Siavahda's Blog, page 79

I Can’t Wait For…The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

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

This week my Can’t-Wait-For is The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean!

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Representation: Lesbian MC
Published on: 9th August 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Sunyi Dean's The Book Eaters is a contemporary fantasy debut. It's a story of motherhood, sacrifice, and hope; of queer identity and learning to accept who you are; of gilded lies and the danger of believing the narratives others create for you.

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.

Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.

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This cover was just revealed TODAY, and I’m so glad because I don’t feel like I can feature a book in one of these posts until it has a cover – and I’ve really wanted to feature this one!

I guess as a hardcore bookwyrm I’m supposed to be appalled at the thought of people eating books, but let’s be honest, that premise is simply incredible and I love everything about it! I mean, not the part where Book Eaters are sexist prats, obviously – the idea of women being fed on fairytales, that metaphor is not subtle at all – but I presume the main character didn’t adhere to her prescribed diet, or in some other way will manage to give her male relatives the finger… And I love protective mums. Sorry-not-sorry. Especially if they go full-monster to protect their kids. This book ticks so many of my boxes!

The author is also openly autistic, which makes me so happy too! I have no idea if there’s autism rep in the book, but it’s always this little !!! of joy when I hear about a new autistic storyteller.

So yeah. I’ve had this preordered for AGES, and I strongly urge everyone else to preorder it too!

The post I Can’t Wait For…The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

10 Worlds I Would Not Run Away To

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!

Today’s prompt is Favourite Book Settings. Now, I read SFF, which means being exposed to amazing settings all the time. Definitely too many to narrow down to 10 faves! But then I thought – most of us would run off into the worlds of our favourite books if we could, but what about the settings we love, but definitely would not ever enter willingly?

Thus: 10 settings I adore, but definitely would not want to live in!

The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, Andrew Garin
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Skythulf wants to live. Raised in the fight pits, trained to kill or be killed, he yearns for freedom that's out of reach. He's a scythewulf: a wolf-shifter considered neither fully man nor beast, his life worth nothing to his keepers…until Brennus, knight-champion of Saorlland, rescues him from certain death and offers him a new life.

When he mistakenly kills a corrupted nun, Skythulf has one chance to redeem himself and restore his honor. He must run with the Wild Hunt: an age-old trial of blood and courage, where every step hides peril and carnage. If he survives, he will be pardoned. If he fails, Brennus will die brutally at his side.

Few have ever returned from the fae-haunted land, where horrors unnamed dwell beside the enchanted and the damned. There is no rest, no relent, and no mercy.
In the Wild Hunt, you run or you die.

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Nonbinary knights, group marriages, warrior nuns, Magpie Lords… I’m so very good with all of that. But there’s also an awful lot of really, really terrifying monsters, in a kingdom where you win the crown by killing the previous monarch, and honestly that just doesn’t sound like a stable political environment, you know???

The Bone Ships (The Tide Child, #1) by R.J. Barker
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new fantasy from David Gemmell Award-nominated RJ Barker.
Two nations at war. A prize beyond compare.

For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.

The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.

Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.

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The world of the Bone Ships is a matriarchal, queernorm world WITH SEA-DRAGONS: it is objectively amazing. But it’s a matriarchy governed by whoever produces the most healthy babies (I’m not having kids under any circumstances ever, thanks), the part of the world habitable by humans is not exactly a lush wonderful paradise, and the two cultures that manage to exist under these circumstances??? Are at constant war with each other.

Also, they kill the sea dragons to make them into ships. I’ll grant you that’s an amazing premise, but also, I’m not siding with the folx who kill dragons. NO THANKS.

The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1) by Martha Wells
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Moon has spent his life hiding what he is — a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community. What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell. Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself... and his newfound kin.

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My problem if I travelled to the world of the Raksura…is that it’s a world entirely without humans. Humanoid races, sure, plenty of them. But no humans. Between all the beasties who’d consider me a snack and my total lack of survival skills, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t survive 15 minutes. I mean, human bodies are useless – no claws, no camouflage, and definitely no shapeshifting into matriarchal dragon-bee people! Seriously, who designed these things, and can I get a refund?

The Blacktongue Thief (Blacktongue, #1) by Christopher Buehlman
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.

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Buehlman has created a wonderfully intricate and diverse world, with incredible magics, battle-crows, and mage-queens…but again, I wouldn’t last 15 minutes. Also, as original as the setting is, its level of technology is somewhere around the Medieval period. I’m not moving to a world without modern plumbing. Hard pass!

The Dragon’s Legacy (The Dragon's Legacy #1) by Deborah A. Wolf
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Goodreads

The last Aturan King is dying, and as his strength fades so does his hold  on  sa  and  ka. Control of this power is a deadly lure; the Emperor stirs in his Forbidden City to the East, while deep in the Seared Lands, the whispering voices of  Eth bring secret death. Eight men and women take their first steps along the paths to war, barely realizing that their world will soon face a much greater threat; at the heart of the world, the Dragon stirs in her sleep.

A warrior would become Queen, a Queen would become a monster, and a young boy plays his bird-skull flute to keep the shadows of death at bay.

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Dragons under the earth, sapient telepathic sabre-tooth tigers, warrior-women in the deserts… I love this world so much, but it is brutal, and nowhere in this trilogy is there room for someone as soft and squishy as myself. Gonna have to admire it from afar.

Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence, #1) by Max Gladstone
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy
Goodreads

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.
When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

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A world where gods are real, but only a few of them are left after they went to war with humanity once humans discovered magic??? There is nothing about this setting I do not adore – from a distance. Learning the Craft, assuming I survived the process, would eventually turn me into a fleshless skeleton-thing, which is not exactly on my list of life goals – and I’m a little concerned about using souls as currency for taxis and fast-food!

Havenstar by Glenda Larke
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Goodreads

The Eight Stabilities are islands of order surrounded by lethal chaos—and the order is being swallowed by the unstable. The religious leaders of Chantry try to maintain the Stabilities by ordering the necessity of a once in a lifetime pilgrimage across the chaos. And in that ever-changing world, the most important person is a mapmaker who can make a chart of secure pilgrimage routes…

Keris Kaylen is a mapmaker's daughter. When her father is murdered and a mountain disappears, Keris is betrayed by her brother. Forced to flee into the Unstable, she finds her safety is in the hands of a man bonded to the Lord Carasma, the Unmaker…and her ordered life is turned upside-down. Her survival will depend on a map and a place called Havenstar—but she can't reproduce the map, and Havenstar may not even exist…

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Havenstar‘s world is hard to pin down – because it’s always changing; outside a handful of places called Stabilities, reality is not very close friends with the laws of physics. Mountains disappear, gravity reverses itself, fire is wet – it’s really not safe to travel. And the only way to keep the Stabilities secure is…the Rule, which is actually a whole bunch of laws that, surprise! Are not very feminist. Like, at all.

I’m not a girl, but I do have XX chromosomes and those asshats would definitely not let me have any fun. I’d have to run away to Havenstar, and honestly, I’d be pretty terrified to try travelling through the spaces that belong to Chaos. Probably wouldn’t survive the attempt, let’s be honest.

The Waking Engine by David Edison
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

Contrary to popular wisdom, death is not the end, nor is it a passage to some transcendent afterlife. Those who die merely awake as themselves on one of a million worlds, where they are fated to live until they die again, and wake up somewhere new. All are born only once, but die many times . . . until they come at last to the City Unspoken, where the gateway to True Death can be found.

Wayfarers and pilgrims are drawn to the City, which is home to murderous aristocrats, disguised gods and goddesses, a sadistic faerie princess, immortal prostitutes and queens, a captive angel, gangs of feral Death Boys and Charnel Girls . . . and one very confused New Yorker.

Late of Manhattan, Cooper finds himself in a City that is not what it once was. The gateway to True Death is failing, so that the City is becoming overrun by the Dying, who clot its byzantine streets and alleys . . . and a spreading madness threatens to engulf the entire metaverse.

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But maybe if I died I’d end up in The City Unspoken…the place souls come to after their cycles of reincarnation (well, it’s not really reincarnation, but it’s simpler to call it that in a quick description like this) when they’re ready to be unmade into oblivion for good. It’s packed full of historical figures who’ve stuck around, fae, nobles who kill each other for fun because death doesn’t stick for them, liches, goddesses, and pretty much everything else you can think of. It’s incredibly beautiful and incredibly ugly and I’m more than willing to wait a gazillion lifetimes before going anywhere near the place, thanks!

Half-Witch by John Schoffstall
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

In Lizbet Lenz’s world, the sun goes around the earth, God speaks directly to his worshippers, goblins haunt cellars and witches lurk in forests. Disaster strikes when Lizbet's charming scoundrel father is thrown into a dungeon by the tyrant Hengest Wolftrow. To free him, Lizbet must cross the Montagnes du Monde, globe-girdling mountains that reach to the sky, a journey no one has ever survived, and retrieve a mysterious book.

Lizbet is desperate, and the only one who can help her is the unpleasant and sarcastic witch girl Strix. As the two girls journey over the mountains and into the lands of wonder beyond, on the run from goblins, powerful witches, and human criminals, Lizbet discovers, to her horror, that Strix's magic is turning Lizbet into a witch, too. Meanwhile, a revolution in Heaven is brewing.

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I’m not going to lie; as someone who was raised Catholic, I am Very Intrigued by a world where, when you put the communion wafer in your mouth and pray, God talks back to you. To say nothing of witches and pixie queens and rains of mice. But as much as I’d love to toss horrible gross guys into a witch’s press and squeeze them dry of all their useful bits, witches are made, not born, so that’s not a career path I can take. And Jesus is a sweetheart, but I’m not on speaking terms with his dad these days, and siding with the demons doesn’t seem like it’d end well. Better to stay out of it!

The Black Jewels Trilogy: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, Queen of the Darkness (The Black Jewels, #1-3) by Anne Bishop
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Goodreads

Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions.

Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence--and corruption.

Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men--sworn enemies--know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love--and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...

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This is one of those worlds I would love to live in…under very, very specific conditions. If I get to be a dark-jewelled Queen in Kaeleer, I can have my bags packed in a flash. Walking in as I am now? I’d be a landen, not one of the magic-wielding Blood, and the dragons and unicorns would not be for me. Also, while the Blood seem to get a lot done by magic, I’m pretty sure landens don’t even have electricity. That’s just not a life-path that appeals!

What fictional worlds would you absolutely refuse to run away to?

The post 10 Worlds I Would Not Run Away To appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #55

There are ELEVEN releases-of-interest this week (that I know about), ranging from paperwork-on-supernaturals to Finnish mythology and weird-and-wonderful portal fantasy!

The Quicksilver Court (Rooks and Ruin, #2) by Melissa Caruso
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, secondary nonbinary character, queernorm world
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The Quicksilver Court continues the wildly original epic fantasy series bursting with intrigue and ambition, questioned loyalties, and broken magic that began with The Obsidian Tower. 

Ryxander, Warden of Gloamingard, has failed. Unsealed by her blood, the Door hidden within the black tower has opened. Now, for the first time since the age of the Graces, demons walk the world. 

As tensions grow between nations, all eyes-and daggers are set on Morgrain, fallen under the Demon of Discord's control. In an attempt to save her home from destruction, Ryx and the Rookery set out to find a powerful artifact. But powerful enemies are on the hunt and they're closing in fast.

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I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Obsidian Tower, and I am VERY INVESTED in finding out what happens next! THAT ENDING. WHAT. HOW DARE. So glad the suspense is almost over!

Along the Saltwise Sea (The Up-and-Under, #2) by A. Deborah Baker
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Goodreads

For readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente's Fairyland books, adventure and danger lurk Along the Saltwise Sea in this new book by Seanan McGuire's latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker.

Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.

After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.

After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.

The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road

Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire takes our heroes Avery and Zib (and their friends Niamh and the Crow Girl) on a high seas adventure, with pirates and queens and all the dangers of the deep as they continue their journey through the Up-and-Under on their quest for the road that will lead them home....
Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire's critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall.

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Another sequel, this time to A. Deborah Baker’s (aka Seanan McGuire’s) Over the Woodward Wall, which in turn is a kind of spin-off/tie-in to her novel Middlegame! I really liked Woodward Wall – it was a pretty wonderful mix of whimsy and eerie and pointed, and it’s just a fact that no one has an imagination quite like McGuire’s – so yes, I have this one preordered and can’t wait to get my mitts on it!

[image error]The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta
Representation: Agender MC, transmasc love interest, assorted queer secondary characters
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Teenage baker Syd sends ripples of heartbreak through Austin’s queer community when a batch of post-being-dumped brownies turns out to be magical—and makes everyone who eats them break up.

“What’s done is done.”Unless, of course, it was done by my brownies. Then it’s getting undone.

Syd (no pronouns, please) has always dealt with big, hard-to-talk-about things by baking. Being dumped is no different, except now Syd is baking at the Proud Muffin, a queer bakery and community space in Austin. And everyone who eats Syd’s breakup brownies . . . breaks up. Even Vin and Alec, who own the Proud Muffin. And their breakup might take the bakery down with it. Being dumped is one thing; causing ripples of queer heartbreak through the community is another. But the cute bike delivery person, Harley (he or they, check the pronoun pin, it’s probably on the messenger bag), believes Syd about the magic baking. And Harley believes Syd’s magical baking can fix things, too—one recipe at a time.

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I’ve been looking forward to this book for AGES – Capetta is one of my favourite authors; I cannot tell you how much I love their Brilliant Death duology! Unlike Brilliant Death, this story has a modern urban setting, but it sounds like it’s easily as queer, if not possibly more so. And I am ALWAYS here for magic+baking!

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan
Representation: East-Asian coded cast, sapphic secondary characters, achillean secondary character
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

Girls of Paper and Fire meets The Tiger at Midnight in June CL Tan’s stunning debut, inspired by Chinese mythology, with rich magic and an epic slow-burn romance.
In an empire on the brink of war . . .

Ahn is no one, with no past and no family.

Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child.

When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her arcane magical abilities.

But they may have to pay a far deadlier price than either could have imagined.

Ferocious action, shadowy intrigue, and a captivating romance collide in June CL Tan’s debut, a stunning homage to the Xianxia novel with a tender, beating heart, perfect for fans of The Bone Witch and We Hunt the Flame.

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I have heard nothing but good things about Jade Fire Gold, and you have to admit that it looks pretty epic!

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Representation: Latina MC
Published on: 12th October 2021
Goodreads

From Pura Belpré Honor-winner Donna Barba Higuera—a brilliant journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us human.

"Gripping in its twists and turns, and moving in its themes – truly a beautiful cuento."—New York Times

"Clever and compelling . wonderfully subversive."—The Wall Street Journal

★ "This tale packs a wallop. Exquisite."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

★ "Gripping, euphonious, and full of storytelling magic."—Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A strong, heroic character, fighting incredible odds to survive and protect others."—School Library Journal (starred)

Había una vez . . .

There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.

But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet – and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard – or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

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This sounds beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measure, and stories about the power of stories will never not be my thing!

[image error]The Cabinet by Un-su Kim, Sean Lin Halbert
Representation: South Korean cast
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

Winner of the Munhakdongne Novel Award, South Korea’s most prestigious literary prize.

Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet…Except this cabinet is filled with files on the ‘symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.

But to Mr Kong, the harried office worker whose job it is to look after the cabinet, the symptomers are a headache; especially the one who won’t stop calling every day, asking to be turned into a cat.

A richly funny and fantastical novel about the strangeness at the heart of even the most everyday lives, from one of South Korea’s most acclaimed novelists.

Translated by Sean Lin Halbert

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This is a novel translated from Korean, and it sounds so – bizarre and delightful??? I don’t know, there’s just something about bureaucrats + supernaturals that always makes me perk up. I think it’s the randomness of the combination. Very excited to give this one a go!

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Representation: Mexican-American gay MC, Mexican-American bi/pansexual love interest
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is an achingly romantic, tender tale sure to captivate fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H.K. Choi.

In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys in a border town fell in love. Now, they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.

Ari has spent all of high school burying who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies of all kinds, and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante, dreamy, witty Dante, who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once.

The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.

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It might not be spec fic, but there’s no way I was going to leave this Aristotle & Dante sequel off this week’s list!

The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

In seventeenth-century France, Louis XIV rules with flamboyant ambition. From the Hall of Mirrors to the vermin-infested attics of the Chateauat Versailles, courtiers compete to please the king, sacrificing fortune,principles and sacred bonds.

Here, Marie-Josephe de la Croix looks forward to assisting her brother, Yves, in the scientific study of the rare sea monster he has captured. But when Marie-Josephe makes a discovery about the sea creature that threatens all her brother, the courtiers and the King understand, it is left to her to defy the institutions that power her world.

But in the decadent court of King Louis, where morality is skewed and corruption reigns - will anyone listen to a single voice? Somehow, she must find the courage to follow her heart and her convictions - even at the cost of changing her life forever.

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This is a re-issue of one of my favourite books! And now with a brand-new, absolutely STUNING cover! Time for a reread, I think!

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Published on: 12th October 2021
Genres: Sci Fi
Goodreads

A haunting story of an extraordinary woman on a dangerous quest in a far-future post-apocalyptic world.

Snake travels the land with her serpents, the rattlesnake Sand, the cobra Mist and the rare alien dreamsnake called Grass, whose bite can ease the fear and pain of death.

But the blasted landscape of a far-future post-holocaust Earth is a dangerous place, even for such a highly regarded elite healer . . . especially when an unexpected death sends her on a desperate quest to reclaim her healing powers.

Dreamsnake, winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards, is back in print at last.

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Dreamsnake is another reissue by the same author as The Moon and The Sun, but this one I’ve not read before. A new edition is a great excuse to finally sit down and read it!

Goddess of Limbo (The Forgotten Splinters Chronicles Book 1) by Lea Falls
Representation: (from the author) LGBTQIA+ (5 lesbians, 4 gay men, 5 bisexuals, 1 nonbinary person, 1 trans man, 1 demisexual man); PTSD/C-PTSD, cerebral palsy, schizoaffective disorder, eating disorder, autism (identity first), main characters of different skin colors and cultural backgrounds
Published on: 14th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Free will is a relic of the past. Souls have a prewritten path to heaven. If they miss it, they are doomed to roam the lost realm of limbo as splinters of their former selves or worse—as demons.
Their only hope is the reaper Alames, whose own soul shattered when her celestial lover, Balthos, usurped their creators to make them gods. In her absence, he builds a pantheon of monsters and tricks the mortals, whom he blames for his grief, into worshiping him. But when a new generation defies Balthos’s law, Alames’s splinters appear among them.

Brilliant physicist Ally longs for progress and innovation, but the Council controlling her nation strips the “Mad Princess” of power. Pregnant and uncertain, the unrivaled Captain Se’azana abandons her career for the false promises of love. The starving serf Richard makes a deal with a Fae demon to save his son. And teenage rebel Vana trades her guitar for a blade when faced with ruthless nobility.

When worlds tear and hearts break, will they defy the gods’ narrative to create a brighter future or will they obey the lies preached and doom their souls forever?

For fans of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE and THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE comes an epic rollercoaster ride of demons, rebellion, and dark magic.

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From what I can gather from early reviews, this sounds incredibly complicated, but complicated worldbuilding is my jam, and I’m very willing to take a gamble on this one.

Cry of the Firebird (The Firebird Faerie Tales #1) by Amy Kuivalainen
Published on: 14th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A firebird is reborn on the borders of Russia, a gate to a world of monsters and magic is breaking, and only a reluctant, untrained shaman stands in the way of a flood of supernatural darkness...

Anya is still reeling from the death of her grandfather when a strange encounter with the Finnish God of the Dead changes her life forever: Her family has been guarding the gates to the Russian otherworld on their farm for centuries, and she’s the new gatekeeper. Worse, if she doesn’t awaken her magical abilities and assume her new role, the gate will break, unleashing a flood of monsters and dark gods into their world.

As Anya struggles to make sense of her changing world, she can’t deny the strange encounters. She’ll need to accept her fate and work with the legendary firebird if she hopes to survive—and protect humanity.

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I’ll be honest, I don’t know if this would have caught my attention if not for the mention of Finnish mythology – which hardly ever gets featured in English-language fantasy! So fingers crossed it turns out to be epic!

And that makes 11! Did I miss any books I should know about? Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #55 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

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

This week my Can’t-Wait-For is Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White!

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
Published on: 7th June 2022
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

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This was firmly on my radar before, but any lingering doubts I had were blown away after checking out White’s social media and seeing how he talks about the book.

HELL FOLLOWED WITH US is a trans horror with bodies growing through the church walls, religious mutilation in the name of cleansing sin, and a boy broken into the shape of a rotting angel.

SANCTIFY THE BLOOD, AND MAKE HOLY THE BONES.

Hi excuse me this is everything I ever wanted??? An autistic sharpshooter, a trans boy ‘broken into the shape of a rotting angel’, fucked-up religious fanatics, queer found-family in the midst of the apocalypse??? ALL THE YES!

But Sia! I hear you say. You don’t read horror!

I have a confession to make: I do, in fact, read horror. Sometimes. If it’s exactly the right blend of dark and queer and monster-glory, then I will pick it up – and Hell Followed With Us sounds absolutely perfect. The kind of book I’ve wanted since, oh, forever!

And a gorgeous, deadly-with-a-gun autistic love interest??? Are you kidding me? Gimme!

You’d better believe I have this preordered already. I can’t wait!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

10 Bookish Pet Peeves

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!

Today’s theme is Bookish Pet Peeves. I usually skip prompts that ask us to focus on something negative, but I don’t know – I guess I wanted to vent a bit? I hope you get some entertainment out of how random and weird my peeves are, at least!

First-person PoV

I’m sorry, but 99 times out of 100, I can’t freaking stand it. Unless there’s something legitimately different or interesting about the narrator, something I need their perspective to appreciate or understand, I don’t want to be in their head.

An example of different-or-interesting that springs to mind is I am Not a Serial Killer, by . There, a huge part of the story is the main character’s psychopathy, which wouldn’t have come across nearly so well if we hadn’t been in the mc’s head. (Which is a major reason I didn’t enjoy the film adaption. The narration made the story! Without it, it just didn’t work.)

The easiest way to get around this is for an author to make their narrator use pretty, descriptive language. That almost always does the trick!

First-person PoV + Present-Tense

No. No. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Gods, I hate this so much. Viscerally. I know it’s supposed to be more immersive, but it’s one of the surest ways to make sure I don’t make it to page two of your book. Why do I hate it? I can’t explain. I’m not sure it’s rational. It just rubs me entirely the wrong way. Like, climbing-the-walls way.

Drama that would be resolved if characters just TALKED to each other

I know I’m not the only person bothered by this. All plot is contrived – of course it is, it’s created by the storyteller – but I’m not sure any other plot feels so obviously synthetic as this stupid trope. GROW UP AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. Unless the characters are actually physically incapable of communicating – they’re stuck on opposite sides of the galaxy or something – then it’s just not acceptable.

Gendered magic systems that reinforce gender as a binary

‘Only men can do this magic, only women can do that magic’ – not because of cultural rules, but because *waves hand vaguely* Yeah, sorry, gender’s not a binary, I have many questions, and unless you talk fast with some really good answers, you’re going on the DNF pile. It’s 2021, I don’t have time for that nonsense, even if it’s easier for you not to have to think about nonbinary people during your worldbuilding.

Nonbinary people don’t exist

I don’t need a story to have a nonbinary main character, or even include nonbinary characters in its main cast. But if they don’t even exist in your world??? Just. It’s 2021. There’s no reason your fantasy or sci fi world can have magic or FTL travel, but cling to a cistem that’s never been the full story.

Handwavey Worldbuilding

Lots and lots and lots of readers don’t care about super-detailed worldbuilding; as long as the premise is interesting or fun enough, they’re happy (and able) to engage their suspension of disbelief. I, on the other hand, am terrible at suspension of disbelief. I can’t just accept the presence of demons in a story; I want to know where they come from, and what we know about that place, and how it affects views on religion and life after death and all the rest of it. If a fantasy story treats souls as an empirical thing that definitely exist, again, I have questions about religion! If ghosts exist in your world, shouldn’t that mean people view death very differently from how I do? And so on. This kind of stuff itches in my brain, and is why I lean towards books with intricate/heavy worldbuilding.

Dialogue without contractions

There are definitely times when characters speaking without contractions makes sense – characters who aren’t speaking in their native language, for example, or are in a situation where they have to speak very formally. Or we’re in a SFF setting where no one uses contractions because that’s just how the world of the story works. But as a general rule of thumb, dialogue without contractions sounds very forced and fake to me, and makes me twitchy. Jolts me right out of the story.

Typos + Formatting errors

One or two typos across the whole of a book is fine, I can deal with that. But when it’s happening a lot, and/or you have line breaks in the middle of a sentence, or no line breaks in between scene changes? Yeah, no, I can’t deal at all. I mark all the errors on my ereader and break the book open in Calibre so I can fix them. Even books I’m probably going to DNF. It’s some kind of compulsion, and it makes me genuinely angry with whichever editors/copy-editors etc let this go to print in such a mess. Gollancz is particularly bad with books by Miles Cameron – I’ve yet to read a book of his from them that isn’t packed with stupid typos.

Photo-edited Covers

You know the kind, where there’s a photo of a human model or a sword or something that’s been Photoshopped into some kind of fantasy/sci fi background. I just think they’re ugly and boring *insert shrug here*. They won’t stop me from picking up a book that sounds interesting, but gods, they suck. Give me illustrated covers all the way!

Foreign languages without translations

I’ve failed every single foreign language I’ve ever studied – including, but not limited to, Irish, Latin, Swedish, and German – and the presence of foreign words in otherwise-English prose immediately makes me anxious. Maybe because of that, I’m not very good at working out what words mean from context. I wish authors or publishers would include subtle footnotes or something so I could get a translation, the way books that include fantasy words have little dictionaries at the back. I’m a monolingual idiot, but I’d still love to read books with native Spanish speakers etc. I just need a little help!

There you have it – 10 (mostly pretty ridiculous) bookish pet peeves! Which I’ll go back to keeping mostly to myself now…!

The post 10 Bookish Pet Peeves appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #54!

There are NINE books to feature this week, ranging from a magical collection of flash fiction, to werewolf #squadgoals, to hydropunk – and a surprise T Kingfisher book!!!

Scales and Sensibility (Regency Dragons, #1) by Stephanie Burgis
Published on: 4th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

Sensible, practical Elinor Tregarth really did plan to be the model poor relation when she moved into Hathergill Hall. She certainly never meant to kidnap her awful cousin Penelope's pet dragon. She never expected to fall in love with the shameless - but surprisingly sweet - fortune hunter who came to court Penelope. And she never dreamed that she would have to enter into an outrageous magical charade to save her younger sisters' futures.



However, even the most brilliant scholars of 1817 England still haven't ferreted out all the lurking secrets of rediscovered dragonkind...and even the most sensible of heroines can still make a reckless wish or two when she's pushed. Now Elinor will have to find out just how rash and resourceful she can be when she sets aside all common sense. Maybe, just maybe, she'll even be impractical enough to win her own true love and a happily ever after...with the unpredictable and dangerous "help" of the magical creature who has adopted her.

A frothy Regency rom-com full of pet dragons and magical misadventures, Scales and Sensibility is a full-length novel and the first in a new series of standalone romantic comedies.

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Out today is Burgis’ newest novel – a historical-fantasy romantic-comedy with DRAGONS! I mean – do you really need to hear anything else??? Really???

A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables #1) by Alix E. Harrow
Representation: Queer MC, secondary F/F
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story.

It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.

Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

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I’ve yet to read anything by Harrow – novels or short stories – that I haven’t adored, and the book that was pitched as Sleeping Beauty meets Into the Spiderverse?! Yeah, I think that’s gonna be my thing. Just a little bit.

The Fox's Tower and Other Tales: A Collection of Magical Short Stories by Yoon Ha Lee
Representation: Queer MCs, MCs of Colour
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

“Locus Award winner Lee (Phoenix Extravagant) takes on the folktale form in a collection of 25 gorgeous, magical stories, tiny jewels of worldbuilding that tap into mythic themes to feel somehow both ancient and delightfully fresh… The result is breathtaking in its playful grace.”—Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

Enter a world of magic and myth, where foxes fall in love and robots build their own dragons. In The Fox’s Tower and Other Tales, New York Times bestselling author Yoon Ha Lee crafts together short and moving stories of love, adventure, magic, and nature. With poetic language and intricate world building, readers will be whisked away to a different adventure with every new story. Full of fascinating creatures and LGBT+ romances, this flash fiction collection combines the classic with the contemporary in Yoon’s captivating style.

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This is a new edition of a previously-published anthology – and what’s especially interesting to me is that these short stories are ‘flash fiction’ stories, meaning that they’re super short. I don’t have much experience with flash fiction, but this look like the perfect collection to introduce me to them!

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, bi/pansexual love interest, F/F or wlw
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper.

Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.

But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago.

On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in?

But most concerning of all: Why can't she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?

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I already know this one’s amazing – I got to read it early, and you can see how much I loved it in my review! This is beautiful prose + enchanting setting + characters you’ll adore, and it’s a wonderfully witchy Halloween read!

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
Representation: Jewish gay MC
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. 

But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows. 

Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.

Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.  

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I didn’t realise before, but from the early reviews it seems that this one edges closer to horror than I thought. Perfect timing to release it during spooky season, then!

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Lisa Sterle
Representation: Sapphic MC, major Black character
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Pretty Little Liars meets Teen Wolf in this fast-paced, sharply funny, and patriarchy-smashing graphic novel from author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and artist Lisa Sterle. When the new girl is invited to join her high school’s most popular clique, she can’t believe her luck—and she can’t believe their secret, either: they’re werewolves. Fans of Mariko Tamaki and Elana K. Arnold will devour the snappy dialogue, vivid artwork, and timely social commentary.

When Becca transfers to a high school in an elite San Francisco suburb, she’s worried she’s not going to fit in. To her surprise, she’s immediately adopted by the most popular girls in school. At first glance, Marley, Arianna, and Mandy are perfect. But at a party under a full moon, Becca learns that they also have a big secret.

Becca’s new friends are werewolves. Their prey? Slimy boys who take advantage of unsuspecting girls. Eager to be accepted, Becca allows her friends to turn her into a werewolf, and finally, for the first time in her life, she feels like she truly belongs.

But things get complicated when Arianna’s predatory boyfriend is killed, and the cops begin searching for a serial killer. As their pack begins to buckle under the pressure—and their moral high ground gets muddier and muddier—Becca realizes that she might have feelings for one of her new best friends.

Lisa Sterle’s stylish illustrations paired with Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s sharp writing make Squad a fun, haunting, and fast-paced thriller that will resonate with fans of Riverdale, and with readers of This Savage Song, Lumberjanes, and Paper Girls.

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This one’s a graphic novel, and sounds ridiculously awesome?!

Shattered Midnight (The Mirror, #2) by Dhonielle Clayton
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 5th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

The Mirror: Shattered Midnight is the second novel in the innovative four-book fairy-tale series written by Julie C. Dao, Dhonielle Clayton, J.C. Cervantes, and L. L. McKinney, following one family over several generations, and the curse that plagues it.

Zora Broussard has arrived in New Orleans with not much more than a bag of clothes, a beautiful voice, and a pair of enchanted red shoes. Running from a tragic accident caused by her magic, Zora wants nothing more than to blend in, as well as to avoid her overbearing aunt and mean-spirited cousins. Music becomes Zora’s only means of escape, yet she wonders if she should give it all up to remove the powers that make her a target, especially as a Black woman in the South.

But when Zora gets the chance to perform in a prominent jazz club, she meets a sweet white pianist named Phillip with magic of his own, including a strange mirror that foretells their future together. Falling into a forbidden love, Zora and Phillip must keep their relationship a secret. And soon the two discover the complicated connection between their respective families, a connection that could lead to catastrophe for them both. In the era of segregation and speakeasies, Zora must change her destiny and fight for the one she loves . . . or risk losing everything.

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I’m unclear on whether the books in this series are standalones or not – they sound like they are? But I can’t swear to it. Regardless, this is a series set in a shared universe, with each novel being written by a different author. This one pinged my radar because Clayton has the most gorgeous prose, so I’ll definitely be investigating this series a little more and see whether I need to read the previous book before diving into this one!

A Clockwork River by J.S. Emery
Published on: 7th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A sister searches for her missing brother as a new power rises amid the splendour and the squalor of a once great city.

Time is running out for the Clockwork River.

Lower Rhumbsford is a city far removed from its glory days. On the banks of the great river Rhumb, its founding fathers channelled the river's mighty flow into a subterranean labyrinth of pipes, valves and sluices, a feat of hydraulic prowess that would come to power an empire. But a thousand years have passed since then, and something is wrong: the pipes are leaking, the valves stuck, the sluices silted and the once torrential Rhumb has been reduced to a sluggish trickle.

The fortunes of the Locke family, descendants of the city's most celebrated engineer, are similarly reduced. In a once fashionable quarter of the once great city, siblings Samuel and Briony Locke distract themselves: Sam tends to his vast lock collection instead of finishing his engineering thesis; facing the prospect of a disagreeable marriage, Briony occupies herself with alchemical experiments.

One night Samuel leaves the house carrying five of his most precious locks and doesn't come back. As she searches for her brother, Briony will be drawn into a web of ancestral secrets and imperial intrigues as a ruthless new power arises. If brother and sister are to be reunited, they will need the help of a tight-lipped house spirit, a convict gang, a tribe of troglodytes, an association of antiques enthusiasts, a travelling theatrical troupe, the Ladies Whist Club, the Deep State, and a lovesick mouse.

Epic, rollicking and in love with language, Jacob and Sara Emery's sprawling debut novel of humble kitchen magics and awe-inspiring civil engineering is a rare and delicious commodity - the world's first hydropunk novel.

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Alas, this is only releasing in the UK this week, but hopefully it’ll reach the rest of the world soon! Because I am INTENSELY interested in the concept of ‘hydropunk’ – aren’t you?

Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3) by T. Kingfisher
Representation: M/M
Published on: 9th October 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy
Goodreads

Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard's investigations. It's a peaceful, if solitary profession…until the day when he's called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.

Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…

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Last but CERTAINLY not least, A NEW SAINT OF STEEL BOOK!!! I can’t believe we’re getting it so soon – it was just revealed with a dramatic TA-DA on Twitter just a week ago! And I thought the Saint of Steel series was a duology – I wasn’t expecting any more books after the last one, which makes this book feel EVEN MORE like a gift!

PLUS it’s M/M! We’ve had nonbinary secondary and background characters throughout the World of the Rat books, but I think this is the first time we’re getting a queer MC! (Please feel free to correct me if I’ve forgotten someone! I need to reread all of the books anyway…) This is definitely the book I’m most excited about this week!!!

There you have it – NINE new releases that should be on your radar this week! Did I miss any I should know about? Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #54! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

In Short: September

It feels as though September has flown by. Where did it go? I’m not sure, but a fair bit went into reading and writing about reading!

Read

Unsurprisingly I did NOT surpass last month’s thirty-two reads, but I wasn’t expecting to! I think twenty is more than good enough (or rather, a sign that my mental health is good enough, since how much you read is really just a combination of that – your mental health – the time you have available for reading, and your access to books).

This month held extreme highs – buddy-reading the Hollow Folk series with the hubby and then finally diving into Ember Boys; rereading the utterly enchanting Floating Islands so I could pounce on the new sequel; the unexpected Instant New Fave that was/is The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt – and extreme lows – First, Become Ashes and Nimuar’s Loss were both appallingly bad, even though they both started strong. But overall? Almost every book I read this month knocked it out of the park. (And I can’t believe it took me so long to read The Midnight Lie!!!)

Now for stats: out of 13 authors, I read

8 women, 2 men, and 2 nonbinary folx (counting trans men as men and trans women as women, and obviously this is only to the best of my knowledge about all the authors’ genders)11 white and 2 BIPOC authors

2/13 – 15% of my reads – is pretty terrible, and it’s less than last month, both in terms of how many books and as a percentage overall. Gods damn it.

Reviewed

Strictly speaking, I didn’t review Lips Like Ice this month; I posted a review I wrote for it back in 2015. But I did edit it a tiny bit, so I’m counting it!

Which makes nine reviews this month!!! I’M SO PLEASED! Even though two were unhappy DNF-reviews, and I really don’t think my review of Nightbitch did it justice. But I tried!

I suspect nine reviews in one month is going to be my record. Nobody should expect that to become a regular thing here!

DNF-ed

I reviewed The Goddess of Nothing At All and Forging a Nightmare, so enough said about them. The Winter Garden was a book I knew almost nothing about but was still really excited for, and unfortunately it just didn’t work for me. I think it was going for a kind of Night Circus vibe, but even though I really liked the main character, the writing style grated on me pretty badly.

Scales and Sensibility goes on the it’s-not-you-it’s-me-dnf shelf – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just not quite the right flavour of whimsical for me. I do plan on trying it again at some point, though, because Burgis!

Arcs Received

I requested A Far Wilder Magic rather warily, because I’ve promised myself I won’t request YA anymore unless I already know (and love) the author’s work. But I just keep hearing so many amazing things about it, and then Ava Reid blurbed (blurbbed?) it with THIS

Tender, intimate, and atmospheric, A Far Wilder Magic is unlike anything on the YA shelf. With devastatingly gorgeous prose, intricate worldbuilding, and an utterly original plot, Saft weaves a love story that will tear you apart and then stitch you whole again

Ava Reid

So now I have to give it a go, don’t I?

And in fairness, I’m enjoying it so far.

WHEREAS DARK BREAKERS IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED AND I SCREAMED WHEN I GOT APPROVED. Also, it’s my first ever ARC from Edelweiss! ALSO-ALSO, IT’S PERFECT!

I’m also INCREDIBLY excited for Scorpica! HIGH FANTASY MATRIARCHIES, YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!

Arcs Outstanding

This one number hasn’t changed from last month – I had 8 outstanding then and I have 8 outstanding now, even though I managed to review two of last month’s. TOO MANY ARCS??? …NOT YET.

Although I do feel so, so guilty for still not having managed to review The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry. It’s one of my favourite books of the YEAR but I don’t know how to write that down – when I go to start writing the review, it ends up with a lot of caps-locked keyboard smashing…

REC LISTS & MISC

For Bi Visibility Day (23rd September) I made a rec list of SFF featuring bisexual leads! I’m extra happy about it because my fibro was so bad that week, but my hands cooperated enough to let me finish the post on time.

I think that was my only Misc post this month though.

LOOKING FORWARD

October is a slower month, but slow’s not a dead stop! ESPECIALLY SINCE SURPRISE!NEW T KINGFISHER BOOK!!! Can you have happy heart attacks??? Because I think I had one when I saw her announce on twitter that we’re getting a THIRD SAINT OF STEEL BOOK. !!! I DIDN’T KNOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE ANOTHER BOOK!!! I THOUGHT THE STORY WAS DONE!!! AND I AM SO VERY DELIGHTED TO BE WRONG!!! 8DDDDDDDD

…I’m a tiny bit excited. Teeny tiny bit.

Then there’s A Spindle Splintered and Comfort Me With Apples, two brand-new books from two of my favourite-est authors – I know I’m not the only one excited for these! And I can’t wait to pounce on Quicksilver Court after the ending of the previous book! Payback’s a Witch I’ve already read and reviewed, but it’s always fun seeing how the rest of the world reacts to a book you already know is awesome.

I’m also very intrigued by Quenby Olson’s upcoming book Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons). It doesn’t have a cover yet, but apparently it’s a book Olson wrote and released chapter by chapter via Patreon during The Pandemic, and I am very here for escapist fantasy-of-manners with dragons!

And I will be buying the new edition of Vonda McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun just for that incredible cover, honestly. (It’s also one of my favourite books ever, and you should read it!)

Other than that, I’m planning to sit down and make a list of SFF by BIPOC authors that I need to check out, and then set myself a number of books to read per month from that list. Obviously I’ll be posting the list once I’ve made it, to share.

That’s it for September! May October treat us all gently.

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

I Can’t Wait For….In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield

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

This week my Can’t-Wait-For is In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield!

In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield
Published on: 3rd March 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

The inhabitants of the village of Gyrford live mostly in harmony with their neighbours in the Forest, and that is in large part down to the fairy-smiths, Jedediah, his son Matthew and grandson Johnny, for only fairy-smiths can intercede with the People when a problem arises - like when one of the fae - who, in fairness, does looks a lot like a thornbush with a blackberry for a head - is dug up and transplanted by someone who didn't know any better and is now determined to wreak vengeance on anyone it can.

That's not the only problem, for there's a skinflint landlord determined to sell the mill and kick out the family who've run it for untold generations. And a young boy who was clearly damaged by the People at birth is spending most of his time trying to get into the Forest, which is forbidden territory for all but a very few men.

There's even a rumour that Black Hal has been seen running - fire strikes from the great hound's heels, they said, and his eyes are the red of coals.

So one way or another, the Smiths have got a lot on their plate, and a lot of people depending on them . . .

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It drives me a little nuts that no one seems to know Whitfield’s work, because she is an INCREDIBLE writer! Her book Bareback (retitled Benighted in the USA) is set in a mirror of our world, where werewolves are the norm and those who can’t shapeshift are a tiny and ill-used minority; In Great Waters, a historical fantasy where the royal houses of Europe are part-mermaid, is a book I love even more than Bareback. Both are masterpieces of worldbuilding and incredibly original, without sacrificing characters or plot.

So I shrieked MORE THAN A LITTLE when I discovered that she has a new novel coming out – and this one features the fae! Fairy smiths!!! Fairy smiths are SUCH an important (but often overlooked) part of faerie folklore, so that’s exciting all on its own – and I cannot WAIT to see what Whitfield does with the fae as a whole, after the amazing spin she put on werewolves and mer-people in her previous books!

Also, it’s out two days after my birthday. Hee! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT, WHITFIELD!

All in all, you should definitely preorder this – and then you should go read Bareback and In Great Waters while you wait for it!

The post I Can’t Wait For….In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

10 ARCs I Didn’t Request (and why)

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 is a freebie – meaning there’s no specific prompt – and I thought I’d list 10 books that were definitely on my tbr list…but that I deliberately didn’t request when they showed up on Netgalley.

Since I started book blogging for real, and got familiar with requesting and receiving and reviewing ARCs, I’ve grown a bit more wary of them. I now know requesting dozens of books at once isn’t a great idea, because the pressure to get them all read and reviewed isn’t fun; to check when the book is being released and how crowded my review schedule already is for that month; and to be much more picky than I was in the beginning, because forcing myself to read books I don’t like + writing negative reviews about them sucks.

I’m sure bloggers who receive dozens and dozens of (unsolicited!) ARCs don’t feel obligated to review all of them – at least, I hope not, because that sounds awful – but I’m not getting books in the mail, only digital ARCs I’ve especially requested, so I do feel like I owe them all reviews.

Thus: 10 books whose ARCs I didn’t request!

The Bone Ship's Wake (The Tide Child, #3) by R.J. Barker
Published on: 28th September 2021
Goodreads

Discover a brilliantly imagined epic fantasy of honor, glory, and warfare in this action-packed conclusion to the David Gemmell Award-nominated trilogy.

Joron Twiner's dreams of freedom lay shattered. His Shipwife is gone and all he has left is revenge. Leading the black fleet from the deck of Tide Child, he takes every opportunity to hurt the Hundred Isles he is given. But his time is limited.

His fleet is shrinking, the Keyshan's Rot is running through his body, and he hiding from a prophecy that says he and the avian sorcerer, the Windseer will end the entire world.

But the Sea Dragons have returned, a miracle in itself, and who is to say that if you can have one miracle, there cannot be another?

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I adore this trilogy, but didn’t pounce on the final book when it appeared on Netgalley. Why? Because I was never able to put down my love for the first two books into words, so I didn’t trust that I’d be able to do it for the finale either. This is a book I want to read alone, without the pressure to review it, even if I decide to write something about it later.

And it’s out TODAY!!!

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
Published on: 26th October 2021
Goodreads

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?

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If you’ve hung around here for a while, you know I worship Catherynne Valente. I read everything she writes. But I didn’t request her Comfort Me With Apples when it appeared on Netgalley, for a few reasons. The most immediate and obvious one is that it was/is only available as a PDF file – which means I’d have to read it on my laptop or my tablet (since reading a PDF on a Kindle? Isn’t gonna happen) and both those options get very painful very quickly with my fibromyalgia. The second big reason is that Comfort doesn’t sound obviously SFF; it might be a sort of Bluebeard re-imagining, from the blurb, but then it again it might not. It’s being marketed as a thriller, despite showing up in the SFF category on Netgalley. So I didn’t want to be obligated to review it when I wasn’t 100% sure I’d love it – I’d rather wait for release day, read it privately, and then review it if I want to.

The final reason is that a lot of my life revolves around upcoming releases and looking forward to them. ARCs mess with that; if I’ve read all the April releases I’m excited about early as ARCs, then when April comes around… I don’t have anything to look forward to. Which sucks! And especially because we’re getting two Valente books this year – Comfort and The Past is Red – and I already read+reviewed one early, I wanted to save Comfort so I’d have something excellent waiting for me in October.

And with October around the corner, I can now confirm that I regret nothing!

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
Published on: 26th October 2021
Goodreads

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?

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Like The Bone Ship’s Wake, this was a case of, I didn’t manage to review book one, so I didn’t want to commit to writing a review of the sequel. I didn’t even manage to review the prequel trilogy, when I read that! So, no. I’m dying to read it, but I didn’t want to promise I’d review it.

Along the Saltwise Sea (The Up-and-Under, #2) by A. Deborah Baker
Published on: 12th October 2021
Goodreads

For readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente's Fairyland books, adventure and danger lurk Along the Saltwise Sea in this new book by Seanan McGuire's latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker.

Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.

After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.

After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.
The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road.

Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire takes our heroes Avery and Zib (and their friends Niamh and the Crow Girl) on a high seas adventure, with pirates and queens and all the dangers of the deep as they continue their journey through the Up-and-Under on their quest for the road that will lead them home....

Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire's critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall.

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What about this one then? I managed to review Over the Woodward Wall, didn’t I?

Yes, but I felt even at the time that it was one of my weaker reviews. I didn’t love Middlegame like everyone else did – I very much feel like I missed something, like I wasn’t paying close enough attention and the greatness of the book was there, but I didn’t see it. Over the Woodward Wall springs from Middlegame, and even though I liked Woodward Wall a lot, I didn’t feel like I had a lot to say about it. I was missing something obvious.

So I wanted to read the sequel on my own time, and have the option of keeping my thoughts to myself.

When Sorrows Come (October Daye, #15) by Seanan McGuire
Published on: 14th September 2021
Goodreads

Toby's getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

It's hard to be a hero. There's always something needing October "Toby" Daye's attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom's problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco's King of Cats. She doesn't mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of...happens. And that's why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there's not much even Toby can do to delay things...

...except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?

Includes an all-new bonus novella!

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There was so much wonderful conversation around the first book of this trilogy, and although I loved the book too, I really didn’t have anything to add to the conversation. I wrote the miniest of mini-reviews for it, but it deserved more, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to manage more for The Bone Shard Emperor either. So, again: wanting very much to read it, but wanting to read it without needing to review it.

When Sorrows Come (October Daye, #15) by Seanan McGuire
Published on: 14th September 2021
Goodreads

Toby's getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

It's hard to be a hero. There's always something needing October "Toby" Daye's attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom's problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco's King of Cats. She doesn't mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of...happens. And that's why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there's not much even Toby can do to delay things...

...except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?

Includes an all-new bonus novella!

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This is one of my favourite series ever, and this book in particular is a big deal: Toby and Tybalt were FINALLY getting married! Why wouldn’t I want to read it early? Well, a) because I never have anything smart to say about the October Daye series, just a lot of myth-nerd geeking out over the worldbuilding and excited flailing as I shove the books into people’s hands, and b) …it’s book fifteen. If I’d gone through and reread the whole series and reviewed each book, sure, okay, probably. But I hadn’t, and I didn’t want to, and it felt really untidy to review a book so late in the series without having reviewed the earlier books.

I have reviewed sequels before without having reviewed their previous books, but it makes me twitchy and I don’t like it.

Extasia by Claire Legrand
Published on: 22nd February 2022
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Claire LeGrand comes a new, bone-chilling YA horror novel about a girl who joins a coven to root out a vicious evil that’s stalking her village. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Grace Year.

Her name is unimportant.

All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain—an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men.

She will tell no one of the white-eyed beasts that follow her. Or the faceless gray women tall as houses. Or the girls she saw kissing in the elm grove.

Today she will be a saint of Haven. She will rid her family of her mother’s shame at last and save her people from destruction. She is not afraid. Are you?

This searing and lyrically written novel by the critically acclaimed author of Sawkill Girls beckons readers to follow its fierce heroine into a world filled with secrets and blood—where the truth is buried in lies and a devastating power waits, seething, for someone brave enough to use it.

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99.9% of the time, I don’t read horror. I’m a wimp. And I’m completely okay with that! But I gambled on Legrand’s Sawkill Girls and it ended up one of my favourite books, so yes, I wanted to pounce on Extasia!

But Sawkill Girls felt more like dark fantasy than horror to me (don’t ask me to explain the difference, it’s a gut thing, not a logical thing), and I am wary that Extasia might be…a lot more horror. Closer to the scarier end of the spectrum than I can handle. And as well, I’ve not enjoyed any of Legrand’s other books, so what if Sawkill Girls was a one-off?

Better to wait and see, than read it, hate it, and be forced to write about it.

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes
Published on: 7th December 2021
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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Alas, this is only available in PDF, so any other considerations don’t matter.

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
Published on: 8th March 2022
Goodreads

What If It's Us meets Life as We Knew It in this postapocalyptic, queer YA adventure romance from debut author Erik J. Brown. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Alex London.

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.

The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.

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Another awesome-sounding queer YA! And one that has received nothing but praise from every corner! What could possibly be the problem?

Well… I’ve had worse and worse luck with YA the last couple of years. I don’t know if my standards have changed or if I just keep picking up the wrong books or what, but I’m worried that, whatever’s up with me and YA, it’ll leave me dead inside towards this book too. I don’t want to hate it, and I definitely don’t want to have to write up why I hate it if I do. I’d rather not take the risk and keep any negative opinions to myself (if I have them!) when I do get to read it.

Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill
Published on: 5th April 2022
Goodreads

This delectable debut romantic comedy about two rival interns with the recipe for love is perfect for foodies, feminists, and fans of aspirational YA romance like LOVE & GELATO and AGAIN, BUT BETTER.

This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She's landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern--and her main competition for the fall job.

Reese's plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet's newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war, churning homemade ice cream, twisting soft pretzels, breaking eggs in an omelet showdown--while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch.

Reese can't deny the chemistry between her and Benny. But the more their rivalry heats up, the harder it is to keep love on the back burner...

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I’ve started dipping my toes into contemporary romance this year, and it’s gone so well! But that doesn’t mean I’m pouncing on every likely-looking romance novel I see – even if I seem to have a Thing for baking-related love stories, and Love from Scratch clearly qualifies. But it’s also het (as far as I know) and YA, which are two strikes against it. So although I’ll definitely be reading it when it comes out, I’m not going to request an ARC.

Aaaaaaand, that’s 10! Happy Tuesday, everyone! And remember to think twice before you request an ARC…

The post 10 ARCs I Didn’t Request (and why) appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #53!

September’s going out with a bang, with some of the year’s most-hyped SFF releases coming out this week! Queer southern semi-horror, sea serpents, and subverted chosen ones are among the EIGHT new books you need to know about!

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Representation: Queer MC, M/M, secondary polyamory M/M/F, secondary Black character
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.

As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.

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I got to read this early, and there’s absolutely no question that it’s one of the best books of the year; it’s all yearning and secrets and illegal drag racing, mixed in with dark academia and revenants. I wouldn’t call it fast-paced, but I’d definitely call it intense and gorgeous, and I urge you to read it.

If you need any more convincing, you can read my full review here!

The Last Graduate (The Scholomance, #2) by Naomi Novik
Representation: Biracial Desi MC, secondary Desi and Chinese characters, minor M/M
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education, the start of Naomi Novik's groundbreaking crossover series.

At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year--and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .

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DON’T jump into The Last Graduate if you have not first read A Deadly Education, but if you have read the first book, I’m delighted to be able to tell you that the sequel is powerfully hopepunk, which is a relief after how grim Education was. The Last Graduate still has monsters and awfulness galore – it’s certainly not all candyfloss and unicorns – but still, it’s much more about hope and pulling together and no one gets left behind than the previous book, so even if you thought Education was really too dark, I’d still encourage you to pick up Last Graduate.

You can read my full review here – although again, don’t read it unless you’ve read the first book!

The Bone Ship's Wake (The Tide Child, #3) by R.J. Barker
Representation: Queer MC, minor nonbinary character, queernorm world
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Discover a brilliantly imagined epic fantasy of honor, glory, and warfare in this action-packed conclusion to the David Gemmell Award-nominated trilogy.

Joron Twiner's dreams of freedom lay shattered. His Shipwife is gone and all he has left is revenge. Leading the black fleet from the deck of Tide Child, he takes every opportunity to hurt the Hundred Isles he is given. But his time is limited.

His fleet is shrinking, the Keyshan's Rot is running through his body, and he hiding from a prophecy that says he and the avian sorcerer, the Windseer will end the entire world.

But the Sea Dragons have returned, a miracle in itself, and who is to say that if you can have one miracle, there cannot be another?

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The Bone Ships trilogy has felt truly groundbreaking in a lot of ways, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of the ripple effects it’s sent through the genre – but I’m both dreading and dying to get my hands on the last book of the series! I really don’t know where Barker is going to take us in this final book, but I’m willing to bet it’s going to break me!

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Representation: Multiracial trans MC, sapphic Japanese MC, F/F or wlw
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.

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I ended up not really enjoying this one, but I am clearly Wrong and urge you to give it a try if the description appeals to you!

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter
Representation: Nonbinary MC, secondary M/M or mlm, secondary intersex character
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

The Murderbot Diaries makes first contact in this new, futuristic, standalone novel exploring sentience and artificial intelligence through the lenses of conflicted robot hero Unit Four, from Marina Lostetter, critically acclaimed author of Noumenon, Noumenon Infinity, and Noumenon Ultra.

When Unit Four—a biological soft robot built and stored high above the Jovian atmosphere—is activated for the first time, it’s in crisis mode. Aliens are attacking the Helium-3 mine it was created to oversee, and now its sole purpose is to defend Earth’s largest energy resource from the invaders in ship-to-ship combat.

But something’s wrong. Unit Four doesn’t feel quite right.

There are files in its databanks it can’t account for, unusual chemical combinations roaring through its pipes, and the primers it possesses on the aliens are suspiciously sparse. The robot is under orders to seek and destroy. That’s all it knows.

According to its handler, that’s all it needs to know.

Determined to fulfill its directives, Unit Four launches its ship and goes on the attack, but it has no idea it’s about to get caught in a downward spiral of misinformation, reprograming, and interstellar conflict.

Most robots are simple tools. Unit Four is well on its way to becoming something more....

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This is a clever and thoughtful standalone that did some twisty things I was not expecting, which I majorly approve of! That said, please don’t pick it up expecting it to have the same vibe as Murderbot, because the two really are incredibly different. Activation Degradation should be judged on its own merits (which are MANY), not compared to something it has almost no resemblance to!

My full review is over here!

Dark Rise (Dark Rise, #1) by C.S. Pacat
Representation: Bisexual MC
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember, and they keep their centuries-long vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns.

Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, Will is ushered into a world of magic, where he must train to play a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.

As London is threatened by the Dark King’s return, the reborn heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war begin to draw battle lines. But as the young descendants of Light and Dark step into their destined roles, old allegiances, old enmities, and old flames are awakened. Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the dark fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.

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Pacat made their name with their Captive Prince trilogy, and followed that up with a graphic novels series about the world of competitive fencing – and both of them were decidedly queer. With a bisexual main character, Dark Rise is too! And according to the reviews I’ve read, Dark Rise takes on a lot of common YA tropes and subverts them, which is always fun. Definitely picking it up tomorrow!

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson
Representation: M/M, secondary F/F, secondary PoC characters, queernorm world
Published on: 28th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The Prestige meets What If It’s Us in Before We Disappear, a queer ahistorical fantasy set during the 1909 Seattle Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, where the two assistants of two ambitious magicians find themselves falling in love amidst a bitter rivalry designed to tear them apart.

Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility have served him well his entire life—making him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in early-twentieth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks and copycat sleight-of-hand illusions, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago—not that she would ever admit it.

But when they’re forced to flee the continent for America, the Enchantress finds a new audience in Seattle at the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She and Jack are set to make a fortune until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s act threatens to overshadow the Enchantress and co-opt her audience. Jack has no choice but to hunt for the secrets behind Laszlo’s otherworldly illusions—but what he uncovers isn’t at all what he expected.

What makes Laszlo’s tricks possible is, unbelievably, a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Wilhelm’s abilities defy all the laws of physics. His talents are no clever sleights-of-hand. But even though Laszlo and Wilhelm’s act threatens to destroy the life Jack and the Enchantress have built, Jack and Wilhelm have near-instant connection. As the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows increasingly dangerous and dire, Jack finds he has to choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him love. It's a new star-crossed romance about the magic of first love from acclaimed author Shaun David Hutchinson.

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Stage magic is not really my thing, but I have to admit to being hypnotised by that gorgeous cover! And I’m intrigued by the idea of a historical fantasy that’s had the homophobia of the time excised. (Although apparently sexism and racism are still around? Sigh.) I do love the premise of stage-magician-discovers-real-magic though!

The Symmetry of Stars by Alex Myers
Representation: Genderqueer/gender-nonconforming characters
Published on: 30th September 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Beyond the stars, two gods vie for rule of the world.

One stands for Nature – the belief that everything is stamped in flesh from the start. The other, Nurture – the belief that all is potential, that the true self is coaxed out through love and living.

And so, they take a bet.

Each immortal selects a set of twins as their champions. The twins that prevail in contest will decide which immortal rules….

In a westerly valley, a girl and boy are born to a noble family, to be raised by a mysterious teacher – ready to love and instruct them in everything, regardless of society’s expectations…

To the east, a woman washes ashore on an island inhabited only by a sorcerer. With her final breaths, she gives birth to twins. These two are raised with careful neglect by the sorcerer – surrounded not with love but with danger, magic and wildness.

Society expects these children to become men and women. But the immortals care nothing for human norms and raise the twins according to their own ends. Which twins will prevail?

What truly matters in determining who a person will become?

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The reviews for this one have been very mixed, but personally I’m intensely interested in the premise, and really can’t wait to see what Myers does with it!

That’s it for this week! Have I missed any I should know about? Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

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