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A Draw of Kings - Patrick Carr (The Staff & the Sword #3)

3/5 - worldbuilding absolutely falls apart; weak ending

So first, it feels a little like Carr gave up on creating an independent world with it's own Church and countries. Like this is no longer somewhere different, it's just Europe or the Eurasian Steppes or Morocco. It also feels patronizing (and vaguely ?? stereotypical about Asian and African people) towards the differences between Islam and Christianity as something that could be resolved by a difference in interpretation, as opposed to religions with two entirely separate holy books and central figures. But maybe I'm being too unkind to Carr here.

I also just dislike the ending. We've spent three books beating up on Errol and presuming that he would be the one to die. Thus, there are two options at the end here:

Either Errol lives and has to reconcile with having a future and things he's said and done in the time where he believed he would die in the imminent future; or

Errol has to die and it's a tragedy a la Jesus Christ.

What actually happens is that Errol dies and then is saved by an act of God which is such a deus ex machina that it actively made me put the put down the first time I read it. If people are going to die, which is sometimes the logical conclusion of the story, then they need to die and stay dead for the impact to hit.

Also, I don't like that Liam has it easy literally the entire time and then is immediately crowned king, but I also don't like blonds so. That may be playing a role here.

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The Hero's Lot - Patrick Carr (The Staff & the Sword #2)

3.5/5 - Less good than the first one; heavy on the resignation to death by the main character

My poor guy Errol is going through it, again. It's one of the pretty consistent themes of this series.

Errol simply has very minimal agency by nature of the plot, but the moments when he does something against what the Church or the King want for him are typically related to Adora (tangent: who names their daughter Adora, like bffr). They're also incredibly romantic - I personally really like that Adora is a full person with her own flaws. Is her character unfairly centered around a man in this novel when she's so much more interesting than that? Yes, a little, but that improves later.

The direct Europe-Illustra, North Africa/Morocco-Merakh comparisons start to become unavoidably obvious here though.

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A Cast of Stones - Patrick Carr (The Staff & the Sword #1)

4/5 - Main character is just pathetic. I'm compelled by him; very much Christian fantasy

In the neverending saga of re-reading the fantasy books my aunt gave me as a kid, I am struck by just how much of it is Christian fantasy that I didn't clock at the age of twelve. My mom's persistent agnosticism was already too strong in me by then.

This book compels me mainly because of how pathetic and sad the main character is. He's an orphan, he's traumatized, he's a 19-year-old alcoholic, he's bitterly jealous of being compared to another guy his age - how can you not love him!! Honestly, it's his jealousy over constant comparisons that really make him endearing to me. It's a little like looking back at yourself in middle school and feeling compassionate for someone who doesn't quite know who they are yet.

Anyway, I don't know if Carr intended this to come across as pro-Church, but it comes across distinctly anti-Church to me. I also haven't extensively interrogated the themes of necessary sacrifice as they're written in here, but I even with the little thought I've given them, I can't say that this speaks positively to Christianity.

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Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

4.5/5 - sad wet cat of a protagonist; very stream of consciousness; surprisingly inoffensive for a white author from the 40s

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel - I had anticipated not liking it, for no particular reason, but found myself very compelled by the protagonist. Holden is 17 and Going Through It.

What I saw most frequently in my cursory perusal of discussion questions and analysis online pinpointed Holden's general distrust of authority and loss of innocence. And while I wouldn't disagree with those themes, I found myself more struck by his pervasive sense of dissatisfaction & disillusionment with the future laid out for him. His consistent usage of "phony" to indicate those he feels are lying to themselves or others, or posturing in some way, to me showed that Holden was searching for something "real" that couldn't be found in either mainstream society or the gender roles he was expected to fulfill.

Now the socialist in me wants to tie this to capitalism and the separation of the worker from the fruits of their labor, but I haven't quite followed that path through to its conclusion yet, so let me quit while I'm ahead.

Anyway, I understand why this is something assigned in English classes in high school - it's easy to relate to Holden portraying himself as somehow worldly and yet be profoundly sad for him when he finds himself (or puts himself) into situations that he's fundamentally not ready for. 16-year-olds can relate.

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Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb #2)

4.25/5 - novel filled with little freaks (affectionate)

Spoilers below!

I liked this novel far more than the first one, largely due to the stark reduction in Gideon's narration. I think that Harrow is, by and large, the more interesting of character of the two, being both totally insane and possibly the sanest person to achieve minor godhood. I appreciate the extent to which Muir keeps Harrow's religious beliefs front and center, and how that seems to alienate God from her - he doesn't want a supplicant, he wants a saint, and she can't quite figure out how to do either in the "right way".

The worldbuilding in this is very rich and really establishes the complex web of interpersonal relationships that will likely carry through the next couple books. It's frustrating to me then, that there are points which continue to frustrate me in these books.

I have never been fond of the use of second person, with very few exceptions. This is not one of them. I do not find the trick of this being Gideon looking through Harrow's eyes to be particularly compelling, as it isn't narrated in Gideon's style. The novel is also too … caught up in itself at times, what with the mystery and the confusion of it all. I enjoy a good mystery and plot twists, but using those to keep the plot from truly starting until page 150(ish) is annoying to me.

Overall, still better than the first, and still filled with fail lesbians! Endearing and delightful. Everyday I'm glad I'm not trapped at the age of 18.

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Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1)

DNF

In my ongoing quest to read all the well-known fantasy series (or to at least give them an honest shot), I picked up this book. I am now putting down this book, approximately 50% of the way through.

This will already indicates that I did not like it, but I'll specify what, exactly, I found the most frustrating.

The rotating cast of 20+ characters, each of whom receives very little screentime, did not afford me the opportunity to develop an opinion about any of them.

Every character seems dragged along by something with minimal agency. I'm no stranger to characters being manipulated by higher forces, but this doesn't even make their manipulation enticing

261 pages in, I could not tell you what any of these characters actually want. They do not have goals. There is minimal plot beyond invasion and "cool" battle scenes.

This novel feels like it wants to be Dune, which is similarly difficult book to approach because it is hard-core SFF. It drops you in an expects you to pick things up as you go. And while this is difficult in Dune, it is doable because Herbert spends time with a single main character, through which we are also experiencing Arrakis for the first time. No such character exists here.

Frankly, it just wasn't pleasant to read. I didn't enjoy the prose and I didn't enjoy the characters. Life is too short to read books you don't like.

[kbookblurbs]

A Dark and Drowning Tide - Allison Saft

3.5/5 - pacing & worldbuilding leaves something to be desired; very visually pleasing sapphic relationships

The actual prose of this book was very reminiscent of YA novels. It was a little overly florid for my tastes, which is a common critique of the current YA crop. Beyond that, there were a number of instances where it felt like the editor had removed a sentence and then, two or three paragraphs later, there would be a reference to that removed sentence. It made for a confusing read every now and then.

I really enjoyed the folk stories woven in throughout the novel to make illustrate the depths of characters and to better establish their situations. That said, it felt that these were serving to replace real characterization. Many of the characters felt very one-note.

I was distinctly unimpressed with the worldbuilding. This is, by and large, just magical Germany with magical Jewish people. It allowed for an interesting discussion of anti-semitism in fairytales but not much else. Frankly, I find this style of renaming real world cultures and real world people only to change nothing about them to be terribly unoriginal.

This also isn't quite colonialism, but it is imperialism inspired by what I deduced was the Prussian or the Holy Roman Empire. The book does defend imperialism and the duchess who plans for independence is banished, which ... sure.

[kbookblurbs]

Blood Over Bright Haven - M.L. Wang

4.5/5 - REAL DARK ACADEMIA!!!! I MEAN ACTUALLY REAL!!! ; Digestible / Approachable breakdown of white feminism and how it can transform into intersectional feminism; unlikeable MC :D

This feeds into a longer discussion, but I really appreciated that Wang took us all back to Tumblr's dark academia roots here. By this I mean real vintage, Frankenstein-style academia, complete with hysterical breakdown and ensuing disaster. Sciona achieves her goal of "going" where no one has gone before in her field and pays the ultimate price for it. The fact that magic is just coding was a funny little quirk as well.

Beyond that, this book is a very good breakdown of white feminism through the eyes of a white feminist, which I think would make it easier for those who are still grappling with the idea to understand it and apply it to the real world.

I really appreciated Sciona being selfish, arrogant, and generally more concerned with herself than with other people. She has none of the traits that a woman is supposed to, in the novel or in many fantasy novels, and I really enjoyed everything about her that made her "unlikable".

Minor detractions are that this novel is about as subtle with its allegory as a brick to the face. Also, if you're at all familiar with intersectional feminist theories and ideas, the plot is pretty predictable. Overall, a very fun book to read.

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The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez

3.75 / 5 - Interesting narrative style; Didn't love the framing story; I wanted more of the Moon Empress

I think I would have better enjoyed this novel as a graphic novel. It lent itself to really rich descriptions of the scene and the setting, and the Inverted Theater would be a fascinating depiction.

However, as a novel, I didn't find myself captured by it. At no point did I find myself really pulled in by either of the two main characters, Jun and Keema. I found myself far more interested in the Moon Empress herself. The section on the Third Day, in which she describes how she became unstitched from the sky, was easily my favorite part of the book. Her relationship to the Emperor and the Three Terrors is what originally drew me in.

I also found the usage of the labyrinth to be a little uninspired. Maybe it's because I had a deep Greek Mythology phase as a child, but I didn't feel that this brought anything particularly new to the story of the labyrinth or to do something new and inventive to the story of the Third Terror.

The narrative technique of splitting things into days with uncertain splits between perspectives and timelines was certainly interesting and an innovative technique. That said, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I am also not the biggest fan of second person, and I find that it frequently leads the POV in second person being either underdeveloped or alienating as a reader.

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She Who Became the Sun - Shelly Parker-Chan (The Radiant Emperor #1)

5/5 - gender fuckery!!! Really fascinating story-telling and character arcs here

Truthfully, I only have praise for this novel. It's a little intense, of course, but the payoff for the time you invest is unbelievably high.

Zhu as a character is particularly delicious - she has such a fervent desire to live. While this is not a unique trait amongst main characters, particularly in SFF, Parker-Chan does a much better job of communicating how this drives every facet of her life that most other authors.

The surprise sapphic love story was equally endearing. I deeply enjoyed how the end of this novel sets up the inevitable downfall and corruption of both characters in the next (and final) installment.

The contrast between Ouyang and Zhu as twin flames was something that will likely bear more fruit in the next book than in this one. I personally found him to be the less likeable of the two characters, but the fact that Zhu and Ouyang's dynamic can be boiled down to "Only one guy ever understood me and I fucking hate him" is a delight.

Highly, highly recommend to anyone who likes magical realism and historical fiction!

[kbookblurbs]

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb #1)

4/5 - necromancer lesbians. that's the plot; really fun worldbuilding and romance

Gideon the Ninth is Tamsyn Muir's debut novel, and all things considered it's a very strong start! The book tends towards the Gothic and macabre, which I found delightful. I've found myself drawn more to this type of fiction recently, so  this book seemed like it would slot perfectly into a little niche. And in most ways it did.

I want to be very clear that while this is labeled a science-fantasy novel, I would argue it's only been given that designation because it takes place in space across multiple planets. In all other respects, it is very much a fantasy novel. Almost nothing of the scientific aspect appears, in my opinion. That said, the plot is fantastic and really forces the characters to grow. I enjoy not guessing the turns before the happen and Dulcinea at the end caught me completely by surprise!

I think the worldbuilding is really well done, and the concept of nine houses which worship the dead in all different ways is a lot of fun! The interactions between these different sects of the same faith and the biases and stereotypes that each character has of the other houses provide another layer that makes the characters and the world feel more real.

Perhaps my favorite part of the novel, though, is Harrowhark. She's such a fascinatingly compelling character and her trauma is so well wrapped up in her personality. I'm strongly considering reading the series, where I wouldn't otherwise, just to watch her journey. She's also just a lesbian who practices necromancy and like, isn't that the dream?

Anyway, I do have some pretty major reservations for the novel though, which is why I'm somewhat hesitant to embark on a 2-3 additional book journey. The biggest is that I found Gideon to be incredibly annoying. I didn't care for her character, though it did improve with time, and I found her constant need to quip in jarringly modern ways distracting at best. I also don't believe for a second that either Gideon or Harrow are still teens.

All in all, a good book and one I had fun reading! I wouldn't claim it's going to become one of my favorites of all time, but  I like a commentary on religion, duty, sacrifice, and immortality as much as the next gal so it'll probably join the rotation.

[kbookblurbs]

Wind and Truth - Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #5)

4/5 - midseason-finale ass book; he needs to scrap this editor; this book simply never ends

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!! LIKE FIRST LINE!!!

We finally come to the end of the first arc of the Stormlight Archives and they are going to need a new name. Before we dive in, I want to clarify that I did enjoy this book! I think it tackled a series of very hard-to-conclude plotlines in a relatively good way, and I think it sets Sanderson up for success in the latter half of this series. With that said, I'll be splitting this review into four parts:

Kaladin, Szeth, & therapy speak

The Spiritual Realm plot

Azir

Book mechanics

Kaladin, Szeth, & Therapy Speak

Now first of all, anyone who's read anything I've written knows I love Kaladin - he's one of my favorite characters of all time and his journey through depression is one of my favorite parts of this series. That said. I find the whole timeline of this healing to be highly suspect, and his attempts at therapizing embarrassing at best and deeply annoying at worst. What context is there for him to go from literally attempting suicide in the last book to semi-competent therapist in no time at all? Need I remind Sanderson myself that there is no time skip between the end of RoW and WaT?

The language is also just bafflingly modern in a way that nothing in this series has been before, but we'll get to more on that later.

The flip side of this criticism is that Szeth's plotline was easily my favorite of the book. His completed arc might rise to rivaling Kaladin's (thus far) in terms of how much I enjoyed it. His backstory is so tragic (slay for the almost successful military coup though?) and I truly believed he wasn't going to make it through the book until the very last page. His moments with his father, in the past and present, brought me to tears more than once.

The Spiritual Realm Plot

This whole plotline took too long and frankly, it was boring. Watching Shallan slay her demons for the umpteenth time and deal with Formless again and kill her mother again was, and this may be controversial, not a very interesting plot point to me. She's done all this before. I feel that this book, as a whole, gave diminishing returns on her pagetime to character development ratio. I also don't feel that Shallan, with all her everything else, needed a Herald as a mother as another twist, but maybe that will be more relevant in the future. For that reason, and that reason only, I'll bite my tongue on criticizing it unnecessarily

While it was nice to see Renarin and Rlain get together, I have to admit that Renarin's POV didn't add much for me. I think Sanderson could have written the entire plotline for these two from Rlain's perspective and it would've been far more interesting since he is, in my opinion, the more interesting character between the two of them. Renarin's POV does not reveal anything that isn't already clear from other POVs.

I also just wanted more of Ba-Ado-Mishram. She was haunting the story but not present. I understand that's likely for later plot reasons, but it did make this section drag. Dalinar contributed to that but  we don't have time to get into that right now. I was happy he died though (long overdue, in my opinion).

Azir

Adolin #1 character of all time? The only one to save their assigned city and did it with 0 Radiants and the power of friendships? Nobody is doing it like him.

I loved the founding of the Unoathed and, particularly, Yanagawn's development. I'm really hoping that Yanagawn becomes a more important character in next major arc, since he was so sweet here.

I did not love that we spent probably 25% of the book in Azir fighting battles. Contrary to the opinion of Sanderson many fantasy authors, there is an upper limit on how many battles you can include before I get tired of reading them. There's only so many ways you can swing a sword or block a pike etc etc before I'm bored.

Book Mechanics

Overall, I find this concluding book to be much weaker than the other 4 in the series. Whereas it had seemed that the pacing was improving in Oathbreaker and Rhythm of War, here we were back to all over the place. While I liked that he split the plot into each day leading up to the contest, the timeline genuinely made no sense.

Beyond that, this entire book was filled with oddly YA-style prose that has never appeared in the Stormlight Archive until now. I think whoever edited this book must be different from the other four because, in my opinion, it was much too modern, not as tight, and frankly, not as good. And I know this might be controversial, but I did not think Maya calling Adolin a slut was funny. Why would she even use that word? Whore or prostitute would've been acceptable because they've been referenced here before but I found that example and others like it to be jarring.

Conclusion

I liked this book, but it's by a longshot my least favorite in the series. It was too long and frankly, some of the characters didn't even sound like themselves. I know that Sanderson can do better than this, but it leaves me a little wary for the next arc.

There's lots here I didn't cover (Jasnah my beloved, Sigzil! I'm in mourning) but this was already quite long. DMs / ask box are always open if you'd like to chat more.

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Oracle Queen - Lynn Flewelling (Tamír Triad #3)

4/5 - feels more complete; ending is still rushed

Generally, I like Tamir a lot more in this book. She feels like she's truly a person struggling with her gender identity in a way that Tobin … didn't really. There's also some indication that she feels prolonged gender dysphoria when she sees herself in the mirror and I thought that was very well done.

The battles themselves were boring. I find myself generally weary of extended war books - after a while, all battles blend into one another.

All in all, I feel that this trilogy would've been best served by being one longer book. The character arcs would have felt more complete, and I believe readers would encounter fewer abrupt stops.

[kbookblurbs]

Hidden Warrior - Lynn Flewelling (Tamír Triad #2)

3.75/5 - Less gothic than the first; the gender questions don't get more interesting but they are more present;

The most interesting part of this novel are the questions that Tobin has around gender for the majority of the book, or rather, the lack of question. It's easy for Tobin to forget about this gender crisis. He puts it out of his mind when he can. However, the constant reminder that if Tobin is to become queen, (s)he'll likely have to kill Korin.

You would think this would be a major plot point, but it largely falls to the wayside. That statement, unfortunately, can be true of much of this book. In the kindest way possible, it feels like filler. Largely, this is because there's not a strong plot or character arc here. Everything in this book almost falls under the extended training montage umbrella.

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I LIVE!!!

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Empire of Gold - S.A. Chakraborty (Daevabad Trilogy #3)

3.75/5 - fitting character resolutions; pacing is a little iffy still; Nahri my bestest friend ever

For the sake of keeping think to the point, I've organized my thoughts as follows:

Female Leads

Character arcs (& the marid plotline)

Pacing

Female Leads

I really do have to heap praise on Chakraborty for the women in this book. Everyone, from Nahri to Manizheh to Hatset to Zaynab is so wonderfully fleshed out. They're put in situations that highlight their depth of character and the differences between them - anyone who thinks that Nahri would flourish as the next Hatset is deluding themselves.

Nahri is who I would really like to focus on though - as much as I love her character, she's all over the place in this novel. One moment, she's ready to abandon the Daevas in Daevabad, the next she's somehow willing to sleep with Ali, and the next she's willingly swearing off ever leaving Daevabad and seeing Cairo again. It just really feels like a confusing spin from one decision to the next and they don't ever seem to align with one another. The truest moment of her character came when she fears that she only ever builds things to watch them be destroyed by other people.

Character Arcs

While I have some complaints here, by and large the character arcs feel natural. Of course Muntadhir and Zaynab survive (if not thrive) through the siege. Of course Manizheh goes balls to the wall crazy by the end, dabbling in ifrit magic.

The biggest commitment (and biggest overall payout) comes in the form of Dara. Having him continue to believe in the Nahid, past the point of no return and once again washing his hands in blood was good actually! Great storytelling! I don't think anyone breaks indoctrination on their own easily, and he's no exception. My own big critique is that this plotline takes forever to move - realistically I would've been happier if we didn't start seeing into Daevabad until after the halfway point of the book.

Also, Dara's plotline starts to feel like trauma porn after about halfway through the novel. I was glad that his ending gave him both the opportunity for happiness and the opportunity to atone for his many sins.

On to the marid plotline - While I admit that I wasn't angry about it, it does take up a significant amount of page time and I wouldn't say it gives the biggest payoff for that investment. This further alienates Ali from the other Daevas, but that doesn't particularly resolve any of his internal conflicts. We've fully put own the thread of his religious fanaticism without picking it back up again and honestly, we spend so much time with Ali feeling guilty that we never really get to see Nahri process her emotions.

Speaking of Nahri, I did like that the ending of the novel leaves it very open-ended as to Ali and Nahri's relationship. Personally, I interpret it as two close friends. They tried kissing once (haven't we all fucked a friend?) and that can be done now thank you!

Pacing

Unlike the second book, which had a clearly enforced timeline that made no sense, this one has no discernible timeline. It only barely makes sense. But beyond that, this book feels like it comes in neatly packaged sections. First we go to Cairo for 200 pages. Then we journey down the Nile for 200 pages. Then we go to Ta Ntry for 200 pages. Then we conclude the novel in 100 pages. It's just very rigid and leaves the action feeling a bit like it stops and starts.

The ending was also something of a letdown. I was glad to have Dara kill Manizheh (after everything he went through, he deserved it) but the whole thing goes from politicking to all-out magical siege that devolves into the start of happy representative government within 50 pages . It was all just a bit rushed

All this to say, I did enjoy the book! It was a fun romp and I enjoyed seeing our characters again! But I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with the first book, that's for sure.

[kbookblurbs]

The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri (Burning Kingdoms Trilogy #1)

4/5 - love me some toxic yuri; pacing is a little slow for my tastes;

Spoilers below!

Let me start with the obvious: this book is about lesbians!! And they don't hate each other but they would kill each other at the drop of a hat and let me tell you, that makes for some delicious relationship building. Malini and Priya are trusted allies and reluctant partners and lovers and the power dynamics here are all over the place. Needless to say, it compelled me. Priya's own complicated backstory further deepens the plot here.

The plot is somewhat predictable, but I wouldn't put that down to an overuse of foreshadowing. If anything, it's a great use of foreshadowing and I've just been reading too many fantasy novels

I will say that I didn't love pacing - the novel dragged at times, with repetitive statements about the transgressiveness of desire and vengeance that lose their bite after the first two or three utterances. Furthermore, it felt that the novel relied much more on telling me things and less on showing.

The political discussion on rebellion and rebellious violence here was also a very classic split - one side embraces rebellion and the need for violence, while the other strives for the protection and preservation of art and culture through peace. Neither are wrong and the book doesn't entirely paint one or the other as the right decision - rather it almost becomes so entrenched in the negatives of either side that Priya can't ever make a firm decision on her path forward.

But, to end on a positive note, I absolutely loved Bhumika and can't wait to see more of her. With a touch of unreliable narration, the two main characters tell us (over and over) about how they're constantly underestimated and overlooked because they're women. Yet they both do the same thing to Bhumika, who is one of the more politically shrewd minds in the cast. Having her come out on top as a ruthless fighter and a winner was something very special to me