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Someone You Can Build a Nest In: A Review

Shesheshen woke up early, and is understandably upset. Her hibernation in her lair was interrupted by a trio of would-be monster hunters, and she was only able to kill and eat one of them before the others escaped. Using some of the dead hunter’s remains (and other bits of the ruins where she lives), the shape-shifter is able to build herself a bit of human-like body framework so that she can sneak down into the nearby town to see what’s changed since she was last awake. Borrowed bits of flesh and bone give her body more of the appropriate shape, allowing her to fake her way through some interactions. When her disguise fails in the middle of a festival celebrating her imminent death, she’s chased back out of town. The crowd, including the two survivors of the raid on her lair, pursue her until she falls off of a cliff.

Upon her next awakening, she’s startled by the presence of a human woman who has treated her wounds, wrapped her in blankets, and stoked a fire. The woman, an outsider not from the village, introduces herself as Homily. Before the monster can really focus on what’s happened, she’s being fed soup and entreated to rest by a woman who is clearly oblivious to Shesheshen’s monstrous nature, taking any oddities about her as symptoms of having just fallen over a cliff. Homily loads her into a cart and strikes off back to town. Soon, she’s in Homily’s room at a local inn until she can finish convalescing. A couple of things strike Shesheshen, then. First, the people of the village seem terrified of Homily. Second, she is beginning to feel… feelings. An odd sort of mutual attraction seems to be blooming between Homily and the woman she knows as Siobhan. Homily feels a genuine attraction to the monster she’s rescued, but she has no idea what Siobhan actually is.

As the two are getting to know each other and growing closer, though, the reason for Homily’s presence in Underlook comes to light. She’s the daughter of the Baroness Wulfyre, one of the family that rules the isthmus where Shesheshen lives. She’s also a master monster hunter in her own right, and had come to the village to assist her brother in hunting down the Wyrm of Underlook. Unfortunately for her, her brother Catharsis was the monster hunter that Shesheshen devoured before she and Homily met, and all of her remaining relatives believe that Shesheshen has cursed their line. Now Shesheshen is torn. Does she continue her charade or reveal her monstrous nature to Homily and hope that she can be forgiven for who she is? She’s finally met someone who might be a suitable host for her eggs, but if Homily figures out her identity, siding with her admittedly toxic family means Shesheshen’s death.

John Wiswell has released a brilliant debut novel with Someone You Can Build a Nest In. It’s a delightfully bizarre fantasy romance told from the perspective of a monster, and I’m utterly entranced by it. His descriptions of Shesheshen’s odd morphology and attempts to human are charming and disturbing simultaneously, and the Wulfyre clan (barring Homily) are suitably horrible. All in all, it’s an unconventional love story that will leave you questioning what relationships can be, and whether we can grow to become more than what our parents expect us to become.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an eARC of this title in exchange for a fair review. Someone You Can Build a Nest In is out in stores today, 4/2/24. Check it out.

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.

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.

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.

Nowhere Special: A Review

“Who you are isn’t in your blood. What’s in your blood is an idea, like something whispered to you from the past. You have to decide what to do with that.”

Elpidia is tired of her cousins beating her up for something she didn’t do. School is miserable when the three of them decide to come pick on her, and no one at the school cares enough to do anything about it. When her abuela decides that it’s time for a change, Elpidia finds herself being delivered to Charlie, who lives out in a compound that he built in the middle of the desert. Charlie, Elpidia is told, is going to teach her to fight.

Stan is tired of being unable to protect his mother from her abusive husband, and the violence that he drunkenly explodes with. He’s the one white kid at school, and that plus his size makes him a prime target for bullies at school. When his mom says that she has a surprise for him, he’s truly shocked to be driven out to Charlie’s, where he finds a girl that he knows from school.

Together, Elpidia and Stan begin to find a new strength, both in their Escrima training and in their friendship. She’s trying to move beyond the disaster that destroyed her home and resulted in her mom and dad no longer being in the picture (it’s not stated outright, but it looks like an attempt to cook meth in their house went awry), and the ripples that have impacted both sides of her family in the aftermath. Stan is trying to find where he belongs, and right now it looks like that might be serving as a nice, white face on behalf of the local gang, Los Cocos (the gang leader would love to have a friendly looking gringo to interact with law enforcement for him). Together, they might be able to make a better future for themselves and their families.

Matt Wallace is a phenomenal writer, and he’s put together another brilliant middle grade fiction title. Nowhere Special is a great depiction of life in a small town, where no one wants to actually talk about the issues that the people face. It’s a quick read, and a necessary story to tell, tackling issues of bullying, drug use, domestic violence, and more in a format that makes the story accessible for younger readers who are dealing with these issues in real life.

Nowhere Special is out tomorrow, 10/24. Do yourself a favor and give it a read. My utmost thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Black River Orchard: A Review

Dan Paxson’s apples are like nothing else the folks of his home town have ever seen.

His daughter Calla dubs them “Ruby Slipper” apples, because they make you feel like there’s no place like home. Or so most of the other folks around Bucks County, Pennsylvania say. Calla wouldn’t know. She hasn’t tried one, but damn near everyone else has. Free samples at the farmer’s market will get folks’ attention, after all. Dan says that he developed them himself, grown from scionwood grafted onto existing trees.

Maybe they’re a miracle. Maybe they’re something else. You see, no one in town really knows why the judge decided to change an old ruling and cede the land the orchard occupies back to Dan. No one alive, anyway. Still, the orchard that had been his father’s dream is now his reality. Calla isn’t a fan of apples, preferring to focus on her boyfriend Marco, his track career, their upcoming application to Princeton, and life anywhere outside of Bucks County. Still, if her dad’s weird hobby turns out to drive her social media follower numbers up, so be it. She’s a born influencer, after all.

The discovery of a corpse downstream from the Paxson’s orchard stirs things up, though. There’s a mystery lurking in Bucks County, and Calla is starting to get nervous. Could her dad be responsible for the man’s death? Who would kill someone over an apple tree? Why is her dad not sleeping? Why is everyone in town suddenly so addicted to the Ruby Slipper? Calla is having a difficult time knowing who to trust anymore.

There’s an evil lurking in Bucks County, and it may have just found a new outlet.

Chuck Wendig has knocked it out of the park with Black River Orchard. He’s had a knack for horror writing for years, as evidenced by the runaway success of Wanderers back in 2019. His latest book showcases his own love of heirloom apples and a frightening amount of research into the process of cultivating new varieties, as well as a deep understanding of the sheer horror potential of a rural area. I absolutely loved this book, and I hope you do too.

I don’t know that I can eat another apple any time soon, though.

Black River Orchard is available to purchase as of today, 9/26/23. My utmost thanks to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.