Skip navigation

The Butcher of the Forest: A Review

I read Premee Mohamed’s The Butcher of the Forest yesterday, and I’m pretty sure I’m not okay. It’s a fantastic novella, and that’s the problem. It’s too good, and now it’s done.

Veris lives in the valley that is ruled over by the Tyrant. She spends her days raising rabbits and helping her aunt and her grandfather with gardening and other tasks around the house. Most days, that would be more than enough, but today is not like most days.

Today, Veris was shaken out of bed by the Tyrant’s soldiers attempting to tear down her front door. Today, she was put into a carriage and taken to the Tyrant’s castle. Today might be the last day of her life. Last night, the Tyrant’s two children, Eleonor and Aram, vanished into the woods that lie north of the castle. Where the southern woods are often traveled by foragers and hunters, the northern woods are understood by the locals to be dangerous. No one who goes into the northern woods comes out again. Except, that is, for Veris.

Years ago, Veris ventured into those woods to rescue a child, and they both returned. Somehow, that information made its way to the ears of the Tyrant, and now he has had his soldiers drag her to the castle. Today, he has ordered her to find his children and bring them back home, or her life and those of her aunt and grandfather are forfeit. So it is with rapidly dwindling hope that Veris returns to her house to prepare. The northern woods are more dangerous than anyone other than her knows, and all she can do is try. Today, she will gather up her totems and supplies, and she will go to the woods. Today, she will risk everything she has in order to save it from the Tyrant’s whims. Today, she will try to save the children of a monster.

The Butcher of the Forest is quick and beautiful and painful as a knife through the ribs. Premee Mohamed has created a fairy tale to rival legends, with fae creatures and monsters and all the rules one must follow in order to survive. My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. It’s available for purchase on February 27th, but if you can, preorder it through your favorite bookstore today. You’ll thank yourself.

The Trials of Empire: A Review

Richard Swan’s Empire of the Wolf series caught my attention almost immediately when I first saw the cover of The Justice of Kings. It’s hard to miss a cover like that when you’re 1.) a fantasy fan and 2.) a library employee. I picked up the audio books via Libby last summer, when I realized that a second book was out, and now I’ve had the immense privilege of returning once again to the Sovan Empire with book #3.

The Empire of the Wolf is told from the perspective of Helena Sedanka, an orphan who was been taken in and trained by Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice. In that position, he serves as travelling judge, jury, and when needed, executioner, carrying out the will of the courts wherever he may be. Helena acts as his legal clerk and apprentice, producing documentation of their efforts and learning the intricacies of the Sovan legal system along the way. For some time, they were both content to travel the northern reaches of the empire, but an encounter with a zealous church official, Patria Bartholomew Claver, changed everything.

Claver sought a return to the days when the Church of Nema controlled the powers now held by the Order of Justices: ancient magics that could be used to compel action, the ability to confer with the dead, command over wildlife. All of these and more had once officially been the exclusive realm of the church, but they had been taught to the Justices to aid their work. Frustrated by the lack of action from the majority of the Church, Claver found his way to darker places, making bargains with powers that he didn’t truly understand in order to bring about the change he desired. Now, he seems to have set his sights on control of the Empire itself, no matter what demon or deity he has to bargain with to make it happen. He sits at the head of an army of Templars poised to strike down the Emperor, ostensibly in Nema’s name.

Now, Vonvalt’s own unshakable faith in the Common Law is beginning to break. In his attempts to thwart Claver, he has become persona non grata, believed to be responsible for the death of the Emperor’s grandson. A rebellion against the Magistratum has reached its zenith, and the justices are by and large disbanded or dead. Vonvalt will find no safe haven in the capital. What he and Helena need most are more allies who can withstand Claver’s burgeoning Templar army. A journey far beyond the borders of Sova might be able to accomplish just that, but acquiring the aid they need may prove deadly. Such travels will need to be made not only on the material plane but in the various realms accessible only through the ancient magics. Helena and Vonvalt will place their lives and their souls on the line in order to defeat Claver, but it might not be enough to save the empire. Loyalties will be questioned, near-death experiences will be had, and trickster gods will play their hands at last. It’s going to be messy.

Richard Swan brings his fantasy trilogy to a powerful conclusion in The Trials of Empire. His strength in blending traditional elements of western fantasy with jurisprudence makes for compelling reading, especially for someone raised on Lord of the Rings and John Grisham like me. The Empire of the Wolf hews far closer to A Song of Ice and Fire than to LOTR, but the comparison stands. I have enjoyed this series more with each book, and I’m thrilled to say that The Trials of Empire is out on shelves today. You should check it out.

My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC of The Trials of Empire in exchange for a fair review.

Womb City: A Review

It is a grim time to be a woman in Botswana. Nelah is a brilliant architect running firm that is struggling with finances. Her husband Elifasi is the assistant commissioner of police in Gabarone, but he lacks desired traits to gain further upward mobility. Neither of their positions is truly secure. Nelah’s body once belonged to a young criminal, and so her husband monitors her every action through a microchip embedded in the back of her neck, lest her body return to the illegal behaviors of its former occupant. If she violates a law, a drone will swoop in and capture her so that her consciousness can be imprisoned and her body can be given to the next person in the queue for a body hop. In the distant future of Tlotlo Tsamaase’s Womb City, the patriarchy has expanded its clutches to predicting crimes, with women being disproportionately convicted of potential crimes. Nelah struggles constantly under the oppressive eye of her husband and questions what happened to the original occupant of her body that caused the loss of one of her arms before Nelah’s consciousness was placed in it.

Nelah and Eli have a deeply troubled marriage. Not only must they contend with the potential of Nelah’s current body to revert to the criminal ways of its former host, but they also struggle with infertility (Nelah claims that she is referred to as The Black Womb in the aftermath of four miscarriages). Eli wants to be a father so that he can gain clout at work, and so he and Nelah eventually put more money than they can afford into an artificial incubator. While the allows them to successfully conceive, they now have the financial obligation hanging over their heads as well. Every morning, Eli reviews recordings from Nelah’s microchip, and her every move is closely monitored, recorded through her own eyes. Eli fears that the slightest indiscretion on Nelah’s part will cause him to lose his job, or at least fail to secure a promotion. With all of these threats to her own wellbeing, Nelah begins to look for any possible out. She soon rekindles an affair with Janish Koshal, a powerful businessman who provides her with a way to prevent the microchip from recording their time together.

When a drug- and alcohol-fueled drive results in the death of a young social media star at Nelah and Jan’s hands, however, everything changes. Nelah must find a way to navigate the perils of a crushing patriarchy, save her and Eli’s child, and confront a power that she may never truly comprehend.

Womb City is a brilliant, but difficult read. It’s heavy cyberpunk with strong elements of racial and gender equality. The language is immersive, blending Setswana words and phrases throughout the narrative and painting a picture of a future that should be so much better than it is. Tlotlo Tsamaase (xe/xer and she/her pronouns) has put forth a strong adult fiction debut for those who are willing to put in the time and effort. Be warned that it isn’t for the faint of heart, and pay heed to the content warnings xe placed at the beginning of the book, because there will be no punches pulled. I’m grateful to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. Womb City was released today, 1/23/24. Go check it out.

Janus: Looking Back, Looking Forward

I couldn’t sleep the other night, so I went back through my photos app and looked through my pictures from the last year. Overall, 2023 was pretty good.

I got to see a couple of my favorite bands in concert (Dethklok and Ghost) and got to add two new bands to my live experiences (Amon Amarth and BABYMETAL). I re-read the entirety of One Piece and fell in love with the manga all over again. I got to revisit Hyrule and the realms above and beneath it in Tears of the Kingdom, and as recently mentioned, found sheer joy in Faerûn via Baldur’s Gate 3. I got to take #MediumChild for a first movie theatre experience (Across the Spider-Verse was just spectacular). I got to catch back up with a dear friend after he came out of a coma, and take him to go see Patrick Stewart talk about his career. I had to say goodbye to a beloved summer job, but got to start in a brand new field that I’m staggeringly good at in its place. I got through over two hundred books, thanks largely to manga (looking at you again, One Piece) and audiobooks. I got to review some absolutely incredible new books. I took a trip back to my home town with my whole family for the first time, and got to celebrate my cousin’s wedding. We had the chance to spend Christmas with my dear spouse’s family, getting everyone together for the first time in five years.

I don’t know what 2024 will bring. V and I are coming up on our 7th anniversary. I’ve been at my current library for just over 7 years too. #LargeChild has been learning to play Magic: The Gathering, and so I’m brushing up on a game I briefly learned almost fifteen years ago. We’re playing the Commander format, and V and I were gifted Doctor Who-themed Commander decks at Christmas, so it’s a chance to turn it into a family activity. We’re playing D&D in-person again, and V is back with chaos gnomes. This time, though, instead of playing their equally creepy bard twin, I’m playing a tiefling fighter who serves as their bodyguard. He looks like Lemmy and sounds like Brock Samson, and I’m delighted every time I get to play him. I’ve got a stack of ARCs to read (okay, it’s not technically a stack, because they’re digital, but you get the idea) and then finish reviews for, and I’m optimistic that Alecto the Ninth will be added to that pile before year’s end.

Today is my WordPress anniversary. I’ve been here for thirteen years today, and I’m grateful to all of you who still stop by to read. Take care of yourselves. I’ll be back soon.

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known: A Review

It’s January, and that means that it’s time for one of my favorite parts of the year. Yup! There’s a new Wayward Children novella out this week! I’ve been a fan of this series since Every Heart a Doorway came out in 2016, and the subsequent titles in the series have continued to break my heart and make me fall in love with Seanan McGuire’s writing over and over again. Mislaid in Parts Half-Known is the ninth full novella set in this collection of worlds (McGuire has written several short stories that flesh out some background details of characters as well).

It’s somehow been three years since the last time I reviewed one of these novellas for my blog, which I daresay is a disservice to my readers and friends (and those of you who overlap). I will include a caveat for this title for anyone who isn’t familiar with the series. This is book number 9. This is not a starting point. This book heavily references characters and events from the previous eight books.

Eleanor West’s Home For Wayward Children is a special kind of school, serving as a place for people who have found their ways into other worlds through magical Doors and then made their way back to Earth. The students are given three simple rules at the school, where they learn to adapt to a mundane life (and many wait for their Doors to appear again). “No solicitations. No visitors. No quests.” Rule number three gets broken a lot. In Mislaid, we again find Antoinette, or “Antsy,” our protagonist from book #8, Lost in the Moment and Found. Antsy has found her way to Eleanor’s school and is struggling to fit in (difficult to do when you’re 9 years old, but the magic of the Doors has aged your body to almost twice that) when several of her classmates discover her unique talent. After spending time in a shop of things that are lost from around hundreds of worlds, Antsy can find things again. Most notably for the students at the school, Antsy can find Doors. With sufficient concentration and certainty, she can locate a door to a world once inhabited by the other students. However, as she learned in Lost, the Doors take three days of your life for each one that you open (hence her appearance). She’s understandably hesitant to risk more time to open Doors for the other students.

Eventually, when one of her classmates threatens to force Antsy to find her Door for her, Antsy flees the school, in the company of some of the more adventurous (and friendly) students, Kade, Cora, Christopher, Sumi, and Emily. What follows is a whirlwind tour of worlds we’ve known existed but never visited (including Kade’s Door to Prism) and a lot of references to characters that we know from other earlier books in the series. These continuity nods are almost overwhelming, but serve to tightly pull many threads together in what may be one of the final novellas in the series, as Seanan has said that Kade’s book will likely be the end. While on the run, Antsy and her cohorts make their way back to the store where Antsy used to work, bringing her back into conflict with the shopkeeper who refused to tell her about the cost of opening the Doors.

Not everyone who comes to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children stays for long, and not everyone who leaves on a forbidden quest gets to come back again. Antsy leads her classmates through the Doors with the best of intentions, but some things (and some people) just have a way of getting lost.

Seanan McGuire remains one of my absolute favorite authors, and Mislaid in Parts Half-Known is a brilliant reminder of why that is. It’s out on store shelves today, so do yourself a favor and grab a copy. My utmost thanks to Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Down the Rabbit Hole: Lost in Faerûn

I love Baldur’s Gate 3.

I’ve been playing it almost exclusively for the last two months, and have somehow lost over 150 hours (according to Steam, though the game itself says it’s more like 120).

I have never gotten this into an RPG before that wasn’t pencil and paper, and I can think of only a handful of games I’ve spent this much time and energy on, especially in such a short timeframe.

I first started playing tabletop D&D as a freshman in college. Some of my floormates were getting a 3.5 edition game going, and I was invited to join. There’d never been a big enough group of people in my hometown who knew how to play, so I never got to play before college. Needless to say, I leapt at the opportunity to play this fabled game, and I’ve been hooked ever since. We switched to 3.5/Pathfinder stuff when 4E came out, but since 2014, I’ve been playing 5th Edition almost exclusively. Despite this long relationship, I never got into any of the D&D video game properties like Neverwinter Nights or Baldur’s Gate. That all changed this year, when Larian Studios released Baldur’s Gate 3.

Based on the 5th Edition ruleset, BG3 is an incredibly immersive experience. In case you’ve somehow missed this cultural juggernaut thus far, the premise is this. One hundred years (roughly) after the events of the first two games in the franchise, a new threat has arisen in Faerûn. You play as one of a group of adventurers who have been captured by illithids, more commonly known as Mind Flayers. These creatures have infected you and your fellow prisoners with parasites that have taken up residence in your brain. The process that follows will inevitably (and painfully) transform you into a Mind Flayer as well. Before the horror can fully set in, the Mind Flayer ship you’re travelling on is attacked by a group of githyanki, a race of psionic warriors dedicated to combatting illithids anywhere they appear. When the ship crash lands along the Sword Coast, you’re lucky to survive. You’re quickly embroiled in local events as a battle looms between a druid grove sheltering tiefling refugees and a nearby camp of goblins. From here, you’re able to recruit your fellow infected in order to build your adventuring party, seeking a cure for the parasites in your heads as you make your way back to your home city, Baldur’s Gate.

The game boasts an immersive character builder, but also includes numerous pre-built characters that can be selected. Astarion, the elf rogue; Karlach, the tiefling barbarian; Lae’zel, the githyanki fighter; Shadowheart, the half-elf cleric; Gale, the human wizard; and Wyll, the human warlock are all available as Origins characters. If you choose to play as an original character, you can add all of the Origins characters to your adventuring party (though only up to three of them can accompany you at any given time). The final option for a player character is The Dark Urge, an evil-leaning character (that has a default race and class, but those can be changed in creation if you like) with ties to the previous games in the series. Whomever you choose to play as, you’re faced with an escalating series of challenges as you search for answers. The illithid tadpoles in your brain aren’t acting the way they normally would, and a conspiracy stretches all the way to the top of the Upper City of Baldur’s Gate, ensnaring you and your companions.

The gameplay, again, based on D&D’s 5th Edition ruleset is pretty straightforward, and Larian studios included three different difficulty settings so that players who are less familiar with D&D can still enjoy the depth of the story. As a veteran D&D player, but not used to the video game format, I opted for the middle road of Normal difficulty. I quickly acclimated to the controls (once I replaced my dying mouse, which had a tendency to double-click on its own, much to poor Astarion’s frustration). Now my first party, based around a gnome bard, is approaching the end of their journey, and my second playthrough with a half-orc monk is making solid progress in the first act of the game. Because there are so many possibilities for your journey to take, it’s absolutely worth the time to play at least twice. You’ll see that different character types will be offered different approaches to situations, and start to see things that you might have missed the first time around. Regardless, it’s going to be a good time.

I’m not in the business of doing video game reviews, but every once in a while, I just have to let y’all know that I’m enjoying something new. I hope you are too.

System Collapse: A Review

Murderbot is back! Again!

Last time we saw it, publishing-order-wise, was actually a larger step back in time. Fugitive Telemetry took place in between Exit Strategy (book 4) and Network Effect (book 5). Now Martha Wells is following up the plot events from Network Effect with System Collapse, with Murderbot still dealing with the alien contamination that nearly wiped out a corporate colony.

At the outset of System Collapse, Murderbot is definitively not having a good time. Something redacted happened to it, and it is not about to talk to anyone about it. Not its humans, not ART (Asshole Research Transport) or ART’s humans, and not Three, the new rogue SecUnit that’s following in its footsteps toward independence. The struggle against the contaminated humans and the malicious code that infected them has left a mark on Murderbot. To make things worse, that fight may not yet be over. A hidden colony on the same planet has been located, and there’s a possibility that the same alien contamination might have infected it. Murderbot’s humans have decided that they need to investigate, since attempts to contact the colony have gone unanswered.

A rival corporation, Barish-Estranza, already has designs on the planet, regardless of any contamination that may be in place, and finding a group of colonists that they could force into indentured servitude would be icing on the cake. It’s up to Murderbot to find the colonists (if they’re alive) and get them off-world before that can happen. Its performance levels are not anywhere near its standards, and it knows it, but redacted continues to get in the way of it doings its job properly, to the potential risk of its humans. Resources are limited (no armor, less than half of its usual complement of support drones, and no direct communication with ART’s full set of sensors) and its own growing paranoia may just get the better of our favorite rogue SecUnit.

Martha Wells is one of my all-time favorite science fiction writers, and the Murderbot Diaries remain one of the best modern series in the genre. System Collapse is a tight, intense narrative that reminds us just why we love to follow Murderbot’s internal monologue, and why we’ve done so for seven books now. It’s full of corporate criticism and mental health crises, and I absolutely loved it. It’s out in the world today, and I’m incredibly grateful to Tor.com and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Bookshops & Bonedust: A Review

Travis Baldree is a master of cozy fantasy novels. Prior to reading Legends & Lattes last year, I never would’ve guessed that was a genre of fiction I needed. Now, though, I don’t know how I can carry on without more. Thankfully, Bookshops & Bonedust, a brilliantly crafted prequel, is out today.

Viv the orc is back, and this time around we get to see her in her more wild, young adventurer years. She’s in the employ of a mercenary band called Rackham’s Ravens, hunting down the dreaded necromancer, Varine. When her recklessness gets her injured during a battle, she wakes up in the town of Murk. As its name might suggest, there’s not a lot to see about town, and her room at the local inn is claustrophobic at best. Her arrival quickly puts her at odds with the local surgeon and the head of the gate wardens, and all early encounters promise a less than engaging stay. With at least a few weeks of recovery time ahead of her, Viv reluctantly sets out to occupy her time until her fellow mercenaries come back through.

Viv quickly finds a local bookstore and makes the acquaintance of Fern, a foulmouthed ratkin who runs the shop. Not normally the reading type, Viv is hesitant to take up the recommended titles that Fern offers. After a few chapters, she’s hooked. Soon, she’s devouring the books that Fern provides just as quickly as she’s going through the local baker, Maylee’s, wares. Despite a rough start in town, Viv starts to build friendships (and maybe something more, as far as Maylee is concerned). Fern’s struggling business benefits from Viv’s new perspectives, and Viv gets the opportunity to learn more about herself than she’d previously thought possible.

Small-town living isn’t necessarily all that it’s cracked up to be, though. Viv isn’t ready to settle down from her mercenary life just yet, and the threat of Varine and her necromancy is closer than anyone is expecting. We know, since this is a prequel, that Viv will survive the experiences ahead of her. What we don’t know is just how much she’s going to change over the course of her time in Murk. The fates of her new companions are on the line, as is the success or failure of Fern’s beloved indie bookstore. Viv is going to have to learn quickly that not all of her problems can be solved with a swing of a sword.

Baldree has landed another instant winner with his sophomore effort, with no sign of the dreaded slump. I’m happy to report that he’s managed to put the romance in necromancer, and I eagerly await Viv’s next adventure, whenever it may arrive. Bookshops & Bonedust is out today. Get to it.

My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Cardboard Kingdom: Snow and Sorcery

I love The Cardboard Kingdom, folks. What’s not to love about a collaborative graphic novel that showcases kids learning cooperation and creativity? It’s a perfect match, really. Well, this year is going to see the release of Snow and Sorcery, the third book in Chad Sell’s brilliantly illustrated series. This book, like the others, is a collaboration between Sell and other writers, including Katie Schenkel, Jasmine Walls, and Manuel Betancourt.

It’s winter, and changes are coming to the Cardboard Kingdom. The neighborhood kids face an unexpected interruption of their community-wide imaginary world when three new kids from the other side of the park show up, and one of their own long-time friends finds himself now living behind enemy lines. With intentions and loyalties being called into question, the Kingdom is at risk of complete collapse. Tempers are running hot and the snowballs are flying fast, and the reality of change may be the greatest threat the kids have ever faced. Imagination and friendship hold the Cardboard Kingdom together, but those bonds are being strained.

Like its predecessors, Snow and Sorcery is fully illustrated by Chad Sell, who manages to capture the beautiful shift between the actual cardboard costumes the kids assemble and their imagined selves. It explores the relationships between a remarkably (and realistically) diverse group of children from different backgrounds, different family structures, and more. It’s a beautiful blend of humor, drama, and heart that, despite my best preparations, still managed to get me to cry at several points. In the Cardboard Kingdom, after all, everyone can be who they want to be.

The Cardboard Kingdom: Snow and Sorcery comes out on Tuesday, November 7th. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Traitor of Redwinter: A Review

My first encounter with Ed McDonald’s Redwinter books came from seeing Traitor of Redwinter pop up on my NetGalley list. I quickly tracked down the audio version of the first book in the series, Daughter of Redwinter, and I absolutely loved getting to know Raine and the world that fears her so.

Traitor of Redwinter opens with a nice summary of the events of book one. Raine has a talent that know one else can ever know. Because of her near-death experiences (suffocating with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck at birth, and a drowning as a young girl), she can see the spirits of the dead. This proximity to death is greatly feared, and those who are known to have the grave-sight are quickly stoned to death. Still, she was taken in by Draoihn, magic-wielding warriors who fight against evil after she helped two of them to defeat a demonic creature named Ciuthach that was resurrected beneath the monastery where she had been living. After several months as a servant among the Draoihn, she ended up defeating a dread enemy, a powerful Draoihn possessing the grave-sight who had been believed executed years before.

Now, almost a year after coming to stay with Ulovar LacNaithe, the Draoihn who saved her life, Raine has finally been permitted to train with the other apprentices. She’s being pushed through a crash course in armed combat and meditation techniques to control the Gates, limiters that determine which magical powers a Draoihn can wield. While most Draoihn only open the First Gate, entering an active trance that enhances their senses, others can gain further abilities with additional Gates. Only Grandmaster Robilar holds the Fifth Gate while the Sixth Gate, the Gate of Death, is forbidden due to its connections with the grave-sight.

A diplomatic mission to deal with a rebellious Draoihn leader quickly goes awry, with one of Raine’s fellow apprentices being killed, and only his ghost’s appearance serving her as warning to get the rest of the team out of an ambush. With Ulovar still recovering from his battle with Ciuthach, much work is left to his apprentices in the fortress of Redwinter. The Draoihn’s enemies, those who would depose the king and throw the magic of the world into chaos, will not rest. Raine may prove once again the only one who can stop them. The cost of that, however, may be Raine’s secret, and the promise of a safe and secure life in Redwinter. Will she risk losing her relationships with her new friends and family in order to save their lives?

Ed McDonald has, once again, presented an excellent fantasy adventure in a world that parallels our own. With a Scotland-inspired protagonist who rivals Brave‘s princess Merida, Traitor of Redwinter is an incredibly solid second entry for this series. Greater depth is given to all of our returning characters, and the world is fleshed out considerably more. Political intrigue, romance, violence, and magic blend brilliantly. I love the time I’ve spent in this world, and I look forward to hearing the audio version of this one as well.

Traitor of Redwinter is out in stores today. Happy reading!

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.