Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

 

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Publication Date: October 13, 2020

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A crow god in human skin on a mission of vengeance, a bisexual not-mermaid who can't seem to catch a break, a noble warrior who . . . gets very little page time, and a politically incompetent sun priest, all have their lives intertwine as a portentous eclipse looms.

Pre-Columbian mythology of the Americas isn't a loom many fantasy novels weave upon, so I was interested to see where the author took this. And there's a lot to enjoy; the writing is quick-paced and entertaining, several of the characters were well-drawn (Xiala is a treasure! And Serapio was intriguing), and the story moves at a good clip.

My biggest complaint lies in the relative brevity of the book. For this to work as well as I assume the author intended, the worldbuilding needed a lot more texture than I felt we got. The giant animals are just sort of *there*, the science/magic aspects weren't well fleshed out, and several of the characters seemed like their development was being rushed. (And I don't actually think I was supposed to be calling the sun priest a moron the entire time I was reading, but my *goodness* she was *such a moron*, constantly demonstrating a sort of hapless naivete that seemed completely at odds with what we were told of her upbringing and life thus far. Honey, if you're constantly getting outwitted by a nineteen-year-old, the problem is *you*.) Also, I found the ending somewhat abrupt.

Overall, I'd rate this as solid but not spectacular read. I was entertained, which is the most important thing, and I'd be willing to pick up the sequel.  

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio

Publication Date: July 28, 2020

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Back when I first read Empire of Silence, I commented that I found Hadrian's lack of immediate victories in that book somewhat disappointing. We love adventure stories because we love living vicariously through their heroes, you see, and it was hard to do that with someone whose great victories were all being saved for future books.

In Demon in White, the Sollan Empire holds a Triumph to honor its newest savior---for what great deed, I won't spoil here---and during it, I thought a lot about my earlier commentary. No slave whispers in Hadrian's ear "remember, thou art mortal" as he parades through the streets of Forum, that impossible city in the clouds. . . but Future Hadrian serves a similar purpose for us readers, I think. This is the book where Hadrian's star well and truly begins to rise; this is the book where honors and glories fall upon him like rain. And always, always, as we watch Hadrian emerge victorious---as we readers experience his victories firsthand---his future self whispers in our ear of the degradations to come. No statue can rise to him, but that we are told of how it will topple. No status is conferred upon him but he reminds us of Gododdin. "Remember, I am mortal" Future Hadrian seems to whisper, as Present Hadrian barrels onwards and upwards . . . though after the events of this book, and from comments made in earlier books, it's not entirely clear that that's the case.

Hadrian Marlowe becomes many things in Demon in White. A teacher, to a spoiled young prince with a heady destiny ahead. The focal point of a mystery cult that sends the Chantry into a rage. A soldier, a politician, a hero of the realm. And . . . something else entirely. That, I won't spoil, except to say that the events at the end of Howling Dark are no longer the undisputed strangest in Hadrian's life.

This was no longer than the earlier books, but I found it a much quicker read. I'm not sure why; perhaps because a good chunk takes place on Forum, where we get the sort of political drama that I as a reader adore. Perhaps because we lean even further into the eldritch horror aspects of the series, which I also adore. Perhaps because we seem to be moving toward endgame, rather than merely setting up the pieces, and the pace picks up accordingly. Or perhaps it's simply because this is the first book where Hadrian has his feet firmly planted in a cultural milieu he understands, where much of the earlier two books were explicitly about throwing Hadrian as far off his own map as possible. 

Overall, this is a rich, deep installment of a spectacular new series, epic and heartbreaking and breathtaking in its scope. 

Read on, readers; you're in for a treat.

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Devolution by Max Brooks

Devolution by Max Brooks
Publication Date: June 16, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After a volcanic eruption drives them from their native habitat, a band of Sasquatch (Sasquatches? Sasquatchii?) attack a high-tech, off-the-grid community, forcing a knock-down-drag-out battle between two very different---and very similar---tribes of primates.

If you think it's possible to write a bad book with that hook, then honey, I don't really know what to tell you.

Devolution is as much about the breakdown---and reforging---of the human community as it is about the attacking Bigfoot (Bigfeet?). (Though I hesitate a bit to call Greenloop a "community". A community of half a dozen houses is less a community than a cul-de-sac with delusions.) We follow the narrative through found diary entries of the mousy, pushover Katie, who with the rest must find reserves of inner strength and resourcefulness when faced with a predator who's larger, fiercer, and has lost all fear of humans.

I knocked off a star because I thought the epistolary format robbed the (admittedly well-crafted) narrative of some of its tension---it's a bit hard to feel completely at the edge of your seat when you know your protagonist will not only survive, but have the time and ability to write down events after they happen---but that's a relatively small thing. (Also, because I thought the narrative was a bit . . . quick? The changes in the community occur in the space of only a couple of weeks, and that seemed more unrealistic than the attacking Sasquatch.)

Overall, this was a relatively fast and exciting read, great for curling up on a couch on a rainy weekend. (Just avoid windows facing the woods!)

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley

Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley
Publication Date: August 6, 2020
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Shine Lucheyart may be a granddaughter of the ruling Empress, but as a magic-less mundane with a vanished (some say dead) mother and a pale-skinned foreign father, she's forced to live a quiet life of genteel poverty on an isolated country estate, with little company aside from a giant talking cat and her radical, semi-banished aunt. But when her extended family descends on her home for an annual fertility festival---and a pale-skinned scholar from a neighboring republic who's not supposed to be in the country at all gets dumped in her lap---she finds herself caught up in plots and schemes that threaten everything she holds dear.

Overall I enjoyed this a lot, and I think anyone who likes their fantasy steeped in politics and family drama would do the same. Shine is a character very much caught between: though clever and generally well-intentioned (though in many ways still very much the product of her upbringing), and the beneficiary of a society where her sex and lineage give her special status, her lack of magic keeps her very much at the dregs of her social class, a poor relation who will struggle to ever escape that fate. (Mundane members of mage families get treated a bit like illegitimate children, in that they can't inherit and they can't exercise political power.) Her pale (well . . . paler) skin sets her apart from her peers, a constant reminder of her lack of fully belonging.

I think I'd need to read the next book (this is clearly set up for more books) before commenting further on the racial and social elements at play here. The Empire is a matriarchal, matrilineal society where women hold most of the power, but . . . a feminist utopia, this is not. And the as-yet-unseen neighboring republic, glimpsed through comments by Shadow (the pale-skinned foreigner who finds himself quite literally hiding under Shine's bed . . . don't ask, just read the book!), seems to be a counterpoint in many ways, but without seeing it firsthand, it's hard to really give an analysis. It didn't escape my notice that the dark-skinned empire has an economy based on resource extraction, while the pale-skinned republic seems to have a more capitalist manufacturing-based economy---along with a patriarchal, patrilineal social structure---and I'm curious to see where the author goes there.

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Ballistic (Palladium Wars #2) by Marko Kloos

Ballistic (The Palladium Wars #2) by Marko Kloos
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I debated giving this installment 4 stars, because I really like Kloos's writing, but "oh good, the story's finally beginning" is not what a reader should be thinking at the end of Book 2. If Aftershocks read like an extended prologue, Ballistic reads like the first few chapters of the story: we get a lot of quiet background, pieces seem to be moved into place, but just as the main action appears to begin . . . roll credits.

This book and Aftershocks could have been smushed together into a single novel, and I think it still would've read like an extended prologue to the main action. Frankly, I think a reader could easily skip the first book and jump right in here, which isn't what you want to see in a series like this.

I'll pick up Book 3, because again, I really like Kloos's writing. But I'll do so with the stated hope that I'll stop feeling like I'm waiting for the main story to finally begin.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Providence by Max Barry

Providence by Max Barry
Publication Date: March 31, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Faced with a losing war against a spacefaring race of huge and hostile bug-like creatures (nicknamed "salamanders"), the countries of the world unite (with much grumbling, as this shit's expensive!) to build a fleet of AI-powered Providence-class battleships, crewed by the best and the brightest. The latest Providence battleship---which is never named, unless I missed it, which seems relevant--- are Gilly, the socially awkward tech genius; Anders, a handsomely psycho weapons officer; Beanfield, the Life Officer---think ship's counselor---and Jackson, the captain, a survivor of a devastating salamander attack.

But isn't that a pretty small crew for a massive battleship, you ask? To which I reply: yes, you're right! That is absolutely a question you should be asking!

Halfway through Providence, I was convinced I'd figured out the twist: the aliens would turn out not to be real, you see, and the entire ordeal would be revealed as some hideous corporate experiment. Or the aliens were real, but the salamanders were just the equivalent of artificially-created drones, and Our Heroes' mission would turn out to be to encounter the real aliens, the intelligent masters behind the curtain.

I won't say if I was correct; best to read this for yourself. But I will say this: this book is either incredibly nihilistic or exactly the opposite, and I still find myself still chewing over which it was.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Killing Fog by Jeff Wheeler

The Killing Fog by Jeff Wheeler
Publication Date: March 1, 2020
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A patchwork of petty kingdoms, nestled in the ruins of a fallen magical empire, face a rising horror when an expedition to discover a lost city goes horribly awry.

Bingmei, who was born with pale skin and hair---a condition viewed as a 'sickness' in her homeland---and who can literally smell people's intentions, was orphaned when her mercenary parents and grandfather were murdered, and now trains for revenge. When she ends up in possession of a magical blade--one of many magical objects left behind by that now-fallen empire, whose use summons a mysterious but deadly fog to strike the wielder down---she ends up joining her mercenary band on a quest that accidentally sets in motion a series of very unfortunate events.

I'd say this read like a YA novel, but I've read too many YA novels that seemed more 'adult' than this. (And this seemed way too long for a YA novel, frankly.) I enjoyed it a lot at the start, but as the story progressed my interest waned dramatically, until by the end I was really ready for the whole thing to just be done.

There's clearly talent here, but there's a . . . simplicity? to the writing that annoyed me so much that I knocked off several stars. It constantly read like the author was terrified his readers wouldn't understand the characters' motivations, so he decided to over-explain, flat-out announcing things that should have been intuited by the reader. I glossed over that tendency at first, but the book's so much longer than its plot really needs that I really couldn't ignore it by the end.

It's hard to say this was bad; I've read bad books and this wasn't that. But it's equally hard to call this good, and  . . . that's the heart of it, I think.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.