Review: Walk Among Us by Cassandra Khaw; Genevieve Gornichec; Caitlin Starling

 

Walk Among Us by Cassandra Khaw; Genevieve Gornichec; Caitlin Starling

Publication Date: May 4, 2021

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Until this book, my experience with the role-playing game Vampire: the Masquerade began and ended with the short-lived 1990s-era TV show Kindred: the Embraced, which I still adore with the fire of ten thousand suns but which I knew all along probably had little to do with the source material. So I actually took a look at the online wiki for the game before reading this book, and I'm glad I did, because all three stories within basically assume you're already familiar with all the relevant Vampire: the Masquerade background lore. (Though to be fair, none of the stories is intensely lore-intensive, in the sense that you'll be completely lost without any preexisting background knowledge.) 

There are three stories here: the first follows a young human whose life is upended when she begins to encounter the Kindred; the second follows a newly-embraced Kindred as he struggles to navigate his new existence; and the third follows a longtime Kindred as she finds herself caught in certain inescapable webs of her existence. Of the three I thought the first was the strongest, both because the narrator's ignorance of the Kindred made the store more easily followable to a reader who'd never played the game before, and because there was a twist at the end that I genuinely didn't see coming. (Something I always appreciate!)

Overall, if you're a fan of the RPG, or if you're just in the mood for some decent vampire fiction, this is a decent afternoon read.

Review: Captive of Wolves by Eva Chase

 

Captive of Wolves by Eva Chase

Publication Date: December 9, 2020

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are at all familiar with paranormal romance subgenres, then the plot of Captive of Wolves---"a damaged heroine gets kidnapped by a group of hunky shapeshifters and taken to their luxurious hidden lair, only to find herself slowly falling in love with all of them"---shouldn't surprise you. It's a bit of a trope by now, and if you don't like that subgenre, you definitely won't like this. But if fantasy-romance with multiple partners is your cup of tea, then this is a decent addition to that subgenre, though don't expect it to really tread any new ground.

This is the sort of book that lives or dies based on characterization, and though I wouldn't call anything about it hugely original, the tropes it follows are followed decently. Some thing work better if you don't think about them too hard---for example, despite having been kidnapped by the Fae-who-are-also-werewolves at the age of twelve, and spending eight straight years being locked in a tiny cage, our heroine Talia is surprisingly sane and a decent conversationalist---but I've read far more irritatingly perfect heroines than Talia, so that didn't bother me too much. And I liked that we got POVs from all of the heroes.

The smut factor was somewhat muted, and this is definitely more on the paranormal romance side rather than the e-romance side. There are only a couple of explicit scenes, and there's nothing too outre in any of them.

Overall, if you're a romance fan who likes this subgenre and wants a comfort read, go ahead and pick this up.

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

Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

 

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A sequel in spirit (though not in content) to the excellent The Twisted Ones, The Hollow Places takes us on another journey inspired by another classic work of cosmic horror. This time it's Ambrose Bierce's turn in the barrel, via his famous short story "The Willows", which (unlike the inspiration for The Twisted Ones) I actually have read---long, long ago---and which I found deeply, deeply unnerving.

"Deeply unnerving" is probably the best description I can give of The Hollow Places, and I mean that in the best possible way. Kara, a professional graphic designer and amateur fanfic writer, is fresh off a much-needed divorce and working for her uncle's junk museum of the absurd, when she notices a mysterious hole has appeared in the wall. A hole that leads to a hallway that's much too long to exist, and beyond that hall, a willow-strewn world like something out of a fairy tale. But her adventure soon turns to horror, as she discovers the true nature of the world she's stumbled upon, and just how difficult it will be to escape.

My one complaint about The Twisted Ones was in its ending, which I felt took all the slow-creeping tension of the earlier chapters and just dissipated it. Well, The Hollow Places doesn't fall into that trap; if anything, the creep factor multiplied right until the very end. (With a central mystery that I didn't find mysterious at all, though; not sure if that was because it was so obvious or because I've read "The Willows".) What this book does so well, I think, is the way it manipulates the reader's expectations. There are jump scares, it's true . . . but more often, we see a horror, but don't *realize* we're seeing a horror until much later on. Instead of "oh my god, it's a monster!", we think "wow, that's . . . weird", whistle a bit as we read on, then have the true nature of what we've been seeing all along suddenly revealed. The true horror lies in how little we---like Kara and her buddy Simon---understood what we were seeing. In how easy it was to stumble headfirst into hell.

Overall: highly, highly recommended!

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

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!