Siavahda's Blog, page 82

Must-Have Monday #49!

This week there are SEVEN new SFF releases for me to showcase, ranging from Greek myths to magical cities and even some martial arts!

In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
Representation: Asian-coded cast, Nonbinary MCs who use neopronouns, disabled trans PoV character, sapphic PoV character, F/F or wlw
Published on: 31st August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads

In the Watchful City explores borders, power, diaspora, and transformation in an Asian-inspired mosaic novella that melds the futurism of Lavie Tidhar’s Central Station with the magical wonder of Catherynne M. Valente’s Palimpsest.

The city of Ora uses a complex living network called the Gleaming to surveil its inhabitants and maintain harmony. Anima is one of the cloistered extrasensory humans tasked with watching over Ora's citizens. Although ær world is restricted to what æ can see and experience through the Gleaming, Anima takes pride and comfort in keeping Ora safe from all harm.

All that changes when a mysterious visitor enters the city carrying a cabinet of curiosities from around the world, with a story attached to each item. As Anima’s world expands beyond the borders of Ora to places—and possibilities—æ never before imagined to exist, æ finds ærself asking a question that throws into doubt ær entire purpose: What good is a city if it can’t protect its people?

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I got to read this early, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in years. Definitely one of the best of 2021 – possibly even of the new decade. It’s gorgeous and strange and utterly wonderful. You can read my review here, or you can skip it, but either way In The Watchful City is genuinely a must-read.

The Boy with Fire (The Ravence Trilogy #1) by Aparna Verma
Representation: Desi-coded cast
Published on: 31st August 2021
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

Dune meets The Poppy War in Aparna Verma’s The Boy with Fire, a glorious yet brutal tour-de-force debut that grapples with the power and manipulation of myth in an Indian-inspired epic fantasy.

Yassen Knight was the Arohassin’s most notorious assassin until a horrible accident. Now, he’s on the run from the authorities and his former employer. But when Yassen seeks refuge with an old friend, he’s offered an irresistible deal: defend the heir of Ravence from the Arohassin, and earn his freedom.

Elena Ravence prepares to ascend the throne. Trained since birth in statecraft, warfare, and the desert ways, Elena knows she is ready. She only lacks one thing: the ability to hold Fire. With the coronation only weeks away, she must learn quickly or lose her kingdom.

Leo Ravence is not ready to give up the crown. There’s still too much work to be done, too many battles to be won. But when an ancient prophecy threatens to undo his lifetime of work, Leo wages war on the heavens themselves to protect his legacy.

The first of The Ravence Trilogy, The Boy with Fire is the tale of a world teetering on the edge of war and prophecy, of fate and betrayal, of man’s irrevocable greed for power — and the sacrifices that must come with it.

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Dune meets Poppy War is not my idea of a good time…but x meets y pitches are almost always completely wrong, and I want to give this one a shot – especially because, despite the use of the word ‘boy’ in the title, the author has made it very clear that this is not YA. (I haven’t been doing well with YA lately and I’m wary of it.) The early reviews have been really promising, and after The Jasmine Throne earlier this year I really want more adult Desi fantasy!

Forestborn (Forestborn, #1) by Elayne Audrey Becker
Representation: Queernorm world, M/M or mlm
Published on: 31st August 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A young, orphaned shapeshifter in a world that fears magic must risk everything if she hopes to save her only friend in Elayne Audrey Becker's Forestborn, first in a new fantasy series with a timeless feel.

TO BE BORN OF THE FOREST IS A GIFT AND A CURSE.

Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness—and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble.

When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up—and to which she swore never to return.

But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley’s is not the only life that hangs in the balance.

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Stories about shapeshifters always card my attention – even moreso when they have a queernorm setting. The early reviews have been positive, so I’m hopeful!

The Phoenix Feather: Fledglings by Sherwood Smith
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

In the grand tradition of martial arts fantasy tales, Fledglings begins twenty-five years ago, when a pair of lovers ran for their lives from an angry prince. They washed up on an island where they adopted new identities–and found themselves blessed by an omen promising great things, a single golden phoenix feather.

Their eldest child, a natural martial artist like his father, seems destined for those great things. The second son, an artist and a dreamer, has no desire for greatness–he wants to be left alone to paint. And the youngest, a daughter, used to wearing her brothers’ castoffs and trotting at their heels, is the least promising, always scamping her studies in favor of sword lessons and play.

All three vowed to keep their parents’ dangerous secret. But in this first volume, the family learns that sometimes children must follow their own paths . . .

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I’m a bit hesitant about the martial arts aspect, but the day has yet to come when I pass up a new Sherwood Smith book!

Punderworld, Volume 1 by Linda Šejić
Published on: 31st August 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Hades and Persephone's love-struck misadventures.

The classic tale of Greek mythology, but 100% more awkwardly relatable. Hades is the officious, antisocial ruler of the Underworld; Persephone, daughter of Demeter, is an earth goddess of growth and renewal - they've been crushing on each other for the past two centuries. But when a festival (and a little liquid courage) present an opportunity to put an end to their olympian will-they-won't-they, a meddlesome pantheon and several titanic misassumptions threaten to give every god in the sky the wrong impression... and leave their romance dead before it can bloom.

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Graphic novel? Comic? I’m not sure what the difference is, but I know I’ve loved the bits of Punderworld I’ve seen on Sejic’s tumblr and really want to read more!

Walk Between Worlds by Samara Breger
Representation: Sapphic MC, F/F or wlw
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Sergeant Major Scratch Keyes of the King’s Guard is having a bad day.

On what should be the biggest night of her life, everything suddenly goes horribly wrong. First, her king denies her the promotion she rightfully earned, as well as the knighthood that goes along with it. And then, when Scratch is wallowing somewhere near the fetid rock bottom, she and her best friend, the flamboyant and carefree Sergeant James Ursus, are arrested for orchestrating the abduction of Princess Frances and sentenced to death. On the whole, things could be better.

Luckily, help comes in the form of the mysterious Shae siblings―Shovel and Umbrella―who inform the doomed pair that the issue of the missing Princess is far more complicated than it appears. After a daring escape, the four embark on an ill-advised rescue mission through a forest filled with beasts, bandits, and mysterious fair folk, bringing nothing with them but a kitchen knife and the vague outline of a plan. Their destination is the Between, a sacred and shadowy fae-guarded place that promises to deliver Scratch and James to the princess―if they manage to survive.

But Scratch didn’t rise above her humble childhood in the Royal City slums by accepting things at face value. It’s clear that the enigmatic Shaes are hiding something, but what do they know? Who are they working with? And why, in the name of all that is holy, can’t Scratch stop staring at Brella’s beautiful face?

Samara Breger’s debut novel, Walk Between Worlds is a romantic queer fantasy adventure that will make you laugh even as it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

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Breger’s writing has been described as lyrical, there’s a feel-good romance, it’s queer, and the reviews I’ve read have been full of praise for the worldbuilding – so basically, this sounds pretty perfect??? Especially since it’s apparently also very funny. Sounds like exactly the kind of book I’ve been craving lately!

The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar
Published on: 21st September 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

In this dazzling new novel evoking Westerns, surrealism, epic fantasy, mythology, and circus extravaganzas, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) has created an incomparable dreamscape of dark comedy, heartbreak, hope, and adventure. Chronicling a lone man’s quest in parallel worlds, The Escapement offers the archetypal darkness of Stephen King’s The Gunslinger within the dark whimsy of a child’s imagination.

Into the Escapement rides the Stranger, a lone gunman on a quest to rescue his son in a strange parallel reality. But it is easy to lose one’s way on an endlessly shifting, unpredictable landscape. Especially in a place full of dangerous mirror-images of a child's beloved things: lawless heroes, giants made of stone, downtrodden clowns, spectacular symbol storms, and an endless war between gods and shadowy beings.

As the Stranger has learned, the Escapement is a dreamscape of deep mysteries, unlikely allies, and unwinnable battles. Yet the flower the he seeks still lies beyond the Mountains of Darkness. Time is running out as the Stranger journeys deeper into the secret heart of an unimaginable world.

In his most compelling work to date, Lavie Tidhar has delivered a multicolored tapestry of dazzling imagery. The Escapement is an epic, wildly original chronicle of the extraordinary lengths to which one will go for love.

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With The Escapement, Tidhar fearlessly crests the wave of the New New-Weird with a wild, decadent hybrid of The Dark Tower and Carnivale.
—Catherynne M. Valente, author of Deathless

I’ve not managed to get through a Tidhar novel yet, but if Escapement has Valente’s stamp of approval then I’m willing to try again. It doesn’t hurt that the premise sounds genuinely interesting, and weird in a good way.

That’s all I’ve got for this week! Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #49! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Rhapsodic Prose and a Queer Cast You’ll Adore: The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw

The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw
Representation: Sapphic MC, queer cast, major nonbinary secondary character, major genderfluid/bigender secondary character
Published on: 7th September 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
ISBN: 1645660206
Goodreads

A diverse team of broken, diminished former criminals get back together to solve the mystery of their last, disastrous mission and to rescue a missing and much-changed comrade... but they’re not the only ones in pursuit of the secret at the heart of the planet Dimmuborgir. The highly-evolved AI of the universe have their own agenda and will do whatever it takes to keep humans from ever controlling the universe again. This band of dangerous women, half-clone and half-machine, must battle their own traumas and a universe of sapient ageships who want them dead, in order to settle their affairs once and for all. 

Cassandra Khaw’s debut novel is a page-turning exploration of humans and machines that is perfect for readers of Ann Leckie, Ursula Le Guin, and Kameron Hurley.

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

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~It’s not ‘fellow clones’, it’s ‘sisters of another syringe’
~If you can shoot it, Maya will shoot it.
~If you can’t shoot it, she’ll shoot it anyway.
~Immortality doesn’t play nice
~AIs are dicks
~I will now read anything Khaw chooses to write

The All-Consuming World is a gemstone grenade of a book, and opening it up is the pulling of the pin; it explodes in your hands, all flashing jewelled shards cutting you to ribbons. Khaw’s prose is a deadly weapon, equal parts beautiful and brutal; the book they’ve written is every bit as hypnotic and dangerous as a siren with a machine gun. You can’t look away, you can’t stop, and you know it’s going to wreck you.

Why be beautiful when you can be seraphic instead?

The blurb for this one is fairly misleading; this really isn’t a heist story. Sure, it’s about getting the old team together for one last job, but the job is really not the focus – in the end we barely see it at all. The All-Consuming World is much more about the characters and their complicated dynamics than it is about anything else; it would be very easy to argue that there’s hardly any real plot – at least as we’re used to thinking of it – at all.

It’s just that that really doesn’t matter, because the book is un-put-downable regardless.

“You’re making a scene.”

“I can make some bodies instead if that helps.”

Maya is our more-or-less main character; the one in whose head we spend the most time. She’s a fist-full of broken glass, canines bared in a snarl, born with a gun in her hand (if not two), as deadly and dangerous to herself as she is to others. Fearless, reckless, rabid.

That’s why Maya is strutting into the bobbit worm’s jaws, with nothing but a ghost for backup, riding on a wing, a prayer, and enough combat know-how to win all four world wars.

I love Maya. I think it’s going to be hard for most readers not to love her. Because gods, is she broken, messed up to the core, and yet it’s not the kind of broken that is self-pitying or whining or any kind of grating. It’s a fierce brokenness, one that takes its shattered pieces and uses the shards as shivs, and Maya is just so compelling, so dazzling. She’s not a caricature or an empty archetype. She blazes. She is so absolutely not a tamed thing, and that is hypnotic even as you know that to touch her is to bleed.

a grin cocked like a loaded shotgun.

Maya used to belong to a mercenary group of clones who called themselves the Dirty Dozen; but most of the others went their own way long ago. Now it’s just Maya and Rita – Rita, the puppet-master, the tactician, the ruthless leader, who has messed with Maya’s biology to the point that Maya is literally addicted to her: serotonin rush when Maya follows orders, less-fun chemicals released when she doesn’t.

Rita served as their compass, a sun for murderers and no one else, lighting the road deeper into the country of sin.

They’re not romantically or sexually involved, but they come as a set. If Maya is the attack-dog, Rita is the master holding the leash.

But you can’t have a gun without a bullet, can’t take a shot without intent. Rita and her, they’re in this together. For good or for ill.

It’s a fucked-up, and therefore fundamentally interesting, dynamic. It’s horrible, it’s awful and painful and leaves the taste of copper in your mouth…it’s like a car-crash, a train-wreck, the kind of disaster you can’t look at and can’t look away from.

Until data corruption do they part.

As clones, Maya, Rita, and the rest of the ex-Dirty Dozen are functionally immortal – for a given definition of immortality. Their brain-maps, memories, and experiences are in some kind of cloud, some form of digital back-up, and if a body happens to die? No worries, just restore from the back-up into a brand-new meat-suit and you’re good to go! You can even make alterations to your next body, if you want, if there’s someone around to make the edits for you before you’re downloaded into your new brain.

But even with the back-ups, it’s still possible for things to go wrong. The reason the Dirty Dozen are getting the band back together is that Rita makes a revelatory proclamation: Elise, one of their crew who died badly, in such a way that there was no coming back…might have survived after all.

For a given definition of ‘survived’.

Rita claims that Elise was uploaded into the Conversation – a kind of closed internet belonging to the Minds, the galactic community of AIs that exist in this far-future. Getting Elise back…is not going to be any kind of easy. Especially since the Minds have decided to hunt down not just the Dirty Dozen, but clones in general; and not just clones in general, but their families, and their originals, and the families of their originals.

That’s a lot of not-so-friendly fire to dodge.

Give her a gun, give her a war, give her bodies to line the floor.

If the part about Elise is even true. Nobody who isn’t chemically made to trusts Rita as far as they can throw her. But the possibility that it might be true is too much for the old gang to resist – because what if? – and so bit by bit, person by person, Maya and Rita draw them back into the fold. For one last big mission.

Hope the mind-killer.

I feel sorry for anyone who ends up reading this book in a physical format, because I would have had a hard time without the dictionary function on my e-reader: Khaw’s prose is wild and wonderful and it’s on you to keep up. I consider myself to have a larger-than-average vocabulary, and I was still asking the dictionary for word-meanings at least every other chapter. But I never felt like Khaw was trying to make me feel stupid. The words you’ve never heard before turn out to be perfect, to nail it, once you know what they mean – every piece clicks perfectly into place like a bullet into a chamber. It’s not pretentious, it’s musical, and the way Khaw uses language is pure magic – the old kind, the primal vicious bloody kind of magic. The All-Consuming World is fucking spellbinding, and a good chunk of that is the cast of fabulous queer persons – cis and nonbinary and genderfluid and all of them scintillating in their very different ways – but most of it?

Most of it is Khaw’s writing. The razor-sharp beauty of their prose. The flawless pacing, the sentence structure, the adjectives and images – it’s all perfect.

its cable looped around one iridescent arm like it is the snake from the Garden of Eve and Why-The-Fuck-Him-And-Not-Lilith

WHY THE FUCK HIM AND NOT LILITH INDEED

I want to call Khaw’s prose beautiful, but reading over all the parts of the book I highlighted, I’m not sure beautiful is exactly the right word. Maybe awesome, in the original sense (inspiring dread, terror, wonder, awe) and the modern one (fucking brilliant) is closer, better, more accurate. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Billy Martin, writing as Poppy Brite; Martin makes his horror novels so much more horrifying by using exquisitely beautiful prose, in essence seducing the reader into a sensual enjoyment of the terrible things that are happening – which is horrifying and sickening when you, the reader, realise it. Khaw’s writing feels similar: terrible things are happening, violent-vicious-awful things, but the scalpel-deft prose makes them beautiful, and described that way it sounds like there should be a dissonance, a contradiction for the reader. But there isn’t, because vicious-violent-awful and gorgeous-wonderful-decadent, the combination of the two, is the point. That’s how Maya views it all, which means the writing style? Isn’t jarring us out of the story; it’s pulling you deeper than should be possible into the main character’s mindset. It’s unbelievably clever, and it works.

That’s far from the only way in which Khaw uses language in insanely clever ways, though. There are very few writers who can create their own brand-new similes and metaphors, rather than relying on the tried-and-tested ones we all recognise – describing the moon as a pearl, for example – but Khaw is absolutely on fire with creation, connecting and comparing things I’d never think to put together, getting you in the gut or the heart with painfully perfect, genius imagery –

You could cut diamonds with her poise

Ayane looks like the last cold gulp of water before the sun goes supernova

a face like a veteran’s tall tale

And then there are the references; Judaic folklore, Greek myth, more I’m sure I didn’t catch all woven into the imagery, the metaphors. There’s the fact that every page roars with the queer-as-in-fuck-you! vibe. There’s the wordplay! There’s so many layers to it all, so many themes, and I cannot help but adore a book (an author) who doesn’t talk down to me, doesn’t slow down for me, expects me to be good enough to keep up. I liked having to look up what some of the words meant, okay? I’m weird like that.

I highlighted so many passages, folx. So many incredible turns of phrase, brilliant images, decadent description. I am in love with this book. I want to propose to it. I swear nearly every page made me swoon.

That is not to say that The All-Consuming World is without flaw. The abrupt ending in particular took me aback – I’m kind of hoping that there was at least one chapter missing from my ARC that will be present in the final copy, because it was like a missing frame in a film: jumping from point A to point G with the transition MIA. And although I personally don’t really care, I’m sure some readers aren’t going to be very happy that the whole book is build-up to a job that we barely see happen. There are a handful of lesser plotlines that kind of dissolve away into nothing without explanation or resolution, too.

But I honestly do not care. I’m here for Maya, for Viridion and Ayane and Constance and yes, because I love to hate her, even Rita too. And I am here for the prose that held me mesmerised from the first page to the last.

back when they were feral: hambering pejoratives, singing out curses, maenad-wild and gorgeous as a bullet flying true.

Before this, I had never read Khaw’s work before. They mostly write horror, and I am a total whimp about horror.

I don’t care. After reading The All-Consuming World, I will read anything Khaw writes.

The All-Consuming World is out on Sept 7th. Go preorder it immediately – and then go submit your receipt to the preorder campaign, because it’s a really good one (and open internationally!)

The post Rhapsodic Prose and a Queer Cast You’ll Adore: The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney

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. 

I cannot BELIEVE it’s taken me so long to learn about this meme, because obsessing over to-be-released books is what I DO (I have a colour-coded book release calendar that stretches to December 2022, I am not kidding)! So having a nice neat reason to shriek about a book I’m excited about each week? ALL THE YES!

(And it will be so much easier on my hands than assembling 30-book lists in one post.)

So for my first-ever Can’t-Wait Wednesday, may I present to you…

Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney
Published on: 12th April 2022
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Fun, froofy and glorious: a coming-of-age story in a new trilogy from World Fantasy Award-winning author C.S.E Cooney

Life gets complicated when Death gets involved.

To be born into a family of royal assassins pretty much guarantees that your life is going to be... rather unusual. Especially if, like Miscellaneous "Lanie" Stones, you also have a vicious allergy to all forms of violence and bloodshed, and an uncanny affinity for bringing the dead back to life.

To make matters worse, family debt looms – a debt that will have to be paid sooner rather than later if Lanie and her sister are to retain ownership of the ancestral seat, Stones Manor. Lanie finds herself courted and threatened by powerful parties who would love to use her worryingly intimate relationship with the goddess of death for their own nefarious ends. But the goddess has other plans...

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I fell in love with Cooney’s writing back when I read her first short-story collection, Bone Swans. It’s just – she’s just – she writes like every word is a jewel. I don’t know how else to put it. Her writing is pure magic. I reread her novella Desdemona and the Deep last month and got drunk off her prose. I will read absolutely anything she decides to write.

So it goes without saying that I lost my mind more than a little bit when I found out her next work is going to be 600+ pages and the start of a trilogy. That much Cooney might actually kill me, but I am entirely okay with that.

Saint Death’s Daughter absolutely goes in the preorder immediately category, which you can do from Amazon or from the publisher here!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Cosy Boarding School Adventures, Plus Aliens: Three Twins at the Crater School by Chaz Brenchley

Three Twins at the Crater School by Chaz Brenchley
Genres: Sci Fi
ISBN: B091J95VBD
Goodreads

Mars, the Red Planet, farthest flung outpost of the British Empire. Under the benevolent reign of the Empress Eternal, commerce and culture are flourishing along the banks of the great canals, and around the shores of the crater lakes. But this brave new world is not as safe as it might seem. The Russians, unhappy that Venus has proved far less hospitable, covet Britain’s colony. And the Martian creatures, while not as intelligent and malevolent as HG Wells had predicted, are certainly dangerous to the unwary.

What, then, of the young girls of the Martian colony? Their brothers might be sent to Earth for education at Eton and Oxbridge, but girls are made of sterner stuff. Be it unreasonable parents, Russian spies, or the deadly Martian wildlife, no challenge is beyond the resourceful girls of the Crater School.

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~learn sign-language or be eaten by aliens
~no one gets in trouble like twins get in trouble
~space travel is Weird
~Russians on the moon
~many shenanigans

Before magic school stories (well, before most of the more well-known ones, anyway) there were English boarding school stories. If you were born in the early 90s like myself – and in the right part of the world, since I doubt many countries outside the British Isles stocked these stories in their bookshops! – you might just have caught a few of the later ones, or the ones that were popular enough to have some serious staying power; Enid Blyton’s Naughtiest Girl series and her St Clare’s books were the ones some well-meaning adult gave me. Usually but not always featuring girls in all-girls schools, this particular sub-genre combined slice-of-life (midnight feasts, team sports, and prep, which is a fancy word for homework) with adventure, while hammering home values like comradeship and school spirit and a surprisingly hard-core sense of honour…and a whole lot of patriotism/nationalism, because England is the best and the Empire is forever.

…You can maybe guess why it’s not much of a thing anymore. Even if the books tended to be quite gentle and sweet, once you get old enough the ‘Rule Britannia’ thing becomes a bit too hard to swallow.

Brenchley, though, announced a while back that he intended to write a boarding school story in the English style – but set on Mars.

And it’s ridiculously fun.

Mars is a colony of the British Empire, but England is far away and can mostly be ignored by the reader: the characters and the school they attend – the Crater School – consider themselves Martians first, and any references to how girls ought to be are always phrased ‘Martian girls never’ or ‘all Martian girls do’, not ‘English/British girls’. The Crater School is a girls-only school housed inside a building that was intended to be a kind of hotel or resort, and due to its eccentric creator resembles a castle, complete with portcullis. The hotel didn’t work out, but it makes a pretty delightful setting for a school. (Who wouldn’t prefer a school with towers and secret passages?) The British Boarding School tropes are present and accounted for – school houses, prefects, a head-girl everyone wants to be and no one wants to mess with. The only thing missing is a French teacher – either Crater girls don’t learn French, or perhaps we’ll meet her in another book.

This book, though, is focussed on a pair of twins – Tawney and Tasha – who’ve been Crater girls for years; Levity and her younger sister Charm, new girls who want to keep their parentage secret; and Rachel, another new girl, but one who’s been separated from her sister – a sister who’s also her twin.

Hence the title.

Sometimes you want – or flat-out need – a book where nothing really bad is going to happen; where not only does no one need to save the world, but everything about the book feels easy and warm. Three Twins at the Crater School is a book you can relax into the way you would a warm bath or your favourite chair; it has that indescribable, undefinable quality that eases the tension in your brain as you read. There is plenty going on – encounters with Mars’ native wildlife, letter-writing campaigns in the name of justice, Russians on at least one of Mars’ moons, adventures in twin-swapping – but it all comes wrapped up in the cosiness of idealised childhood. These girls are brave and smart and fiercely loyal to their school and to each other, and there’s nothing they can’t overcome by being brave and smart and loyal.

It’s that kind of story. Not infantalising or patronising, just…a safe haven for anyone who feels too bruised for big epic-scale sagas just now. Warm and comforting and still plenty entertaining and clever.

On that note, Brenchley has done a marvelous job with the worldbuilding – naming the Martian wildlife after classical elementals (naiads and undines, etc), delicately crafting the relationship between Mars and its parent British Empire, the whimsical mystery of interplanetary travel – I loved all of it. It’s not heavy at all, but lightly and deftly imparted to the reader through the story, and it complements the, the vibe of the story so well.

I do wish Brenchley hadn’t included the reference to ‘coolies’ – sure, I guess it’s on-brand for the era the story is set in, but the story is also set on Mars, so, you know, maybe there’s no need to stick that closely to ‘historically accurate’? Especially since it was the most unnecessary detail; it would have been so easy to either cut or rephrase the sentence that used that word.

But I can’t deny this was one of the most fun, cosy, comfortingly-escapist books I’ve read in a while: I loved it, and I’ll definitely be pouncing on the sequel when we get one! Because the Crater Girls are definitely not finished having adventures yet…

The post Cosy Boarding School Adventures, Plus Aliens: Three Twins at the Crater School by Chaz Brenchley appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #48!

Galactic revolution and vampirism-as-medical-treatment are among this week’s SIX exciting SFF releases!

Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton, Gareth L. Powell
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Sci Fi
Goodreads

In Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell's action-packed sci-fi adventure Light Chaser, a love powerful enough to transcend death can bring down an entire empire.

Amahle is a Light Chaser - one of a number of explorers, who travel the universe alone (except for their onboard AI), trading trinkets for life stories.

But when she listens to the stories sent down through the ages she hears the same voice talking directly to her from different times and on different worlds. She comes to understand that something terrible is happening, and only she is in a position to do anything about it.

And it will cost everything to put it right.

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This is definitely one of the books I’m most excited for this week – mostly because I think I’d love to bea Light Chaser myself! It’s such a beautiful concept, and I can’t wait to learn more about it. I don’t even need the big epic storyline, just give me all the story-collecting!

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis
Representation: Black MC
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

For fans of Us and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.

Katrell doesn’t mind talking to the dead; she just wishes it made more money. Clients pay her to talk to their deceased loved ones, but it isn’t enough to support her unemployed mother and Mom’s deadbeat boyfriend-of-the-week. Things get worse, when a ghost warns her to stop the summonings or she’ll “burn everything down.” Katrell is willing to call them on their bluff, though. She has no choice. What do ghosts know about eating peanut butter for dinner?

However, when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.

But magic doesn’t come for free, and soon dark forces are closing in on Katrell. The further she goes, the more she risks the lives of not only herself, but those she loves. Katrell faces a choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late.

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I’ve heard nothing but really good things about this book, even though I find it more than a little heartbreaking that Katrell’s approach to magic sounds like ‘this is how the bills get paid’ rather than any sense of wonder. I’m also already outraged at any prats who tell her she shouldn’t be using her magic like she does, when the other option is the bills not getting paid (and it does sound like there are going to be prats like that). I want to read this just to be sure her situation gets better and she ends up okay!

Which, you know. Kudos to getting me invested in this character before I’ve even opened the book!

Edie in Between by Laura Sibson
Representation: Sapphic MC, Black sapphic love interest
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

A modern-day Practical Magic about love, loss, and embracing the mystical.

It’s been one year since Edie’s mother died. But her ghost has never left.

According to her GG, it’s tradition that the dead of the Mitchell family linger with the living. It’s just as much a part of a Mitchell’s life as brewing cordials or talking to plants. But Edie, whose pain over losing her mother is still fresh, has no interest in her family’s legacy as local “witches.”

When her mother’s teenage journal tumbles into her life, her family’s mystical inheritance becomes once and for all too hard to ignore. It takes Edie on a scavenger hunt to find objects that once belonged to her mother, each one imbued with a different memory. Every time she touches one of these talismans, it whisks her to another entry inside the journal—where she watches her teenage mom mourn, love, and hope just as Edie herself is now doing. Maybe, just maybe, Edie hopes, if she finds every one of these objects, she can finally make peace with her loss and put the past to rest for good. But this journey to stake her independence from her family may actually show Edie who she truly is…and the beautiful gifts that come with being just a little different.

Tinged with a sweet romance with Rhia, who works at the local occult shop, Edie in Between delivers all the cozy magic a budding young witch finding her way in the world needs.

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It doesn’t hurt that the cover reminds me of the Modern Witch Tarot, but I’m also here for all the queer witches!

The Second Rebel (The First Sister Trilogy, #2) by Linden A. Lewis
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Linden A. Lewis returns with this next installment of The First Sister Trilogy, perfect for fans of Red Rising, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Expanse.

Astrid has reclaimed her name and her voice, and now seeks to bring down the Sisterhood from within. Throwing herself into the lioness’ den, Astrid must confront and challenge the Aunts who run the Gean religious institution, but she quickly discovers that the business of politics is far deadlier than she ever expected.

Meanwhile, on an outlaw colony station deep in space, Hiro val Akira seeks to bring a dangerous ally into the rebellion. Whispers of a digital woman fuel Hiro’s search, but they are not the only person looking for this link to the mysterious race of Synthetics.

Lito sol Lucious continues to grow into his role as a lead revolutionary and is tasked with rescuing an Aster operative from deep within an Icarii prison. With danger around every corner, Lito, his partner Ofiera, and the newly freed operative must flee in order to keep dangerous secrets out of enemy hands.

Back on Venus, Lito’s sister Lucinia must carry on after her brother’s disappearance and accusation of treason by Icarii authorities. Despite being under the thumb of Souji val Akira, Lucinia manages to keep her nose clean…that is until an Aster revolutionary shows up with news about her brother’s fate, and an opportunity to join the fight.

This captivating, spellbinding second installment to The First Sister series picks up right where The First Sister left off and is a must-read for science fiction fans everywhere.

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The first book in this series, First Sister, was a hard read (emotionally) but a good one, so obviously this sequel is on my radar. I’ve not let myself read the blurb to avoid spoilers, so I really have no idea where Lewis is going to take us after the events of the previous book.

Vampires, Hearts, & Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

In this heart-wrenching debut YA novel that’s The Coldest Girl in Coldtown meets They Both Die at the End, a teen girl takes a trip to New Orleans with her estranged best friend to find a vampire to save her dying father.

Victoria and her dad have shared a love of the undead since the first vampire revealed his existence on live TV. Public fear soon drove the vampires back into hiding, yet Victoria and her father still dream about finding a vampire together. But when her dad is diagnosed with terminal cancer, it’s clear that’s not going to happen. Instead, Victoria vows to find a vampire herself—so that she can become one and then save her father.

Armed with research, speculations, and desperation—and helped by her estranged best friend, Henry—Victoria travels to New Orleans in search of a miracle. There she meets Nicholas, a mysterious young man who might give her what she desires. But first, he needs Victoria to prove she loves life enough to live forever.

She agrees to complete a series of challenges, from scarfing sugar-drenched beignets to singing with a jazz band, all to show she has what it takes to be immortal. But truly living while her father is dying feels like a betrayal. Victoria must figure out how to experience joy and grief at once, trusting all the while that Nicholas will hold up his end of the bargain…because the alternative is too impossible to imagine.

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This one is going to entirely hinge on execution – with that premise it could be a clichéd mess or a heart-warming masterpiece, and I don’t know which it’ll be, but I really want to give it a go. Although I might wait a while – I’m not sure I’m in the right headspace for dying fathers at the moment.

Feral Creatures (Hollow Kingdom, #2) by Kira Jane Buxton
Published on: 24th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

In this stunning follow-up to Hollow Kingdom, the animal kingdom's "favorite apocalyptic hero"is back with a renewed sense of hope for humanity, ready to take on a world ravaged by a viral pandemic (Helen Macdonald).

Once upon an apocalypse, there lived an obscenely handsome American crow named S.T. . . . When the world last checked-in with its favorite Cheeto addict, the planet had been overrun by flesh-hungry beasts, and nature had started re-claiming her territory from humankind. S.T., the intrepid crow, alongside his bloodhound-bestie Dennis, had set about saving pets that had become trapped in their homes after humanity went the way of the dodo. 

That is, dear reader, until S.T. stumbled upon something so rare—and so precious—that he vowed to do everything in his power to safeguard what could, quite literally, be humanity's last hope for survival. But in a wild world plagued by prejudiced animals, feather-raising environments, new threats so terrifying they make zombies look like baby bunnies, and a horrendous dearth of cheesy snacks, what's a crow to do? 

Why, wing it on another big-hearted, death-defying adventure, that's what! Joined by a fabulous new cast of animal characters, S.T. faces many new challenges plus his biggest one yet: parenthood.

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I don’t usually include sequels to books I haven’t read in these posts, but this is a sequel to a book I really want to read, and which I’ve heard nothing but praise for. Both the first book and this one are meant to be mega feel-good, sweet stories – even with thezombies.

That’s it! Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #48! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #47!

If last week was a little quiet, this week more than makes up for it! We have NINE new releases to feature, ranging from angel-speakers to dragon veterinarians to an Empress out to redeem her empire!

Redemptor (Raybearer, #2) by Jordan Ifueko
Representation: Cast of colour, queernorm world, minor achillean + sapphic characters, major secondary asexual character
Published on: 17th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

The hotly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestselling YA fantasy about Tarisai’s quest to change her fate.

For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities.

Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.

With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can't quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.

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Raybearer was one of my favourite books of 2020, and Redemptor has been one of my most-anticipated reads for this year! I can’t believe it’s FINALLY about to be in my hands!!!

Faeries of the Faultlines: Expanded, Edited Edition by Iris Compiet, Brian Froud, Alan Lee
Published on: 17th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

Iris Compiet is the rarest of artist: That who invokes a complete and cohesive reality with every image she creates. Beautiful, powerful and contemplative all at once. — Guillermo Del Toro

Let me tell you about Faeries, let me take you away on a journey, an adventure.

The Faultlines is an ancient name given to those places where the veil between this world and the Other is thinnest. It is the place where faeries dwell, creatures creep, and magic oozes through the cracks. Recently the Faultlines have been stirring, opening up to all who wish to see, and to all who dare to venture...

Faeries of the Faultlines was an instant Kickstarter success in 2017, and this edited, expanded edition includes the complete original documentation from the greenmen to mermaids, with expanded sections and many more faeries to meet!

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I included this in an earlier Must-Have Monday post because I had the wrong publication date, but I’m 99.9% sure Faeries of the Faultlines really does release this week! Which is WONDERFUL because I am dying to get my hands on it. I missed the original kickstarter campaign, but I’m definitely not letting this edition slip through my fingers! This is another book that made it onto my Most Anticipated of 2021 list, and I’ll be honest, the anticipation at this point is killing me!

The Left Hand of Dog by Si Clarke
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 17th August 2021
Genres: Sci Fi
Goodreads

Escaping intergalactic kidnappers has never been quite so ridiculous.

When Lem and her faithful dog, Spock, retreat from the city for a few days of hiking in Algonquin Park, the last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by aliens. No, scratch that. The last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by a bunch of strangely adorable intergalactic bounty hunters aboard a ship called the Teapot.

After Lem falls in with an unlikely group of allies – including a talking horse, a sarcastic robot, an overly anxious giant parrot, and a cloud of sentient glitter gas – the gang must devise a cunning plan to escape their captors and make it back home safely.

But things won’t be as easy as they first seem. Lost in deep space and running out of fuel, this chaotic crew are faced with the daunting task of navigating an alien planet, breaking into a space station, and discovering the real reason they’re all there…

Packed with preposterous scenarios, quirky characters, and oodles of humour, The Left Hand of Dog tackles complex subjects such as gender, the need to belong, and the importance of honest communication. Perfect for fans of Charlie Jane Anders’ Victories Greater than Death– especially ones who enjoy endless references to Red Dwarf, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. This book will show you that the universe is a very strange place indeed.

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I know next to nothing about this book, but it sounds like an enormous amount of fun, and fun is exactly what I’m craving at the moment!

The Bachelor's Valet (Flos Magicae) by Arden Powell
Representation: M/M or mlm
Published on: 17th August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

Alphonse Hollyhock is blessed with wealth, class, and more beauty than brains. Though he hasn't got a lick of wit or magic to his name, he's perfectly content living life as an airheaded bachelor with his valet—the clever, unflappable Jacobi—by his side to ensure everything runs smoothly. All he lacks, according to his mother, is a wife.

Despite Alphonse's protests, he's to marry Aaliyah Kaddour: a bright, headstrong young woman who would probably be charming company if she didn't threaten everything about Alphonse's way of life. Marrying means giving up his fashionable flat, his fast car, and, worst of all, it means losing Jacobi.

Perhaps most distressingly, this talk of marriage is bringing all sorts of confusing feelings to the forefront. Because rather than falling for the beautiful girl being pushed into his arms, Alphonse seems to be falling for his valet. Except a man can't fall in love with another man. Can he?

Meanwhile, Aaliyah has plans of her own. She's as devious as she is pretty, but if Alphonse wants to get through this marriage business in one piece, he'll have to trust her. Her and Jacobi, and, most dangerously, his own feelings.

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This is another one that sounds like a sweet, possibly slightly silly read – right up my alley! And the flowers on that cover have me absolutely enchanted. Plus, Powell is the author of The Faerie Hounds of York, and I’m interested to see what story they’ve decided to tell after that one.

Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders
Published on: 17th August 2021
Goodreads

From Charlie Jane Anders, the award-winning author of novels such as All the Birds in the Sky and The City in the Middle of the Night, this is one of the most practical guides to storytelling that you will ever read.

The world is on fire.
So tell your story.

Things are scary right now. We’re all being swept along by a tidal wave of history, and it’s easy to feel helpless. But we’re not helpless: we have minds, and imaginations, and the ability to visualize other worlds and valiant struggles. And writing can be an act of resistance that reminds us that other futures and other ways of living are possible.

Full of memoir, personal anecdote, and insight about how to flourish during the present emergency, Never Say You Can’t Survive is the perfect manual for creativity in unprecedented times.

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Never Say You Can’t Survive was always going to be on my radar, because Anders, but I have to admit that my heart skipped a beat or two when I heard her nonfiction collection was going to be about storytelling. Writing in specific and storytelling in general are near and dear to my heart, and I’m eager to hear what Anders has to say about them -especially in the context of telling stories when you must, when life is at its worst. Really excited for this one!

A Terrible Fall of Angels by Laurell K. Hamilton
Published on: 17th August 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

Angels walk among us, but so do other unearthly beings in this brand new series by #1 New York Times Bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton.

Meet Detective Zaniel Havelock, a man with the special ability to communicate directly with angels. A former trained Angel speaker, he devoted his life to serving both the celestial beings and his fellow humans with his gift, but a terrible betrayal compelled him to leave that life behind. Now he’s a cop who is still working on the side of angels. But where there are angels, there are also demons. There’s no question that there’s evil at work when he’s called in to examine the murder scene of a college student—but is it just the evil that one human being can do to another, or is it something more? When demonic possession is a possibility, even angelic protection can only go so far. The race is on to stop a killer before he finds his next victim, as Zaniel is forced to confront his own very personal demons, and the past he never truly left behind.

The first in a new series from the author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.

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I’m fascinated by angels, and I keep hoping for fiction that will do justice to them, so I’m willing to take a gamble on Hamilton’s new series. Really don’t know what to expect from it – I’ve only read Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series, and that was as a teenager – but the premise has my attention!

Battle Royal (Palace Insiders, #1) by Lucy Parker
Published on: 17th August 2021
Goodreads

Beloved author Lucy Parker pens a delicious new romantic comedy that is a battle of whisks and wits.

Ready…

Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild charmed the world as a contestant on the hit baking show, Operation Cake. Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers…and a princess.

Set…

Dominic is His Majesty the King’s favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He’s brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can’t stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.

Match…

When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they’re both determined to come out on top.

The bride adores Sylvie’s quirky style. The palace wants Dominic’s classic perfection.

In this royal battle, can there be room for two?

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It’s true that Battle Royal isn’t SFF, but as mentioned, lately I’ve been craving feel-good sweetness, and this sounds pretty perfect. I don’t venture outside of SFF very often, but I’m willing to give this one a tentative try!

The Forever Place (Summerhill Supers #2) by J.C. Lillis
Representation: Gay MC, past M/M
Published on: 18th August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Since his breakup with his longtime boyfriend, small-town superhero Levon Ludlow has undergone an extreme life makeover. He’s got two new jobs, a remodeled house, custom-tailored trousers, and the power to talk to an even wider array of snarky and cantankerous animals. He swears he’s too busy with his new life to miss his old love—so when Jay calls with a problem only Levon can help with, he’s sure he can keep it professional and drama-free. Even if it DOES involve two weeks at a honeymoon resort with his ex.

Pairing up as a makeshift team, Levon and Jay head for the Valentines island resort in the Florida Keys, where an outbreak of scandalous guest behavior is linked to a flock of red birds and their strange and alluring song. Levon’s mission: use his animal-talking expertise to decode the birds’ song, uncover their goal, and send them back where they came from. Jay’s mission: use his water-moving skills to protect the island from a storm that’s brewing on the horizon.

As Levon and Jay work together and reminisce in this land of heart-shaped tubs and vibrating beds, a flood of old feeling pulls them under—but unresolved issues and guilty secrets could kill their second chance before it gets off the ground. Can they come back together, once and for all, and find a new forever place that works for them both?

The sun-drenched sequel to the bittersweet YOU FIRST, this adult romcom is a funny valentine to superhero stories, found families, and love of all kinds, the old and the new.

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This is the second book in the Summerhill Supers series, and don’t you DARE jump in before reading You First first! You First was one of my favourite books of 2019, a quiet, soft, sweet – and bittersweet – little book about superheroes and love and the different ways there are to be a grown-up, and I flat-out SCREECHED with delight when I found out we were getting a sequel!!! It went straight onto my Most-Anticipated list, of course. And now I’m basically LEVITATING with excitement that it’s out in just a few more days!!!

After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang
Representation: Queer Chinese MC, biracial MC, M/M or mlm
Published on: 19th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Dragons were fire and terror to the Western world, but in the East they brought life-giving rain…

Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern dragons survive. As drought plagues the aquatic creatures, a mysterious disease—shaolong, or “burnt lung”—afflicts the city’s human inhabitants.
Jaded college student Xiang Kaifei scours Beijing streets for abandoned dragons, distracting himself from his diagnosis. Elijah Ahmed, a biracial American medical researcher, is drawn to Beijing by the memory of his grandmother and her death by shaolong. Interest in Beijing’s dragons leads Kai and Eli into an unlikely partnership. With the resources of Kai’s dragon rescue and Eli’s immunology research, can the pair find a cure for shaolong and safety for the dragons? Eli and Kai must confront old ghosts and hard truths if there is any hope for themselves or the dragons they love.

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DRAGON VETS DRAGON VETS DRAGON VEEEEEEEEEETS! And no, not like veterans (although that would also be cool, someone write me that book, please), but like veterinarians!!! I love magical-creature vets, and this is that with DRAGONS, and also queerness, and prose that has been lauded as absolutely stunning, and HI HOW DO I FAST-FORWARD TO THURSDAY, PLEASE AND THANK YOU??? This has been on my Most Anticipated of 2021 list since I heard about it, and as you might guess from the caps lock I am VERY EXCITED INDEED!

That’s it! Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #47! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

You Couldn’t Pay Me to Put It Down: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

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, Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 0593128877
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 . . .

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

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~you can be addicted to monster-hunting, actually
~mice make the best chaperones
~prickly cactus girl continues to have Feelings and Does Not Like It
~“Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind. Or forgotten.” is a VIBE
~when the system tries to break you, break the system

Spoilers ahead for A Deadly Education! Please don’t read on if you haven’t read the first book!

Reader, I finished The Last Graduate in a single day.

I forgot to drink and I ignored the bathroom. I turned off my computer and my phone to prevent any interruptions. I ignored work (fortunately, it was a slow work day). If the hubby hadn’t pushed a bowl of dinner into my lap I wouldn’t have eaten – and as it was I ate one-handed, so I could use my other to hold up the book and keep reading.

Putting it down – taking myself away from the story even for a moment – was simply not an option.

A Deadly Education seemed to be a love-it-or-hate-it book, with the deciding factor being El’s first-person narration. I loved it; I found it incredibly compelling, and I adored El herself. And I adored her even more throughout The Last Graduate, as we followed her along what’s clearly a carefully planned out character-arc, one that I found so painfully believable and heartbreaking and hopeful all at once.

The book opens with El in a much better position than she was in at the beginning of Education; she has an alliance with brilliant artificer Aadhya and ex-maleficer Liu, and a priceless spellbook containing, among other things, the spells for creating the all-important enclaves whose existence and ownership are at the heart of every aspect of wizard society. She and Orion, the golden boy of the New York enclave and legendary monster-slayer, are friends, with the tentative agreement to have a go at being more than friends if they both make it out of the school. And there’s Chloe, another New York enclaver, who is not quite a friend, but is waking up to the fact that the incredible privilege she’s known as an enclaver isn’t fair, and comes at a very, very steep cost for people who are not her.

Considering that El has never had anyone willingly spend time with her except for her mum, this is A Lot.

The Last Graduate covers what should be El’s last year at the Scholomance; she and her friends have survived to be seniors. But the hard work’s really just begun, because once they complete their finals, every last minute has to go into training with their alliances, facing off against the ever-changing obstacle course in the gym in the hope that their preparation will get them through graduation day alive. None of them know for sure whether the previous year’s seniors made it out, whether the graduation hall has been cleansed – for the first time in a century – of monsters, or whether all those rabidly-starving mals are still down there and waiting. And as the icing on the cake, the Scholomance seems to be out to get El specifically, giving her a deadly class schedule, trying to trick her into being stuck learning a new language at the last minute, and throwing every mal it has at her.

But.

I really want to call The Last Graduate a hopepunk book, because although the Scholomance seems designed to pit students against each other – to discourage friendship, love, sharing, genuine emotional connections of all kinds – to instil a survival first and only mentality in everyone who enters its doors – The Last Graduate is very much about flipping that fucking table. As incredible (and addictive) as A Deadly Education was, it was pretty heavy on the despair; The Last Graduate is about refusing to give in to despair, even when despair lays you out over and over. It’s about giving the system a finger, both the system that is trying to kill you, and the system that is trying to seduce you with safety and luxury and never having to be hurt again. And it is about the grit-your-teeth-till-they-break, dig-in-your-heels-till-they-bleed determination to make things better, no matter what it costs you.

It’s also about a prickly cactus learning that she really isn’t a cactus at all, that she wants to be good and has a heart made of caramel, actually. That she’s allowed to ask for help. That she has value.

That maybe everyone has value, actually.

(And what the fuck are you supposed to do with that, when you’ve been training yourself from day one not to care for the people around you, because if you care it just means you’ll be destroyed when the monster-school you’re all in kills them?)

It’s really hard to talk about this book without giving away massive spoilers; all the twists and turns, all the reveals, are absolutely incredible, but you should go in not knowing what they are. I can’t talk about the incredible subversions Novik pulls, all the things that made me want to punch the air and cheer. There is so much that is darkly, or not-so-darkly, hilarious; there is Precious, who I defy you not to adore; there are so many moments that are humbling, that will bring you to tears. Your heart will pound so fast, and you will scream, and you will want to shake some characters and jump up and down screaming with delight with others. You will be so proud of them; you will be so scared for them; you will be at the edge of your seat and I will be stunned if you can put this book down – as I said, I couldn’t. Not even for a minute.

If you loved A Deadly Education? Then you will love The Last Graduate. It really is that simple. I will be stunned if you don’t love it more than A Deadly Education – I did, do, and I didn’t think that was possible. If you liked El in the previous book, you will adore her in this one. If you hated the Scholomance, you need to read this book. If you want to see what happens with the familiars, with Orion, with the mals, with El’s alliance – you need to read this book. If you want to understand the threat and the promise that is that title – The Last Graduate, indeed – you need to read this book.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to sit here and SCREAM until we get book three!

The post You Couldn’t Pay Me to Put It Down: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

An Alt-History That Soars: The Philosopher’s Flight By Tom Miller

The Philosopher's Flight (The Philosophers Series, #1) by Tom Miller
Representation: Black biracial love interest, minor sapphic characters
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
ISBN: 1476778159
Goodreads

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

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

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

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

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

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~it’s magic, it’s science, but only women have it
~mostly
~girl-wants-to-be-a-knight-story, but it’s a guy and he wants to fly

Well, folx, I have a new favourite series.

In Miller’s world, women’s rights have arrived a good 100 years early – thanks to the magical science simply known as empirical philosophy, which involves the drawing of sigils that allow the user to fly, teleport, put an injured person in life-saving stasis, and almost anything else you can think of. But what makes The Philosopher’s Flight unique is – women, for some unknown reason, are by far more powerful philosophers than men.

You can see how women got the right to vote a fair bit earlier than in our own timeline, can’t you?

Not that everyone approves of philosophy; far from it. The Trenchers are what we might today call a Far-Right or alt-right group, insisting that philosophy is Satanic magic and that women ought to be submissive and meek and all the rest of it – rather than winning America’s wars and generally taking up space. It’s a conflict that might keep to verbal battles in urban centres (mostly) but regularly bursts into bloody vendettas in more rural areas, where philosopher veterans of several wars aren’t even slightly afraid to fight back – with extreme prejudice.

The Philosopher’s Flight introduces us to the situation quickly; not long after the opening pages, Robert and his mother, who is the County Philosopher (a position that seems to be a little bit of everything, but not least Emergency Responder), go on call to find a philosopher and her family brutally murdered. Robert’s mother makes it perfectly clear that she and her old army buddies are going to hunt down the utter monsters who did this – which is viscerally satisfying, on one level, but does leave the reader well aware that the capacity for monstrousness exists on both sides.

And I think that’s a pretty crucial aspect of this book. In some ways it reminds me of Naomi Alderman’s The Power, wherein women of the modern world gain the ability to generate electric shocks, flipping the patriarchy around. But the point of The Power is that a matriarchy wouldn’t be any better than a patriarchy, that women aren’t inherently any better than men. The Philosopher’s Flight is very much making the same point: now that the women of Miller’s world have philosophy, there are plenty of them willing to be terribly, horrifyingly vicious. Miller doesn’t waste time discussing whether or not women are intrinsically less violent; he dives straight into the story with the premise that everyone can be terrible – gender (or sex) has nothing to do with it.

Robert’s most fervent desire is to join Flight & Evac, the best fliers in the world, who use their philosophy to save lives, not take them. Everyone tells him to pick a better dream: Flight & Evacuation has never accepted a male applicant, and no one thinks they ever will. But a dream is a dream, and Robert knows he’s good enough – or could be – if those judging him can see past his sex, so off he goes to study practical philosophy on the East Coast, which may as well be a whole ‘nother world for how different it is to the tiny, rural town he’s grown up in.

The Serious Stuff

The Philosopher’s Flight is set up like a girl-who-wants-to-be-a-knight story with the genders reversed, but I always had the sense that Miller understood that girl-who-wants-to-be-a-knight is not, quite, the same as boy–who–wants-to–be-a-witch (for lack of a better term). Or at least, it’s not the same if you haven’t swapped out the patriarchy for a matriarchy, and although Robert’s life is full of powerful women, I do think the world he lives in is still a patriarchy. Which means that he’s a man wanting to enter what has been a women-only space, career, and practice, in a world where men still run and own everything else. Which made me uncomfortably sympathetic towards the female philosophers who resented Robert’s presence; they behave completely unacceptably, but a part of me understood. Philosophy is the one advantage women have over men – and here’s a man trying to push his way into this too. I get why they’d be unhappy. Men already own the world, can’t we have one thing that’s just for us?

To the men the earth, to the women the sky, as God willed it.

And the answer to that is – no. No, no, and no again! The Power made it clear that women in charge of everything wouldn’t be any better than men; The Philosopher’s Flight, especially in its (excellent) choice to tell Robert’s story in first-person, strips away any attempt to suggest that this is ‘different’ because the one being persecuted is a man. It’s not! It isn’t! Robert is still a human being, with feelings and hopes and things he desperately wants. He loves philosophy, and the micro- (and macro-)aggressions he has to endure hurt and frustrate and exhaust him just as they would anyone of any other gender. He doesn’t deserve it, and no one loses anything by letting him study and practise and take part. If he’s not good enough to qualify, that’s one thing. But shutting the door on him for any other reason is just – no.

There are many things which are not made smaller when they’re shared. Rights are one of those things. Giving Robert the right to learn and practice philosophy doesn’t take away anything from anyone else. So there’s no good reason not to share.

The Fun Stuff (aka EVERYTHING ELSE)

This makes The Philosopher’s Flight sound very pretentious and also grim, and it’s neither of those things. If you have any kind of empathy at all, the prejudice Robert has to fight against will enrage you – but this is fundamentally a really clever, fun book, with a wonderful cast ranging from Robert himself, to his college roommate Unger (anyone who introduces himself with “I have 138 bow ties” has a friend in me forever), to the fabulous cadre of fliers who adopt him without question, to his incredible love interest Danielle – and that’s without getting into secondary characters like the Cocks team, the delightfully eccentric dean of the college, and Robert’s utterly terrifying (and utterly brilliant) mother.

I adored the worldbuilding – Miller has really sat down and thought through how much of a difference empirical philosophy would make to everything, and incorporated it really well. Empirical philosophy was conceived of during war-time, but it’s not just for scary stuff: the ability to put injured people into stasis, for example, makes a huge difference in medical emergencies, and teleporters trading off to take groups across the country (or even across the Atlantic) pretty neatly nixes the need for things like trains. Despite a setting otherwise mimicking the 1910s, characters effectively have email, since sending messages via philosophy is one of the easiest and most accessible things you can do. And sigils for contraceptives give women as enormous an amount of freedom as chemical contraceptives did for women in our world, allowing for female characters who are much more sex-positive than they might be otherwise. The women we encounter throughout the book have been shaped by their power, and it makes sense and it works.

And if you’ve been craving a good magic-school story, well, Radcliffe College might do the trick for you: although we don’t see many of Robert’s lessons, outside of his flying classes, we do get

secret underground philosophical clubsthe horrible Trenchers plotting the downfall of philosophers in general and Robert in particularbeautiful magical cocktails and spelled ceilingsover-enthusiastic students creating brand-new sigils and even an inter-college Cup where hoverers (philosophers specialising in flight) compete against each other and it makes so much more sense than quidditch!!!

There’s really almost nothing you won’t love here!

THE COCK CAN FLY, BUT CAN HE FIGHT?

THE COCK PERSISTS, BUT WILL HE ENDURE?

TONIGHT THE COCK MUST CROW AT MIDNIGHT OR GO SILENT FOR ALL TIME.

Successive notes Robert receives from the Cocks…

With the promise of game-changing epicness to come. The prologue is set long after the events of this first book, so we know Something has gone Very Wrong Indeed, but Miller doesn’t stop there and let us forget about it; at the beginning of every chapter is an excerpt from a fictitious book or article related to empirical philosophy…and if the reader pays attention to the timestamps on those excerpts??? It’s clear something absolutely enormous is coming down the pipe. I’m sure it’s going to involve the Great War Robert’s America is currently a part of on the other side of the Atlantic, and maybe there’ll even be an alternate WW2 to deal with, but those excerpts gave me chills. Some of them are even excerpts of future!Robert’s books and speeches! I’ve never seen that before, and it’s so clever, and it has me SCREECHING for the next book!

(Which, yes, I am already reading. BUT WHERE’S MY BOOK THREE??? Forget Thorn of Emberlain, I need the next Philosopher’s book asap!!!)

That Said: MAKE IT QUEERER

I guess one point I do need to make is that gender-specific magic always makes me a little wary, because it never seems to account for the fact that human gender (and sex) is a spectrum; and I was disappointed (but not very surprised) that Miller didn’t make any mention of how the female/male power split in philosophy affects or is affected by nonbinary, intersex, and other genderqueer people. On the one hand, this book is set in the 1910s, when the idea of gender as a spectrum was pretty much Not A Thing in the USA, and the Philosopher series is set to have four more books, which gives some hope that the question may be answered at some later point. (Maybe it will eventually come out that the power for empirical philosophy comes from the X chromosome, and Robert’s extraordinary (for a man) power comes from him being intersex! That’d be epic.) On the other… Miller’s not got the cishet blinkers on too tightly – the philosophical community, particularly the military corps’, are known for being rife with ‘sapphists’, and Robert is asked quite bluntly on several occasions if he’s gay, as that’s the only reasonably explanation several idiots can come up with for why a man wants to be a philosopher. So if Miller’s smart enough to bring queer sexuality into it, I’m really hoping genderqueerness will at least be acknowledged eventually.

IN CONCLUSION

But there is no getting around the fact that this is one of the most original and fun books I’ve read in YEARS, and I love it more than words can say, and I’m positive that you’ll love it too if you give it a try. Miller is an incredible writer (I can’t believe this was his debut!) and Robert is an equally incredible main character – I don’t enjoy first-person very often, but I’m so glad Miller didn’t go with third- for this one.

Look, it’s not very often a male-authored book makes it onto my Crescent Classics list – the SFF books I consider must-reads, the best of the best. I’m picky as hell, and I don’t read many male authors to start with. But The Philosopher’s Flight? Is without question a must-read. Is absolutely among the best of the best. From the first page to the last, I couldn’t get enough of Miller’s writing or Robert’s voice.

Or the world.

Or the story.

SERIOUSLY, GO BUY IT AND READ IT AND COME SCREAM ABOUT IT WITH ME, OKAY?

OKAY.

The post An Alt-History That Soars: The Philosopher’s Flight By Tom Miller appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #46!

Only five releases to feature this week, but still plenty to get excited about!

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
Published on: 10th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi
Goodreads

Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.” A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

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Zen Cho’s collection of short stories has been published before, but a) this edition comes with new stories, and b) will that adorable new cover! Zen Cho is the author of the Sorcerer Royal books, which should be all you need to know to want to pick up this anthology.

(BUT ALSO THAT COVER. <3)

The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye
Representation: Nuerodivergent bisexual MC, queer male love interest
Published on: 10th August 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

In this lush, magical, queer, and feminist take on Hamlet in modern-day New York City, a neuro-atypical physicist, along with his best friend Horatio and artist ex-fiancé Lia, are caught up in the otherworldly events surrounding the death of his father.

Meet Ben Dane: brilliant, devastating, devoted, honest to a fault (truly, a fault). His Broadway theatre baron father is dead—but by purpose or accident? The question rips him apart.

Unable to face alone his mother’s ghastly remarriage to his uncle, Ben turns to his dearest friend, Horatio Patel, whom he hasn’t seen since their relationship changed forever from platonic to something…other. Loyal to a fault (truly, a fault), Horatio is on the first flight to NYC when he finds himself next to a sly tailor who portends inevitable disaster. And who seems ominously like an architect of mayhem himself.

Meanwhile, Ben’s ex-fiancé Lia, sundered her from her loved ones thanks to her addiction recovery and torn from her art, has been drawn into the fold of three florists from New Orleans—seemingly ageless sisters who teach her the language of flowers, and whose magical bouquets hold both curses and cures. For a price.

On one explosive night these kinetic forces will collide, and the only possible outcome is death. But in the masterful hands of Lyndsay Faye, the story we all know has abundant surprises in store. Impish, captivating, and achingly romantic, this is Hamlet as you’ve never seen it before.

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This sounds so weird and delightful that it made it onto my Most Anticipated of 2021 list! Shakespeare easter eggs, queerness, flower-arranging magic??? I’m so excited to give this a go!

They Met in a Tavern by Elijah Menchaca
Representation: Autistic-coded major character
Published on: 10th August 2021
Genres: Secondary World Fantasy
Goodreads

The band is getting back together—and they really wish they weren’t.

The Starbreakers were your classic teenage heroes. Using their combined powers and skills, they were the most successful group of glintchasers in Corsar. But that all changed the day the city of Relgen died. The group went their separate ways, placing the blame on each other.

Brass carried on as a solo act. Snow found work as a notorious assassin. Church became a town’s spiritual leader. Angel was the owner of a bar and inn. And after overcoming his own guilt, Phoenix started a new life as a family man.

Years after their falling out, a new threat looms when bounty hunters attack the former heroes. Phoenix tries to reunite the Starbreakers before everything they have left is taken from them. But a lot can change in seven years. And if mending old wounds was easy, they would have done it a long time ago.

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I’m not really sure what to expect of this one, but it’s an interesting premise for sure! And I’ve been assured it has strong D+D vibes, which can’t be a bad thing.

The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino
Published on: 10th August 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

Tess Matheson only wants three things: time to practice her cello, for her sister to be happy, and for everyone else to leave her alone.

Instead, Tess finds herself working all summer at her boarding school library, shelving books and dealing with the intolerable patrons. The worst of them is Eliot Birch: snide, privileged, and constantly requesting forbidden grimoires. After a bargain with Eliot leads to the discovery of an ancient book in the library's grimoire collection, the pair accidentally unleash a book-bound demon.

The demon will stop at nothing to stay free, manipulating ink to threaten those Tess loves and dismantling Eliot’s strange magic. Tess is plagued by terrible dreams of the devil and haunting memories of a boy who wears Eliot's face. All she knows is to stay free, the demon needs her... and he'll have her, dead or alive.

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I just can’t resist book-demons with evil ink, okay? Okay.

Mark of the Wicked by Georgia Bowers
Published on: 10th August 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A young witch tries to unravel the mystery of who is framing her for dark magic in Georgia Bowers' creepy YA debut fantasy, Mark of the Wicked.
Magic always leaves its mark.

All her life, Matilda has been told one thing about her magic: You use only when necessary. But Matilda isn't interested in being a good witch. She wants revenge and popularity, and to live her life free of consequences, free of the scars that dark magic leaves on her face as a reminder of her misdeeds.

When a spell goes awry and the new boy at school catches her in the act, Matilda thinks her secret might be out. But far from being afraid, Oliver already knows about her magic - and he wants to learn more. As Oliver and Matilda grow closer, bizarre things begin to happen: Animals show up with their throats slashed and odd markings carved into their bodies, a young girl dies mysteriously, and everyone blames Matilda. But she isn't responsible -- at least, not that she can remember. As her magic begins to spin out of control, Matilda must decide for herself what makes a good witch, and discover the truth...before anyone else turns up dead.

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I’ve seen mixed reviews for this one, but I’m crossing my fingers because I really love amoral anti-heroines and witches, so the two together? Yes please!

The post Must-Have Monday #46! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Does Not Shine: The Actual Star by Monica Byrne

The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
Representation: Latinx cast, biracial latina MC, nonbinary MCs
Published on: 14th September 2021
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
ISBN: 0063002892
Goodreads

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) spins a brilliant multigenerational saga spanning two thousand years, from the collapse of the ancient Maya to a far-future utopia on the brink of civil war.

The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over thousands of years and six continents —collapsing three separate timelines into one cave in the Belizean jungle.

An epic saga of three reincarnated souls, this novel demonstrates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, love and hate. The book jumps forward and backward in time among a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics in a conflict that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

In each era, age-old questions about existence and belonging and identity converge deep underground. Because only in complete darkness can one truly see the stars.

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

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~in the future you can be a mermaid
~behind every myth is a normal person
~I guess that means we’re all myth-makers

This is not the kind of book I usually read – although I didn’t know that until I started reading it, and I might not have started if I’d known – and I have mixed feelings about it.

The first thing I think fans of SFF should know is that The Actual Star feels much more like literary fiction than it does fantasy or sci fi. I don’t think that’s the sort of thing that is good or bad, it just is, but it wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for. That clash – of my expectations vs the reality of the book – is probably a big part of why I can’t say I’m a fan, but the biggest part is that I was incredibly bored.

The Actual Star covers three timelines: the last royal children of a Mayan kingdom in 1012, a biracial tourist getting entangled with twin brothers in 2012, and a philosophical and political schism taking place in a post-apocalyptic utopia in 3012. A massive amount of research has clearly gone into the 1012 plotline, which I really enjoyed and appreciated, and the thought and worldbuilding of the 3012 timeline just blew me away. If the entire book had been set in 3012, I’m pretty sure this would be a five star review, because the only thing I didn’t love about it was that we didn’t see more of it. Byrne has created a utopia like no other I’ve ever seen, utilising principles and concepts from all over the anti-capitalist spectrum and plenty of ideas that are wholly her own, and the result is mindblowing. Very, very strange and unexpected, but in a truly brilliant way.

But although the 1012 storyline was full of incredible attention to detail, there was nothing very compelling about the actual story – which is surprising, because on the face of it, ‘last children of a royal house seek to restore its former glory’ is a story that writes itself. The unfamiliar (to me) setting, culture, and mythos should have had me hooked; those are the kind of things I love. Historical or full-on fantasy, it doesn’t really matter so long as it’s different and detailed, and this was. But it also felt as though nothing was happening. The pacing was slow, the chapters introspective, the characters neither especially appealling nor interesting. There was no push to keep reading, except for my enjoyment of the beautiful details of the setting.

The 2012 storyline was even worse, and cured my insomnia on several occasions. Leah, a biracial 19 year old from the States, comes to Belize to explore the country her father came from. Her instant connection to the country, and particularly to Actun Tunichil Muknal, a cave system sacred to the Maya and now a major tourist attraction, is intense and, although she doesn’t know it, worldchanging. Her love for ATM brings her into contact with tour guides and twins Javier and Xavier, who have very different approaches to the cave, life, and Leah.

I don’t like reading about real people living their lives. I just don’t care. I tried so hard to feel something about Leah’s…’spiritual awakening’ doesn’t seem like the right term, but I don’t know what else to call it. Whatever you call it, I didn’t feel it. This was clearly a massive and life changing thing for her, but it didn’t touch me – maybe I’m just too cynical? – and although I really liked her as a character and person (and would love to stay up late talking about the meaning of life with her) I really disliked the twins and resented the chapters I had to spend in their heads. All three of them felt very much like real people, but…I just don’t enjoy stories about real people living in the real world. It felt so banal, most of it.

On another note, the 2012 storyline was also the one that reduced me to learn of frustration on a regular basis. Javier and Xavier often speak in Belize kriol when English-speaking Leah is not present, and that’s fine. What wasn’t fine, for me, was that no English translations were offerred, not even in footnotes. This meant that there were so many stretches of dialogue that I just didn’t understand. Some of it was just about understandable if you sounded out the phonetics, but lots of it wasn’t, and it made me want to throw the book across the room. It did make me cry. I’ve struggled with languages my whole life – I’ve studied Irish, German, French, Spanish, Latin, Finnish, and Swedish, and failed all of them – and this aspect of the book? Made me miserable. To a lesser extent, this was also a problem in the 3012 storyline, where Spanish is used as a ritual language.

It makes perfect sense for characters so speak their own languages. I always get twitchy when in movies, non-English characters speak English amongst themselves for the sake of the audience. But the best films show German-speakers speaking German…and include subtitles so I can still understand. The Actual Star does not include the equivalent of subtitles, and maybe I’m just stupid, but no, it often wasn’t clear from context what was being said. I cannot emphasise enough how much I hated that and how much it upset me.

I went into The Actual Star expecting to love it, and I’m still kind of confused as to how I didn’t. For the most part, I didn’t find anything poignant here. Reincarnation? I guess, but cutting that aspect from the story wouldn’t be much of a loss. Magic? No. Seriously impressive sci fi elements in the 3012 storyline, but you have to slog through the other two timelines to get to them. There’s some cool stuff about myth-building and how religions develop, but at the end of the day, I don’t know it this is a good (in the sense of well-written, well-crafted) book or not. I think there’s too much in the way for me to be able to judge it objectively. I can only tell you that I did not enjoy it, I found most of it a chore to read, and have to write it off as a massive disappointment.

The post Does Not Shine: The Actual Star by Monica Byrne appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.