book reviews
Book Review: Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
By Jacob P. Torres
I received an ARC of Yoon Ha Lee’s third novel, Revenant Gun in exchange for an honest review. This spoiler-free review will cover the conclusion of the Machineries of Empire trilogy. There are spoilers to the first two novels, so if you haven’t read those be sure to read them first. And be sure to check out my review of the previous books, Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem.
Cover Description: “When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he’s a seventeen-year-old cadet—but his body belongs to a man decades older. Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general. Surely a knack for video games doesn’t qualify you to take charge of an army?
Soon Jedao learns the situation is even worse. The Kel soldiers under his command may be compelled to obey him, but they hate him thanks to a massacre he can’t remember committing. Kujen’s friendliness can’t hide the fact that he’s a tyrant. And what’s worse, Jedao and Kujen are being hunted by an enemy who knows more about Jedao and his crimes than he does himself…”
Book Review: Tomorrow’s Kin by Nancy Kress
By Jacob P. Torres
Find my spoiler-free review of Tomorrow’s Kin by Nancy Kress, Book One of the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy.
Cover Description: “Tomorrow’s Kin is the first volume in and all new hard science fiction trilogy by Nancy Kress based on the Nebula Award-winning Yesterday’s Kin.
Locus 2017 Recommended Reading List
The aliens have arrived… they’ve landed their Embassy ship on a platform in New York Harbor, and will only speak with the United Nations. They say that their world is so different from Earth, in terms of gravity and atmosphere, that they cannot leave their ship. The population of Earth has erupted in fear and speculation.
One day Dr. Marianne Jenner, an obscure scientist working with the human genome, receives an invitation that she cannot refuse. The Secret Service arrives at her college to escort her to New York, for she has been invited, along with the Secretary General of the UN and a few other ambassadors, to visit the alien Embassy.
The truth is about to be revealed. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster—and not everyone is willing to wait.”
Book Review: Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence
By Jacob P. Torres
Find my spoiler-free review of Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence, Book 2 of his Book of the Ancestor Series.
Cover Description: “The second novel in a brilliant fantasy series from the international bestselling author of Prince of Thorns.
Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to—and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist.
All that stands between her and these choices are the pride of a thwarted assassin, the designs of a would-be empress wielding the Inquisition like a knife, and the vengeance of the empire’s richest lord.
As the world narrows around her, and her enemies attack her through the system she is sworn to, Nona must find her own path despite the competing pulls of friendship, revenge, ambition, and loyalty.
And in all this only one thing is certain: there will be blood.”
Book Review: Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst
By Jacob P. Torres
Find my spoiler-free review of The Reluctant Queen, Sarah Beth Durst’s sequel to her 2016 The Queen of Blood.
Cover Description: “In The Queen of Blood, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive the malevolent nature spirits of Renthia and claim the crown. But now she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. If she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her realm will once again run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people.
Naelin has the power necessary to become an heir, but she couldn’t be further removed from the Queen. Her world is her two children, her husband, and her remote village tucked deep in the forest. But when Ven, the Queen’s champion, passes through her village, Naelin’s ambitious husband tells him of his wife’s ability to control spirits—magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows embracing her power will bring death and separation from those she loves.”
Book Review: Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
By Jacob P. Torres
Spoilers abound in this review of Kelly Robson’s Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach.
Cover Description: “Discover a shifting history of adventure as humanity clashes over whether to repair their ruined planet or luxuriate in a less tainted past.
In 2267, Earth has just begun to recover from worldwide ecological disasters. Minh is part of the generation that first moved back up to the surface of the Earth from the underground hells, to reclaim humanity’s ancestral habitat. She’s spent her entire life restoring river ecosystems, but lately the kind of long-term restoration projects Minh works on have been stalled due to the invention of time travel. When she gets the opportunity take a team to 2000 BC to survey the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, she jumps at the chance to uncover the secrets of the shadowy think tank that controls time travel technology.”
Review | Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
It’s been a few days since I finished Every Heart a Doorway
It’s about a girl named Nancy who disappeared into another world, an underworld most likely. Her parents, who don’t really know what happened other than that Nancy disappeared, send her away to school. Nancy’s new school isn’t what she’d expected. After being dropped off (rather unceremoniously), Nancy realizes her schoolmates are all like her: children sent off to fairylands and underworlds and magical places only to be sent back to their homes where no one can understand them.
The story is just so sad, in a good way.
It’s all about being left behind, not fitting in, and wanting, wanting something that you know you’ll never get so badly your heart breaks.
Each student had at one point found a world where they belonged. The worlds range the gambit from “high logic” to “high nonsense” and “wicked” to “virtuous.” All of the students describe their trips into these worlds as having gone home for the first time. Being there comes with a sense of utter belonging. This would be fine by itself, but McGuire echoes the loss in the setting she creates. The school is whimsical and filled with mystery, but that all falls a bit flat. Despite free reign of the grounds and rooms chock full of color, the students can’t seem to recover, and neither do we.
From the very beginning, the students make it clear: they will almost certainly never go back, and hope, while all they may have, is more painful than the despair that follows.
In a way, reading the story is eerie. But, what surprised me most was how much it fit. How could Wendy really go back after Neverland? Could Lucy and Edmond really approach the “real” world the same way after Narnia?
It was the fairytale ending I was wanting.
The children are all a mess. They’re too old for their bodies, fixated on what they’ve lost, and lonely, even among the only people who can really understand them. Each one of them gets their own backstory and personality. Even the crueler among them is humanized, shown to be a bit broken. That’s part of what makes the story painful.
The setting is humorous in its own way. The teachers are all former student, the kids have to go to group therapy, rumors and gossip abound. There’s no escape from cliques even in fairyland exile.
The plot also has some action. While it can seem a slow build, tragedy strikes. Murder and mystery descend. Nancy, of course, is suspect, being from an underworld and the newest student. The action itself leads to heartbreak. It has a bittersweetness that it adds to the story.
At the end, I felt that I knew the characters, like I’d bonded with them and felt their hopes and dreams. Hats off to you, Ms. McGuire.
Every Heart a Doorway will be out April 5th 2016.
I received a copy of Every Heart a Doorway for free in exchange for an honest review.
Review | City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
Oh, man. I had been waiting for this one.
Literally checking everyday until I could submit an ARC request. And, when the book arrived from the publisher, I could have squealed.
City of Stairs was a 2014 release that I really enjoyed. It revolves around a character, Shara, who is sent to a country where the gods aren’t just gone, they’ve been killed. It’s a fantastic fantasy meets spy novel. The follow-up to City of Blades was released yesterday (Spoiler: Get a copy. You’ll love it.).
City of Blades follows General Mulaghesh. She was a city governor in the first book and played a big role in Shara’s story in Bolikov. In the newest installment, Mulaghesh has retired, very vocally, and has hidden herself away to drink herself to death. But, Shara, who now has increased power and the same tenacity, has called Mulaghesh back into action. After the Battle of Bolikov, Mulaghesh thought she would be done with politics and the old gods, but she has a sinking feeling when she finds out where Shara is sending her: Voortyashtan. Voortyashtan is the city of Voortya, goddess of death and war.
When I had heard there’d be a follow-up, I didn’t pin it for a story about Mulaghesh, but I’m so glad it was.
Mulaghesh is a surly general in her mid 60s-ish. She’s surly, prone to finding herself at the bottom of a bottle, and extremely committed to her soldiers. She’s tough to say the least, but she’s a bit of a mystery in the first book. How she became who she is doesn’t get talked about. The newest story goes in-depth into Mulaghesh’s past, and the story is dark.
City of Blades also shows Mulaghesh in the aftermath of the Battle of Bolikov. Five years later, and she still is struggling with what happened. This, of course, is made worse by reminders of who she once was. In Voortyashtan, Mulaghesh is forced into close quarters with the man who led her as a young soldier and who is a constant reminder of darkness that follows her.
This sounds dramatic, like something that could be out of a melodrama, but the relationships and character backgrounds that Bennett draws are nuanced and complex with a depth that makes them seem very real.
Sigrud also appears. He’s a burly Viking-like man from the first book. His character, too, gets a deeper examination and is forced to face his past deeds, though in a different way than Mulaghesh.
Sigrud’s daughter, Signe, plays a large role. She’s a fantastically intelligent, full of ambition, and surprisingly complex. She’s a captain of industry determined to bring her country and those around her into a modern age.
The setting is equally dark. Voortyashtan is a grim place. The city was flooded and remains covered by the sea. The military outpost there is an old, dank fortress. There are secret hideaways and conflict between the locals and the Saypuri military present.
The plot is fantastic. It engages with the same mystery and fantasy elements as the first does, but is complimented this time by an even deeper look into the characters and the history of the world. There are battles and magic and mysticism, including the slip-away, broken bits of divine worlds that were present in Bolikov.
My favorite part of the story is the way Bennett approaches war, death, and one’s conscious. Mulaghesh is forced to examine her own past with the topics and, in the land of Voortya (Empress of Graves, Maiden of Steel, Queen of Grief, She Who Clove the Earth in Twain), must face the truth about herself and the soldiers who once followed the goddess.
Read it. Like it. Love it. I really believe this is going to be one of the best books released in 2016.
A huge thanks to the publisher who sent me a copy for free in exchange for an honest review.
Review | The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Moon is a Summer and a sybil. She’s a holy woman from a part of her planet that rejects technology that has been brought by offworlders. Her cousin Sparks is her soulmate, but the two can’t be together. To marry a sybil is to die. So, the two part, sending Sparks to be among the Winters, the powerful, technologically savvy city dwellers. But Moon isn’t just special for being a sybil. She’s also the key to the Winter Queen’s plot to stay in power forever.
The Snow Queen just got a reprint to celebrate its 35th anniversary of winning the Hugo and Nebula awards. The new trade paperback is gorgeous.
Vinge’s story is a fairly classic fantasy adventure-romance. Snow is a princess-perfect kind of character. She’s determined, kind, everyone loves her. She leaves to follow her One True Love when he calls for her help. In that regard, the story is underwhelming. It’s value isn’t really in Moon, nor is it in Sparks, whose storyline is fairly predictable: separated from girl, becomes briefly evil, magically becomes good again.
The story is interesting because of some of the early twists and the side characters. One prominent character named Jerusha is among the first ever female police captains. She’s an offworlder with a high post she know she got because the invading force wanted to humor the native government. She’s constantly trying to prove herself while others fail and, at the start of the story, she is fighting to keep order in a world that doesn’t want it. Her frustrations were easily one of the more interesting parts of the story.
The story has an interesting setting and a very distinct magic system. The sybils are like oracles, but cursed. They cause madness in those who spill their blood. The offworlders write it off as silly nonsense, and eventually the sybils are only members of the Summers who reject technology.
The story itself has a lot to do with Fate and True Love (yes, with capital letters). It toys briefly with some meatier themes like addiction and abuse, but doesn’t really go into them and glosses over a lot of the resolutions. It does talk about environmentalism, poaching, and humane treatment of other animals, which was interesting. I thought the resolution there still wasn’t what it could have been.
Frankly, I found it a bit unsatisfying. It seemed like a lot of the more interesting and thought-provoking points are dropped in favor of romance. The main plot was fairly predictable. That doesn’t mean that another person wouldn’t enjoy it, though. I tend not to be a very fantasy-heavy reader. I like fantasy, but more in the literary tradition than the high fantasy one.
Fairytale Retellings | Six Gun Snow White and Poison
When reading Six Gun Snow White (Cat Valente) and Poison (Sarah Pinborough), I was left thinking a lot about fairytale retellings, how they are approached, and my feelings about them. My past history with fairytale retellings hasn’t been all rosy cheeks and cuddles. Generally, I finish fairytale retellings with a sense of something left wanting, a general dissatisfaction.
I have come to the conclusion that fairytale retellings are best done in one of two ways: total overhaul or digging deeper into the original. Both Valente and Pinborough are good examples of these two approaches.
Six Gun Snow White is a total overhaul story. It breaks apart the pieces of Snow White and plays with them. It puts them together in a different way. While the story still revolves around the relationship between a girl and her stepmother, Six Gun Snow White varies widely from the original story. Snow White is the daughter of a white minerals prospector and a Native American woman. She’s by and large let free to roam her father’s estate while he travels to new mining opportunities. Snow White has to deal with a physically abusive stepmother who can’t get over the fact that Snow is, in fact, not white. Snow runs away with her six shooter into Crow country. Magic is there, but the mirror doesn’t talk and the dwarves aren’t exactly dwarves.
Valente’s story is a great example of an overhaul done right. She takes the themes and elements of Snow White, but isn’t confined by them. It doesn’t feel like a Snow White story bound by its past iterations. It feels fresh and very freed from convention. It would stand on its own if you had never read or heard the original tale. Valente picks and chooses what she likes and makes the story her own instead of just dressing Snow White up in a cowboy hat.
Poison is a more traditional retelling. Snow White is still a princess whose father remarries a witch. She runs away to be tracked down by a hunter. All the bells and whistles are still there. What Poison does that I liked with the story is taking previously one dimensional characters and digging in.
Pinborough takes the story of Snow White as an opportunity to look at who the Evil Stepmother is, why her relationship with Snow would devolve, and what the characters would be doing, thinking, wanting, etc. Pinborough expands on the story, unlike the more “paying homage” approach Valente takes, and it works. She examines the motivations and repercussions of the characters and successfully builds real people out of a cartoon drawing. She also intertwines some fairytales and gives it a dark ending (Oh, my God, that ending).
I think the real point here is that both can be done well, but it’s the divergence and depth that makes a retelling enjoyable. Retellings that work too hard on keeping the plot and story “pure” while also putting it in a different context are a turnoff to me. It binds the story up and doesn’t add to the story’s life. I like the story, but to hold too true to it while still trying to make it something the original story isn’t doesn’t often pan out.
Thoughts? What do you think about retellings?
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