Siavahda's Blog, page 48

Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility With SFF!

Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the best way I know to celebrate these things is, obviously, with book recs. So behold my list of SFF featuring trans and nonbinary main characters!

Enjoy!

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual trans MC
Goodreads

Drawing on ancient texts and modern archeology to reveal the trans woman’s story hidden underneath the well-known myths of The Iliad, Maya Deane’s Wrath Goddess Sing weaves a compelling, pitilessly beautiful vision of Achilles’ vanished world, perfect for fans of Song of Achilles and the Inheritance trilogy.

The gods wanted blood. She fought for love.

Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the “prince” Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman’s body she always longed for, and promises her everything: glory, power, fame, victory in war, and, most importantly, a child born of her own body. Reunited with her beloved cousin, Patroklos, and his brilliant wife, the sorceress Meryapi, Achilles sets out to war with a vengeance.

But the gods—a dysfunctional family of abusive immortals that have glutted on human sacrifices for centuries—have woven ancient schemes more blood-soaked and nightmarish than Achilles can imagine. At the center of it all is the cruel, immortal Helen, who sees Achilles as a worthy enemy after millennia of ennui and emptiness. In love with her newfound nemesis, Helen sets out to destroy everything and everyone Achilles cherishes, seeking a battle to the death.

An innovative spin on a familiar tale, this is the Trojan War unlike anything ever told, and an Achilles whose vulnerability is revealed by the people she chooses to fight…and chooses to trust.

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Wrath Goddess Sing is a rich, epic power-fantasy, grounded in real history and archaeology and brought to life with some seriously incredible myth-weaving. Deane’s take on the gods and the nature of divinity made me starry-eyed, and that’s without going into the breathtaking prose and rich, legendary story. Equally approachable for those who have studied the Illiad and those who have never heard of it!

You can read my full review here!

The Story of the Hundred Promises by Neil Cochrane
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, nonbinary MC, aroace rep
Goodreads

A loose retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” that centers queer and trans characters
Trans sailor Darragh Thorn has made a comfortable life for himself among people who love and accept him. Ten years after his exile from home, though, his sister asks him to reconcile with their ailing father. Determined to resolve his feelings rather than just survive them, Darragh sets off on a quest to find the one person who can heal a half-dead man: the mysterious enchanter who once gave him the magic he needed to become his true self. But so far as anyone knows, no one but Darragh has seen the enchanter for a century, and the fairy tales that survive about em give more cause for fear than hope. In lush and evocative prose, and populated with magical trees and a wise fox, The Story of the Hundred Promises is a big-hearted fantasy suffused with queer optimism.

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Okay, this really isn’t a Beauty and the Beast retelling – it has a few motifs in common with B&B, but anyone looking for a B&B retelling will be disappointed, because this is not that story. What it is is a very sweet, quiet story about magic, transcending the gender binary, and finding or making a place for yourself in the world. There are some scenes of impressive magic, but this isn’t a high-paced action thriller thing. Instead, it’s heartwarming and hopeful, and definitely deserves to be more well-known!

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC, queerplatonic MCs, sapphic MC
Goodreads

A queer immigrant fairytale about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure.

Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.

Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.

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This is extremely cute and sweet, and once again, the stakes are nice and low – saving the world will not be required! Which is good, because, um, Uriel and Little Ash have a tricky time intervening in human affairs.

I promise that it is every bit as adorable as it sounds!

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Trans MC, bi/pansexual love interest
Goodreads

A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel.

When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who's come to donate her wife's papers, there's an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the "vampire disease."

Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.

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The main character of Dead Collections is a vampire archivist who bonds with the love interest over fandom; enough said, surely? This is another very low-key book; Sol’s form of vampirism is not very dramatic, and happily there are no vampire hunters or anything like that to deal with! Although the sun does need avoiding still…

These Imperfect Reflections: Short Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Queer cast, autistic rep, disability rep
Goodreads

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.

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This is a GLORIOUS collection of short stories that revolve around the theme of overcoming despair – which usually means giving the finger to totalitarian governments, meaningless wars, and fates you didn’t choose for yourself. Seriously, this is utterly breathtaking; Wolfmoor’s imagination is matched only by the beauty of their prose, and both together are an indescribable DELIGHT.

A Slice of Mars by Guerric Haché
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Nonbinary MC, sapphic autistic MC
Goodreads

Mars is a strange place these days. Corporate overlords, capitalism, and even aging are things of the past on a planet increasingly brimming with biodiversity - yet pizzerias are in short supply!

Siblings Hett and San set out to change that. But a roboticist and a bureaucrat can't run a restaurant alone, so they bring on some help - a bioengineer, a communications scientist, and an unlikely grad student from Earth. Together, this gang of geeks will brave the fires of small business.

But work is just a small part of life. People are complicated. Different brains, different wounds, different values, and one questionably tame wildcat will all collide as they try to grow and succeed together. What comes out of the oven, in the end, is anyone's guess.

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This is a long, low-stakes, deliciously self-indulgent standalone set on a pretty utopian Mars (not completely utopian, but damn close!) centuries from now. It’s a lot of fun, with lots of interesting ideas I haven’t seen before – like new ways of moderating the internet, a form of human immortality I never would have dreamed up, and mandalas on pizzas

Towards the end of the book there’s some conflict, but it’s still pretty small-scale and it’s resolved quickly. Really, it’s just super feel-good, and I loved absolutely EVERYTHING about it!

That’s it from me – happy International Transgender Day of Visibility, everyone!

For more recs, see also
Fantasy Featuring Fabulous Trans Leads
Your Gender Binary Is Imaginary: Non-Binary Characters in Fantasy (+ Bonus SciFi)
Your Gender Binary is Still Imaginary: SFF For International Non-Binary People’s Day!
SFF Faves From Trans and Non-Binary Authors!

The post Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility With SFF! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

March DNFs

Four DNFs this month – one more than February.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
Genres: Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 18th July 2023
ISBN: B0B9KVYNHC
Goodreads

From beloved internet icon Chuck Tingle, Camp Damascus is a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.

They’ll scare you straight to hell.

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.

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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If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know my rule; 20% is my cut-off point for a book. If I read the first fifth of a story and don’t care about where it’s going, it’s a DNF.

I seem to break that rule a lot, though, and I broke it here; I pushed to 33% before I called it quits. So I have read the first third, rather than the first fifth, and I was not impressed. The first-person narration is very blunt and dry, with a lot more telling than showing; I was disgusted rather than actually showing or conveying that disgust. And while there might be twists later in the novel, I didn’t find the whole vomiting-flies, seeing-demons thing especially interesting or original, even with the mind/memory-fuckery going on.

I feel like a surprising number of Horror writers forget, or don’t realise, that no matter what horrible visuals they come up with, very little of it is frightening without immersive sensory detail. It’s not enough to have a character vomiting flies; what does that feel like? Describe the sensations in the character’s throat, on their tongue, the taste! Compare the glistening of the larvae to the wet spaghetti they’ve been vomited into! Make me feel it; make my stomach heave! You can’t just…lean on the fact that most readers find the idea of bugs in our mouths icky, you know? That kind of shorthand works when we’re talking about a visual medium – a painting, a comic, a film – maybe because we’re wired to react more viscerally to things we see. But a static image you sketch in my head with dry, undescriptive prose is not going to have the same reaction unless you happen across one of my particular triggers, which is not something you can depend on managing with every – or even most – readers.

It doesn’t help that Rose isn’t a very interesting character – I like that she’s curious, but she’s also very placid, and when that placidity starts to change…it happens very quickly, and without any obvious trigger. I didn’t understand or believe in her pretty abrupt transformation into someone who doubted her parents, her therapist, her God. What’s fuelling this change? What’s pushing her away from her Church? Did I miss something? Even if I did, it’s not great that something that major is small enough to be missed!

My main issue, though, is definitely the fact that Tingle tells us what Rose is feeling – and by implication, what we should be feeling – instead of, you know, making us feel it. That never works for me. And the lack of description – particularly sensory description – means absolutely none of the horror elements actually strike me as frightening in any way.

Even if it had… Like I said, I was pretty underwhelmed by the horror elements. This wasn’t giving me the visceral terror that realising your memories have been fucked with probably should; and the demons weren’t that impressive.

Sorry. Pretty major fail.

Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Autistic lesbian MC with anxiety, aromantic asexual non-binary MC with ADHD
Published on: 9th April 2023
ISBN: 9780645681512
Goodreads

A coming-of-age cozy fantasy with a queer cast, witches, and tarot. Perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and Our Flag Means Death

Iris Galacia's tarot cards do more than entertain gamblers.

With the flip of her fingers she can predict the future and uncover a person's secrets. Under the watchful eye of her mother, she is already on thin ice for pursuing a passion in the family business, but then cracks start to form, and eventually she falls through.

She is given an ultimatum: earn a thousand coins or leave the business, and the family.

Enter Marin Boudreau, a charming young person who can scale buildings and break off doorknobs, who comes for her help to rescue a witch who's been falsely imprisoned in Excava Kingdom.

And Marin is willing to pay a high sum for her talents.

But saving a prisoner from royal hands isn't easy, nor is leaving home for the first time in eighteen years.

Now Iris must learn to trust in herself, Marin, and this new magical world, while racing the clock before the royals decide the fate of the witch, and before any secrets catch up to her.

TELL ME HOW IT ENDS features LGBTQ+, disabled, neurodivergent, cultural, and mental health representation. The main character, Iris Galacia, is a lesbian tarot reader with anxiety and autism. The second main character, Marin Boudreau, is an aromantic asexual non-binary person with ADHD.

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

This was another arc, and I feel worse about it because it’s one I reached out to the author to request. The characters and set up are lovely, but…it’s that mysterious ‘prose rhythm’ problem again; I can hear it and it’s really jarring, but probably absolutely no one else will have this issue. It was like some of the sentences had too many words, redundant ones that broke up the rhythm/structure while adding nothing to the meaning of the sentence itself.

…Yeah, I know that makes no sense. Sigh. Generally this rhythm thing isn’t something that bothers other readers, so unless this sounds like an issue you’ve had before, you probably don’t need to worry about it.

I also thought some of the imagery didn’t quite work. Lines like this one

Both tension and glee rose as high as the ceilings of the Galacia Gambling House, the broad stone and wooden columns intersecting the game floor reminiscent of prize money, waged property, and the occasional family heirlooms which kept the atmosphere afloat.

How are the columns and floor reminiscent of the prize money etc? That doesn’t make sense to me.

Some of the phrasing was a bit…clumsy? Example

These types never seemed to miss walking by her and exchanging shifty glances, only for one of them to either question her or do something of the nature.

‘do something of the nature’? I get what is meant here, but that could definitely have been put better.

TL;DR: unless you’re as obsessive about prose as I am, if the premise of Tell Me How It Ends appeals to you, you should probably check it out. I think this one is only going to not-quite-work for people like me!

Assassin (The Prince's Soulmate Book 1) by Katy Haye
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 23rd June 2023
ISBN: B0BVSZX3X3
Goodreads

Kiss or Kill? Why not both?

Kit was sent to the Sudharainian court with one purpose: kill Prince Talal, heir to the sultanate.
Kit’s never wavered in his duty before, but he’s taken aback by a sudden, powerful attraction to the man he’s been sent to assassinate.
The attraction seems to be mutual, so perhaps Kit can use it to his advantage: seduce the prince to get close enough to murder him.
There’s just one problem: Kit knows a hundred ways to kill a man, but since he’s never even been kissed, he has no idea how to begin a seduction...

Isolated by being both prince and heir, Talal has been eager to meet his soulmate since the age of two.
He knew his soulmate would come from across the sea where customs are different, but he couldn’t have guessed the man would be a beautiful killer who considers soulmates an abomination.
The only place they’re compatible is in the bedroom. Talal will use that connection to forge their bond. Since soulmates are united for life, that will give him plenty of time to establish a relationship ... won’t it?

If you enjoy Tavia Lark and E H Lee's MM fantasy stories, you'll love stepping into the world of Adventurers and Exiles. Join Kit and Talal in their timeless romance where a feral cinnamon roll meets his intellectual bound-by-duty prince.

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

With Assassin, the author reached out to me, and this has to have been the fasted DNF I’ve ever had. The writing is pretty basic, but the real issue was that this was a case of insta-lust, to a degree that just slapped me in the face as completely ridiculous.

He stiffened as the emir stepped towards him. He knew the traditional Sudharainian greeting, but he was afraid that rather than exchanging a kiss of peace he was in danger of throwing himself into the man’s arms.

This is on the first page. Before the two men have exchanged a word. Or even made eye contact! No. Nope. Not a chance. This is just stupid. I can accept this sort of thing in a/b/o-verse fanfic, where it’s a chemical/pheromone thing, but not otherwise. THANKS BUT NO THANKS.

Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1) by Tade Thompson
Genres: Sci Fi
Representation: Nigerian cast and setting
Goodreads

Tade Thompson’s Rosewater is the start of an award-winning, cutting edge trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction’s most engaging new voices.

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry and the helpless – people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.

Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn’t care to again — but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realization about a horrifying future.

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Super readable, but also super gross; I freely admit that I’m a prude and don’t want to read about shit and torture and rotting corpses and illegal black ops and hippogriff/human fucking. Plus, I made it past the halfway mark and still had no interest in how it was all going to end.

I realised I was forcing myself to keep reading Just Because, and there’s not enough time to waste any on books I don’t enjoy.

So I acknowledge that this is objectively pretty good and definitely clever, but it’s definitely Not For Me.

Here’s hoping for better luck next month!

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

Not Desperate, Just Glorious: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC, achillean secondary characters, nonbinary aliens
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 11th April 2023
Goodreads

From Astounding Award Winner and Crawford Award Finalist Emily Tesh

"Masterful, audacious storytelling. Relentless, unsentimental, a completely wild ride."—Tamsyn Muir

While we live, the enemy shall fear us.

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the majoda their victory over humanity.

They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to the nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.

Alongside her brother’s brilliant but seditious friend and a lonely, captive alien, Kyr escapes from everything she’s known into a universe far more complicated than she was taught and far more wondrous than she could have imagined.

A thrillingly told queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory is award-winning author Emily Tesh’s highly anticipated debut novel.

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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~Kyr that is NOT how friendship works
~or mentoring
~listen to the alien sweetie
~two things will survive the apocalypse: cockroaches, and That Fucking Guy
~humans are the monsters of the universe

When I first read Tor’s sneak peek of Some Desperate Glory, I decided that this book wasn’t for me. The opening chapters introduce us to the kind of ick dystopia designed to make me rage, and it’s been a while since I enjoyed reading that kind of thing.

So I put it down and walked away.

…The thing is, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Some Desperate Glory opens with Kyr – the best soldier in her cohort – waiting for the assignment that will determine her future. In Gaea, a tiny space station, you don’t pick your own career; it’s chosen for you, and if you’re a girl, there are plenty of reasons to worry about what your assignment might be. Women are assigned to combat (the most-honoured sector) less often than men, and they’re the only ones ever assigned to Nursery, where your job is to be sexually available (to men) and constantly pregnant. Women never make it to command roles, it’s illegal to be queer, and the entire community only exists as a sort of terrorist commune, out for revenge on the aliens who destroyed Earth a generation earlier.

Can you see why I didn’t want to keep reading? It’s not that any of this is poorly written, but it felt like a dystopia designed to make me angry, and I just didn’t want to deal with it.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it, because the worldbuilding – the structure of Gaea – makes no sense. It niggled at me. The story Command is telling – that people like Kyr are brainwashed with – doesn’t match up to the reality of life on their middle-of-nowhere space station. For example, a huge amount of the combat training is built around hand-to-hand fighting. But this is a sci-fi setting way off in our future – ‘battle’ means space ships firing at each other, not wrestling. Which means your hand-to-hand skills are completely irrelevant. The training simulators ought to be about piloting and running a warship, and space tactics – but they aren’t. In fact, no one learns anything about ships until they are assigned to Combat. Physical strength shouldn’t mean much in a setting like this, but instead it’s held up as one of, if not the most important quality a soldier can have. We outright see a tactical genius being mocked and dismissed, instead of recognised for his ability, because he’s a nerd rather than a jock – even though his skills are the ones that really ought to be priceless in this set-up.

What the hell is going on?

For that matter, why this whole thing of women being lesser? The justification for that is, again, that women aren’t (generally) as physically strong as men, but that shouldn’t matter here. There’s no reason Combat and leadership roles shouldn’t be split about 50/50 in this setting – and they aren’t. And if Nursery is about making sure humans don’t die out, with each pregnancy supposedly a carefully decided match of bloodlines – then why are visits to Nursery used as a motivating reward for male soldiers? Why even have sex, rather than the much less complicated method of insemination?

Why are creepy old men putting the prettiest teenagers in Nursery and then pretending they don’t know about the assignment that they signed off on?

And the thing is, none of this reads as though Tesh has messed up and made a mistake. The worldbuilding doesn’t make sense, but it feels deliberate. Tesh knows it makes no sense. It’s all on purpose, and we’re meant to, if not break it down and write pages and pages of analysis like I did, at least be left uneasy at the dissonance we can’t help but pick up on.

Basically, I needed answers. That’s what made me push through this horrible, gross cult Kyr has been raised in. Was the Earth even destroyed at all? If it was, was it actually the aliens, or was it some terrible last-stand type call made by humans? Even if it was the aliens, was it on purpose? Gaea Station is so incredibly fucked-up, the dissonance between the story Kyr was raised on and the reality around her so intense, that Tesh had me questioning everything. I can’t remember the last time a book had me this suspicious, this braced for a gotcha! moment that would upend all that had gone before.

CONSIDER ME IMPRESSED.

This is really only the smallest part of Some Desperate Glory, though; Kyr’s time on Gaea Station is the shortest part of the book. But I’m hoping that showing you how obsessed I got – with just this small part of the story! – gives you some idea of how much this book just GRABS you. Some Desperate Glory is not just a book that you can’t put down; it’s also one you can’t stop thinking about, both while you’re reading and after you’ve finished it. Honestly, my biggest frustration with it was that I was reading it early – so I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it! Because this is very much a novel that you want all your friends to have read so you can debate it and analyse it and shriek over it in a group, at two in the morning, when you’re all just manic and wired and flaily enough to tackle the issues this book raises head-on.

Because there’s a lot of them. I’m not going to talk about the plot, because you really should get to enjoy every twist and turn for yourself without spoilers, but Some Desperate Glory goes hard. It’s a book that asks incredibly difficult questions without trying to offer easy answers – honestly, most of the questions are left open, for us to try and figure out on our own, which personally I think is the best approach to issues this emotional and complicated. Fundamental to Kyr’s entire existence are questions like–

When are you supposed to let go of terrible things that have been done to you? Ever? Never?

What’s the difference between justice and revenge?

Do the means justify the ends? The greatest good for the greatest number?

Is it ever time to stop fighting?

If it is, when?

If it is, how?

Tesh has, unquestionably, written a masterpiece here. And I’m still completely stunned that this is a standalone – that Tesh manages to pack so much story into a single book, and for that book to then blaze with a glory that is not desperate in the least, but that is deep and fervent and brighter than a sun. Most authors would need a trilogy to tell the same story with half as much impact, passion, and depth, and Tesh has done it without ever making the story feel rushed or cramped, distilling the story she wanted to tell to its most potent possible form.

It’s fucking excellent. Do not miss it!

The post Not Desperate, Just Glorious: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

King Arthur Can Suck It!: The Winter Knight by Jes Battis

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay autistic MC, M/M, ace-spectrum panromantic MC, F/F, secondary trans character, background polyamory
PoV: Third-person, past tense; multiple PoVs
Published on: 4th April 2023
ISBN: 177852107X
Goodreads

Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart

The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Burt — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.

The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own.

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

Highlights

~there’s a kelpie in the lobby
~that office is a FLAGRANT health-code violation
~a most unconventional means of storing swords
~FOLLOW THAT FOX
~masquerade etiquette
~unexpected Arthurian OT3: I ship it
~MEGA POINTS for knowing the correct term for a unicorn horn!

Here’s the thing: I don’t like detective stories and I don’t really care for Arthurian legend.

But I freaking loved THIS.

This? Is going straight onto my Best of 2023 list.

Her notes indicated that it had been about love, not magic, though they were so often the same.

Investigative urban fantasy is a pretty big and well-established genre, but despite its premise, The Winter Knight doesn’t fit the template. It doesn’t have the breakneck pacing of something like the Kate Daniels series, nor the blunt-and-punchy, action-story prose you might expect. The slower pace allows Battis’ debut to be more introspective and descriptive than is typical for murder-mystery urban fantasy; it’s richer, deeper, and more thoughtful.

Which very much means that you’re going to be disappointed if you pick this up looking for a fast, easy, high-thrills read. But I think readers who approach it knowing what to expect are likely to enjoy the hell out of it.

Because this book is honestly beautiful. I was not expecting something so…soft? But not soft like cosy, or low-stakes, or gentle. The Winter Knight is soft like the fur of the Questing Beast – softness that has hard, powerful muscle underneath it; softness that comes with teeth. Softness you want to rub your cheek against, but which could drag you down and pull you under and might just be the last thing you ever see.

If you froze that moment, it would throb with happiness and pain, like a bloody knee.

…I’m not making sense, am I? Let me start again.

At a gathering of reborn Arthurians (not what they call themselves, but what I’m going to call them to make talking about them easier), a dead body appears. The valkyries of Norse mythology arrive to investigate, but there’s too few clues and too many suspects, and it’s obvious pretty much immediately that they’re not going to get anywhere. Alas, it’s not a one-off: other deaths and near-deaths follow, and someone seems to be attacking the very heart of the mythological community in a move that a) makes no sense, because b) it could potentially lead to the end of time and space.

Those are the stakes, but they don’t feel especially urgent for most of the book, to be honest; Hildie, the lead valkyrie on the case, is clashing with her mother while trying to deal with having Feels for the manifestation of the literal Future; and Wayne, a young reborn knight, mostly wants to hang out with his runesmith bestie Kai, pine for the guy he maybe shouldn’t be pining for, and get his university to sign the special accommodations forms for his autism.

From the stories she’d told, Shar had a very broad dating pool, which included ghosts, elemental forces, and, once, a pansexual quasar. Exhausting, she’d said. Don’t date anything that has a radioactive corona.

And yet, there are plenty of deep questions that need answering too: for one, Wayne coming to terms, or making peace, with what it means to be a legend, a knight, an aspect of his identity that’s even more complicated than being queer and neurodiverse! Because the Arthurians aren’t anything as simple as reincarnated versions of actual historical figures – they’re myths, and given that every myth has hundreds of variations, that can make it pretty difficult to figure out who you are as a person. Wayne is Gawain, yes – but who the hell is Gawain? And what is Gawain’s relationship to Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and all the rest? Especially as Knights tend to be born to other Knights, which means an ally-in-arms from your last life could be your parent in this one!

The Winter Knight never gripped me with that addictive, unputdownable-ness we so often rave about – but it seduced me with softness, so that I kept coming back, kept wishing I could get back to it when I had to do something else. It has a slightly dreamy quality, which is delightfully balanced by a cackling sense of humour and a free hand with the pop culture references; I’ve never been to Vancouver, but the story seemed very grounded in real physical reality, the setting practically another character in and of itself. This isn’t my favourite ever iteration of urban setting + magic, but it is one of the best examples I’ve seen where the urban and the magic feel equally important and perfectly cohesive, rather than separate-but-alongside each other like oil and water.

It’s a little hard to explain.

Battis seemed more interested in thoughtfully exploring the world-slash-mythos they’ve created – and the various amazing characters in it – than rushing the plot along, and since that’s exactly what I wanted, I couldn’t be happier. I adore Battis’ take on the Arthurians, not just as characters but the whole concept of these living myths being reborn over and over – and I very nearly shrieked with delight at the brief glimpse we got of there being far more to ‘the community’ than just the Arthurians; it felt sneaky and gleeful, like a wink from author to reader.

She recognised Anglish and Cornish, as well as the burr of Breton and the liquid syllables of Old Irish. Someone in the back was speaking what might have been Sumerian, but that was above her pay grade.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH TINY WORLDBUILDING DETAILS LIKE THAT DELIGHT ME?

A LOT. THEY DELIGHT ME A LOT.

The magic the Knights wield is very nearly as wonderful as the glorious poetry that is the Wyrd Sisters and the hotel they run (where the laws of physics need not apply). And that’s another thing – the poetry. It’s not just that Battis’ worldbuilding delights me (though it does!), but their prose is more than up to the task of conveying the wonder, the strangeness, the cold-sharp-glass thrill when things come to a head. The writing flows like water between lines that make you laugh–

Could they date on a quantum level? That seemed unsustainable.

lines that make you ache—

They were just two dancing quarks who’d found each other and refused to let go.

lines that make you shiver—

“He’d die for me.” Kai’s eyes burned into her for a second. “I’d kill for him. That’s the main difference between us.”

lines that make you go I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE–

The scar on his ankle, which carried no explanation with it. Just another footnote.

lines that perfectly express feelings you’ve never been able to put into words–

Mental traffic jam.

and lines you feel right down in your SOUL–

A date was probably safer than reading together, which could lead to real attachment.

All of which made it a joy to read – honestly, I would have read a book about far less interesting characters and magic and suspicious foxes and monsters and totally-not-sentient spears just for the writing alone! Battis has THAT level of talent, folx.

Meaning: I will be delighted if they decide to return to this verse in another book. But I will pounce on ANYTHING they write from this moment on, REGARDLESS of the premise, pitch, or genre.

As should you. And you should DEFINITELY start with The Winter Knight, which is out next week!

The post King Arthur Can Suck It!: The Winter Knight by Jes Battis appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Trans Rights Readerthon Wrap-Up (+ mini-reviews!)

I strayed QUITE a bit from my intended tbr, but altogether I read EIGHT books for the readerthon – and since I pledged $10 for every book read, that makes $80 for the A Place For Marsha project!

I think that’s pretty excellent, really.

My Twitter thread tracking my readathon progress is here (although due to Twitter squiggliness you have to go here to see the first book I read), but for a fuller rundown on each book, read on!

So You Want to be a Robot by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi, Science Fantasy
Representation: Queer cast
ISBN: B071NLYKKS
Goodreads

Step one: forget the convention and disregard the binary. Gender? Sexuality? Old words unsuited for new consciousness. The twenty-one stories in this book challenge the imagination as only acclaimed author A. Merc Rustad can. Pages of robots and AIs constructing lives and exploring "humanity"; wasted worlds with monstrous cityhearts; assassins and the perils of enchanted labyrinths; and always the raw truths of love, loss, and devotion. Step two: read these science-fiction and fantasy tales as if they are the only stories you will discover on your bookshelf this day. Step three: dare to feel.

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I was expecting So You Want To Be a Robot to be excellent; I was not expecting it to be breathtaking. From the very first story, this book gave me everything my heart desired; world-walkers, dancers out to rescue the monster from under their bed, androids rescuing souls from sun-gods… And the prose!!! Yes, I knew Wolfmoor’s writing is magic, but SERIOUSLY.

WOW.

SO MUCH WOW.

I called this a collection of diamond prose and dazzling imagination on Twitter, and I STAND BY THAT SO HARD!

A Glimmer of Silver by Juliet Kemp
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Nonbinary cast
ISBN: B07G395L3F
Goodreads

Jennery is floating on xyr back when Ocean speaks for the first time. Just three days away from freedom, all Jennery has ever wanted to do was become a musician—because if you reach sixteen and Ocean hasn't spoken to you once, then you can pursue a different life instead of becoming a Communicator.

But Ocean speaks to Jennery—only to Jennery. And Ocean is angry. And when Ocean is angry, bad things happen to the humans who have colonized Ocean's world. Jennery must choose whether to listen or to swim away.

A Glimmer of Silver is a novella about responsibility, growing up, and what happens after first contact.

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Although the writing was maybe a little simpler than I was expecting, this was a lovely novella that is part (belated) First Contact, part environmental fic, part coming-of-age. I really liked that Ocean was properly alien, and that that alienness was presented without judgement – yes, Ocean is dangerous; yes, Ocean is therefore scary; yes, it’s okay to resent Ocean’s upper hand – so long as you can still accept the compromises required to live in peace with it. And I liked what turned out to be the real cause of the conflict between Ocean and humanity – I thought that was pretty interesting.

Telling this story as a novella was absolutely the right choice; A Glimmer of Silver was exactly as long as it needed to be, neither rushed nor padded to fit. I’m definitely learning to spot and appreciate that!

Good Monsters And Friends: Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer MCs
ISBN: B09W3FTWF4
Goodreads

Making friends with monsters is easy—bring them cookies!

A young man must find a new reality to live in when his disappears. Birds team up to right the wrongs of classic literature. An android raises baby dinosaurs after the human world ends. Grandma reveals how she invented intergalactic diplomacy...and more.
Good Monsters and Friends collects 33 stories about astronauts and cats, dragons and witches, portals and quests, ghosts and robots, and, of course, all the monsters and their buddies.

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This turned out to mostly be a collection of micro-fiction, and I think I’ve been spoiled by Yoon Ha Lee’s collection The Fox’s Tower, because Wolfmoor’s micro-fic didn’t measure up, alas. There were some wonderful short stories, but the best of them were also included in So You Want To Be a Robot – all in all, I’d definitely recommend that collection rather than this one.

No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MCs, nonbinary MCs
ISBN: 9780984982295
Goodreads

Destiny sees what others don't.

A quiet fisher mourning the loss of xer sister to a cruel dragon. A clever hedge-witch gathering knowledge in a hostile land. A son seeking vengeance for his father's death. A daughter claiming the legacy denied her. A princess laboring under an unbreakable curse. A young resistance fighter questioning everything he's ever known. A little girl willing to battle a dragon for the sake of a wish. These heroes and heroines emerge from adversity into triumph, recognizing they can be more than they ever imagined: chosen ones of destiny.

From the author of the Earthside series and the Rewoven Tales novels, No Man of Woman Born is a collection of seven fantasy stories in which transgender and nonbinary characters subvert and fulfill gendered prophecies. These prophecies recognize and acknowledge each character's gender, even when others do not. Note: No trans or nonbinary characters were killed in the making of this book. Trigger warnings and neopronoun pronunciation guides are provided for each story.

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Gods, I loved this so much! Mardoll’s prose is elegant and lovely, and I was delighted with all the different ways this collection subverted gender in prophecy. There’s no gimmick here; these are all genuinely excellent stories, and would still be so even if they didn’t feature nonbinary heroes (although I’m really glad they do!) Impossible to pick favourites, but I did especially appreciate the twist in the Sleeping Beauty-esque story!

Rituals (Rhapsody of Blood #1) by Roz Kaveney
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown sapphic MC, white sapphic MC, F/F, minor trans and nonbinary rep
ISBN: B00A73QG5I
Goodreads

Two women - and the workings of Time and Fate.

In a time too long ago for most human memory, a god asked Mara what she most wanted. She got her wish: to protect the weak against the strong. For millennia, she has avenged that god, and her dead sisters, against anyone who uses the Rituals of Blood to become a god through mass murder. And there are few who can stand against her.
A sudden shocking incident proves to Emma that the modern world is not what she thought it was, that there are demons and gods and elves and vampires. Her weapon is knowledge, and she pursues it wherever it leads her. The one thing she does not know is who she - and her ghostly lover, Caroline - are working for.

Rhapsody of Blood is a four-part epic fantasy not quite like anything you've read before: a helter-skelter ride through history and legend, from Tenochitlan to Los Angeles, from Atlantis to London. It is a story of death, love and the end of worlds - and of dangerous, witty women.

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I’m working on a full review for this one, but the TL;DR version is that this is a MASTERPIECE of queer myth-making and you should absolutely not judge it by the cover. It is as epic and amazing as the cover is not, I swear!

Let the Mountains Be My Grave by Francesca Tacchi
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC, M/M
ISBN: 9781952086410
Goodreads

Let the Mountains Be My Grave unfolds at breakneck pace in 1944 Italy, where partisan Veleno thinks of nothing but killing as many Nazis as he can before leaving this world. Beloved by the ancient Italic goddess Angitia, Veleno is the perfect person to recover a strange weapon the Nazis are planning to use against the Allies in the battle of Montecassino, but doing so may force him to confront his death differently than he expects.

Part of the 2022 Neon Hemlock Novella Series.

Advanced praise for Let the Mountains Be My Grave:
“A touching story about finding hope in times of war and desolation, with a fascinating take on the survival of pagan magic.”—Xiran Jay Zhao, author of Iron Widow

“If you liked Inglorious Basterds but wish there was more kissing and ancient theology, this is the book for you!”—R.J. Theodore, author of Flotsam and Salvage

“A novella that reads like a shot of adrenaline, Let the Mountains Be My Grave is an explosive, high-octane queer Nazi-fighting fantasy packed with tightly-paced action, ancient Gods, and unexpected allies.” —Anya Ow, author of Cradle and Grave

“An intense and thrilling historical fantasy that combines bloody action, sharp character work, ancient gods, and a touch of romance.” —Charles Payseur, author of The Burning Day

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I have to admit, this was a disappointment. Unlike Glimmer of Silver, I don’t think this story fit inside a novella; it felt rushed and squashed, like it needed much more room to breathe. The premise was great, but I didn’t love the prose, or a fair bit of the execution.

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay autistic MC, ace-spectrum panromantic MC
Published on: 4th April 2023
ISBN: 177852107X
Goodreads

Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart

The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Burt — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.

The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own.

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I was lucky enough to get on arc of this, and I have a full review of it going live tomorrow, in which I wax EXTREMELY poetic because it is SO VERY GREAT! I loved everything about this – that it plays with and examines Arthurian myth without being a retelling; the amazing prose that is clever and poetic and hilarious by turns; and a cast I absolutely adored. So queer and dreamy and wonderfully weird!

Two Dark Moons (Sãoni Cycle, #1) by Avi Silver, Haley Szereszewski
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC, nonbinary love interest
ISBN: B07V2CVV4H
Goodreads

Sohmeng Par is sick of being treated like a child. Ever since a tragic accident brought her mountain community’s coming-of-age ritual to a halt, she’s caused nothing but trouble in her impatience to become an adult. But when she finally has the chance to prove herself, she’s thrown from her life in the mountains and into the terror of the jungle below.

Cornered by a colony of reptilian predators known as the sãoni, Sohmeng is rescued by Hei, an eccentric exile with no shortage of secrets. As likely to bite Sohmeng as they are to cook her breakfast, this stranger and their family of lizards are like nothing she’s ever seen before. If she wants to survive, she must find a way to adapt to the vibrant, deadly world of the rainforest and the creatures that inhabit it—including Hei themself. But Sohmeng has secrets of her own, and sharing them could mean losing everything a second time.

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Sometimes a family is you, the kid that screech-danced and bit you, and a pack of (not!-)murderous lizards. And that’s okay.

Actually, it’s not okay – it’s GREAT. This was sweet and deep and high-stakes with really original, interesting worldbuilding, and WOW do I ship the ship. I ship it SO HARD. They are the cutest couple ever. And that ending left me RABID for the sequel, which luckily has been out for a while so I don’t need to wait for it – WHICH IS FORTUNATE BECAUSE WOW I CANNOT WAIT TO LEARN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!

So there you have it! Did you take part in the readathon? Have you read any of these books (or have any recs for me?) Let me know!

The post Trans Rights Readerthon Wrap-Up (+ mini-reviews!) appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #130

The last Must-Have Monday of March, and the largest of the year so far – THIRTEEN books this week!

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

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Magical Realism
Representation: Afro-Carribean cast, nonbinary lesbian MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

Folktales and spirits animate this lively coming-of-age tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters in Brooklyn grappling with their mother’s illness, their father's infidelity, and the truth of their family's past

Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home.

But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to beings greater than themselves, and reckon with a family secret buried in the past. A tale told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts is set in a world as alive and unpredictable as Helen Oyeyemi’s.

Telling of the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye, this extraordinary debut novel is a celebration of the power of stories, asking, what happens to us when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?

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I’ve seen enough reviews hinting at something wonderful but spoilery (that they therefore can’t disclose) about this book that it definitely has my attention, but I really don’t know what to expect. I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t loved it, though!

The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

On Prospect Hill, you can get nearly anything you want from the Fae—if you know how to ask and if you can pay the price.

There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae, and all their magic. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier—a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.

Much of that old wisdom has been lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at the copper works and the cotton mill. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find her lost shoe and ensure dry weather on her sister Delphine’s wedding day.

But when Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape his abuse. Small bargains buy them time, but the progress of locomotives and factories hasn’t given way to equitable laws for women. A major bargain is needed, but the price for sweeping change may be more than they’re willing to pay.

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This was vaguely on my radar, but I became very interested when Elyse John mentioned that it’s packed full of quotes from invented books of fairy lore. That’s the kind of thing I absolutely adore!

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Genres: Sci Fi
Representation: Desi cast and setting
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

A bold, bitingly satirical near-future mosaic novel about a city run along 'meritocratic' lines, the injustice it creates, and the revolution that will destroy it.
We are the future of the human race.

Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and even the self must be engineered, for the only noble goal in life: success.

Everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Ten Percent – the Virtual elite – and have the world at your feet. The less-fortunate struggle among the workaday Seventy Percent, or fall to the precarious Twenty Percent; and below that lies deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water or even humanity.

The system has no flaws, and cannot be questioned. Until a single daring theft sets events in motion that will change the city forever...

Previously published in South Asia only as Analog/Virtual, The Ten-Percent Thief is a striking debut by a ferocious new talent.

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The reviews for this are a little mixed, but the premise is so interesting that it has me hooked. Apparently it’s more a series of interconnected short stories than a traditional novel? Which really doesn’t bother me when it’s done well!

The Keep Within by J.L. Worrad
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Achillean MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

When Sir Harrance ‘Harry’ Larksdale, bastard brother of the king, falls for a mysterious lad from the mountains, he is unwillingly caught up in a chaotic world of court intrigue and murderous folk tales. Meanwhile Queen Carmotta Il’Lunadella, First-Queen of the Brintland, needs to save her life and her unborn child. With the Third-Queen plotting against her, and rumours of coups rocking the court, Carmotta can rely only on her devious mind and venomous wit.

But deep within the walls of Becken Keep squats the keep-within – patient, timeless, and evil. To speak of the keep-within outside the walls of Becken Keep guarantees your bizarre and agonising demise within nine days. All the while, people fearfully whisper the name Red Marie: a bloodied demon with rusted nails for teeth and swinging scythes who preys on the innocent.

Harry and Carmotta are clinging to their dreams, their lives, by threads. And, beneath all, the keep-within awaits.

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I ended up really enjoying Worrad’s debut, Pennyblade, and The Keep Within is another standalone in the same setting. I’m a little curious to know if the commrachs (elves) will appear in this book too, since they featured in Pennyblade – maybe Red Marie is a commrach? I’m not sure I’ll enjoy this as much if it’s a purely human-centric story, but we’ll see!

A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

One of Us is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness.

Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she’s one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he’d already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays—Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn’t sit well with any of them.

A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school’s campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.

If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it’s Ren. She’s been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what’s following them through the dark woods…

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I’ve been hearing good things about The Door in the Dark since last year – I could swear I was told there’d be queer rep, but I can’t find any details about that now, so maybe I’m misremembering. But I’ve enjoyed Reintgen’s books before, and that plus the praise of people like KD Edwards for this book means I’ll definitely be picking it up.

Strictly No Heroics by B.L. Radley
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

In Strictly No Heroics, a normal teen girl must navigate crushing on her best friend, starting a new summer job, and not being squashed during the next supervillain showdown in B.L. Radley's young adult debut filled with humor and heart.

A Normie’s guide to staying alive in Sunnylake City:
1. Keep your head down.
2. Don’t make enemies.
3. Strictly no heroics.

The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH.

Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen: masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.

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This sounds reminiscent of Hench, which is one of my all-time favourites, so OF COURSE I will be giving it a try!

Chaos & Flame (Chaos & Flame, #1) by Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Bisexual MC, nonbinary secondary character
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton comes the first book in a ferocious YA fantasy duology featuring ancient magic, warring factions, and a romance between the two people in the world with the most cause to hate one another.

Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him--even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.

Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother's erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon's hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he's ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she's the key to everything.

Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they'll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.

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I’ve got to be honest; I detest the character names in this, which do not give me high hopes that this won’t be the wrong kind of YA (for me). But I adore Tessa Gratton and I loved Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation books, so I’m still going to give this a go. Seriously crossing my fingers and hoping that my first impression is completely wrong!

Blackheart Ghosts (Blackheart Knights, #2) by Laure Eve
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MCs, nonbinary love interest
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads

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

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

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

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

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

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Hands-down the book I’m most excited for this week!!! This is the sequel to Blackheart Knights (read my review here) which was one of my favourite books of 2021. I can’t WAIT to get back to Eve’s incredible urban fantasy setting – seriously, it’s like no other I’ve ever seen – and her unique take on Arthurian legend!

The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads

Brynhild is a Valkyrie: shieldmaiden of the All-Father, chooser of the slain. But now she too has fallen, flightless in her exile.

Gudrun is a princess of Burgundy, a daughter of the Rhine, a prize for an invading king – a king whose brother Attila has other plans, and a dragon to call upon.

And in the songs to be sung, there is another hero: Sigurd, a warrior with a sword sharper than the new moon.

As the legends tell, these names are destined to be rivals, fated as enemies. But here on Midgard, legends can be lies…

For not all heroes are heroic, nor all monsters monstrous. And a shieldmaiden may yet find that love is the greatest weapon of all.

From Sunday Times bestselling author Kate Heartfield comes a glorious, lyrical retelling of one of Norse mythology’s greatest epics.

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So far I’ve massively enjoyed all of Heartfield’s books, and I’m expecting nothing less from The Valkyrie. It certainly doesn’t hurt that I love the valkyries as mythological beings/figures!

Rose/House by Arkady Martine
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads

Dust jacket illustration by David Curtis.

Arkady Martine, the acclaimed author of the Teixcalaan Series, returns with an astonishing new novella.

Basit Deniau’s houses were haunted to begin with.

A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused in every load-bearing beam and fine marble tile with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else altogether. But now Deniau’s been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect’s will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.

Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau’s former protégé, is permitted to come into Rose House once a year. She alone may open Rose House’s vaults, look at drawings and art, talk with Rose House’s animating intelligence all she likes. Until this week, Dr. Gisil was the only person whom Rose House spoke to.

But even an animate intelligence that haunts a house has some failsafes common to all AIs. For instance: all AIs must report the presence of a dead body to the nearest law enforcement agency.

There is a dead person in Rose House. The house says so. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. Rose House, having completed its duty of care and informed Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police precinct that there is in fact a dead person inside it, dead of unnatural causes—has shut up.

No one can get inside Rose House, except Dr. Gisil. Dr. Gisil was not in North America when Rose House called the China Lake precinct. But someone did. And someone died there. And someone may be there still.

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I’m not completely certain how the release of this is going to work – Subterranean Press is not great at release dates, which makes pinning them down for my book calendar pretty difficult. Fingers crossed the ebook will be available this week, anyway! Though I’ve been surprised to see some very unimpressed reviews – not what I was expecting, after the marvel of the Teixcalaan books! Still going to be reading it and make up my own mind, though.

She Who Earned Her Wings (Stars, Hearts and Dreams, #1) by Vaela Denarr, Micah Iannandrea
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, sapphic MCs, polyamory
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads

"One does not learn to fly without taking a leap. And one has to fall to be caught."

Nomi is a young druid finally taking the chance to spread her wings and leave her home. To see the world and discover its magic, beauty… and maybe love. Calia is a dragon on the hunt for angels, trying to square an old debt. That, and to get Laura, her desired bondmate, to finally return to her side, where she belongs.

Nomi immediately catches the eye of the powerful dragons. Calia entices her with honeyed words and a skillful tongue. On the other hand, Laura, much smaller but equally intimidating, takes it upon herself to protect her.

Despite the warnings, Nomi can’t help being drawn to Calia's charm, her power, her fangs… and the hidden gentleness in her eyes. She promises danger where Laura promises safety, and Nomi is torn between the two. Luckily there is a convenient cult out for the dragons’ heads, providing Nomi with ample distraction and at least one dragon egg to steal, hatch, and raise by herself. Perfectly normal things for a young transgender druid to get involved in!

In the clutches of dragons, battling dark forces from beyond the stars, Nomi faces the questions of who she is and who she wants to be. Whether she deserves the love offered to her, and what it truly takes to earn her wings...

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Not gonna lie, the cover DEFINITELY won me over on this one, but it also sounds super sweet and soft, and I am always up for more poly fantasy!

Cutting Your Teeth (Cursed Corpses #1) by Caylan MacRae
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, bisexual love interest, M/M
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads

Ezra Santos is tired of running. Of burning bridge after bridge and going through new names like used matches. He desperately wants something he was never destined to have—a future all his own. Having escaped his hell of a home two years ago, he can’t go a day without looking over his shoulder. Putting down roots was never in the cards when the family that raised Ezra relentlessly hunts him across the country. Right as he’s about to restart the cycle—new name, new life, the whole nine yards—his plans come to a screeching halt when he crosses paths with a mysterious and charismatic vampire, Killian Hale. He promises a way out from a life on the run. Ezra knows there's no helping a man with the devil on his heels—but there's something about Killian that makes him believe he could finally break free of the Espinas once and for all. It’s only a matter of time before the clock winds down and the rest of Ezra's troubles come home to roost. There's something sinister in his blood—a dark fate passed down through generations. Can the two survive an ancient family curse or will Ezra doom them both?

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I have been promised dark queer spookiness, and I am here for it!

Oba and the Boat by T.J. Land
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads

Oba’s a mermaid.

More importantly, though, she’s a career girl; ambitious, motivated, and destined to be chief one day. Nothing can stand in her way. (Well. Float in her way.)

Except that thirty minutes into her first ever job – delivering correspondence across the ocean to a neighboring tribe of merfolk – she screws up. She loses her chief’s amulet, an irreplaceable treasure that marked her out as a legitimate maritime messenger.

Even worse, the amulet is found and taken away by that most terrible of things: A boat .

Boats, Oba knows, are where humans live. Which means that she’s just allowed proof of her people’s existence to fall into the hands of their mortal enemies.

Oh, she is so fired .

Not content to give up her dreams nor able to endure the mockery she knows will await her back home, Oba decides to take her dilemma to the local sea witch.

And… well, when has that ever worked out for anyone, honestly?

FANTASY, YOUNG ADULT, COMING-OF-AGE, F/F

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TJ Land continues to be one of my very favouite authors (nothing will ever top Lovequake) and I’m very excited for their take on Black mermaids! YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

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

The post Must-Have Monday #130 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…The Master of Samar by Melissa Scott

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

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is The Master of Samar by Melissa Scott!

The Master of Samar by Melissa Scott
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 5th June 2023
Goodreads

Rejected by his aristocratic family, Gil Irichels has been content to make his living as a traveling cursebreaker, working with his lover, the feral mage Envar Cassi, and their bodyguard, swordswoman Arak min’Aroi. After a series of deaths leave him the sole heir to the family’s house and fortune, Irichels’s main concern is to do whatever he must to settle the estate and return to his previous life. But these is something very wrong in seaborne Bejanth, starting with the deaths of his kin and spreading into the complex web of politics and magic that holds the city together. As he struggles to discover the truth behind his family’s losses, he realizes that there is more at stake than the fall of one house. Someone is unraveling the web of curses on which the city depends, and Irichels is the only person who can stop them—if it’s not already too late.

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This week Candlemark & Gleam revealed the stunning cover for Melissa Scott’s new fantasy standalone, The Master of Samar! Which meant I could finally feature this book, as I have been dying to do!

Why??? BECAUSE IT’S MELISSA SCOTT, IS WHY! I have adored every single one of her fantasy books – her Astreiant series is my go-to comfort read and I reread all five books every year! And her previous fantasy standalone, Water Horse, instantly become one of my all-time faves when it was released.

What I’m saying is that I would be vibrating with excitement no matter what the premise of The Master of Samar was – but this premise is amazing!!! ‘his lover, the feral mage Envar Cassi’?! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HOW FERAL I AM FOR FERAL CHARACTERS??? Plus magical politics, and a city held together by curses??? I don’t know how that works but I cannot WAIT to find out!

(And how does a cursebreaker fit into a city of curses???)

Speaking of ‘seaborne Bejanth’ – I know from Scott’s Patreon that Bejanth is inspired by Venice, and I literally cannot imagine a setting better-suited to Scott’s gorgeously descriptive prose!

Focusing on that INCREDIBLE cover for a sec, I was delighted to discover that Candlelight & Gleam has once again commissioned art by the inestimable H. Won, who also created the beautiful cover of The Map and the Territory by A.M. Tuomala (another of my favourite books, which I take as an excellent omen!) Thereby proving Candlelight & Gleam continue to have the most wonderful taste!

So yes. I am TWIRLING with delight, and really cannot WAIT to dive into the inky depths of Master of Samar!

But I must, so I shall console myself with rereading Scott’s marvellous backlist in the meantime…!

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

Must-Have Monday #129

NINE new releases to pay attention to this week!

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

The Bear & the Rose by Erin K. Larson-Burnett
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 20th March 2023
Goodreads

"For a story which is hypnotically ethereal, hauntingly beautiful, rich in characters, devastatingly sapphic, and wrought with an underlying sadness, without a doubt, this is for you. It's written in a sense of timeliness in a relatable arc of how we are crafted by our pasts, in control of our presents, but all inspired by a hopeful future." - T.M. Ghent, author of Lume

"This book felt like a fresh take on familiar stories and tropes. There's a metaphysical and visionary thread woven throughout ... The prose is very lyrical, creating an immersive atmosphere, and the plot resisted prediction at multiple turns." - Capes, author of West of Jaws

Springtide ushers in a season of bloom and fertility in Hazelfeur, but it also heralds the season of the bear - Artio's season, one which she rules over with relentless vengeance.

I've heard old tales of the goddess, tales from when she was green to motherhood, young and tender and forgiving, but it is hard to imagine such a thing when my knowledge of her is shrouded in red. She wishes to make the people of Hazelfeur suffer, and her army of bears, material and spectral, make ever-nearer attacks on our village.

This coming spring, I fear death.

Springtide has sprung, and the bear goddess Artio has awakened. For Rhoswen, sole Bearslayer of Hazelfeur, this means a season of overwhelm as vicious bears wreak violence upon her village. With one death too many and an insufferable anxiety haunting her, she sets out to liberate her people from Artio's bearspawn for good, even though to end the goddess's reign would mean to leave her without purpose.

In her search for the vengeful Artio, Rhoswen stumbles upon an enchanting forest maiden with secrets in her eyes and mysteries in her veins, a beauty which suddenly and unexpectedly captivates the Bearslayer beyond reason. Then she discovers the maiden is bound to Artio's forest and longs desperately for freedom, and Rhoswen's resolution hardens with passion.

She will unfetter Hazelfeur, and she will free her enchantress.

For fans of Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy) and Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, The Bear & the Rose is a tale told in lush prose which readers will find brimming with folklore, adventure, and a sweet sapphic romance.

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I’m not quite sure what to expect here, but it looks very promising indeed! I always get excited at promises of beautiful prose!

A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit by R.K. Ashwick
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 20th March 2023
Goodreads

Two potion shops, one heated rivalry…until hate bubbles over into something else.
Any adventurer worth their sword knows about Ambrose Beake. The proud, quiet half-elf sells the best, and only, potions in the city—until a handsome new shopkeeper named Eli opens another potion shop across the street, throwing Ambrose’s peace and ledgers far off balance.

Within weeks, they’re locked in a war of price tags and products—Ambrose’s expertise against Eli’s effortless charm. Toil leads to trouble, the safety gloves come off, and right as their rivalry reaches a boiling point…

The mayor commissions them to brew a potion together.

The task is as complex as it is lucrative, pushing both men to the limits of their abilities and patience. Yet as the fires burn and cauldrons bubble…they find a different sort of chemistry brewing.

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This very much seems set up to be very fun, and I like the idea of characters who are potions-makers – I don’t think that’s a magical talent/skill I’ve seen featured often!

The Lies of the Ajungo (Forever Desert, #1) by Moses Ose Utomi
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: African-coded cast and setting
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

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 deal: 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.

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There’s been a lot of hype for Ajungo and I’m excited to give it a try – apparently it’s written in a style reminiscent of fables or oral storytelling!

Flux by Jinwoo Chong
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Biracial Asian-American bisexual MC
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his employers have inadvertently discovered time travel and are covering up a string of violent crimes.

Combining elements of neo-noir, speculative fiction, and '80s detective shows, FLUX is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.

In FLUX, a brilliant debut in the vein of William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Ling Ma’s Severance, Jinwoo Chong introduces us to three characters —Bo, Brandon and Blue— who are tortured by these questions as their lives spin out of control.

* After 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, his white father, attempting to hold their lives together, begins to gradually retreat from the family.
* 28-year-old Brandon loses his job at a legacy magazine publisher and is offered a new position. Confused to find himself in an apartment he does not recognize, and an office he sometimes cannot remember leaving, he comes to suspect that something far more sinister is happening behind the walls.
* 48-year-old Blue participates in a television exposé of Flux, a failed bioelectric tech startup whose fraudulent activity eventually claimed the lives of three people and nearly killed him. Blue, who can only speak with the aid of cybernetic implants, stalks his old manager while holding his estranged family at arms-length.

Intertwined with the saga of a once-iconic '80s detective show, Raider, whose star has fallen after decades of concealed abuse, the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue intersect with each other, to the extent that it becomes clear that their lives are more interconnected and interdependent than the reader could have ever imagined.

Can we ever really change the past, or the future? What truth do we owe our families? What truth do we owe ourselves?

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Flux sounds pretty odd, but I’ve seen a bunch of praise-filled early reviews, so I may take a peek at the first few chapters to see if I want to give it a try.

Infamous by Lex Croucher
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

22-year-old aspiring writer Edith 'Eddie' Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together-climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing . . .

But following their debutante ball Rose is suddenly talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified.

When Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson, he invites her to his crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside. The entourage of eccentric artists indulging in pure hedonism is exactly what Eddie needs in order to forget Rose and finish her novel.

But Eddie might discover the world of famous literary icons isn't all poems and pleasure . . .

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I think this might have been published in the UK last year, but this week it makes it to the US! A lot of readers whose taste I trust have enjoyed this immensely, so I’ll be giving it a go.

Lucha of the Night Forest by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Latina sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

An edge-of-your-seat fantasy about a girl who will do anything to protect her sister--even if it means striking a dangerous bargain. Dark forces, forgotten magic, and a heart-stopping queer romance make this young adult novel a must-read.

A scorned god.
A mysterious acolyte.
A forgetting drug.
A dangerous forest.
One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can't bear to leave behind.

Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power...or will she be consumed by it?

This gorgeous and fast-paced fantasy novel from acclaimed author Tehlor Kay Mejia is brimming with adventure, peril, romance, and family bonds--and asks what it means for a teen girl to become fully herself.

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This is another I’ve been seeing a lot of love for, and I still have fond memories of Mejia’s debut, so this will probably end up on my ereader!

The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Filipino-coded cast and setting
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

I promised my mother I would never come to Bato-Ko…and yet here I am.

Narra Jal is one of the cursed, cast aside her whole life, considered unlucky. But with her mother’s life on the line, she will return to the city where she was born to face the trials: a grueling, bloodthirsty series of challenges designed to weed out the weak, the greedy, and the foolish. Trials to select the next ruler of Tigang.

Narra has nothing. No weapons. No training. No magic. No real chance of leaving with her life. Just her fierce grit and a refusal to accept the destiny she’s been handed. Even the intense, dark-eyed Guardian she feels a strangely electric connection with cannot help her. Narra is on her own. But she’ll show everyone what the unlucky can do.

Let the bloodbath begin.

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I’d love to read more Filipino fantasy, and this sounds pretty great??? Gotta admit I’m always ready to see vicious girls taking bloody vengeance!

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 21st March 2023
Goodreads

Francesca Flores's The Witch and the Vampire is a queer Rapunzel retelling where a witch and a vampire who trust no one but themselves must journey together through a cursed forest with danger at every turn.

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends. Until one night two years ago, vampires broke through the magical barrier protecting their town, and in the ensuing attack, Kaye’s mother was killed, and Ava was turned into a vampire. Since then, Ava has been trapped in her house. Her mother Eugenia needs her: Ava still has her witch powers, and Eugenia must take them in order to hide that she's a vampire as well. Desperate to escape her confinement and stop her mother's plans to destroy the town, Ava must break out, flee to the forest, and seek help from the vampires who live there. When there is another attack, she sees her opportunity and escapes.

Kaye, now at the end of her training as a Flame witch, is ready to fulfill her duty of killing any vampires that threaten the town, including Ava. On the night that Ava escapes, Kaye follows her and convinces her to travel together into the forest, while secretly planning to turn her in. Ava agrees, hoping to rekindle their old friendship, and the romantic feelings she'd started to have for Kaye before that terrible night.

But with monstrous trees that devour humans whole, vampires who attack from above, and Ava’s stepfather tracking her, the woods are full of danger. As they travel deeper into the forest, Kaye questions everything she thought she knew. The two are each other's greatest threat—and also their only hope, if they want to make it through the forest unscathed.

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I’ve heard mixed reviews of this one – some readers I know loved it, others DNF-ed it – but I’m planning on checking it out and deciding for myself!

The Whole World Tinder (Flint and Tinder #3) by Gregory Ashe
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 24th March 2023
Goodreads

Jim’s birthday is coming up, and Emmett is determined to make it a good one. Scratch that. A perfect one. Sure, that means spending money he doesn’t have. Sure, that means trying to keep secrets, which Jim is irritatingly good at ferreting out. It even means playing nice when his parents attempt a reconciliation, no matter how much he wants to tell them to screw off. But he can do that—all of it—for Jim.

When Emmett’s parents ask him to befriend a girl who survived a terrible car crash, Emmett can connect the dots: his father’s political aspirations; the daughter of a freshman senator; and Emmett, the boy with scars. To keep the peace, he agrees. But when he and Jim arrive at the remote cabin, everything goes wrong. An attack by the Solar Court ends with the senator’s wife and daughter being kidnapped—and with Jim and Emmett on the run.

As someone tries to draw a net tight around Jim and Emmett, the two men must race to save the kidnapped girl and her mother. Their search takes them into the path of private security forces, the unnatural creatures known as wanderers, and—most dangerous of all—monsters from their past. And if they’re too late, they’ll watch the whole world burn.

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THE

LAST

BOOK

IN

JIM & EMMETT’S

TRILOGY

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, it’s not completely the last – next week we’re getting a collection of shorts set after the trilogy – but still. !!!

I have to admit, I hope this is not the last series Ashe writes in this setting. But if it is, I’m sure it’ll be a worthy ending to it!

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

The post Must-Have Monday #129 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

My Trans Rights Readerthon TBR!

Next week is the Trans Rights Readerthon, when readers all over will be reading books by trans and nonbinary authors in order to raise awareness, and raise funds for trans charities and organisations in the process!

For all the details, author and creator of the readathon Sim Kern has a video here – and if you’re interested in taking part yourself, the sign up sheet is here!

I’m going to be donating $10 for every book I finish to the Place For Marsha project. My hope is to read at least five books, making for a $50 goal. (Well, really my goal is to manage more than that. But that’s my official target!)

Because I’ve been such a mood reader lately, I’m not setting myself a strict tbr. Instead, I’ve gathered a bunch of books, and I’ll choose between them as the mood strikes!

I’ll be announcing my progress on Twitter, and doing a wrap-up post at the end of the week (probably Saturday rather then Friday). If you can, I would love it if you would ‘sponsor’ me – donate a set amount, whatever you like, every time I finish a book! But just interacting with and boosting the #TransRightsReadathon hashtag, my posts and other peoples’, is a big help too.

Here are the books I want to read!

The Deep and Shining Dark (Marek #1) by Juliet Kemp, Tony Allcock
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

You know something’s wrong when the cityangel turns up at your door

Magic within the city-state of Marek works without the need for bloodletting, unlike elsewhere in Teren, thanks to an agreement three hundred years ago between an angel and the founding fathers. It also ensures that political stability is protected from magical influence. Now, though, most sophisticates no longer even believe in magic or the cityangel.   

But magic has suddenly stopped working, discovers Reb, one of the two sorcerers who survived a plague that wiped out virtually all of the rest. Soon she is forced to acknowledge that someone has deposed the cityangel without being able to replace it. Marcia, Heir to House Fereno, and one of the few in high society who is well-aware that magic still exists, stumbles across that same truth. But it is just one part of a much more ambitious plan to seize control of Marek.   

Meanwhile, city Council members connive and conspire, unaware that they are being manipulated in a dangerous political game. A game that threatens the peace and security not just of the city, but all the states around the Oval Sea, including the shipboard traders of Salina upon whom Marek relies.   

To stop the impending disaster, Reb and Marcia, despite their difference in status, must work together alongside the deposed cityangel and Jonas, a messenger from Salina. But first they must discover who is behind the plot, and each of them must try to decide who they can really trust.

Book 1 of Juliet Kemp’s gripping new series
The “absolutely gorgeous” cover artwork is by renowned artist Tony Allcock

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This sounds intricate and gorgeous, and it’s been on my tbr for YEARS. About time I get to it!

You Always Cry At Endings by S.J. Whitby
Goodreads

The new standalone genrebent novella from SJ Whitby, author of Cute Mutants.

You will find yourself in possession of a book. One who holds secrets and beauty, revelations and grief. She will draw close in a rustle of pages, an inkstained whisper in your ear.

It will only hurt for a moment, being unravelled sentence by sentence until we find the truth scrawled upon your heart.

You will look into her eyes and see a story of you written in the blank space there:

A monster came to the city to stand before the Queen...

And so you will listen when she speaks again.

Let me take your hand and lead you into the dark...

You will fall inside her covers and be lost. But your trembling fingers still turn to the first page...

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Do I have any idea what to expect from this book? Only second-person narration and incredible weirdness! But when it comes from Whitby, that’s more than I need to know!

Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Autistic lesbian MC with anxiety, major nonbinary aroace character with ADHD
Published on: 9th April 2023
Goodreads

A coming-of-age cozy fantasy with a queer cast, witches, and tarot. Perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and Our Flag Means Death

Iris Galacia's tarot cards do more than entertain gamblers.

With the flip of her fingers she can predict the future and uncover a person's secrets. But under the watchful eye of her mother, she is on thin ice for pursuing a passion in the family business, and then cracks start to form until she eventually she falls through.

She is given an ultimatum — a test to prove her worth: earn a thousand coins or leave the business, and the family.

Enter Marin Boudreau, a charming young person who can scale buildings and break off doorknobs, who comes for her help to rescue a witch who's been falsely imprisoned in Excava Kingdom.

And Marin is willing to pay a high sum for her talents.

But saving a prisoner from royal hands isn't easy, nor is leaving home for the first time in eighteen years.

Now Iris must learn to trust in herself, Marin, and this new magical world, while racing the clock before the royals decide the fate of the witch, and before any secrets catch up to her.

TELL ME HOW IT ENDS features LGBTQ+, disabled, neurodivergent, cultural, and mental health representation. The main character, Iris Galacia, is a lesbian tarot reader with anxiety and autism. The second main character, Marin Boudreau, is an aromantic asexual non-binary person with ADHD.

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The author Li was lovely enough to offer arcs of Tell Me How It Ends to those taking part in the readathon – and I eagerly reached out to request one! Can you blame me?!

Viscera by Gabrielle Squailia
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Trans MC, queer and nonbinary rep
Goodreads

"A dystopian fantasy of earthquakes, killing fields, drug addiction, and routine eviscerations that is also profoundly humane and laugh-out-loud funny." —Camille DeAngelis, author of Bones and All

The Gone-Away gods were real, once, and taller than towers.

But they’re long dead now, buried in the catacombs beneath the city of Eth, where their calcified organs radiate an eldritch power that calls out to anyone hardy enough to live in this cut-throat, war-torn land. Some survivors are human, while others are close enough, but all are struggling to carve out their lives in a world both unforgiving and wondrous. Darkly comic and viciously original, Viscera is an unforgettable journey through swords-and-sorcery fantasy where strangeness gleams from every nook and cranny.

“Exquisitely imagined, deeply insightful yet scathingly witty, Viscera barrels along at a scorching pace after vividly realized characters whose separate quests—for identity, for revenge, for release—find themselves on a collision course in a world that's simultaneously both grimdark and surreal. Lusciously weird and utterly unique.” —Nicole Kornher-Stace, author of Archivist Wasp

“Viscera is a work of gleeful weirdness, set in a world that calls to mind China Miéville's Bas-Lag novels, and full of characters fighting to reshape themselves and their destinies, in search of deep and resonant truth.” —Kat Howard, author of Roses and Rot

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From everything I’ve heard, this is weird as fuck, and possibly horror-y, but I’m excited for the weirdness and determined to get through the possible horror-ness to give this a proper go!

Let the Mountains Be My Grave by Francesca Tacchi
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC, M/M
Goodreads

Let the Mountains Be My Grave unfolds at breakneck pace in 1944 Italy, where partisan Veleno thinks of nothing but killing as many Nazis as he can before leaving this world. Beloved by the ancient Italic goddess Angitia, Veleno is the perfect person to recover a strange weapon the Nazis are planning to use against the Allies in the battle of Montecassino, but doing so may force him to confront his death differently than he expects.

Part of the 2022 Neon Hemlock Novella Series.

Advanced praise for Let the Mountains Be My Grave:
“A touching story about finding hope in times of war and desolation, with a fascinating take on the survival of pagan magic.”—Xiran Jay Zhao, author of Iron Widow

“If you liked Inglorious Basterds but wish there was more kissing and ancient theology, this is the book for you!”—R.J. Theodore, author of Flotsam and Salvage

“A novella that reads like a shot of adrenaline, Let the Mountains Be My Grave is an explosive, high-octane queer Nazi-fighting fantasy packed with tightly-paced action, ancient Gods, and unexpected allies.” —Anya Ow, author of Cradle and Grave

“An intense and thrilling historical fantasy that combines bloody action, sharp character work, ancient gods, and a touch of romance.” —Charles Payseur, author of The Burning Day

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Queer magic-users killing Nazis? I LITERALLY need to hear no more!

Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: QBIPOC cast
Goodreads

Màgòdiz (Anishinabemowin, Algonquin dialect): a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of their country.

Everything that was green and good is gone, scorched away by a war that no one living remembers. The small surviving human population scavenges to get by; they cannot read or write and lack the tools or knowledge to rebuild. The only ones with any power are the mindless Enforcers, controlled by the Madjideye, a faceless, formless spiritual entity that has infiltrated the world to subjugate the human population.

A’tugwewinu is the last survivor of the Andwànikàdjigan. On the run from the Madjideye with her lover, Bèl, a descendant of the Warrior Nation, they seek to share what the world has forgotten: stories. In Pasakamate, both Shkitagen, the firekeeper of his generation, and his life’s heart, Nitàwesì, whose hands mend bones and cure sickness, attempt to find a home where they can raise children in peace, without fear of slavers or rising waters. In Zhōng yang, Riordan wheels around just fine, leading xir gang of misfits in hopes of surviving until the next meal. However, Elite Enforcer H-09761 (Yun Seo, who was abducted as a child, then tortured and brainwashed into servitude) is determined to arrest Riordan for theft of resources and will stop at nothing to bring xir to the Madjideye. In a ruined world, six people collide, discovering family and foe, navigating friendship and love, and reclaiming the sacredness of the gifts they carry.

With themes of resistance, of ceremony as the conduit between realms, and of transcending gender, Màgòdiz is a powerful and visionary reclamation that Two-Spirit people always have and always will be vital to the cultural and spiritual legacy of their communities.

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A terrifying future where two-spirit and other nonbinary folx have to band together with magic and stories to bring down the monsters? Yes PLEASE!

Two Dark Moons (Sãoni Cycle, #1) by Avi Silver, Haley Rose Szereszewski
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Goodreads

Sohmeng Par is sick of being treated like a child. Ever since a tragic accident brought her mountain community’s coming-of-age ritual to a halt, she’s caused nothing but trouble in her impatience to become an adult. But when she finally has the chance to prove herself, she’s thrown from her life in the mountains and into the terror of the jungle below.

Cornered by a colony of reptilian predators known as the sãoni, Sohmeng is rescued by Hei, an eccentric exile with no shortage of secrets. As likely to bite Sohmeng as they are to cook her breakfast, this stranger and their family of lizards are like nothing she’s ever seen before. If she wants to survive, she must find a way to adapt to the vibrant, deadly world of the rainforest and the creatures that inhabit it—including Hei themself. But Sohmeng has secrets of her own, and sharing them could mean losing everything a second time.

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Two Dark Moons is another that’s been on my tbr for far too long – I’m slightly guilty it’s taken me so long, and really happy to have an excuse to finally sit down and read it!

Foxen Bloom by Parker Foye
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Goodreads

Season after season, hunters have attempted to capture the white-tailed stag. Local legend holds that its capture promises prosperity, and in a land that is dying—to hunger, to war; to a magical curse, some say—even a whisper of hope is a powerful lure. Yet every hunter who tries fails, never to leave the forest. Fenton, god of the forest, yet imprisoned within its borders, watches from his place in the trees as the hunters first despoil and then fall to his land, dispassionate as his deadwood heart.

Prior doesn't hope to capture the stag or secure prosperity. He has a far bolder hunt in mind: to entreat the god of the forest to save his sister from the sickness sweeping the land. It's a desperate attempt without much hope of success. He doesn't imagine he'll meet the god in person, much less that he'll find himself agreeing to a favour in turn: his sister's life will be spared, and in exchange, Prior will kill the god's sibling. And he certainly hadn't imagined that a god would be so... human.

When Fenton leaves the forest, he has little but revenge on his mind. As he spends more time with Prior, though, he discovers that the world isn't as simple as the hunt, and he's not the only hunter with teeth—but sometimes the chase is worth the risk of being caught.

Content Warnings: contagious magical illness; bloody violence; magical violence; bodily injury; death, including the death of animals for food, and magical animals in battle; abduction; vomiting; minor self-harm; bodyhorror; sex.
Cover artwork by Tiferet Design with illustration by Mar Espinosa.

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I’ve been a fan of Parker Foye’s since I discovered Nine Years of Silver YEARS ago – it’s frankly embarrassing that I haven’t gotten to this standalone novel by now!

Friends For Robots: Short Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
Goodreads

In this upbeat, positive collection of SFF short stories from Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, author of So You Want to Be A Robot, you'll find hope, humor, friendship—and of course, robots.

Have you heard the one about......a neural network who wants humans to drink more water?...a person stranded on Mars with only an obsolete robotic toy?...a cyborg caught in a time loop with a frightened ship?...a self-aware mech who doesn't want to be a weapon anymore?...an AI sent into the deepest part of the ocean—and finds a god?

You'll also meet entrepreneurial barbarians, an astronaut making first contact, a boy who might have (accidentally) started Armageddon, magical birds, a bot who wants to tell jokes, and more. Whether you're a robot or not, come make some new friends.

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So far, I’ve utterly adored everything of Wolfmoor’s that I’ve read, and I’m very eager to dive into another of their short story collections!

Rituals (Rhapsody of Blood, #1) by Roz Kaveney
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown sapphic MC, white sapphic MC, F/F
Goodreads

Two women - and the workings of Time and Fate.

In a time too long ago for most human memory, a god asked Mara what she most wanted. She got her wish: to protect the weak against the strong. For millennia, she has avenged that god, and her dead sisters, against anyone who uses the Rituals of Blood to become a god through mass murder. And there are few who can stand against her.

A sudden shocking incident proves to Emma that the modern world is not what she thought it was, that there are demons and gods and elves and vampires. Her weapon is knowledge, and she pursues it wherever it leads her. The one thing she does not know is who she - and her ghostly lover, Caroline - are working for.

RHAPSODY OF BLOOD is a five-part epic fantasy not quite like anything you've read before: a helter-skelter ride through history and legend, from Tenochitlan to Los Angeles, from Atlantis to London. It is a story of death, love and the end of worlds - and of dangerous, witty women.

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After including this series in yesterday’s rec post, the author reached out to say that the concluding fifth volume is out next month!!! So I’m going to do my best to reread them all before then!

(Can I manage them all in a week??? Well, fingers crossed!)

Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, bigender MC
Goodreads

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.

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Another arc, this one from Netgalley – one of my most anticipated reads of the year! I’ve loved almost every one of Anna-Marie McLemore’s books, and I’m very interested to see how their writing pairs with their spouse’s. (The idea of writing a book with your spouse has to be THE most romantic thing I’ve ever heard!)

Let me know if you’ll be taking part in the readathon – especially if you decide to sponsor me! – or your thoughts if you’ve already read any of these!

The post My Trans Rights Readerthon TBR! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Decidedly Un-Epic Fantasy: The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts

The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow, #1) by Janny Wurts
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
ISBN: B00457WT8K
Goodreads

BOOK ONE IN THE GROUNDBREAKING SERIES, THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

A powerful, layered weaving of myth, prose and pure imagination – Curse of the Mistwraith opens an epic fantasy series perfect for fans of The Dark Tower and Earthsea.

Let each who reads determine the good and the evil for himselfAthera is besieged by the Mistwraith, which blights the land and dims the mysteries guarded by the last fugitives of the old bloodlines.But from a prophecy springs hope: the gifts of two brothers – one dark, one fair, raised on opposite sides of a relentless war – when paired may challenge the Mistwraith’s invasion, though at brutal cost…Arithon, Master of Shadow, musician and mage, commands the power of illusion and darkness. Taken prisoner in battle, his fate falls to his half-brother, Prince Lysaer – a man endowed with the gift of light through the mother they share. Lysaer is the legitimate son of a king who was betrayed by his queen’s choice to father Arithon by his mortal enemy but that does not save him:Vengeful fury drives the king to banish both Lysaer and Arithon from the world they know to the troubled realms of Athera beyond the Worldsend Gate.The two exiles are thrown together by hatred and spilled blood – then bound by destiny to champion Athera’s sundered heritage. The highest stakes ride the backlash of their conflict – they must reforge their adverse ideals into balance, or destroy the etheric grace of a culture all but lost to antiquity.A subtle and intricate tale of morality and difference, justice versus compassion, told with epic scope and real magic, Curse of the Mistwraith remains a modern classic of the fantasy genre.

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~an awfully convenient fountain
~made-with-magic designer babies
~colour-coded princes
~not sure how great your civilisation was if it was wrecked by fog
~oh yay, rampant fatphobia!

As someone who craves Epic Fantasy written by someone who is not a cishet white dude, obviously I had to try tackling The War of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts. There don’t seem to be many big sprawling Epic Fantasy series – ala Malazan or Wheel of Time – written by women, and this is definitely one of the more well-regarded ones. I went in hopeful, especially because I’ve previously enjoyed Wurts’ standalones (to say nothing of the trilogy she co-wrote with Raymond E Feist, the only work of his I’ve ever found interesting).

Now I’ve finished Curse, though, I can say that I’m thoroughly unimpressed.

Stripped of all the verbose grandiloquence of the prose, the plot is very straightforward: two princes, half-brothers raised as deadly enemies, find themselves tossed into another world, where their respective powers over light and shadow have been prophesised as the means of defeating a strange mist-monster which has hidden the sun for centuries. Instantly taken under the wing of the Fellowship of wizards, who want to see them restored to their ancestral thrones on this world, the princes destroy the monster, which uses its final moments to curse them with an all-consuming hatred for each other. Ugly, vicious battle ensues, which accomplishes nothing but awful butchery until one prince flees the other.

I struggled with the writing at first: Wurts’ prose is ornate and strange, instantly recognisable as her own signature style, but often so convoluted that I had to reread sentences (sometimes entire paragraphs) multiple times in order to understand what exactly Wurts was trying to tell me. That being said, once my brain shifted gears and clicked with the style, it became weirdly readable, sweeping me along a truly ridiculous number of pages without my noticing!

Unfortunately, even once I adjusted to the writing, the story really couldn’t hold me. There was a truly appalling amount of telling-not-showing, often through extremely pretentious, preachy dialogue; dozens and dozens of side-quests that meant nothing and had no bearing on…anything, really; and characters that were defined by one or two major traits that really could not justify the amount of introspective maudlin-ing they subject the reader to.

And fundamentally…we know, from the prologue, that Something is going to happen that will cause these two princes, half-brothers, to go to war with each other; we later glimpse prophecy that confirms it. But after all that build-up…? They’re simply cursed to hate each other. That’s it. There is no actual conflict, no huge big Thing that draws a line between them; they hate each other Just Because.

How is that not the laziest possible option? A magical war that’s going to last millennia, and it’s fuelled by a hate that’s not actually based on anything? Come on.

And there’s quite a lot baked into the worldbuilding/story that’s just…majorly unpleasant and completely gratuitous. For example, my first red flag came around the 18% mark, when one of the main characters is briefly accused/suspected of being gay, and that is conflated with pedophilia.

…I…

Look: this is Secondary World Fantasy. That means it’s set in a world with no connection to ours – which has no reason to share the prejudices of our world. There’s no reason or need to write homophobia into your fantasy world, so why the hell would you? Why would decide ‘ah yes, I can do anything I want with this world…and what I want is to make it homophobic’?

Thanks for fucking nothing.

It’s all men all the time: we glimpse a few minor female characters with varying kinds of prestige, but the main cast is made up wholly of men. The Fellowship of wise, nearly all-powerful, omnibenevolent wizards are all men, and the order of all-women magic-users are infinitely less powerful, more petty and more venal, not even registering as a thorn in the side of our main characters. Yay. Love that for us. Oh, and then there’s the absolutely horrific mass-rape-and-murder scene towards the end of the book that was so completely unnecessary that I cannot even.

(Did I mention that Lysander, our Prince of Light, is cast as a hero in that scene because he atom-bombs the victims rather than allowing the rapes to continue? HI, THAT IS NOT NEARLY THE HEROIC STANCE YOU SEEM TO THINK IT IS. How about, oh, I don’t know, NOT LETTING IT HAPPEN TO BEGIN WITH? I mean, what the everloving fuck???)

And let’s not forget Dakar, the bumbling alcoholic idiot who isn’t a fraction as funny as Wurts seems to think he is, whose fatness is the butt of every gods-damn joke and judgement.

How about no?

So is it worth reading? Not on its own merits – overly flowery (but not, imo, beautiful) prose makes Curse of the Mistwraith at least twice as long as it needs to be, and ultimately this series opener is a dud. But between an overarching plotline I desperately want to see manifest, and the promises of other readers, it does seem like the series might get better and more interesting later on. Which means it may be worth pushing through, if only to reach the sequels.

(Unicorns. I have been promised unicorns later in this series!)

Will I continue? I don’t know. Probably not, but if I change my mind, I promise to review any sequels I manage to get through.

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