Book Review: Summertime DNF Roundup

Whether it’s the struggle of picking the perfect book for a road trip, the right book for a day at the beach, or just something to distract me through the tender hours of a tattoo, this summer has been just that – a struggle. While there have been some solid reads (The Last Shield) and pleasant surprises (King’s Dragon), the struggle to find something worthy of following them is never easy. Sometimes a book gets put back on the shelf for when I’m ready, but these are the ones that will not be getting a second chance.

Title: Kagen the Damned
Author: Jonathan Maberry
Genres: Fantasy

I liked his Pine Deep series (although it’s been close to 15 years since I read it), and the prospect of dark fantasy mixed with cosmic horror really appealed to me, but I DNF’d it once as a wrong-time, wrong-place, wrong-mood e-ARC, so I thought I’d give it another chance as a trade paperback (as I tend to enjoy physical reads more).

Spoiler alert, it didn’t make a difference.

This is everything I find distasteful about grimdark. It’s sensationalized violence that sees despicable things done to men, women, and children. If there were more than 2-3 pages that went by without a depiction of or reference to women being raped, I must have missed it. Also, I get that Kagen is the hero, but how and why he is the sole survivor of the opening massacre is never even questioned, much less addressed, and the woe-is-me drunkenness gets tired real quick.

And don’t get me started on the exposition! It seemed like every conversation was just there to convey awkward, forced, bland exposition – especially when women were involved. I was clinging to hope that Miri and Ryssa might become protagonists of note, both to counter the misogynistic misery and drunken despair, but they’re wasted – and worse, misused. Just not for me.

Title: The Sapling Cage
Author: Margaret Killjoy
Genres: Fantasy

Oh, how I wanted to enjoy this! Epic fantasy with transgender themes? Yes, please. Sign me up! Unfortunately, this fell flat right from the start, and just couldn’t recover. It felt like a YA novel, leaping so awkwardly into the central conflict, without introduction, framing, or context, that it felt like being hit over the head with the gender element.

On top of that, it’s addressed and dismissed off the page, with the main character’s mother accepting a dangerous, foolish scheme for no other reason than she doesn’t see a way to argue it. It was like literary whiplash, and even in a fantasy world, it just seemed preposterous . . . and, unfortunately, never recovered.

My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence
Author: Jess Everlee
Genres: Romance

This wasn’t the worst romance I’ve ever read, but given my experience with A Liaison with Her Leading Lady, it seems Harlequin may simply not be the romance imprint for me. I didn’t really connect with the characters (Emily especially), and I didn’t feel any chemistry between them.

The story itself was very slow, without much to really draw me in. When I skimmed ahead to at least see if the romance was fulfilled, what I found were the barest, skimpiest, slimmest of paragraphs that were almost apologetic in how they depicted the love between women.

My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying
Author: Django Wexler
Genres: Fantasy

Even though I tend to find humorous fantasy . . . well, not hit-or-miss, but perhaps middling-or-miss, I had high hopes for this because I enjoyed the Burningblade & Silvereye trilogy. I mean, who doesn’t want to read about an oft-defeated hero of legend basically saying “screw it, if you can’t beat him, become them” and switching sides from good to evil.

The problem is that without all the prophecies and chosen-one tropes, moral injustices to rail against, social or political betrayals to avenge, or any of the other staples of the genre, this just feels selfish and insignificant. It’s a fun read, equal parts silly and sordid, crass and clever, but it’s hardly the kind of fantasy you find yourself getting lost in. It relies heavily on the novelty of the premise to carry the story, but that novelty wears thin before the fantasy pays off.

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block for me was that there’s always an ‘out’ or a narrative ‘reset’ to the story, where death doesn’t mean the end of the story, just a chance at a do-over. That robs the story of any tension, and while it lends itself to an air of mystery, wondering when the next reset might occur, the resulting lack of stakes is what kept me at more of a distance than I’d like.

My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.