Tag: 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

Review – The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

Posted May 31, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is the only book of this series which didn’t make me cry, and it felt the least consequential (which is not saying much, perhaps, when the previous books tend not to have galactic significance either). Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I do think it’s important to be open-eyed about that going in: in many ways, it’s just about people learning things about themselves. Those people are aliens in a much wider than we’re part of, true, but many elements of the story could be managed the same without being science fiction.

What I do enjoy is that Chambers puts thought into making each alien culture different, though with some rhymes in experiences and histories that give them common ground among the differences. This one features no humans at all, unlike the previous instalments, which was an unexpected delight.

The plot is basically “three stranded travellers and their hosts must get along for a brief period of time despite having reasons to be elsewhere”, and plays the characters and their histories against each other to delve into stuff that’s troubling in previous books (Aeluons and their war-mongering, for instance). At the end, everyone goes on their way safely — but not without having to have a think about themselves and what they’re doing, and where they might be going next.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Becky Chambers, book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Guardian Spirits

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

Guardian Spirits, Jordan L. Hawk

Guardian Spirits wraps up the plot arc from the first two books beautifully, answering questions from both books and bringing our protagonists to a good place in the process. Of course, given the context, it involves dragging them through a bad place first — though this is primarily due to the outside circumstances, rather than the relationship between them. After finally communicating with each other in the second book, Henry and Vincent are ready to be supportive of each other, and to face pressure without crumbling.

We get a couple of new characters, including a love interest for Lizzie, which is cool. I find myself longing for more of Jo, though!

While I figured things out before the characters did, their blindnesses made sense and didn’t feel frustrating… and like Jordan L. Hawk often has characters communicating badly, with crises leaning on misunderstandings, that was much less the case here. (It’s a pet dislike of mine.) So that was nice too.

Overall, enjoyable end to a trilogy, or a stepping-off point for a longer series. I don’t know if Hawk is planning to write more or not, but if not, I’m okay with that.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, mystery, romance, SF/F

Review – The Bone Orchard

Posted May 29, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Bone Orchard, Sara A. Mueller

Received to review via Netgalley

The Bone Orchard is a hell of a ride, and it doesn’t give you much to begin with. You get dropped into the world with a bunch of characters who know (or think they know) what they’re doing, what they need to do, and what they want to happen, leaving you picking up the history and details of the situation as you go along. It’s done pretty well, in that the information is there and if you pay attention you’ll get it… but it left me feeling pretty at sea for a while, and a little bit unsure about whether I was having fun.

Mind you, this book is pretty dark and some pretty dreadful things happen, so having fun is probably not the way to put it anyway. There’s a lot of trauma, and a lot of awful things happening — commentaries on trauma, and fault, and colonialism, and abuses of all kinds. The main characters are prostitutes, and one of them has been deliberately made (that’s a thing that can be done here) for the sole purpose of being abused and raped by one of the princes of the land they’re in.

So, yeah, it’s a difficult read at times, and the characters aren’t particularly likeable if that’s the kind of thing that you latch onto — though I did find myself rooting for them, particularly Pain, who has a good heart. Mostly they’re willing to lie and spy and do whatever they must to get their revenge.

I did enjoy the character of the Duchess, about whom I wouldn’t want to say too much and spoil the surprise. The character is very well handled, though, in my opinion.

In the end, it delivered on the promise, for me at least — the slow feed of the information about the world helps you really get hold of things and form your own opinions, not necessarily guided by those of the main characters, and things resolve in a satisfyingly dramatic way. Mueller stuck the landing on something that would’ve made me metaphorically chuck the book against the wall in disgust, too — not that I had much doubt about it, based on the way the characters were all positioned, but it was one potential answer to help unpick the knot, and I wasn’t gonna like it if it happened. (Without too many spoilers, I was afraid someone from Charm’s past would become her present, and I did not think they deserved it at all.)

All in all, I couldn’t have put it down without knowing the end, and then the end proved worth it.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Sara A. Mueller, SF/F

Review – Nemesis Games

Posted May 28, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Nemesis Games, James S.A. Corey

If I complained that things were a bit like being back to the status quo after Cibola Burn, this book is the answer to that. I wouldn’t spoil things by saying too much about the details: what I will say is that we get some points of view that have been held back until now, from characters whose voices we’re all keen to hear, and perspectives that we needed more about.

The book effectively splits our dream team up: Holden stays with the Rocinante while she gets repairs, Naomi heads off on personal business, Alex tries to go off to reconcile with his ex-wife, and Amos has a visit to Earth to make. It’s surprising to realise how little time they’ve all spent apart, but it becomes apparent how embedded in each other they’ve each become when they try to leave (if temporarily) and find themselves often out of touch with the others.

If you were itching to learn more about the past of the characters before the Canterbury, this book delivers — but it also changes so many things. Even as someone who generally prefers spoilers, I’d recommend going in blind and letting the punches land square on. Ouch.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: book reviews, books, James S.A. Corey, SF/F