions. It’s about wonder, and terrible parenting, and a Pomeranian named Sir Kiwi.
And a lot of magic books.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe is going on my best-of-the-year list, and when you read it, you will definitely see why!
The post Utterly Enchanting: Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 22, 2023
Must-Have Monday #138
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
We have FOURTEEN books to feature this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
The Battle Drum (Ending Fire, #2) by Saara El-Arifi Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black cast, F/F
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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Murder. Secrets. Sacrifice: Three women seek the truth of the empire's past. And the truth they find has the power to ignite a war in the sequel to The Final Strife, the continuation of a visionary fantasy trilogy inspired by Africa and Arabia.
Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens' Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn't commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah.
Sylah braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. But in finding answers, she must make a decision, does she sacrifice her old life in order to raise up her sword once more?
Hassa's web of secrets grows ever thicker as she finds herself on a trail of crimes in the city. Her searching uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire's past and present. Now, she must guard both her heart and her land.
The three women find their answers, but they're not the answers they wanted. The drumbeat of change thrums throughout the world.
And it sings a song of war.
Ready we will be, when the Ending Fire comes,
When the Child of fire brings the Battle Drum,
The Battle Drum,
The Battle Drum.
Ready we will be, for war will come.
The second book in the Ending Fire trilogy!!! Enough said.
The Untimely Undeath of Imogen Madrigal by Grayson Daly Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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Death is Both an End and a Beginning.
On the island city of Lenorum, Maeve serves the Sisterhood of Good Death, a convent whose purpose is to shepherd lost souls from one world to the next. But her life of devotion to the unquiet dead is upended by an encounter with the haughty poet Imogen Madrigal, who has mysteriously returned from beyond the veil not in spirit, but in the flesh--and determined to obtain justice, whatever the cost. Maeve agrees to help Imogen solve her murder, which propels her headlong into the hedonistic and heretical world of the extravagant and influential Poets' Court.
THE UNTIMELY UNDEATH OF IMOGEN MADRIGAL delivers a metaphysical mystery in the richly imagined, darkly fantastic and urbane world of Lenorum, as Maeve comes to terms with her own path and learns what living a good life truly means.
Murder mysteries don’t typically interest me – but you’ve got to admit this doesn’t sound like your typical murder mystery! Plus, I’d be pouncing on this one for the ‘hedonistic and heretical world of the extravagant and influential Poets’ Court’ alone! WHAT IS A POETS’ COURT??? I MUST KNOW!!!
Heir of Fates (The Shadow Sequence) by Katie Collupy Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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A hidden prince running from his destiny.
A nightmare seeking vengeance on a king.
A god waiting for a vessel.
Centuries ago, both the gods and their magic were banished from the human kingdom of Mystwood. The kings have since violently erased the Church of the Nine. But when history has been erased so has the truth, and an exiled god is done sleeping.
SILAS SCHOLAR has never known his destiny among the Fates, a group of individuals blessed with the foresight of the gods, until he discovers his true identity. Fearing that he will be locked in another gilded cage, Silas plans his escape.
MAURA FIORNE, an assassin and spy, has been haunted by a sentient shadow for as long as she can remember. Driven to pay reparations for her past, Maura is on a path of murderous vengeance against the land that cursed her, and its king.
SERAPHINE AU FIRE, a royal elven warrior, has been crafted into the perfect weapon to use against the human kingdom. Desperate to prove her worth, she sets out to destroy the monarchy from within.
NERISHA ADELYSE, an orphan taken in by the royal family of Mystwood, has always been perfectly content with her position at court, until she uncovers a treasonous secret about her mother.
'Ruin of Kings' meets 'Game of Thrones' in a world ravaged by war and full of hidden gods waiting to possess any willing soul to take back what was theirs.
I could tell you it wasn’t the cover that caught my attention here, but I would obviously be lying – look at that cover!!! So pretty. Gods and vessels are a trope that I’m genuinely interested in, though, and it also sounds like there might be some kind of divine conflict – gods out to take back what is theirs??? Yes PLEASE.
Though I have no idea what you get when you cross Ruin of Kings with Game of Thrones. That is, uh. Not a pairing I would ever have thought of? We are talking about Jenn Lyons’ Ruin of Kings, right? Not some other one? Because, um. I actually got to speak to Lyons at WorldCon in Dublin and it was pretty clear she was writing specifically to subvert books like Game of Thrones. So I don’t know how that’ll work. But judging from the ecstatic early reviews, Collupy has it figured out!
The Blighted Stars (The Devoured Worlds, #1) by Megan E. O'Keefe Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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When a spy is stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, she must first figure out how to survive before she can uncover the conspiracy that landed them both there in the first place.
She’s a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they’re found and Naira Sharp knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity’s expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.
He’s the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin’s father has tasked him with monitoring the mining of a new planet, and he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.
Disguised as Tarquin’s new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy his ship before it lands. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she’s sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that’s bigger than both of them.
This has gotten a LOT of pre-release love, and I’m curious. Although I think I’ll need to be in a very specific headspace when I pick it up – otherwise the evil of the Mercators is going to be too rage-inducing to handle. That being said, from early reviews it sounds like this is more a romance than anything else, so it might be more escapist and sweet than not!
When Oceans Rise by Robin Alvarez Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Filipino-American MC
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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Submerged in a toxic relationship and disconnected from everyone, she turns to the sea to decide her fate. Its decision? Toss her to the sea witch.
Seventeen-year-old Malaya is cursed. In her family, every girl’s first love ends in death after falling for someone evil. Good thing Malaya’s dream guy isn’t monstrous.
Except the curse is real and preventing Malaya from noticing how much he has gaslit and isolated her until she can’t be saved. With no other options, the sea witch is the only one to help her. Bartering her voice for a new life where she and her abusive boyfriend never met, Malaya accidentally swaps places with an alternate timeline version of herself who didn’t make her mistakes. As she tries to undo the switch, the sea witch uses Malaya’s voice to unleash Filipino mythological creatures into the worlds.
Can a champion, an alternate timeline sister, and Malaya fight these beasts and stop the sea witch before she destroys both timelines?
This is the oddest (and therefore most interesting) take on a Little Mermaid retelling I’ve seen in a WHILE. Or, well – it doesn’t really sound much like the Little Mermaid, just a few familiar beats woven into a very different story, and to be honest, that’s how I prefer it.
BLAHOM by April Q. Russell Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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Beautiful, poised, and adored by the Zaed society her family rules over, Blahom has spent her young life preparing for her future as a ruler and royal. The war between her people, who value culture and connection, and the Delions, who aim to rule Sirius with technology, has raged on for years—but since the disappearance of a cousin and countless other women in her community, the stakes have suddenly become higher…and much more personal.
Lacking solutions for how to end the conflict, Blahom’s mother shares a plan to end the war that was revealed to her in a visionary dream —if only her family would agree. As the rulers—including Blahom’s younger sister Katyana and fierce warrior brother Vasco—come to accept their changing roles in the battles to come, the brief moment of hope is shattered by a shocking murder that strikes at the core of Blahom’s inner circle. Touching off a hero’s journey that sees Blahom and her sister come to embrace their strength and power to defend their beautiful land, the two young women will endure grueling training, skepticism, tragedy, and risk a young new love in order to save their people and way of life.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, Book One is the first book in a new, richly inventive urban fantasy series that marks the debut of author April Q. Russell. It certainly won’t be the last.
I admit, this one confuses me, and I haven’t gotten a much clearer picture of what it’s about or like from early reviews – but I still plan on taking a peek at it!
Magic Has No Borders by Sona Charaipotra, Samira Ahmed, Sabaa Tahir, Sayantani DasGupta, Tanaz Bhathena, Sangu Mandanna, Olivia Chadha, Nafiza Azad, Tracey Baptiste, Naz Kutub, Nikita Gill, Swati Teerdhala, Shreya Ila Anasuya, Tahir Abrar, Preeti Chhibber Genres: Fantasy
Representation: South Asian cast
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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A pair of star-crossed lovers search for a way back to one another against all odds…
A girl fights for her life against a malignant, generations-old evil…
A peri seeks to reclaim her lost powers…
A warrior rebels against her foretold destiny…
From chudails and peris to jinn and goddesses, this lush collection of South Asian folklore, legends, and epics reimagines stories of old for a modern audience. This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So read on, for after all, magic has no borders.
With stories by:
Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ember in the Ashes series, and winner of the National Book Award and Printz Award for All My Rage
SOUTH ASIAN FANTASY, HELLS YES!!! Specifically dealing with the myths and legends of that part of the world, I think? I’m so excited; I’m a total myth-geek and I KNOW this collection is going to engulf me in myths I’ve never heard of before! (In case my phrasing is unclear: that is an EXTREMELY AWESOME THING!)
Of Light and Shadow by Tanaz Bhathena Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Indian setting and cast
Published on: 23rd May 2023
Goodreads
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Of Light and Shadow is a novel about magic, mayhem, love, and betrayal--the story of a bandit and a prince who change each other in unexpected ways.
When they don't give us our birthright, we steal it.
Roshan Chaya is out for justice. Abandoned by her parents at birth and adopted by the kingdom of Jwala's most notorious bandit before his brutal murder, she is now leader of the Shadow Clan, a gang of farmers-turned-bandits impoverished by the provincial governor's atrocities and corruption. Roshan's goal: to avenge her adoptive father and earn back rights and dignity for her people.
Prince Navin has always felt like an outcast. Second in line for the throne, he has never been close to his grandmother, Queen Bhairavi of Jwala. When a night out drinking with friends leads to his capture by the infamous Shadow Clan, Navin schemes to befriend Roshan and use her as a means to escape. His ploy, however, brings Navin closer to the corruption and poverty at the heart of Roshan's province, raising questions about its governor and Navin's own family.
To further complicate things, the closer Roshan and Navin get, the harder it becomes to fight their growing attraction. But how can they trust each other when the world as they know it starts to fall apart?
Set in a magical world inspired by the badlands of 17th century India, this standalone epic fantasy novel by Tanaz Bhathena is packed with political tensions, dangerous schemes, and swoon-worthy romance that asks the age old question: can love conquer all?
Another book that’s been making early readers happy! I have a soft spot for ruthless girls, so Roshan definitely has my attention. Also, inconsequential, I Iknow, but I’m fascinated by the dagger-thing she’s holding on the cover; I don’t think I’ve seen a weapon with that kind of handle/hilt before.
Kill Your Darlings by L.E. Harper Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Representation: MC with depression
Published on: 24th May 2023
Goodreads
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“INKHEART meets INCEPTION in this allegorical masterpiece.”
Fantasy author Kyla knows dreams don't come true. Isolated and grappling with debilitating depression, she copes by writing about the realm of Solera. Fearless heroes, feisty shapeshifters, and mighty dragons come alive on her pages. She adores her characters, but she doesn’t believe in happy endings. And if she can’t have one, why should they?
Kyla’s on the verge of giving up on everything when she wakes one morning, magically trapped in her fictional world. Now she’s with her most cherished characters: the friends she's always yearned for, the family she's never known. There's even someone who might be Prince Charming (if Kyla could get her act together and manage some honest communication). She’d surrender to the halcyon fantasy, except she knows a nightmarish ending awaits. Solera is at war, and its defenders are losing against the insidious villain spawned in the depths of Kyla’s mind. He feeds on the energy of dreams, seeks the destruction of all who oppose him—and Kyla’s become his number one target.
Kyla must trade her pen for a sword and fight to change her story's ending, but this isn’t a fantasy anymore. No happily-ever-after is guaranteed. And mental illness has robbed her of everything she needs to succeed: love, fighting spirit, hope. If Kyla can’t overcome the darkness inside her, she’ll die with her darlings.
CONTENT WARNINGS:Depictions of mental illness including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.
I see a LOT of potential for this to be a trainwreck – it does not fill me with confidence that the freaking cover looks like it’s an illustration of self-harm or a suicide attempt, who thought that was a good idea? – but if it manages to avoid the potential pitfalls, that is definitely a great premise. I’m crossing my fingers for this to be epic and for it to deal with the issues it’s tackling really beautifully well!
Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Brown Muslim MC, bisexual MC
Published on: 25th May 2023
Goodreads
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An immortal Knight of the Round Table faces his greatest challenge yet—saving the politically polarized, rapidly warming world from itself—in this slyly funny contemporary take on Arthurian legend.
Legends don’t always live up to reality.
Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully tiring over the years—or at least that’s what Sir Kay’s thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth yet again.
Kay once rode alongside his brother, King Arthur, as a Knight of the Round Table. Since then, he has fought at Hastings and at Waterloo and in both World Wars. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, the army’s been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to foreign powers. The dragon that’s running amok—that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure.
Mariam’s spent her life fighting what’s wrong with her country. But she’s just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, she dares to hope that the world has finally found the savior it needs.
Yet as the two travel through this bizarre and dangerous land, they discover that a magical plot of apocalyptic proportions is underway. And Kay’s too busy hunting dragons—and exchanging blows with his old enemy Lancelot—to figure out what to do about it.
In perilous times like these, the realm doesn’t just need a knight. It needs a true leader.
Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach.
But who will be fit to wield it?
With a cast that includes Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and King Arthur himself—all reimagined in joyous, wickedly subversive fashion— Perilous Times is an Arthurian retelling that looks forward as much as it looks back . . . and a rollicking, deadpan-funny, surprisingly touching fantasy adventure.
I have only just now noticed the image of Big Ben on the sword, that is very clever and I approve! Ahem. This is the third King Arthur story on my radar this year – we’ve had Winter Knight and Blackheart Ghosts, which were very different but both excellent. I’ve heard MANY good things about Perilous Times, so I’m hoping this will complete an epic Arthurian Trifecta of 2023! That would be extremely cool.
Also, I have been told there is at least one (1) talking squirrel in this book, and that’s all I really need to hear.
A Kind Voice in Hell by Ames Mullery Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer cast, trans MC, disability rep
Published on: 25th May 2023
Goodreads
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What's a few years of bloody gladiator matches and witchcraft-for-hire when your best friend's life is on the line?
To save Max from the soaring costs of life-saving healthcare, Lark signs away everything he’s got—his body, his freedom, even his witchcraft—to a billionaire who plays at philanthropy for entertainment. Although Lark may have the heart of a saint, he doesn't have the patience of one. It isn't long before he begins to rock the boat and ends up threatening the very people he wants to save in his reckless heroics.
A KIND VOICE IN HELL is a story about an occult-obsessed billionaire looking for away to bring gladiators into the twenty-first century, a trans man with a hero complex who has never known illness a day in his life, and the disabled people caught in the middle. It contains queer love, found family, and a hero who needs to sit down and shut up before he tries to help anyone.
Follow Lark as he forges an unlikely alliance on the inside and weaves masterful spellwork in hopes of changing the world for the better.
If you pitch your book to me as featuring ‘trans rights AND trans wrongs’, as Mullery did on twitter, then you may consider me instantly sold! As I indeed am; I think this is the book I’m most excited for this week!
All the Hollow of the Sky (The Gyrford Series, #2) by Kit Whitfield Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 25th May 2023
Goodreads
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Jedediah's father walked out of his life forty years ago. Now he's back. He won't apologise, he doesn't explain - and, impossibly, he hasn't aged a day.
If you asked the folks of Gyrford, they'd tell you Jedediah Smith looked up to his father. After all, Corbie Mackem was the Sarsen the man who saved the Smith clan from Ab, the terrifyingly well-meaning fey who blighted a whole generation with unwanted gifts.
Corbie was a good fairy-smith. And if he wasn't a good father, well, that isn't something Jedediah likes to talk about. Especially since no one knows where Corbie's body lies: the day of his son's wedding, forty-odd years ago, he set off to travel and was never seen again.
These days Jedediah is a respectable elder, more concerned with his wayward grandson John than with his long-buried past, and he has other problems on his mind. There's the preparations for Saint Clement's Day, and the odd fact that birds all over the county have taken to hiding themselves, and the misbehaviour of Left-Lop the pig - which has grown vegetation all over its back, escaped its farm and taken to making personal remarks at folks in alarmingly alliterative verse.
But then disaster strikes. Ab is back. And Corbie, thought long dead, returns to Gyrford - younger than his son . . .
I think this is the first time Whitfield has written a sequel! When I read In The Heart of Hidden Things last year I had no idea it was the start of a series, and I didn’t love it, but I’m happy to go back to this world and take another look!
Trials of the Innermost (The Etherea Cycle, #1) by Jonathan Fuller, Kristina Kelly Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, gay MC, ace MC
Published on: 26th May 2023
Goodreads
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A cataclysm in Etherea’s past stopped its rotation, leaving three distinct realms: one of light, one of dark, and one of twilight. Years of war followed until the establishment of the Trials of the Innermost.
A new set of six Truthseekers is chosen for this quest of learning and cooperation, but the fragile peace created by the Trials is crumbling even as they begin their first task. The group consists of each realm’s best and brightest, and their talents range from magic channeled through music to explosive crystals. They will need all their unique abilities to survive the Trials, which take them through scorched wastes, a wall of storms, and the shadowed Fellwood.
Along their journey, a shared lost past is rediscovered, forcing the Truthseekers to question all they believed. As they grapple with their new reality, a deadly secret is unveiled. A fragment of an alien force called the Penumbra has possessed one of their own, granting him preternatural abilities. One realm seeks to control the entity, but the Penumbra has other plans. If it succeeds in reuniting its broken pieces, it will gain the power to consume Etherea’s abundant life force. The Truthseekers must overcome their differences and work together before they lose their friend—and their world—to the Penumbra’s hunger.
I’m a wee bit confused about Trials of the Innermost – I think maybe it was self-published before? This seems to be an indie release, and I had a lot of trouble nailing down the release date for a while there! But I’m Intensely InterestedTM in this Penumbra being from the blurb…
Into Shadow by Morgan Daimler Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Fat bi/pansexual MC, F/F/M
Published on: 26th May 2023
Goodreads
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Okay, I am joint-most excited for Into Shadow as well. A plus-sized MC, her selkie wife, their mage boyfriend, and a couple of friends have to save the world??? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!! Sia neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds!!!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #138 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 20, 2023
Ten (Yet More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Magic portal artwork by Tithi LuadthongEvery year that I’ve taken part in Wyrd & Wonder, I’ve made lists of cool magic systems and another for magical abilities – and I’m not breaking my streak now! Here is 2023’s list of magic systems I find especially enchanting – please enjoy!
The Map and the Territory (Spell and Sextant #1) by A.M. Tuomala Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
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When the sky breaks apart and an earthquake shatters the seaside city of Sharis, cartographer Rukha Masreen is far from home. Caught in the city's ruins with only her tools and her wits, she meets a traveling companion who will change her course forever: the wizard Eshu, who stumbles out of a mirror with hungry ghosts on his heels.
He's everything that raises her hackles: high-strung, grandiloquent, stubborn as iron. But he needs to get home, too, and she doesn't want him to have to make the journey alone.
As they cross the continent together, though, Rukha and Eshu soon realize that the disaster that's befallen their world is much larger than they could have imagined. The once-vibrant pathways of the Mirrorlands are deserted. Entire cities lie entombed in crystal. And to make matters worse, a wild god is hunting them down. The further they travel from familiar territory, the more their fragile new friendship cracks under the strain.
To survive the end of their world, Rukha and Eshu will need more than magic and science—they'll need each other.
I’ve seen magic systems that use singing before, but I’ve never seen it done as beautifully as in The Map and the Territory! Tuomala’s prose makes the magic here breathtaking, and even aside from that, I really love how it’s not a matter of ‘sing x song for z effect.’ Eshu has to sing about things he has an emotional connection to, building the magic out of images and memories that have meaning to him. A spell for safety might mean singing about the house he grew up in, for example, as opposed to just singing about protective barriers or something. I love that the system is so soft and fluid – I just really feel that that’s what magic should be like!
The Cage of Dark Hours (The Five Penalties, #2) by Marina J. Lostetter Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
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Krona and her Regulators survived their encounter with Charbon, the long-dead serial killer who returned to their city, but the illusions of their world were shattered forever.
Allied with the healer Melanie they will battle the elite of their world who have ruled their world with deception, cold steel, and tight control of the magic that could threaten their power, while also confronting beasts from beyond the foggy barrier that binds their world.
Now they must follow every thread to uncover the truth behind the Thalo, once thought of as only a children's tale, who are the quiet, creeping puppet masters of their world.
This is the second book in a trilogy, and you really do need to read the first book first! But Cage introduces us to cryptopathy, a kind of magic that works with secrets. Specifically, the manipulation of them; discovering them, revealing them, and most interestingly (imo), taking them away. Removing the secret of sleep from a person, for example, leaves them unable to sleep, while taking away the secret of wakefulness makes them sleep – and while practitioners can read a person’s thoughts, they can only read thoughts that a person wants to keep secret, not their thoughts in general. (This has the very cool result that people who are very open or shameless can’t be read at all, which is a fascinating defence against telepathy!)
Points of Departure: Liavek Stories by Patricia C. Wrede, Pamela Dean Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads
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Two stalwarts of science fiction combine to pen a dazzling set of stories wild and whimsical, thrilling and powerful.
Liavek is a hot, busy trade city, situated on the southern shore of the Sea of Luck at the mouth of the Cat River. In Liavek, magic is based on one’s “birth luck” and the length of time one’s mother was in labor. Everyone has luck, but using it is another matter. Luck, or magic, must be invested annually in some object outside oneself; only then can it be used to power spells. And investing one’s magic is difficult and dangerous. Prospective magicians who fail find their magic draining away, and with it, their life.
From that mad and wonderful seed, Wrede and Dean create an enthralling set of stories, where a god is trapped in the body of a chipmunk, where a play has the potential to incite a riot and change a nation, and where a family is coming apart at the seams, and going to enormous lengths to stitch itself back together.
All of the stories are tied together by the unforgettable character of Granny, Ka’Riatha—the one the Book of Curses calls the Guardian of the S’Rian Gods. Granny moves through each story, casting spells and bringing her tart brand of wisdom to a world come undone. This spellbinding set is perfect for fans of both titans of the genre, and will bring equal parts thrilled gasps and charmed smiles to readers everywhere.
Magic in the world of Liavek looks pretty much what you expect magic to look like – but it’s where it comes from that delights me. Magic – known as ‘luck’ – is determined by how many hours your parent was in labour with you. If you were a quick birth – four or five hours – well, that’s not a whole lot of magic, and you probably don’t undergo the training required to become an actual magician. But 12 hours, or 24 (which is pretty common with a first child)? That’s huge. That is a great deal of magic indeed!
It’s not surprising then that in Liavek, midwives are often asked to help make labour last as long as possible, in the hopes of the baby growing up to be a powerful magician!
The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads
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"World Fantasy Award winner Cooney imagines angels as Lovecraftian monsters . . . Plenty of charm!"
—Publishers Weekly
"Many have spoken about how angels can be both terrifying yet beautiful, but few have successfully captured the idea well-until The Twice-Drowned Saint, at least. A sumptuous, saw-toothed read, it is a jewel box of a novel, glittering with a thousand details and a bright longing we're all familiar with, this want for a place better than we're in now."
—Cassandra Khaw, Bram Stoker and World Fantasy award-nominated author of Nothing but Blackened Teeth
World Fantasy Award winner C. S. E. Cooney takes readers on a journey of wonder, terror, and joy in this mind-bending, heartfelt novel. Contained inside impassable walls of ice, the city of Gelethel endures under the rule of fourteen angels, who provide for all their subject's needs and mete out grisly punishments for blasphemous infractions, with escape attempts one of the worst possible sins.
"Our narrator is Ishtu Q'Aleth (Ish for short), the new owner of Gelethel's only cinema (having taken over from her father). More importantly, she's also the secret saint of Alizar the Eleven-Eyed, Seventh Angel of Gelethel, and one of the fourteen angels who holds dominion over the city. As Ish explains it, at the age of eight she turned down Alizar's offer to be his saint, but, in a moment that speaks to the novel's charm, the young girl and the all-knowing angel agreed to continue their relationship in secret after bonding over their shared love of cinema. Near thirty years later Ish is desperate to get her sick parents out of the city, a near-impossible task given Gelethel is surrounded by an impenetrable blue serac. But Ish's situation grows even more complicated when a new arrival to the city, a girl named Betony, appears as Alizar's true saint. There's so much to adore about the The Twice-Drowned Saint ... [a] sublime short novel."
—Locus
"With The Twice-Drowned Saint, C. S. E. Cooney once again crafts dazzling feats of imagination grounded in human frailties and plunges her audience inside head-first. Her boldly unique characters live in a fever dream of balletic, graceful description that will make you gasp, even as they find their own escape through the seemingly-mundane world of movies. Like nothing else you've ever read, or will ever read."
—Randee Dawn, author of Tune in Tomorrow
"Fabulous Gelethel is a city of godless angels who intoxicate themselves on human death, but within its icy walls a hidden saint and a dissident angel are hatching a plan. This story left me wrecked and rebuilt: it's a truly glorious tale of family bonds, forgiveness, sacrifice, courage ... and how gods are born. Written with Cooney's signature soaring prose, humor, and imagination, this tale shines a light on cruelties both fantastical and familiar. It honors sorrow and embraces joy-I will treasure it always"
—Francesca Forrest, author of The Inconvenient God
"The way Cooney does world building, she makes the world absolutely gigantic, and then she focuses the lens onto these intimate moments in people's lives . . . My clumsy words don't do justice to The Twice Drowned Saint. Just read it. It is a sunrise, where all things are beautiful and possible, and it is blood on the ground surrounded by those who lap it up, hungering for more. This is one of the best pieces of fiction I've read this year."
—Little Red Reviewer
Cover art, cover design and interior black and white illustrations by Lasse Paldanius.
If you argue that I’m cheating by including Twice-Drowned Saint, well, I’ll concede the point – it’s not technically a magic system that I’m featuring here, so much as a system that has grown up around the magic. In the very literal city of angels in this book, each district is provided with miracles by their ruling angel – and the miracles are very specific; one angel provides electricity, one meat, and so on. These ‘benisons’ are then used as currency by the humans of the city when each district trades with the rest – so the angelic magic? Is almost literally money.
And I’m sorry, I know I’m a geek, but miracles-as-money??? It’s a system, it’s magic, and it is very cool to me!
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads
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From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.
For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .
Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?
There is so much to love about Babel, but in discussing the incredible ways it deals with racism and colonialism and academia, the deceptively simple magic system sometimes gets lost. Which is a shame, because it’s awesome.
We’ve all heard of magic words, but in Babel, any word in any language has the potential to become a magic one. See, in this system, magic comes from the failures of translation. You etch a word into a silver bar, and you etch a translation of that word on the other side of the bar. The power comes from, and is shaped by, the meaning that is lost in the act of translation – and, if you personally truly-really-deeply understand both the languages involved, you can activate that power.
I love everything about this – it’s so unique, and so clever, and the applications are pretty literally endless; because every word-pair is different, ever bar creates a different magical effect. In Babel, the bars have found incredible uses, from powering tram-cars to allowing for physics-defying architecture – and also extremely frivolous things like making cut flowers last longer.
Don’t get me wrong: Babel deserves all the praise it gets for its more serious aspects. It’s just that it really deserves that praise for its magic system too!
Witch King by Martha Wells Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 30th May 2023
Goodreads
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A story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.
"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' Witch King....
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
I think the first time I encountered pain magic was the Obsidian Mountain trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory – and now I think about it, it was demons who used that version of pain magic too! – but that time and every time since, drawing power from pain is something I’ve only ever seen villains do…until this book. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Kai uses his own pain to power his magic (what else could he do, if he’s not a villain?), and the way that affects his relationship with his body is fascinating. If I remember correctly, it’s not just physical pain he can draw on, either, which is fascinating all by itself!
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 30th May 2023
Goodreads
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In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
In the great tradition of Ninth House, The Magicians, and Practical Magic, this is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric novel that draws readers into a vast world filled with mystery and magic, romance, and intrigue--and marks the debut of an extraordinary new voice in speculative fiction.
The idea that books of spells might be magical in and of themselves isn’t too groundbreaking – but what if the book was the spell? In Ink Blood Sister Scribe, spells are books, cast by activating them with a drop of blood and then reading the whole book aloud. (Fortunately, most spells aren’t very long – if you had to read aloud the great big door-stopper of a tome most of us think of when we hear book of spells, you’d be at it for days!)
If that was the whole of it, I’d still want to include this book on the list, but it goes on: the text of a spell fades a little each time it’s read aloud – meaning it doesn’t last forever. How many times a spell can be read before it’s used up varies (and you read Ink Blood Sister Scribe – which you should, it’s excellent – you do find out why that is), which makes the books even more precious – each one is a finite resource.
I’m just completely in love with the sneaky thinking that turns book of spells into the book IS the spell!
The City We Became (Great Cities, #1) by N.K. Jemisin Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
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Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city.
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.
But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.
The idea of human avatars of cities is obviously ridiculously cool, but that’s not a magic system. The way those avatars utilise the power of their cities is one, and I’m delighted to be able to tell you that it, also, is fantastic.
The very loose, very fluid magic system in this duology is based on symbolism – the symbolism of the city in question. Objects or actions that have meaning for or related to the city can be used to channel its power – so in New York, hailing a cab can be a way to use magic. In Manhatten specifically, where ‘money talks’, a circle of cash can act as a protective barrier. And so on. Tell me that’s not such a cool concept! And again, I love that this has no hard and fast rules, nothing as simple as magic words or rituals to memorise. Every avatar has to discover for themselves how to tap their power, and the only limits are ingenuity and how well you understand your city’s identity.
One of my favorite aspects of the second book was seeing (albeit briefly) the older, more experienced cities using this power – because of course, they’ve got a much better handle on it than newborn New York!
The Lies of the Ajungo (Forever Desert, #1) by Moses Ose Utomi Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads
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Moses Ose Utomi's debut novella, The Lies of the Ajungo , follows one boy’s epic quest to bring water back to his city and save his mother’s life. Prepare to enter the Forever Desert.
A Library Journal Best Book of the Month!
They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies?
In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his parched mother won’t last that long. So Tutu goes to his oba and makes a she provides water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu’s quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself.
The Lies of the Ajungo opens the curtains on a tremendous world, and begins the epic fable of the Forever Desert. With every word, Moses Ose Utomi weaves magic.
In The Lies of the Ajungo, there’s a kind of magic called Seeing, and one of the many things I love about it is that it’s got little to do with physical sight. Seeing is about seeing the world – it’s powered by conviction, and the conviction comes from knowing. Knowing what? Anything, if I understood correctly – the more you know, and the more you believe in what you know, the stronger a Seer you are. Seeing seems to be about seeing the world as it truly is – believing lies doesn’t power a Seer; you have to know, and believe in, the objective truth.
In usage, Seeing reminds me a lot of martial arts type superpowers – Seers channel force, which most of the time looks like aggressive telekinesis, and is very badass indeed in a fight. But we have references to it being used for very different purposes too, which I hope we’ll see more of in the sequels!
Maybe my favourite thing about Seeing is that it’s a metaphor for the whole book. But I can’t talk about that without spoilers.
These Imperfect Reflections: Short Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads
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What's the price of revolution backed by artificial intelligence? Can you change the past to free ghosts trapped in endless loops? Do fairy tales always end the same way?
Follow a battle poet on aer quest to save a kingdom; witness the last documentary about alien whales; and travel with the Wolf who is prophesied to eat the sun as they look for alternatives to their fate.
From living trains to space stations populated with monsters, these eleven fantasy and science fiction stories from Merc Fenn Wolfmoor will take you on otherworldly adventures that are tethered to the heart.
These Imperfect Reflections is full of gorgeous, incredible stories, but one definitely stuck with me even more then the rest. In “The Words of Our Enemies, the Words of Our Hearts”, the main character Yarchuse is a Tomeslinger, whose magic is literally magic words and books – ae builds a Poet Wall around the camp of aer Queen that is made out of words, wears armour made of the same, and prays to the Unearthly Library, the place where ae was confirmed a Tomeslinger and that contains ‘all the souls of every book’. When ae dies, ae will even become a book in that library. We even see raptors (the dinosaur kind, not the birds)(although I guess birds are dinosaurs??? whatever, you know what I mean!) built out of paper and ink that are very nearly as deadly as the flesh-and-blood kind!
And really – come on. How could I not adore a magic system built around books and words like that?
That makes 10! Looking for more? You can find them in my earlier lists here;
Ten Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Even More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Or you can check out my lists featuring unique magical abilities – start here, and keep an eye out for this year’s in the next few days!
What are some of your favourite magic systems?
The post Ten (Yet More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 19, 2023
The Most Fantabulous Faerie Fiction!
Magic portal artwork by Tithi LuadthongI’m half-Irish and spent my formative years in Ireland. Why is that relevant here? Because everyone in Ireland knows someone who’s had a run-in with Forces Best Not Fucked With; and even the people who swear blind that they don’t believe will not mess with that one particular tree, or let their dog dig on that one specific hill, or go down that one curve of road after dark – whatever the local fae landmark might be, no amount of money or Guinness will convince anyone to risk it.
That doesn’t make me a stickler for how the Fae are presented in fiction – it’s fiction – but it does, perhaps, give me a…slightly unconventional perspective on it.
And now you have my bona fides, allow me to present my absolute favourite examples of faeries in fantasy!
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads
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Acclaimed by critics and readers on its first publication in 1987, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, Emma Bull's War for the Oaks is one of the novels that has defined modern urban fantasy.
Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But she's breaking up with her boyfriend, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point.
By turns tough and lyrical, fabulous and down-to-earth, War for the Oaks is a fantasy novel that's as much about this world as about the other one. It's about real love and loyalty, about real music and musicians, about false glamour and true art. It will change the way you hear and see your own daily life.
You are, in fact, doing Faerie Fiction simply wrong if you skip War For the Oaks – arguably the book that kicked-off Urban Fantasy as a genre and very definitely a classic. Bull seamlessly brings the old-school Seelie and Unseelie courts to (semi-)modern Minneapolis, tying mythic and mundane together with one of the best reasons-the-Fae-need-a-human I’ve ever seen. The whole book bucks convention, with twists and turns that make the plot genuinely unpredictable – which seems only appropriate, in any book about the Fae!
Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, #1) by Seanan McGuire Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads
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October "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...
The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.
If you prefer your Urban Fantasy a little more action-y, then the October Daye series is more than ready to sweep you away. At 16 books and counting (not counting the various novellas and short stories) it might look a little intimidating, but it’s more than worth your time. McGuire’s knowledge of traditional folklore, and the original worldbuilding she’s spun out of it, is phenomenal, and like all the best UF series, although each book has its own self-contained plot, they all fit together to tell a much bigger story. McGuire plays a long game, and even the smallest of details have been laid with precise care that has you shrieking four or five books later when you realise how the tiniest, throw-away line was actually Extremely Important And Also a Clue. The series starts great and only gets better, and each book is quick-paced and easy to read, without skimping on the sneaky cleverness, to-die-for found family dynamics, and faerie politics. And I guarantee you will never predict where it ends up going!
Dark Breakers by C.S.E. Cooney, Brett Massé, Sharon Shinn Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads
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NEW FROM WORLD FANTASY AWARD WINNER C. S. E. COONEY
A young human painter and an ageless gentry queen fall in love over spilled wine—at the risk of his life and her immortality. Pulled into the Veil Between Worlds, two feuding neighbors (and a living statue) get swept up in a brutal war of succession. An investigative reporter infiltrates the Seafall City Laundries to write the exposé of a lifetime, and uncovers secrets she never believed possible. Returning to an oak grove to scatter her husband’s ashes, an elderly widow meets an otherworldly friend, who offers her a momentous choice. Two gentry queens of the Valwode plot to hijack a human rocketship and steal the moon out of the sky.
DARK BREAKERS gathers three new and two previously uncollected tales from World Fantasy Award-winning writer C. S. E. Cooney that expand on the thrice-enfolded worlds first introduced in her Locus and World Fantasy award-nominated novella DESDEMONA AND THE DEEP. In her introduction to DARK BREAKERS, Crawford Award-winning author Sharon Shinn advises those who pick up this book to “settle in for a fantastical read” full of “vivid world-building, with layer upon layer of detail; prose so dense and gorgeous you can scoop up the words like handfuls of jewels; a mischievous sense of humor; and a warm and hopeful heart.”
Cooney’s Valwode-verse (not, as far as I know, it’s official name, but I’m going to keep calling it that) sees 1920s-esque humans interacting with exquisitely eldritch Fae. You can read the two books – Dark Breakers and Desdemona and the Deep – in any order, although chronologically, Desdemona takes place between the “Two Paupers” and “Salissay’s Laundries” novellas within Dark Breakers. There’s no wrong way to read them, though; they’re all completely breathtaking, with wonderfully otherworldly and alien Fae who are enraptured by mortal artists, whatever their preferred art-form. Cooney’s decadent prose is one of the best at really making you feel (right down your spine and into the goosebumps on your arms) the sheer wild otherness of all beings Fae – unspeakably alluring and inescapably awe-full.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) by Heather Fawcett Goodreads
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So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
Emily Wild’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries made a very deserved splash earlier this year, but if you missed it, well – you’re in for a serious treat! The book is presented as the journal of an antisocial, somewhat grumpy anthropologist who studies faeries, and literally everything about it rocks. Fawcett is one of the few writers I’ve seen who manages to put into words why we’re so fascinated by Faerie, and approaches it from a few unexpected angles. For example, most fantasy featuring the Fae gives you the ‘facts’ of that story’s Fae – whether they can handle iron, is it dangerous to tell them ‘thank you’, what their powers are, etc. But a quiet but very important aspect of Emily Wild’s Encyclopaedia is the knowledge, not just of the facts, but of the specific legends where the Fae appear – the difference between knowing what goblins are versus memorising the story Rumpelstiltskin. It’s heavy on the ‘stories are power’ vibes, and I’ve not seen that particular take on it before!
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1) by Catherynne M. Valente Goodreads
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With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.
It’s actually some time before we encounter actual fairies in Valente’s Fairyland series, as the fairies are mysteriously missing – but there are all kinds of other Fae creatures, drawn from and inspired by a variety of different cultures, and so transformed by Valente’s imagination that, no matter how familiar you are with Faerie lore, it all feels beautifully unique and new. Ostensibly for younger readers, I can assure you that this series is deep and layered, perfect for Grown Ups to enjoy too. I’m not sure any other books I know capture the incredible, magical wonder of all things Fae as well as this series does!
I Stole You: Stories from the Fae by Kristen Ringman Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Deaf MCs, queer rep
Goodreads
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You might get stolen too.
In these wide-ranging stories told from the perspectives of a Thai ghost, an Irish fairy trapped in a dog’s body, a crow fae, an Icelandic birch tree elf, a dream thief, and other shapeshifting creatures, Kristen Ringman examines whether these fae would love a human or kill them after a close look into their hearts.
“Ringman achieves a haunting, sexy, and visually stirring collection that explores the tension of identity, longing, and the intricacies of connection and obsession in this series of beautiful, complicated settings populated by a both magical and deeply frail, human cast. She effortlessly severs the line between mythology, the supernatural and practicality, and the reader recognizes that desperation to be known, to be understood, to be considered unique to an otherworldly presence, and to ourselves.” —Hilaree Robinson, co-author of The Distance
“The true wondrousness of Fae is as sly as it is innocent; it is magical and grounded, brutal and graceful, edgy and tender. Through a blend of fantasy, horror, and magical realism, Ringman digs around in the human condition, unearthing truths of the psyche, the body, and the spirit.” —Kate Evans, author of Call It Wonder: an odyssey of love, sex, spirit, and travel
“Dark and haunting, yet beautiful and hypnotic. Ringman brings poetry and beauty even to the monstrous.” —Christopher Jon Heuer, author of Bug: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution
This one is a collection of short stories, wherein different Fae creatures from around the world make off with humans who’ve captured their interest, in a variety of ways in sometimes wildly different scenarios. The stories are all written from the perspective of the Fae, which is marvellous – and a significant number of the humans are Deaf, which, I loved how much that didn’t matter to the Fae! They don’t all have happy endings, but this is a genuinely beautiful collection that I love dearly, and deserves to be much better well-known!
Seven is a very magical number, so it seems the perfect place to wrap up! Feel free to share YOUR favourite faerie reads in the comments!
The post The Most Fantabulous Faerie Fiction! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 15, 2023
Must-Have Monday #137
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
We have NINE marvellous books to feature this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
No Foreign Sky by Rachel Neumeier Genres: Sci Fi
Representation: Brown humans
Published on: 15th May 2023
Goodreads
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Generations ago, a single turun explorer discovered a long-abandoned and dwindling population of humans, a devastated colony nearing extinction on a dangerous, hostile world.
Now entirely blended into turun society, uman people have become full citizens of the far-flung Ka' Taand, a civilization that depends on the social instincts of both uman and turun. But the Ka' Taand is now threatened by a vicious enemy from beyond familiar space, an enemy neither species understands.
When small half-fighter tradeship Nkaastu unexpectedly encounters a formation of enemy fighters during a routine trading mission, uman battlecommander Daamon sees no choice but to tackle suicidal odds in the hope of giving the worlds of the Ka' Taand time to prepare for renewed attack. Neither Daamon nor his turun captain expect to survive long enough to know whether the sacrifice of their ship has been in vain ...
... until an unknown and much more powerful ship appears, slashing effortlessly through the enemy fighters and saving Nkaastu . But who are these newcomers? And will they prove the allies the Ka' Taand needs ... or a new and deadlier enemy?
Perfect for fans of CJ Cherryh and Becky Chambers, a new space opera adventure of first contact ... or possibly second contact ... or perhaps both ...
Neumeier always manages to wow me with unusual and interesting worldbuilding, and I think this might be her first scifi? (Although not her first, it looks like she has another scifi series coming later this year!) So I’m intrigued and excited to see what she does with a new genre!
The Scandalous Letters of V and J by Felicia Davin Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MCs
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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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.
Davin did a whole Daily Dracula thing with this book, releasing one letter/journal entry/etc from the book each day through their newsletter! I knew I would not survive reading just a little bit every day – I would go RABID if I couldn’t inhale the whole thing at once! – but it was torture resisting it nonetheless! I am genuinely staying up tonight until the ebook appears on my account!!!
Last Canto of the Dead (Outlaw Saints #2) by Daniel José Older Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Brown diasporic cast
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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Two gods-turned-teenagers wage simultaneous battles in the Caribbean and Brooklyn in this sequel to Ballad & Dagger.
Healer. Destroyer. Creator. Mateo Matisse and Chela Hidalgo are not just two teenagers in love--they're powerful gods in human form. Powerful enough to have saved their Brooklyn diaspora community from the wrath of an ancient enemy and to have raised their once-sunken native island of San Madrigal from the sea.
But soon they discover that their problems are far from over. On the shores of San Madrigal, two creature armies are battling for survival. And on the streets of Brooklyn, a once tight-knit community is divided, with two sides at each other's throats. But worst of all, a heartbreaking prophecy rips these two young lovers apart, sending Mateo back to the city, where cops are now patrolling the streets, and keeping Chela tethered to the island, where chaos and death lurk around every corner.
Healer. Destroyer. Creator. As gods, their powers know no limits. But as teenagers--separated, desperate, grieving--what will become of them? And what will become of their people?
Join their battle and witness their love in this thrilling conclusion to the epic saga that began with BALLAD & DAGGER.
The sequel to last year’s Ballad & Dagger, I have carefully avoided reading the blurb for fear of spoilers for this, but I’m very excited for it!
Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Latine cast & setting, genderfluid MC, trans MC
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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Keep your enemy closer.
Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother.Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana.Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect.Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy.
Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person.Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade.And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.
Cowritten by married writing team Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore, this is a lush and powerful YA novel about owning your power and becoming who you really are - no matter the cost.
The settings in this one had me completely enchanted, and I feel like it would be a lovely before-bed book – despite the stakes, it felt very soft to me, and dreamy. Take that as you will!
Painted Devils (Little Thieves, #2) by Margaret Owen Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Demisexual MC & romantic partner, various queer secondary characters
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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A scrappy former maid and jewel thief must outwit gods, injustice, and her own past in this sequel to the Indie Next Pick, Little Thieves by Margaret Owen.
Let's get one thing straight - Vanja Schmidt wasn't trying to start a cult.
After taking down a corrupt margrave, breaking a deadly curse, and finding romance with the vexingly scrupulous junior prefect Emeric Conrad, Vanja had one great mystery left: her long-lost birth family . . . and whether they would welcome a thief. But in her search for an honest trade, she hit trouble and invented a god, the Scarlet Maiden, to scam her way out. Now that lie is growing out of control—especially when Emeric arrives to investigate and the Scarlet Maiden manifests to claim him as a virgin sacrifice.
For his final test to become a prefect, Emeric must determine if Vanja is guilty of serious fraud or if the Scarlet Maiden—and her claim to him—is genuine. Meanwhile, Vanja is chasing an alternative sacrifice thatcould be their way out. The hunt leads her not only into the lairs of monsters and the paths of gods, but also the ties of her past. And with what should be the simplest way to save Emeric hanging over their heads,he and Vanja must face a more dangerous question: Is there a future for a thief and a prefect, and at what price?
From the indie bestselling author Margaret Owen comes the thrilling next installment in the Little Thieves trilogy with all new interior illustrations from the author.
I had no idea Little Thieves was the start of a trilogy, but I am EXTREMELY HAPPY ABOUT IT! Owen established herself on my auto-buy list with her debut duology The Merciful Crow, and I had a ton of fun with Little Thieves, the previous book in this series! Gah. I’m just so delighted we’re getting more shenanigans with Vanja!
Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Pansexual demigirl MC, pansexual love interest, lesbian, bigender, aro-spectrum rep
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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Sarah J. Maas meets A Deadly Education in A.M. Strickland's lush, queer YA dark fantasy novel.
In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more.
Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside.
A blade.
When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love's place in their village's Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either.
Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life...or betrays her own heart.
Court of the Undying Seasons is a deliciously dark romantic novel and a pitch perfect modern take on classic vampire tropes.
Okay, sure – generally speaking, I don’t care about vampire school stories. But it’s Strickland!!! Which means it will be queer and weird and also genuinely dark, which is kinda my thing!!! A little!!!
So obviously I’ll be pouncing on this, is what I’m saying here.
Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic by g. haron davis Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans and nonbinary MCs
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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Perfect for fans of All Out and Cemetery Boys, this anthology claims a seat at the table of fantasy literature for trans and gender nonconforming stories.
Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you’ll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.
Featuring stories from:
AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy
g. haron davis
Mason Deaver
Jonathan Lenore Kastin
Emery Lee
Saundra Mitchell
Cam Montgomery
Ash Nouveau
Sonora Reyes
Renee Reynolds
Dove Salvatierra
Ayida Shonibar
Francesca Tacchi
Nik Traxler
I got to read this early, and wow are there some stunners in there! I got to add a whole bunch of names to my authors-to-watch list! And I’m still in love with that cover.
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: Chinese-American cast, M/M
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads
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Heartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians in this heartfelt, joyful paperback original rom-com that follows an aspiring chef who discovers the recipe for love is more complicated than it seems when he starts fake-dating a handsome new customer.
Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn.
Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons.
In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend . . . but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems.
Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?
Listen, it’s hard to lure me away from my beloved SFF, but it can be done and Fake Dates and Mooncakes is very definitely doing it! Foodie romances are definitely my weak spot, and this one sounds, ahem, delicious and very sweet!
From the Valley of Orchids (The Legend of Saru Book 1) by Niels Saunders Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Japanese setting & cast
Published on: 20th May 2023
Goodreads
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Gods and Demons Clash in Mythological Japan
In the Kingdom of Yamato, magic is misunderstood. When humans pray at shrines to the spirits of the land, their wishes are not granted directly. Instead, sometimes gods are shapeshifting animals with the power to conjure weapons and enter the realm of dreams.
When a snow monkey named Saru is born from a prayer of hope, he longs to understand the truth about his nature. At an enchanted temple, he crosses paths with the demonic monk Akame whose infernal magic destroys everything Saru loves—and could soon threaten the whole world.
Saru flees to Otari Village, a settlement of kind people who welcome him into their homes. The village, however, is plagued by ghosts and wicked men who would exploit Saru’s powers. With Akame’s arrival looming, will Saru save the village, or lose everything again? How far will he go to protect those he loves?
From the Valley of Orchids is the first book in the epic fantasy series The Legend of Saru.
I adore the idea of gods (and other supernatural beings?) being created by prayers or wishes! That’s brilliant. I’d pick up From the Valley of Orchids for that alone, but it’s a mega bonus that we’re getting a Japanese setting rather than *waves hands vaguely* whitewashed Medieval-esque Europe!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #137 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 10, 2023
I Can’t Wait For…A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien
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 A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Page O’Brien!
A Hundred Vicious Turns (The Broken Tower, #1) by Lee Paige O'Brien Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC, major trans character
Published on: 12th September 2023
Goodreads
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The heir to an arcane bloodline must outwit their ambitious rival to stop a ruthless magical adversary in a YA fantasy debut perfect for fans of A Lesson in Vengeance and Hell Followed With Us
Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.
When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year—Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat’s closest friend—turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they’d thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet.
Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they’re drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.
It’s not very often that I get excited about YA – but WOW am I excited for this!!!
I’ve loved magic school stories since the Worst Witch series when I was an itsy-bitsy baby!Sia, and I’m always on the lookout for more. The uptick in inclusive, diverse magic schools (like the Scholomance trilogy, and Grimoire of Grave Fates next month!) makes me incredibly happy – and now we’re getting one with a nonbinary lead!!!
Cue a truly ridiculous number of happy-tears.
AHEM.
The story itself sounds cool enough that I’d be interested even with a cishet lead. Magical bloodlines implies the existence of non-magical ones – ie, magic users who don’t have powerful families behind them. Maybe Harker is like that, a magical outlier in a non-magical family? Something about describing him as ‘gifted’ makes me think so… And however magic works in this book, the Tower clearly exists outside of the understood system, which is immediately intriguing. There’s just something incredibly exciting about being told, in the blurb, that the establishment doesn’t know everything about magic (and you know they think they know everything!)
And, you know… CHECK OUT THAT MINDBLOWINGLY MAGNIFICENT COVER!!! The art is by the ridiculously talented Corey Brickley, and I would like a glossy poster of it for my wall, please! But I think that, as well as being beautiful, it also contains clues – like the compass Rat is holding! Where is that going to lead, I wonder?
It seems very appropriate that A Hundred Vicious Turns arrives just as the new school year starts…but I have no idea how I’m supposed to wait that long!
The post I Can’t Wait For…A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 8, 2023
Must-Have Monday #136
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
We have EIGHT marvellous books to feature this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Let the Torrent Dance Thee Down by Sherwood Smith Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Queernorm world
Published on: 9th May 2023
Goodreads
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“Written with searing intensity, this story of the redemptive power of love amid the shambles of war and the re-emergence of ancient powers builds to a white-knuckle climax.”
The war is over, all but the cleanup. And the emotional recovery, with its scars both visible and invisible. Liere Fer Eider learns on the run how to become a queen, while Andri adjusts to life this side of the law. Senrid, in devastated Marloven Hess, has to straight-arm a rage-filled populace into peace. While on a faraway mountain Detlev at last oversees the rebuilding of his school for training re-emerging psychic powers after four millennia.
A few years pass, and everything seems to be settling into the new norm--until Liere wakes from a drugged sleep to an enemy who offers an impossible choice.
This epic fantasy follows on from The Norsunder War
I’m lagging behind with this series – now that she’s self-publishing Smith has been releasing her Sartorios-deles books too quickly for me to keep up! – but I CANNOT TELL YOU what a joy it was to realise that the Norsunder War story-arc is not the end of this verse! I adore this world so much; I never want to leave it!
Also, after the very meh covers of the last few books, I am delighted and intrigued by this stunning cover. Why the change? I don’t know, but I’m betting it reflects a change in tone after the war books…
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1) by Mark Lawrence Genres: Science Fantasy
Representation: Minor coded-asexual rep
Published on: 9th May 2023
Goodreads
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A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.
The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.
Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
I just finished reading this last night and. WOW. Mind blown. I have a sneaking suspicion that Lawrence has been building up to – or maybe setting the stage for? – this book for his entire authorial career. And it paid off.
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi, Historical Fantasy
Representation: Sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 4th May 2023
Goodreads
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'Compelling and utterly absorbing ... an artfully crafted debut that echoes the dark essence of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN while maintaining a fascinating originality all of its own' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of PANDORA
'A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue' Jess Kidd, author of THE NIGHT SHIP
Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how...
The 1850s is a time of discovery and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue, is keen to make her name in this world of science, alongside her geologist husband Henry, but without wealth and connections, their options are limited.
But when Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle's past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing their future... Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland, to Henry's intriguing but reclusive sister Maisie, and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret...
_______
'A wonderful book; dark, passionate, multi-layered' Joanne Harris, author of CHOCOLAT & THE STRAWBERRY THIEF
'Exquisitely written... a story worthy of Mary Shelley' Sean Lusk, author of THE SECOND SIGHT OF ZACHARY CLOUDESLEY
'Sumptuously gothic, this atmospheric debut left me reeling' C.J. COOKE, author of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES'
I’m not a particular fan of the English classics, but sometimes their retellings rock, and as a kind of sequel/spin-off from Frankenstein, McGill’s debut looks like it’s going to! I have high hopes.
Bang Bang Bodhisattva by Aubrey Wood Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 9th May 2023
Goodreads
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An edgy, queer cyberpunk detective mystery by an exciting new trans voice from New Zealand.
Someone wants trans girl hacker-for-hire Kiera Umehara in prison or dead—but for what? Failing to fix their smart toilet?
It’s 2032 and we live in the worst cyberpunk future. Kiera is gigging her ass off to keep the lights on, but her polycule’s social score is so dismal they’re about to lose their crib. That’s why she's out here chasing cheaters with Angel Herrera, a luddite P.I. who thinks this is The Big Sleep. Then the latest job cuts too deep—hired to locate Herrera’s ex-best friend (who’s also Kiera’s pro bono attorney), they find him murdered instead. Their only lead: a stick of Nag Champa incense dropped at the scene.
Next thing Kiera knows, her new crush turns up missing—sans a hand (the real one, not the cybernetic), and there’s the familiar stink of sandalwood across the apartment. Two crimes, two sticks of incense, Kiera framed for both. She told Herrera to lose her number, but now the old man might be her only way out of this bullshit...
A fast-talker with a heart of gold, Bang Bang Bodhisattva is both an odd-couple buddy comedy that never knows when to shut up and an exploration of finding yourself and your people in an ever-mutable world.
I’m not usually interested in murder mysteries, but the premise for this one is bemusingly weird, and it’s garnered a lot of praise from readers and writers I usually trust. Definitely going on the tbr!
March's End by Daniel Polansky Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Published on: 9th May 2023
Goodreads
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March's End is a multi-generational portal fantasy of strange magics, epic warfare, and deadly intrigue, in which the personality conflicts and toxic struggles of the Harrow family are reflected in the fantasy world they've sworn to protect.
The Harrows are a typical suburban family who, since time immemorial, have borne a sacred and terrible charge. In the daylight they are teachers, doctors, bartenders and vagrants, but at night they are the rulers and protectors of the March, a fantastical secondary world populated with animate antiquated toys and sentient lichen, a panorama of the impossible where cities are carried on the backs of giant snails, and thunderstorms can be subdued with song.
But beneath this dreamlike exterior lie dark secrets, and for generation after generation the Harrows have defended the March from the perils that wait outside its borders – when they are not consumed in their own bitter internecine quarrels.
In the modern day the Harrow clan are composed of Sophia, the High Queen of the March, a brilliant, calculating matriarch, and her three children – noble Constance, visionary, rebellious Mary Ann, and clever, amoral Will. Moving back and forth between their youth, adolescence, and adulthood, we watch as this family fractures, then reconciles in the face of a conflict endangering not only the existence of the March, but of the ‘real world’ itself.
THE MARCH’S END is a book about growing up, in which the familial struggles of the Harrows are threaded through the mythic history of the fantastical land they protect. It is a story of failure and redemption, in which the power of love is tested against forces that seek to break it, and the necessity of each generation to recreate itself is asserted.
I’m always on the lookout for Portal Fantasies that deal with the portal-ing better than Lewis did (not a high bar), and I’m cautiously intrigued by March’s End. Between the fact that it’s written by Polansky, and what I’ve seen of early reviews, it’s obviously going to be a bit dark and grim, but I still plan on giving it a go!
To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1) by Moniquill Blackgoose Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual Native American MC, Native American secondary cast, secondary autistic character, Black sapphic love interest, Native American love interest
Published on: 9th May 2023
Goodreads
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A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series.
The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.
Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.
For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.
Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.
THIS. THIS. THIS. If you only buy one of the books on this week’s list, make sure it’s this one!!! A queer, polyamorous Native American dragon-rider is sent to a dragoneering academy run by colonisers. This is a book that will challenge you, delight you, and make you FEEL all-the-things, with a heroine (and dragon!) to die for. I cannot tell you how in love I am with To Shape a Dragon’s Breath – I may perish of pining for the sequel!
My entirely inadequate review!
Vial Thoughts by Van Essler Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 11th May 2023
Goodreads
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Balanced on a thin wire between horror and steampunk, Van Essler’s debut novel is an acrobatic performance at the darkest of circuses. Lenora Leahill has recently inherited her father’s estate and is ready to take her place in the enlightened Age of Awareness where books can be instantly consumed as injections using an Aqua Peritia cuff. She has grand plans for securing her legacy, but navigating these new responsibilities alone is not easy, especially when it’s impossible to see clearly under the city’s ashfall.
When an old colleague of her father’s demands fulfillment of a promise Lenora knows nothing about, she discovers this new Age of Awareness is haunted by a dark history. Lenora must wade through the shadows of the past and gain her footing in the present if she has any hope of a future—unless death or madness finds her first.
Vial Thoughts sounds so utterly bizarre that I had to include it on this week’s list. I’ve been able to find out almost nothing about it beyond the official blurb, but that alone has me intensely curious. Reading books via INJECTION??? I’ve got to know more.
Away With Words by Sophie Cameron Genres: Speculative Fiction
Representation: Hispanic MC, major character with selective mutism, secondary M/M
Published on: 11th May 2023
Goodreads
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Set in a world where words appear physically when people speak, AWAY WITH WORDS explores the importance of communication and being there for those we love.
Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluña to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. The two girls find their own ways to communicate, which includes collecting other people's discarded words. They use the words to write anonymous supportive poems for their classmates, but then someone begins leaving nasty messages using the same method – and the girls are blamed. Gala has finally started adapting to her new life in Scotland and is determined to find the culprit. Can she and Natalie show the school who they really are?
This is a MG read with a beautifully unique premise – early reviews have mentioned things like having to floss your teeth to get rid of unspoken words, and janitors working after hours to sweep up all the words from a schoolday’s worth of chatter! I want to check out Away With Words (and what a cool title!) for that alone, but the story it self also sounds really sweet.
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #136 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 6, 2023
A Dragon-Rider Book Like No Other: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1) by Moniquill Blackgoose Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual Native American MC, Native American secondary cast, secondary autistic character, Black sapphic love interest, Native American love interest
PoV: 1st-person, past-tense
Published on: 9th May 2023
ISBN: 0593498291
Goodreads
A young, Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy after bonding with a hatchling-and quickly finds herself at odds with the "approved" way of doing things-in the first book of a brilliant new fantasy series.
The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations-until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon's egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered: a Person Who Belongs to a Dragon.
Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have a quite different opinion. They have a very specific idea on how a dragon should be raised-and who should be doing the raising-and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, then her dragon will be destroyed.
For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land challenges abound-both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart and determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.
For the world needs changing-and Anequs and her dragon are less coming of age in this bold new world than coming to power.
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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~never forget where your home is
~draw the line and hold it
~two love interests ≠ love triangle
~weaponise the tea parties
~remember your dances
~take what’s useful from your colonisers and set the rest on fire
OH, TO SHAPE A DRAGON’S BREATH, HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE INNUMERABLE WAYS!
This is a queer Native American dragon-rider story. If that’s not enough to make you preorder it immediately, I am happy to enumerate for you exactly how excellent it is, but the tl;dr version is that yes, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is every bit as epic as that sounds.
QUEER
NATIVE AMERICAN
DRAGON-RIDERS.
Or dragon-rider, technically. Even more technically, not a dragon-rider but a Nampeshiweisit, which means chosen by a dragon, because Anequs’ people do not consider dragons as animals to be owned and it’s you who belongs to the dragon, not the other way around–
…I’m getting slightly ahead of myself, aren’t I?
Okay. SO.
Blackgoose introduces us to a world where the Anglish, aka the Vikings (who, now I think about it, made it to North America before Columbus in our world too!) have taken the role the British Empire did in our own history, ie colonising everyone they could, considering themselves the pinnacle of civilisation, and slaughtering everyone who disagrees with them. Or looks different from them. Or lives differently from them. Or–you get the idea.
Anequs is a young Indigenous woman in an analogue of our North America, who can mostly ignore the existence of the Anglish, as they rarely come to her island. And she lives a perfectly normal life, until one of her people’s dragons – thought to be extinct, at least in the area – guides her to an egg. When the dragon who hatches from it – Kasaqua – chooses Anequs, Anglish law says she must attend a dragoneer academy to learn the ‘right way’ to be a dragon-rider. If she fails, Kasaqua will be executed – and the Anglish really want her to fail.
I don’t think Anequs is intended to be read as autistic – especially since one of the secondary characters very much is clearly autistic, even if Anglish society doesn’t have a word for it – but my gods: as an autistic reader, Anequs was a JOY and a RELIEF to read! She just makes sense in a way neurotypical characters often don’t, just as the culture she comes from makes sense in deep, sweeping ways. Her rational, compassionate matter-of-factness highlights the glaring nonsense that is ‘civilised society’; she’s quick to point out, and call out, how meaningless, bizarre, and often damaging the Anglish way of doing things is – and she doesn’t let any of these new and ridiculous rules compromise who she is, or what her goals are. (Or stop her from having two love interests, and no, this is not a love triangle!) Her dedication to her people and her heritage is one of my favourite things about her, and I cannot tell you how much I loved that she has absolutely no interest in becoming an Anglish-approved ‘Nackie’, nevermind trying to become Anglish herself.
“I didn’t ask to be a precedent. I never wanted to leave Masquapaug. If we had anyone there who could teach me, I’d still be there. But our dragons died two hundred years ago, and their dragoneers with them, and the knowledge was lost. I’m here to help my people, Frau Kuiper. I’m not here to make them more like yours.”
Which is not to say that she doesn’t do her best to not make (unnecessary) waves, because she’s very much aware of how precarious her position (and Kasaqua’s) is – but she also knows when and where to draw the line and defend it. I will always love a character (or real life person) who isn’t afraid to say this is wrong – or who is afraid but does it anyway.
And unfortunately, Anequs does have cause to draw that line and say that what she’s facing is wrong, a lot more than once. Racism and colonialism are very big themes in this book; both the institutionalised kinds and the direct, personal kinds aimed at Anequs specifically. One instance of the former that hit hard was on the first day of classes, when Anequs comes to the classroom without notebook and pens – because she’s never been taught this way before, and no one thought to prepare her. Worse is the teacher’s reaction; he assumes she either doesn’t care about his class or is an idiot, rather than the obvious conclusion, which is that her people teach and learn in a very different way. (As someone who is very anti the rote-memorisation approach to learning, this was yet another case where I thought Anequs’ people were much smarter about things!) Even the apparent ‘liberals’ are unintentionally thoughtless or insulting at least half the time – in other words, it’s all exactly like real-world racism.
The clear contrast between how the Anglish are obsessed with their history and myths, while so much of Anequs’ heritage has been lost – because of Anglish colonisation – is a perfect snapshot of the horrifically imbalanced power dynamic between the two cultures. Anequs is penalised in her lessons for her unfamiliarity with Anglish history and lore – but she’s only at the academy in the first place because the Anglish wiped out the Nampeshiweisit who could have taught her what she and Kasaqua need to learn. It’s as enraging as it is heart-breaking.
But Blackgoose has absolutely not written a story that is all suffering or misery-porn; I experienced a lot of rage at what Anequs and her people have to deal with, but I never felt despair. Blackgoose writes bigots as potentially very dangerous but also contemptible, and between Anequs’ calm but fierce strength, her brilliant clever mind, and the allies and support network she has and adds to over the course of the book, it’s pretty clear that no one is going to snuff her out.
If anything, she is clearly starting a much-needed wildfire.
I had become like Crow, venturing to dangerous and unknown lands to bring fire back to my people. I wondered, as we sat together in one another’s company, what we were going to burn with it.
Speaking of fire: let’s talk about the DRAGONS!
Blackgoose has also come up with a really unique (as far as I’m aware) approach to dragons: in this world, dragonfire makes an excellent weapon, but that’s not actually its most important function. Guided by the will of their bonded rider, a dragon’s breath can break down materials into their component elements – think the Periodic Table, not earth/air/fire/water – or combine them to create different materials. Uncontrolled, this is massively dangerous; controlled, it’s almost endlessly useful for all kinds of applications, and it gives dragons a place and role in human society that’s not like any other dragon-rider book I can think of. It’s learning this power and bringing it back to her people that is Anequs’ main goal in studying with the Anglish, although it gradually becomes clear that the Anglish skiltakraft – what we might call chemistry – doesn’t go far enough, has the potential to be and accomplish so much more, but is limited by the Anglish’s rigid thinking and their belief that dragons are ‘just animals’.
“Well, I can certainly see why Frau Kuiper solicited my assistance in making you aware of civilized customs, as it’s obvious that you have little experience with polite society. Primitive superstition and folklore aside, dragons are beasts—as much as dogs or horses are. I very dearly love Magnus, and I’m sure that every dragoneer would say the same of their dragon, but I hold no particular illusions about him. He’s an animal of a witskrafty nature. If he weren’t bonded with me, or some other dragoneer of firm resolve, he would be vicious and dangerous. There are still truly wild dragons in the remote mountains of Tyskland and Vaskosland, and they still menace shepherds and even kill and eat mountaineers and explorers from time to time. It’s my understanding that there are wild dragons in the interior of Markesland as well, along the western and northern frontiers, and that they’re as much a menace to settlers as wolves and great cats are.”
“The dragons—and the wolves and great cats—were all here long before people were. My people have always endeavored to be good neighbors to them, and if your people find them menacing, then I can only presume that you haven’t taken the same care,” I said. “My grandmother didn’t think that there was anything worth knowing that I could learn by coming here, and I’m beginning to wonder if she wasn’t right.”
(Passages like the one above are manifold and will make you want to shake the Anglish idiots. Dragons form psychic bonds with humans, and even if they don’t think in words, how stupid do you have to be to think they’re no different from dogs? THEIR BREATH LITERALLY RESHAPES THE WORLD. THEY ARE CLEARLY NOT ‘JUST ANIMALS’!)
The role of Anglish dragoneers in their society, versus that of a Nampeshiweisit in theirs, is radically different. A Nampeshiweisit works for the good of their people; being a dragoneer, on the other hand, is essentially a status symbol, as if a dragon is the equivalent of an expensive car or Louis Vuitton handbag. We see this in the completely opposing ways Nackies and Anglish take to the hatching of a dragon egg; Anequs’ people keep the egg in a communal space so the dragonet inside ‘meets’ everyone in the village, and chooses their Nampeshiweisit from among all those people – but the Anglish stick the egg in front of just one person, and the dragon can bond to that person or be put down as feral.
Honestly, that kind of tells you all you need to know about how the two cultures view dragons.
Another way in which Blackgoose’s take on dragons – and dragon-riding stories – is something special is that, in this book, Anequs never actually gets to ride Kasaqua. Not because the Anglish won’t allow it or anything, but because Kasaqua is still a baby! I feel like this is something we don’t see very often in dragon-rider stories; in all the examples I can think of, the period between a dragon’s hatching and when they’re big enough to ride is skimmed over, fast-forwarded through. And as much as I am looking forward to Anequs and Kasaqua’s first flight together – and I REALLY AM – I really loved that we got to see this phase of Kasaqua’s development in depth. For one thing, it makes Anequs and Kasaqua’s relationship feel much more organic and real; we see and experience them growing together and into each other, rather than just being told about the bond they have. But it also makes Kasasqua feel more like a real creature; as magical and incredible as dragons are, they start off small and take time to grow bigger, like all living things. It makes Kasaqua easier to believe in.
(And a book full of small!Kasaqua is, as you might expect, completely adorable and enchanting. I’m more than happy to wait for her to get big when it means we got a whole book of her curling up on Anequs’ shoulders, or in her lap, or bounding around like a puppy after butterflies!)
Look: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a beautiful, impassioned book, a journey of discovery and dragons, friendship and fear, and being true to yourself, your people, and your dragon. It’s about being an outsider while knowing exactly where your home is; it’s about refusing to be made small, made less, by the people who hate you; about succeeding in spite of how much they want you to fail. It’s about having a strong heart and an open mind, about the importance and value of your heritage, about being able to identify and hold to the things that truly matter. The worldbuilding is deceptively simple and unabashedly impressive; the cast is wonderful, with a whole slew of amazing misfits and social outcasts for Anequs to weave into her pattern; and the main character is an absolute star. The whole approach of this book – to literally everything – filled me with Feels and made me so damn happy.
There’s absolutely nothing I would change. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is utterly perfect in every respect. This book feels like a game-changer, the start of a new generation of dragon stories, and I could not be more delighted to see it.
“Daughter of my daughter, you’re going to teach us all how to dance with dragons again.”
I can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a book, for what it has the potential to do – to its readers, to the genre, to the publishing industry.
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is possibly the most unmissable fantasy book of 2023, and definitely the start of the next great dragon-rider series! Preorder it now to come dance with Anequs and Kasaqua next week!
The post A Dragon-Rider Book Like No Other: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 4, 2023
5 Worlds I Would Run Away To
Magic portal artwork by Tithi LuadthongBack in 2021, I made a list of worlds that, much as I love them, I would not run away to.
Seeing as today’s Wyrd & Wonder prompt is Magical Locations, it seems the perfect time to make a list of the worlds that, were I given the chance, I absolutely would.
There are many things to consider, when one is considering what otherworlds one might abscond to: what is the state of women’s rights there? (Don’t want to end up as chattel because people think I’m a girl.) How stable is the political climate? (The Dark Lord definitely needs to be overthrown by the time I get there.) Will my rather limited skillset allow me to establish a decent life in this new realm? (Most fantasy worlds probably don’t care about digital Content Management.)
And most importantly: does it have anything resembling modern plumbing???
FairylandIf you’re going to run off to another world, Fairyland is a classic, and Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland has all one could ever desire! It is sweet and beautiful and rich with strangeness, and it’s also a world that wants humans to come visit! That’s a massive point in its favour! And I know my mythology and folklore: I’m sure I’d do well there.
QuadiíbA country that venerates learning, questioning, and is built around travelling caravan schools? Where queerplatonic sorceresses-and-bird-shifter couples are…just are??? They exist and they’re respected and they are Life Goals Please??? Even if I can’t learn that magic, that’s a culture I want to be in!
AstandalasTwo words: universal income. Astandalas is well on its way to being a straight-up utopia, and it’s not unfamiliar with the idea of other worlds and the people who come from them! I don’t know exactly how I’d fit in, but with the universal income, I’d be all right until I figured it out.
Terre d’AngeListen. Listen. Am I beautiful enough to pass in the Land of Angels? No. BUT. Most people in Terre d’ Ange can’t read without reading aloud. I, on the other hand, rock at reading things silently. I could totally set up as a scribe or something and just enjoy myself living in the most beautiful of mortal lands!
The CityA city of witches that understands disability, that offers healing and support, that accepts that everyone has a different amount to contribute… I would do a lot for a community like that, and if I got to be a part of it I would give it my all.
What worlds would you be willing to run away to? Choose carefully!
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