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But Not Too Bold: A Review

Do you like Gothic romance? Do you like spiders? Oh, do I have a book recommendation for you.

Dália has lived most of her life in Capricious House, serving as an apprentice to Ms. Matilde, the Keeper of the Keys. The massive manor house is isolated, surrounded by fields of poppies and filled with tarantulas (which serve as pets to many of the servants in addition to being utilized as a food source). The Lady Anatema provides well for her house’s servants, and Dália wants for very little. When her supervisor/caretaker dies suddenly, Dália is appointed as the new Keeper of the Keys. The Lady summons her to the third floor of the house, forbidden to most of the servants, but the dwelling place of Anatema herself. There has been a theft, and the Lady needs answers. Someone has stolen one of her memories, an intricately woven replica she made of her most recently deceased bride.

The Lady Anatema is not, as you quickly learn, human. She is an enormous spider-like creature, and one of the few remaining Archaic Ones in existence. Archaic art is highly sought after, so there’s a small chance that one of the servants in the house has simply stolen Lady Anatema’s weaving to sell. It would fetch a high price, allowing one to live extremely well outside of Capricious House, but that would mean betraying Lady Anatema. Dália can’t imagine ever wanting that, and so she agrees to assist the lady of the house with the investigation. On her way into the library to meet Anatema, she passes by the house motto, written into the flooring: BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD. With that in mind, she enters the library and brings herself to the attention of Lady Anatema.

Upon the discovery of a second theft, Dália begins to compile a list of suspects to question. Who has stolen from Anatema and why? After all, most of her brides have ended up devoured by her. The investigation requires Dália and Anatema to spend a considerable amount of time together. As they grow closer, new feelings and desires come to light for both of them, but they are not the only residents of Capricious House who have been hiding secrets.

But Not Too Bold is a stunning sapphic novella. It’s an unsettling but romantic story that races along in 128 short pages, weaving through the halls and grounds of Capricious House like a spider’s web. Hache Pueyo has won a new fan with this one. The English translation will finally be available on Tuesday, February 11th, and I hope you check it out! Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear: A Review

It’s January, and that means that it’s time for a new Wayward Children novella! In Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear, we are reintroduced to Nadya, a turtle-loving Drowned Girl that we first met in Beneath the Sugar Sky. In that book, Nadya was one of the students of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children who accompanied Sumi’s daughter, Rini, on her quest to bring her mother back to life. Before she traded places with Sumi’s soul in the Halls of the Dead, long before she first made her way to the waters of Belyyreka, Nadya was an orphan. Abandoned by her birth mother, she was raised in an orphanage where most of the visiting families would pass her by because of her missing right forearm. Eventually, though, an American couple arrives and whisks her away from her home in Russia to the mysterious, distant city of Denver, Colorado. Not going to lie, folks. Of all the places Seanan McGuire has taken readers of these books over the last decade, the one I least expected was right here in Colorado.

Nadya’s new parents want to help her fit in, so she takes English classes and is eventually taken to a doctor to be fitted for a prosthesis, something that she had never considered, because she is whole as she is. A prosthetic arm makes the forearm she never had suddenly visible to her classmates at school. Since neither of them consulted with her on the idea before deciding she’d get it, Nadya’s less than thrilled with the whole thing. Feeling unloved, she goes for a short walk to visit a nearby turtle pond that had always cheered her up, a place she frequently would visit with her adoptive father. That’s when she sees it. Carved into a turtle’s shell are the words “Be Sure.” Reaching for the turtle to try to help it, since someone was clearly cruel to it, Nadya falls into the pond and through the doorway that had formed there.

Waking up in the drowned world of Belyyreka, Nadya is quickly befriended by the humans who live there. Many of them are like her, swept-away people chosen by the Doors from their own worlds. She finds a home among them, learning to work with turtle partners to fish and explore. She even finds a turtle partner of her own, named Burian, who will eventually grow large enough for Nadya to ride on their adventures. But all good things must come to an end eventually, and we readers already know that Nadya will make her way to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children in due time.

Seanan McGuire has once again crafted a phenomenal addition to the Wayward Children series. As with all of the even numbered books, this one deals with the backstory of a character rather than a present-day adventure. Nadya’s story is a great guide to acceptance of one’s self, and finding ways to be true to that even when others try to change who you are. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is available today. I know I needed it more than I realized. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Witch Queen of Redwinter: A Review

And now the story of Raine Wildrose does come to an end. A little over a year ago, I was introduced to Ed McDonald’s spectacular fantasy series when I was offered an advance copy of Traitor of Redwinter. I hadn’t read the first book, but I was so intrigued by the concept that I binged the audio version of book one in order to get through book two by publication day. Now the trilogy has come to an end.

Previously, Raine learned that her lord and trainer among the Draoihn, Ulovar LacNaithe, was dying. As it happened, his strength of magic was being drained from him and channeled into his nephew, Ovitus LacNaithe. Under the manipulation of Sul, one of the Fallen Lords, Ovitus was positioning himself to take over the leadership of the Draoihn of Redwinter. Ulovar sacrificed himself to grant Raine the power she needed to escape Ovitus’s clutches, and Grandmaster Robilar sealed herself in stone to stop Sul. Ovitus, however, remains in power. Now he seeks desperately to access the Crown that lies beneath the castle at Harranir, but without access to the Fourth Gate of the Draoihn, he can’t gain entry to the Blackwell where the Keystone lies in store. No Keystone means no entry to the Crown itself. No Draoihn who remain loyal to Ovitus can access the Fourth Gate, and his own attempt to take his uncle’s was cut short by Ulovar’s death.

Raine’s connection to the Sixth Gate, the Gate of Death, is now undeniable. She is one of the Sarathi. She died a third time at Sul’s hands, only to be saved by Sanvaunt’s awakening of the Fifth Gate’s healing powers. Thanks to Esher and Sanvaunt’s intervention, all three of them managed to flee from Ovitus. Now, however, they are trapped in the Fault, a sort of in-between world filled with half-dead creatures and the other Fallen Lords. The trio’s only hope for survival lies with The Queen of Feathers, the mysterious woman who has been guiding Raine since the day she first met Ulovar. Raine believes her to be imprisoned somewhere within the Fault, but journeying anywhere there is a painful undertaking. Getting out of the Fault is only the beginning, though. Raine is filled with the memories of the other Sixth Gate users who came before her, and she must learn to use their power without losing herself if she and Sanvaunt and Esher are going to have any chance to save the world. Raine also desperately wants to save the two of them, but is torn between her love for each of them and their feelings for one another.

The Redwinter Chronicles very quickly became one of my favorite series. Ed McDonald has written a spectacular and clever fantasy version of the UK. Raine is a complicated protagonist, frequently conflicted in her choices due to her forbidden abilities to see the dead. Now coming into the full potential of her power, she’s going to be dealing with more difficult decisions than ever before. The fate of the world is at stake, and the only person who can save it is the one thing the people fear the most: a witch queen.

Witch Queen of Redwinter is available as of last Tuesday, November 12th. Go check it out. My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Blood of the Old Kings: A Review

Hey gang, it’s been a minute. Sorry that life happened, and some things slowed down the reviewing process. But now, I get to catch you up with one of last week’s new releases, Sung-il Kim’s phenomenal Blood of the Old Kings.

The Empire rules over all, wielding Powered armor and vehicles to overwhelm any who might try to stand against them. Those who have survived its onslaughts now struggle to maintain the ways of their ancestors. The Empire claims to be a force for good, but anyone who lost family, friends, or land knows that for the lie that it is.

In the territory once known as Arland, a woman named Loran seeks revenge for the death of her husband and children. In her desperation, she seeks out the dragon that is rumored to live beneath a volcano. There, she finds a living (albeit sleeping) legend who grants her tremendous power in the form of a flaming sword.

In the Capital, Cain is an orphan, a now-grown child of anti-Imperialist parents who were killed for their resistance. Cain is hunting for answers as to who killed his friend and why. His search quickly brings him under the scrutiny of the Empire as he learns more about the Arlanders his friend was helping.

And at a school for mages, mediocre student Arienne is feeling at the end of her rope. The best future she can hope for is to become a Power generator upon her death, sealed into a lead coffin to provide energy for the Empire’s machinery. Such is the fate of almost all sorcerers in the Empire, but she’s been offered a new chance. A mysterious voice is guiding her to escape the school and the Capital altogether, promising her the chance to learn real magic.

On their own, each of these three is potentially a threat to the stability of the Empire. Between the three of them, they might just topple it. Blood of the Old Kings is a clever and creative fantasy novel, spectacularly translated from the original Korean text. Familiar elements like a Roman Empire-inspired military legion in Warhammer-esque armor make for a thrilling bit of reading. I couldn’t help being reminded of Boudicca and her efforts against Rome. Sung-il Kim has provided a fresh perspective on a European-inspired world, and I’m happy to say it’s a lot of fun to read. My utmost thanks to him, NetGalley, and Tor for the eARC in exchange for a fair review. Blood of the Old Kings has been out in the world since last Tuesday, 10/8/24. Go check it out!

The West Passage: A Review

There is a great evil approaching. The last Guardian of the West Passage is dead, and rather than officially naming her apprentice as her successor, she used her last words to give him a single command. “Tell Black it’s coming.”

Kew should have been named as the next Hawthorn of Grey, the new Guardian, the most recent of a long line of people to hold the name and the title designating him for duties not fully understood in living memory. Now he must make the journey from the Grey Tower to the Black Tower in order to pass along his teacher’s message. If he can accomplish this, then he might prove himself worthy of recognition as a Hawthorn, taking the place he has been training for all his life.

Pell is an apprentice to the Women in Grey, an ancient order who exist to provide funerary care to the other people of the city. When Hawthorn is brought to the women for her funeral, Pell briefly crosses paths with Kew and sneaks away with a book that Hawthorn had in her possession.

The first indicator that something is wrong occurs during Hawthorn’s services, when her funerary mask is accidentally broken. Between that and the theft of the book, Pell begins to fear that her actions are bringing time itself out of alignment, with snow beginning to fall in what should be the middle of summer. Rats are pouring out of statues, and none of the women can be bothered to guess if something is truly amiss.

Jared Pechaček has created a somehow vibrant ruined world, reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s Book of New Sun, blending things both magical and technological and decades or centuries past their prime. Frankly, I love worldbuilding that deliberately hides or doesn’t worry about how everything works, leaving plenty of mysteries in place. A massive palace ruled over by the Ladies (mysterious and powerful giant beings) serves as the setting for the entire novel, and it’s filled with ominous creatures as well as new allies for Kew and Pell as they go their separate ways to set things right.

The West Passage came out on Tuesday, 7/16, and it’s an absolute joy of a novel. It’s weird and truly fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what Pechaček does next. My utmost thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying: A Review

Django Wexler’s latest novel has a mouthful of a title, but it’s an absolute blast.

Davi is tired. She’s been living in a time loop for hundreds of years since she first found herself in The Kingdom, restarting in the same place, the same state of existence, every time she dies. Sometimes, that’s only a few hours (or minutes) into a loop. Sometimes it’s been years. Every time she wakes up in a new loop, she’s greeted by the same old wizard who tells her that it’s her destiny to save The Kingdom. She has tried hundreds of times, and so far, has always ended up the same way: failing to defeat the newly arisen Dark Lord and their horde of villains. What’s the phrase? If you can’t beat them, join them.

This time around, Davi decides, things are going to be different. She’s done fighting the Dark Lord, and is going to use her ability (curse?) of respawning to take the title for herself. It’s going to be hard, though. Subverting your destiny isn’t easy, even when you can take a few hundred tries to get it right. Step one. Kill the old wizard for starters. Step two. Find the nearest band of orcs and gain their trust. Step three. Use that orc band and her own knowledge of the local Guild patrols and fighting tactics to take out a crew and get their gear. Step four. Turn that little orc gang to start building up a proper army, and fast.

Oh, did she mention that she’s only got two months or so to get to the Convocation where the new Dark Lord will be selected? Davi needs to get moving if she’s going to get her tenure as Dark Lord on track, but she has no guarantees that things will end any differently than every time she tried to be a hero. After all, the Convocation is held beyond the edge of the map, as far as the Guild is concerned. She has no experience breaking the standard loop of time, and each day she moves beyond her previous routine is one day further that she’ll have to go if she screws up. She’s headed into unknown territory now, and the fate of her adopted world is at stake.

Wexler’s newest novel is perfect for fans of roguelike games like Hades. It’s an absolutely hilarious and unrepentantly horny book, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Wexler’s writing traces a line between homage and irreverent humor, particularly where Davi’s footnotes are concerned (after a few hundred lives, she’s lost track of some of the details of her own background, and her memories from Earth are slightly scrambled). Even better? This is book one of a series. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is available next Tuesday, May 21st.

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

Necrobane: A Review

Daniel M. Ford blew me away last year when I got to read The Warden. At the time, I had said that I was hoping that I would get to spend more time in Aelis’s world soon, and guess what? Necrobane is here.

This book picks up immediately where The Warden left off, so heads up. Here there be spoilers.

Aelis is a necromancer and a noble scion. She’s a child raised in wealth in a large city, trained in magic and combat. In short, she is the antithesis of most of the people that she is, as a Warden, charged to protect. In her efforts to defend the village of Lone Pine, she accidentally activated an unknown number of animated dead of Mahlgren, necromancy-fueled remnants of the last war. While she was able to defeat the handful of skeletons that arose within the chamber she was exploring, she learned that there are far more similar crypts scattered throughout the realm. Now that they’re active, they’re likely to be heading in the direction of her new home. Just as the villagers were beginning to trust the outsider, now she’s got to warn them about an impending invasion of restless dead that are technically only emerging because of her actions.

Rather than leave the people of Lone Pine to fend for themselves, Aelis quickly hatches a plan to seek out a control mechanism that could potentially deactivate the entire enemy force. She narrows down the likely location to a stronghold of a fallen empire and gathers her allies. She may be a skilled and talented Necrobane, able to defeat animated dead with her own magic, but this struggle isn’t a solo venture. Up first, of course, is Maurenia. The half-elf is a skilled soldier and engineer, and her status as Aelis’s lover doesn’t hurt her chances to be invited along. Next is Timmuk, a dwarf merchant and a coworker of Maurenia’s on their last excursion across the frontier of Ystain. Last but not least is Tun, a half-orc woodsman who assisted Aelis on her previous adventure. Tun’s skill as a tracker is invaluable in their journey through the wilderness. Together, they hope to cut off any animated dead before they’re able to even approach Lone Pine. Ideally, they’ll put them down before any tensions between the humans and orcs along the frontier can be strained and reignite a war. Plus, maybe they’ll find some treasure along the way! As long, that is, as the control mechanism actually exists…

Ford’s writing and world-building remain top-notch throughout Necrobane, and it makes a spectacular continuation to the story established in The Warden. The stakes are higher now, and Aelis’s skills are going to be pushed to their limit if the party has any chance of succeeding. I am still wildly in love with this series, and will continue to recommend it for any fantasy fan who enjoys D&D and books like Gideon the Ninth and Legends & Lattes. I know at this point that we’re expecting a 3rd book in Aelis’s adventures in the near future, and I am ready for it.

My utmost thanks (once again) to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for access to an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review. Today is publication day, so go grab yourself a copy.

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 Last Bloodcarver: A Review

Once in a while, a book will come along that just surprises the hell out of me in the best way. The Last Bloodcarver is one of those books. The city of Theumas is heavily industrialized, pushing the limits of technology and science. Nhika is struggling to get by, peddling oils and herbs and generally posing as a healer. Thing is? She actually can heal people, reading someone’s body with a single touch to diagnose them. Nhika is a heartsooth, in the tongue of her people. The citizens of Theumas, however, fear the abilities she wields, and call her a bloodcarver. The power to manipulate a a body requires only energy and knowledge, and when Nhika has both, she can be deadly. However, she would far rather honor the memories of her lineage, her deceased parents and grandparents, and all the other heartsooths from the island of Yarong that have gone before her. Nhika is the last surviving member of her family, and to the best of her knowledge, the last heartsooth.

When a scam job goes wrong, Nhika ends up in the clutches of The Butchers, a gang of thieves who deal in rare animals. As far as they’re concerned, a proven bloodcarver is just that, and they plan to sell her to the highest bidder. That bidder turns out to be a 15-year old girl named Mimi. Nhika is whisked away from Butcher’s Row to an elaborate estate and introduced to Mimi’s brother Andao, the and informed that they are the children and heirs of one of Theumas’ leading tech magnates. Their father has died, and they suspect foul play. Only one man was witness to what happened to Mr. Congmi on the night he died, and that witness is now in a coma. It is with the desperate hope that he might have memories of the death that Mimi and Andao sought out Nhika and her abilities. If Nhika can heal him, he might be able to tell the siblings what actually happened to their father.

Nhika must soon begin to navigate the upper echelons of a society that would kill her for her talents, learning more about medicine and politics in order to blend in at the Congmi estate. How long she can keep her secret when the grounds are buzzing with people? Was Mr. Congmi’s death really just an accident? Is that doctor’s young aide flirting with her? Will she be able to find peace in her family’s traditions when everyone she loved is dead?

Vanessa Le has created an enthralling world in The Last Bloodcarver. Using her own Vietnamese heritage as a background, she’s wound magic and history together in an immediately engaging story. This book starts off fast and doesn’t let up. This is planned as book one of a duology, too, and I’m already looking forward to the follow-up work.

The Last Bloodcarver is out from MacMillan today. My utmost thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

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.