Siavahda's Blog, page 54

November 21, 2022

Must-Have Monday #113

FIVE marvellous new books this week!

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

At the Feet of the Sun (Lays of the Hearth-Fire #2) by Victoria Goddard
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy
Representation: Polynesian-coded MC
Published on: 21st November 2022
Goodreads

Cliopher Mdang has been appointed Viceroy of Zunidh by his beloved Radiancy, the Last Emperor, who has now left him behind in the Palace to safeguard the world during his absence on a quest to find an appropriately magical heir. When he returns, he will abdicate, and Cliopher will at last retire, satisfied with having achieved most of his life's political goals--even if his long-suppressed personal dreams are starting to bubble up.

(Surely he used to have hobbies besides running the government?)

All he has to do is wait patiently for his lord's return... until adventure quite literally hits him from behind, and what was once safely hypothetical becomes intensely real.

Cliopher has always followed the stars of his chosen course: the epic oral histories of his people, the poetry of the rebel poet Fitzroy Angursell, decades of devotion and service to his Radiancy... They were enough to change the world. But are they enough to guide Cliopher home?

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THE SEQUEL TO HANDS OF THE EMPEROR IS HERE! Or at least, it is if you preordered it from Goddard’s website – and even if you didn’t, I’m pretty sure you can buy it today from the site! The link is to the ebook edition, but you can preorder the print edition too as of today. If you want to wait and buy through some other retailer, I think it becomes available in early December.

The Hands of the Emperor is a book I have consistently failed to review, because I just can’t put into words how utterly perfect it is. I am breathless with anticipation for At the Feet of the Sun, and if you are new to this series, today is the PERFECT day to jump in!

Three Kings by Freydís Moon
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Transmasc MC, M/M/M
Published on: 22nd November 2022
Goodreads

Ethan Shaw—lighthouse keeper and local witch—lives a charmed life in his chilly, coastal hometown. Blessed with a flourishing garden and a stable livelihood, Ethan can’t complain. But when his husband, Captain Peter Vásquez, brings home a wounded leopard seal after an impromptu storm, Ethan is faced with a curious situation: caring for a lost selkie named Nico Locke.

As Ethan struggles with the possibility of being infertile, insecurities surrounding his marriage, and a newly formed magical bond with a hostile, handsome selkie, his comfortable life begins to fracture. But could breakage lead to something better?

With autumn at their heels and winter on the horizon, Ethan, Peter, and Nico test the boundaries of a new relationship, shared intimacy, and the chance at a future together.

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I included Three Kings last week as well, as it was available early if you bought it through the publisher – but the official release date is tomorrow! This is a very sweet and soft story from an incredible author, so if cosy cottagecore with a bonus selkie sounds good to you, don’t miss it!

Consider Pegasus (Starship Teapot #3) by Si Clarke
Published on: 22nd November 2022
Goodreads

A secret unicorn, a desperate family, and a cop dead-set on hunting them down.
Lem and the rag-tag gang of galactic adventurers on the starship Teapot are set to become roadies for the galaxy’s hottest band – but an urgent call from Bexley’s family means the rock stars will have to wait.
Bexley’s soon-to-be-born sibling has a big secret: wings. On their world, skeledivergence is outlawed, so the Teapot crew swoop in to help the family escape.
But their planet won’t let them go that easily. Hunted across the galaxy by a fanatical and eerily familiar cop, the Teapotters must find a way to outwit their pursuer and secure a future for skeledivergent people everywhere.
Dive into the next adventure in this satirical space opera series. Artfully intertwining deep themes with tongue-in-cheek humour and intergalactic ridiculousness, Consider Pegasus is a must-read for fans of John Scalzi’s take on Fuzzy Nation or TJ Berry’s Space Unicorn Blues.

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‘A space tale about unicorn rights’??? GIMME! I have no idea what unicorns are going to look like in this verse, and I do not care; I’m already sold!

The Vermilion Emporium by Jamie Pacton
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC
Published on: 22nd November 2022
Goodreads

The heart-wrenching story of The Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle. Jamie Pacton’s fantasy debut is a story of timeless love and deadly consequences.

It was a day for finding things . . .   On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, The Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy.  

When Quinta meets Twain outside the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta starts to fall for this starlight boy, who uses his charm to hide his scars. Two, they enter the store and discover a book that teaches them how to weave starlight into lace.   Soon, their lace catches the eye of the Casorina, the ruler of Severon. She commissions Quinta and Twain to make her a starlight dress and will reward them handsomely enough to make their dreams come true. However, they can’t sew a dress without more material, and the secret to starlight’s origins has been lost for centuries. As Quinta and Twain search the Emporium for answers, though, they discover the secret might not have been lost—but destroyed. And likely, for good reason.

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I love the sound of making lace out of starlight! Honestly that alone would get me to pick it up, but it’s also supposed to be deliciously cosy, and I’m in exactly the right mood for that!

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Vietnamese sapphic MCs
Published on: 24th November 2022
Goodreads

Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates' enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si's help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si's technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together...

An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.

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And of course, the sapphic space-pirates book everyone’s been talking about! This is apparently set in the universe of Bodard’s Xuya series, but it’s very much a standalone – you don’t need to read the earlier short stories and novellas to appreciate it.

(I had to include both the UK and US covers – I just couldn’t pick a favourite. Could you?!)

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

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Published on November 21, 2022 05:54

November 16, 2022

I Can’t Wait For…Transmogrify! ed by g. haron davis

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 Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic edited by g. haron davis!

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic by g. haron davis, Nik Traxler, Renée Reynolds, Francesca Tacchi, Sonora Reyes, Mason Deaver, Cam Montgomery, Saundra Mitchell, Ash Nouveau, A.R. Capetta, Cory McCarthy, Jonathan Lenore Kastin
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MCs
Published on: 16th May 2023
Goodreads

Perfect for fans of All Out and Cemetery Boys, this anthology claims a seat at the table of fantasy literature for trans and gender nonconforming stories.

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you’ll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.

Featuring stories from:
AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy
g. haron davis
Mason Deaver
Jonathan Lenore Kastin
Emery Lee
Saundra Mitchell
Cam Montgomery
Ash Nouveau
Sonora Reyes
Renee Reynolds
Dove Salvatierra
Ayida Shonibar
Francesca Tacchi
Nik Traxler

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Surely I need no explanation as to why I’m excited for this one?! TRANS. MAGIC. We’ve slowly but surely been getting more queer SFF the last few years, but a) more is always good, and b) the upsurge in queer books has mostly featured cis characters. So yes, I’m very much in love with the idea of a collection that’s made up of fantastical nonbinary stories!

I really can’t wait to see all the takes on the interaction between nonbinary gender and magic – there’s so much you can do with that premise (including nothing at all – it would be perfectly valid for a character’s gender identity to have nothing to do with their magic or adventures)!

It’s been a while since I heard about Transmogrify!, and thinking about it still makes my heart glow. I’m just so damn HAPPY this book is going to exist! I don’t know how to put it any more simply than that. I’m so happy someone came up with the idea, and that someone else bought the pitch, and that all these authors wrote stories for it, and that someone put together such a beautiful cover for it! This looks like one of those books I wish I could take back in time to baby!Sia, and I am OVERLY EMOTIONAL at the thought of everyone who needs this book now (or rather, next year!) getting to actually read it.

Yes good excellent!!!

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Published on November 16, 2022 12:59

November 14, 2022

Must-Have Monday #112

TWELVE new books to feast on this week!

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

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Zelda Knight, Dilman Dila, W.C. Dunlap, Steven Barnes, Joshua Omenga, Russell Nichols, Nuzo Onoh, Franka Zeph, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Wole Talabi, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Alex Jennings, Mirette Bahgat, Timi Odueso, Maurice Broaddus, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Tobias S. Buckell, Somto Ihezue Onyedikachi, Tananarive Due, Ytasha Womack, Oyedotun Damilola Muees, Alexis Brooks De Vita, Tobi Ogundiran, Moustapha Mbacke Diop, Akua Lezli Hope, Mame Bougouma Diene, Woppa Diallo, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Ada Nnadị, Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, Chinelo Onwualu, Danian Darrell Jerry, Dare Segun Falowo
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi
Representation: African MCs
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

From an award-winning team of editors comes an anthology of thirty-two original stories showcasing the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

A group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. A child robot on a dying planet uncovers signs of fragile new life. A descendent of a rain goddess inherits her grandmother’s ability to change her appearance—and perhaps the world.

Created in the legacy of the seminal, award-winning anthology series Dark Matter, Africa Risen celebrates the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising—it’s already here.

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If you’re not excited for Africa Risen then you are DOING IT WRONG! This has been on my Unmissable SFF of 2022 list since I first heard about it, and I’m VIBRATING with excitement that it’s almost here!!!

To Each This World by Julie E. Czerneda
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

From an Aurora Award-winning author, a new sci-fi novel follows three intrepid humans caught up in a conflict that stretches across time and space.

Biologist Julie E. Czerneda's new standalone science fiction novel, To Each This World follows a desperate mission to reconnect with long lost sleeper ships, sent centuries earlier from Earth to settle distant worlds.

A trio of Humans must work with their mysterious alien allies to rescue any descendants they can find on those worlds. Something is out there, determined to claim the cosmos for itself, and only on Earth will Humans be safe.

Or will they?

The challenge isn't just to communicate with your own kind after generations have passed. It's to understand what isn't your kind at all.

And how far will trust take you, when the truth depends on what you are?

I’ve been meaning to start reading Czerneda for AGES, and a standalone seems like a good place to start. Especially since I’m fascinated by the generation/sleeper ship trope, and love the idea of trying to track down lost ships that (presumably) aren’t needed any more!

Rainbear!!!!!!!!! by Never Angeline Nørth
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

Rainbear!!!!!!!!! is the story of a woman who lives in a coffee shop where she makes a job out of loving people while inventing worlds in her dreams. The coffee shop is staffed by a barista-cum-border-guard who people show up to stab every week. Later, the narrative channels 18th century Jewish folktales as she is told a bedtime story about two queer lovers, who are themselves then told a dreamlike, quasi-erotic tale of a pagan prophet without a home. In this way, narratives eat each other and turn inside out as stories are found within stories and new adventures are told by unexpected rainbow bears that are also mountains and pages of journals are found papered inside the nests of vomitbirds.

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what’s going on with this book, but I really want to find out!

The End of All Skies by Vincent C. Sales
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Representation: Southeast Asian-coded cast + setting
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

A tyrant’s cruel reign comes to an end in a mythical Southeast Asian Sultanate where the powerless rise up against gods and monsters

The final days of Sun Girna Ginar have arrived. The old witch in the marketplace knows it, but no one believes her. How could the Sultanate fall when the God-Sultan rules over the earth and Skyworld? How could anyone ever defeat General Marandang, the giant slayer, and the city’s champion, Lam-Ang?

Entering into a wager with the gods, the old witch promises to destroy the city. And by granting the most insignificant the ability to make their dreams come true, it all comes to pass. We witness the fall of the Sultan’s great city through their stories: the hunter who seeks revenge, the one-handed thief who wants justice, and the exiled datu searching for redemption.

Together, they bring about the destruction of the city of Sun Girna Ginar. Its walls are breached by the six-headed giant of Gawi-Gawen as fire consumes the Palace and the never-ending rain swallows the city in flood.

Um, this sounds amazing??? High/Epic Fantasy pulled from Southeast Asia??? ALL THE YES PLEASE???

The Ghost of Danny McGee by Quinlan Grim
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

Camp Phoenix is a controversial and expensive summer camp program that transfers adults’ consciousness into a clone of their childhood selves. On the surface, it’s an ordinary summer camp. Twelve-year-old Logan has come to have a relaxing, carefree summer. She wants to ride horses, make new friends, and she loves listening to ghost stories. Sam is a twenty-year-old counselor, taking on the responsibility of the kids’ care by day, and riding the rollercoaster of a summer romance after hours.

As Logan faces the ups and downs of puberty, Sam watches over her and struggles with the bizarre truth: the campers in her care are not kids at all, but wealthy adults immersed in the ultimate escape from reality.

What Logan doesn't know—or at least, can't remember—is that she and her friends will all have to return to their grownup bodies once the summer is over. Logan will again be a successful, middle-aged woman, and the popular boy she has a crush on? He will return to his life as a celebrity suspect at the center of a high-profile murder case.

This sounds unbelievably weird, but it’s so weird that I’m just going to have to give it a go. (Although I, for one, would not swap being an adult for being a kid again if you paid me.)

Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

Pulling the Wings Off Angels is a madcap adventure brimming with the ethical quandaries and sardonic wit of The Good Place by World Fantasy Award-winning author K. J. Parker

Long ago, a wealthy man stole an angel and hid her in a chapel, where she remains imprisoned to this day.

That’s the legend, anyway.

A clerical student who’s racked up gambling debts to a local gangster is given an ultimatum—deliver the angel his grandfather kidnapped, or forfeit various body parts in payment.

And so begins a whirlwind theological paradox—with the student at its center—in which the stakes are the necessity of God, the existence of destiny—and the nature of angels.

Parker is another author who’s been on my Seriously-Sia-Sit-Down-and-Read-Them list, and given that I’m fascinated by angels and angelic mythology, this seems like an excellent place to start!

Moonlight and the Magician (The Moonlight Curse, #1) by Evelynn Carver
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

Spoiled pretty boy, Valentino, a revered fire mage of singular talent, finds himself pressured into a political marriage with a sadistic noblewoman he barely knows. He’s desperate to find a way out, even if it means leaving his gilded life in the spotlight behind.

Brand, a mysterious roguish vagabond, approaches Val and charms him into a deal: he will help him escape his problems in exchange for his assistance in breaking a vicious magical curse. What that curse entails is only revealed in the light of the full moon. Is Brand really who he says he is?

What begins as a romantic runaway adventure soon turns out to be much more than they bargained for. It seems that Valentino’s magic isn't worth as much as he thought when it comes to dealing with a willful demon, gunslinging bounty hunters, and his own fickle heart. He might be falling in lust with a monster, but will he sell his very soul just to run away from responsibility?

Spoiled pretty boys getting hit hard by reality are nearly always way too fun, and I’m intrigued by the potential for worldbuilding implied in the premise. Also, here’s hoping the selling of souls is meant literally!

The Six Deaths of the Saint (Into Shadow) by Alix E. Harrow
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty by New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow.

Always mindful of the debt she owes, the girl finds her worth as a weapon in the hand of the Prince. Her victories make him a king, then an emperor. The bards sing her name and her enemies fear it. But the war never ends and the cost keeps rising—how many times will she repeat her own story?

Rather than releasing them in a single volume, Amazon is publishing the stories of the Into Shadow collection as individual ebooks. Since all the stories are by very impressive names, you’ll probably want to check them all out, but I’m listing the three I’m most interested in – which very much includes Harrow’s! I mean, really. Anything by Alix E. Harrow, I am there!

What the Dead Know (Into Shadow) by Nghi Vo
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

A woman posing as a medium who can channel the spirit world comes face to face with the truth in this short historical fantasy by Hugo Award–winning author Nghi Vo.
The Fogg River Seminary, a girls’ school in a small Illinois town, is supposed to be just another stop on Maryse and Vasyl’s endless travels. They’ve made lucrative use of Maryse’s “foreign” looks in their melodramatic séance act—and an act is all it is. Then, during their performance, a blizzard sweeps in and cuts them off from town completely. In the freezing halls, there’s a voice speaking the secrets of the dead, and Maryse has no choice but to listen…because this time, the voice is real.

Do I usually care about ghosts and seances? Nope. But I will always read anything and everything Vo writes!

Undercover (Into Shadow) by Tamsyn Muir
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

When a stranger comes to town, secrets are sure to come out. New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir spins a twisty—and twisted—short story of revenge and survival.

A fresh-faced newcomer arrives in an isolated, gang-run town and soon finds herself taking a job nobody else wants: bodyguard to a ghoul. Not just your average mindless, half-rotted shuffler, though. Lucille is a dancer who can still put on her own lipstick and whose shows are half burlesque, half gladiator match. But the stranger is no stranger to this particular ghoul. Both women are undercover in their own way. And both have something to lose if their connection comes to light.

Every book of the Locked Tomb series has been so different from the others that it’s clear Muir’s far from a one-trick pony, and her novella Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower proved she can write short-forms too, so although I have no real idea what to expect, I’m very excited for Undercover!

Wicked Little Things by Justin Arnold
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay MC
Published on: 15th November 2022
Goodreads

Join a coven.
Catch a killer.
Get a makeover...?

When his cousin is murdered, recently outed 16-year-old Dane Craven is forced to return to his unbearably small hometown of Jasper Hollow. It would be easy enough for him to keep his head down if it weren't for three inescapable facts.

One, Dane is a witch with fiery powers he has little ability to control.
Two, Dane thinks he's responsible for the death of his cousin.
And three, he's already been claimed by a coven of fashion-forward 'mean girls' desperate to give him a makeover.

Being the gay best friend to a trio of teenage witches wasn't ever high on Dane's list of aspirations, but fortunately for him these girls have the necromantic powers he needs to figure out who killed his cousin. Plus, he could do with some new clothes.

While on the hunt for his cousin's killer Dane discovers life in Jasper Hollow isn't all bad. There's the cute boy who works at the local coffee shop and enjoys long walks in the woods, for one.

But when the rabbit-faced killer comes for Dane, he'll be forced to come to terms with who he is and where he belongs before it's too late for him and everyone in Jasper Hollow.

Not gonna lie, I’m way too interested in mean-girl witches, and fire-magic’s one of my favourites. So far this publisher has been publishing Very Good Things, so I see no reason to break my streak by not picking up their newest release!

Three Kings by Freydís Moon
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Transmasc MC, M/M/M
Published on: 22nd November 2022
Goodreads

Ethan Shaw—lighthouse keeper and local witch—lives a charmed life in his chilly, coastal hometown. Blessed with a flourishing garden and a stable livelihood, Ethan can’t complain. But when his husband, Captain Peter Vásquez, brings home a wounded leopard seal after an impromptu storm, Ethan is faced with a curious situation: caring for a lost selkie named Nico Locke.

As Ethan struggles with the possibility of being infertile, insecurities surrounding his marriage, and a newly formed magical bond with a hostile, handsome selkie, his comfortable life begins to fracture. But could breakage lead to something better?

With autumn at their heels and winter on the horizon, Ethan, Peter, and Nico test the boundaries of a new relationship, shared intimacy, and the chance at a future together.

Although the official release date isn’t until next week, I’m including Three Kings here because if you preorder from the publisher (like I have) you’ll get it on the 18th. And who wouldn’t want to get one of Moon’s books early?! This one even has a SELKIE!

If you need more convincing, you can read an excerpt of the book at the publisher link!

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

The post Must-Have Monday #112 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

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Published on November 14, 2022 03:31

November 7, 2022

Must-Have Monday #111

TWELVE epic SFF releases this week!

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

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 7th November 2022
Goodreads

A queer retelling of Satan's fall that's part cozy coming of age and part fast-paced tragedy, with a little love story in between –

In an eternal paradise, the most beautiful angel, Lucifer, struggles with shame, identity, and timidity, with little more than the desire to worship his creator.

It isn't until the strongest angel, Michael, comes into his life that Lucifer learns to love himself. Along the way, their friendship begins to bloom into something else. Maybe the first romance in the history of everything.

But this God is a jealous one, and maybe paradise is not paradise.

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Hands down the book I’m most excited for this week and it’s out TODAY!

The Fall is All There Is by C.M. Caplan
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 7th November 2022
Goodreads

You never want to ruin a really good dramatic exit. When you flee home on a cyborg horse the exact second you turn eighteen, you don’t really expect to go back to the place you fled from, you know? But sometimes your old life hits you from behind.
Sometimes you spend years away from home, killing dangerous people who had the bad luck to get infected by a lungful of ghostfog, only to find out that your dad, the king, is dead, and now your siblings are ordering you back home for a high stakes family reunion.

But when the heirs are quadruplets, the line of succession tends to get a wee bit murky. So in order to regain your independence, you’ve got to navigate a deadly web of intrigue, where every sibling wants your allegiance, and any decision might tear your country—and your family—apart.

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It’s very likely that this features queer and/or autistic characters, but I wasn’t able to confirm it. Regardless, you had me at ‘cyborg horse’!

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

“Stylish supernatural noir with a heart and a thrumming pulse. I devoured it.” —Laini Taylor

C. L. Polk turns their considerable powers to a fantastical noir. A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above.

An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can't resist — the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves. To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago's most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.

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Polk slammed onto my Favourite Authors list with Midnight Bargain back in 2020 (you can read my review here) so I’m extremely excited for this new standalone, even though it’s very different from Polk’s other books, according to early readers. I’M STILL MAKING GRABBY-HANDS AT IT, THOUGH!

Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw
Genres: Horror
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

Cassandra Khaw's dynamic and vibrant debut collection, Breakable Things, explores the fragile and nebulous bonds that weave love and grief into our existence. This exquisite and cutting collection of stories showcases a bloody fusion of horrors from cosmic to psychological to body traumas.

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Pretty sure this collection is going to scar me for life – Khaw’s horror is legit terrifying – but also pretty sure it’s going to be worth it!

HellSans by Ever Dundas
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

When every word you read, whatever it says, fills you with euphoric calm - that's HellSans; a typeface used everywhere by the government. To keep people happy. Blissful. And controlled.

Unless you're allergic. And then every word is agony. Then HellSans is hell, and reading it will slowly kill you.

HellSans is the story of two women.

CEO Jane Ward is famous and successful, until she falls ill with the allergy and her life falls apart, dumping her in the ghetto with the other HSAs (HellSans Allergic). Where she meets...

Dr Icho Smith, a scientist who has a cure for the allergy. But she's on the run from the government, and the Seraphs, a terrorist group with their own plan for the HSAs...
HellSans innovative structure allows you to read either Jane or Icho's story first, before their lives meet in the terrifying finale.

HellSans is dystopia writ large. A novel where words can kill.

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I think this was out a few weeks ago in the UK, but this week it debuts in the USA! I’m fascinated by the premise, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Dundas has done with it!

The Stars Undying (Empire Without End #1) by Emery Robin
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Bi/pansexual MCs, secondary nonbinary character
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

A spectacular space opera debut perfect for readers of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, inspired by the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of Szayet's god. Stripped of her birthright, Gracia flees the planet—just as Matheus Ceirran, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit with his volatile lieutenant, Anita. When Gracia and Ceirran's paths collide, Gracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne…if she can win the Commander and his right-hand officer over first.

But talking her way into Ceirran’s good graces, and his bed, is only the beginning. Dealing with the most powerful man in the galaxy is almost as dangerous as war, and Gracia is quickly torn between an alliance that fast becomes more than political and the wishes of the god—or machine—that whispers in her ear. For Szayet's sake, and her own, Gracia will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before—even if it breaks an empire.

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I posted my review of this just a few days ago, but the TL;DR version is that it’s queer Cleopatra in space, and yes, it’s as fabulous as that sounds!

Empire of Exiles (Books of the Usurper, #1) by Erin M. Evans
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Secondary M/M
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

Magic, mystery, and revolution collide in this fantasy epic where an unlikely team of mages, scribes, and archivists must band together to unearth a conspiracy that might topple their empire.

"What makes this book special, even by Erin’s lofty goalposts, is the world she weaves around the characters. Detailed and mysterious, a place to explore and relish. Empire of Exiles is highly recommended!” – R.A. Salvatore, author or “The Legend of Drizzt” and the DemonWars novels

“The beginning of a truly epic tale. Deft worldbuilding and wonderful verbal fencing that is a delight to read. In these pages, you are in the hands of a master.” - Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms and internationally bestselling author

Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared.

The empire moved on.

Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he's on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He's always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren't just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup.

Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it again.

“Empire of Exiles has it all: characters I love, intertwined compelling mysteries in the past and present, plot twists that keep coming, and a unique and fascinating world and magic system!" – Melissa Caruso, author of The Obsidian Tower

“Beautifully wrought and equally ensnaring, this book lived up to and then surpassed all my expectations.” – Cat Rambo, author of You Sexy Thing

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Some really cool wouldbuilding framing a murder-mystery, where the mystery isn’t who’s the killer? but why did he kill? With a good bit of intrigue and politicking mixed in, just to keep you on your toes!

Under the Earth, Over the Sky by Emily McCosh
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

In the woods where human lands meet fae, an ancient king born before the history of men finds a dying baby.

Iohmar will take in the child and care for him until a suitable home in the human realm is found. But best laid plans often go awry in the lands of Látwill, where winds carry fae across the star-strewn sky, the woods ensnare the weak-minded with their sinister song, and even Iohmar, King Beneath the Earth, is susceptible to the will of the immortal mountains.

Magic long tethered to Iohmar’s soul will crumble. Unknown shadows and monsters of mirrored glass will encroach upon the borders of their land. And memories thousands of years lost will unravel as Iohmar struggles not only to properly rule his fair folk, but protect the fragile human son he never should have saved in the first place.

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I’m a softie for stories about non-humans adopting human children, and the pre-release praise for this one has been glowing!

In the Devil's Cradle by S. L. Edwards
Genres: Horror
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

Senator William Esquival is in a rush to save his family's life. Fleeing political persecution, William takes his family from the capital and flees to the family stronghold of Rio Rojo, a town known as the birthplace of William's ancestor, a powerful former dictator whose legacy haunts the nation of Antioch. But even as the Esquival family seeks refuge, the country continues to fray around them. As Antioch bleeds, ancient hatreds, secrets, and ghosts pour from its wounds.

From S. L. Edwards comes debut novel In the Devil's Cradle, a captivating haunted house story where the house is an entire country, a nation coming apart due to influences both internal and external, both natural and supernatural.

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I’m fascinated by the idea of a haunted house that is a country! Not clear on whether the house contains a country within its walls or if the country itself is being treated as a haunted house, but either one sounds very cool!

Bloodmarked (Legendborn, #2) by Tracy Deonn
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

The shadows have risen, and the line is law.

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:

A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion.

But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.

When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

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It’s the sequel to 2020’s Legendborn! Which means I have absolutely NOT read the description, because I don’t want even the tiniest spoilers!

Nubia: The Awakening by Omar Epps, Clarence A. Haynes
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Sci Fi
Representation: Black MCs
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

From beloved actor and producer Omar Epps and writer Clarence A. Haynes comes the biggest epic fantasy of the year. A powerful saga of three teens, the children of refugees from a fallen African utopia, who must navigate their newfound powers in a climate-ravaged New York City. Perfect for fans of Black Panther and Children of Blood and Bone.

For Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho, Nubia is a mystery. Before they were born, a massive storm destroyed their ancestral homeland, forcing their families to flee across the ocean to New York City. Nubia, a utopic island nation off the coast of West Africa, was no more, and their parents' sorrow was too deep for them to share much of their history beyond the folklore.

But New York, ravaged by climate change and class division, is far from a safe haven for refugees, and Nubians live as outcasts, struggling to survive in the constantly flooding lower half of Manhattan, while the rich thrive in the tech-driven sky city known as the Up High.

To many, being Nubian means you're fated for a life plagued by difficulties and disrespect. But Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho are beginning to feel there might be more. Something within them is changing, giving each of them extraordinary powers. Extraordinary and terrifying powers that seem to be tied to the secrets their parents have kept from them.

And there are people Up High watching, eager to do anything they can to become even more powerful than they already are. Now Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho will be faced with the choice--do they use their inheritance to lift their people, or to leave them behind. The fate of their city, and their people, hangs in the balance.

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This sounds unbelievably amazing in every way, and I can’t wait to check it out!

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 8th November 2022
Goodreads

In a magical medieval world filled with dragons, shape-shifters, and witches, a twelve-year-old hero will search for their place as an impending war threatens. A thrilling middle-grade series opener that stars a nonbinary tween and explores identity and gender amid sword fights.

My name is Callie, and I'm not a girl. I am here as Papa's squire, and I want to train as a knight.

In a world where girls learn magic and boys train as knights, twelve-year-old nonbinary Callie doesn't fit in anywhere. And you know what? That's just fine. Callie has always known exactly what they want to be, and they're not about to let a silly thing like gender rules stand in their way.

When their ex-hero dad is summoned back to the royal capital of Helston to train a hopeless crown prince as war looms, Callie lunges at the opportunity to finally prove themself worthy to Helston's great and powerful.

Except the intolerant great and powerful look at Callie and only see girl.
Trapped in Helston's rigid hierarchy, Callie discovers they aren't alone--there's Elowen, the chancellor's brilliant daughter, whose unparalleled power is being stifled; Edwyn, Elowen's twin brother, locked in a desperate fight to win his father's approval; and Willow, the crown prince who was never meant to be king.

In this start to an epic series packed with action, humor, and heart, Callie and their new friends quickly find themselves embedded in an ancient war--the only hope to defeat the dragons and witches outside the kingdom lies in first defeating the bigotry within.

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This one’s been hyped since the publishing deal was announced, and sounds really sweet. And I love that it’s the start of a series!

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

The post Must-Have Monday #111 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

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Published on November 07, 2022 08:21

November 5, 2022

Teixcalaan By Way of Cleopatra: The Stars Undying by Emery Robin

The Stars Undying (The Empire Undying, #1) by Emery Robin
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Bi/pansexual MCs, secondary nonbinary character, minor M/M
PoV: First-person, past-tense, dual PoVs
Published on: 8th November 2022
ISBN: B09RWPK6SN
Goodreads
four-stars

In this spectacular space opera inspired by the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, a princess finds the potential for power—and romance—after meeting the most influential military man in the galaxy.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of Szayet's god. Stripped of her birthright, Gracia flees the planet—just as Matheus Ceirran, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit with his volatile lieutenant, Anita. When Gracia and Ceirran's paths collide, Gracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne…if she can win the Commander and his right-hand officer over first.

But talking her way into Ceirran’s good graces, and his bed, is only the beginning. Dealing with the most powerful man in the galaxy is almost as dangerous as war, and Gracia is quickly torn between an alliance that fast becomes more than political and the wishes of the god—or machine—that whispers in her ear. For Szayet's sake, and her own, Gracia will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before—even if it breaks an empire.

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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~be careful of pearls and wine
~unreliable narrators ftw
~gods vs AIs
~a rather important carpet delivery

When I opened The Stars Undying and read the first page, my heart leapt: it instantly gave me the same vibes as the Teixcalaan books. Now that I’ve finished it, I would say that The Stars Undying is in some ways a more approachable Teixcalaan – much less baroque and byzantine, but still possessing a proud and regal grace all its own.

she taught me to navigate like star charts those who made up what she called the quality of our city: how to distinguish between money and power, how to foment a grudge or end one, how to appease or to leave hungry.

The Stars Undying is inspired by – or is maybe a retelling of – the story of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Anthony, and there is plenty here to delight anyone who went through a Cleopatra phase (don’t try saying it was just me, I know full well it wasn’t!) Altagracia – Gracia – is a character very worthy of Cleopatra’s legacy; powerfully intelligent, intoxicatingly magnetic, dedicated to her people, and made up of equal parts cool ruthlessness and inexhaustible passion. Ceirran makes a very convincing Julius Caesar. I know a lot less about Mark Anthony, but his reincarnation Anita is a fierce, fiery, feral creature that might have been my favourite character in the entire book.

There are plenty of Easter eggs for the Cleopatra enthusiasts – none of which can’t be appreciated by someone not familiar with Cleopatra’s story/history, so no worries there. But my favourite definitely has to be the pearl – there’s a(n almost certainly fictional) tale of how Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl in wine and drank it, and here in Robin’s debut, the substance called quicksilver pearl (which is utterly destroyed if it comes into contact with alcohol) is a massive part of the plot and worldbuilding. I was (and remain) completely delighted with it, with the way that Robin drew from the lore around Cleopatra for The Stars Undying and spun it into something wildly new!

Other parts of the worldbuilding didn’t quite work for me – if I sit and think about it, I’m very confused about the level of technology; it feels more like Robin was building an aesthetic rather than multiple planets and their cultures. But crucially, that didn’t actually bother me while I was reading. Stars Undying is the kind of book that drags you under like a riptide; you simply can’t look away from the glorious, blazing cast for long enough to nitpick literally anything. Their charisma doesn’t just mesmerise the characters sharing the pages with them; it’s more than strong enough to hypnotise the reader too, and Robin makes it look effortless.

Which. I mean. Kudos!

Inside my chest, my heart turned and caught the light.

Because this book is all about the characters. Gracia and Ceirran are a binary star system, each a radiant, glorious celestial body in their own right, now locked together in an orbit almost too bright to look at. In fact, if I can get very nerdy for a second: the two of them are a cataclysmic variable, a sun and white dwarf bound together, the latter feeding off the former. Specifically, they remind me of ZTF J1813+4251, whipping around each other dizzyingly fast, distorting the galaxy around them with their gravitational waves.

But the thing about cataclysmic variables is that they’re not sustainable; one body is feeding off the other. One will eventually come apart. The title of this book may be The Stars Undying, but one of these incandescent stars is going to die – literally or metaphorically – so the other can blaze all the brighter.

Robin’s skill is in keeping you from being able to tell which is which; is in depicting the passionate struggle of Gracia and Ceirran as they trade roles back and forth. They can’t escape each other; I don’t think they even want to. But they are both simply too much more than the rest of us mere mortals to be able to coexist forever.

(As a side-note? Robin mentioned on Twitter that The Stars Undying was very much written as a Jewish book. I’m not the person to go into that – I don’t know nearly enough about Judaism – but in retrospect? Oh, yes, and oh, wow!)

When I picked up The Stars Undying, I didn’t know if it was meant to be a series opener or a standalone, and the ending felt, to me, like a standalone ending. Which left me unhappy, because as a standalone, Stars Undying just didn’t satisfy. However, I’ve since learned that it will, indeed, have a sequel, which changes things – negates just about everything I didn’t love about it, for one! So I’m not going to talk about those ‘flaws’, because they’re not flaws at all given that this story is not over.

Gods. It’s not over. I have chills. And am looking forward to the sequel with equal parts dread and anticipation and freaking yearning.

You can read the first two chapters for free on io9, and preorder it in all the usual places – which you very much should!

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Published on November 05, 2022 09:27

November 3, 2022

Epic Fail: The Rise of the Alliance series by Sherwood Smith

This actually started out as a Sunday Soupçons post, ie a mini-review, but then it turned into a full-on rant, so, you’re welcome???

Rise of the Alliance series by Sherwood Smith
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Representation: Brown MCs

two-half-stars

Untested young rulers must cooperate to protect their world from the magical threat of the mysterious kingdom of Norsunder in a new epic fantasy trilogy set in the same world as the popular Inda series.

The first installment of a trilogy, A Sword Named Truth launches readers into a story of non-stop action, politics, and magical threats leading to Norsunder's return. Our heroes span continents and cultures, ambitions and desires, but share one characteristic: they are young leaders. Many are rulers of unstable nations, growing into their power and their identities, but they seek ways to trust and bind themselves together--and find the strength to defend against a host that has crushed entire worlds: Norsunder.

With incredible powers only hinted at and enigmatic characters who appear in strange circumstances, the magical empire of Norsunder has loomed as the ultimate villain in Sartorias-deles, portending a battle to come, with the very highest of stakes.

Set in the complex world of Sartorias-deles, Sherwood Smith returns readers to the enthralling saga begun with the military action of the Inda series and continuing in the magic-based cultural drama of Banner of the Damned, bringing together deadly high politics, engaging worldbuilding, and nuanced examinations of power, love, and betrayal.

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Well. That was a colossal waste of time.

A little context: this is the Rise of the Alliance series, which is set in Smith’s Sartorias-deles universe. Sartorias-deles is, no question, an incredible work of art; Smith has been working on the overall story for decades, and the worldbuilding is superb. Although several of her books have slightly rough/dull openings, up until now I’ve loved all of the ones I’ve read, especially the Inda series and the standalone Banner of the Damned.

But Smith is finally gearing up to the endgame – the Norsunder War cycle – and the Rise of the Alliance series immediately precedes it. So I knew I had to read these.

Honestly, I’m wishing I’d skipped them.

The biggest issue is that, with the exception of The Blood Mage Texts, these are incredibly long books – The Hunters and the Hunted and Nightside of the Sun were both 800+ pages on my ereader – in which almost nothing fucking happens. I’m not sure I’ve ever read books this slow, that take up so much space to say so little. The first 300 pages of Nightside – the final book! the big climax! – could have been cut and no one would have noticed. And when things do happen, they happen suddenly and very briefly – one event in Nightside that is literally world-changing, that is the result of 5000 years of build-up, is described in a single page, as opposed to those 300 pages I just mentioned in which a kidnap victim has to do laps every day for apparently no reason and with no effect on the character or the overall plot.

I wanted to scream.

(I did, in fact, stomp around the kitchen ranting at 1am, which my husband found utterly hilarious, thankfully.)

There’s not even much character growth! Although the events of the series take place over about (I think) six years, almost everyone is pretty much the same as they were at the start of book one. And you would think that a gazillion pages leaves plenty of room for showing instead of telling, but friends, I lost count of the times I was just told things instead of shown them, how often things were summarised instead of explored. And how many times those same facts were repeated, just in case I’d forgotten them in the last few chapters or so.

ARGH.

There is a very big deal indeed with some of the series’ major villains, but we did not need four books of this length to cover what happened there.

Also, I am Tired of incestuous villains who rape prepubescent boys – or anyone, really, but especially this model of rapey villain. I was honestly surprised and upset, because up until now Sartorias-deles has been very awesomely queernorm and Smith has been excellent about representing a variety of sexualities and gender identities, but in this series this particular villain is our main example of queer rep. There are tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them glimpses of other queer people existing, but mostly we’re stuck with this Evil Bisexual Pedophile, and how about no???

And I specifically do not need incest to flag someone out as Evil. It’s such a shock-value thing. They’re adults and consenting??? Then I genuinely do not give a fuck what they do in their bedroom. I’m more concerned with the whole torturing, murdering, out-to-subjugate-multiple-worlds thing!

Speaking of lazy ways to highlight someone’s villainy: I do not need, or want, you to use rape to make sure I know This Character is a villain. THEY’RE ALREADY OUT TO DESTROY THE FUCKING WORLD, OR WHATEVER. I ALREADY KNOW THEY’RE A BAD GUY. Making them a lip-licking rapist on top of that just makes it a shock-value thing, which I don’t think is ever the right way to write about rape. And honestly, this is an extra-weird thing to do in this specific literary universe because sexual violence really does not exist in Sartorias-deles, due to it having been bred out of humanity and enforced by Very Scary Magic. This particular villain comes from another world or whatever, but my point is, I’ve been very happy to have an epic fantasy series with no sexual violence up until this point, and I have no idea why it suddenly needed to be included.

On a completely different note: I do not know why Smith’s publisher decided to only publish Sword Named Truth, but while I am glad that Smith retained/regained the rights to the rest of the series and self-published them…fucking hell, these books needed an editor. Not just because they’re bloated and over-long, but because they are riddled with typos. Misplaced commas and quotation marks, yes, those annoy me, but especially in the last book there were so many sentences that cut off, or made no sense, or contradicted themselves, or were clearly missing important words.

Senrid entered with his customary quick he the Marloven boy and Tsauderei’s current challenge, MV, had never met.

???

(Senrid + Tsauderei + MV are all character names. Marloven is a nationality.)

She was always sorry to part from Rel, but she did their best to bribe palace servants to spy on her;

I mean, for crying out loud, at one point the character Sveneric is misspelled as Sven Eric. What. A character name.

This is less a writerly critique and more a personal thing, but: I was creeped out by kids having kids. In Sartorias-deles, there is this thing called the Child Spell, which allows you to freeze your body before going through puberty; you still age, kind of, but you don’t develop physically. It’s never explicitly stated that it also keeps you from developing psychologically – the existence of one or two characters seems to imply it does not – but most of the characters under the Child Spell read as young kids, regardless of their by-the-calendar age.

There is also this thing called the Birth Spell, which is very cool and basically means you make a baby by magic. It allows single people, sex-repulsed people, and people in same-sex relationships to have children that are biologically theirs. I love it!

I did not love kids still under the Child Spell using the Birth Spell. I find that massively ick and creepy, and again, I don’t know what the point of it was, why it was necessary to the story. It’s even creepier given that it is canon that the Birth Spell is a big deal that only comes to/works for a person some of the time – there’s always been a bit of a suggestion that it only comes to people who Should Be and are Ready To Be Parents. So…all these people who are psychologically children…the world-magic agrees they should be raising babies of their own???

Blegh.

So yeah, in case it wasn’t clear: I am not a fan!

I will read at least the first book of the Norsunder Cycle, because that series is the culmination of decades of work and build-up and I really want to know how it all goes down. But depending on how that goes, I may be taking Smith off my auto-buy authors list.

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Published on November 03, 2022 03:51

November 2, 2022

I Can’t Wait For…Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

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 Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen!

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Hanna Alkaf, Margaret Owen, Preeti Chhibber, Kat Cho, Mason Deaver, Natasha Diaz, Hafsah Faizal, Victoria Lee, Jessica Lewis, Darcie Little Badger, Kwame Mbalia, L.L. McKinney, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Yamile Saied Méndez, Candice Montgomery, Marieke Nijkamp, Karuna Riazi, Randy Ribay, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: BIPOC MCs, queer MCs
Published on: 6th June 2023
Goodreads

Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party.

Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect.

A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome—but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect.

Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules. . . .

Contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez

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The first thing that should jump out at you (beyond the appropriately magical cover!) is that created by above the author names – because Grimoire of Grave Fates is not, strictly speaking, a novel; and it’s not a traditional kind of collection-of-short-stories, either. Each story fits together with the rest to tell one bigger story, which is: a professor at a magic school has been murdered! But who by???

I’ve never heard of anything like this before, and I love it! It’s such a cool idea, made even better by the fact that it’s, you know, a magic school rather than a normal school. BRING ON THE MAGIC. With even more cheers for a diverse cast, because yeah, we need more of those, especially in magic school settings.

(I’m already not very sorry that Professor Dropwort is dead. TOO BAD, SO SAD.)

The writerly part of me can’t help thinking that organising this must have been extremely complicated – sure, each individual author only has to write their own short story, but presumably everyone worked together on the worldbuilding and overarching plot. I’ve tried that with just five other people, and it was not the easiest thing in the world!

Or maybe Alkaf and Owen did most of that – deciding how the magic here worked, etc – and that’s why it’s their names on the cover? That would have been MUCH simpler, logistically.

So I’m already impressed from a technical standpoint, is what I’m saying here, and I’m very ready to be impressed by the stories themselves!!!

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Published on November 02, 2022 10:01

November 1, 2022

In Short: October

Usually I post these on the last day of the month in question, but that would have meant three new posts yesterday, and that seems like Too Many.

October was rough; a pet died and I spent most of the month in a depressive episode. I had real trouble reading at all in the second half of the month. But what’re you gonna do?

ARCs Received

Okay listen, if there is one thing guaranteed to Make Everything Better that thing is definitely a NEW C.S.E. COONEY BOOK!!! The Twice-Drowned Saint was originally published as part of A Sinister Quartet, a collection with three other authors, but I believe it’s been expanded upon in this new form! And that cover is so unspeakably exquisite that I cannot EVEN!

I’ve already gleefully devoured Fractured Infinity (and loved it), and I’m massively excited for the final book of the Outside trilogy by Ada Hoffman, The Infinite – this has been an incredible series and I honestly have no idea how everything’s going to wrap up for a finale! And as a fan of giant birds – especially giant birds with humanoid riders – I’m so ready to pounce on Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky!

Tread of Angels and Where It Rains In Color I’ve DNFed already, but I am very hopeful for World Running Down. It sounds like it’s going to feature MANY things I like.

Read

21 books read this month, which is 3 more than I managed in August. Kinda makes me wonder how many I’d have managed if I could focus properly.

Standouts were definitely Tell Me I’m Worthless, which is such an amazing horror about the transphobia, racism and xenophobia of the UK (and also a genuinely terrifying house); The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming, Book Two: Practice, which was so beautiful it hurt; rereading Scapegracers so I could revel in the sequel Scratch Daughters, which was fucking epic; rereading A Taste of Gold and Iron, because 20,000 words or so got added between the advanced reading copy and the final book, and obviously I needed all of them; Comeuppance Served Cold, which caught me by the throat and didn’t let me go for an instant; and Fractured Infinity, which was both really fun and damn impressive.

On the other hand, the Rise of the Alliance series by Sherwood Smith was a trainwreck; I forced myself to read all four books and honestly wish I hadn’t bothered (unhappy review coming in a few days); The Stars Undying was a perfectly good novel that somehow left me unsatisfied; and Finding Faeries, a fictional guide to faeries in urban environments, had many on-point things to say about colonialism and the environment, but actually didn’t reimagine that many fae and touched on some legends I’m pretty sure are not okay for outsiders to go near. (Though I may be wrong about that part.)

To the best of my knowledge, just 17.65% of this month’s authors were BIPOC. Which is even worse than in August, and August was bad.

Reviewed

SEVEN freaking reviews this month!!! I can’t believe I wrote so many! And two of them – The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: Book Two: Practice and Scratch Daughters – were both really good reviews, if I say so myself. Reviews I’m proud to have written. Which is a feeling I miss – seems like most of my reviews these days are very…meh?

Anyway, YAY!

DNF-ed

I was so looking forward to all of these! But alas, it wasn’t meant to be, I guess.

Where It Rains In Color kind of sealed the deal for me on something I’ve been considering for a while – after I read World Burning Down, which is also by them, I don’t think I’ll be requesting books from the publisher Angry Robot anymore. For years now I’ve DNFed everything of theirs that I’ve read; I think it’s time to admit we’ve grown apart and stop putting myself (and them!) through the pain.

ARCs Outstanding

Working on the review for The Stars Undying, and very happily immersed in To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, which is freaking amazing and is shaping up, hah, to be one of my all-time faves!

Misc

Didn’t get much work done on my Best of 2022 or Unmissable of 2023 lists, alas.

But I did take part in the cover reveal for The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher! I’m really excited for that book – 83yo Chosen One! That’s really all I need to hear.

Looking Forward

I may actually try to slow down for November – I’m not doing NanoWrimo, but I do want to focus more on my creative writing than my blogging this month. We’ll see how it goes.

But I have no intention of slowing down on my reading, and November is packed with releases I’m looking forward to – most urgently Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás (7th Nov) and At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, which is out on the 21st if you preorder through her website. (It’s available everywhere else in December.) So much grabby hands!

And that’s a wrap! Let’s have a great November, everyone.

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Published on November 01, 2022 12:07

October 31, 2022

Cover reveal: The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson

There’s been a lot of great talk the last few years about who gets to go on quests, or be chosen as Chosen Ones, and the publishing world is catching up; this year, we had the marvellous anthology of parents in SFF with Don’t Touch That!, and next year, we’ll meet Edna Fisher, an 83-year-old Chosen One, in The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson!

I’m delighted to be part of the cover reveal for this ridiculously cool book – check it out!

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Elderly MC, gay, bisexual, and ace-spec rep (asexual and graysexual)
Published on: 21st April, 2023
Goodreads

In which a geriatric-turned-Chosen-One sets out to take down a sorcerer killing knights like her long-dead son—until abuse in the ranks makes her question who needs saving.

When you’re a geriatric armed with nothing but gumption and knitting needles, stopping a sorcerer from wiping out an entire dragon-fighting organization is a tall order. No one understands why 83-year-old Edna Fisher is the Chosen One, destined to save the Knights from a dragon-riding sorcerer bent on their destruction. After all, Edna has never handled a magical weapon, faced down a dragon, or cast a spell. And everyone knows the Council of Wizards always chooses a teenager—like the vengeful girl ready to snatch Edna’s destiny from under her nose.

Still, Edna leaps at the chance to leave the nursing home. With her son long dead in the Knights’ service, she’s determined to save dragon-fighters like him and to ensure other mothers don’t suffer the same loss she did. But as Edna learns about the abuse in the ranks and the sorcerer’s history as a Knight, she questions if it’s really the sorcerer that needs stopping—or the Knights she’s trying to save.

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There is nothing I don’t love about this – an elderly chosen one who knits!!! Dragons!!! A villain smart enough to be riding a dragon!!! Murky lines between good guys and bad guys!!! And from what I’ve been able to find out, Retirement is even packed full of queer characters!!!

And I mean – look at that cover. LOOK AT IT! Fabulous old woman staring down the world. There’s so many interesting details here – for one, I wasn’t expecting what looks like a modern cityscape; does that mean we’re not getting a Medieval-esque setting? Because that would be awesome. Point the second: I can’t tell if that dragon is flying towards the viewer (and thus Edna) or away, which is an interesting bit of ambiguity that echoes and underscores the whole ‘the Knights may not be the heroes’ warning in the blurb. And finally: I freaking love how, behind the title, the sword is crossed with a knitting needle!!!

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher is currently available for preorder through the publisher, but you’ll be able to buy it in all the usual places as well closer to release day! Until then, make sure you add it to your tbr on Goodreads or Storygraph or wherever you keep track of your books!

Because I don’t think any of us are gonna want to miss out on this one!

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Published on October 31, 2022 08:59

Must-Have Monday #110

FOURTEEN fantabulous books this week – though I admit that two of them are not SFF!

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

The World We Make (Great Cities, #2) by N.K. Jemisin
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: QBIPOC cast
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts "a glorious fantasy" (Neil Gaiman) -- a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City, in the final book of the Great Cities Duology.

Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six.

But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading--and destroying the entire universe in the process--the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

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Personally, I think we should get an international holiday whenever a new N K Jemisin book drops. You know, so we can all dive straight into said book without having to deal with work or school or whatever.

You’d all sign that petition if I started one, right???

A Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Gay Hispanic MC, gay Egyptian love interest, M/M
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths – and the love of your life – from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveller's Wife and Rick and Morty.

Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.
Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.

As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.

With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space - soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.

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I’ve seen NO ONE talking about this book and frankly that is CRIMINAL. It’s fun and fast and messy and deep, and very brown and very queer – and the author really said “Not today” to literally everything you’d expect.

I love it so much. You can read my full review here, but the TL;DR version is GO BUY IT IT’S AWESOME!!!

Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Two-Spirit, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and disabled characters
Published on: 1st November 2022
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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Besides The World We Make (obviously) Màgòdiz is probably the book I’m most excited for this week! It sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard of before, in the best way, and I plan on pouncing on it the moment I have it on my ereader!

The Alchemy of Sorrow by M.L. Wang, K.S. Villoso, Intisar Khanani, Sonya M. Black, Angela Boord, Levi Jacobs, Krystle Matar, Virginia McClain, Quenby Olson, Carol A. Park, Madolyn Rogers, Rachel Emma Shaw, Clayton Snyder
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Here be dragons and sorcery, time travel and sorrow.

Vicious garden gnomes. A grounded phoenix rider. A new mother consumed with vengeance. A dying god. Soul magic.

These stories wrestle with the experience of loss—of loved ones, of relationships, of a sense of self, of health—and forge a path to hope as characters fight their way forward.
From bestsellers and SPFBO finalists to rising voices, 13 exceptionally talented authors explore the many facets of grief and healing through the lens of fantasy and sci-fi.

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I am utterly in love with this cover (who wouldn’t be?) and the theme of grief and hope. I’m not certain I’m up to reading it right now, but I’m looking forward to being in a headspace where I can give this a go.

A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, #2) by Freya Marske
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance! The second entry in Freya Marske's beloved The Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light

The most interesting things in Maud Blyth's life have happened to her brother Robin, but she's ready to join any cause, especially if it involves magical secrets that may threaten the whole of the British Isles. Bound for New York on the R.M.S. Lyric, she's ready for an adventure.

What she actually finds is a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and a beautiful stranger in Violet Debenham, who is everything—a magician, an actress, a scandal—Maud has been trained to fear and has learned to desire. Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of loathsome, aristocratic suspects, they must solve a murder and untangle a conspiracy that began generations before them.

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A Marvellous Light was, as promised, marvellous, so of course I’m going to be picking up the sequel! Especially since Maud was one of my favourite parts of the last book!

Dreams for a Broken World by Julie C. Day, Ellen Meeropol
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Patron saints and luchadores. Trickster gods. Freedom fighters. Infections of fire. Gated communities and glass castles. Hong Kong. Iran. NYC. The 1860s and the end of the world. The stories in this anthology reflect the authors’ varied creative interests along with their multitudinous backgrounds and experiences.

What does it mean to live in a fragmented and uncertain world? How do we find a better way forward? The anthology Dreams for a Broken World draws from both genre and literary traditions in attempt to answer these questions. Included here are original stories and reprints. The mix of genres, from literary to fantastical, from dark to playful, from speculative to activist, offers perspectives that are varied, imaginative, thoughtful, and provocative. The 24 contributors include such award-winning authors as Ava Homa, Aimee Liu, Usman T. Malik, Nisi Shawl, Sheree Renée Thomas, Vandana Singh, Andrew Altschul, Joy Baglio, Innocent Chizarama Ilo, Breena Clarke, Zig Zag Claybourne, Tina Egnoski, Cai Emmons, JoeAnn Hart, Céline Keating, Jan Maher, Benjamin Parzybok, Charles Payseur, Robert V.S. Redick, Veronica Schanoes, Lisa Taylor, Marie Vibbert, Cynthia Young, and Sabrina Vourvoulias

Dreams for a Broken World is the second charity anthology in the Dreams series published by Essential Dreams Press, an imprint of Reckoning Press; charity means that all the proceeds from sales are donated to a non-profit doing work to fix our broken world.

Ellen Meeropol joins series editor Julie C. Day as guest editor of this second book in the Dreams series, a fundraiser for the Rosenberg Fund for Children. The RFC is a non-profit, public foundations that aids children in the U.S. whose parents are targeted, progressive activists. They also assist youth who themselves have been targeted as a result of their progressive activities.

Can stories change the world? Not alone. But as poet Martín Espada wrote, "Any oppressive social condition, before it can be changed, must be named and condemned in words that persuade by stirring the emotions, awakening the senses."

Naming. Condemning. Stirring. Awakening. That's what we hope these stories will do for all of us.

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The vibe I get from this is eerie softness, which I am very on board with!

When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Representation: Sapphic Jewish MC
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Nothing is more dangerous than a woman with a showstopping joke.

Franny Steinberg knows there's powerful magic in laughter. She's witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper.

When Franny steps into Chicago's Blue Moon comedy club, she realizes the power of a Showstopper—that specific magic sparked when an audience laughs so hard, they are momentarily transformed. And while each comedian's Showstopper is different, they all have one thing in common: they only work on women.

After a traumatic flashback propels her onstage in a torn bridesmaid dress, Franny discovers her own Showstopper is something new. And suddenly she has the power to change everything...for herself, for her audience, and for the people who may need it most.

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On the one hand, I love the idea of the Showstopper, but I always get wary when the central premise is ‘only {insert gender here}.’ You know? So I may wait for more reviews to come in before picking this up; I don’t want to get invested then find the story has no room for people like me in it.

Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: M/M
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Ocean's Echo is a stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate of worlds, set in the same universe as Everina Maxwell's hit debut, Winter's Orbit.

Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe.

Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.

Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they lie: They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape.

Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space—to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war.

Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.
Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?

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Winter’s Orbit ended up being quite fun, and Ocean’s Echo is a standalone set in the same universe. I’m not sure yet if I’ll read it – the whole conscription and forced bonding thing makes me queasy – but I wanted to include it!

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House #1) by Charlie N. Holmberg
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.

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I love semi-sentient magical houses as a trope, so when I heard about Keeper my ears perked up. Very interested to see Holmberg’s take on a magic house!

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

The author of The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.

One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.

Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.

Perfect for fans of Written in the Stars and One Day in December, Kiss Her Once for Me is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.

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The Charm Offensive was one of my favourite books of last year, so I’m delighted we’re getting another novel from the same author so soon! I feel spoiled. Don’t you feel spoiled?

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble (Winner Bakes All, #2) by Alexis Hall
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M, MC with clinical anxiety, Muslim love interest
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

From the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material comes a sweet and scrumptious romantic comedy about facing your insecurities, finding love, and baking it off, no matter what people say.

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.

But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his own impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s vicious fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread. But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves.

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I am very much a fan of Alexis Hall, and I loved the first book in this series, so of course I’m picking up the (standalone) sequel!

Love in the Age of Dragons by Fatima Henson
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Two years ago, a wormhole opened and ushered vicious dragons into the world. The dragons burned Earth's cities to the ground and sent its inhabitants scattering for cover--and since then, Ayanna Grace, a seventeen-year-old Black girl, has been scratching out a life in an abandoned subway system, part of an extensive underground community.

Underground, medicine runs short and outbreaks of disease spread uncontrollably. The water supply is low, uprisings occur frequently, and dragon attacks are imminent. But those aren't the only challenges Ayanna is facing: she's also busy wrestling with her feelings, torn between Richard, who she's known all her life, and Jackson, a mysterious newcomer. Worse, her mentor, the community's only doctor, is dying from a failing heart. With no hope of rescue from aboveground, will Ayanna be able to save him before it's too late?

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I’m wary of the potential love triangle hinted at in the blurb, but this is such a cool premise that I don’t think I’m going to be able to resist!

Silver in the Mist by Emily Victoria
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Asexual MC
Published on: 1st November 2022
Goodreads

Eight years ago, everything changed for Devlin: Her country was attacked. Her father was killed. And her mother became the Whisperer of Aris, the head of the spies, retreating into her position away from everyone… even her daughter.

Joining the spy ranks herself, Dev sees her mother only when receiving assignments. She wants more, but she understands the peril their country, Aris, is in. The malevolent magic force of The Mists is swallowing Aris’s edges, their country is vulnerable to another attack from their wealthier neighbor, and the magic casters who protect them from both are burning out.

Dev has known strength and survival her whole life, but with a dangerous new assignment of infiltrating the royal court of their neighbor country Cerena to steal the magic they need, she learns that not all that glitters is weak. And not all stories are true.

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This is Emily Victoria’s second book, and her second with an asexual lead – two for two! And I have a soft spot for MCs with, let’s call them imperfect, mothers.

Anthesis by Lauren Elizabeth
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 3rd November 2022
Goodreads

Anthesis is the dark, alluring and tragic tale of the sirens who were cursed to kill for eternity.

As an immortal siren, Aglasia grapples with her body's desire to enchant, kill and feed on men, all while pretending to be human. When the chaotic and secretive siren Rossa forces herself into Aglasia's life, she reveals she needs help to transform a man into a siren. And though Aglasia has always craved solitude, she finds herself fascinated by this nomad and lends a hand.

But when the risks associated with creating such a powerful creature become life-threatening to Aglasia, Rossa and the innocent man who has become involved, Aglasia must uncover the truth of her past to save those she's grown to care for, all while resisting her darkest desires.

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This is such an interesting premise to me – especially because it’s not, as I first assumed, an F/F romance. Instead, Anthesis features an F/F friendship! Which I feel like is EVEN RARER than queer romance (at least in SFF)! Seriously, when was the last time you read a spec fic book where the platonic love between two women was more important than the romantic plotline??? Because I’m pretty sure the last time I read one was 2015.

So intrigued!Sia is very intrigued indeed!

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

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Published on October 31, 2022 02:41

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