I had no idea where to set my expectations for this book, and initially picked it up with equal amounts of interest and skepticism. But I never would I had no idea where to set my expectations for this book, and initially picked it up with equal amounts of interest and skepticism. But I never would have guessed it would have blown me away the way it did.
Following an unlikely crew of three very different characters who carry three different family burdens, WHEN AMONG CROWS is a gorgeous and captivating urban fantasy tale about regret, repentance, and responsibility.
I was prepared for an action-packed folkloric urban fantasy. But I was not prepared for the deep commentary in this book about immigration, cultural ties, and Christian imperialism. And I was even less prepared for Roth to tackle all of these elements with such nuance and tact while creating a blossoming and tender achillean romance and found family amidst the cast of utterly lovable characters.
I almost want to say I wish it was longer, but not because it needed to be (arguably one of the best paced novellas I’ve ever read), but just because I fell so in love with these characters and this world and would read a whole series of this.
If you are a fan of political and folklore-heavy narratives like THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN, and want that type of story in the length of a novella, I highly recommend WHEN AMONG CROWS.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: blood & gore, body horror, violence, grief, self-inflicted harm (for sacrifice), religious guilt, death of mother (past), death of father (past), alcohol consumption...more
THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SOTHE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SONG OF ACHILLES. This pitch has been ambitious, and set my expectations for this book high.
Across various lifetimes, THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE tells the tale of reincarnated lovers stuck in an endless loop, their romance forever star-crossed as fate tangles them together time and again.
My favorite types of stories are the kind that transcend their singular telling, which is why I’m so drawn to reincarnation-based plots. I’m nothing if not a sucker for stories that say “love (not always romantic!!!) conquers all” or that celebrate the interconnectedness of culture and humanity. They always make me feel a part of something larger than myself and/or bring me some comforting sense of hope. And this book sets itself up to be one of these stories: one that discusses love, romance, and human relationships across distant lands and time.
Which is why it was so disappointing.
The story starts out promising, its scope wide but its strokes confident, painting a canvas full of folkloric imagery and setting up the bones of something stuffed with yearning, queerness, and transformation. While reading the first chapter, I vividly remember thinking: “oh. I’m going to love this.” But this command begins and ends with that first chapter, the rest of the book featuring only glimpses into this level of storytelling.
The majority of this book’s journey is oddly timid and disjointed. Its folkloric and fantastical elements are scattered, isolated to mere moments without any profound impact on the world-building or the story as a whole. The prose feels the same, as the story sometimes halts to insert moments of lovely meaningful writing sandwiched between tentative plot points.
Despite the book’s claim to tell some grand story that transcends time and space, it struggles to hold an overarching narrative, functioning through individual moments. This book isn’t one story told across separate timelines or even three stories told simultaneously, but rather is three fractions of a story on rotation, with minimal narrative distance covered by any of the individual timelines. It reminds me of those children’s stereoscopes I played with growing up, clicking through reels of scenes only connected by their shared concept.
This book tells us that these characters are trapped in a cycle of reincarnation spanning thousands of years and hundreds of lifetimes, so the fact that this book only provides some inconsequential sliver of insight into three (THREE!) of them was baffling to me. I desperately wanted even the slightest peek into another lifetime to help understand the magnitude of this supposed epic, transcendent romance. The story would have been served so much better with interludes between chapters that share even vague glimpses into other lifetimes. Or it needed to express why these three lifetimes are significant turning points at the absolute least. It desperately needed some tangible portrayal of the weight of these thousands of years.
There isn’t even that much interconnectivity between the three portrayed timelines, and the connections that are present feel more like wink wink nudge nudges rather than actual links. It reads as though nothing really changes in this relationship over lifetimes and, well, nothing IS actually changing in this relationship over lifetimes! Which makes me ask, why reincarnation then?
Because you’re telling me that you have lived hundreds of lifetimes, thousands of years, and you… what? have sex and then reincarnate again? There is just literally nothing greater going on between these characters. Not a singular piece of ground, over thousands of years, is covered in progressing… what, exactly?
Which, let’s get into that, shall we? As we find out later on in the story, there’s supposedly some curse that’s tied to a specific object that one of the main characters is trying to track down in the modern timeline. And we don’t even really know what this curse is, who placed it or why, or how to break it. There’s just… a “curse”and it’s supposedly causing their reincarnation in some way. It’s all very noncommittal. This explanation feels literally just dropped in there as an attempt to justify their reincarnation, but actually has no real impression on the nonexistent plot.
As you can probably surmise from my description so far, the rules of the world are just vague. Not in any kind of an interesting way, but in a way that feels like the author is just hesitant to touch world-building or logic, which resulted in fragmented, confusing connections between elements and uncertain stakes. Because there is no part of the plot here we can really root for! There is no real end goal!
Without any understanding behind this “curse” or the circumstances these characters are in, we have absolutely nowhere to go. There is no wrong to be righted, because the provided information about this supposed “wrong” is minimal at best, and there is no known way to “right” it. (There’s one that’s implied, but it's really confusing and the characters never actually take major strides to fulfilling it.) And it’s not even clear what the punishment or consequence for the “wrong” is, because it just seemed like it’s reincarnation, which doesn’t seem all that bad, since there was nothing wrong happening to them due to reincarnation.
(Sidebar! It’s officially now time for me to bring in THE quote. The quote that this book is being marketed around. Because this quote makes absolutely no sense with this story, and it is a great example as to how this book confuses itself with its logic.
“What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”
So let’s begin counting the things that make no sense with this quote! Problem 1: If these characters’ reincarnation loop is something they’re doomed into, why is the feeling of reincarnation being equated to love, which is something we’re supposed to view as a positive? Problem 2: If the characters are in love and therefore want to be together, why would we stop the reincarnation, which is supposedly what is giving them the feeling of love?)
Now let’s talk about this book’s only real obstacle: a third character who gets between our main characters.
I absolutely hate this third character. He essentially rapes one of the main characters over multiple timelines, and yet his relationship to the two main characters seems to be narratively framed as a love V, his role being to keep a character torn between loyalty and lust. So he never quite works as a villain because he’s also set up as a love interest, but never works as a love interest because he is a controlling rapist. I didn’t know what to make of him and his presence in the story really put me off. There are also like two or three chapters in which the characters spend nearly the whole scene scheming about killing this guy off and then there's never any actual follow through on that, ever? There's never any attempt made on his life and there's never a moment where they decide not to kill him off. Fully just forgotten.
(Quickly back to the quote! Problem 3: If love is the feeling of metaphysical recognition, and this other character is reincarnating with the main two, shouldn’t the main two characters both be in love with this character? Wouldn’t they all three be amorously in love after living hundreds of lifetimes in orbit?)
In general, I’m not a fan of the erotica in this book. I really don’t mind explicit sexual content, and I had been warned ahead of time about the amount of sexual content in this book, but I found myself SO uncomfortable. I think this is primarily because there are good sex scenes, neutral sex scenes, and bad sex scenes, and then there are consensual sex scenes, dubious sex scenes, and nonconsensual sex scenes, with little to no correlation between those different factors. The story seems to have no invested interest in consent when it comes to sexual content. Until there is one attempted rape scene in one of the timelines, when it is clear the audience is meant to be thinking: “oh no, he’s going to rape him, that’s bad!” But this doesn’t hold any actual weight because so many of the other sexual scenes are nonconsensual or dubious and are treated as normal or even kind of sexy by the narrative.
The language of these scenes is also just… so cringey? I was confused by the combination of explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the coy substitution of certain sexual words and body parts. I just could not take “influence” and “pink plum” seriously. If you’re going to be that explicit with the sexual actions of your characters, and you’re not trying create some profound metaphorical imagery, then stop using code words! It was cute the first time and then it got annoying!
Anyways, back to the reincarnation issues because AGAIN, the world-building in regards to the rules of this don’t make any sense. To recap: we’re initially told that only the two characters are doomed in a loop because of the “curse.” (And also because they’re in love? Unclear.) And then, of course, we find out that this third character is also reincarnating with them.
But actually, the story also suggests that there are more people reincarnating along with these other characters. At some points in the novel, a character in one timeline is clearly hinted at in another, but these connections are never expanded upon beyond that.
(Problem 4: How can their romance be epic because they keep reincarnating and therefore creating this growing feeling of true love, when potentially everyone around them is someone they know from previous lives?)
And you know what? I’m actually VERY down for an ensemble cast. I think this book would have flourished so much more if this was fleshed out. It would have created a clearer arc between the three POVs and maybe even would have helped craft a better and more constant rhetoric about love and community.
(If it weren’t for that dastardly curse that literally contradicts everything, what the fuck is that?)
But truly, the most frustrating thing about this book is that it doesn’t seem that these characters are actually… in love. I’m concerned that Huang doesn’t know the difference between romantic attraction, sexual attraction, and love. We’re told A LOT that these two men have some “special feeling” between them that transcends lifetimes, and that that feeling is “true love,” but the only thing we’re really shown between them is some really great sex.
In fact, the greatest examples of love I can point to in the book are shown by side characters in the modern timeline–characters, who don’t as far as I’m aware, have any parallels between timelines.
(Problem 5: If love is metaphysical recognition, does this only count for romantic and/or sexual love? Problem 6: If the answer to problem 5 even is yes, one of the side characters has romantic AND sexual AND platonic love for one of the main characters, but doesn’t seem to appear in other timelines, so is he not actually feeling love? Problem 7: Is no one able to feel love for someone they aren’t reincarnated with? Problem 8: If this side character is feeling unrequited love, does that mean he was reincarnated with the main character, but the main character was not reincarnated with him? How does that make sense? Problem 9: By the time it rolls around to the modern timeline, we never see these characters in love, just very sexually attracted to each other, while other characters show their love through genuine compassion and support and patience, but their love is not as valued by the main character, so is love just the feeling of finding someone really hot? Problem 10: If they’re trapped by this curse of reincarnation, and metaphysical recognition is love, how could they have fallen in love in their first lifetime? Check. mate.)
Now, it’s possible there is some sort of commentary here about the way we define love, and how we should be looking to the people who support us rather than staying caught up in the cycles of the past, but… I’m not sure that the book really supports this. It seems, above all, to value undying loyalty.
By the final chapters (without spoiling it, I promise), the book practically falls apart, all its final choices undermining every message this story initially sets out to portray without any shift of perspective. It constantly contradicts itself, leaving a muddied, frustrating, and inconclusive messaging. We lose the plot line of the curse entirely, there’s still barely any narrative distance covered across any of the three timelines, and the romance is just…??? It lacks closure, and I really love an open ending but there isn’t even a final beat or question for us to ponder on that carries us off and away from this book.
At the end of it all, I think this book just has no clue what it is trying to say. There is no guiding hand, leaving the audience to saunter aimlessly through this garden of ideas.
I don’t know where the blame for these issues lie, with the author or the editor or both or neither, but wow was this one a disappointment. When you have a narrative brimming with this much potential, you need to make sure you have a strong grip on it. A shaky hand only causes spillage, making a mess of the story and your reader.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
CW: sexual content (including dubious and nonconsensual content), drug use, drugging, alcohol, animal death, homophobia, death, mind control, gun violence, blood, death of father (past), death by cancer (past), infidelity (mention), alcoholism (mention), suicide (mention), fatphobic comment...more
I really loved the set up here, but I fear that by the end of the book, it became a bit too convoluted for me and I lost steam at about the 85% mark. I really loved the set up here, but I fear that by the end of the book, it became a bit too convoluted for me and I lost steam at about the 85% mark. It mentions in the acknowledgments that this was initially planned to be a novella and I think I would’ve found the streamlined approach to this vision to be more up my alley. Though it is a testament to this story that I did finish it despite having to be REALLY harsh about DNFing books lately. I think this was a really great addition to the canon of sapphic vampire stories and I'm sure many folks will really love this one.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: blood & gore, violence, injury detail, drugging, mind control, kidnapping, death of mother (past), sexual content, medical content, death, emesis, loss of child (past)...more
“If we address stories as archaeological sites, and dust through their layers with meticulous care, we find at some level there is always a doorway. A“If we address stories as archaeological sites, and dust through their layers with meticulous care, we find at some level there is always a doorway. A dividing point between here and there, us and them, mundane and magical.It is at the moments when the doors open, when things flow between the worlds, that stories happen.”
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a sweeping and intimate tale about colonialist institutions, the winds of change, and magical doors that inspire endless freedom.
I had VERY mixed feelings about this book and honestly spent most of the book in a battle with myself: torn between the urge to DNF it and an undeniable pull to continue reading. But by the end, I found myself utterly enjoying this work.
Alix E. Harrow is undeniably a strong writer, and the narrative voice of this book is probably one of my all-time favorites. I was immediately enchanted by its charm and it was the main thing that kept me from completely discarding this book. It’s confident and quirky and utterly unique. And after reading The Six Deaths of the Saint, I can say with confidence that this book's voice is no fluke or luck of Harrow’s, but rather a truly magnetic storytelling ability. Even when the urge to DNF was winning my internal reading war, I wouldn't hesitate to say that this book has made Alix E. Harrow one of my favorite authors.
As for other elements that are done well, I think the most successful is the theme of change. Throughout this story, it is made clear to the audience that doors—sorry, Doors—are agents of change, sparking transformation in not only the beings that make their way through the Doors but in the worlds they touch. This is utilized in the narrative to motivate both plot points and character development and felt well-strategized and applied. The narrative antithesis of the Doors is colonization, shown in-text as an act of restriction and order and resistance to change. Harrow sheds irony on how in practice, colonization is the opposite of progress despite the fact that it is often excused under the claim of progress. In this story, it functions as the force against change and therefore freedom.
Now, because such a large part of this book’s execution is done so well, the parts that struggle are glaringly obvious and as a reader, I felt like I was tripped up every time I encountered one of these disconnects.
For example, much of the story is about the othering of people in our world, and about who gets pushed into the margins for the sake of “keeping order”. And unfortunately, the distance between Alix E. Harrow’s experiences and the experiences of her characters—especially her Black characters and otherwise characters of color—is tangible and holds the story back from fully sticking its landing. In fact, I think one of the things that irked me the most about this book was that the MC is biracial and holds some internalized racism towards her identity that never fully gets confronted but rather overcome through a conveniently magical scapegoat.
This is also—similar to my recent read of Ink Blood Sister Scribe (in many ways, actually)—a story in which its twists and turns are not particularly… twisty and turny. But where as Ink Blood Sister Scribe reads like a picture coming into focus, Harrow instead utilizes quite a bit of dramatic irony, so that the whole story and its turns are accessible to us as the readers from the very beginning. And instead of following our own access to knowledge, we follow January’s. This definitely makes the story feel very character-driven, which I really enjoyed, personally. Though, at times, it was frustrating (likely intentionally so) to watch January so blindly refuse to see the danger and harm happening around her while it being so obvious to us.
Though this was an interesting choice, I did struggle with the pacing quite a bit at times because of this dissonance between our and January's perspectives. Some of the stakes at the high points of the story are driven by January's understanding of events or her sentimentality towards particular characters and in these moments, this dramatic irony lessened their impact.
Despite its problems (I especially caution about its depiction of Black and biracial characters), The Ten Thousand Doors of January won me over in the end with its compelling characters, its extraordinary storytelling voice, and its imaginative and sprawling world featuring books within books within books, magical doorways to elsewhere, and the familiar call of adventure.
CW: colonialism, racism, internalized racism (unconfronted), abandonment, parental death, loss of loved one, animal abuse and death (off-page), grief, abusive guardian, child abuse, forced institutionalization, self-harm (for magic), blood & gore, violence, gun violence, drugging, alcohol consumption...more
I absolutely adore books that are just silly brain-off stories. This book looked stupid and gay (complimentary) and I was so ready to have the time ofI absolutely adore books that are just silly brain-off stories. This book looked stupid and gay (complimentary) and I was so ready to have the time of my life.
Generally, I think this book had a lot of issues, but was indeed a really fun read.
I’ll go ahead and list the things I like:
-Despite being insta love-y (or maybe insta crush-y?) I think the romance pacing REALLY worked for me. The stakes and the meeting of the characters were set up in such a way that I really just bought it. If I was super drunk and having a breakdown in an alley and was kissed by a hot person who immediately vanished into thin air as if by magic I think I’d obsess over it too. I was so compelled by these characters on the page together and it was mainly what propelled me through this book.
-The friendly banter. The group chat elements of this story were really what reminded me of Red White and Royal Blue and made me understand that comp. The teasing and inside jokes were such a joy.
-The commentary about capitalism. So in this book, Christmas is sort of monopolizing holiday joy in a way that brilliantly mimics the way that business do indeed use Christmas as a way to capitalize off of people’s joy and are constantly steamrolling over other holidays because Christmas is such a great financial tool. We constantly see people nowadays complaining that it feels like Christmas is starting earlier and earlier (with decorations coming out practically at the same time as Halloween) and the way that this is manifested in this book is so funny and so smart.
But I did have some problems with this book’s writing and world-building. (Time for a lil rant.)
-So I’ll start pretty simply with a writing issue, which is that we’re constantly told rather than shown information about the characters. And worse than that, that information is not actually often reflected in the characters’ behavior. For example, with Coal, he has this supposed history of insincerity and mockery and deflection, but we only ever see him being really caring and sincere. Even the inciting event of the story was supposed to be a “prank gone wrong” according to other characters, but it wasn’t ever actually a prank. It was Coal trying to do something genuinely very kind but was misinformed. So his character growth and relationship developments don’t work very well because we only ever see this “better” version of him.
-I’d say my biggest problem with this book, however, is its approach to religion (or lack thereof). This book is constantly trying to omit religion as a factor in the holidays. Which… doesn’t make sense because this book takes place in our world. Christmas is inseparable from its origins. It is practiced specifically by Christian people. So it feels weird for this book to talk about the way that Christmas is constantly reaching new countries and cultures that didn’t celebrate Christmas before while ignoring the inherent Christian imperialism and colonialism that would be tied to that outreach. I appreciate that it was trying to focus itself on capitalism, but to ignore the fact that this has a harmful (and historically violent) impact on real people was frustrating. Plus this book was constantly talking about the “other big joyous holidays” which were… just other Christian holidays. Literally non-Christian or secular holidays were NEVER mentioned. It just didn’t feel like there was room for non-Christian perspectives or religions to exist in this story and world (which is supposed to be our own) and it caused me to feel a bit uncomfortable.
-And to continue off of that last point, despite this book attempting to omit religion from holidays, it utilizes heavy religious language! So as much as I would like to be generous and maybe suspend my belief to take this world as one that isn’t religious (which again, Christmas is inherently Christian and practiced by Christian people and can’t be separated from its origins and history but whatever), I can’t even do that. Romantic scenes between the leads constantly employ heavy religious description. There are constant mentions of priests and worship and idolatry and prayer. And so it creates this really uncomfortable friction in the world building to heavily utilize religion when talking about the way the characters feel about each other but to pretend it doesn’t exist when it comes to the function of religious holidays in the real world.
All in all, I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was a really fun time and I would probably recommend it to Christian folks (or folks who participate in secular Christian culture), but I couldn’t really escape the pit in my stomach of feeling deliberately erased from my own world as a Jewish person. I didn’t need to be included (I'm not a fool, I understand this is a story about Christmas), but to comment on the history of Christmas dominating cultures and countries while severing it from its religious origins, as well as creating an entire political sphere of holidays that exist in our world but not including or even off-handedly acknowledging a single Jewish, Muslim, etc. one just didn’t sit right with me. I’m not saying this book is “problematic” because I don’t think it is. But I think it wasn’t for me. It might be for some of you instead.
Thank you so much to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
CW: sexual content, grief, death (past), death of sibling (past), car accident (past), alcohol...more
This was an incredibly fascinating, prickly, messy read.
I'm not even quite sure how I feel about this now and I may come back to this review to tweakThis was an incredibly fascinating, prickly, messy read.
I'm not even quite sure how I feel about this now and I may come back to this review to tweak my thoughts.
I think ultimately, though it certainly had some faults and I certainly have some criticisms, I enjoyed this book. I don't know if I would recommend it widely, as it's incredibly specific, but for anyone who is looking to pick it up, I would highly recommend reading it on audiobook, as I didn't find myself bored for a SECOND despite many of my friends telling me that they found this book to drag. Dani Martineck was a brilliant choice for a narrator, fleshing out the characters and providing an extra layer of tone to the already quirky voice.
If I were to recommend this to someone, I would heavily express that this is an autobiographical vampire story that explores gender, sexuality, identity, fandom, societal ableism, and archiving ourselves in a way that is raw and tangled and disorderly.
Our main character Sol is given the arduous task of archiving the work of a writer whose work he used to follow, to sort through the traces she left on the world (pun intended) and detangle her life from her work, to pull apart the rhetoric she's imbued into her characters and storylines to figure out where the fiction ends and where she begins. To figure out what is inspired by other media or what is purposeful or unintentional residue from her own experiences and beliefs. Dead Collections asks us, the audience, to do the same, in turn, with Isaac Fellman and the way he has poured himself into this story, archived his experiences and beliefs into his own fiction. There's an incredible parallel between reader and character, having to pull apart metaphor from reality, trying to make sense of all the sticky meanings and the blurred line between art and artist.
Unfortunately, I think this work is not done justice by the publisher, who markets this as more of a fiction tale. And in doing so, I think that strips away much of the nuance to this story, which makes sense why so many reviewers find themselves feeling confused by its rhetoric. The conversational web Isaac Fellman has woven in this book is beautiful, but thick, and at times some spare bits of debris become ensnared in it, warping the defining commentary out of shape. And without imparting the reader with the knowledge that their job as the witness of this story is to define those boundaries and pull out the messy bits, I could see how that narrative debris could warp the story too far for an audience to appreciate its shape in the first place.
Honestly, as I type out this review, I think I'm becoming more appreciative of the book. There's truly nothing else out there quite like it, and though some of the messy bits are a little too messy, (I do have some critiques still about some of the messaging on ableism and transphobia and how it stretched a LITTLE too far. I also have some hot takes about the main couple and how I don't think they are entirely healthy.) I think it's a fascinating and creative piece of documentation of self.
CW: sexual content, transphobia, deadnaming (in-text), dysphoria, ableism, car accident, medical content, blood & gore, physical assault, abusive relationship, suicidal thoughts, infidelity (past), sexual assault (mention)...more
Mortal Follies is a funky book. It exists primarily via in-betweens. You can’t quite call it a fantasy because it takes more of the form of the romancMortal Follies is a funky book. It exists primarily via in-betweens. You can’t quite call it a fantasy because it takes more of the form of the romance genre. But it doesn’t quite work as a romance, and accomplishes more if defined as a comedy. The characters were at the heart of the story and yet the story was not at the heart of the characters. The sex scenes were too specific to be fade to black but lacked the description to warrant calling it “explicit”. It was a fun read but also an uncathartic one.
Going into this story, I had heard that a lot of people took issue with the narration-style. The book is narrated from the perspective of Robin Goodfellow aka Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, who has fallen out of Oberon’s good graces and has found himself working as a professional storyteller. And I can see how this external POV may have frustrated readers, as in romances, it is often incredibly satisfying to be in the minds of our lovers. But I actually enjoyed Puck’s narration, finding the tone to lend itself more towards a romantic comedy (much like the style of A Midsummer Night’s Dream). I found myself laughing out loud and still finding moments of butterflies and feet kicking. That is, about up until the halfway point of the story.
See, I think this book’s key folly (pun intended) is its four-act structure rather than anything with its narration. Hall prioritized writing faithfully to the plot patterns of a four-act structure over the needs of the story at hand. It made the book feel too episodic. And having seen some reviews saying this book feels “too long and yet unsatisfying,” this is exactly the problem. You know when you read a sequel in which the characters just go on new, yet repetitive and unnecessary adventures and you ask yourself: “what was the point of this?” That was very much how this book read, except the unnecessary sequel was squished into the same book. Each story arc was pretty much abandoned for a brand new one with the beginning of each act. And it left the book feeling disjointed, the pacing feeling–in the words of the book–tedious and the development feeling, well, undeveloped. And this was especially detrimental for the last act. In act 3 out of 4, our arc centers the MC immensely struggling with the stoicism and dismissiveness of the LI, as she’s trying to break down her walls and gain emotional intimacy. This was essentially “solved” in (read as: discarded after) one scene in which the LI finally lets the MC touch her while having sex and then tells her why she keeps people at a distance, and then we launch into act 4 in which the characters go on a dramatic (and very rushed) quest, leaving their relationship development feel incomplete. And this final act was so quick and crammed into the story that we even dropped the comedy, as the story took a turn for the dramatic.
And this was so frustrating because this book worked SO well on a micro level. The characters were so much fun and each individual moment was unbelievably captivating. (Though I am still a little mad about the lack-of-spice spicy scenes, it just felt underwhelming without the emotional intimacy to make up for the lack of physical description.) Like I said, I was constantly laughing out loud, and foolishly made the mistake of reading this book out in public several times, where I probably was stared at quite a bit with all my giggling and face-making.
I think it adds up to: if Hall had woven some of the plotlines more tightly together instead of separating them up between the acts and had given us a stronger developmental arc to motivate the romance, this story would’ve been a lot more solid than the tricky shapeless thing it ended up being.
I had also (before hearing reviews from friends) hoped this book would finally be the sapphic fantasy romance to match the likes of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON and A STRANGE AND STUBBORN ENDURANCE, but it certainly is not that. Those books hinge upon their emotional cores, which is precisely what this book lacks. And though this story works as a comedy for the majority of its telling, it just doesn’t know enough of what it wants to say or be to leave any worthy impression.
And I know I’ve already brought it up but holy FUCK this book uses the word tedious so many times. I just needed to say that again.
CW: animal death/sacrifice, human sacrifice, murder, kidnapping, sexual harassment, illness, blood, emesis, insects, death of parent (past), death of sibling (past), transphobia (brief)...more
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Now, I think this mayhaps have been a "right book, right time, right person" kiThank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Now, I think this mayhaps have been a "right book, right time, right person" kind of thing, but wow I fell in love with this book. I found myself absorbed in its pages and struggling to pull myself away even to sleep or eat. And upon closing it, I found myself disappointed to leave the world behind. That certainly is not an occurrence with everything I read. Lately, reading has felt like meandering through a thick forest, trudging along different paths looking for a sign that I'm heading in the right direction, but Ink Blood Sister Scribe felt like finally finding the perfect little spot to settle down in, like Celia in the forest of Arden: "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it."
In a magical world not unlike our own, we follow three characters:
Joanna: a young woman protecting and caring for her late father's personal library of magical books. Though in her attempt to protect the books from the outside world, she's holed herself in as well. Yet despite her expertise on her own collection, she can't seem to figure out where these books come from. Especially the book that killed her father.
Esther: Joanna's older sister who has been on the run for 10 years, after her father commanded her to move to a new location every November. Estranged from her family, and in a constant state of motion, she has no ties. But after spending the past year in Antarctica, she's decided to stay another season. For the first time she has a reason to stay: a girlfriend she's really starting to feel something for. And besides, what could possibly go wrong?
Nicholas: who is absolutely sick of his life. He's been giving his blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally) to the Library since he was a child, creating new magical books. But as the world's last and only Scribe, he's reluctantly resigned to his fate. At least his uncle–the head of the Library–and his uncle's girlfriend care about him, and at least he lives in a mansion out of a fairytale. At least he's safe, or so it seems.
But when all three of these characters discover hidden secrets that redefine their lives, they're thrown together on an unexpected and emotional journey.
Emma Törzs has crafted a brilliant little sandbox. This story was filled with the type of magic often reserved for children. One of mystery and whimsy; one that feels graspable and close to the heart. This feels like a world I could dream in, and it made me want to play pretend again. Any fellow fantasy-loving adults wanna meet up and play Magical Library with me? We can pull up weeds and mix them together as the herbs for spells and use berry juice and leaves as we pretend to write magical books with our blood. And we could even set up sticks into little frames and pretend they're magic mirrors. It's incredible that any fantasy book, especially an adult anti-colonialist fabulism tale, could make me filled with such childhood joy and imagination. This is a huge testament to the author's accomplishments.
Because of myself and my audience, I have to mention the biggest surprise of this book: its Jewishness. In fact, I had no idea it had any Jewish characters, and was so pleasantly surprised to see the casual representation for most of the story, but even more so to see the characters' connection to Judaism emotionally move the story in a moment of need. It meant a whole lot to me. In general, I was really a fan of this book's diversity. Two of the three main characters were queer (likely bisexual), one of the characters was half-Mexican, and another was disabled, using a prosthetic eye.
I must say, this is not a story of twists and turns, but one of nooks and crannies. Rather than dramatic surprises and mind-blowing reveals, it felt more as though the plot of this story was a picture slowly coming into focus. Some of the "twists" were easily spotted, but never felt predictable in a way that disappointed. And I've always said that I'd rather read a well-written and obvious twist than a shocking one that feels out of nowhere. I don't need to be caught off guard, I just need to be caught up in a story. And I was certainly swept off my feet by this one.
(Though a note for the editor: there's no airport in Brattleboro, and NYC is a 3.5-5.5 hour drive from Vermont, not 8 hours.)
I'm so grateful to have found this story at this point in my life, when I needed to be convinced that just a sprinkle of imagination reveals so much magic in the mundane. I can't wait to dive back into these pages someday, and I can't wait to see what Törzs does next.
Content Warnings: violence, gun violence, blood, self-harm (for magic), dead body, death of parents (past), grief, alcohol consumption, fire, emesis, abusive guardian, character death, kidnapping (past, recounted), torture (past, recounted), hospitalization (past, recounted), antisemitism (brief mention)...more
This story adds a new voice to the canon of woodsy folkloric horror, and one that I think many YA readers will adore. Peachtree Teen continues to findThis story adds a new voice to the canon of woodsy folkloric horror, and one that I think many YA readers will adore. Peachtree Teen continues to find some of the most unique stories emerging in the young adult world and this one was no different.
So first of all, I HAVE to say: this had Over The Garden Wall vibes. Despite it being July, I broke my sacred personal oath of only playing the OTGW soundtrack in the fall months to use it as a soundtrack for this reading experience. It has a poet's journey through a creepy forest led by a bird, episodic encounters with unlikely inhabitants of the woods, an elder sibling looking out for their younger sibling, American folkloric elements, and deals with a devil. And again: autumnal to its core. If that doesn't scream OTGW to you, I don't know what could.
For me, my favorite part of this story was its use of folklore. The seed of this story is nothing more than a simple apple. But the way Krause interrogates the apple's relationship to land and to people and to the history of America turns this seed into a blossoming tree with rich roots and extensive branches of folklore. All the elements of this story feel so interconnected and well-crafted. American folklore specifically is something that really interests me, especially in literature, but I don't tend to find it utilized as often as I'd like. But from Johnny Appleseed to indigenous history, this story is so full of Americana and folkloric wisdom. And the perspective of a Mexican-American protagonist added an even deeper layer here of culture and family and history.
Krause so clearly has a strong grasp not only on what this story is engaging with but how to engage with it. From its episodic structure and character archetypes to its logic and morality, this story clearly parallels the folklore and fairytales it references, reading like a folktale of its own.
My only complaint is that I wanted the writing style to be less direct and more poetic, especially with the way poetry is used so heavily in the story itself. I think some more similes, adorned language, and luxurious prose teetering on verse would've just taken this book to another level.
Thank you so much to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: death of father, death of mother (past), grief, kidnapping, violence, blood & gore, poison, animal death, child death, insects, vomit, fire, alcohol, colonialism...more
In the assumed future of Earth, land is scarce. Those who live among water, also known as damplings, areA deeply underrated whimsical sapphic fantasy.
In the assumed future of Earth, land is scarce. Those who live among water, also known as damplings, are looked down upon by the privileged landlockers, safe on their steady land.
In The Gracekeepers, we primarily follow two characters: North, a dampling who lives on a circus boat, where every night she dances with a bear in front of landlockers for food. She is engaged to the ringmaster’s son, a self-entitled brat, and she carries a secret, ones she’s not sure anyone would even believe. Callendish, a gracekeeper, which is essentially a mortician who performs funerary rituals for damplings, though she herself is a landlocker. And like North, she harbors a secret of her own.
Though despite mainly following these two, this book features an eclectic ensemble cast, most of the characters having at least one chapter of POV throughout the story. Each character was so interesting, fully realized, and well-defined. It was a cast peppered with personality, and all tightly woven together like the ribbons of a maypole. I especially loved the members of the circus, and could tell that Kirsty Logan definitely has at least some clowning experience, if not further cirque experience. Circus performers such as clowns have a history of subverting societal standards and questioning authority, and it was really lovely to see that history honored here.
This book has a lovely underbelly of climate and class commentary, but applied in an open-ended, and thought-provoking way. It offered a fabulist-style approach to a dystopian literary trope, utilizing metaphor and ambiguity. Rather than seeking to solve problems or provide some sort of statement on these issues, The Gracekeepers simply provides questions and perspectives. This approach worked well for this story, using the narrative to show the initial drop in the water, and then using the audience to carry out the ripple effect. It caused a reflective and thoughtful tone to shine through the fun and whimsy.
The romance was sweet as well. Though it was most definitely a subplot at best, it held a lot of hope and tenderness and provided a balancing softness to the narrative.
I do wish we had a little bit more of a glimpse into the world of the mermaids (?), but I understand they were primarily meant to exist as a metaphor or idea, something intangible like a dream. I may have to check out some of Logan’s other work, as I think some of her other books are set in this world and I desperately want to know more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this sweet and whimsical story featuring punk clowns, a dancing bear, mysterious sea-people, sapphics, a circus boat, sea funerals, climate and class commentary, and lovely prose.
CW: classism, pregnancy, grief, character death, loss of loved one, drowning, animal death, amnesia, abusive parent, misogyny, imprisonment, fire, claustrophobia, parental death (past), alcohol, blood, religious bigotry & imperialism, child death (past), sexual content (implied)...more
A sugar-sweet cozy autumnal story featuring a family I desperately wish I could be a part of, a diverse cast of characters, and a heart-warming childhA sugar-sweet cozy autumnal story featuring a family I desperately wish I could be a part of, a diverse cast of characters, and a heart-warming childhood friends-to-lovers sapphic romance.
A lush atmospheric story that made me want to curl up in its moss-covered palms and drift away into this world forever. Featuring a tender achillean rA lush atmospheric story that made me want to curl up in its moss-covered palms and drift away into this world forever. Featuring a tender achillean romance, folklore, and a sentient forest, there's so much to love in SILVER IN THE WOOD. I would happily wander Greenhallow's wooded path for pages upon pages.
(The editing could use a little more work though. Some sentences were near nonsensical.)
If anyone asked me for an adventurous book, I would throw this book into their hands so fast.
With adrenaline-soaked action, a lovable and diverse castIf anyone asked me for an adventurous book, I would throw this book into their hands so fast.
With adrenaline-soaked action, a lovable and diverse cast of characters, and the perfect balance of heart, humor, and magical pirate quests, THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI is a book to adore. I'd set sail with this crew anywhere. I'll be keeping my eyes glued to the horizon as I wait for the departure of the next voyage.
CW: violence, dead body (graphic), blood & gore, religious bigotry & imperialism, torture, imprisonment, animal death, decapitation, insects, misogyny, alcohol consumption, slavery, war (past), emesis...more
"Monsters... That's what I call them. They live in your head and they're louder than your heart."
I absolutely adore stories about learning to face you"Monsters... That's what I call them. They live in your head and they're louder than your heart."
I absolutely adore stories about learning to face your own monsters and confront the parts of yourself that are scary, and this graphic novel approaches this topic so well!
and omg the artwork is so cute and cozy and woodsy!!! This is definitely going to become a comfort read (though I borrowed this from the library, so I'll have to get my own copy) and will serve as a really nice reminder on those days that my thoughts and fears feel all-consuming.
ALSO IT HAS GUIDED ACTIVITIES AND A RECIPE IN THE BACK?
CW/TW: bullying, death of mother (offscreen, past), grief...more
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