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Monday Minis
I’ve been terrible at Monday Minis – life has been insane – but I’m back with three new titles to tell you about! Many thanks to the publicists for sending me review copies or eARCs of these, and as always, opinions are entirely my own and publishers and especially the lovely publicists are not to blame.
How to Steal the Mona Lisa by Bethany Walker and illustrator Jack Noel is a lower middle grade story told through epistolary format. Which I’m not a fan of in the first place, and harder to convince me of its value in a highly illustrated children’s book. The main focus is emails between the main character and her grandmother – but these are full of hand-drawn pictures similar to what you’d expect would accompany a traditionally told story for the age category. So that already had me approach the book with a certain amount of grump. It is a book that I struggled with – and that I feel children may struggle too as it doesn’t hold tension well. I found myself wandering off rather often and not invested in the mystery or the characters as much as I would have liked, and I thought that it relied overly much on the reader realising how naive the main character is and feeling smart or smug for noticing things that she doesn’t. It isn’t a bad book, but not one that stands out to me, sadly, and one that I would only recommend if your child is especially drawn in by the format.
I was extremely hyped for Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor – it was one of the books on my 2022 mega post and so I was thrilled when I was able to get my hands on one of the stunning ARCs. However, as blogger friends started reading it, my excitement rapidly turned to apprehension. I still tried to keep an open mind and approach the book without any prejudices – the premise of courtesan turned dragon in a highly political and codified society still had me intrigued and comps to Jaqueline Carey’s Kushiel series, but more overtly queer sounded like something I’d love. Well. Turns out that this is not a book I can recommend, unfortunately (also, be warned, as this contains pretty much ALL the content warnings). I made it about half-ways through despite my hesitations about the writing, worldbuilding and characterisation when I encountered a graphic rape scene where the main character ends up consciously crossing borders with one of his love interests, and instead of considering why he acted the way he did, he blames daddy issues. And for me, that was the final straw. As a whole, the book feels underedited – it reads more like a first or second draft than a book just missing final copy-edits and proofreading, though as I did read an ARC it may be that the publisher did decide to do more substantial work after this stage. There are staggering holes in the worldbuilding, which seems to be some sort of gender-swapped version of ours in which the main character, Koré, a male prostitute, experiences much of the same prejudice based on gender as women traditionally have in ours. Nuance is not something that exists in this world and it feels like the reader gets repeatedly hit with a blunt object to hammer home that message. And that’s something that pulls through the writing and prose more generally. It doesn’t fit together, it doesn’t work. It seems like having individual sentences that are quotable was the dominant goal rather than to have a text that flows as a whole – interspersed with simplistic clichés. Oh, and the main character is clearly not smart enough for his own schemes. Which is always fun to read. TL:DR this has a great concept, unfortunately the execution is really not where it needs to be so I highly recommend you skip this for your mental health and sanity.
A River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty is basically a set of bonus material for her Daevabad trilogy. I call it bonus material rather than a short story collection because it is very much connected to the original trilogy and contains spoilers for the books – which are made clear at the beginning of each story. I really enjoyed diving back into the rich world and learning more about these characters and their backstories. I especially liked the snippet about how Jamshid and Munthadir met and the alternate ending to the series. Just a wonderful, comforting set of stories. I got to listen to these as an audiobook – the collection is released audio-first and then will be published in traditional print format later. And the narrator for the whole collection is just wonderful, I highly recommend listening to these books!
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The God of Lost Words – A.J. Hackwith
One of my favourite tropes is books about books. There is just something special about stories that share that love for the written word so openly, that carry their heart on their sleeve. And A.J. Hackwith’s Hell’s Library trilogy does this in so many different ways. Set in the Unwritten Wing – the part of Hell’s Library where books that were never finished are kept – Claire, the librarian, is an author herself, and Hero and Brevity, the two other main characters are a literal main character and a muse respectively. It is a special series, combining a love for books and storytelling with action-packed fantasy, and The God of Lost Words is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
Many thanks to Sarah Mather at Titan Books for sending me a review copy, all opinions are my own.
RELEASE DATE: 08/02/2022
STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶
SUMMARY: To save the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, former librarian Claire and her allies may have to destroy it first.
Claire, rakish Hero, angel Rami, and muse-turned-librarian Brevity have accomplished the impossible by discovering the true nature of unwritten books. But now that the secret is out, in its quest for power Hell will be coming for every wing of the Library.
To protect the Unwritten Wing and stave off the insidious reach of Malphas, Hell’s most bloodthirsty general, Claire and her friends will have to decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice to keep their vulnerable corner of the afterlife. Succeeding would mean rewriting the nature of the Library, but losing would mean obliteration. Their only chance at survival lies in outwitting Hell and writing a new chapter for the Library. Luckily, Claire and her friends know how the right story, told well, can start a revolution. (from Titan Books)
OPINIONS: I’ve been burned a few times with sequels recently. But this one is a heck of a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. I’m hard-pressed to choose a favourite of the three, to be entirely honest. The first sets up the characters and world, the second introduces a more expansive setting (including a very skaldic Valhalla!) and this third volume has the entire ecosystem break down and having to be re-built. The God of Lost Words is as immersive and addictive as the first two books in the series – just with even higher stakes. If you have liked the series so far, this is a must read, and if you’re new to the series this should be incentive enough to pick it up and binge all three.
I think what draws me so much to these books is that the characters, for the most part, are those who love stories as much as I do. And that makes connecting with them that much easier. But this isn’t just about that. This is a book about what it means to care about your home and the people in it, wherever that may be. About a willingness to sacrifice everything for those you hold dear. Unexpected bravery, found through research and logic, but attained through emotion. And that is what I love about these books. They are set in Hell, in what is proverbially the worst place in the universe, but they are about personal connection, about human relationships (even if most characters aren’t technically humans) and about finding out who you are inside and what your passions are. The series is at times pulpy, often fast-paced, but always full of compassion and heart.
Writing about this last book in the series has made me want to do a binge-reread of the whole trilogy, so I hope I have been able to bring across some of my love for these books. They are some of my favourite library-set stories, incorporating mythology from a variety of cultures and focusing on their characters and bringing them to (after)life. Add The God of Lost Words to your Goodreads here, or order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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April Hype Post
We’re running late this month, but better late than not at all. As always, do have a look at our 2022 overview post for inspiration HERE as we’re trying not to repeat titles. One that nonetheless deserves pointing out again is Spear by Nicola Griffith, which was one of my (Fab’s) absolute favourite reads of 2021 and is finally out on April 19. You can read my review of it over on Grimdark Magazine HERE.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li is out on April 5th and surprisingly for us not a SFF novel! It is a heist novel set around a Chinese American student sick of Western museums being full of looted and stolen artifacts – so he plans to steal them back. Will Chen is a senior at Harvard when he is approached with a job offer: to steal back five Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing. The prize: fifty million dollars. The risk: their futures, and yet another thwarted attempt to get back what colonialism has stolen. And so Will puts together a crew of Chinese Americans to fill the roles needed for his heist. And all of them have just as complicated a relationship to their identity as he does. This book sounds brilliant in so many ways – a fun heist, AND a clever exploration of identity and the way in which the aftereffects of colonialism still impact society? Yes please! I’m a sucker for commercial books with deeper themes, toeing that line between entertainment and making the reader think, so this is a dream book for me and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Pre-order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
Kaikeyi by Vishnavi Patel is out on April 26 and seems to be one that has received little attention from the blogging community – at least from what I’ve seen – but huge hype from fellow authors. Inspired by Indian mythology, this is a story about cosmic evil, gods and a princess trying to change the world for the better. Kaikeyi is the only daughter of the Kingdom of Kekaya, raised on stories about the power of the gods – something which she doesn’t see or experience in her own life. Desperate, she turns to these stories and uncovers a magic that is hers alone, transforming her into a warrior and diplomat, set on improving the world for herself and the women around her. But these stories don’t bring only good and so evil threatens the cosmic order… I have heard so many good things about this and it sounds like something I will love! Pre-order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley is released on April 19 and is this month’s YA contender. And tbh, I was sold on the pretty cover before even reading the blurb (though to be fair, I read and liked Adrienne Tooley’s debut, so it had that going for it). Sofi lives in a world where only five musicians in the kingdom are allowed to compose and perform original music – the Musik. And her father is one of those – which means Sofi has been training her whole life to step into his shoes. Except, on the day of auditions, she suddenly loses to a girl called Lara who has never played the lute before. Which is odd, given that magic is strictly forbidden to be used on music. As her father dies on the same day, Sofi becomes obsessed with proving that Lara used magic to cheat her way to becoming a Musik… until she realises that there is more to Lara than she thought and Sofi has to work hard not to fall for the girl who stole her future… Pre-order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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The Aquanaut – Dan Santat
This is one of my new favourites. I fell head over heels for this middle grade graphic novels about deep sea creatures taking over a diving suit, addressing themes of loss, family and finding yourself. Massive thanks to Kiran at Scholastic for sending me a review copy, all opinions are entirely my own.
RELEASE DATE: 01/03/2022
STAR RATING: 5/5 ✶
SUMMARY: The Aquanaut follows a group of determined characters on their entangled journey to save their family. First there’s a band of sea creatures struggling to find their way to a fabled paradise and safe haven for marine life. Then there’s a girl who lost her father at sea and is at risk of losing her uncle to his obsession with the legacy of a theme park. The unlikely group find their way to each other at AQUALAND, and stumble across what they are looking for in unexpected ways. (from Scholastic)
OPINIONS: This middle grade graphic novel is absolutely adorable – but also heartbreaking and sad and emotional. It is one that is suited for children just as much as for adults, and perhaps older readers even get more out of it than younger ones. It deals with family, loss and standing up for yourself. This makes it not necessarily an easy read, but one worth your while. It starts out with the loss of a parent – a topic that may be triggering for some, but handles it well and with nuance throughout the story.
I thought that the graphic novel format worked especially well to tell this particular story – the form worked with the characters and plot to shape and make them come to life in ways that a purely linguistic story would not have been able to. A great example for the value of graphic stories for young readers! (I’m a huge proponent of letting everyone read in the format that works best for them, but its always lovely to come across a story where formats other than text add so much to it.)
For me, this is a true gem of a book, and one I see myself picking up again and again when I need to have a good cry and a comfort read. It is one of my favourite graphic novels of all time and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Add The Aquanaut to your Goodreads here, or order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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Pennyblade – J.L. Worrad
Offer me queer dark fantasy and I will not be able to resist. I’m a simple Fab in that respect. And Pennyblade by J.L. Worrad is certainly dark, gritty and fast-paced, a true grimdark fantasy that will likely appeal to many readers who come to this because of those elements, even if it didn’t click for me.
Many thanks to Sarah at Titan Books for sending me an ARC. All opinions are my own as usual.
RELEASE DATE: 29/03/2022
STAR RATING: 3/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Exile. Mercenary. Lover. Monster. Pennyblade.
Kyra Cal’Adra has spent the last four years on the Main, living in exile from her people, her power and her past. A commrach, she’s welcome among the humans only for her rapierwork. They don’t care about her highblood, which of the gleaming towers she came from, nor that her family aspires to rule the Isle.
On the Main, superstitions and monsters are in every shadow, but Kyra is haunted by the ghost of Shen, the love of her life and lowblood servant she left behind. She survives by wit and blade alone in a land that would see her dead for who she is, for who she loves.When her fellow pennyblades betray her, Kyra is forced to track the demon preying on the souls of the commoners. She must tear the masks off to see the true face of things, as the age-old conflict between the Main and the Isle threatens to erupt once more. (from Titan Books)
OPINIONS: Pennyblade is fast paced, and thus draws the reader in quickly. However, I didn’t feel like it lived up to the excitement it built up through the immersive and fast plotting – and I think, at least for me personally, that was largely connected to the narrative perspective. It felt like the focus was left on the action to such an extent that even though this is a queer fantasy and one in a world which is very much not queernormative, it is not something that really came through all that much while reading, and especially not on an emotional level. As a whole, the book felt like it was written through a very male gaze which made me bounce off the story constantly. This probably means that I am not the right reader for the book – I think someone who comes to Pennyblade from a more traditional grimdark background is less likely to struggle with the same issues I struggled with coming to it coming from a more queer, character-driven background.
And grimdark is the best way to describe this novel. In every regard, from the writing, to the world, to the characters. It is full of swearing, betrayal and general shittiness – I don’t think I can really remember anything positive happening throughout the story. And again, I can see this working a lot better for a lot of readers, but I do tend to want just a tad of positivity in my reading, some moments of tenderness. Pennyblade just felt a bit pointless in the end, as I just couldn’t get myself to care about bad things happening to unlikeable people. As you may be able to tell, the book kind of made me very grumpy because I somehow wanted it to be something it wasn’t. That’s on me more than anything.
So yeah, a book that I think will appeal to fans of dark, pacy stories with less focus on characters and relationships than action. It exudes what I’d describe as masculine energy despite being about lesbians and swords, which I feel says a lot about it. Not necessarily bad, but one where I’d rec checking out a sample to see if it meshes with you in terms of prose and focus.
If you’re intrigued, you can add Pennyblade to your Goodreads here, and acquire your own copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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Blog Tour: Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments – T.L. Huchu
Ropa Moyo is back! I loved T.L. Huchu’s The Library of the Dead – see my review of it here – which is also one of our SCKA nominees for this year, which means I was more than thrilled to dive back into this magical Edinburgh. Especially after spending some time there last summer, reading about all these places and having a mental image of them made the experience even more amazing, and Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments more than measures up to its predecessor.
Massive thanks to Black Crow PR and UK Tor for sending me a review copy and having me on the blog tour.
RELEASE DATE: 03/03/2022
STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶
SUMMARY: When Ropa Moyo discovered an occult underground library, she expected great things. She’s really into Edinburgh’s secret societies – but turns out they are less into her. So instead of getting paid to work magic, she’s had to accept a crummy unpaid internship. And her with bills to pay and a pet fox to feed.
Then her friend Priya offers her a job on the side. Priya works at Our Lady of Mysterious Maladies, a very specialized hospital, where a new illness is resisting magical and medical remedies alike. The first patient was a teenage boy, Max Wu, and his healers are baffled. If Ropa can solve the case, she might earn as she learns – and impress her mentor, Sir Callander.
Her sleuthing will lead her to a lost fortune, an avenging spirit and a secret buried deep in Scotland’s past. But how are they connected? Lives are at stake and Ropa is running out of time. (from UK Tor)
OPINIONS: I adore these books. They are fast-paced, full of fantastic characters and incredibly compelling. They take traditional tropes of urban fantasy mysteries, blending it with the Edinburgh setting, more than just a place, more of a character of its own and influenced by the author’s Zimbabwean heritage. In this second book, even more so than the first, Huchu plays with the UK’s obsession with tradition and old families, having Ropa as a counterpoint to these elements of stodgy heritage, encouraging institutions to rethink their attitude by merely existing and moving through the world. And that, to me, is wonderful. The Edinburgh Nights series is both easy to read and pulpy, while incorporating a lot of social criticism and elements intended to make the reader ponder. That combination is one of my absolute favourite things to find in books.
What I really liked about Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is that Ropa gets a gang. While The Library of the Dead has her very much on her own, this has her grow as a person, realise that she cannot fight her way against the world alone. Priya and Jomo, who gets far more attention this time around are just as fun and quirky, and together they make a great team. The way relationships between characters developed in this installment and a greater picture has been hinted at, I am extremely keen to see how this is going to continue and desperate to get my hands on the next book (please tell me it’s coming soon?).
Huchu is a massive talent to look out for – his books are unique and special, and we as readers are better off for having them. This is what we mean when we say we need diverse stories. Stories that are diverse down to their core, with no way to separate out elements, not ones where diversity is a sheen on top that can easily be removed. Do yourself a favour and read this series.
Return to Ropa’s Edinburgh by adding Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments to your Goodreads here, and ordering a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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Blog Tour: The Cartographers – Peng Shepherd
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd was a book that absolutely blew me away. It wasn’t necessarily an easy read – for reasons to do more with me than the book, but one that was incredibly rewarding. It is on the literary end of genre fiction, but as you get into the story, it is clear that this is a work of speculative fiction, and I adored the magic of maps.
Huge thanks to Alainna at Orion for sending me a review copy and having me on the blog tour. All opinions are my own.
RELEASE DATE: 17/03/2022
STAR RATING: 5/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Nell Young has lived her life in and around maps. Her father, Dr. David Young, was one of the most respected cartographers in the world. But this morning he was found dead – or murdered? – in his office at the New York Public Library.
Nell hadn’t spoken to her father in years, ever since he fired her after an argument over a seemingly worthless highway roadside map. A map which was mass-produced – and every copy of which is now being found and destroyed. But why?
To answer that question, Nell will embark on a dangerous journey into the heart of a conspiracy beyond belief, the secrets behind her family, and the true power that lies in maps… (from Orion)
OPINIONS: I think I haven’t savoured a book as much as I have The Cartographers in quite some time. Set around the NYPL – one of my favourite places in New York – and maps, this book is a love letter to people who are passionate about niche things, those who love hiding in archives and behind books. It is nuanced and delightful, tragic and compelling, all in all one of my new favourite books. Growing up I’ve always had a special connection to maps as, in the years before Google Maps, my parents would make me get out an atlas and figure it out whenever I asked where a certain place was. Add in to that that my mum was a geographer who had worked on maps and a love for them was born early – these days, I mainly look at old maps, but have had some sort of map on my walls for most of my adult life. Thus, I easily dived into The Cartographers, connecting with the characters’ passion for the obscure art.
This is both a work that dives into themes of dark academia and magic, as well as a thriller. Nell, the main character, gets sucked into a world where she is in constant danger, where people around her start dying – and all because of a map. But what is the secret of this weird piece of paper, one that was sold at gas stations? It’s not like it’s a traditional treasure map… And The Cartographers keeps the truth about the map from you for a long time. It focuses on telling its story, on setting up the characters past and present over revealing too much too soon. And ultimately, the mystery isn’t the most important part of the book. It is about relationships, about trust, about following your dreams more than that. It’s good enough that I guessed a major part of the resolution early on, and it did not take away from my enjoyment of the story at all – The Cartographers is a story that is about the journey, not the destination.
Oh, the writing. It is clean but compelling, literary without overdoing it. Shepherd manages to hit that balance and provide readers with a book that is compulsively readable, magical, but also sparse and leaving the reader to wonder within the confines of the world. I absolutely loved The Cartographers, stayed up far too late to finish it, and now I want to read anything Peng Shepherd has written. A book that hurt me, that made me feel all the emotions and most definitely gave me a book hangover. Five bloddy stars.
Add The Cartographers to your Goodreads here, and order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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The Soul Stealer – Graham Masterton
Not all books can work for everyone unfortunately, and The Soul Stealer is one that I didn’t click with despite my best efforts. It sounded really intriguing and I initially thought it set up an interesting case, which ultimately didn’t work out.
Many thanks to Polly at Head of Zeus for sending me a review copy – all opinions are entirely my own and the lovely Polly is not to blame for any of them!
RELEASE DATE: 03/03/2022
STAR RATING: 2/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Nemo Frisby used to be a detective. Now he drives an Uber between billionaire mansions in California. But he never lost the nose for the case – and when his housecleaner Trinity Fox discovers a young woman lying dead in her neighborhood, she persuades him to help her prove it wasn’t suicide.
Their investigation leads them to the Bel Air home of a wealthy movie producer, who built his mansion over an American Indian burial site. Ancient mythology tells of a demon who, if unearthed, can imbue evil men with terrible power. But only if the demon is fed by the sacrifice of innocent lives… (from Head of Zeus)
OPINIONS: Unfortunately, this is a book that made me grumpy more than anything else. I went in excited, because I’ve been enjoying thrillers a lot recently and especially those with a grounding in the supernatural and mythology. But there’s two main elements that frustrated me in The Soul Stealer: the depiction of women, and the use of Native Americans. Combine that with a plot that is infuriating more than creepy and you end up with a grumpy Fab.
There is one (1!) woman in this book who is not a victim. And she doesn’t really have much of a developed personality. Not that the men tend to fare much better in terms of being multi-layered, but there’s at least boatloads of shitty male characters, one worse than the next. It really feels that women in this story only function to propel the plot forward, to function as sacrificial victims for this cult that somehow has all the high and mighty of Hollywood “rebalance” the power that is unjustly given to women. And I’m just not here for that. I know sacrificing pretty young women is a horror trope, but for the love of intersectional feminism, balance it out by having some female characters who are neither victims not cardboard cutouts. And maybe, going out on a limb here, even some who may not be pretty.
Now, I am neither Native American or know a lot about the tribes mentioned in the book. But using a rich culture and cherry picking elements that essentially let you take a sort of demon that rapes women to death in exchange for providing men with more power? That to me does not seem like appropriate representation in the 21st century. This is the main element of this that rubbed me the wrong way, but there are a number of others that I don’t want to mention to avoid further spoilers. It just seems that if you want to use something that presents its culture in such a negative light, it may be a far better idea to invent it from scratch, rather than draw from an existing culture, and one that has been struggling with its portrayals in media for a very long time.
So, The Soul Stealer really isn’t one that I would recommend you pick up as I think it’s not just me as a reader being overly sensitive, but issues that many of you will encounter as well while reading the book.
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The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi
If you are looking for a blockbuster, but would rather read than watch TV, this is the book for you. The Kaiju Preservation Society is fast-paced, full of action and has DINOSAURS (well, Kaiju, but they’re large and scary and very dino-like). It is a fun read, though one that may not hold up on second thought – go in expecting entertainment, and it’s precisely what it says on the tin.
Many thanks to Black Crow PR and UK Tor for sending me an ARC. All opinions are my own.
RELEASE DATE: 17/03/2022
STAR RATING: 3/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Jamie’s dream was to hit the big time at a New York tech start-up. Jamie’s reality was a humiliating lay-off, then a low-wage job as a takeaway delivery driver. During a pandemic too. Things look beyond grim, until a chance delivery to an old acquaintance. Tom has an urgent vacancy on his team: the pay is great and Jamie has debts – it’s a no-brainer choice. Yet, once again, reality fails to match expectations. Only this time it could be fatal.
It seems Tom’s ‘animal rights organization’ is way more than it appears. The animals aren’t even on Earth – or not our Earth, anyway. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures roam a tropical, human-free world. And although Kaiju are their universe’s largest and most dangerous animal, they need support to survive.
Tom’s ‘Kaiju Preservation Society’ wants to help. However, others want to profit. Unless they’re stopped, the walls between our worlds could fall – and the consequences would be devastating. (from UK Tor)
OPINIONS: I’m a bit torn about how to rate this book, to be honest. Because on one hand, I had a lot of fun reading it, devoured it in a single sitting and it does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. But on the other hand, it doesn’t read like a novel, if that makes sense? It reads more like a pulpy science fiction blockbuster, heading from one dramatic reveal to a cinematic explosion and vice versa. I felt like The Kaiju Preservation Society ultimately was so plot-driven and action focused that characters ended up on the back burner, which made it work less well as a book. However, it has already been optioned by Fox, so a screen adaptation is in the works, and I expect that that medium is better suited for this and it’ll make a brilliant visual story.
Ultimately, I think what you’ll get out of The Kaiju Preservation Society will depend on what you are looking for. If it’s escapism with fantastic creatures that are a mix between dinosaurs and dragons, this may be the right read for you. If you are looking for a complex read with multi-dimensional characters and deep analysis of its themes, then this is probably not the one. Because while this touches on a lot of issues such as Covid-related unemployment, precarity of the job market, preservation, military vs. civilian influences in defense strategy and so on, the book doesn’t finish any of these thoughts, which personally left me feeling rather unsatisfied, especially in hindsight.
However, my main issue with the book was the lack of in-depth characterisation, which is what draws me to books over other types of media. Jamie, the main character does get his fair share of page time, as well as space for reflection, but outside of him, you don’t actually get to know any of the other characters besides their bare personnel facts. This won’t be as much of an issue for every reader, but it is something that bothered me, and worth knowing before you dive in.
If you’re intrigued, you can add The Kaiju Preservation Society to your Goodreads here, and order a copy via Bookshop here (affiliate link).
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Monday Minis
Welcome back to another installment of the Monday Minis, books that have delighted the Fab edition! Massive thanks to the respective publicists for sending me these books for review, all opinions are my own.
All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie is a wonderfully lyrical novella, ostensibly about the introduction of horses to medieval Iceland, but not really about horses at all. Set in the 9th century, this follows a single man, a trader, as he leaves Iceland for the mainland and interacts with people from cultures foreign to him. Heavily inspired by the accounts of Ibn Fadlan, a 10th century Arab-Muslim traveller, whose accounts shaped our perceptions of Viking traditions such as their funerals, this is an account of travels, of interactions between cultures, of first contacts. Taking a single story, it tells of grander adventures, of genealogies, taking up storytelling traditions found in Norse literature throughout the centuries. It is well-researched, beautifully written and haunting. I am sad I only got to read an eARC of this, and I know I will have to get myself a finished copy of this novella as soon as possible as it is one that I will want to dive into again and again. A true treat for medievalists and enthusiasts of slow, thoughtful stories alike!
The lovely folks over at Faber Children’s sent me a copy of Serendipity, a YA short story collection based on romance tropes edited by Marissa Meyer. Each story takes a different trope – think: just one bed, fake dating… – and constructs a contemporary romance around it, and they are delightful. I’m not usually one for long-form contemporary YA in most cases, but for some reason, short stories seem to work really well for me. As always with anthologies, I didn’t love every story as much, and unsurprisingly Anna-Marie McLemore’s was my favourite. I am nothing if not predictable with my favourite authors! But as a whole the collection cheered me up and felt like a warm hug. If you too would like to experience that feeling, you should get a copy of this anthology.
I was so thrilled when I received Gallant by V.E. Schwab in the mail from the wonderful folks over at Titan Books. My full review is locked and loaded over on Grimdark Magazine and should go live soon – but in the meantime, the book is as gorgeous on the inside as the cover makes you expect. It is atmospheric and character-focussed, with a plot that really takes second place to those elements. But this is the area where Schwab’s writing shines the most, and it is the magical sort of book that just does not let you go until you are done. I also loved how the story incorporates a series of beautiful illustrations – not merely as decorations, but as an integral part of the storytelling. Olivia, the main character, is non-verbal, and is written beautifully and with compassion. It would have been so easy for Schwab to fall back on ‘lost in translation’ tropes with communication, but largely avoiding those made the book so much stronger. A true five-star read!
A bookish nerd sharing reviews of current SFF novels
