Tag: SF/F

Review – The Dark Between The Trees

Posted January 17, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Dark Between the Trees, Fiona Barnett

I found The Dark Between the Trees very absorbing, but in the end a little disappointing. Not because of the rather open end, or because the mysteries weren’t explained, but because I felt that I was pitched a story where some kind of genuine investigation would be done — at least some semblance of a rigorous, academic approach to this strangeness.

Unfortunately, the character who seemed set up to do that turned out to be driven mostly by compulsion, and when she reached the heart of the strangeness, she… stopped. It makes it a mildly interesting study of the character of someone inexplicably driven, wrapped up in the mystery before they even came into contact with it directly, but I found it a little disappointing that her academia was nothing but a veneer.

The interweaving of the two stories, the modern team and the ragged band of Parliamentarians, is done quite well and used to good affect: each story reflects and mirrors the other.

I felt like the descriptions of the forest and the way it directed people inwards, to the heart of the forest, had much borrowed from Tolkien’s Old Forest. The concept of the two forests existing simultaneously, no, but the general mood, the evil at the heart, the rising fear and tension… and the ways the forest is creepy, the seeming movement of the trees, the root deliberately popped up to trip, the bracken and undergrowth through which you can fight only one way… I wouldn’t have been entirely shocked had the story suddenly involved Old Man Willow, somehow. That section of The Lord of the Rings is one I always found rather fascinating, even if I could do without Bombadil, so this isn’t a complaint, merely a note on the tone and similarity!

I did start to notice a number of editing issues in the latter half of the book: words missing, mostly, and in some cases (and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was deliberate or not), a line break where it didn’t feel there ought to be one. The author didn’t use these elsewhere and they didn’t feel very impactful to me, so I think they were just outright errors.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Fiona Barnett, horror, SF/F

Review – Blind Tiger

Posted January 15, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Blind Tiger, Jordan L. Hawk

Mild, naive Sam comes from a repressive family in the country. Hardened, hermit-like Alistair is hiding away from life after being very badly hurt by his time as a soldier and its aftermath. They’re brought together because Sam’s cousin — who took him in when he fled his family — has been murdered, and Sam needs help in navigating the gangs and other dangers of Prohibition Chicago.

Plus, Alistair is a familiar, a shapeshifter, and he’s realised that Sam is his witch, the one person in the world whose magic best works with Alistair’s — but he has his own reasons for refusing to bond.

Sam is a lovely character, well-meaning and brave, despite the emotional damage from his family who belittled him constantly. He’s naive, but not as judgemental as he could be: he accepts the Gattis and what they do, even as he steers his own path (not drinking, for example, and not being terribly willing to work with a gang boss). He seems a dangerous big cat shifter and thinks, “Hey, can I pet him?”

He’s the ideal person to bring Alistair back out of his shell, and we see that happening in and amongst the actual action of the book. The pace of their relationship worked quite well for me, and it was really sweet… though I’m sure they have a ways to go to a proper happy ending.

I haven’t actually read the other books in this world, but that was okay; this worked well for me as an introduction, it was very clear what the basics were. I’m sure there’s more to understand in the other books — and I’m eager to read those too — but it works perfectly well on its own.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: alternate history, book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, queer fiction, romance, SF/F

Review – The Grief of Stones

Posted July 1, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison

Received to review via Netgalley

As ever, this book continues the trend: Thara Celehar needs a hug, but he won’t let anyone give him one.

That’s a pretty succinct summary of this book, but it’s a bit unfairly reductive, so let’s see what else I can say without spoilering… This obviously continues in the vein of the previous book about Celehar, and it widens the scope again to show us more of this world. Photography, for example, does exist, and is considered automatically rather risqué. Celehar ventures into that world with very little judgement and does what he does best and listens. Not just to the dead, but to what people are willing to tell him, and to the scraps of information that let him eventually put things together: not just who killed who, but also where the scone recipe might be, and the burial customs of particular traditions, and who you need to ask about any given problem.

Slowly, he pieces his way through multiple mysteries, which of course begin to intersect. He’s helped in this by a new apprentice, a woman who began to hear the voices of the dead as an adult and has no training in how to be a prelate, and by the friends he made in previous books.

There is some progress, I think, toward Celehar forgiving himself and allowing light into his life again… but it’s a slow, slow burn. I really want to see that come to fruition — and I really need to know what happens to Celehar next given the results of his work in this book.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Katherine Addison, SF/F

Review – Along the Saltwise Sea

Posted June 30, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Along the Saltwise Sea, A. Deborah Baker (Seanan McGuire)

The frustrating thing about this book is that the first fourteen pages are a recap… and I read the first book earlier this week. The tone is knowing, meta-fictional, and gets you right back into the world — there’s a bit of Cat Valente, a smidgeon of C.S. Lewis, in the way it knows and comments on the characters, and on the world. But it was annoying that in a novella, 7% of it was pure recap. It felt like it took a while to get going… and then stopped short of its destination.

Which is not to say I didn’t find it charming, because I did. I just want more, and wish I had the third book in my hands right now. I saw somewhere that it ends on three, but I’m not sure how that’s going to fit in with the general pacing.

I wondered about some stuff, like whether the iron shoes were part of stopping the Crow Girl from coming apart, for example… but in the end that seemed not even a red herring, just a detail that didn’t mean much.

I think I preferred the first book, but largely because it feels like we didn’t get anywhere much (though some good and interesting stuff did happen). I’m still rating it a 4 because I ripped right through it and enjoyed it; it’s more in retrospect that I’m sighing a little.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Seanan McGuire, SF/F

Review – The Language of Roses

Posted June 14, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Language of Roses, Heather Rose Jones

Received to review via Netgalley

The Language of Roses is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast which also pulls in elements of other fairy stories (the girl from whom pearls drip from her mouth whenever she speaks, the fairy wife enduring three strikes and then leaving), featuring an aromantic lead character who is not going to follow the fairy tale and fall in love. It also features Grace and Eglantine, who are in love despite Eglantine’s courtship by Philippe, Grace’s brother.

And that’s perhaps already saying too much — it’s worth experiencing this storyline for yourself and seeing how Heather Rose Jones works it out and weaves together the fairy tales. It was very satisfying for me despite the novella length: I enjoyed it a lot. Alys is a lovely character, interested in helping those around her, in being kind, and also in being true to herself.

I could wish to see a little more of the aftermath — not just as a “and they all lived happily ever after”, but what Alys’ role is exactly in the life of the estate after everything is over and done.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Heather Rose Jones, queer fic, SF/F

Review – Over the Woodward Wall

Posted June 13, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Over the Woodward Wall, A. Deborah Baker (Seanan McGuire)

I loved Middlegame, but I didn’t expect to enjoy this spin-off so much! It shares DNA with Cat Valente’s Fairyland books, though the narrator is a little less intrusive and knowing. It also shares some DNA with McGuire’s own Wayward Children series, unavoidably.

It also manages to be something of its own, though, and I quickly stopped comparing it and started caring about Zib and Avery and the Crow Girl, and what will become of them. It’s a world based on fantasy/fairytale tropes and tarot cards, and there are giant talking owls and Bumble Bears and an improbable road to an Impossible City — what’s not to like?

I didn’t expect to get so caught up in it, but it was lovely; exactly what the doctor ordered. I know the second book is out, though, and I wish I’d got it before I started, because the story really doesn’t end at the end of the book.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Seanan McGuire, SF/F

Review – The Bruising of Qilwa

Posted June 12, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Bruising of Qilwa, Naseem Jamnia

Received to review via Netgalley

The Bruising of Qilwa tries to tackle a lot. It’s a medical fantasy, with a mystery element, and it also delves a little bit into the question of what it means to be oppressed when you have also in your turn been the oppressor (or at least, your people have). The author is Persian-American, so obviously they have a lot of thoughts about this, though the story of Firuz and their work as a healer is at the forefront.

There were a few surprises here in how the story went versus what I’d expected, but mostly it’s surprisingly quiet for a book with some pretty dire consequences at stake. The climax of the story does become rather more energetic, but a lot of the story is just… trying to get on with life as a refugee. Firuz is trying to build a home for their elderly mother and their trans brother (who needs gender-affirming treatment only Firuz’s secret blood magic can provide), and for a foundling from the streets, and trying to help others as well, using their skills at one of the few clinics that provides care for the refugees.

Oh, and there’s a plague. Two separate ones.

It feels like a very slim number of pages to hold so much going on; I think it punches above its weight in that line. I found it a bit uncomfortable to read because certain elements of the second plague hit my anxiety just so, but it’s a really interesting setup.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Naseem Jamnia, SF/F

Review – Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances

Posted June 11, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, Aliette de Bodard

Received to review via Netgalley

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances picks up on Thuan and Asmodeus from Aliette de Bodard’s Dominion of the Fallen world once more, and once more they’re in the world of Thuan’s birth rather than safe (well, relatively safe) in Asmodeus’ particular domain. As ever, they love each other very much, but Asmodeus is a stabby creature of revenge, while Thuan believes himself saner and more just… though it does become clear that Asmodeus is capable of love, self-sacrifice and reaching for justice, while Thuan is more hide-bound than he’d like to admit.

It’s not quite “together, they fight crime”, but it’s not far off either. While babysitting, they quickly stumble upon a mystery and a ghost, and following that to where it leads promptly exposes all the stress-fractures in their relationship, and all the flaws of both of them.

For fans of the characters, it’s lovely; it’s being billed as a one-shot, which I wouldn’t say is entirely true. I think it works on its own, probably, but there’s more to it when you can see it against the backdrop of the Dominion of the Fallen books, and the last of Asmodeus and Thuan’s relationship. That said, you don’t need to have read them recently (I haven’t), because it gives a lot of cues about their background to help make things clear.

It was a fun read, for sure, and I’ll pick up anything else that happens to come out about Asmodeus and Thuan.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Aliette de Bodard, book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Bitter

Posted June 4, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Bitter, Akwaeke Emezi

Bitter is a prequel to Pet, and it’s slightly unfortunate that some of the important details from Pet have now slipped my mind, because I think that would’ve helped significantly in finding my feet again in the world. Bitter is Jam’s mother, and this covers the period leading to the upheaval that made Lucille such a utopia for Jam. It makes more sense of Bitter’s reactions to Pet, and the world which Jam and Redemption live in.

I didn’t love it as much as I hoped; it felt very topical, particularly when a character loses an eye during a protest, and for the first half of the book seemed mostly to be a chronicling of current events in lightly fictionalised form. Then Bitter finds her magic, and things open up, giving us access to more of the background of Pet: the angels and the takeover of the city.

It’s a really quick read, and I enjoyed the background it gave to Pet, but it didn’t quite speak to me in the same way, even though I fully understood Bitter’s insecurities and fears. Maybe that’s part of why I didn’t get involved as much!

Rating: 3/5

Tags: Akwaeke Emezi, book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – All the Horses of Iceland

Posted June 1, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

All the Horses of Iceland, Sarah Tolmie

If you’re familiar with Icelandic sagas, this is probably especially delightful — certainly that familiarity enhanced this book for me, and I’m not sure what I’d have made of it without that background. Tolmie captures something of the rhythm and the language of the sagas (albeit of course in English, but you might be familiar with it even from translations), and the way of thinking.

It all felt so familiar, like surely it must really be part of that tradition, right down to the interpolations by a later Christian author. It’s pretty perfect mimicry, and an enchanting sort of fairytale.

I enjoyed it a lot, and enjoyed the thought she put into how to present the world and choose her words (as evident from the author’s note at the end).

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Sarah Tolmie, SF/F