What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gem Universe #3
The Book of Gems
“A glittering tale of academic jealousy and ancient artifacts, The Book of Gems is a pulse-pounding adventure.” —Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor
Some truths are shatterproof...
It’s been centuries since the Jeweled Valley and its magical gems were destroyed. In the republics that rose from its ashes, scientists craft synthetic jewels to heat homes, power gadgetry, and wage war.
Dr. Devina Brunai is one of these scientists. She also is the only person who believes true gems still exist. The recent unearthing of the Palace of Gems gives her the perfect opportunity to find them and prove her naysayers wrong.
Her chance is snatched away at the last moment when her mentor steals her research and wins the trip for himself. Soon, his messages from the field transform into bizarre ramblings about a book, a Prince, and an enemy borne of the dark. Now Dev must enter the Valley, find her mentor, and save her research before they, like gems, become relics of a time long forgotten.
More books in the Gem
The Jewel and Her Lapidary
The Fire Opal Mechanism
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Some truths are shatterproof...
It’s been centuries since the Jeweled Valley and its magical gems were destroyed. In the republics that rose from its ashes, scientists craft synthetic jewels to heat homes, power gadgetry, and wage war.
Dr. Devina Brunai is one of these scientists. She also is the only person who believes true gems still exist. The recent unearthing of the Palace of Gems gives her the perfect opportunity to find them and prove her naysayers wrong.
Her chance is snatched away at the last moment when her mentor steals her research and wins the trip for himself. Soon, his messages from the field transform into bizarre ramblings about a book, a Prince, and an enemy borne of the dark. Now Dev must enter the Valley, find her mentor, and save her research before they, like gems, become relics of a time long forgotten.
More books in the Gem
The Jewel and Her Lapidary
The Fire Opal Mechanism
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
144 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 20, 2023
6 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Fran Wilde
116 books524 followersTwo-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde has (so far) published nine novels, a poetry collection, and over 70 short stories for adults, teens, and kids. Her stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, four Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years' best anthologies.
The Managing Editor for The Sunday Morning Transport, Fran teaches or has taught for schools including Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and Tor.com. You can find her on Instagram, Bluesky, and at franwilde.net.
The Managing Editor for The Sunday Morning Transport, Fran teaches or has taught for schools including Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and Tor.com. You can find her on Instagram, Bluesky, and at franwilde.net.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 10, 2023
I've really been loving this series of novellas. They're all set in the same world, but follow different characters in different time periods. The Book of Gems is really a story about cultural appropriation, colonization, and stealing artifacts while framing it under academic endeavors.
Dr. Devina Brunai has struggled to rise in the ranks of scientists studying gems (in this world they carry magical properties), but the disappearance of her mentor at a digsite offers the opportunity she has been looking for. She returns to the Valley that her family emigrated from, trying to track down what happened to the missing scientist while salvaging her own research. But things don't go as planned...
I really recommend these books, and this installment was excellent. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
Dr. Devina Brunai has struggled to rise in the ranks of scientists studying gems (in this world they carry magical properties), but the disappearance of her mentor at a digsite offers the opportunity she has been looking for. She returns to the Valley that her family emigrated from, trying to track down what happened to the missing scientist while salvaging her own research. But things don't go as planned...
I really recommend these books, and this installment was excellent. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
Read
July 7, 2023I wrote this book!
January 28, 2023
When this book was offered to me as an arc, the blurb indicated that it was the kind of book that could stand alone but also drive anyone new to the series to seek out the rest.
They weren't wrong, I'm definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series in the next week.
I enjoyed the blend of fantasy, mystery, and scientific/historical research, as well as the hint of what to look forward to, magically and politically, when I pick up the earlier books.
Though I didn't feel any great connection to any of the book's characters, that's no fault of the characterizations. They are well written, and we are given vast insights to Dev and Lurai with the right word choice, or the same word choice to link them, not just as cousins who'd never met before, but once who'd grown in different societies and are thus very different, but with the same foundation and parallel struggles.
The magic system, of which we merely get hints, is so deftly referred to so that it simultaneously has you wishing to know more but doesn't leave you confused about what it has revealed.
Thanks to Emily from the Tor Marketing team for sending this book my way.
They weren't wrong, I'm definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series in the next week.
I enjoyed the blend of fantasy, mystery, and scientific/historical research, as well as the hint of what to look forward to, magically and politically, when I pick up the earlier books.
Though I didn't feel any great connection to any of the book's characters, that's no fault of the characterizations. They are well written, and we are given vast insights to Dev and Lurai with the right word choice, or the same word choice to link them, not just as cousins who'd never met before, but once who'd grown in different societies and are thus very different, but with the same foundation and parallel struggles.
The magic system, of which we merely get hints, is so deftly referred to so that it simultaneously has you wishing to know more but doesn't leave you confused about what it has revealed.
Thanks to Emily from the Tor Marketing team for sending this book my way.
Want to read
February 13, 2023Marissa Lingen gives this one high marks:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
"This is that rare but lovely thing: a book that does equally well as an entry point to a series as it does for readers who’ve already read the others–in this case, as one might expect from the title, the Gemworld series. . . .
This is a perfectly sensible place to start reading this series or continue it, a pageturner that I read in one sitting. Recommended."
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
"This is that rare but lovely thing: a book that does equally well as an entry point to a series as it does for readers who’ve already read the others–in this case, as one might expect from the title, the Gemworld series. . . .
This is a perfectly sensible place to start reading this series or continue it, a pageturner that I read in one sitting. Recommended."
April 11, 2023
The Book of Gems by Fran Wilde is the third book in the Gem Universe, a world in which a valley of powerful gems are lost and then found again as magic claws it’s way back to the surface. These gems whisper to those that can hear them, causing madness in those that can hear them and jealousy in those that can’t. In the first two books in this series we saw first the Jeweled Valley, home to the gems, to fall in another kingdom’s quest for power. In the second book we saw another kingdom years down the road attempt to harness the power of a false gem, and the power of the knowledge of history.
The Book of Gems follows our main character as she returns to the Jeweled Valley from which her family comes from and her quest both for academic redemption and knowledge. Unfortunately for me this might have been the biggest tripping point for me. Dev, this main character, is the worst kind of character archetype for me. The type that refuses to believe what’s in front of her. Magic is not real, the power of them gems is not real even though from the beginning she talks of seeing writing magically appear on a piece of stone paper. She hears constant humming and talking - but don’t worry! It’s not magic. Gems are eating a man’s body - but don’t worry! It’s not magic!!
Outside of Dev the story felt incredibly dry. I love the idea and setting of the Gem World. I’ve read all three of these novellas! Likely due to the character choices and the absolute refusal to acknowledge the actual beauty of the magic here it’s painful to read. Fran Wilde’s story’s peak briefly with intense magic and horror at about the 70% mark and then drop completely, so you have to be prepared for that dry slide to a climax.
For me the Gem Universe was strongest in the second novella, The Fire Opal Mechanism. The horror of that final third of the novella made the story dynamic and interesting. The Book of Gems attempts to capture some of that horror but the character’s refusal to see the truth, and the avoidance of the conversations that would spark leads this to feeling dry and ultimately lacking for me as a reader.
I’d recommend these in a quick succession read and only if you’re very interested in the ideas here. How history is lost, power is coveted but misunderstood, and how the mistakes of the past can cause havoc on the future. Even the whispering gems are only briefly given page time, so don’t get into these for a lot of those.
3 Whispering Opals out of 5
[Content Warnings:
Graphic: Body horror, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Violence]
The Book of Gems follows our main character as she returns to the Jeweled Valley from which her family comes from and her quest both for academic redemption and knowledge. Unfortunately for me this might have been the biggest tripping point for me. Dev, this main character, is the worst kind of character archetype for me. The type that refuses to believe what’s in front of her. Magic is not real, the power of them gems is not real even though from the beginning she talks of seeing writing magically appear on a piece of stone paper. She hears constant humming and talking - but don’t worry! It’s not magic. Gems are eating a man’s body - but don’t worry! It’s not magic!!
Outside of Dev the story felt incredibly dry. I love the idea and setting of the Gem World. I’ve read all three of these novellas! Likely due to the character choices and the absolute refusal to acknowledge the actual beauty of the magic here it’s painful to read. Fran Wilde’s story’s peak briefly with intense magic and horror at about the 70% mark and then drop completely, so you have to be prepared for that dry slide to a climax.
For me the Gem Universe was strongest in the second novella, The Fire Opal Mechanism. The horror of that final third of the novella made the story dynamic and interesting. The Book of Gems attempts to capture some of that horror but the character’s refusal to see the truth, and the avoidance of the conversations that would spark leads this to feeling dry and ultimately lacking for me as a reader.
I’d recommend these in a quick succession read and only if you’re very interested in the ideas here. How history is lost, power is coveted but misunderstood, and how the mistakes of the past can cause havoc on the future. Even the whispering gems are only briefly given page time, so don’t get into these for a lot of those.
3 Whispering Opals out of 5
[Content Warnings:
Graphic: Body horror, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Violence]
March 15, 2023
Fran Wilde has a knack for pulling readers under the skin of her well-crafted characters, where we intimately ride out their hopes and fears as they experience horrifyingly beautiful situations.
This would explain why my tea repeatedly grew cold as I gobbled up chapter after chapter of The Book of Gems. I just kept forgetting to come up for air.
If you haven’t read the first two books in the Gem Universe series, The Jewel and Her Lapidary and The Fire Opal Mechanism, you will still be able to sympathize with the plight of our protagonist, Dr. Devina Brunai. But, keep in mind that you’ll need to figure out what makes gems so special in this world along the way. You’ll be given enough information to figure it all out, though. And if you enjoy this adventure, you may want to read the first two books in the series.
In this adventure, “Dev” discovers that she has put her faith in the wrong person, the man who’s been acting as her mentor. When he mysteriously vanishes, the Society for Scientific Endeavors of the Six Republics denies her the right to journey to the Jeweled Valley to search for him. However, she is compelled to either find him, or finish the research he started, thus earning her standing in the scientific community. Without backing or proper credentials, “Dev” sneaks into the Jeweled Valley. From the moment she arrives in the valley and checks in at the Deaf King Inn, it’s clear that this trip isn’t going to be anything like what Dev expected it to be.
Want to come along? Steep a cup of tea to neglect and crack in to chapter one.
My thanks to author Fran Wilde, Tor Publishing Group, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital review copy of this book. This review was originally posted at SciFi.Radio https://scifi.radio/2023/03/15/book-r...
This would explain why my tea repeatedly grew cold as I gobbled up chapter after chapter of The Book of Gems. I just kept forgetting to come up for air.
If you haven’t read the first two books in the Gem Universe series, The Jewel and Her Lapidary and The Fire Opal Mechanism, you will still be able to sympathize with the plight of our protagonist, Dr. Devina Brunai. But, keep in mind that you’ll need to figure out what makes gems so special in this world along the way. You’ll be given enough information to figure it all out, though. And if you enjoy this adventure, you may want to read the first two books in the series.
In this adventure, “Dev” discovers that she has put her faith in the wrong person, the man who’s been acting as her mentor. When he mysteriously vanishes, the Society for Scientific Endeavors of the Six Republics denies her the right to journey to the Jeweled Valley to search for him. However, she is compelled to either find him, or finish the research he started, thus earning her standing in the scientific community. Without backing or proper credentials, “Dev” sneaks into the Jeweled Valley. From the moment she arrives in the valley and checks in at the Deaf King Inn, it’s clear that this trip isn’t going to be anything like what Dev expected it to be.
Want to come along? Steep a cup of tea to neglect and crack in to chapter one.
My thanks to author Fran Wilde, Tor Publishing Group, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital review copy of this book. This review was originally posted at SciFi.Radio https://scifi.radio/2023/03/15/book-r...
August 4, 2023
I love this book, and this trilogy! Each book is like one facet of a gem, offering a close-up experience of a different historical era in this world. Together they let us feel the culture’s shifting relation to its foundational magic. We’re taken from a time (in The Jewel and Her Lapidary) when the gems’ magic pervades the Valley where they’re mined, through a time of transition (The Fire Opal Mechanism) when a dark, reactionary magic rises. In The Book of Gems, a scientist returns to the Valley and has to contend with the buried power of the gems.
Every book features strong women characters. Younger or older, they’ve had the illusions knocked out of them and are doing their best against steep odds. Here it’s Dev, a young gemologist whose work was stolen by her mentor and needs to make things right.
Wilde has a gift for creating symbol-rich core images, and she doesn’t disappoint here. Her imagining of the Book of Gems itself is a keeper: a living book that grows and changes like living crystal. Since they’re standalone, you could start with any one of the novellas, but read them all for the crystalline panorama.
Every book features strong women characters. Younger or older, they’ve had the illusions knocked out of them and are doing their best against steep odds. Here it’s Dev, a young gemologist whose work was stolen by her mentor and needs to make things right.
Wilde has a gift for creating symbol-rich core images, and she doesn’t disappoint here. Her imagining of the Book of Gems itself is a keeper: a living book that grows and changes like living crystal. Since they’re standalone, you could start with any one of the novellas, but read them all for the crystalline panorama.
May 7, 2023
A great novella about scientific inquiry, lab politics, ancient history, and the ethics of archeology. I was definitely along for the ride, and I loved the family connection and how Dev was willing to question everything.
I think I would’ve liked to read the other books first, but this story had me reaching for the earlier instalments!
ARC provided by Tordotcom and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own.
I think I would’ve liked to read the other books first, but this story had me reaching for the earlier instalments!
ARC provided by Tordotcom and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own.
March 12, 2023
Really no one creates worlds like Fran Wilde. If you like page-turners with lush magic and women heroes who feel like REAL PEOPLE, add this one to your summer reading list.
January 27, 2023
Lucky to read this early. A stunning finale (???) to the series.
September 7, 2023
I just love this world. I really liked that the relationship in this book wasn't romantic, but familial, and of course the whole archeology spin is fantastic.
January 20, 2023
Finishing this , I had felt that there was so much potential in the world building and the wonderful systems of magic, that just didn’t get explored enough.
And then I discovered that it was the THIRD book in this world.
My own fault. I’ll have to start at the beginning and come back to Book of Gems better prepared.
And then I discovered that it was the THIRD book in this world.
My own fault. I’ll have to start at the beginning and come back to Book of Gems better prepared.
January 13, 2023
This is my favorite of the series so far!!
September 6, 2023
Book Summary:
Centuries ago, the Jeweled Valley and its treasures (magical gems) were lost to time. Or so everyone thought. The legends still hold strong, even as most people believe them to be little more than a bit of lore.
Dr. Devina Brunai isn't one of those. She believes the Book of Gems is real, alongside the Palace of Gems. When the Palace is uncovered, she knows that she was right, and thus the rest of her theories might prove true as well...
My Review:
If this is the conclusion to The Gem Universe, it's the conclusion we've been waiting for. The Book of Gems is a fantastical adventure full of complex storytelling and magical elements. In truth, I never wanted it to end.
The Book of Gems made rooting for Dev and Lurai (her cousin) so easy. Dev's backstory is less than simple, with more than one unscrupulous character messing up her chosen path in life. This backstory fills the reader with righteous indignation, adding an emotional tie between the reader and the character.
As for the rest of this plot? Well, that's the stuff of magic. We never get to see too much of the magical system at any one time. It's enough to make you crave more – ironic, given that is likely how every magic hunter feels in this world. It's possible to see the larger story when combined with the rest of this world. In other words, it was perfect.
Highlights:
Fantasy World
Magical Gems
Sentient Book
Thanks to Tor.com and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy
Centuries ago, the Jeweled Valley and its treasures (magical gems) were lost to time. Or so everyone thought. The legends still hold strong, even as most people believe them to be little more than a bit of lore.
Dr. Devina Brunai isn't one of those. She believes the Book of Gems is real, alongside the Palace of Gems. When the Palace is uncovered, she knows that she was right, and thus the rest of her theories might prove true as well...
My Review:
If this is the conclusion to The Gem Universe, it's the conclusion we've been waiting for. The Book of Gems is a fantastical adventure full of complex storytelling and magical elements. In truth, I never wanted it to end.
The Book of Gems made rooting for Dev and Lurai (her cousin) so easy. Dev's backstory is less than simple, with more than one unscrupulous character messing up her chosen path in life. This backstory fills the reader with righteous indignation, adding an emotional tie between the reader and the character.
As for the rest of this plot? Well, that's the stuff of magic. We never get to see too much of the magical system at any one time. It's enough to make you crave more – ironic, given that is likely how every magic hunter feels in this world. It's possible to see the larger story when combined with the rest of this world. In other words, it was perfect.
Highlights:
Fantasy World
Magical Gems
Sentient Book
Thanks to Tor.com and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy
June 19, 2023
This was a unusual and fun novella about a young woman who wants to prove herself in her profession and ends up tangled in complicated family histories and looted artifacts. I went in without having read the other books in the Gem series by Fran Wilde and while I could tell there was a lot more to be told about the story, I had no issues following along with the plot, the world, or the characters. The world is really unique and interesting and I hope that we get more in other novellas or a full length novel in the future. Thank you to TorDotCom and NetGalley for the digital ARC.
July 4, 2023
3.75*
June 19, 2023
I haven’t actually read the other two books in this series but after reading this novella I’m intrigued. It’s an interesting world. There’s some low level tech but also a fallen world of magic of the sort that kills the careless and disrespectful. I’ve just picked up book one in the series on the strength of this book. I’m glad I got to read this arc.
July 22, 2023
Another fabulous chapter in the gem world. I found that I could not move on to the next book in my tbr pile so started again, this time with a detour at the halfway point to reread Jewel and her Lapidary. I so love this world and all of its books, poems, and stories.
March 11, 2023
Novellas have started to grow on me so I requested this arc thinking that it'd be a great read, filled with worldbuilding and lore. While the storytelling itself was fine, ultimately, the whole thing fell short for me.
First of all, I wasn't sure which audience this novella was targeting. The synopsis didn't sound YA at all, but the writing style was very YA. Which isn't a bad thing if that was what you were looking for. I was expecting something more mature, but I got used to it eventually.
Secondly, the second half of the novella felt very rushed. I liked the slower worldbuilding in the first part, where we see Dev, the MC, go to the valley and get acquainted with the secondary characters, such as the innkeeper, Lurai, her grandmother, the dig master, and the other two Society archaeologists.
But after that, everything happened so quickly. Without saying any spoilers, what happened to Lurai wasn't explained well. She had a chatty, bubbly personality and then something huge happened to her (which was explained well enough), but the symptoms were all over the place. She could physically move but she couldn't speak? And sometimes it seemed like she was frozen and couldn't move at all, but suddenly she'd reach out and grab something. It made no sense.
And lastly, the POV changes. The first half clearly delineated between Dev's POV and Lurai's POV. Then after the midpoint, when both characters were together, the POVs became so muddled that I wasn't sure whose perspective I was reading. One paragraph would clearly be Dev's thoughts and actions, and the next paragraph would be Lurai's thoughts, and then it'd switch back to Dev. But the POV switches happened so abruptly that it was a jumbled mess to try to understand whose thoughts belonged to whom and which character was performing which action.
If the second half of the novella hadn't been such a mess, I would've loved to pick up the first two novellas in the series.
Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this arc.
First of all, I wasn't sure which audience this novella was targeting. The synopsis didn't sound YA at all, but the writing style was very YA. Which isn't a bad thing if that was what you were looking for. I was expecting something more mature, but I got used to it eventually.
Secondly, the second half of the novella felt very rushed. I liked the slower worldbuilding in the first part, where we see Dev, the MC, go to the valley and get acquainted with the secondary characters, such as the innkeeper, Lurai, her grandmother, the dig master, and the other two Society archaeologists.
But after that, everything happened so quickly. Without saying any spoilers, what happened to Lurai wasn't explained well. She had a chatty, bubbly personality and then something huge happened to her (which was explained well enough), but the symptoms were all over the place. She could physically move but she couldn't speak? And sometimes it seemed like she was frozen and couldn't move at all, but suddenly she'd reach out and grab something. It made no sense.
And lastly, the POV changes. The first half clearly delineated between Dev's POV and Lurai's POV. Then after the midpoint, when both characters were together, the POVs became so muddled that I wasn't sure whose perspective I was reading. One paragraph would clearly be Dev's thoughts and actions, and the next paragraph would be Lurai's thoughts, and then it'd switch back to Dev. But the POV switches happened so abruptly that it was a jumbled mess to try to understand whose thoughts belonged to whom and which character was performing which action.
If the second half of the novella hadn't been such a mess, I would've loved to pick up the first two novellas in the series.
Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this arc.
May 18, 2023
Wilde concludes the Gem Valley series in a wonderful way while also managing to give this installment its own standalone story that also slots into the larger arc of the series. We get more of the duality between the idea of modernity and scientific progress against tradition and magic, and who you want to be versus who you end up being. There's also the politics of archaeological digs! Also - body horror involving jewels! A quick read that manages to leave the possibility of a future open, but neatly wraps the series to this point. Perfect read for the beach this summer.
January 9, 2024
The Book of Gems is my first encounter with Fran Wilde. Although she has apparently been nominated for numerous Hugo, Nebula, Locus and World Fantasy Awards, I was unaware of her works. Maybe she specializes in shorter fiction, while I read mostly novels. The Book of Gems is a novella, just 138 pages long. I wish it had been longer. It is marketed as the third book "in the Gem Universe", though I don't think that means it is part of a trilogy. I did not get the sense when reading The Book of Gems that I was entering a story that was already two-thirds complete, it seemed like a stand-alone tale to me.
A gem research scientist named Devina Brunai works on synthetic gems, using a micrograph to compare the synthetic gem structure to that of the real ones. Dev is an apprentice to the grandiose Netherby, a credit-stealing, lying supervisor. Netherby has gone off to the dig in the Valley of Jewels where gems are being sought by miners. He is seeking fame and power, hoping to expand on some of Dev's ideas regarding the nature of the gems. (The gems seem to act as a magical power source, they are much more than just stones of beauty.) But now Netherby has gone missing, and the ethereal messages received from his escritoire sound half-insane. Dev applies to the Society to go after Netherby, and discover his fate; but the Society turns Dev down. Undeterred, Dev takes her meager life-savings and steals equipment from the lab, and resolves to make an unauthorized mission to Valley of the Jewels- Dev reasons that if she can find Netherby and bring him back, then her unapproved deeds will be forgiven and the Society will promote her to full status. Dev merely has to solve what happened to Netherby before the Society is aware of her transgressions. Dev has to work fast.
Arriving at the valley, Dev checks in at the Deaf King Inn. She must pay for the board with her extremely limited funds, but Dev knows that if the Society had financed her expedition, that she could easily afford to pay for a room at the Inn; and Dev must keep up appearances that she is on official Society business. It quickly becomes apparent that the valley inhabitants who run the inn have secrets of their own - why do they all wear silver wires twisted around their ears and fingers? It also soon becomes clear that the conniving Netherby ran up a big tab at the Inn, and now the young innkeeper wants to be paid.
This brief novella, The Book of Gems tells an intriguing tale. I was especially impressed with how Wilde was able to create a society where the heroine, Dev, finds herself in perilous circumstances. The atmosphere is always an ominous one, with Dev constantly at risk of being exposed and ruined by the secretive, powerful Society. Dev is a likeable character, and it always seems that something or someone is about to destroy her quest. The haunting half-coherent messages from escritoire, the disappearance of the innkeeper, the increasing earthquakes in the valley, the danger of contamination from the gems, and the belligerent attitude of Lannert, the suspicious leader of the dig, all of these strange events add to the sense of unease surrounding Dev. The Book of Gems isn't quite Lovecraftian in its forboding tone, but it certainly is atmospheric.
I liked this book, so I will look to see what other works by Fran Wilde our library system carries; I would like to read more stories by her.
A gem research scientist named Devina Brunai works on synthetic gems, using a micrograph to compare the synthetic gem structure to that of the real ones. Dev is an apprentice to the grandiose Netherby, a credit-stealing, lying supervisor. Netherby has gone off to the dig in the Valley of Jewels where gems are being sought by miners. He is seeking fame and power, hoping to expand on some of Dev's ideas regarding the nature of the gems. (The gems seem to act as a magical power source, they are much more than just stones of beauty.) But now Netherby has gone missing, and the ethereal messages received from his escritoire sound half-insane. Dev applies to the Society to go after Netherby, and discover his fate; but the Society turns Dev down. Undeterred, Dev takes her meager life-savings and steals equipment from the lab, and resolves to make an unauthorized mission to Valley of the Jewels- Dev reasons that if she can find Netherby and bring him back, then her unapproved deeds will be forgiven and the Society will promote her to full status. Dev merely has to solve what happened to Netherby before the Society is aware of her transgressions. Dev has to work fast.
Arriving at the valley, Dev checks in at the Deaf King Inn. She must pay for the board with her extremely limited funds, but Dev knows that if the Society had financed her expedition, that she could easily afford to pay for a room at the Inn; and Dev must keep up appearances that she is on official Society business. It quickly becomes apparent that the valley inhabitants who run the inn have secrets of their own - why do they all wear silver wires twisted around their ears and fingers? It also soon becomes clear that the conniving Netherby ran up a big tab at the Inn, and now the young innkeeper wants to be paid.
This brief novella, The Book of Gems tells an intriguing tale. I was especially impressed with how Wilde was able to create a society where the heroine, Dev, finds herself in perilous circumstances. The atmosphere is always an ominous one, with Dev constantly at risk of being exposed and ruined by the secretive, powerful Society. Dev is a likeable character, and it always seems that something or someone is about to destroy her quest. The haunting half-coherent messages from escritoire, the disappearance of the innkeeper, the increasing earthquakes in the valley, the danger of contamination from the gems, and the belligerent attitude of Lannert, the suspicious leader of the dig, all of these strange events add to the sense of unease surrounding Dev. The Book of Gems isn't quite Lovecraftian in its forboding tone, but it certainly is atmospheric.
I liked this book, so I will look to see what other works by Fran Wilde our library system carries; I would like to read more stories by her.
September 12, 2023
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
First of all, thanks to Emily over at Tor for sending me an ARC of this title! I know Fran Wilde to be a very prolific SFF writer, but for whatever reason I hadn’t gotten around to reading one of her books yet. So this felt like as good of a time as any. I will say I wasn’t aware that this book was part of a series, but after some quick perusing, it seemed like it could also be read as a stand-alone, so I dove right in!
One of the harder things, sometimes, when picking up a SFF title that is part of a series but has also been marketed as a stand-alone is trying to center oneself in the world and any magic system that may or may not be present. Unlike contemporary or historical fiction, the reader cannot rely on a knowledge of our own world to fill in any gaps that may have been missed from previous books. So I think it’s a mark of Wilde’s talent that it was a fairly smooth process orienting myself with this world. Necessary information flowed out in a natural, timely way without any info-dumping early in the novel, and the patient reader will be rewarded by looking up about halfway through the read and realizing that they already do know everything they need to about this series even without any obvious “telling” sections.
Beyond how the information was given, I enjoyed the world and magic that was laid out here. The gems and the way they operate is clever and unique. I also really enjoyed the blending of several genres that we see here. Fantasy, of course, but there were also strong hints of the mystery and historical genres. As our main character is also a research, this book also hits on the currently quite popular “fantasy academia” subgenre. I’ve really enjoyed this resurgence and very much enjoyed this nice blending of many types of stories.
I also liked the character well enough. Though here I will say is where the story fell a bit flat for me. There was nothing wrong with any of them, but I also never felt supremely invested in our main character’s story or that of any of the side characters. Here, perhaps, is where more familiarity with the first two books could have helped, as a better sense and expectation of overall tone could have aided in my feeling invested in these stories. However, the characters were still interesting and competently portrayed, so fans of the first two books will likely be very pleased with what we get here.
Overall, this was a solid novella, and one that speaks to an interesting wider world. I’ll definitely have to go back and check out the first two books in the series!
Rating 7: Short, sweet, and with a vibrant world and magic system. The only flaw was my inability to feel incredibly invested in some of the characters.
First of all, thanks to Emily over at Tor for sending me an ARC of this title! I know Fran Wilde to be a very prolific SFF writer, but for whatever reason I hadn’t gotten around to reading one of her books yet. So this felt like as good of a time as any. I will say I wasn’t aware that this book was part of a series, but after some quick perusing, it seemed like it could also be read as a stand-alone, so I dove right in!
One of the harder things, sometimes, when picking up a SFF title that is part of a series but has also been marketed as a stand-alone is trying to center oneself in the world and any magic system that may or may not be present. Unlike contemporary or historical fiction, the reader cannot rely on a knowledge of our own world to fill in any gaps that may have been missed from previous books. So I think it’s a mark of Wilde’s talent that it was a fairly smooth process orienting myself with this world. Necessary information flowed out in a natural, timely way without any info-dumping early in the novel, and the patient reader will be rewarded by looking up about halfway through the read and realizing that they already do know everything they need to about this series even without any obvious “telling” sections.
Beyond how the information was given, I enjoyed the world and magic that was laid out here. The gems and the way they operate is clever and unique. I also really enjoyed the blending of several genres that we see here. Fantasy, of course, but there were also strong hints of the mystery and historical genres. As our main character is also a research, this book also hits on the currently quite popular “fantasy academia” subgenre. I’ve really enjoyed this resurgence and very much enjoyed this nice blending of many types of stories.
I also liked the character well enough. Though here I will say is where the story fell a bit flat for me. There was nothing wrong with any of them, but I also never felt supremely invested in our main character’s story or that of any of the side characters. Here, perhaps, is where more familiarity with the first two books could have helped, as a better sense and expectation of overall tone could have aided in my feeling invested in these stories. However, the characters were still interesting and competently portrayed, so fans of the first two books will likely be very pleased with what we get here.
Overall, this was a solid novella, and one that speaks to an interesting wider world. I’ll definitely have to go back and check out the first two books in the series!
Rating 7: Short, sweet, and with a vibrant world and magic system. The only flaw was my inability to feel incredibly invested in some of the characters.
July 28, 2023
The Book of Gems is the third book in the Gem Universe, after The Jewel and Her Lapidary and The Fire Opal Mechanism. This entry in the series brings the action back to the place and the history where it all began, the Jeweled Valley.
In that first book, the titular characters, Jewel Lin and her Lapidary Sima, sacrifice themselves in their attempt to save the Jeweled Valley. While their attempt is not exactly in vain, it is a bit of a pyrrhic victory. They destroy what they love in order to save it from, literally, the ravening hordes who intend not merely to destroy it, but to use its power on their way to saving the world by destroying that.
The Fire Opal Mechanism is the story in the middle, as the history of this world has gone on its not so merry way, down the path that Lin and Sima tried to prevent. Or at least did their level best to keep the power of the singing gems from powering the destruction of the world.
They didn’t exactly fail, but they certainly didn’t succeed, either. In this second book it’s up to their descendants to divert the tide – or at least to set their less than powerful selves against the onrushing storm.
Now the story has both come full circle and done a strange turn into Motel of the Mysteries, but one not nearly as much fun. Because that tyranny has come and finally gone, leaving in its wake a dearth of true historical documentation and a whole lot of scholarly inquiry about things that perhaps shouldn’t be inquired into. Resulting in seemingly innumerable academic and archaeological expeditions to the Jeweled Valley to dig up things that should remain buried, even as the academics seem to be doing their worst to bury each other’s careers if not, actually, each other.
In the midst of this furious excavation, the Jeweled Valley is being slowly but surely uncovered, as it waits a bit impatiently for Lin and Sima’s descendants to save it one more time. Or at least to save their world from the force that has been waiting within. Or both. Definitely both.
Escape Rating A-: I originally picked up The Jewel and Her Lapidary because I was looking for a short bite of the SF/F reading apple and Tordotcom always delivers. I stuck with the series because that first book was just so damn good, such a perfect epic fantasy in an amazingly succinct little package, that I couldn’t resist seeing what happened after Jewel’s rather cataclysmic ending. Not that it didn’t have a slam-bang, bittersweet ending for itself, but the world clearly had plenty more stories to tell.
The second book, The Fire Opal Mechanism, kept me enthralled because it was just a little too prescient, all the while managing to be both different from the first while still following the same threads.
This third book does a lovely job of bringing the saga full circle while still telling a story of its own that yet manages to tug on those very same threads – as well as some of the same heartstrings.
All the books in this series are stories about power imbalances, very specifically the vast, sweeping power of tyrannies to control and rewrite history and belief vs. the tiny, subversive but ultimately enduring power of families and family stories to keep the truth alive in spite of the odds and the power of the state to stop them. At the same time, there’s also a bit of the “Mother Nature bats last” trope, as in this ending, the singing jewels and their imbued power have been hunted down and corrupted and yet are still waiting for their chance to rise once more.
The form that each story in the series has taken have also differed, and this entry in the series is very much a story about academia, both dark and light, the viciousness of its politics and policies and the single-mindedness of its pursuers in their intellectual pursuits. And in this particular entry in the series, the power imbalance between an untenured lecturer and the head of their department. This facet of the story had a surprisingly similar vibe to Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes, which I utterly loved.
So even though it doesn’t seem like there will be more stories in the Gem Universe – at least for a while, I do have the sequel to Mimicking, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, to look forward to. And, very much like the way the drama in The Book of Gems plays out, doesn’t that title just scream academic obfuscation? Which is always fun to see knocked down, just as much as it was in The Book of Gems.
Originally published at Reading Reality
In that first book, the titular characters, Jewel Lin and her Lapidary Sima, sacrifice themselves in their attempt to save the Jeweled Valley. While their attempt is not exactly in vain, it is a bit of a pyrrhic victory. They destroy what they love in order to save it from, literally, the ravening hordes who intend not merely to destroy it, but to use its power on their way to saving the world by destroying that.
The Fire Opal Mechanism is the story in the middle, as the history of this world has gone on its not so merry way, down the path that Lin and Sima tried to prevent. Or at least did their level best to keep the power of the singing gems from powering the destruction of the world.
They didn’t exactly fail, but they certainly didn’t succeed, either. In this second book it’s up to their descendants to divert the tide – or at least to set their less than powerful selves against the onrushing storm.
Now the story has both come full circle and done a strange turn into Motel of the Mysteries, but one not nearly as much fun. Because that tyranny has come and finally gone, leaving in its wake a dearth of true historical documentation and a whole lot of scholarly inquiry about things that perhaps shouldn’t be inquired into. Resulting in seemingly innumerable academic and archaeological expeditions to the Jeweled Valley to dig up things that should remain buried, even as the academics seem to be doing their worst to bury each other’s careers if not, actually, each other.
In the midst of this furious excavation, the Jeweled Valley is being slowly but surely uncovered, as it waits a bit impatiently for Lin and Sima’s descendants to save it one more time. Or at least to save their world from the force that has been waiting within. Or both. Definitely both.
Escape Rating A-: I originally picked up The Jewel and Her Lapidary because I was looking for a short bite of the SF/F reading apple and Tordotcom always delivers. I stuck with the series because that first book was just so damn good, such a perfect epic fantasy in an amazingly succinct little package, that I couldn’t resist seeing what happened after Jewel’s rather cataclysmic ending. Not that it didn’t have a slam-bang, bittersweet ending for itself, but the world clearly had plenty more stories to tell.
The second book, The Fire Opal Mechanism, kept me enthralled because it was just a little too prescient, all the while managing to be both different from the first while still following the same threads.
This third book does a lovely job of bringing the saga full circle while still telling a story of its own that yet manages to tug on those very same threads – as well as some of the same heartstrings.
All the books in this series are stories about power imbalances, very specifically the vast, sweeping power of tyrannies to control and rewrite history and belief vs. the tiny, subversive but ultimately enduring power of families and family stories to keep the truth alive in spite of the odds and the power of the state to stop them. At the same time, there’s also a bit of the “Mother Nature bats last” trope, as in this ending, the singing jewels and their imbued power have been hunted down and corrupted and yet are still waiting for their chance to rise once more.
The form that each story in the series has taken have also differed, and this entry in the series is very much a story about academia, both dark and light, the viciousness of its politics and policies and the single-mindedness of its pursuers in their intellectual pursuits. And in this particular entry in the series, the power imbalance between an untenured lecturer and the head of their department. This facet of the story had a surprisingly similar vibe to Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes, which I utterly loved.
So even though it doesn’t seem like there will be more stories in the Gem Universe – at least for a while, I do have the sequel to Mimicking, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, to look forward to. And, very much like the way the drama in The Book of Gems plays out, doesn’t that title just scream academic obfuscation? Which is always fun to see knocked down, just as much as it was in The Book of Gems.
Originally published at Reading Reality
Read
January 27, 2024Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Book of Gems is the third book/novella in a fantasy series with elements of horror by Fran Wilde. Released 20th June 2023 by Macmillan on their Tor imprint, it's 142 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
The prose is compelling and surprisingly lush given the short form novella length. The author is particularly adept at characterization and setting. There's an overarching sense of creeping dread (much like, though not at all derivative of, Lovecraft... expecting jump scares every couple pages with increasing sense of dread).
Although it's the third in the series (and there are ancillary stories in collections and anthologies floating around), it works fine as a standalone. The novellas are all standalones featuring different MCs and different time periods. This one does a great job of presenting themes of artifact and cultural misappropriation.
Four stars. Well written and satisfying.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Book of Gems is the third book/novella in a fantasy series with elements of horror by Fran Wilde. Released 20th June 2023 by Macmillan on their Tor imprint, it's 142 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
The prose is compelling and surprisingly lush given the short form novella length. The author is particularly adept at characterization and setting. There's an overarching sense of creeping dread (much like, though not at all derivative of, Lovecraft... expecting jump scares every couple pages with increasing sense of dread).
Although it's the third in the series (and there are ancillary stories in collections and anthologies floating around), it works fine as a standalone. The novellas are all standalones featuring different MCs and different time periods. This one does a great job of presenting themes of artifact and cultural misappropriation.
Four stars. Well written and satisfying.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
May 24, 2023
Stories of the Valley have faded to myths and half remembered ghostly tales. Any gems still in the world are studied and exploited by the science of the day. Real gems are vanishingly rare, but synthetic gems power all sorts of inventions.
I have read the other two novellas and like how this series gives windows into the history of the Jeweled Valley over time. I enjoyed seeing how the attitude towards gems and the Valley shifted with different time periods. This novella came off as a cautionary tale about forgetting the lessons of history and the results of unchecked greed in the pursuit of knowledge. Since the main character refused to acknowledge the power of the true gems for most of the novella it reads more as a creeping horror story as the oddities pile up as she delves deeper into the mystery of the dig in the Valley.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
I have read the other two novellas and like how this series gives windows into the history of the Jeweled Valley over time. I enjoyed seeing how the attitude towards gems and the Valley shifted with different time periods. This novella came off as a cautionary tale about forgetting the lessons of history and the results of unchecked greed in the pursuit of knowledge. Since the main character refused to acknowledge the power of the true gems for most of the novella it reads more as a creeping horror story as the oddities pile up as she delves deeper into the mystery of the dig in the Valley.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
May 26, 2023
*Thank you Tor for this ARC!*
When this book was offered to me as an arc, the blurb indicated that it was the kind of book that could be read stand alone. They weren't wrong and now I'm definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series ASAP!
In this book, “Dev'' the scientist discovers that she has put her faith in the wrong person, the man who’s been acting as her mentor. When he mysteriously vanishes, the Society for Scientific Endeavors of the Six Republics denies her the right to journey to the Jeweled Valley to search for him. She is compelled to either find him, or finish the research he started. Without the proper credentials, Dev takes a train and sneaks into the Jeweled Valley. From the moment she arrives in the valley and checks into Deaf King Inn, it’s clear that this trip isn’t going to be anything like she expected.
This book has family, mystery, gems, gems, and more gems. Oh did I mention gems? What else could I want?
When this book was offered to me as an arc, the blurb indicated that it was the kind of book that could be read stand alone. They weren't wrong and now I'm definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series ASAP!
In this book, “Dev'' the scientist discovers that she has put her faith in the wrong person, the man who’s been acting as her mentor. When he mysteriously vanishes, the Society for Scientific Endeavors of the Six Republics denies her the right to journey to the Jeweled Valley to search for him. She is compelled to either find him, or finish the research he started. Without the proper credentials, Dev takes a train and sneaks into the Jeweled Valley. From the moment she arrives in the valley and checks into Deaf King Inn, it’s clear that this trip isn’t going to be anything like she expected.
This book has family, mystery, gems, gems, and more gems. Oh did I mention gems? What else could I want?
May 7, 2023
This is the third book in the Gem Universe. Each book is technically a standalone, and this was the first book in the series I read. Dev is a scientist who must enter the Jeweled Valley to find her mentor and retrieve the research he stole from here, but Dev is going to learn that perhaps there is more to science than what happens with the gems in the Valley.
I really liked the horror elements on the novel and the mystery. I found Dev's slow reactions to the horror a little frustrating, but overall it was a good read. I think there might be some small aspects that I would have understood better if I had read the books set in the earlier history of this world, but overall I was able to understand the world and the story.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really liked the horror elements on the novel and the mystery. I found Dev's slow reactions to the horror a little frustrating, but overall it was a good read. I think there might be some small aspects that I would have understood better if I had read the books set in the earlier history of this world, but overall I was able to understand the world and the story.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 1, 2024
2.5 rounded up, which is kind of where I settle the whole series to be honest. In my review of the second book I was happy to give a three star review while looking forward to the third installment. I wanted it to have plot, lore, character building and depth. In the first book the world building was good but the plot suffered from it and the characters were very disjointed. In the second the character development was better but other parts of the story felt unrealized. In the third we have a bit of everything with absolutely no depth. Overall the feeling I keep coming back to is that this series and each book individually has so much potential that immediately gets squashed by awkward pacing and lackluster risk. The world is ending but it feels like someone being forced to do their homework is telling me about it in a report instead of the brink of extinction vibe I’m looking for.
May 10, 2024
thank you to the publisher for a review copy.
this story was a bit of a fever dream. maybe i'm missing information because it's a novella that should have been a novel. or maybe there's necessary information to be found in the rest of the series even though this book should be able to be read as a standalone. nevertheless, i'm not really sure what i just read.
the general premise was interesting: a female academic main character (which i always love) and new-to-me magical system with gems. also themes of colonization and it's appropriation of culture and history.
but it was all rather abrupt, nonlinear. i don't know where we ended up or even really how we got there. though, it was a fun journey and i'd be willing to try another book in this series to see if the pieces come together a bit more.
this story was a bit of a fever dream. maybe i'm missing information because it's a novella that should have been a novel. or maybe there's necessary information to be found in the rest of the series even though this book should be able to be read as a standalone. nevertheless, i'm not really sure what i just read.
the general premise was interesting: a female academic main character (which i always love) and new-to-me magical system with gems. also themes of colonization and it's appropriation of culture and history.
but it was all rather abrupt, nonlinear. i don't know where we ended up or even really how we got there. though, it was a fun journey and i'd be willing to try another book in this series to see if the pieces come together a bit more.
September 14, 2024
The Book of Gems is the third novella in the Gemworld series by Fran Wilde. I had been told you didn't need to read any of the other books to read this one, and that is true. I started here. This book was recommended to me because I like epistolary novels. It helps that it is short, so you don't have to worry about making a huge time investment into something you may or may not enjoy. In this case, I did enjoy it. There are definitely gems involved in new and unique ways. Don't upset them!
For a novella, there are a lot of interesting themes packed in here to chew on. You don't have to know anything about gemstones to appreciate the story even though they play a major role. It is more like a cautionary tale of colonialism and unethical archaeology. It made me think of early Egyptologists and the curses that supposedly plagued them.
For a novella, there are a lot of interesting themes packed in here to chew on. You don't have to know anything about gemstones to appreciate the story even though they play a major role. It is more like a cautionary tale of colonialism and unethical archaeology. It made me think of early Egyptologists and the curses that supposedly plagued them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews