Siavahda's Blog, page 74

I Can’t Wait For…The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

Can’t-Wait Wednesdayis 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 is The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings!

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 21st June 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

In a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic, a battle for the city’s soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song in this vibrant and imaginative debut. 

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women keep the order, and where songs walk, talk and keep the spirit of the city alive. To those from Far Away, Nola might seem strange. To failed magician, Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Then the rhythm stutters.  

Nine songs of power have escaped from the magical piano that maintains the city’s beat and without them, Nola will fail. Unexpectedly, Perry and his sister, Brendy, are tasked with saving the city. But a storm is brewing and the Haint of All Haints is awake. Even if they capture the songs, Nola’s time might be coming to an end.  

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Although I have never visited in real life, New Orleans is one of my favorite urban fantasy settings, and I always perk up when a new one pings my radar. But THIS! Music is magic? The non-metaphorical soul of a city? SONGS THAT WALK AND TALK?!?!?!

*swoons*

I am head over heels for this premise, and I can’t wait to see what Jennings does with it. I put this on my list of Unmissable SFF of 2022, and I think you can see why! Beautiful setting, incredibly cool magic, plus a failed magician for a MC? To say nothing of the MAGIC PIANO!

In fact, there’s really only one thing I CAN say:

GIMME!

The post I Can’t Wait For…The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #67

IT’S THE FIRST MUST-HAVE MONDAY OF 2022! AHHHHHHH, SO EXCITING!!!

Ahem.

2022 is starting with a BANG; we have TWELVE new releases this week – and one honorary mention!

Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children, #7) by Seanan McGuire
Representation: Sapphic MC, intersex MC, trans secondary character
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you've already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.
There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. And it isn't as safe.

When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.

She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...

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The only correct way to kick off a new year is with a new Wayward Children book! For the first time in the series, we’re going to see the Other School, and I’m equal parts nervous and excited. I cannot WAIT to dive into this!

(Terrible!pun is terrible and no, I’m not even a little bit sorry!)

Cinder the Fireplace Boy: and other Gayly Grimm Tales (Rewoven Tales) by Ana Mardoll
Representation: Assorted queer cast
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Once upon a time there lived... a beautiful prince who kissed a frog. A cinder-smudged child who hid a secret. A princess who climbed a long braid of golden hair for love. A thumb-sized boy with the courage of a giant. And a valiant little tailor whose wit was as sharp as her needle.

These stories and many more await you in this delightful collection of classic fairy tales, lovingly retold and featuring characters who receive wonderfully queer happily-ever-afters! Let these new takes on the Brothers Grimm warm your heart and nurture your yearning to see yourself reflected in beloved favorites.

Features eight original illustrations by artist Alex Dingley.

"Mardoll has removed instances of racism, antisemitism, and Christian moralizing while introducing queer and disabled characters... a welcome, clever update of fairy tales." --Kirkus Reviews

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The universe is spoiling me in giving me two of my most-anticipated reads of 2022…in the first WEEK of 2022! Mardoll wrote the excellent No Man of Woman Born, and I will always show up for queer fairy tales, so I predict this will be a massive win/win on all counts!

The Final Rider (The Final Rider, #1) by Elyzabeth Trickey
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Two hundred years ago, as magic began to fade, the last dragon died.

Throughout her life, Hazel has kept her head down and avoided trouble. But everything changes when she unearths and last dragon egg. Whisked away to the castle to prepare for her new life, the dragon becomes her only constant and she finds herself the target of ancient powers.

The Heir to the throne of Gaelin is dead. But in reality, Alastríona Ashcoven has been biding her time in the monster-infested Wastelands waiting for a chance to go back to the country she lost. Her luck changes when the Witch Queen offers her the army she desperately needs to reclaim her throne... And all that the Queen asks for is a vial of the dragon's blood.

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It has dragons, that’s really all I need to hear. I plan on reading this one to see if it’s a book I can recommend to my much younger clone-sister!

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes
Representation: Gay Latino MC, queer secondary characters
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

From lauded writer David Valdes, a sharp and funny YA novel that's Back to the Future with a twist, as a gay teen travels back to his parents' era to save a closeted classmate's life.

All Luis Gonzalez wants is to go to prom with his boyfriend, something his “progressive” school still doesn't allow. Not after what happened with Chaz Wilson. But that was ages ago, when Luis's parents were in high school; it would never happen today, right? He's determined to find a way to give his LGBTQ friends the respect they deserve (while also not risking his chance to be prom king, just saying…).

When a hit on the head knocks him back in time to 1985 and he meets the doomed young Chaz himself, Luis concocts a new plan-he's going to give this guy his first real kiss. Though it turns out a conservative school in the '80s isn't the safest place to be a gay kid. Especially with homophobes running the campus, including Gordo (aka Luis's estranged father). Luis is in over his head, trying not to make things worse-and hoping he makes it back to present day at all.

In a story that's fresh, intersectional, and wickedly funny, David Valdes introduces a big-mouthed, big-hearted queer character that readers won't soon forget.

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Back to the Future but gay+POC??? HI YES THANK YOU I’LL TAKE TEN

[image error]The Ivory Key (The Ivory Key Duology, #1) by Akshaya Raman
Representation: Desi-coded cast, queernorm world, gay MC, queer secondary characters
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Magic, a prized resource, is the only thing between peace and war. When magic runs out, four estranged royal siblings must find a new source before their country is swallowed by invading forces. The first in an Indian-inspired duology.

Vira is desperate to get out of her mother’s shadow and establish her legacy as a revered queen of Ashoka. But with the country’s only quarry running out of magic–a precious resource that has kept Ashoka safe from conflict–she can barely protect her citizens from the looming threat of war. And if her enemies discover this, they’ll stop at nothing to seize the last of the magic.

Vira’s only hope is to find a mysterious object of legend: the Ivory Key, rumored to unlock a new source of magic. But in order to infiltrate enemy territory and retrieve it, she must reunite with her siblings, torn apart by the different paths their lives have taken. Each of them has something to gain from finding the Ivory Key–and even more to lose if they fail. Ronak plans to sell it to the highest bidder in exchange for escape from his impending political marriage. Kaleb, falsely accused of assassinating the former maharani needs it to clear his name. And Riya, a runaway who cut all family ties, wants the Key to prove her loyalty to the rebels who want to strip the nobility of its power.

They must work together to survive the treacherous journey. But with each sibling harboring secrets and their own agendas, the very thing that brought them together could tear apart their family–and their world–for good.

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I have heard nothing but EXTREME praise for this book from everyone who got to read it early – and if, like me, you weren’t one of those early readers, they posted an excerpt! Definitely pouncing on this one come tomorrow!

The Starless Crown (Moon Fall, #1) by James Rollins
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Science Fantasy
Goodreads

An alliance embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of the distant past and save their world in this captivating, deeply visionary adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling thriller-master James Rollins.

A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death.

Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts:

A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home.
A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own.
An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact - one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe.

On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation.

But with each passing moment, doom draws closer.

WHO WILL CLAIM THE STARLESS CROWN?

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I wasn’t able to finish my ARC of this, but not because it’s bad; I think it’s amazing and will probably be one of the major hits of 2022. It was just a little too gritty for me…although I do plan on giving it another try before the year’s out!

The Kindred by Alechia Dow
Representation: Plus-sized brown MC, queer MC
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

“Utterly swoony…an endearing reminder that true love can change the world”—J. Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony

To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor…

Joy Abara knows her place. A commoner from the lowly planet Hali, she lives a simple life—apart from the notoriety that being Kindred to the nobility’s most infamous playboy brings.
Duke Felix Hamdi has a plan. He will exasperate his noble family to the point that they agree to let him choose his own future and finally meet his Kindred face-to-face.

Then the royal family is assassinated, putting Felix next in line for the throne…and accused of the murders. Someone will stop at nothing until he’s dead, which means they’ll target Joy, too. Meeting in person for the first time as they steal a spacecraft and flee amid chaos might not be ideal…and neither is crash-landing on the strange backward planet called Earth. But hiding might just be the perfect way to discover the true strength of the Kindred bond and expose a scandal—and a love—that may decide the future of a galaxy.

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Apparently this is set in the same universe as the author’s Sound of Stars, but otherwise the books are unrelated and you don’t need to have read Sound to read Kindred. Which is lucky, because alien royalty and mind-bonds??? I am intrigued!

The Chosen One: A First-Generation Ivy League Odyssey by Echo Brown
Published on: 4th January 2022
Goodreads

Echo Brown testifies to the disappointments and triumphs of a Black first-generation college student in this fearless exploration of the first year experience.

There are many watchers and they are always white. 

That’s the first thing Echo notices as she settles into Dartmouth College. Despite graduating high school in Cleveland as valedictorian, Echo immediately struggles to keep up in demanding classes. Dartmouth made many promises it couldn't keep. The campus is not a rainbow-colored utopia where education lifts every voice. Nor is it a paradise of ideas, an incubator of inclusivity, or even an exciting dating scene. But it might be a portal to different dimensions of time and space—only accessible if Echo accepts her calling as a Chosen One and takes charge of her future by healing her past. 

This remarkable challenge demands vulnerability, humility, and the conviction to ask for help without sacrificing self-worth.

In mesmerizing personal narrative and magical realism, Echo Brown confronts mental illness, grief, racism, love, friendship, ambition, self-worth, and belonging as they steer the fates of first-generation college students on Dartmouth’s campus. The Chosen One is an unforgettable coming-of-age story that bravely unpacks the double-edged college transition—as both catalyst for old wounds and a fresh start. 

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I’m not 100% sure this is SFF, but it sounds like there might at least be magical realism elements? Either way, I suspect this is going to be a powerful read.

Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Sci Fi
Goodreads

Kathryn Barker's Waking Romeo is a spectacularly genre-bending retelling of Romeo & Juliet asking the big questions about true love, fate, and time travel

Year: 2083. Location: London. Mission: Wake Romeo.

It’s the end of the world. Literally. Time travel is possible, but only forward. And only a handful of families choose to remain in the “now,” living off of the scraps left behind.

Among them are eighteen-year-old Juliet and the love of her life, Romeo. But things are far from rosy for Jules. Romeo lies in a coma and Jules is estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the very real fallout of their wild romance.

Then a mysterious time traveler, Ellis, impossibly arrives from the future with a mission that makes Juliet question everything she knows about life and love.
Can Jules wake Romeo—and rewrite her future?

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I have no idea what I think about this, but I’m very willing to give it a go! Must confess, I don’t recall any other Romeo and Juliet retellings that feature time-travel…

Bad Gods by Gaie Sebold
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Science Fantasy
Goodreads

A critically acclaimed, fun, smart, inclusive take on a classic fantasy trope, with gorgeous cover art by Discworld artist Stephen Player

All Tastes! • All Species! • All Currencies!

You can find anything in Scalentine, the city of portals, but you won’t find a better brothel than the Red Lantern. And its proprietor, Babylon Steel (ex-mercenary, ex-priestess, ex… lots of things), means to keep it that way.

But a prurient cult are protesting in the streets, sex workers are disappearing, and Babylon has bills to pay. When the powerful Diplomatic Section hires her – off the books – to find a missing heiress, she has to take the job.

And then her past starts to catch up with her...

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I think this is a new edition of a book that was previously titled Babylon Steel, but that in no way makes it less interesting! Also, excellent call on the new cover, I love it ALL THE MUCH!

Tiger Honor (Thousand Worlds, #2) by Yoon Ha Lee
Representation: Nonbinary Asian-coded MC
Published on: 4th January 2022
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

Sebin, a young tiger spirit from the Juhwang Clan, wants nothing more than to join the Thousand World Space Forces and, like their Uncle Hwan, captain a battle cruiser someday. But when Sebin's acceptance letter finally arrives, it's accompanied by the shocking news that Hwan has been declared a traitor. Apparently, the captain abandoned his duty to steal a magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Sebin hopes to help clear their hero's name and restore honour to the clan.

Nothing goes according to plan, however. As soon as Sebin arrives for orientation, they are met by a special investigator named Yi and his assistant, a girl named Min. Yi informs Sebin that they must immediately report to the ship Haetae and await further instructions. Sebin finds this highly unusual, but soon all protocol is forgotten when there's an explosion on the ship, the crew is knocked out, and the communication system goes down. It's up to Sebin, three other cadets, and Yi and Min to determine who is sabotaging the battlecruiser. When Sebin is suddenly accused of collaborating with the enemy, the cadet realizes that Min is the most dangerous foe of all...

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I believe this is a companion novel to Lee’s Dragon Pearl – well, it says so in the description, doesn’t it? – although I’m not clear on whether you need to read that first. I do plan on reading both, though, because they both sound marvellous!

ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK by Eric Raglin, John Baltisberger, Patrick Barb, Donyae Coles, Jonathan Louis Duckworth, J.V. Gachs, Cynthia Gomez, Joe Koch/Joanna Koch, Kathe Koja, M. Lopes da Silva, Sarah Peploe, Sam Richard, Ana E. Robic, Keith Rosson, Max D. Stanton, Caias Ward, Gordon B. White
Published on: 6th January 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Fascism didn't die in 1945. Its grave was only temporary. Rising again, this undead ideology shambles into the present, gathering power and spreading destruction wherever it goes.

This monster stalks the pages of ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK, in which sixteen horror writers explore fascism's many terrors: police wielding strange bioweapons against the public, white supremacists annihilating their enemies through dark magic, and TV personalities vilifying all who defy the rising fascist tide.

But these stories are resistance: Nazi-killing demons, Confederate-slaying witches, and everyday people punching fascists in the teeth. Among the gore is a glimmer of hope that one day this monster will return to its grave and never rise again.

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This pinged my radar when I heard Kathe Koja wrote the foreword, but let’s be honest, I’m immediately interested in anything anti-fascist, weirdly enough. Splatterpunk is, um, a genre I do not usually delve into, but I did promise myself I would try out more horror this year, and this seems an excellent place to start!

Honorary MentionBright Morning by Jeffrey A. Carver, Amy Sterling Casil, Leah Cutter, Doranna Durgin, Steven Harper, Nancy Jane Moore, Pati Nagle, Gillian Polack, Madeleine E. Robins, Deborah J. Ross, Judith Tarr
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Vonda N. McIntyre preferred to keep her author's biography short and sweet: "Vonda N. McIntyre writes science fiction." While true, this modest claim conceals accomplishments that earned her multiple accolades and an enduring place among the most influential fantasy and science fiction writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Even more important to the authors of this tribute anthology, McIntyre was a kind and generous supporter of other writers. In Bright Morning, eleven career writers of science fiction, fantasy, and other genres share stories of hope in her honor, along with their memories of working with McIntyre. Profits from the anthology will benefit a charity that promotes literacy for children all over the world.

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This was published last month, but I only heard about it this week and wanted to draw attention to it! I’m always in favour of stories about hope, and both McIntyre and child literacy are excellent reasons to create an anthology. It’s not in paperback for a while (I think there should be a trade paperback edition later this month?) but you can nab a copy of the ebook from all the usual suspects.

That’s all I’ve got for this week! Did I mess a book I should know about? Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #67 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Onwards to 2022!

2021 was A Year, for sure, but it was a pretty good year for me blogging-wise. I managed to write at least four reviews every month (except for May, but that was Wyrd & Wonder month when I produced a fair bit of non-review content) which is my baseline goal. I read 220 books!

I wish I’d managed 221 – that would have been so appropriate!

I kept up my Must-Have Monday series, which I’m absurdly proud of and have a lot of fun doing, and belatedly discovered Can’t-Wait Wednesday, a bandwagon I IMMEDIATELY leapt upon. I wrote myself a new About page, which I much prefer to my old one. And I clawed my way up to a Netgalley feedback ratio in the 90s, and kept it!

Only 91% right now, but I’ll get it higher again!

As for blog traffic…yeah, no, I try not to look at that. Hits and shares and subscribers – nope. I’m a tiny, super-niche blog and I have made my peace with that. I’m not looking to monetize Every Book a Doorway – I doubt I could if I tried – and I refuse to obsess over my popularity. I’m just gonna keep doing my thing and hope people like it.

So what’s next?

What I’d really like is to hire someone to make the blog pretty, but a) I don’t know where to even begin looking for someone with the necessary skill-sets and b) I’m not going to poke anyone until I’ve saved up a decent amount of money for it.

I’d also really like to FINALLY start blogging about book-specific pop culture magic. I’ve been saying that for a while, though, so don’t hold your breath just yet.

On a totally different note: WE’RE HAVING A THE HOURGLASS THRONE PROMO!!! In 2019, Kathy and I co-ran a promotion for the release of KD Edwards’ second book, The Hanged Man. Well, we’re doing it again for the third book in the series!!!

I say ‘we’ – it’s far from just Kathy and I this time, and every single member of the team has already proven themselves invaluable. First up: the cover reveal for The Hourglass Throne, which will hopefully be taking place later this month, or early February at the latest. Follow the TTSPromo twitter account for updates!!!

If the promo works out like I think it will, it’ll be the focus of my Spring, but it’s going to be so much fun!!!

Bookish Resolutions

My biggest reading fail has been, unequivocally, how few BIPOC authors I read. So I’m making a rule for myself that from now on I need to read at least three books by BIPOC authors a month.

(I know, three is pathetically low. Obviously I’m hoping to do a lot better than that. But there have been months in 2021 where I didn’t even make three, so, baby steps I guess.)

My second bookish resolution is to try and read more Horror. I’ve spent years thinking I can’t handle horror at all, but I’m starting to suspect that’s because I read Billy Martin, aka Poppy Brite, at a formative age. I’ve only been dipping my toe in, in 2021, but it tentatively seems like most horror is nowhere NEAR as scary as Martin’s stuff – and some of it I really enjoy.

Lastly, I do massively approve of Jo of Once Upon a Bookcase‘s resolution to read more books that feel magical;

The sense of wonder, being completely captivated and enchanted and awed, reading books that feel like fairy tales that weave their own special kind of magic. 

I’m definitely going to be giving that a try too. Need to come up with a tag or Goodreads shelf for books that read like that. Suggestions are welcome!

I think that about covers it. May we all have a wonderful 2022!

The post Onwards to 2022! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

In Short: December

December means properly cold weather, finally, and unfortunately cold weather + fibromyalgia don’t mix all that well. Thank the gods for good books!

Read

16 books read this month – two more than November! Although two of this month’s books were novellas, which always helps.

I’m coming to the much-belated realisation that actually, I quite like horror! Sometimes. I’ve called myself a horror-wimp for a long time, but I’m starting to think that actually, what I used to consider horror is at the pretty extreme end of the spectrum – a lot of what others call horror = stuff I can very much handle and really enjoy. The Liar of Red Valley and The Death of Jane Lawrence, for instance, are both two of my favourite reads of the year, and both are classed as horror novels.

Excluding rereads, Trouble the Saints and Winterglass completely blew me away, although I have complicated feelings about the latter, because of the author’s appalling behaviour in the past. I’ve been trying to work on a post about wtf to do when the writer of something you love turns out to be terrible, but it’s not going anywhere because I don’t have an answer, obviously. And I find it kind of ironic or darkly funny that I’m thinking about this in terms of a not-very-well-known SFF author, when it’s the author of a particular magic school series that has the larger world conflicted at the moment. (I’m not conflicted about her, but then, her books have never meant as much to me as they have to many others, so.)

Regardless, Trouble the Saints is excellent and I’m mad it took me so long to read it!

I’m not doing author stats this month while I take a while to re-examine how I’ve been doing it, and whether I want to keep doing it. At minimum, I’m not going to be dissecting what I read by the gender of whoever wrote it anymore – 10 years of reading stats have made it clear I read mostly cis women, then nonbinary authors, with cis men coming in last, and I just hate the creepy, stalkery feeling of scrutinising author profiles to see if they’re nonbinary or not. It’s not my freaking business.

Whereas I think I do need to try and keep track of how many BIPOC authors I read, because I read almost entirely white authors, and that’s just not great.

Reviewed

Six reviews this month! Without counting the five mini-reviews I wrote of my DNF-ed reads, because they really were too mini to consider reviews. But I’m very happy, and EXTRA delighted that I FINALLY reviewed The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, which I read at the very start of the year! And re-read this month, in the hopes of finally figuring out how to put my love of it into words. I don’t think it was a very worthy review, but I’m glad I managed something.

DNF-ed

Looooooooots of DNFs this month. I was especially disappointed by Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, whose writing style was incredibly simplistic and childish, imo. Maybe that was just a side-effect of it being translated? And I wrote about the rest in my DNF post, which went live yesterday, so I’m not going to bad-mouth them again here.

ARCs Received[image error]

Another wonderful month for ARCs!!! I’m probably most exited for Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory, Second Spear by Kerstin Hall (the sequel to her novella The Border Keeper, which I loved beyond the capacity of words to express) and of course, Last Exit by Max Gladstone. I’ve already managed to review The Magic Between, which I loved, and All the Horses of Iceland, which I didn’t (but didn’t hate either!)

Pennyblade and Kaiykeyi are both debuts, from authors I am completely unfamiliar with – I don’t follow them on social media, nothing. But I’m very interested by both books, so we’ll see how they do!

ARCs Outstanding [image error]

I’m pleased that I’ve been able to keep my Outstanding ARCs at eight for a while now. I do want to try and whittle this number down, though! Maybe by the end of January I can have it down to six… Not gonna bet on it, though!

Rec Lists & Misc

I posted my Best Fantasy and Sci-Fi Books of 2021 list! I’ve been working on it since October, and spent way too long agonising over how many books to include, and when to post it.

I also managed to get up my Unmissable Fantasy & SciFi of 2022 done and posted! I’m damn proud of it – I dug deep to find a bunch of under-the-radar reads to feature alongside the bigger names, and I’m sure everyone who checks it out will find at least one book they haven’t heard of on it. (Whether that one is a book that catches their interest…well, I can only hope!)

Looking Forward

January is packed full of books I’m excited for, not least of which is the latest installment in the Wayward Children series (we’re finally going to see the Other School!!!) and new books from Ana Mardoll, Kate Elliott AND Alexis Hall!

2021 comes to an end, and 2022 begins. It’s been a long year that passed by in a blink – may the new year be kinder to all of us!

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

Perfectly Splendiforous: The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner
Representation: Bisexual MC, F/F or wlw, queernorm world
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Secondary World Fantasy
Goodreads

A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.

Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.

At first Delly thinks the danger is exaggerated, but a series of attacks shows there’s much to fear. Then she begins to fall for Winn, one of the other bodyguards, and the women team up against a mysterious, magical foe who seems to have allies everywhere.

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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~a haunted mouse skeleton
~made-up words that will make you giggle
~cakes and pies
~a really gold-plated romance
~a fire wizard with a taste for gin
~much chemicastry
~the way to get a criminal’s attention is to out-crime them

When a book has a title like The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, you go in expecting a hell of a lot of fun and one hell of a ride – and Lady’s Guide absolutely lives up to those expectations! Surpasses them, even. Because Waggoner has managed to write a book that is as twisty and nuanced as it is fun, a book that made me stop to think as often as it made me laugh. It’s utterly delightful, and a wonderful successor to Waggoner’s debut Unnatural Magic.

Men should never be too good-looking. It gave them ideas.

Which is appropriate, because The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry is set in the same world as Unnatural Magic, with a brief glimpse of some familiar characters. However, you in no way need to have read Unnatural Magic first (although you should, because it, also, is amazing!!!) Lady’s Guide works perfectly as a standalone; you need no prior knowledge of this fantasy-world to enjoy it!

“Fuck me, Winn, this ain’t a particularly favorable turn of fucking events,” Delly said the second they were out on the street, the number of syllables in her personal lexicon being proportional to her perception of egregious enfucktation in her current, present, and unfortunate familial circumstances.

Delly is our main character, and the absolute star of the book. She reminded me of Cockney ne’er-do-wells, a wonderfully loveable, absolutely hilarious, street-smart and cheeky heroine I could happily listen to all day – there’s a reason her dialogue makes me think of Cockney English, and it’s that Waggoner has created a marvellous dialect (alleychat) for Delly and her peers that is just so much fun to read! On top of that is Delly’s own particular way of looking at the world and the words she regularly makes up to describe what she sees – or, even funnier, to make herself sound extra polite and fancy when speaking to her ‘betters’;

“No, Magister. I only meant to express my surprise, Magister, that a young lady of such daintitudinous aspect might be a cloved woman, Magister.”

She’s not an iteration of the Sunny-and-Virtuous Poor Person, though – which I’m always glad of, since that’s a character template I fucking hate. Delly has grown up in pretty extreme poverty, and even as an adult she’s very much living hand-to-mouth. It’s made her more than a little callous, cynical, and ruthlessly practical. Sometimes her thoughts and decisions have the potential to be shocking – such as the way she sets out to seduce Winn, in the hope of getting this well-bred, privileged, wealthy woman to marry her and whisk her away to a life of ease and comfort. That’s the kind of mercenary thinking it’s easy to judge, but – well, only if you’ve never been poor, or don’t have the empathy and compassion to imagine it very well.

(Yes I will defend Delly and her choices to the death, fight me.)

Those two aspects of her character – the hilarious, loveable sweetheart and the more-than-a-bit-ruthless have-not – interact in ways I don’t see very often, and add a ton of depth to the reading experience. For much of the book, every scene Delly shares with the main cast has multiple layers; there’s the Delly the other characters see, and there’s the Delly inside her head, who only we see. Actions that appear kind, we know to be motivated by different flavours of selfishness; we hear every sarcastic comment she bites back so the others will think well of her; we see how she’s asking questions not because she’s interested, but because she’s trying to manipulate conversations away from Dangerous Topics.

It really doesn’t make her less lovable, though. Because it works the other way, too; the reader sees when she does act out of kindness, when she does do something lovely with no ulterior motive – which is something even Delly herself doesn’t see. Delly doesn’t think she’s any kind of good person…but we know otherwise. It’s a fascinating, and super sweet, dissonance between reader, Delly, and the other characters.

“Oh,” Delly said, and felt her own cheeks heating. “Would you like me out pop out to hunt up some supper? I’m absolutely famished.”

Winn smiled at her. “That would be absolutely cream-topped of you, if you don’t mind,” she said, which obviously spurred Delly into charging right back out the door again for fear of being thought of as anything less than utterly and entirely cream-topped.

As you might have inferred from my description of Delly’s less conventially attractive aspects, The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry is not all cupcakes and sparkles (alas). I think Waggoner has done a brilliant job of balancing the whimsy and the dark, but the dark is still there. And I’m not talking about the undead mouse (who is simply adorable): I mean that what starts out as a bodyguarding job rapidly mutates into a genuinely tragic murder, and the fall-out of that murder. Most of the book isn’t about the bodyguarding; it’s about the (very circuitous) hunt for the murderer, and in the process Delly and her companions have to dig into the criminal underworld, especially when it comes to drip, the illegal, dangerous drug that Delly’s mother is already addicted to.

Drip was what most people were taking hereabouts to make themselves go button-eyed. Dellaria herself steered clear. Drip was like love, she figured: all good enough fun, but you’d better not let yourself get too used to it or it’d take you apart as sure as knives.

Mostly it’s kept fairly funny and light, but there are definitely moments that hit you in the gut – as they’re supposed to. In-between falling for Winn and making up wonderfully ridiculous words, Delly is desperate to scrape up the cash to get her mum to one of those country retreat/hospital places, while struggling with her feelings towards said mum, given that she hasn’t exactly been a good mother. There are heart-bruising moments when Delly is smacked in the face with the class difference between her and the other women, and the many things that difference means (including how the police treat her, and honestly, they’re the ones who need some smacks in the face!)

Any sort of outrageous lie sounded more like the most crystalline of truths when spoken in an expensive-sounding-enough accent.

Ruthless is very far from doom-and-gloom. Just, I don’t want to give the impression it’s nothing but candyfloss and giggles, either, because it isn’t. It’s a mix, and it’s a mix that makes it a much stronger, richer book.

“you ought to change your ways, Dellaria Wells,” Bessa said.

Delly nodded slowly. “Ought to indeed. Might be that I’m too short for it, thought.”

Bessa pursed her lips. “How does your height signify?”

“I reckon that sin, being denser than air, tends to settle close to the ground,” Delly said. “That’s why as a rule you’ll find your drunks lying in gutters and your great thickets of pious young ladies up in choir lofts.”

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry is an adventure story and a love story and a fundamentally fun story, even when it gets serious – and Waggoner’s attention to detail, her worldbuilding, her turns of phrase and her dialogue, are all just gold-plated;

“Might as well take a shift at the dream workshop before your shift as a jailer, old thing. You look ready to make that cake a pillow.”

“let’s not cross any bridges before they hatch.”

I declared Ruthless one of the Best SFF Books of 2021, and I absolutely stand by that. And as one of 2021’s earliest releases, it feels appropriate to have my review of it be my last one of the year – I can’t imagine a better way to close than with one of my favourite books.

If you haven’t read this yet, you need to. So along and buy yourself a copy – that would be absolutely cream-topped of you, old thing.

The post Perfectly Splendiforous: The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

December DNFs

I’ve decided to try and start doing a monthly summary of all my DNFs, so here are a few quick scribbles on the books that didn’t work for me in December!

The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong
Published on: 8th March 2022
ISBN: 0857669680
Goodreads

Hunted by those who want to study his gravity powers, Jes makes his way to the best place for a mixed-species fugitive to blend in: the pleasure moon. Here, everyone just wants to be lost in the party. It doesn’t take long for him to catch the attention of the crime boss who owns the resort-casino where he lands a circus job. When the boss gets wind of the bounty on Jes’ head, he makes an offer: do anything and everything asked of him, or face vivisection.
With no other options, Jes fulfills the requests: espionage, torture, demolition. But when the boss sets the circus up to take the fall for his about-to-get-busted narcotics operation, Jes and his friends decide to bring the mobster down together. And if Jes can also avoid going back to being the prize subject of a scientist who can’t wait to dissect him? Even better.

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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As much as I loved the idea of an asexual, half-alien empath running away to join the circus, this did not work for me at all. There were some minor worldbuilding issues, like how all members of a given species speak the same language and share the same culture – but that’s so common a thing in SFF that it only made me twitch a very little bit. (And in fairness, Wong arguably justifies it with the existence of the nine-species federation, which might well have helped each species cohere into a single identity.) But there were some very cool worldbuilding bits and pieces too, like the connections all species have to their planets of origin, and how those bonds affect a person’s psionic abilities.

He moves his body like a dancer and the balls are his partners, only two of his arms are doing one kind of dance while the other two are doing another. He juggles shifting patterns of diminishing numbers as he divests himself of one ball at a time, tossing them to the waiting assistants, until there is just one rolling in his palm. It looks like it’s floating as he passes it from hand to hand to hand. A series of short rolls, then an elongated one across a bridge formed by two arms one way, then back the other way along the other two arms. He changes his positions fluidly and Jes can’t help but wonder if there’s some kind of complex code being transmitted by the hypnotic movements.

But the prose is way, way too simplistic and blunt for me. When you’re trying to describe a series of circus acts, on a not-planet famous throughout the universe for its decadence, and it reads like a shopping list? That’s when I know this isn’t going to work. As a general rule of thumb, you need beautiful prose to convey beauty. That doesn’t mean every page needs to be florid purple, but you do need to be able to turn on the evocative, appealing description occasionally – otherwise it all feels like reading a mechanics manual, which is especially disappointing when the POV character is an empath.

A face appears, flipping up from the mound. A beautiful human face, framed by legs – the performer’s legs, he realizes, that are not in places they should be. Her chin is on the floor, framed by her feet, and her body is bent in half. The contortionist unfolds herself to the murmur of the crowd. She tumbles across the floor, the embodiment of grace, Iands in a split before sliding her front leg behind her, then bending them both forward over her head so that the tips of her toes are in front of her forehead. She presses down with her hands and lifts herself off the floor before slowly rising up into a handstand. She spins and walks on her hands to the center of the stage, kicking her legs gracefully.

I don’t think you can convey the beauty of what a really top tier juggler (with four arms!) and an equally talented contortionist can do by listing off each step of what they’re doing. It becomes mechanical rather than artistic. It’s a list of actions, not a description of a performance. There’s no poetry here, and it desperately needs some.

I’m asexual myself: I went into this book looking to champion it. But The Circus Infinite is a hard DNF from me.

Hold Fast Through the Fire (NeoG #2) by K.B. Wagers
Published on: 27th July 2021
ISBN: 0062887815
Goodreads

The Near-Earth Orbital Guard (Neo-G)—inspired by the real-life mission of the Coast Guard—patrols and protects the solar system. Now the crew of Zuma’s Ghost must contend with personnel changes and a powerful cabal hellbent on dominating the trade lanes in this fast-paced, action-packed follow-up to A Pale Light in the Black.
Zuma’s Ghost has won the Boarding Games for the second straight year. The crew—led by the unparalleled ability of Jenks in the cage, the brilliant pairing of Ma and Max in the pilot seats, the technical savvy of Sapphi, and the sword skills of Tamago and Rosa—has all come together to form an unstoppable team. Until it all comes apart.
Their commander and Master Chief are both retiring. Which means Jenks is getting promoted, a new commander is joining them, and a fresh-faced spacer is arriving to shake up their perfect dynamics. And while not being able to threepeat is on their minds, the more important thing is how they’re going to fulfill their mission in the black.
After a plea deal transforms a twenty-year ore-mining sentence into NeoG service, Spacer Chae Ho-ki earns a spot on the team. But there’s more to Chae that the crew doesn’t know, and they must hide a secret that could endanger everyone they love—as well as their new teammates—if it got out. At the same time, a seemingly untouchable coalition is attempting to take over trade with the Trappist colonies and start a war with the NeoG. When the crew of Zuma’s Ghost gets involved, they end up as targets of this ruthless enemy.
With new members aboard, will the team grow stronger this time around? Will they be able to win the games? And, more important, will they be able to surmount threats from both without and within? 

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

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I give up. I’ve been trying to read this all year, but I just keep bouncing off it. Warning signs started flashing when I reread the first book in this series to prepare for Hold Fast…and had no idea how it had ended up on my Best of 2020 list.

I don’t think this is a bad book, and I do want to come back and try it again eventually. But I found the writing style so bare and blunt, so simplistic. I still love the worldbuilding, the cast, and the effortless diversity, but I just don’t enjoy reading about those things through the lens of Wagers’ prose.

A Radical Act of Free Magic (The Shadow Histories, #2) by H.G. Parry
ISBN: 0316459143
Goodreads

A tale of revolution and wonder in a world not quite like our own, A Radical Act of Free Magic is the conclusion to this genre-defying series of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in the early modern world.
The Concord has been broken, and a war of magic engulfs the world.
In France, the brilliant young battle-mage Napoleon Bonaparte has summoned a kraken from the depths, and under his command the Army of the Dead have all but conquered Europe. Britain fights back, protected by the gulf of the channel and powerful fire-magic, but Wilberforce's own battle to bring about free magic and abolition has met a dead end in the face of an increasingly fearful and repressive government. In Saint Domingue, Fina watches as Toussaint Louverture navigates these opposing forces to liberate the country.
But there is another, even darker war being fought beneath the surface: the first vampire war in hundreds of years. The enemy blood magician who orchestrated Robespierre's downfall is using the Revolutionary Wars to bring about a return to dark magic to claim all of Europe. Across the world, only a few know of his existence and the choices they make will shape the new age of magic.

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This is another DNF that surprised me, because again, the first book in the series was one of my favourite reads of last year. What gives???

I just didn’t find Radical compelling. I was bored, even though I was still invested in Fina, whose story began in the previous book, and really wanted to know more about Kate, a Commoner with weather magic who we met for the first time in this book. But it just… dragged, for me. There seemed to be these long stretches where nothing was really happening, and when things did happen, all the excitement or wonder was sucked out of them. There’s a kraken, and a dragon, and neither of those things really felt special. How do you make a dragon feel mundane?! And I didn’t appreciate the plot devices that came out of nowhere – the kraken and dragon are both great examples, because nothing in the first book even suggested the existence of magical creatures. So the revelation of their inclusion felt like it came out of nowhere, and I hate that.

Wilberforce, Fina and Kate were all characters I cared about – but they were the only ones. I actively disliked almost the entirety of the rest of the cast, and even Wilberforce’s parts were painful because I knew how his campaigning for the abolition of slavery was going to go – because Parry has stuck very closely to historical events, so if you know a bit about the time period, you can predict and recognise the major milestones. That made Wilberforce’s parts more then a little depressing (although in fairness, that’s not on Parry, but on the awfulness of Britain’s history).

The Uncrowned King (The Sun Sword #2) by Michelle West
ISBN: B00AFR4BX0
Goodreads

The second novel of the acclaimed Sun Sword series returns to a war-torn world of noble houses divided and demon lords unleashed...

The King’s Challenge—it was a proving ground for warriors in the Essalieyan Empire, the hallowed contest that made legends of men. And for Valedan, last survivor of the ruling family of the Dominion, it was a declaration of his right to claim the throne stolen from the Leonne clan by treachery and assassination.

Failure to earn the title of King’s Champion would not deprive Valedan of either his Dominion or Essalieyan allies, but winning would announce to the world that he was no callow boy, no mere pawn in the games of power. And the games of power were indeed being played—not only in the Empire and Dominion, but in the far more dangerous realm of the Lord of Night.

As the time of the Challenge neared, Valedan and all those who guarded him would be hard-pressed to survive long enough for him to enter the competition. For the demon kin had been set to hunt him down and destroy him. They had failed before though many innocents had paid for the price. They must not fail again, for slaying Valedan was but the opening gambit in a war that would free the Lord of Night to reign over all the mortal world....

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I just. Keep falling asleep when I try to read this. I want to love this series so much, but using three pages to cover what could have fit into one paragraph only works when your prose is so unbelievably gorgeous that I’m really here for the writing more than the story. And West just doesn’t write like that.

I’m so unbelievably sick of conversations and character interactions where there are all these unspoken layers of meaning going on in what people are saying or doing…and none of them are clear to me. Am I just really stupid? Possibly. But everyone seems to be having a different conversation from the one they’re actually speaking aloud, and I don’t know what that real conversation is about – sometimes I’m not even clear on everyone who’s taking part in it. The effect is of dialogue that all sounds blandly mysterious, either incredibly banal or incomprehensible. And then there’s all the scene changes – we don’t need half of these POV characters; at least a third of what I read didn’t advance the plot in any way. And that isn’t always bad: I like it when authors take time to show off their worldbuilding, or give us quieter, more domestic and intimate moments with their characters. That kind of indulgence is one of the things that makes great fanfic > than a lot of trad-pubbed books.

But that’s not what’s going on here, unfortunately. Those extra scenes aren’t indulgent; they’re bloated.

I’d like to believe I’ll try this series again someday, but after how hard I had to fight to make it through book one, I regretfully doubt it.

The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology #1) by N.E. Davenport
Published on: 5th April 2022
ISBN: 0063058480
Goodreads

Blending fantasy and science fiction, N. E. Davenport's fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology of loyalty and rebellion, in which a young Black woman must survive deadly trials in a racist and misogynistic society to become an elite warrior.

It's all about blood.

The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen's deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.

The blood of the former Legatus, Verne Amari, murdered.

For his granddaughter, Ikenna, the only thing steady in her life was the man who had saved Mareen. The man who had trained her in secret, not just in martial skills, but in harnessing the blood gift that coursed through her.

Who trained her to keep that a secret.

But now there are too many secrets, and with her grandfather assassinated, Ikenna knows two things: that only someone on the Tribunal could have ordered his death, and that only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out that order.

Bent on revenge as much as discovering the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials--a brutal initiation that only a quarter of the aspirants survive. She subjects herself to the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, all while hiding a power that--if found out--would subject her to execution...or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all because she needs to find out who murdered her grandfather...and then she needs to kill them.

Mareen has been at peace for a long time...

Ikenna joining the Praetorians is about to change all that.

Magic and technology converge in the first part of this stunning debut duology, where loyalty to oneself--and one's blood--is more important than anything.

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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First-person present-tense is my kryptonite. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single time it’s worked for me. I hate it with a completely irrational intensity, and I’ve never been able to explain why, even to myself. But this is why I wish there was an excerpt of every ARC, one you could check out before you hit the request button. I’ve seen excerpts on Netgalley a few times, so I know it can be done… Because really, this is a book I shouldn’t have requested. I can’t come close to judging it objectively.

So take it with a heavy dose of salt when I say: what I read of this read like YA, not Adult. And pretty bad YA, at that. There’s a lot of info-dumping, a hot-headed MC whose behaviour and personality make almost no sense in the context of the upbringing we’re told she’s had (even if she is grieving the death of the grandfather who raised her) and a world whose premise is interesting, but isn’t really explored – definitely not as much as I would have liked. The male bestie is introduced as a drop-dead-gorgeous lady’s man, and the female bestie is named Selene, even though this is another world – making the reference to a Greek goddess extremely jarring and so, so unnecessary.

(This is a culture that literally kills people for having any connections to any god ever, so WHY IS SHE NAMED FOR ONE???)

I also massively overestimated my ability to handle stories dealing with racism and misogyny. I must have been in a very different headspace when I requested it, but I’ve felt too raw for narratives like that for a while now. That’s not a reflection on the book; that part of my Nope-feels is definitely an it’s-me-not-you thing. Your mileage will definitely vary.

Probably a whole lot of people are going to enjoy this, but I am definitely not one of them.

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

I Can’t Wait For…Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Catherynne M. Valente

Can’t-Wait Wednesdayis 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 is Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Catherynne Valente!

Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Catherynne M. Valente
Published on: 26th April 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes an inventive new fantasy following a boy journeying away from the only home he’s ever known and into the magical realm of the dead in order to fulfill a bargain for his people.

Osmo Unknown hungers for the world beyond his small town. With the life that Littlebridge society has planned for him, the only taste Osmo will ever get are his visits to the edge of the Fourpenny Woods where his mother hunts. Until the unthinkable happens: his mother accidentally kills a Quidnunk, a fearsome and intelligent creature that lives deep in the forest.

None of this should have anything to do with poor Osmo, except that a strange treaty was once formed between the Quidnunx and the people of Littlebridge to ensure that neither group would harm the other. Now that a Quidnunk is dead, as the firstborn child of the hunter who killed her, Osmo must embark on a quest to find the Eightpenny Woods—the mysterious kingdom where all wild forest creatures go when they die—and make amends.

Accompanied by a very rude half-badger, half-wombat named Bonk and an antisocial pangolin girl called Never, it will take all of Osmo’s bravery and cleverness to survive the magic of the Eightpenny Woods to save his town…and make it out alive.

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None of you can possibly be surprised, all of Valente’s works are holy writ around here, of course I’m excited for her next book! And I mean, I’d be excited even if I hadn’t read snippets of the draft on her Patreon, but I did get to read them and I was utterly enchanted. UTTERLY. I will forever be in awe of her imagination, the strange-but-delightful details she comes up with that turns a story into a world you could step into, if only you could find the door among the pages…

I will not mention anything that was in the Patreon snippets – you’ll have to sign up yourself if you want to read them! – but I’ve been waiting to hear about the progress of this book for a while now – I really did fall in love with the bits of it she shared. I can’t wait to get to read the full and finished version! I have so many QUESTIONS, and I’m head-over-heels for the premise, and look at Osmo’s beautiful coat on the cover!!! And – is that an armadillo, curled around the king chess-piece??? (I think it’s a chess-piece. I think it’s an armadillo! EEE!)

But Sia! I hear you say. Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods is MG! It’s not even YA! And you barely read YA!!!

To which I say: your point??? I really don’t care about the age classification of a book; I care about whether it’s good; whether it’s my particular flavour of really and truly excellent. MG, YA, Adult, they’re all the same that way: some books are perfect for me, and some are not. Age of Intended Audience doesn’t have much to do with it. Or have you forgotten my deep and abiding love for The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart, which is also MG???

Also, this is a Catherynne Valente book we’re talking about, here. I think it may be literally impossible for me not to love anything she cares to write, at this point. And as someone who read bits of an early draft of this book??? I strongly suspect I will not be the only one to love Osmo Unknown.

In fact, you really ought to preorder it now. Like, right now. How else will you ever find out what’s up with the armadillo???

The post I Can’t Wait For…Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Catherynne M. Valente appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

10(+) Best Backlist Books of 2021

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog!

This week’s prompt was 10 Best Books I Read This Year – but I already posted about my favourite books of 2021. This, then, is a list of my top 10 reads of the year that weren’t published this year – backlist books! Some of the best books I read this year were published before 2021, and they absolutely deserve a spotlight shone on them!

Thus, excluding rereads – my Top 10 Read-But-Not-Published-in-2021!

Susurrus on Mars by Hal Duncan
Representation: M/M
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

This novella-length collection of Erehwynan Idylls offers readers an indulgent and weird agglomeration of randy boys and revelations, as the embodiment of a small breeze--actually the gene-spliced child of the gods Zephyros and Ares--flirts and seduces fleshlings on a terraformed future Mars. Hal Duncan's acclaimed style is both alethic and erudite and offers a fresh telling of philosophical musings and classic Greek mythology for 21st century readers.

"This densely lyrical novella combines science fiction, Greek mythology, botany, philosophy, and erotica into a resonant whole..." - Publishers Weekly

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Duncan continuously pushes boundaries and turns experimental, and it works beautifully in this novella set on Mars, where the Greek gods (well, a few of them) dance at the edges of humanity’s story. Long-term fans will recognise incarnations of familiar characters, but Susurrus on Mars is wholly a standalone, where the far-future escapades of two non-traditional families alternate with miniature essays on the (mythical) origins of various trees and plants – you might know the legend of Narcissus, but most of these will be new to all but the most hard-core mythology buffs. And of course, Duncan’s vision of the future is not just weird and wonderful; it’s also extremely queer. This is probably my favourite of all his works since the Book of Hours duet!

In the Eyes of Mr Fury by Philip Ridley
Representation: M/M
Genres: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

On the day Concord Webster turned eighteen, the Devil died. The Devil's real name was Judge Martin, but Concord's mother called him the Devil. She said he boiled babies for dinner and made lampshades out of human skin. So why did she, who hated him so venomously, have a key to his house?

The key will unlock more than just Judge's front door. It will also unlock a multitude of stories - where magic children talk to crows, men disappear in piles of leaves, and James Dean lookalikes kiss in dark alleys - and reveal a secret history that will change Concord's life forever.

Philip Ridley's second novel (following the sexually charged tour de force Crocodilia) was an instant cult classic when originally published in 1989. Now, for this new edition, Ridley has reimagined the story, expanding the original novel into the world's first LGBT magical realist epic. A vast, labyrinthine, hall-of-mirrors saga, its breathtaking imagery and stunning plot twists - covering over a hundred years - reveal Ridley to be one of the most distinctive and innovative voices in contemporary fiction.

'Philip Ridley's stories compel attention.' - The Times (London)

'Ridley is the master of modern myth.' - The Guardian

'Ridley is a visionary.' - Rolling Stone

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This is weird in a completely a different way than Susurrus is, but it’s still so good! In the Eyes of Mr Fury is a kind of magical realism/urban fantasy cross, where fantastical events – like turning memories into playable movie reels, and babies being delivered by crows instead of storks – take place alongside the unravelling of the secrets of one particular neighbourhood – one single street, even. It’s also a story of male queerness set in a time period that wasn’t exactly accepting of that, so I was pleasantly surprised that it managed to stay so…whimsically upbeat, even though it doesn’t flinch away from going to some heartbreaking places too.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Representation: Brown MCs, sapphic MC, asexual MC, achillean MC, queernorm world
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever in this captivating debut of connection across space and time.

"This is when your life begins."

Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her; all she has left is work. Alone and adrift, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky.

A boy, broken by his past.

The scarred child does not speak, his only form of communication the beautiful and haunting music he plays on an old wooden flute. Captured by his songs and their strange, immediate connection, Nia decides to take the boy in. And over years of starlit travel, these two outsiders discover in each other the things they lack. For him, a home, a place of love and safety. For her, an anchor to the world outside of herself.

For both of them, a family.

But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy. The past hungers for him, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.

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I picked this up because I fell in love with the sound of The Spear Cuts Through Water (why, when the description is so short??? I don’t know, it just happened) and I wanted to see if the author had written anything else. And he had! It was scifi, not fantasy, but I gave it a go anyway, and, just…wow. Freaking wow. Jimenez’s writing runs like clear water, almost poetic and utterly gorgeous, and I fell so hard for the entire cast. The description doesn’t come close to doing it justice; it makes The Vanished Birds sound so simple, maybe even banal, and it’s not at all. This is classism and capitalism in a far-future universe run and owned by corporations; it’s about economics and trade and space travel; and most of all, it’s about how family doesn’t need to have anything to do with blood. This book made me glow with joy and sob my heart out by turns, and I recommend it to absolutely everyone.

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
Representation: Polynesian-coded MC, brown cast
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Goodreads

An impulsive word can start a war.
A timely word can stop one.
A simple act of friendship can change the course of history.

Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god.

He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person.

He has never once touched his lord.
He has never called him by name.
He has never initiated a conversation.

One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday.

The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy.

The acceptance upends the world.

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Has anyone been able to describe this book in a way that does it justice??? Not to my knowledge, although Alexandra Rowland’s twitter thread about it is probably the closest anyone has gotten yet. The Hands of the Emperor defies description and explanation. It’s a saving-the-world story, in a way, but via impassioned bureaucracy, not a big dramatic quest. It’s huge and gorgeous and indulgent, incisive and thoughtful, passionate beyond belief. The worldbuilding is phenomenal, detailed and beautiful, but it’s very much the cast and their goals that make it shine. I had (happy!) tears streaming down my face in the final chapters; Goddard writes to give you chills and snatch your breath away, makes your heart swell so much inside your chest that you have to grow yourself a little bigger so it still fits.

Maybe that’s the best way to put it: Hands of the Emperor is a book that makes you grow, because it’s too full of hope and wonder and love and beauty for any one person to hold. It’s a heart-home book, one that picks you up when you fall, clear your eyes when you can’t see, polishes your hope and your strength when the world feels like it’s too much, when things feel hopeless, when the fight to make the world a better place feels unwinnable. It’s powerful and gentle, one of those books that changes you. The kind of book you never, ever forget.

There just aren’t words to do it justice. You’ll have to read it and see for yourself.

[image error]Heart of Stone by Johannes T. Evans
Representation: Achillean MC with ADHD, autistic achillean MC
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The year is 1764, and following a glowing recommendation from his last employer, Henry Coffey, vampire, takes on a new personal secretary: young Theophilus Essex.

The man is quite unlike any secretary - or any man, for that matter - that Henry has ever met.
---
'Heart of Stone' is a slowly unfolding period romance between a vampire and his inimitably devoted clerk: lushly depicted in flowing, lovingly appended prose, we follow the slow understanding these two men grasp of one another, and the cross of their two worlds into each other's.

Henry Coffey, immortal and ever-oscillating between periods of delighted focus upon his current passion project, is charming, witty, and seems utterly incapable of closing his mouth for more than a few moments; in contrast, Theophilus Essex is quiet and keenly focused, adopting an ever-flat affect, but as time goes on, he relaxes in his employer's presence.

Craving resounding intimacy but with an ever aware of the polite boundaries for their situation, Coffey and Essex perform a slow dance as they grow closer to one another, and find themselves entangled.

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This is a beautifully indulgent, Much Soft book about a vampire and his autistic secretary falling for each other. It’s soft and quiet and small-scale – no one needs to save the world here, and you know from the first pages that all is going to end well. And books like that are to be treasured just as much – if not more, maybe – as the books that are about defeating evil and saving the kingdom. I loved Heart of Stone to pieces, not least because of its subtle but clever worldbuilding and the diversity of the characters – I’ve already mentioned that Theophilus is autistic, but Henry is ADHD, too, and how often do we see that? Especially in SFF? Almost never. But Evans just writes it, and in really gorgeous prose, too, and if you want pining and slow-burn and sweetness, this is definitely a book you should not miss!

The Philosopher's Flight (The Philosophers Series, #1) by Tom Miller
Representation: Brown love interest, minor sapphic characters
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

A thrilling debut from ER doctor turned novelist Tom Miller, The Philosopher’s Flight is an epic historical fantasy set in a World-War-I-era America where magic and science have blended into a single extraordinary art.

Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy—an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service—a team of flying medics—Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women.

Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle’s activism and Robert’s recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert’s mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert’s place among the next generation of empirical philosophers—and for philosophy’s very survival against the men who would destroy it.

In the tradition of Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness, Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher’s Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.

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I’m still kind of outraged that I didn’t discover this series until 2021! Miller has done an amazing job with the worldbuilding of this alternate-history where magic empirical philosophy is a real thing that allows people to fly, heal, and even teleport – and for some as-yet-unknown reason, women are much, much stronger philosophers. Quite a bit of the traditional gender roles have gone out the window, which delights me, and it was beyond fascinating to see the main character Robert navigate the women-dominated world of empirical philosophy. (I wouldn’t call it a matriarchy, since politics etc still seem to be run by men, and I still have questions about where nonbinary people fit in all this. I have my fingers crossed we’ll get answers on that eventually.) Robert himself is a wonderful narrator, and Miller even managed to make me sympathise – to a point! – with some of the enemies he faces in his studies; it’s too easy to understand why women would be jealously possessive of this one field where they have the advantage over men…although that doesn’t make how they treat Robert even vaguely acceptable. But Robert also has allies and friends, and I adored the entire cast of them, and honestly, Miller is just a really, really great writer; The Philosopher’s Flight pulls you in immediately so you just keep turning pages until you’ve finished. Put it down for breaks??? Not happening!

I really love this series SO MUCH and need everyone else to be reading it too!

My full review!

The Dawnhounds (Against the Quiet, #1) by Sascha Stronach
Representation: QPoC cast, brown sapphic MC, F/F
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

A ship rolls through the fog, its doomed crew fallen victim to an engineered plague. Yat Jyn-Hok—disgraced cop, former thief, long lost love to a flame-haired street girl—stumbles across its deadly trail, but powerful men will do anything to keep it secret.

They kill Yat.

It doesn’t stick.

An ancient intelligence reanimates her, and sends her out to enact its monstrous designs. She has her own plans: to find her lost love, and solve her own murder before the plague tears the city to pieces. But what are the golden threads she sees running through the city walls? What does her inhuman saviour want from her? Why can’t she die?

Set in Hainak Kuay Vitraj—where lost gods live in the cracks in the sidewalk, where the miracle of alchemical botany makes flesh as malleable as clay—The Dawnhounds.

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I bought this just days before it was taken down – because this edition was published by a micropress (effectively self-published), and then Stronach got a traditional-publishing deal! So this edition was taken off the market to make way for the new one. Which is not quite out yet! We have to wait until this summer, but it’s been expanded with a whole bunch of previously-cut content – which means there’s not much point in waxing poetic about the edition I read, I guess, because that one wasn’t the full, final story.

AND YET. IT FUCKING ROCKED. SO I AM VERY EXCITED FOR THE NEW EDITION. VERY EXCITED INDEED!

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
Representation: Polyamory, genderqueer MC, bi/pansexual brown MC, M/M/F
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

“Gloriously dark and romantic.” —Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen

“An alluring and seductive fairy tale.” —Justina Ireland, New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation

“Horrifying, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, a lush fairy tale rooted in a moral quandary.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“An eerie, consuming tale of sacrifice and faith. Haunting and unique.” —Booklist

“Evocative.” —BCCB

Once, a witch made a pact with a devil. The legend says they loved each other, but can the story be trusted at all? Find out in this lush, atmospheric fantasy novel that entwines love, lies, and sacrifice.
Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man into the depths of the Devil’s Forest.

Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early.

Bound by duty, secrets, and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town—and their hearts—inside out.

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What’s a love-triangle when – spoiler! – it ends with all three together? Gratton is one of my favourite authors, and Strange Grace didn’t disappoint even a little – it’s queer and strange and feral, with monsters and sacrifices, witches and saints. I loved how it consistently bucked expectations, refusing to be pinned down or predictable, both with regards the romantic arc and with the dark-magic-and-blood plotline. I fully approve.

This isn’t the book I’d give you as an introduction to Gratton’s work – I’d definitely hand you Night Shine first – but it’s still a fantastic standalone that straddles the line between dark fantasy and horror, YA and Adult, strange and lovely. Strongly recommended!

Ember Boys (Flint and Tinder, #1) by Gregory Ashe
Representation: Bisexual MC, achillean MC, M/M
Published on: 12th August 2020
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Emmett Bradley thinks his adventures are over. Together with his friends, he stopped an ancient evil and lived to tell about it. But life as a survivor, even as a survivor of a victory, isn’t easy, and when Emmett runs away from Vehpese, Wyoming, he takes a few things with him: a battered ego, a broken heart, and his addictions. He’s lucky that Jim Spencer, his former English teacher, happens to have ended up in the same small, coastal town. He’s even luckier that Jim is doing everything he can to help Emmett hold himself together.

When Emmett’s parents commit him to the psychiatric ward of an infamous hospital, though, Emmett finds himself struggling day to day to remember that the life he’s lived—a life with monsters and psychics—is real. Every day, he finds himself a little less certain that he can trust any of his memories.

A chance encounter with a strange girl, though, forces Emmett to confront the possibility that things around him aren’t quite what they seem. The hospital may not actually be a hospital. His adventures may not be over. And the ancient evil he stopped in Wyoming might have been only one strand in a larger web.

Then Emmett is attacked by a dead man, and he realizes that he’s caught up in a war he doesn’t understand. He must hurry to learn the truth about what’s going on, and he’ll need Jim’s help to do it. He just has to convince his old teacher that things between them aren’t too complicated already—but first, Emmett will have to convince himself.

Note: Emmett has previously appeared in the Hollow Folk series.

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Ember Boys is the first book in a new series set in the same world – and featuring a few of the same characters – as the Hollow Folk books, which, if you’ve been hanging out here a lot, you know are some of my favourites in all the world! But it’s very easy to love Ember Boys for its own sake, even if you really do have to have read the previous series to to fully appreciate everything it does. There are FEELS and ANGSTING and also SUPERPOWERS, and I lost my damn mind over the worldbuilding and the new ship! I can’t believe Ashe managed to convert me from my OT3 to a new OTP, but I am not complaining!

My full review!

Stargazy Pie (Greenwing & Dart, #1) by Victoria Goddard
Representation: Minor achillean characters
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Magic is out of fashion. Good manners never are.

Jemis Greenwing returned from university with a broken heart, a bad cold, and no prospects beyond a problematic inheritance and a job at the local bookstore.

Ragnor Bella is a placid little market town on the road to nowhere, where Jemis' family affairs have always been the main source of gossip. Having missed his stepfather's funeral, he is determined to keep his head down.

Unfortunately for his reputation, though fortunately for several other people, he falls quickly under the temptation of resuming the friendship of Mr. Dart of Dartington, Squire-in-training and beloved local daredevil. Mr. Dart is delighted to have Jemis' company for what will be, he assures him, a very small adventure.

Jemis expected the cut direct. The secret societies, criminal gangs, and illegal cult to the old gods--to say nothing of the mermaid--come as a complete surprise.

Book One of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.

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After reading Hands of the Emperor, I obviously went to check out Goddard’s other books…and fell head-over-heels into the Dartwing & Green series! It’s incredibly different to Hands – it’s much more whimsical, occasionally a little silly, much lighter fare even when something fairly serious is going on. Fantasy of Manners is an amazing subgenre when it’s done well, and it is absolutely done well here. The Dartwing & Green series was an amazing escape for me this year – when I was going through a rough patch, mentally and physically, these were absolutely the books I needed, and they were perfect, and I’m still so grateful.

Plus, I cannot wait to dive into book six, which just released earlier this month!!!

The post 10(+) Best Backlist Books of 2021 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #66

I thought I might have to make my first Must-Have Monday post featuring just one book, this week – but I was willing to do it, because The Midnight Girls ABSOLUTELY merits its own post if necessary! But in fact, I found a few more releases when I went digging – in the end, there are FOUR books that ought to be on your radar this week!

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska
Representation: Sapphic MCs, minor Muslim character, implied M/M
Published on: 28th December 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The Wicked Deep meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this new standalone YA fantasy set in a snow-cloaked kingdom where witches are burned, and two enchantresses secretly compete for the heart of a prince, only to discover that they might be falling for each other.

It's Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil's Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit "kuligi" sleigh-parties.

Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. Newfound friends and polar opposites, Zosia and Marynka seem destined to have a friendship that's stronger even than magic. But that's put to the test when they realize they both have their sights set on Lechija's pure-hearted prince. A pure heart contains immeasurable power and Marynka plans to bring the prince's back to her grandmother in order to prove herself. While Zosia is determined to take his heart and its power for her own.

When neither will sacrifice their ambitions for the other, the festivities spiral into a wild contest with both girls vying to keep the hapless prince out of the other's wicked grasp. But this isn't some remote forest village, where a hint of stray magic might go unnoticed, Warszów is the icy capital of a kingdom that enjoys watching monsters burn, and if Zosia and Marynka's innocent disguises continue to slip, their escalating rivalry might cost them not just the love they might have for each other, but both their lives.

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Jasinksa’s debut, The Dark Tide, is one of my all-time favourites – I’m sitting next to a signed copy as I type, and when the author is in Australia and you are not that is a FEAT! – and she knocked it out of the park again with The Midnight Girls! HI YES ALL THE QUEER MONSTER GIRLS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU! You can read my full review here, but honestly, you should really just save yourself some time and GO BUY THE BOOK!

Vile Affections by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Published on: 31st December 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Goodreads

In Vile Affections, Caitlín R. Kiernan's seventeenth short fiction collection, the boundaries of desire, fascination, passion, and dread collide. That which is beautiful may easily be profane. Those who love us may devour us alive. A shadow may shine like a supernova. The eye of the beholder is God. In these twenty-two stories, Kiernan's trademark range is on display, taking us from submerged and monster-haunted dreamscapes to quiet bedroom conversation between lovers, from unexpected and uncanny roadkill to an object lesson on the perils of picking up hitchhikers on rainy Appalachian nights. Moving deftly between such disparate genres as cyberpunk, fairy tales, and Southern Gothic, this is Kiernan at their eerie best.

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The ebook is already available, but the hardcover of Kiernan’s latest short story collection goes on sale on the 31st! (…I think.) Kiernan regularly writes sublime, often queer horror that makes me sleep with the light on, so, you know, if that’s your thing…?

The Girl Sudan Painted like a Gold Ring: Folktales from the Sea Dyaks of Sarawak, Borneo (Lands Below the Winds Series) by Theresa Fuller
Published on: 1st January 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

If you like your fables with a dash of bloodshed, then The Girl Sudan Painted Like a Gold Ring is the anthology you have been waiting for. Author Theresa Fuller has collected a fascinating group of tales based on the oral storytelling history of the Sea Dyaks of Borneo.

The twist? The Dyaks were headhunters!

A TINY MOUSEDEER BATTLES A SPIRIT GIANT

A GIRL MUST SAVE HER VILLAGE FROM AN ARMY OF HEAD-HUNTERS

HOW A HEDGEHOG HELPS A BULLIED BOY BECOME A GOD

In this book you will find stories designed to entertain and teach, all from the point of view of a culture based in honor, courtesy, and war.

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A book in this same series by the same author – The Girl Who Became a Goddess – was one of the first ARCs I was ever accepted for, so it’s really exciting to see Theresa Fuller’s name again! And I can safely say I know nothing at all about the mythology of Borneo, so these stories will be completely new to me!

The Gardener Kings by Monica Boothe
Published on: 1st January 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

All her life she’s lived in exile, hiding from the traitor who usurped her father’s throne. But now she must return to the very kingdom she’s always feared.

Iníon is the daughter of the last Gardener King, or so she thought. When the king reveals to her that she is not his blood daughter but that he found her in a tree the night that he fled Gàrradh, she begins to wonder what other secrets he’s been hiding.

She falls for Rían, the king’s wild son with Gardener blood in his veins who not only lives in the trees but speaks to them. But Rían is forbidden to marry any woman without kings’ blood.

Together Rían and Iníon concoct a plan to return to Gàrradh and solve the mystery of Iníon’s birth. But what they find when they arrive in the land of their birth turns everything upside down. After what she’s learned about the Gardener Kings, will Iníon still want to be a part of this family?

This young adult fantasy novel inspired by Celtic myth and fairylore is the first in The Gardener Kings trilogy.

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I’ve got to be honest, what grabbed my attention was that beautiful cover – but I’m also intrigued by the idea of Gardener Kings (it has nothing at all to do with how my brain went straight to the myths of the Fisher King, nope). The idea of monarch as gardener of their domain is a lovely one…although somehow I doubt Boothe’s story is going to be that serene!

And that covers the transition from 2021 to 2022!!! Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #66 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach

Can’t-Wait Wednesdayis 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 is The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach!

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach
Published on: 14th June 2022
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

Gideon the Ninth
meets Black Sun in this queer, Māori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it.

The port city of Hainak is alive: its buildings, its fashion, even its weapons. But, after a devastating war and a sweeping biotech revolution, all its inhabitants want is peace, no one more so than Yat Jyn-Hok a reformed-thief-turned-cop who patrols the streets at night.

Yat has recently been demoted on the force due to “lifestyle choices” after being caught at a gay club. She’s barely holding it together, haunted by memories of a lover who vanished and voices that float in and out of her head like radio signals. When she stumbles across a dead body on her patrol, two fellow officers gruesomely murder her and dump her into the harbor. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up.
Resurrected by an ancient power, she finds herself with the new ability to manipulate life force. Quickly falling in with the pirate crew who has found her, she must race against time to stop a plague from being unleashed by the evil that has taken root in Hainak.

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Honestly, folx… Describing Dawnhounds as ‘Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun‘?

Is actually UNDERselling this freaking book.

But Sia! you cry. How can you know that??? Did you get an ARC and not tell us??? Also, how dare you claim something could be better than Gideon AND Black Sun!!!

I dare because I care, my friends, and also because it’s TRUE. And no, I don’t have an ARC. What I do have is a copy of the first edition of Dawnhounds, released back in 2019 by a micropress called Little Hook Press. That edition was pulled just a few days after I bought my copy, because Stronach got a trad-publishing deal, but that didn’t stop me from reading it!

AND IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME. It was all-our-millennia-of-evolution-failed-to-equip-us-with-the-ability-to-comprehend-this-level-of-awesome levels of awesome. It was the-entire-width-and-breadth-and-depth-of-the-English-language-is-not-enough-to-describe-this-much-freaking-WOW kind of awesome. When I say it blew my fucking mind, I mean Dawnhounds set off a second Big Bang inside my skull.

(I’m still finding random quasars and nebulae buried in my brain wrinkles over a year later. They’re like pennies down the back of a sofa, I swear.)

So to say I was excited to hear it was getting a trad release – one that would hopefully get it into the hands of way more readers – is A LITTLE BIT OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT.

But then. BUT THEN.

THIS.

Excuse me??? EXCUSE ME?! I was expecting a new cover, maybe polishing away the (very few!) typos, a paper copy I could buy for my bookshelf (the 2019 edition only ever printed a 100 or so paper copies AND I NEED THIS ON MY SHELF OKAY)!

But now you tell me this book – THIS BOOK, which is already SO FUCKING GOOD, and SO FUCKING WEIRD AND QUEER AND INDIGENOUS IN ALL THE BEST WAYS – now you tell me the new edition will be EVEN WEIRDER? And EVEN GAYER? And EVEN MORE INDIGENOUS?!

Now you tell me that all the stuff that was cut because maybe audiences wouldn’t get it has GONE BACK IN???

HI, HOUSTON, TELL YOUR SPACEPEOPLE NOT TO WORRY, THAT SOUND THEY HEAR IS ME SHRIEKING OUT OF SHEER FUCKING DELIGHT, NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

So no, I cannot wait for this. I couldn’t wait ALREADY.

Now I literally cannot EVEN.

*INCOHERENT SHRIEKING IN BOOKWYRM*

The post I Can’t Wait For…The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.