Siavahda's Blog, page 52
January 11, 2023
I Can’t Wait For…The Winter Knight by Jes Battis
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 Winter Knight by Jes Battis!
The Winter Knight by Jes Battis Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer, trans, autistic rep
Published on: 4th April 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-11T20:47:00+00:00", "description": "It's hard work to make a King Arthur story feel like I might have a place in it, but that's what Battis has done!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/i-cant-wait-for-the-winter-knight-by-jes-battis\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Winter Knight", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jes Battis", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
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.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of The Winter Knight this very day, so it seems like a good moment to go into why I’m so excited for it!
There are a few reasons the King Arthur mythos has never felt like it was for me: I’m half-Irish and half-Welsh, which immediately complicates any attempt at a relationship to such an Intensely English story (England’s history with Ireland and Wales is – let’s call it fraught); when I was younger I thought I was a girl, and I now know I’m nonbinary, and neither one of those is particularly welcome at King Arthur’s court; and I dread to think how poorly an autist would do surrounded by all that pageantry and codes of honour and many, many things that Must Not Be Questioned.
Um.
The Winter Knight is far from the first retelling/reimagining to create a more inclusive King Arthur story – I passionately endorse Laure Eve’s Blackheart Knights, to say nothing of Nicola Griffith’s fabulous Spear – but it is the first one (that I’m aware of; please feel free to toss recs in the comments if you know of others!) to take on a modern setting, neurodiversity and queerness. Especially nonbinary-queerness! So while Blackheart Knights and Spear are both stunning books, Winter Knight very much feels like it’s holding open arms out to me specifically, not so much a welcome home as a ‘this one’s for you’.
Which is a really, really great feeling.
Also? Distancing the King Arthur story from England – by setting it in Vancouver! – and bringing in Valkyries, aka, pulling from very not-English mythologies? Are choices that aren’t just wildly intriguing (which they are); they very much help divorce King Arthur from that exclusionary mindset/vibe I mentioned above.
So, the TL;DR version? I can’t wait to dive into this one!
The post I Can’t Wait For…The Winter Knight by Jes Battis appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
January 9, 2023
Must-Have Monday #119
SIX new books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8) by Seanan McGuire Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seanan McGuire", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
A young girl discovers an infinite variety of worlds in this standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire, Lost in the Moment and Found.
Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.
If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood... it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….
Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.
And stepping through those doors exacts a price.
Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.
NEW WAYWARD CHILDREN NEW WAYWARD CHILDREN NEW WAYWARD CHILDREN!!! As far as I’m concerned, the new year doesn’t start until the annual Wayward Children installment is in my hands, and I’m especially excited for Lost In The Moment and Found – I love the sound of the shop where all the lost things end up, and I’m fascinated by the idea that the MC here gets to travel through multiple Doors, which none of the others in the series have been able to do!
Although, yet again, I want to remind people that McGuire has warned us this one will be pretty dark, and we should pay attention to the content warnings at the start of the book!
The Daughters of Izdihar (The Alamaxa Duology #1) by Hadeer Elsbai Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Egyptian-coded setting+cast, sapphic MC
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Daughters of Izdihar (The Alamaxa Duology #1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hadeer Elsbai", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From debut author Hadeer Elsbai comes the first book in an incredibly powerful new duology, set wholly in a new world, but inspired by modern Egyptian history, about two young women—Nehal, a spoiled aristocrat used to getting what she wants and Giorgina, a poor bookshop worker used to having nothing—who find they have far more in common, particularly in their struggle for the rights of women and their ability to fight for it with forbidden elemental magic.
As a waterweaver, Nehal can move and shape any water to her will, but she’s limited by her lack of formal education. She desires nothing more than to attend the newly opened Weaving Academy, take complete control of her powers, and pursue a glorious future on the battlefield with the first all-female military regiment. But her family cannot afford to let her go—crushed under her father’s gambling debt, Nehal is forcibly married into a wealthy merchant family. Her new spouse, Nico, is indifferent and distant and in love with another woman, a bookseller named Giorgina.
Giorgina has her own secret, however: she is an earthweaver with dangerously uncontrollable powers. She has no money and no prospects. Her only solace comes from her activities with the Daughters of Izdihar, a radical women’s rights group at the forefront of a movement with a simple goal: to attain recognition for women to have a say in their own lives. They live very different lives and come from very different means, yet Nehal and Giorgina have more in common than they think. The cause—and Nico—brings them into each other’s orbit, drawn in by the group’s enigmatic leader, Malak Mamdouh, and the urge to do what is right.
But their problems may seem small in the broader context of their world, as tensions are rising with a neighboring nation that desires an end to weaving and weavers. As Nehal and Giorgina fight for their rights, the threat of war looms in the background, and the two women find themselves struggling to earn—and keep—a lasting freedom.
I ended up DNFing my ARC of this, but it was a writing style issue, and we know by now that I’m incredibly picky about prose styles, yes? So if this sounds like your kind of thing, I still encourage you to give it a go!
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: Book One of the Emily Wilde Series by Heather Fawcett Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Minor F/F
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: Book One of the Emily Wilde Series", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Heather Fawcett", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
I expected to enjoy this; I didn’t expect to love it, but I did! I’m a big fan of characters with no social skills (I absolutely read Emily as autistic, for the record) and was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the worldbuilding – and how deftly Fawcett got that worldbuilding across without drowning us in it. Strongly recommended!
City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Representation: Queer and PoC characters
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "City of Nightmares", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Schaeffer", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Gotham meets Strange the Dreamer in this thrilling young adult fantasy about a cowardly girl who finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate conspiracy, in a city where crooked politicians and sinister cults reign and dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare.
Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps and the only other home Ness has known, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.
Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that is only monstrous in appearance but is otherwise able to live a semi-normal existence, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the citizens of Newham, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a seedy organization that may or may not be a cult.
But being a member of the Friends of the Restful Soul has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack.
Schaeffer wrote the incredible (and incredibly original) Market of Monsters trilogy, so I was definitely keeping an eye out for what she decided to write next. City of Nightmares has gotten mixed reviews from my usual sources, but more positive than not, so I’ll still be giving this a try!
Unraveller by Frances Hardinge Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Unraveller", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frances Hardinge", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Kellen and Nettle live in a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, but only one person has the power to unravel them. But not everyone is happy he can do so and, suddenly, he’s in a race to save both himself and all those who have been touched by magic…
A spell-binding new tale from the master of speculative fiction.
This was released in the UK already last year, but this week it makes it to the US! As it should, because Frances Hardinge is an author you NEVER want to miss!
Now She is Witch by Kirsty Logan Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F, nonbinary rep
Published on: 12th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-09T09:37:00+00:00", "description": "Shops of lost things, elemental magic, and the Hidden Folk!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-119\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Now She is Witch", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kirsty Logan", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Some of what they say about witches is true.
She dug her mother's grave in the poison garden so it would stay hidden...
Lux has lost everything when Else finds her, alone in the woods. Her family, her lover, her home - all burned. The world is suspicious of women like her, neither maiden nor mother. But Lux is cunning; she knows how to exploit people's expectations, how to blend into the background. And she knows a lot about poisons.
Else has not found Lux by accident. She needs her help to seek revenge against the man who wronged her, and together they pursue him north. But on their hunt they will uncover dark secrets that entangle them with dangerous adversaries.From the snowy winter woods to the bright midnight sun; from the horrors of plague to the relief of healing; from lost and powerless to finding your path, Now She is Witch questions the oppositions that shadow our lives. In rich and immersive prose Kirsty Logan conjures a world of violence and beauty in which women grasp at power through witchcraft and poisons, through sexuality and childbearing, through performance and pretence, and most of all through throwing other women to the wolves. This is a witch story unlike any other.
Now She Is Witch was only vaguely on my radar until I spotted this article where Logan talks about her book. Suffice to say that yes, I am now much more interested and absolutely need to read this!
(Also, kudos to the cover artist/designer, because that cover is beautiful. I love all the details tucked away in it!)
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #119 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
January 8, 2023
This Right Here Is Why I Don’t Read Popular Books: The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan
The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf, #1) by Richard Swan Genres: Fantasy
PoV: First-person, past-tense
ISBN: B096RTL1DN
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-08T20:37:00+00:00", "description": "Thanks, I hate it.", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/this-right-here-is-why-i-dont-read-popular-books-the-justice-of-kings-by-richard-swan\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf, #1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Swan", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "B096RTL1DN" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": 2.5, "bestRating": "5" }} Highlights
The Justice of Kings, the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy, follows the tale of Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice – a detective, judge and executioner all in one. As he unravels a web of secrets and lies, Vonvalt discovers a plot that might destroy his order once and for all – and bring down the entire Empire.
As an Emperor's Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it's his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. But usually his reputation as one of the most revered—and hated—Justices is enough to get most any job done.
When Vonvalt investigates the murder of a noblewoman, he finds his authority being challenged like never before. As the simple case becomes more complex and convoluted, he begins to pull at the threads that unravel a conspiracy that could see an end to all Justices, and a beginning to lawless chaos across the empire.
~what if the law actually mattered in a Fantasy setting?
~LEAVE THE FOXES ALONE
~fanatics of all stripes are Very Bad
~undercover in a convent
~the afterlife is pretty scary actually
The Justice of Kings barely made it onto my radar when it was released – books about ablebodied, neurotypical cishet white dudes with swords being Grim and Extremely Sirrus are not books I tend to care about – but after seeing it appear on one Best of 2022 list after another – from readers and bloggers and vloggers I like and respect, at that – I thought I’d give it a try. I wanted to know what everyone was raving about!
Reader, I have read the book, and I still don’t know what everyone was raving about.
Several bits of the worldbuilding are genuinely interesting, and Swan’s writing is extremely readable – it’s weirdly easy to find yourself turning pages, and then more pages, and suddenly you’ve finished another chapter almost without noticing.
So it’s not bad. Technically. From a technical perspective.
It’s just that there’s…literally nothing great about it, either.
Is the concept of travelling judges who make sure the law applies equally to everyone excellent? Yes, yes it is. I think it’s also a pretty unique concept in this sort of setting, particularly; Fantasy often embraces monarchies and emperors and overlooks how political systems featuring them are usually very bad for the common people, so it’s nice to see a Fantasy empire that is Extremely Serious about making everyone equal under the law. (More or less.) And I thought the magical powers that these judges have – the Emperor’s Voice, which can compel a person to speak or act, being the main one – were pretty neat too.
But while this is a really great concept, the execution was, imo, incredibly lackluster. This book is fucking boring. All the things I liked, or liked the idea of – the Justices, the implications of the necromancy, Political Shenanigans, a main character who used to be an orphan street-rat – were either minimised, had the cool parts sanded off, or diluted the cool parts with sooooooooo much plot-I-simply-did-not-care-about.
(As opposed to, you know, good-and-interesting plot. Of which there was…virtually none.)
A lot of the things I disliked about The Justice of Kings are entirely subjective; I’m bored as fuck with settings inspired by Medieval Western Europe; I almost never enjoy first-person narration; and I don’t like my Fantasy ugly with shit and gore. Those are all matters of taste, they don’t make a book good or bad.
But plenty of my problems with this book aren’t really a question of taste, they’re just facts: there is not one single character who is actually interesting (or likeable, but characters being likeable is far less important than them being interesting). The main character is whiny and bizarrely naive/ignorant about the world for someone who lived on the streets as a child. The book is written from the perspective of her future self, writing down past events, and the narrator freely admits, even points out, that her younger self is annoying, impulsive, makes bad decisions, etc. Unfortunately, that doesn’t actually get around the fact that she is annoying, impulsive, and makes bad decisions. The fact that the narrator/author is aware of this doesn’t make it less unpleasant to read, you know? And Vonvalt, despite being a Justice, a noble, a brilliant swordsman, and a freaking necromancer, reads like my GSCE Physics teacher whose voice used to put me to sleep in class.
(Vonvalt points out, and I agree, that most of what a lawperson does is dull munitae. Yes! Yes it is! That’s okay! I have no problem with that! I don’t need you to be a Super Exciting Unrealistic Lawperson! But don’t just tell us (repeatedly) that Vonvalt is passionate about the law, and about seeing that everyone is treated equally under it. Fucking show us. And yet, not once did I really feel, or even believe in, that passion. ARGH.)
In fact, can we talk about the narration? The narrator is constantly just flat-out telling us things. Telling-telling-telling, instead of showing. I am not one of those people who think you’ve never allowed tell – of course you are. But I got really sick of being told all the things I should know and believe about this world and these characters and this case and blah blah blah whatever, instead of being shown it. Instead of getting to feel it for myself.
Overall, actually, Justice of Kings was pretty terrible at making me feel any emotion at all but impatience for the book to get on with it (or better yet, be over). I didn’t feel worried when the characters were allegedly in danger; I wasn’t curious about the investigation or any of the other questions that came up over the course of the book. I was never delighted, I never felt wonder, I was never outraged by the villains. I never even felt shocked, even when Obviously Meant To Be Shocking things happened.
No, wait, that’s a lie: I did feel something. Grossed out, by the battle scenes. But that’s a personal taste thing again.
Then we have the delightful fatphobia running rampant. The vast majority of the villains are fat or, occasionally, ‘portly’. Hi, can this trope die in a fire already?
Where the fuck are all the women??? Why are we presented with exactly two (2) women of relevance: the main character, who is useless, and a female Justice, whose concerns are brushed off by the men around her and who is considered so ‘eccentric’ she can’t take those concerns to their Order herself, but needs a man to do it? [View post to see spoiler]
(I’m not even going to touch ‘where are all the not-white and/or not-cishet people?’ because this is so very clearly White Straight DudeTM Fantasy that I honestly want to go back in time just to slap my past self for even considering picking up this book.)
Why is all the interesting plot happening off-page? This is a problem I see with firsts-in-series sometimes; the first book becomes all about set-up for the Real Story, and thus isn’t that impressive by itself. Justice of Kings is mainly focussed on a single murder case, the investigation therein and the conspiracy that is thereby revealed – and none of it was interesting. Meanwhile, we are dropped tidbits about the political situation in the capital, the rise in religious fanaticism, the origins of and battle over the magics of the Justices, and the verifiable existence of a) an afterlife and b) supernatural beings that for the sake of convenience we will call gods. ALL OF THAT IS VERY INTERESTING INDEED – and we barely get to see any of it! Just tiny glimpses or blink-and-miss them mentions in passing. This is a genuine writing-fail.
Oh, there was also the whole worldbuilding/cultural fail. See – this isn’t really a spoiler – there is a scene where Vonvalt performs necromancy. And our main character Helena witnesses it. And she completely and utterly freaks the fuck out.
…Why?
Despite making it clear that the general population is uneasy with the idea of necromancy, Justice of Kings never explains why that is. We’re just supposed to nod along and agree that talking to the dead isn’t just creepy, it’s enough to make you scream-sob-vomit because it’s sooo viscerally horrifying. And, uh.
No? Not really? Like, context matters a lot here: the corpse of someone who died in a fire – seeing that corpse speak would probably be pretty horrifying. If a corpse were in pieces, if its guts/assorted other organs were spilling out of it, if we just had a decapitated head speaking – I get why those scenarios would hit most people in their NOPE place.
But in this scene? It’s a dude who was alive a few minutes ago, who died of a sword thrust. And now he’s talking. I can see that being unnerving, even shocking, but visually, what is there to be horrified by? Why is it so scary? And if the horror is not coming from the visuals, well – the book completely failed to mention where else it might be coming from. So Helena’s fear, and her fear-reactions? Come across as completely hysterical and ridiculous, not something I can understand, never mind empathise with. The whole thing was nonsensical.
(Legit scary stuff happens later in that scene. But the mouth of a dead guy moving and making words is not it.)
So – where is the cultural reasoning for this kind of fear? It’s not been worked into the worldbuilding. It’s not established. Everyone knows that (some) Justices can do this. Before they did, it was priests who could do it. So there’s a long long history of it existing, and it existing specifically in the contexts of the holy (when it was priests) and the righteous/legal (the Justices). It’s not a deep dark secret that necromancy exists or anything. Its existence isn’t sprung on Helena out of nowhere. The intense, graphically described fear in that scene doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t make sense in a way that breaks the worldbuilding.
Finally: despite being very anti-Church myself, Evil Churches/religious fanatics are, at this point, just lazy writing. Come up with a villain I haven’t seen a gazillion times before, would you please? Or at least give the Church/fanatic some new take? Because honestly, everything about the Evil Church Fanatic plotline was unbearably predictable. I saw the Big Shocking Thing coming from light-years away – and it’s a running joke that I never see the twists/reveals coming. If I can predict what your story’s going to do, it is a very damning indictment indeed.
In conclusion: I have no idea why so many readers are so in love with this. I have no idea why the sequel has made the Most Anticipated lists of almost all the blogs and vloggers I follow. The concept of the Justices is pretty cool, I really would like to know more about the reality of the afterlife, but I’m pissed I wasted so many hours of my life reading this extremely Meh book. There is approximately 0% chance of my reading any more of this series.
That’ll teach me for picking something up just because it’s popular.
The post This Right Here Is Why I Don’t Read Popular Books: The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
January 4, 2023
I Can’t Wait For…Lost In The Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Lost In The Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire!
Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8) by Seanan McGuire Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Published on: 10th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-04T21:57:00+00:00", "description": "Consider this a reminder: new Wayward Children book drops next week!!!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/i-cant-wait-for-lost-in-the-moment-and-found-by-seanan-mcguire\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seanan McGuire", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
A young girl discovers an infinite variety of worlds in this standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire, Lost in the Moment and Found.
Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.
If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here. If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood... it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back. And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….
Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.
And stepping through those doors exacts a price.
Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.
I couldn’t think of what book to feature this week, just a few days after posting my Unmissable SFF of 2023 list – but then I realised: this post could work wonderfully as a last-minute reminder that we’re getting a new Wayward Children book next week!!!
SO. YOU KNOW. IF YOU HAVEN’T PREORDERED IT YET. GO DO THAT!
If you’ve not heard of/read the Wayward Children series before, no worries, you are in for a TREAT! But this is probably not the ideal book to start with? Basically, there is a school for children and teens who have passed through portals to other worlds…and come, generally unwillingly, home again. Each book follows a different character or characters, and the publication order is not the same as the internal chronology of the series – the first one published, Every Heart a Doorway, is a) actually set after the events of books 2 and 4, and b) yes, absolutely where the name for this blog comes from!
Hee.
I’d recommend starting with Every Heart a Doorway, even if it’s not chronologically first; for establishing the existence and rules of the school, and something of how the premise works, I don’t think there’s any better book to begin with. In the other books, you learn more about specific worlds and characters, but EHaD does a great job at giving you a 101 overview very quickly. (Also, you know. It’s excellent???)
I don’t recommend starting with Lost in the Moment and Found because McGuire has made it clear that this installment deals with very dark themes. EHaD does feature a murder, but there are worse things than murders; or at least, things that are much harder to read about. So I would work my way up to this one, if you’ve not read the series before.
For those of us who have read the series multiple times over, well… I’m a little nervous about this one, but I still can’t wait to read it. The new year doesn’t start until we have a new Wayward Children book, you know??? And this is the first we’ve heard of any character being able to pass through multiple Doors! I definitely need to know more about that.
But be gentle, pay attention to the trigger warnings at the start of the book, and look after yourself as is best for you. I will be available for virtual hugs, if hugs end up being required.
Luck and love!
The post I Can’t Wait For…Lost In The Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
January 2, 2023
Must-Have Monday #118
2023 is off to a good start with SIX books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
A Chain of Braided Silver (The Norsunder War Book 4) by Sherwood Smith Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "A Chain of Braided Silver (The Norsunder War Book 4)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sherwood Smith", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
“Written with heart-piercing vividness and sly humor, a roller coaster of emotions!”
“Consistently brilliant, this series showcases what fantastic worldbuilding can be.”
The long-awaited conclusion to The Norsunder War is also the culmination to the entire Sartorias-deles arc. Find out why one reader on Reddit said, “Beginning with INDA, this entire series utterly ruined me, and then gave me such joy and hope!”
Secrets both ancient and current are revealed, as the alliance—at times uneasy—works together to reclaim Sartorias-deles from Norsunder. Leaders around the world plan a simultaneous counterattack, but that is only a decoy away from the battle in the realm of the mind against a world-devouring power.
Hibern must solve a lethally dangerous puzzle as she dodges the hunter; grief-stricken Senrid must team with the man his beloved has chosen while his kingdom is overrun; Jilo singlehandedly intends to wrench the sinister Chwahir from their overwhelmingly poisonous tyrant; Imry, former commander, is now renegade, and even more dangerous; Marga begins to assert her powers; and everything comes down to Detlev, once the world’s chief villain. And yet, in spite of the mounting dangers, some manage to find love . . .
Read the pulse-pounding, heart-lifting conclusion to The Norsunder War.
I really have no idea how to process this – it’s the final Norsunder War book, which means the grand finale of the entire Sartorias-dele universe! This is the series Smith’s been working on her entire life, so yeah, to say I’m excited for (but also dreading) the ending of it all is an understatement!
Back in a Spell (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #3) by Lana Harper Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Nonbinary love interest
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Back in a Spell (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #3)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lana Harper", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
An awkward first date leads to a sparkling romance between one of the most powerful witches in town and a magical newbie in this rom-com by Lana Harper, New York Times bestselling author of Payback’s a Witch.
Even though she won’t deny her love for pretty (and pricey) things, Nineve Blackmoore is almost painfully down-to-earth and sensible by Blackmoore standards. But after a year of nursing a broken heart inflicted by the fiancée who all but ditched her at the altar, the powerful witch is sick of feeling low and is ready to try something drastically different: a dating app.
At her best friend’s urging, Nina goes on a date with Morty Gutierrez, the nonbinary, offbeat soul of spontaneity and co-owner of the Shamrock Cauldron. Their date goes about as well as can be expected of most online dates—awkward and terrible. To make matters worse, once Morty discovers Nina’s last name, he’s far from a fan; it turns out that the Blackmoores have been bullishly trying to buy the Shamrock out from under Morty and his family.
But when Morty begins developing magical powers—something that usually only happens to committed romantic partners once they officially join a founding family—at the same time that Nina’s own magic surges beyond her control, Nina must manage Morty’s rude awakening to the hidden magical world, uncover its cause, and face the intensity of their own burgeoning connection. But what happens when that connection is tied to Nina’s power surge, a power she’s finding nearly as addictive as Morty’s presence in her life?
Harper’s Witches of Thistle Grove series have consistently been sweet magical romances with really lovely prose and characters who feel like actual grown-ups, which I massively appreciate! Plus, Morty’s been one of my favourite background characters of the series, so I’m delighted he’s the love interest in this one!
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Chinese-coded cast and setting
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, #1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Am\u00e9lie Wen Zhao", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. An epic fantasy series inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.
Once, Lan had a different name. Now she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and her days scavenging for what she can find of the past. Anything to understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died.
The mark is mysterious—an untranslatable Hin character—and no one but Lan can see it. Until the night a boy appears at her teahouse and saves her life.
Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. Their magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Now it must be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.
When Zen comes across Lan, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He’s never seen anything like it—but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.
Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within—secrets they must hide from others, and secrets that they themselves have yet to discover. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.
Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.
Definitely one of the most hyped YA Fantasies of the year! And I have to admit that that cover’s pretty hypnotising…!
A Ruinous Fate (Heartless Fates, #1) by Kaylie Smith Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, almost entirely queer cast
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "A Ruinous Fate (Heartless Fates, #1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kaylie Smith", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Fate does not choose the weak. Fate chooses the ready.
Calliope Rosewood is a witch with a long streak of bad luck. Like all witches in Illustros, her fate is directly tied to Witch’s Dice—powerful artifacts that have blessed her kind with limitless magic but also set them on a path toward destruction. Cursed with unspeakable powers that terrify even the most dangerous witches and fae, Calla deserted her coven four years ago and has been in hiding with her two best friends since. But Calla is also hiding a grave secret: She is only three Rolls away from becoming the last Blood Warrior and starting the Final War that will decimate her people and eradicate their magic.
After a betrayal from her ex leads her one step closer to fulfilling that age-old prophecy, Calla is desperate to do whatever it takes to reset her fate . . . even if that means journeying into the deadly Neverending Forest with said ex and his enticing, yet enigmatic older brother to find the one being who can help her forge her own path. As Calla ventures farther into the enchanted woods, she finds her heart torn between her past desires and the alluring new possibilities of her future and learns that choosing your own destiny may come with deadly consequences.
Featuring a charming and chaotic ensemble cast of characters, this first book in a planned series by debut author Kaylie Smith will sweep readers away with its utterly immersive world building, swoon-worthy romance, and action-packed storytelling.
I suspect I’m not going to properly understand the dice thing until I sit down and read Ruinous Fate, but I’ve heard lots of praise for this one, and I’m definitely going to be giving it a go!
Haunted by Natalie Zeigler Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Black cast
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Haunted", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Natalie Zeigler", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Mäzzikim (Maze) is the youngest daughter of a powerful chieftain, but beneath her obedient façade she’s haunted by disturbing necromantic visions—a rare power bestowed by the gods. With her ruling father vowing to destroy magic in all its forms, Maze languishes under the weight of her heavy secret.
But as her power grows, Maze’s ability to speak to the dead draws her closer to the truth behind the realm’s mysterious past. Struggling to find the truth while navigating volatile family tensions and clan politics, Maze has no idea that an evil threat lurks where she least expects it.
Maze’s gift could prove to be the salvation of her people, or the ultimate proof that magic corrupts everything it touches. Either way, the destiny she faces will change her and the realm, forever.
Haunted is book one of a gripping YA fantasy series of the same name.
I haven’t heard much about Haunted, but this sounds like a take on necromancy that I haven’t come across before!
Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Autistic MC
Published on: 3rd January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2023-01-02T09:27:00+00:00", "description": "Autistic changelings and necromancy!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-118\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Unseelie", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ivelisse Housman", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Twin sisters, both on the run, but different as day and night. One, a professional rogue, searches for a fabled treasure; the other, a changeling, searches for the truth behind her origins, trying to find a place to fit in with the realm of fae who made her and the humans who shun her.
Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde… but as an autistic changeling trying to navigate her unpredictable magic, Seelie finds it more difficult to fit in with the humans around her. When Seelie and Isolde are caught up in a heist gone wrong and make some unexpected allies, they find themselves unraveling a larger mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.
Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister, and herself?
I am automatically here for autistic changelings, okay? Okay then!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #118 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
December 31, 2022
In Short: December
Winter hit hard this month, with an avalanche of snow and ice appearing literally overnight – but icy outsides just mean more time spent indoors reading!
ARCs Received
Just three new ARCs this month, but three is plenty when they’re all books you’re excited for! I was especially touched when Redfern Jon Barrett reached out to ask if I’d like an early copy of their debut Proud Pink Sky, to which the answer was obviously yes!
Read
25 books read this month; I think we can safely say I’m over my reading slump! And there were some pretty amazing standouts, like Siren Queen (think Hollywood run by Fae monsters, where movie stars become literal stars), At the Feet of the Sun (the seriously but softly mythic sequel to Hands of the Emperor), the short but exquisite Lights of Ystrac’s Wood (in which two very different people meet their patron gods) and The Map and the Territory (wherein a magical apocalypse in a very queer world throws unlikely travelling companions together). I’m also a year late to Victoria Goddard’s wonderful (and game-changing) Plum Duff, but it proved to be perfect Yuletide reading, so it all worked out!
To the best of my knowledge, 31.82% of this month’s authors were BIPOC.
Reviewed
I really hoped to get more reviews written this month, but I’m very happy I finally finished my write-up of Everything For Everyone – I’ve been working on my review of it since August!
DNF-edAnother month with no DNFs!!! I’m starting to wonder if something’s wrong with me – or maybe I’ve just been wonderfully lucky in what I’ve been reading!
ARCs Outstanding
11 outstanding ARCs, and every one of them I’m so excited to read! I’ve started several of them already, and I’ll be surprised if I don’t end up fervently loving most if not all of these!
MiscI finalised and posted my Best SFF of 2022 list! It ended up being 24 books long – a fair bit shorter than my Best of 2021, which featured 31 books. Were there more great books released last year, or was I just stricter with my standards this year? Hard to say. I do think that this year’s Best were, on the whole, better than 2021’s Best – more imaginative, more powerful, more mindblowing.
So maybe it’s just a quality over quantity thing.
The rest of this month has been devoted to my Unmissable SFF of 2023 list, which will hopefully go live tomorrow!
Looking Forward
December was a slow month for new releases (which, fair!) but we’re diving right back into things in January! The newest Wayward Children installment has to be at the top of my list, but I’m also rabidly excited for Queer Fires, the sequel to Ember Boys (reviewed here) and Godkiller, which sounds like it ticks so many of my boxes!
Which brings us to the end of the month – and the year! May 2023 be a better year for all of us!
The post In Short: December appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
December 23, 2022
Unbury This and Stick It To The Top of Your TBR: The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hasan
The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Lebanese-American MC, bi/pansexual MC, gay MC
PoV: Third-person, past-tense, multiple PoVs
Published on: 24th January 2023
ISBN: 125082219X
Goodreads
A contemporary fantasy YA debut from Rochelle Hassan about monsters, magic, and wicked fae, perfect for fans of The Darkest Part of the Forest and The Hazel Wood.
As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts—an uncommonly magical place—Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright aggression, and the danger—to herself and others—becomes too great for her to handle alone.
Leo Merritt is no stranger to magical catastrophes. On his sixteenth birthday, a dormant curse kicked in and ripped away all his memories of his true love. A miserable year has passed since then. He's road-tripped up and down the East Coast looking for a way to get his memories back and hit one dead end after another. He doesn't even know his true love's name, but he feels the absence in his life, and it's haunting.
Desperate for answers, he makes a pact with Aziza: he’ll provide much-needed backup on her nightly patrols, and in exchange, she’ll help him break the curse.
When the creature in the woods sets its sights on them, their survival depends on the aid of a mysterious young necromancer they’re not certain they can trust. But they’ll have to work together to eradicate the new threat and take back their hometown... even if it forces them to uncover deeply buried secrets and make devastating sacrifices.
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.
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-23T19:47:00+00:00", "description": "A young witch and her unlikely allies go up against a monster in this YA with a surprising amount of depth!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/unbury-this-and-stick-it-to-the-top-of-your-tbr-the-buried-and-the-bound-by-rochelle-hasan\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Buried and the Bound", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rochelle Hassan", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "125082219X" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": 4, "bestRating": "5" }} Highlights ~always check the Christmas fair for misbehaving fae
~indestructible wolves are inconvenient
~DON’T KEEP SECRETS FROM YOUR KIDS
~if you’re not old enough to sign a legal contract you shouldn’t be able to agree to a magical one
A few times over the last few years, I have come very close to swearing off YA – not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because my tastes seem to have changed and YA rarely hits the mark for me any more.
But books like The Buried and the Bound are why I keep coming back.
When I was explaining what I loved about this book (and there are many things, but we’ll get to them) to my husband, I said: the writing is so smooth. Like the perfect rock that fits just right in your hand? That’s what Hassan’s writing feels like. And I have pondered, but I haven’t come up with a better way to put it than that. Hassan’s prose isn’t the flowery descriptive kind I usually prefer, but it’s not barebones and blunt either. It doesn’t have the frenetic pace of an airport thriller; nor does it drag its feet. The action and introspection are in perfect proportion; there’s room for us to fall in love with the characters without slowing down the plot, and Hassan knows exactly when to show and when to tell.
Her writing feels expert. Polished until it gleams. Precise, and elegant, and smooth. It had me hooked after two paragraphs, after which I only put the book down long enough to gleefully describe and explain the story to my hubby.
I am seriously impressed, folx.
The Buried and the Bound is divided pretty equally between the three main characters; Aziza, Leo, and Tristan. They each take turns being the PoV character, and Hassan has an excellent instinct for when to switch between them, for whose eyes we should be looking through for each part of the story in order to give that story the most impact. They’re all absolutely brilliant characters; the careful relationships that develop between them are perfectly on-point, and each one of them reads and feels like a real teenager, a real person. And because they feel so human, here, plot twists and reveals (or not-reveals) that would feel contrived in the hands of a lesser writer work beautifully – because Hassan absolutely sells us on the fact that her characters would behave as they do, even when it’s not the smartest or most rational option. One thread of the plot in particular echos similar storylines I’ve seen elsewhere, but instead of rolling my eyes (as I have before), I was nodding along, because here I understood and believed in the relevant character’s motivations and thought processes. That’s something so many authors struggle with, but Hassan pulls it off with aplomb.
I don’t want to go into the plot very much – the book description sums it up pretty well – but I do want to talk about the characters and their world a little bit.
Aziza is a Lebanese-American hedgewitch being raised by her grandfather, and if you’re anything like me, you saw the word ‘hedgewitch’ and thought of little magics, not-very-impressive magics. But in The Buried and the Bound, hedgewitch actually has a very specific meaning: a witch who is tied to – and, in fact, made or chosen by – a place. It’s Aziza’s job to keep the supernatural and human worlds of Blackthorn safe and separate, to keep the boundaries between them healthy and whole, and I really loved getting to see what that meant, and how much pride and care Aziza takes in the work. I also really adored the fact that she’s a loner who is very happy to be by herself; she’s not secretly pining for friends, and she doesn’t want to be normal. That makes a pretty refreshing change from most witchy characters I see in YA!
Go into the unknown, but go prepared: That was Aziza’s way
Leo is not any kind of witch; instead, he has huge, sweeping memory loss – because he was cursed to forget his true love, and apparently, that person was a big part of his life, because big parts of his life are now missing. He signs up to be Aziza’s sidekick in the hope she might be able to help break the curse, and the friendship that develops between them??? *chef’s kiss* Made my heart freaking GLOW. They make such a great team, both for Aziza’s work, and in the way they fit together, play off each other.
“What if I promise not to make laser noises during the fight scenes?” He held up a bandaged hand in a wait gesture. “Think carefully before you say no. This offer might never be on the table again.”
And I really liked how well Hassan got across just how devastating Leo’s kind of memory loss is, how damaging it is – and how easy it is to misunderstand for those not experiencing it themselves (ie, Leo’s parents). Personality is shaped, if not outright defined by, memory, so yeah, of course losing huge chunks of his memory messes Leo up!
Tristan is…I probably can’t really talk about Tristan very much without spoilers. He made a deal with a monster, and it was a stupid decision, but it’s easy to see why he made it. It’s way too easy to understand and sympathise with his situation, his desperation. That being said, it does kind of feel like The Buried and the Bound glossed over the terrible things he’s done in favour of the terrible things that have happened or been done to him. That doesn’t really bother me in this case – I liked and sympathised with Tristan too much to really care – but I’m definitely curious to see what other readers are going to think of him and his arc.
Fear that ran so deep it became bravery.
Anyway.
I was honestly surprised with how much Hassan managed to pack into one book, without ever making any of the issues touched on or dealt with feel rushed or shallow; we see homophobic parents and homelessness, the debatable value of academics, the dismissiveness so many adults turn on the concerns and cares of teenagers (never ceases to make me rage), family secrets, what on earth True Love means… And this is without touching on the magic, which is delightful; we see dryads and kelpies and pixies and sandmen, and a simple but pretty unique take on witches. This is a world that, like its characters, feels very real, with believable depth to it – and plenty of room to be expanded upon in the rest of the trilogy!
If I had to pick out a flaw or two… I would say that there’s a touch too much telling-not-showing, although I also think Hassan’s introspective writing style makes the telling go down easy, rather than it being something that I choked on. At the same time, one or two things aren’t explained when they probably should be; I know what selkies are, but if you don’t, you might want to read up on them a bit before opening up this book, because The Buried and the Bound doesn’t really tell you. And a few things happened or came together a bit too neatly for me, or didn’t quite make sense.
But those are all extremely minor gripes, and don’t change the fact that I adored this book so much, and already have my eyes out looking for the sequel! I already can’t wait to get back to Aziza, Leo and Tristan, and see where the rest of the story will take them; I already miss Blackthorn and all its magical secrets and mysteries.
So if you’re looking for elegantly written YA witchery, with just a touch of Holly Black vibes? Make sure you snatch this one up next month – and then come tell me what you think of it!
The post Unbury This and Stick It To The Top of Your TBR: The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hasan appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
December 21, 2022
I Can’t Wait For…Queer Fires by Gregory Ashe
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 Queer Fires by Gregory Ashe!
Queer Fires (Flint and Tinder #2) by Gregory Ashe Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, gay MC, M/M, secondary F/F
PoV: First-person, past-tense, multiple PoVs
Published on: 27th January 2023
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-21T19:07:00+00:00", "description": "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/i-cant-wait-for-queer-fires-by-gregory-ashe\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Queer Fires (Flint and Tinder #2)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gregory Ashe", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Emmett might not have a job. He might not be going to school. He might not have any friends. Heck, he might not even be all that happy. But he’s clean; that’s the important thing. And all that spare time? It means he can really focus on screwing up his friendship (and absolutely nothing more than friendship) with Jim, who just happens to be the most important person in his life.
When their friend Chloe shows up at their apartment, being chased by men with guns, Emmett and Jim find themselves dragged into a conflict they don’t understand. A year ago, they saved Chloe’s life from a band of supernatural killers. Now, it seems someone is after her again. It’s up to Emmett and Jim to stop them, which might be easier if they could figure out why everyone wants her.
It won’t be that easy, of course. When Chloe’s on-and-off-again girlfriend gets taken hostage, Emmett and Jim will have to race to save her. But an invisible war is raging all around them, and they’ve just stepped into the crossfire.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Queer Fires is the sequel to Ember Boys (which I reviewed here), and I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ALMOST HERE!!! I literally stumbled across it completely by accident while looking for something else on Amaz*on – I guess their algorithms are good for something after all??? – and LOOK. LOOK. WE ONLY HAVE TO WAIT TILL THE END OF JANUARY.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
The Flint and Tinder series is the follow up to the Hollow Folk series – aka, one of the greatest series of all time – and I maybe lost my mind a little bit at how much Ember Boys expanded on what we learned from the Hollow Folk books. It’s not that questions were answered exactly, so much as Ashe assuring us that he does have the answers and we will be getting them too!
Like. !!!
I have so many questions about the worldbuilding, and I’m dying to get back to Emmett, and Jim, AND HEY, YOU KNOW, THERE’S THE UTTERLY JAW-DROPPING ENDING OF THE LAST BOOK TO DEAL WITH, DON’T FORGET ABOUT THAT.
But also, this is set a year after the first book??? WHAT. WHAT. WHAT.
And you know, if you have no clue what I’m talking about, both the Hollow Folk series and Ember Boys are on sale right now on Smashwords! Just click on the links in the previous sentence to collect each book for less than $1.50!!!
Then you, too, can be utterly obsessed with this utterly flawless queer-psychics-and-x-men story that honestly should be mandatory reading for absolutely everyone at this point.
NOW EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO RUN AROUND AND FLAIL AND SCREAM SOME MORE!
The post I Can’t Wait For…Queer Fires by Gregory Ashe appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
December 19, 2022
Must-Have Monday #117
FOUR books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Uneven Futures: Strategies for Community Survival from Speculative Fiction by Ida M Yoshinaga, Sean Guynes, Gerry Canavan Published on: 20th December 2022
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-19T15:03:00+00:00", "description": "Sirens, mermaids, and thoughts on speculative futures!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-117\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Uneven Futures: Strategies for Community Survival from Speculative Fiction", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ida M Yoshinaga, Sean Guynes, Gerry Canavan", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Essays on speculative/science fiction explore the futures that feed our most cherished fantasies and terrifying nightmares, while helping diverse communities devise new survival strategies for a tough millennium.
The explosion in speculative/science fiction (SF) across different media from the late twentieth century to the present has compelled those in the field of SF studies to rethink the community’s identity, orientation, and stakes. In this edited collection, more than forty writers, critics, game designers, scholars, and activists explore core SF texts, with an eye toward a future in which corporations dominate both the means of production and the means of distribution and governments rely on powerful surveillance and carceral technologies.
The essays, international in scope, demonstrate the diversity of SF through a balance of popular mass-market novels, comics, films, games, TV shows, creepypastas, and more niche works. SF works explored range from Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi, 2084: The End of the World by Boualem Sansal, Terra Nullius by Claire Coleman, Watchmen and X-Men comics, and the Marvel film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, to the MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin, and the Wormwood trilogy by Tade Thompson. In an era in which ecological disaster and global pandemics regularly expose and intensify deep political-economic inequalities, what futures has SF anticipated? What survival strategies has it provided us? Can it help us to deal with, and grow beyond, the inequalities and injustices of our times?
Unlike other books of speculative/science fiction criticism, Uneven Futures uses a think piece format to make its critical insights engaging to a wide audience. The essays inspire visions of better possible futures—drawing on feminist, queer, and global speculative engagements with Indigenous, Latinx, and Afro- and African futurisms—while imparting important lessons for political organizing in the present.
Contributors: Ben Abraham, Emmet Asher-Perrin, Brent Ryan Bellamy, Gerry Canavan, Andrew Ferguson, Fabio Fernandes, Dexter Gabriel, M. Elizabeth Ginway, Sean Guynes, Ouissal Harize, David M. Higgins, Veronica Hollinger, Allanah Hunt, Nicola Hunte, Nathaniel Isaacson, Ayana Jamieson, Darshana Jayemanne, Gwyneth Jones, Brendan Keogh, Sami Ahmad Khan, Cameron Kunzelman, Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada, Isiah Lavender III, Caryn Lesuma, Karen Lord, Sarah Marrs, Farah Mendlesohn, Cathryn Merla-Watson, Hugh Charles O’Connell, B. Pladek, John Rieder, Lysa Rivera, Kim Stanley Robinson, Steven Shaviro, Rebekah Sheldon, Alison Sperling, Alfredo Suppia, Bogi Takács, Taryne Jade Taylor, Sherryl Vint, Kirin Wachter-Grene, Ida Yoshinaga.
This sounds like it will make for incredibly interesting reading! I love this kind of thing – looking to fiction for thoughts and ideas to apply to the real world, or starting a conversation – and I can’t wait to dive in!
Shuck (Love Has Claws, #4) by Parker Foye Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC, nonbinary MC
Published on: 21st December 2022
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-19T15:03:00+00:00", "description": "Sirens, mermaids, and thoughts on speculative futures!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-117\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Shuck (Love Has Claws, #4)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Parker Foye", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Robin leaves the city and travels to the small coastal town of Lastings, hoping a holiday will help soothe his recent heartbreak. Staying at a remote cottage on the seafront, Robin spends his days walking along the cliffs and following the jagged line of the coast, while at night he plays guitar and sings his troubles to the sea.
He doesn't expect the sea to begin singing back.
The siren has spent xyr long life singing to humans of their desires and yet has never considered the music of xyr own. When a compelling song reaches xyr hunting ground, the siren follows it to a strange new shore, where xe listens to the lone figure playing on the dock and wonders about raising xyr voice in response.
One night, the siren draws close enough to Robin to be seen.
Before long, however, a third figure joins their chorus: the Silver Maiden, one of Lastings' ghosts. Powerful and mercurial, the Maiden has her own agenda and intends to use Robin and siren to fulfil it—even if the whole town of Lastings will suffer as a result. Can Robin and the siren reach an understanding in time to break free of the Maiden's thrall? Or will they remain unheard?
Shuck is the fourth story from Love Has Claws, a speculative romance series linked by the town of Lastings. They are standalone stories, but your experience may be enhanced by readingother books in the series.
Content warnings: drinking of alcohol; mentions of the consumption of human flesh; abduction.
WE’RE GOING BACK TO LASTINGS!!! The first book in the Love Has Claws series was one of the first books I ever reviewed for this blog – but the series was supposed to be over after book three. Except Foye just announced that we’re getting three new Lastings books!!! I’m delighted and excited and SO looking forward to getting my grubby little paws on this new installment!
Dark Mind (Fall of Magic, #2) by Val Neil Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Autistic MC
Published on: 25th December 2022
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-19T15:03:00+00:00", "description": "Sirens, mermaids, and thoughts on speculative futures!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-117\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Dark Mind (Fall of Magic, #2)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Val Neil", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Magic is dying out. There are only two people who can stop it: a psychopathic wizard who can’t keep it in his pants and an autistic mage with crippling anxiety.
Nikolai no longer wants to kill Medea—he’d much rather sleep with her, certain it’s the key to winning her heart and learning the secret to immortality. But she seems oblivious to his advances, and Yoxtl won’t stop cockblocking him. The damned spirit won’t relent until he builds it a following.
Medea has sensed the decline of magic for years. Now that she has an apprentice who can help her discover the cause, she finds her own discomfort with an ever-changing society getting in the way. Nikolai has been acting odd, too, though she can’t put her finger on why.
Their research takes them to America, where Medea struggles to navigate the Mundane world and Nikolai thrives, relying on his newly honed telepathy skills—a branch of magic that Medea despises and fears he’ll use against her. Will she ever learn to trust him? Should she?
And when they stumble upon a mysterious magical signature in the unlikeliest of places—the heart of a Mundane city—will it shed some light on the fall of magic or lead to more questions?
Contains:-psychopathic protagonist who could be triggering to some-autistic protagonist whose actions don’t always make sense to neurotypicals-swearing, murder, violence, gore, trauma-no sex scenes, but not for lack of Nikolai trying-graphic depictions of what passed for mental healthcare in 1957-racism and ableism and homophobia - oh my!-Now with more Medea!
I’m reading the first book in this series at the moment, and it’s really addictive, so I’m very glad book two will be ready and waiting for me when I’m done!
Ariana's Rising: For she is the sea - a Black Mermaid Tale by Joyce Licorish Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 25th December 2022
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-19T15:03:00+00:00", "description": "Sirens, mermaids, and thoughts on speculative futures!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-117\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Ariana's Rising: For she is the sea - a Black Mermaid Tale", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joyce Licorish", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Ariana, a girl who once lived a simple carefree life is faced with a life-altering decision when the world she knows is under attack suddenly and she finds out her true identity. This leaves her torn between two worlds where she must decide whether to take her station as the queen of an unfamiliar people or to return to the safety of the world she knows. Her heart is further torn by a love that is forbidden. What will she choose?
Author Joyce Licorish takes readers on an underwater journey of intrigue as this human-turned-mermaid explores a dark and murky unknown world under the sea.
ANOTHER BLACK MERMAID BOOK! We never say no to more of those around here!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #117 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
December 17, 2022
A Roadmap to a Future I Can Believe In: Everything For Everyone by M.E. O’Brien & Eman Abdelhadi
Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by Eman Abdelhadi, M.E. O’Brien Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: QBIPOC cast
PoV: First-person, past-tense, multiple PoVs
ISBN: B09TXZDDSB
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2022-12-17T11:13:00+00:00", "description": "I've read a lot of books with their own takes on a 'better future'.\n\nBut this is the first one I've ever seen that actually shows us how to make that future.", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/a-roadmap-to-a-future-i-can-believe-in-everything-for-everyone-by-m-e-obrien-eman-abdelhadi\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052\u20132072", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eman Abdelhadi, M.E. O\u2019Brien", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "B09TXZDDSB" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": 5, "bestRating": "5" }} Highlights
By the middle of the twenty-first century, war, famine, economic collapse, and climate catastrophe had toppled the world's governments. In the 2050s, the insurrections reached the nerve center of global capitalism—New York City. This book, a collection of interviews with the people who made the revolution, was published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the New York Commune, a radically new social order forged in the ashes of capitalist collapse.
Here is the insurrection in the words of the people who made it, a cast as diverse as the city itself. Nurses, sex workers, antifascist militants, and survivors of all stripes recall the collapse of life as they knew it and the emergence of a collective alternative. Their stories, delivered in deeply human fashion, together outline how ordinary people's efforts to survive in the face of crisis contain the seeds of a new world.
~sex workers start the revolution
~DJs keep it going
~think communism like ‘commune’ not ‘communist’
~a detailed breakdown of breaking down the system
~a future I can believe in
This is a book I need everyone to know about.
The ‘conceit’ is this: after decades of climate disaster, war, and economic collapse, capitalism was torn down, and the way of the commune took its place. No two communes anywhere in the world are identical, but they broadly share the same philosophy: everything for everyone. The world is not perfect, but it’s pretty close in a lot of ways, making it more important than ever that new generations not repeat the mistakes of the past – and understand how their present was made.
Thus, in 2072, O’Brien and Abdelhadi put together a collection of interviews, comprised of the stories of those who were there to burn the old world down, those who were a part of building the new world, and those who reflect on how far they’ve all come and where humanity might yet go.
I don’t use the word inspiring very often, but no other term can do Everything For Everyone justice: reading this book was like coming up for air, a fresh and undiluted draught of bright and bittersweet hope brought to parched lips. And it’s not (just) because the future O’Brien and Abdelhadi envision is so utopic; it’s the fact that they take a real, hard look at what it might take to get us there.
No fiction I’ve ever read has really broken down and examined what The Revolution looks like. Stories always seem to be set before or after the heroes go to war against the old system – sometimes just before, or just after, but the fight itself is always glossed over. And I do understand that! It’s much easier to imagine a better world than it is figuring out how to actually build one – but that’s exactly what makes Everything For Everyone so important.
It’s a detailed roadmap of what the path to one version of a better future might look like, and it’s the first one I’ve ever had.
This book is a real, working shield against despair.
It’s also just objectively brilliant, with an absolutely fascinating cast of characters (the interviewees) and the kind of worldbuilding I delight in, detailed and thought-provoking, with some ideas I’ve seen touched on in SFF before – and plenty I’ve never heard of ever. And although it’s focussed on the New York commune, the book doesn’t forget that the rest of the world exists; the entirety of the second chapter is about the liberation of the Levant, while other chapters cover the situation in China. We get glimpses of Australia and Canada, and the western and central US. That we get to see outside of New York surprised and delighted me, and I’m in awe of how legit each future state felt. It’s clear that Everything For Everyone is the culmination of a ton of thought and research and experience.
The topics of the interviews range from the role of club culture in the revolution to the logistical difficulties of creating a system where everyone’s voices are heard; the evolution of sex work and creation of new family models; the importance of not letting the 1% lay claim to outer space and how biotech might be used to help repair the ecological damage humans have done. None of it is boring, so much of it goes in unexpected (but so very human) directions, and even the painful parts were a joy to read.
And if you’re concerned about it being presented in a dry, textbook kind of style, fear not! Because each chapter takes the form of an interview – and a comfortably informal one, at that – reading Everything For Everyone is like having a series of conversations with some seriously incredible people.
Miss Kelly on the sex worker-led ‘insurrection of Hunts Point’Kawkab Hassab on Liberating the LevantTanya John on the Free Assembly of Crotona ParkBelquees Chowdhury on students and workers laying claim to the schools and hospitalsQuinn Liu on internments, China, and traumaS Addams on cults and churchesAniyah Reed on the Communization of Outer SpaceConnor Stephens on Indigenous Americans vs FascistsLatif Timbers on child-bearing and -rearingAn Zhou on Ecological RestorationKayla Puan on growing up in a communeAlkasi Sanchez on the keeping of history and AIsIt makes for much easier and accessible reading than if O’Brien and Abdelhadi had chosen to write their thoughts on the future as a collection of highly technical non-fiction essays or articles – which I’m pretty sure they could have done if they chose; I certainly got the impression that they knew exactly what they were talking about on every topic they covered, well enough to teach it in college if they decided to! There’s a sense of genius imbued in every page, but it’s not patronising or intimidating, just inspiring and hope-full.
(‘Just’!)
I always thought, “I don’t have time for this,” or “I don’t have energy for this.” But then I realised “I don’t have time because of this. I don’t have energy because of this.”
Everything For Everyone hit me so hard it’s taken months and months (it was published back in August!) to put my feelings about it into words, and I don’t think I’ve done the most amazing job of that. It’s just so hard to express how it feels to read something that is such a…a concrete promise that things can be better, and a guide on how to make it better. Something that is close enough to non-fiction that I can actually believe in the future it’s showing me, and feel real hope that we might make it there.
This is one of the under-the-radar best books of 2022 – hells, one of the best books of the decade. Trust me when I say you really, really need to read it.
The post A Roadmap to a Future I Can Believe In: Everything For Everyone by M.E. O’Brien & Eman Abdelhadi appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
