Tag: Fantasy

Book Review: Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal

On By K. S. WattsIn Book Reviews2 Comments

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Using glamour is an art form. A young lady must be very skilled to master the art of pulling folds of it from another plane and using it to create images and sounds in this one. And all well-bred young women are expected to be skilled. It is, after all, one of the “womanly arts”.

Jane is nearing the age of spinsterhood and has accepted her fate. Her gorgeous sister, Melody, can wrap men around her finger with very little effort, but Jane is not considered beautiful and feels awkward instead of flirtatious. But working glamour is where Jane shines. Everyone in the county knows of Jane’s particular skill and she is often called upon to entertain during parties.

It is at one such party that Jane meets a professional glamourist. Like all “womanly arts” such as painting and playing music, the paid professionals are actually all men. And Mr. Vincent is one of the most lauded glamourists in all England. But his haughty manner rankles Jane. She wants to learn more about his techniques, but his company tests her composure.

Jane would prefer to dodge the handsome but infuriating Mr. Vincent, but his work is exquisite and she is desperate to know more. As she studies his creations, she tests her own version of his technique. While testing one such technique, one that obscures her from view to anyone outside the fold of glamour, she overhears some distressing things regarding her sister and her latest suitor. Jane must use her skill and her wit to save the family from potential ruin because, in a world where illusions can be pulled from thin air, nothing is quite what it seems.

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This was billed as Jane Austen meets magic and I was sold. I found the series in a used bookstore in the Staff Picks display and bought the series. Jane Austen, magic, discount. That is a powerful combination, my dears. I was all in.

With hints of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and written in an alternate history where magic is quite literally an art form, this hooked me from the first chapter. Having said that, if you don’t like Jane Austen, historical fiction, or alternate histories, stop here. This book isn’t for you. If you are practically squealing with delight, carry on.

As always, let’s visit the high points first.

I like that this wasn’t a simple retelling. It definitely paid homage to specific Jane Austen tales, but it was not the exact same story plus magic. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I enjoyed that this was a little something new.

Jane isn’t beautiful. She knows it and everyone else does too. She is not one of those girls who thinks she’s plain when she’s secretly gorgeous. While not ugly, she isn’t pretty either, and no excuses are made for it. Once or twice she does wonder what it would be like if she were pretty like her sister, but she isn’t the type of character who dwells on it. Her talent with glamour earns her as much praise as her sister’s beauty, even if it feels a bit harder to come by.

She loves her sister, but she does get annoyed by her behavior. Jane is not a saint or a martyr. She hides her feelings behind a mask of propriety, but her ire–and the guilt over the ire–are there. As someone with two sisters, I appreciated that her love for her sister didn’t erase or negate other emotions. You’re allowed to love someone and not like them all the time. But I digress.

On the flipside of the coin, let’s look at the low points.

The magic system can be hard to follow. The rules are clear, but what the characters are actually doing can sometimes be difficult to picture. It is described using terms most often associated with laundry or linens (wraps, folds, sheets), bubbles, and ropes (braiding, knotting). I just had to roll with it at first until it started to make sense.

I have to grade using the same rubric for everyone, so I have to bring up diversity. There isn’t any. Although, I will point out that, having read all but the final book in the series now (I haven’t had time to read the last one, but I do have it), that the author does remedy that. She brings in new characters of different ethnicities and sexual orientations, though the latter is talked around as you would expect for characters living in the early 1800s. But in the first book, nada.

I found that to be true of most of my criticisms of each book. Whatever I found lacking in one book, the next book in the series seemed to address. It’s as if (I know it sounds crazy, but just hear me out) the author was learning from her mistakes and growing as a writer. What a concept. Let’s all try it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I recommend the series, or at least books 1-4 since I haven’t actually read number five yet. Did you really think I was going to give it a thumbs down? Jane Austen with Magic! The only way this could have hooked me faster was if it had been set in outer space.

Your mileage may vary.

Book Review: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

On By K. S. WattsIn Book ReviewsLeave a comment

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The Big Water came. The world changed. The monsters returned. This is the Sixth World.

Maggie Hoskie is a Diné, or Navajo, monster hunter. And the reservation where she grew up is now Dinétah, a land surrounded by walls on each side to keep out those would try to colonize the land all over again. But sometimes what’s inside the walls is enough to give you nightmares.

Her mentor, a living legend who broke Maggie’s heart, abandoned her almost two years ago without another thought. She’s been hiding out, trying to put the pieces of her life back together. Unfortunately, the monsters don’t care that she’s experiencing emotional turmoil and when one of them abducts a little girl, Maggie knows what she has to do.

What Maggie finds when she tracks the little girl down is a lot of scary questions that need answers. The kind of monster she is tracking is one she has seen before–the kind that took her family from her. But this type of monster is made and someone is controlling it, and she needs to know who.

With the help of a handsome and charismatic medicine man named Kai, Maggie sets off to find the one responsible and do what she does best–kill them. But she’s up against more than just monsters. Witches, legends, and a meddling Coyote could mean she’s finally found a fight she can’t win. And if she doesn’t, the world will end. Again.

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It was hard to write that summary because no matter what I said I couldn’t do the story justice. It’s also really difficult to write coherently when I’m this excited. I’m going to take a deep breath and try not to oversell this one for you.

Deep breath. Okay. I’m ready.

This is the best thing I’ve read this year.

Let’s start with some of the things I liked. I say “some” because if I listed them all, this post would be encyclopedic in length.

I like Fantasy novels that incorporate mythology into the storyline. The trouble is, so many of the stories have been done to death. This is the first Fantasy I’ve read that uses Navajo, or more accurately Diné, mythology as its base and it was awesome. It was new (to me), it was gripping, and it sucked me in so much that now I’m counting down to April of 2019 so I can read the sequel.

Maggie is both strong and vulnerable in all the best ways. And by best I mean relatable. She knows she can kick butt, but she’s not great with people. She’s been burned and is afraid of letting people in because they might break her heart, or she might break them. But she doesn’t let that fear hold her back from her calling. With a custom grip shotgun that uses corn pollen bullets and a Böker hunting knife, she lays waste to the things that go bump in the night. I also love her sense of humor.

The supporting cast is lovable, flawed, and full of depth. It wouldn’t shock me at all if fanfiction involving Tah or Clive starting popping up in the near future. And Maggie isn’t the only woman who can hold her own. Grace and her daughter Rissa are smart, capable women who nobody would ever dare call damsels.

Clan powers. They’re super cool.

Okay, now that it’s getting harder and harder to rein in the gushing, let me talk about a couple of things I didn’t like.

When Maggie first begins to track the monster, she has flashbacks to when another monster hurt her. She has already mentioned that sometimes humans are the worst monsters of all. For a moment, I was afraid the flashback was going to allude to some sort of sexual assault. The kind that makes me put a book down. Luckily, I was so determined to read this book that I’d been excited about since I first saw the blurb go up on Goodreads that I kept going and discovered it was a flashback of a trauma, but not one of a sexual nature. However, if this easily triggers you, please be careful in the first couple of chapters while she hunts for the little girl and her captor.

The relationship that Maggie has with her mentor is understandable based on her backstory, but when you finally meet him he bears the stench of an abuser. Emotionally and in at least one specific instance physically, though they were in a fighting ring at the time. I concede that this may be because of who he is in Diné mythology, and since I know so little about him I didn’t know to expect it. In any case, be aware that there is an emotionally abusive relationship on the page. It is not a romanticized one, but it is there.

Those were my sticking points.

Part of me really wants to see this one made into a movie if for nothing else than to watch the scene where Clive helps Maggie get ready for The Shalimar. Also, I now solidly believe that mocassins are superior footwear for monster slayers. I want to see more of that.

If you’ve been seeing this book mentioned on social media or on Goodreads, but weren’t really sure if you should give it a shot, I encourage you to go for it.

Book Review: Hounded (Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne

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Atticus O’Sullivan leads a simple life. He runs an occult bookshop in Arizona where he sells specialty teas and is mostly sought out by local college kids who want to know if any of his special herbs are actually weed. At home, he is kept company by his Irish Wolfhound and an aging Irish widow from down the street. It’s a quiet existence for someone who still looks young enough to be in college alongside his clientele, but it’s all a deception.

Atticus is an anglicized name he took long ago. He’s actually twenty-one centuries old, and the last living Druid in existence. A fact that still irks one particular Irish deity to no end. And that deity, Aenghus Og, is about to catch up to him. Aenghus wants a mystical sword that Atticus is hiding, one that would give him untold power and a chance to take over his entire pantheon. Atticus has no choice but to protect the sword. But he can’t do it alone.

The druid must call upon his friends–his werewolf and vampire attorney team, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and the Chooser of the Slain–to help him face his nemesis. Their two millennia dance has been fun, but enough is enough. Atticus knows that this time it’s him or Aenghus Og, and he’s not ready to die just yet.

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I had a fabulous time reading this book. It was such a fun read that in an effort not to oversell it, I’m going to have to start with the things I didn’t like.

Most of the characters are of Irish, Polish, or Scandinavian origin, so even though they’re hanging out in Arizona, there is an overabundance of European white people. Even the Hindu witch has possessed a red-headed white girl. The cast is mostly monochromatic.

I’m sure that in over 2,000 years, Atticus has learned to work it, but over half the women he meets want to bed him. It started to be more comical than sexy. To be clear, I wasn’t upset about this, I just gave it an eye roll here and there. It was still worth the laughter.

There is more than one possession in the book, and I’ll have to be vague here to keep from spoiling anything, but one of them made me feel terrible for the possessee (is that a word?). The situation tried to be smoothed out, but there was only so much that Atticus could do. I didn’t like it, but it added a depth of character for Atticus. He’s not an altruistic hero. He’s more of a gray area type of main character, and it makes him more interesting.

So there were upsides to a few of the things I wasn’t crazy about. Now to the things I enjoyed.

The humor in this book is sprinkled through in such a way, that I never really stopped giggling. Even though heavy stuff was discussed, I never felt weighed down by it. I don’t need a palate cleanser book to help me recover from the gravity of it all. It was funny in all the right ways.

Oberon. The Irish Wolfhound is more than a companion animal, he’s a great character. He might actually be my favorite character. If someone bought me the stuffed Oberon from Kevin Hearne’s website, I wouldn’t complain.

The widow. She’s amazing. I hope there is more of her in books to come. If she dies at some point in the series, don’t tell me yet. I don’t think my heart could take it. Seriously, if it happens I will straight up ugly cry.

The battle scenes are not drawn out in ridiculous ways. The majority of fights in books and film are way too long compared to the average length of a fight in real life. But in Hounded, I never felt that the battles were unrealistic in length. Also, there is more mental maneuvering at play here. I loved that. Some of the battles are those of wit. My favorite kind.

Also, since I’ve been pretty open on my blog before that I’m a Christian, I’d like to add one more. I appreciate the way my religion is acknowledged by Atticus. It is not my deity that he doesn’t care for, it’s the people (we, the followers) who are the problem. I actually couldn’t agree more on that point.

There are other things I could gush over, but spoilers. I loved this book. I can’t wait to read the next one in the series. Beyond that, I’m signing up for Kevin Hearne’s newsletter and will eagerly look for more of his work to devour.

Highly recommend.

 

Book Review: The Rogue Retrieval by Dan Koboldt

On By K. S. WattsIn Book ReviewsLeave a comment

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Quinn Bradley is a Vegas magician. His dream in life is to headline at a casino on the strip and he’s finally got a shot to make the big time–until a powerful and mysterious corporation blocks him out. They want him to themselves, to go through a secret portal into another world and impersonate a guild magician in order to retrieve a rogue official. The problem is that in this new world, magicians aren’t illusionists, but wield real power and the penalty for impersonating one is death.

Quinn goes through the portal with the others on the mission, but things go wrong from the start. A dragon attack, a pack of wild dogs, a closed portal, loss of communication with the company on the other side, and a trap waiting for them, and that’s just the first day. They chase a ghost through groups of mercenaries and highwaymen only to find the rogue official is already three steps ahead. And Quinn pays the price when the magicians guild captures him.

In a strange and fortuitous turn of events, the magician who captures Quinn senses a spark of true magic in him. Instead of immediate execution, the guild gets to see what Quinn has to offer. If he can convince them he’s more than just razzle-dazzle he gets to keep his life, but he needs to do so before another group of rogues kills his comrades and destroys the portal, locking him in this strange world forever.

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This was a good book. The characters were well-developed. Some plot points were predictable, but they were done with flair. I would recommend it to a lot of the readers I know. It didn’t quite grasp me the way I hoped it would, but I can’t put my finger on why.

First, the things I liked about the book.

Genre-bending. Is it Fantasy? Is it is Science Fiction? The truth is this story sports a little of both and I love that.

A cast that isn’t lily white or without distinctive character voices. There were two characters with similar voices, but they were still distinctive enough not to be confused. I like when characters aren’t cardboard cutouts of each other just taking up space in the background. I cared about each character’s struggles.

There were unanswered questions that didn’t make the novel into something that couldn’t stand alone, but left enough room so that the sequels (it is the first in a series) make sense and already have a pull.

Not everyone magically survives battles, wars, or thugs and those that do aren’t unscathed emotionally. It feels more real when the characters have scars.

Now for the things I wasn’t so keen on.

The admiration Chaudri has for Holt and the questions about their relationship allude to a workplace romance. I dislike the colleague romance tropes. It’s just not my thing. To be fair, it seems pretty one-sided and not like an abuse of power.

I like romantic subplots and there was one here, but it was an afterthought. That is a plus for a lot of readers. More power to you.

That’s pretty much it. It has a lot going for it, and I suspect if I read it on a different week than I did (I was busy and distracted) I’d have loved it instantly. And truthfully, I care enough about the characters that I’m still interested in the sequels. So when I say it didn’t grip me, don’t let that turn you off. I stand by my first statement. It’s a good book.

Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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Hazel lives in Fairfold, a small town at the edge of the forest that the Folk call home. Nobody remembers how the horned boy in the glass coffin came to be in the middle of the forest, but he slumbered through the decades, his handsome face never changing. Until Hazel woke him up.

Now strange and dangerous things are happening around Fairfold–more so than normal. Townspeople are being attacked by a tree monster that renders them unconscious with no way to awaken them, the high school is under attack from an unseen force, and the King of the Folk reveals that Hazel is in it all up to her eyeballs. He gives her a deadline to turn over his son, the horned prince, or all of Fairfold will face the consequences. The problem is the horned prince is a nice guy, and his father doesn’t want to welcome him home with open arms, he wants to kill him. And since Hazel’s brother is in love with him, it’s more than a little problematic.

Hazel has to find a way to hide the prince, defeat the king, and save her fellow townsmen before time runs out. With the help of the prince, her brother, and her brother’s best friend–who happens to be a changeling and Hazel’s lifelong crush, Hazel refuses to admit defeat. After all, she’s one of the best knights the Folk have ever known.

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I don’t read a ton of YA. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against it. On the contrary, I will gladly read a compelling story regardless of the age category. It just so happens that I tend to read more adult-targeted books. This one, though, caught my eye.

It twists some old tropes into something that is both familiar and surprising. The characters are all distinctive and unforgettable. The voice is compelling. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this, but the blurb sounded interesting so I download a sample from Amazon. In the first few pages, I knew I had to see where it was going. The plot was barely off the ground, but the voice reeled me in.

There are some things about the story I was less than thrilled with. Any time there is a scene that breaks down to “I know I kissed your sibling, but it’s really you I’m into” or “I’m with you because your sibling won’t look at me twice” I tend to tap out. There are two such points in this story. However, this is a YA story. A high school setting. And since I witnessed this particular storyline play out more than once in my own high school (back when dirt was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth), I can’t argue that it isn’t realistic.

Overall the story was good, the voice was compelling and I don’t regret diving into it. I’m writing this review more than a week after I finished the story, so I’ve come down from the story high and am less attached to it now. That’s my fault. However, it had a flawed but still kick butt heroine, a beautiful male asleep in the glass coffin instead of a princess, and changeling who would have had me drawing hearts in a notebook during homeroom, so if you like fantasy, ya, or would like to read a story that doesn’t pretend the lgbtq+ community doesn’t exist in small towns in the middle of nowhere this could be what you’re looking for.

Book Review: The Watchmaker’s Daughter (Book One of the Glass and Steele Series) by C.J. Archer

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India Steele’s father just died and the only good thing about her ex-fiance stealing her family shop out from under her is that he’s her ex-fiance. When she goes to the shop to tell him off, because someone has to, she arrives just in time to ruin his interaction with a would-be customer. The customer, however, doesn’t take India’s dressing down quite the way she expected.

He offers her a job.

He’s looking for a specific watchmaker to fix his very special watch, but he doesn’t know the man’s name, where he works, or even if he is still in London. He hires India, who has intimate working knowledge of the clock industry in London to help him find the man. Since she is without employment, prospects, or a place to live, she accepts.

The mysterious man and his special watch intrigue India; especially when she discovers him using the magical watch to heal himself of some undisclosed illness! On the same day she discovers that a man, possibly matching his description, has just arrived in London from America and is an outlaw on the run.

He’s only in town for a week. Perhaps if she can manage to not get distracted by his handsome countenance, his charming manner, and his motley crew of friends, she can survive the week and claim the reward on his head.

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I love the chemistry between the two main characters in this book. The supporting cast is varied and endearing. It was a quick, fun read that left me wanting to find out where the story goes from here.

Having said that, I do have to say that I think the story suffers from pacing issues overall. There is a subplot that, while it becomes more relevant through the series, feels superfluous in this book. Also, not being a sensitivity reader and coming from the background that I do, I cannot speak for how anybody else will interpret a couple of the characters, but I will say that each of them gets stronger and more developed throughout the series.

As you can see, there are ups and downs, but I liked it. What I considered flaws in the structure didn’t keep me from enjoying the book as a whole, nor will they stop me from desiring to read the next book in the series. It is a good example of a story not needing to be perfect to be captivating.