Thursday, January 30, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Pale Light in the Black by K.B. Wagers



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on March 3, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.


A Pale Light in the Black is the first book in a new series by author KB Wagers, known for their prior Indranan and Farian War space opera trilogies (featuring their gunrunner empress lead, Hail Bristol).  But in contrast to those novels, A Pale Light in the Black is set in a much nearer future, featuring at its heart a sometimes friendly sometimes not conflict between SF versions of modern military services, with a space version of the Coast Guard - the NeoG - at its center.  As a big fan of the Hail Bristol novels, I was excited to read Wagers' next work, so I was excited to get an advance copy of this book to review.

And I really loved A Pale Light in the Black, a story that is so positive in its depiction of camaraderie, love, and family that I fell near instantly in love with the characters.  It is still a story with conflict mind you - both in friendly (interservice) and not-so-friendly (in an antagonist conspiracy) - so it's not quite channeling Becky Chambers' Wayfarer works, but the way the book portrays its main cast gelling together, and how they each deal with their various loves and families, is just terrific.  Oh and the cast includes plenty of wiseass protagonists, bar fighting, and space adventures as the central NeoG team does their job to safeguard human space.


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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan



Girls of Storm and Shadow is the sequel to 2018's Young Adult Fantasy Girls of Paper and Fire (Review Here).  Girls was a tough book to read, featuring a world in which humans are the lowest of castes (the Paper Caste) in a world ruled by Demons, and in which the horrible demon king takes human girls to be his concubine "Paper Girls", whether they want to be there or not.  Needless to say, as our protagonist is one of those Paper Girls for that first book, it was not an easy book to read at times, and yet through it all the story managed to feature a really well done fantasy (F-F) romance with some solid characters through it all, although its cliffhanger ending was a bit of a bummer.

Girls of Storm and Shadow continues the story, expanding the world as our characters focus on the next step of their quest for freedom.  The result is markedly mixed: where the story is best, is when it deals with the protagonist's struggle with coping with trauma or where it deals with introducing other characters who have similar views towards freedom and justice but different ideas about them.  Where its weaker is in an underlying theme of the question of whether an end goal can make certain means to achieve them ever justified, and, more disappointingly, in how it deals with the next stage of the central romance.

Trigger Warning:  Grief/Self-Harm/Trauma - our protagonist and others in this trilogy suffered horrible sexual and physical abuse in the last book and are trying to recover in this one.  It's not an easy read as a result, although it's easier than the last book.

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Monday, January 27, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard




The House of Sundering Flames is the third book in Aliette de Bodard's Dominion of the Fallen trilogy, which began with The House of Shattered Wings and continued with The House of Binding Thorns (reviewed here).  The series is set in a fascinating world - an early 1900s fantasy version of Paris recovering from devastation caused by a war between "Houses" ruled and powered by Fallen Angels (known just as "Fallen") and those able to manipulate their power.  But the Fallen are not the only beings in this world, nor even the only beings of power - Vietnamese Dragons mainain their own kingdom in the Senne, and elsewhere, beings related to other divinities also exist.  And just as important to the series are the lives of the Houseless, the ordinary humans without the protection of Fallen masters, and the peoples whose cultures the Houses run ramshod over.

As you can imagine, themes of power, of family and protection, and colonization/imperialism are strong undercurrents of this series, to sometimes mixed results: The House of Shattering Wings kind of disappointed me, whereas The House of Binding Thorns was pretty close to a masterpiece in the end.  Both of those novels were focused upon a single House of Fallen in sort of self-contained stories, even if characters and some themes recurred from book 1 to book 2.

But the House of Sundering Flames changes that up, with the story following more directly from the prior novels and taking the themes underlying the prior works and pushing them to the forefront.  Oh there are new characters and parts of the setting introduced, but this is truly the ending to the trilogy, tying up the threads and themes left behind.  And it is utterly fantastic.

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Thursday, January 23, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman




The Secret Chapter is the sixth book in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series.  For those who are not yet familiar with the series, it's a tremendously fun (and sometimes meta) series featuring a multiverse of worlds, with a mixture of magic and technology, and conflicts between dragons and fae....and a main character whose primary focus is (supposed to be) obtaining rare copies of books for is titular Library.  The series trades in tropes like no one's business (in fact, the Fae in story are required to follow tropes by their very nature), but makes them fresh and new and fun in ways that make this series one of the most enjoyable reads I've found around - and I've finished each of the prior five books in the series within a single day of reading.

The Secret Chapter is another great installment in the series, with the bulk of the novel devoted to that most classic of story tropes: the heist story.  The story also delves even further into the running plot threads throughout the series as well as introducing new ones, and all of the newer characters are pretty great.  And again, the book is really damn fun - I finished it in under 24 hours again, and have already reread parts a few times.  In short, if you're not reading this series already and like fun SF/F, that does creative things with the literary tropes you see elsewhere, you should be reading it.

Note:  It is not recommended to start the series with this book, as while the series is not heavy on continuity and each book is a self contained story, it relies on enough prior material that new readers will probably be a bit lost.  Start with Book 1.  


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Wednesday, January 22, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern




The Starless Sea is Erin Morgenstern's second novel, after her hit novel The Night Circus (which I haven't read, mind you).  That book's success mean this book had a lot of hype behind it - to the point where the NY Public Library ordered 183 (!) copies of the ebook and there's still a waiting list to take it out.  So yeah, it's a pretty anticipated novel.  It's also, incidentally, yet another book featuring a plot about stories, as well as a library and books within a book....it's a pretty common trope that seems to be catnip for fiction writers and to be fair has resulted in some of my favorite novels.

The Starless Sea doesn't quite live up to those other novels for me.  Its narrative is captivating and the writing never drags or gets boring, but at the end of it all, it failed to really leave me with anything that lasted.  As with most books of this kind, it's very much a tale with a theme about the importance and powers of stories, but it doesn't do anything particularly interesting with that common theme.  The result is a novel that may read really well as you read it, but is pretty forgettable in the end.


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Tuesday, January 21, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates




The Water Dancer is Ta-Nehisi Coates' fiction novel debut, and it's one that fits within the SF/F genre.  In case you've been living under a rock and don't follow politics and political scholarship, or are from a non-United States country, Coates is one of the most influential and interesting political writers in the past decade, particularly on racial history and racial issues today.  The Water Dancer is not Coates' first fictional output - he had a decently regarded comics run on Black Panther a few years ago - but it's his first fictional novel, and unsurprisingly, it deals very much with the same ideas in Coates' political writings, with a setting that begins on a failing plantation in the antebellum south and a cast of those involved in and opposed to the institution of slavery.

The result is a strong tale, with some clear themes, and many strong characters filled with deep backstories, that's very much what you might expect from Coates' work.  At the same time though, the story suffers from some pacing issues and if you're looking for something very fantastical, you won't find it here - the magic is there but very symbolic at its heart, and not something that is used as a major mechanic in this story in and of itself (descriptions of the book may give you the wrong impression of this).


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Monday, January 20, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee




Zeroboxer is a YA science fiction novel from author Fonda Lee (known also for her Exo duology and Jade City trilogy).  It's also a novel featuring a setting based upon a future version of what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).  I've enjoyed Lee's prior works and I'm a huge MMA fan, so Zeroboxer seemed like it should've been right up my alley.

And Zeroboxer is fine.  It features an interesting SciFi setting based upon pre and post-birth genetic engineering as well as a number of solidly described fight scenes, to go along with some solid if unexceptional characters.  Still, the book uses that setting to set up a really interesting situation which it basically never does anything with, and the book ends right before the shit hits the fan.  It'd make sense as the first half of a duology, but as a stand alone title (and there appears to be no plans for a sequel), it's kind of a disappointing way to end the story.  The result is a novel that's merely solid, but not nearly as good as its potential:


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SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Swordheart by T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)




Swordheart is one of the latest full length novels by author T Kingfisher - also known as children's author Ursula Vernon.  It's set in the same world as her Clocktaur War duology, which I loved as a whole - a fun story with great fantasy characters, often riffing on classic fantasy tropes, with witty dialogue and a great setting as it went from beginning to end.  But Swordheart is a stand alone novel, requiring no prior knowledge to read (it's the start of a trilogy, but works quite well as a stand alone) so I was excited to see it on sale last month...and when I needed a fun read to start my new year, it was the first book I turned to.

And oh my god, is Swordheart so so so so great, and I couldn't have started off my New Year with a better book.  A Fantasy Romance with multiple great characters with a plot that works really well and is full of humor and witty dialogue, to go along with a fully realized world....I have practically nothing bad to say about this book other than I want more.  Readers looking for fantasies epic in scope won't find what they're looking for here, but if you're looking for a book that's just plain fun and impossible to put down....you've found it here.


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Thursday, January 16, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Toll by Neal Shusterman




The Toll is the third and final book in Neal Shusterman's YA Trilogy, the "Arc of a Scythe", which began with 2017's "Scythe".  I really liked the setup in Scythe, although I complained back in my review (here) that the book's setup was more interesting than the events in the book.  The 2nd book, "Thunderhead" (Reviewed here) really made the most of that setup: a world which has conquered death, but in which population management is handled by a group of people known as Scythes, who can kill others permanently subject to certain rules...not that all of them are satisfied by those rules and limitations.  In addition, the world was governed by a powerful AI, whose only limitation appeared to be its programming preventing it from directly interfering with the Scythedom.  Thunderhead was maybe everything you could want from a 2nd book - it expanded the world in interesting ways, built upon the existing characters, and ended in a terrific cliffhanger, so I really was excited to finally finish the series with The Toll when I saw it was coming out.

Unfortunately, the Toll tries to do a bit too many things in too short a time (and it's a 640 page book, so it's not short) and it's a bit of a mess as a result, to my disappointment.  The book has trouble juggling all of the many characters - the old ones and a few new ones as well - resulting in some being lost for pages at a time, including our central protagonist duo, as Shusterman tries to wrap everything up in a single volume.  The plot wraps everything up nicely in the end, but it isn't as satisfying as it should be for some of our more essential characters, making me wish this book was split into two volumes to give space for everyone.


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Wednesday, January 15, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C Dao




Song of the Crimson Flower is the third novel from author Julie C Dao, after Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Reviewed Here) and Kingdom of a Blazing Phoenix (Reviewed Here).  Those novels were a duology marrying Vietnamese stories to the classic fable of Snow White and the Evil Queen.  They were firmly in the category of YA/Middle-Grade novels, but again, they worked really well and I enjoyed them quite a bit.  Song of the Crimson Flower is set in the same universe as the duology, but is entirely stand alone and so I was interested to see how it would work out for me.

The answer is that this novel is enjoyable, and definitely works for a YA/Middle-Grade novel, but is far less interesting than the duology in how it plays out.  It's a short novel, with the main plot element, a romance between our two protagonists and a curse that can only be broken by a declaration of love, being rather predictable, but executed just well enough to work.  There are some interesting side issues regarding the ethics of some of the actors involved, and the villain poses an interesting quandry, but the book isn't long enough to really examine these issues.  So yeah, this is a fine book for YA/Middle-Grade audiences looking for something not so Western in origin, but otherwise, adult readers will not find much here.


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Thursday, January 9, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Down Among the Dead by K.B. Wagers



Down Among the Dead is the 2nd in KB Wager's "Farian War" trilogy (after last year's "There Before the Chaos" - which I reviewed here), and the fifth story in their space opera universe featuring as its protagonist the gunrunner empress Hail Bristol.  I actually came to this universe with the start of this trilogy, and only then went back to read the original trilogy (The Indranan War trilogy) later - having really enjoyed There Before the Chaos first.  Wagers' writing has some annoying quirks - her heroine getting randomly praised by basically everyone throughout would make a fun drinking game - but it results in an addictive narrative as the series shifts genres seamlessly between political thriller and space opera and back.  As a result, I've been awaiting this novel for a while.

*Note: As should be obvious from the above paragraph, you don't need to read the prior trilogy before starting this one.  You DO need to read There Before the Chaos though before starting this novel, as you'll be lost otherwise.*

 Down Among the Dead is a really fascinating novel, featuring the series protagonist in a bad way, driven mad by grief, for pretty much half the novel, and even afterwards she never fully recovers.  It's an interesting exploration of grief and pain, working well given all that we've seen of Hail previously.  The story also takes a turn for the fantastical, as the powers of the alien races become available to our human protagonists as well, taking us away from the political thriller and space opera genres a bit, and most of the second half of the book leads up to a point that winds up being the book's cliffhanger, which is a bit of a disappointment.  Still, the narrative remains compelling throughout, and I'd definitely recommend this book, if you're able to handle the rough things that occur, just for the exploration of grief throughout.

Trigger Warning: Self-harm, Suicidal Inclinations.  These are major parts of this book, as it explores our main character's grief, so if those things are a problem, be forewarned.

Note: Spoilers for the first book are inevitable below, sorry:

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham




Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet finally comes to a close in this book, The Price of Spring.  The series, which began with his A Shadow in Summer (Reviewed Here), has quickly become one of my favorites, as it tells an epic fantasy story spanning a timeline of over 60 years, with 15 year time jumps between each book.  Throughout it all, the story has told the tale of two characters - Otah Machi and Maati Vaupathai - as the world as they knew it has shifted over the long years: both through their own actions and the actions of others, and the costs of survival in a world filled with magical beings of mass destruction in the homeland and powerful foreign armies based upon steam tech on the outside.  The series' title - again, the Long Price Quartet - has really come into focus with the 3rd book and this book of the series, as the book asks once again: at what price should the past...and future be maintained?

Seriously, I could write a whole essay about this series and others have, and The Price of Spring is a truly fantastic conclusion to it all.  Whereas the prior books featured a number of viewpoint characters other than the main duo, this book alternates telling the story only between Maati and Otah's viewpoints, as their struggles...and lives, come to their conclusion.  At the same time, the next generation takes its steps onto the center stage, and the prices paid for the future by Maati and Otah are asked in new fashion of them as well, with the whole world in the balance.  As always the character work is incredible, and the story comes to a really satisfying conclusion, as it feels like it only could have here.

Note: I read this, as with the rest of the series, in audiobook format.  The reader is very solid, so it's definitely worth your time in that format if you are looking for an audiobook.

Note: Spoilers for Books 1-3 are inevitable below, sorry.

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Tuesday, January 7, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes



Chilling Effect is the first in a fun space opera trilogy by debut author Valerie Valdes.  Set in a universe that feels like a more humor filled version of Mass Effect (although not quite a comedy like say Hitchhiker's), it is definitely the type of book I've found myself to enjoy quite a lot.  So you have a rag tag crew, led by an adventurous captain dealing with a shadowy organization with plans for ancient artifacts left around the galaxy, with multiple different races and set pieces throughout as the plot expands, to go along with the character work.

And that character work, particularly our lead character, but also the rest of the main crew, is really good, making this an incredibly fun book to enjoy.  And given that the lead character makes exclamations frequently in Spanish slang (and half the chapter titles are in Spanish), it means that there's a good shot I missed some of the humor involved here...and I still enjoyed this book quite a bit.  The book's descriptions may not be the best honestly, but it really doesn't matter, this book is a blast.


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Monday, January 6, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland




Beyond the Black Door is a YA Fantasy novel by debut author A.M. Strickland.*  It's a book about a 17-18 year old girl who finds herself in the midst of secret societies and a conspiracy that threatens to overtake the world, and who in the midst of it all finds herself struggling to determine who she herself is - and what that means.  In particular, our protagonist is ace, and struggles with what that means, especially in a world where she has a magical power aided by being near others while she and they sleep.   

*Strickland identifies as genderfluid with she/them pronouns.  For this review, I'll be using "she"  as that's what's used in the bio in the book and she seems to use both, but take note. 

The result is a well done YA novel, with a protagonist who is easily likable to go along with one really strong secondary character.  It never really breaks out into something special for older readers - young adult readers who may be dealing with less fantastical versions of the same issues will likely find this better than older more sure readers - but the aforementioned characters are well enough done, the plot is nicely executed from beginning to end, and the story features enough clever moments to make it all come together.


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SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett




Gamechanger is a cyberpunk (and arguably hopepunk) thriller and debut novel from author L.X. Beckett.  It's a long novel, clocking in at 567 pages in the hardcover I took out from the library (and using not particularly large text at that), and one that carries a plot summary on the jacket/Amazon that would suggest something unremarkable in the text inside.  Yet when a reviewer I trust suggested there were a lot more interesting things going on between the covers, I decided to give the book a try anyhow.  And yes, there's definitely a LOT more to Gamechanger than what the book summary would suggest.

The result is perhaps a bit uneven mind you, with the book juggling so many different ideas and concepts that some wind up getting lost.  But overall it's a fascinating thriller set in a fascinating post 21st century world that's tried to clean up after our messes - an optimistic dystopia, if you will - with a bunch of characters who are definitely enjoyable to follow as they try and figure everything out.  The book doesn't hold the reader's hand in terms of explaining this world mind you, but readers who stick with it will find themselves rewarded overall, and the ending is satisfying if clearly not the end of the overall story.


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Thursday, January 2, 2020

2019 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 3: My Least Favorite Books of the Year




It's time for Part 3 of my recap of my reading in 2019.  Part 1 was a basic summary of what I read, which you can find here.  Part 2 was where I talked about my favorite books of last year, which you can read here.

This Part is less fun, it's my recap of the books I either couldn't finish or just found to be downright bad and not worth your time.  Obviously some of this is subjective - for the 2nd year in a row, one of the book I have on this list actually earned a bunch of awards somehow.  And in a nice twist, the number of books on this list, which tend to be books I score a 5 out of 10 or below, is down to only 3 this year, from nine last year.  And I only DNFed four books overall as far as I can tell, although I might've missed one there.  So yeah, this year was definitely better than last year.


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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

2019 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 2: My Favorite Books/Novellas & Other Reads




Again, having read 182 books for the second year in a row, as well as 21 novellas, there were obviously a few works I really liked more than others, which I want to highlight.  If you follow me on twitter, you'll note I do give each work a score on a ten point scale.  For those curious my ten point grades tend to work something like the following:

7 stars - A solid book, but not a great one that I'd really recommend to anyone, but certainly one I'd consider a sequel to.
7.5 stars - A solid book that verges upon being being recommendable to others, with just a few things holding it back.
8 stars - A good book I would definitely recommend to others, based upon what others are looking for.  Will definitely be back for a sequel.
8.5 stars - A good book verging on great, definitely recommending to others.
9 stars - A great book that I will recommend to pretty much everyone unless there are specific aspects that other readers might dislike and want to avoid.
9.5 stars - An almost must-read that I'll recommend to practically everyone, although the book still has a fault here or there that might hold it back from absolutely effusive praise.
10 stars - An absolute must-read I will recommend to everyone, a book that is utterly brilliant.

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2019 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 1: Basic Summary




2019 was Year 3 of this blog as a dedicated (mostly) book review blog, and year 4 really of my return to reading Science Fiction and Fantasy.  The Genre has never been better, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either a bitter old man or a person with an agenda and isn't worth listening to.  As in the prior two years, I'll be doing a 3 part recap series of the books and novellas I read over the past year, as follows:

Part 1 (This post) will be a quick summary of what I've read and how that worked out.
Part 2 (To be posted tonight): Will go over my favorite works of the past year.
Part 3 (To be posted tomorrow): Will go over the works I would recommend NOT reading or that I couldn't finish for various reasons. 

So let's begin:

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