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August Hype Post!
It would be completely amiss by not starting this post with Bright Raven Skies by Kristina Pérez, our inaugural book tour over at Phoenix Fire Book Tours (check out phoenixfiretours.wordpress.com)! Out on the 25th of August, this conclusion to the Bright Raven Skies series promises to be just as thrilling, romantic and atmospheric as the previous installments. I’m currently reading it in preparation for the tour, and loving every bit. Tristan and Eseult have gone missing and Iveriu is on the brink of war with Armorica… Branwen is in the middle of it all and trying to fix world and I can’t wait to find out how the story ends. Get your signed copy of Bright Raven Skies from Forbidden Planet.
Going by genre, the other YA fantasy on here is Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters. This LGBTQ+ debut promises to be delightfully creepy, with protagonist Shady Grove being able to call forth ghosts with her fiddle, murder and family secrets. It seems horribly underhyped, but I have managed to get my grabby hands on an e-ARC so look out for my review soon. It also has a stellar 4.35 rating on Goodreads right now! Ghost Wood Song is out on the 20th of August, and you can pre-order it from Waterstones.
AND AUGUST IS HARROW MONTH! Finally, after ages of waiting, Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir will be released on August 4th! I was lucky enough to be able to read Gideon the Ninth early last summer, and LOVED it (it was probably my favourite book of 2019 – see my review) and I’ve been eagerly awaiting having my heart ripped out and stomped all over by Harrow ever since. All I can say is, you need this in your life! Get a copy from Portal Bookshop here.
And to end this list, Tehlor Kay Mejia’s newest offering, Paola Santiago and the River of Tears will be coming out from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint on the 4th as well. Based on Mexican folklore and mythology, one of my favourite YA authors is bringing her talents to middle grade for the first time – a winning combination in my book! Twelve-year old Paola loves space, logic and science, but has to deal with spirits and suchlike defying explanation and upending her world… Pre-order it from Waterstones.
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Summer Reading Blast
Hello friends! If this were a normal summer, us UK book nerds would be queuing for things at YALC this weekend, so I thought it would be fun to do a round-up post of some supernatural YA to read this summer! I’ve read and enjoyed all of these, so I hope you will find something to pick up too.
DISCLAIMER: I received e-ARCs of all of these books via Netgalley in exchange for my honest reviews.
The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi doesn’t actually come out until September 22nd, but it’s worth the wait. The sequel to The Gilded Wolves takes the crew to Russia to try and save Laila… As the bookish community knows, a group heist novel is one of the best trends to come out of YA fantasy, and Roshani Chokshi does them better than most: diverse, full of history and mythology, with complex characters! Her protagonists are from marginalised backgrounds, autistic and queer, and exceedingly well-written, and I highly recommend this series (although the book ends on an evil cliffhanger, so be warned). Get a copy from Waterstones here!
Filipino-American debut author Janella Angeles’ Where Dreams Descend is the tale of Kallia, a showgirl wanting to prove herself in the male-dominated world of stage magic. Joining a competition in the city of Glorian against all odds, she and her mentor, Demarco, soon are up against much more than either of them bargained for. Reminiscent of cult favourites such as The Night Circus and Caraval, Where Dreams Descend takes the reader into a world of illusion and glamour, both of the magical and the mundane kind. While this won’t be my new favourite book – it is too trope-heavy and reminiscent of mid-2010s YA for my personal taste and not gritty and philosophical enough, I see this being a summer hit and something much of YA fantasy fandom will love. Get your copy from Waterstones once it comes out on the 25th of August.
Lobizona by Romina Garber is YA fantasy’s answer to illegal immigration meets Argentinian werewolves, out on the 4th of August. Telling the story of Manuela Azul, a young girl hidden away in Miami with her mother due to their undocumented state and her strange eyes, Lobizona deals with what it is like to be different in a world not set up for people who don’t fit society’s narrow mold, be that our human world or a more supernatural one. In a world where women are witches and men are werewolves, Manu is a unique hybrid, discovering her powers after running away from ICE and joining a sort of ‘magic school’. It is an interesting concept, and I loved the way it was set up, but the execution was predictable at times and failed to keep me immersed in the story. Manu herself was a bit of a Mary Sue character, and I was more invested in the side characters, who were more complex. But definitely a summer read to recommend! Order a copy off Book Depository here.
While the three preceding books are all very clearly fantasy, this last book, Here Lie the Secrets by Emma Young, is more of a paranormal mystery. When Mia was thirteen, her best friend Holly died. But to Mia, Holly isn’t truly gone, though she’s never admitted that to anyone else. Years later, Mia is spending the summer in New York, when she meets Rav, a parapsychology student and ends up involved in the investigation of a haunted house. While Here Lie the Secrets is about ghosts and mysteries, it ends up being much more about self-discovery, dealing with trauma and growing up. It is a wonderful example of YA truly written for a teenage audience. Mia undergoes such a journey of growth over the course of the book that will resonate with many young people reading Here Lie the Secrets, and struggling with the changes coming with finishing school and starting a new part of life. The book as a whole is charming and compelling, and I do recommend getting yourself a copy from Waterstones (it’s out now).
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Rebel Spy – Veronica Rossi
RELEASE DATE: 23/06/20
STAR RATING: 3.5/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Rebellious Frannie Tasker knows little about the war between England and its thirteen colonies in 1776, until a shipwreck off her home in Grand Bahama Island presents an unthinkable opportunity. The body of a young woman floating in the sea gives Frannie the chance to escape her brutal stepfather–and she takes it.
Assuming the identity of the drowned Emmeline Coates, Frannie is rescued by a British merchant ship and sails with the crew to New York. For the next three years, Frannie lives a lie as Miss Coates, swept up in a courtship by a dashing British lieutenant. But after witnessing the darker side of the war, she realizes that her position gives her power. Soon she finds herself eavesdropping on British officers, risking everything to pass information on to George Washington’s Culper spy ring as agent 355. Frannie believes in the fight for American liberty–but what will it cost her? Inspired by the true “355” and rich in historical detail and intrigue, this is the story of an unlikely New York society girl turned an even unlikelier spy.
OPINIONS: Frannie, a rebellious young lady gets mistaken for a dead rich girl, Emmeline Coates, and runs with it to escape her past – only to get caught up in the American revolution and become a spy. Rebel Spy was an entertaining read, and exactly what was promised by the blurb. Nevertheless, I felt like it was lacking – perhaps it was that it is a familiar plotline, one that I have likely read before, reminiscent of so many period novels. Rebel Spy does not stand out particularly.
The elements that had pulled me to the book, the historical aspects, the challenges faced navigating the two lives of Emmeline Coates and agent 355, and a character-driven narrative lacked in detail for my taste. The book could have gone into more depth about the nitty-gritty of Frannie’s life, rather than plotting a pleasant course down the river of smooth sailing. That is not to say that there are no obstacles in the story – there are plenty – but they are of the predictable kind, not the ones requiring personal growth.
I think Rebel Spy is a great read if you are looking for a summer holiday read while waiting anxiously for the next season of Outlander and enjoy casual YA with a dash of romance and secrecy. Add Rebel Spy on Goodreads here, or order a copy from Amazon here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: VERONICA ROSSI is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the UNDER THE NEVER SKY series. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, grew up in California, and graduated from UCLA. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two sons, one of whom just surpassed her in height. Find her online at veronicarossi.com or on Twitter at @rossibooks.
She can also be found here:
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The Damned – Renée Ahdieh
Happy book birthday to The Damned by Renée Ahdieh! After being lucky enough to get to review an ARC of the first book in the series, The Beautiful, last year, I got to read this one early again. However, it felt a bit like the parts that I was on the fence about in The Beautiful were much stronger in this second book, which made it drag on a little for my taste.
Many thanks to Kate Keehan, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for this honest review!
RELEASE DATE: 07/07/20
STAR RATING: 3.5/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.
Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn.
Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart. (from Goodreads)OPINIONS: While this sequel isn’t set immediately after the end of the first book, it does very strongly knit onto the end of it. If it has been a while since you read The Beautiful, I recommend you reread it before starting The Damned, as I ended up rather confused at the start, having forgotten some of the details of the fast-paced ending. While much of The Beautiful was slow-to medium paced over the course of the story, which I really enjoyed, The Damned kept up the pace of the last part of it, and was consistently fast paced. This will work very well for many readers, but was not ideal for me personally. I preferred getting immersed in the world of the vampires of New Orleans, their society and customs, and getting to know the characters.
To me, it felt like The Damned was trying to do too much in too short a time frame. It solved a number of overarching mysteries, introduced many new ones, but did not leave much space for character and relationship growth through its focus on action and plot. Especially given that this is Renée Ahdieh’s first longer series, I believe that saving some of what happened in The Damned for the next volume would have helped with these issues.
Ultimately, I felt disconnected from the characters due to the pacing. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t truly care, not like I did during The Beautiful. I hope that will change again in the next book, as for me that is one of the most crucial elements of a novel. But as I said, this is all due to my personal tastes, and I do believe that many people will love and enjoy The Damned just as much as they did The Beautiful.
You can add it on Goodreads here, and order it from any decent retailer of your choice now, such as for example Waterstones here.
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Bad Love – Maame Blue
Today I have a very special blog tour for you: my very first audio book review! Bad Love by Maame Blue is part of one of the most exciting publishing projects of this year, Jacaranda’s #Twentyin2020 campaign. The indie publisher has vowed to publish twenty books by Black British writers this year, which Audible will be exclusively producing as audio books. Already released under the #Twentyin2020 campaign are: Lote by Shola von Reinhold, Through the Leopard’s Gaze written and narrated by comedian Njambi McGrath, The Space Between Black and White written and narrated by Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith and Under Solomon Skies by Berni Sorga-Millwood, narrated by Damian Lynch. Bad Love is narrated by Vivienne Acheampong, an actress and comedian, best known for featuring in Death in Paradise (2011), The Trap (2015) and Turn Up Charlie (2019).
Many thanks to Amber Choudhary from Midas PR for inviting me on this tour and Audible and Jacaranda for providing an advance copy of the audio book of Bad Love.
RELEASE DATE: 18/06/20
STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶
SUMMARY:
Bad Love tells the story of Ekuah Danquah, a London-born Ghanaian who is 18 years old when she falls in love for the first time. As both narrator and protagonist now in her 30s, she delves into her memories of angst and confusion that dismantled her experience of that first, impactful romantic relationship. It meets none of her rigid expectations and instead shines a light on other significant relationships in her life, especially the marriage of her parents, something she had long considered an unhappy pairing.
OPINIONS:
First of all, looking at the breathtaking cover makes me rather upset that I only got to review an audio book and not a physical copy so I could stare at the cover for hours instead of actually reading and reviewing it. But I have to say, I loved the experience of having an audio review copy – I’ve been binging audio so much recently that I absolutely flew through Bad Love.
Ekuah is a great leading voice throughout the book, and it is lovely to have a book narrated by a character so clearly rooted in London and the Arts. As someone who predominately reads SFF, Bad Love has made a welcome change and shown me once again that contemporary fiction can be incredibly powerful. Growing up with Ekkie throughout the course of the book resonated with me as a woman in my mid-twenties, struggling with some of the same issues that she is facing. Between the UK, Ghana and Italy, Ekkie discovers who she is and what she wants, through and despite the relationships in her life.
Bad Love is incredibly well-written, and audio book narrator Vivienne Acheampong brings it to life just as well. It approaches the intangible and complicated subjects of love and relationships with grace and nuance, and refuses to paint a rosy picture. Love is shown to be just as toxic, heart-breaking, beautiful and exhilarating as it is in real life.
I highly recommend you give this book a read or listen! Add Bad Love on Goodreads here, and order it either in audio from Audible UK directly here, or in print from Jacaranda here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Maame Blue is a Ghanaian Londoner, writer, and project manager for not-for-profit organisations. As well as co-hosting Headscarves and Carry-ons – a podcast about black girls living abroad – she regularly runs social media campaigns for www.bmeprpros.co.uk and sporadically blogs over at www.maamebluewrites.com. In 2018 she won the Africa Writes x AFREADA flash fiction competition for her story Black Sky. She has since been published in AFREADA, Afribuku, and Memoir Magazine; with stories forthcoming in Storm Cellar Quarterly and Litro Magazine.
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July Hype Post!
There are so many great books coming out in July – we’re hitting that first wave of COVID delays being published! I had to really limit myself to get to a manageable list, and it’s a really diverse one this month that I’m quite excited about. I hope you love the ideas behind these books as much as I do and decide to check them out!
The first book on this list is Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. I reviewed an ARC of this a while back (click here for my review) – and I’ve already snagged myself a shiny finished copy from Fairyloot. This lush, Persian mythology based story centres a morally grey princess who discovers her bisexuality and struggles with doing the right thing. It is compelling and wonderful, and I love it so much. It’s finally out on the 7th of July after being pushed back, and you need it in your life. Pre-order it from Waterstones!
Also out on the 7th of July is The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan. This volume collects stories based on world mythology from some of the best contemporary fantasy authors – think R.F. Kuang, Zen Cho, Sarah Gailey… to name just a few of my personal favourites in the lineup. Every entry is also accompanied by a piece of artwork, and have I mentioned that it draws from all sorts of cultures? I love short story anthologies, and this promises to be an extraordinarily excellent one! Pre-order DRAGONS from Forbidden Planet.
One of my top three books of 2020 so far is The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, a book about witches fighting the patriarchy. So I’ve been intrigued about Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching ever since I first heard of it. Out on the 21st of July, this is a book about witches in a puritanical society, dealing with race politics and religion. Immanuelle sounds like my kind of dark and spirited witch, fighting for what is right, and I already love her, even before reading the book. You can pre-order this one from Forbidden Planet.
To cap this list, also out on the 21st of July, we have Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson. Black girl magic in alternative history meets assassins falling in love, set in late Jazz-age NYC. Phyllis, the MC is a white-passing Black woman, working as an assassin for a mob boss and features both a magical love story and an exploration of racial tensions. It sounds like a wonderful read, and I can’t wait to get my greedy hands on it next month! Pre-order it from Hive (though the UK release isn’t until August, sadly).
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Wild Savage Stars – Kristina Pérez
STAR RATING: 5/5 ✶
SUMMARY: Branwen has a secret powerful enough to destroy two kingdoms.
Her ancient magic led to a terrible betrayal by both her best friend, the princess Essy, and her first love, Tristan. Now this same magic is changing Branwen. Adrift in a rival court, Branwen must hide the truth from the enemy king by protecting the lovers who broke her heart—and finds herself considering a darker path.
Not everyone wants the alliance with Branwen’s kingdom to succeed—peace is balanced on a knife’s edge, and her only chance may be to embrace the darkness within… (From Imprint)
OPINIONS: I originally was not going to review Wild Savage Stars on the blog, as I have quite a few books I am already planning on featuring in June. But I just finished reading it and I am blown away. Sweet Black Waves was good, but Wild Savage Stars is so much better. It is a character-driven YA fantasy based on medieval legend and culture, using outside conflict as catalyst for growth rather than taking easy, story-led paths out. Much of what happens is unexpected but entirely in character and justified and shows great craft on the part of Kristina Pérez.
Branwen, Marc, Ruan, Tristan and Eseult are some of the most frustrating, complex and human characters that I have read in YA recently. Their behaviour and actions are heartbreaking and believable, and I could not put the book down. After Sweet Black Waves had Branwen fall in love and set up a story, Wild Savage Stars dared to tear it all down and go in a new direction, have its heroine face her darker side and come out stronger. One of the aspects that is thoroughly refreshing, is seeing her take a lover for the pleasure of it, something which I think is far too rare in YA, still hung up on the concept of the ‘one true love’ as a teenager and the purity of virginity.
What gives the story an additional dimension is that Kristina Pérez is intimately familiar with the period and literature as someone who has a PhD in medieval literature. Her knowledge shines through without overburdening the reader at any point, making Wild Savage Stars a pleasure to read throughout.
If you are intrigued, Sweet Black Waves and Wild Savage Stars are out now and available from Waterstones here and here, and the trilogy’s conclusion, Bright Raven Skies, will be published in August and is available for pre-order from Book Depository here. You can add them all on Goodreads by clicking on the titles!
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The Constant Rabbit – Jasper Fforde
Bunny bunny bunny. They dominate our culture in very specific ways, be it around Easter, or in regards to the Fibonacci sequence. But what if they actually gained sentience and joined our society? Jasper Fforde’s The Constant Rabbit interrogates exactly that question. Known mainly for his Thursday Next series featuring a book-travelling special agent, which starts with The Eyre Affair, Fforde is no stranger to the absurd and satirical. While some of his work can be very hit or miss, I was very excited to pick up this newest foray into a Britain full of human sized rabbits.
Many thanks to Hodder and the Bookfairies for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.
RELEASE DATE: 02/07/20
STAR RATING: 3.5/5 ✶
SUMMARY:
England, 2020.
There are 1.2 million human-sized rabbits living in the UK.
They can walk, talk and drive cars, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphising Event fifty-five years ago.
And a family of rabbits is about to move into Much Hemlock, a cosy little village where life revolves around summer fetes, jam-making, gossipy corner stores, and the oh-so-important Best Kept Village awards.
No sooner have the rabbits arrived than the villagers decide they must depart. But Mrs Constance Rabbit is made of sterner stuff, and her family are behind her. Unusually, so are their neighbours, long-time residents Peter Knox and his daughter Pippa, who soon find that you can be a friend to rabbits or humans, but not both.
With a blossoming romance, acute cultural differences, enforced rehoming to a MegaWarren in Wales, and the full power of the ruling United Kingdom Anti Rabbit Party against them, Peter and Pippa are about to question everything they’d ever thought about their friends, their nation, and their species.
It’ll take a rabbit to teach a human humanity . . . (from Hachette)OPINIONS: So, The Constant Rabbit is insanely funny. I kept laughing out loud while reading the book, and I don’t do that very often – I’m much too awkward as a person. It also holds up a mirror to society, and it is not a pleasant image to see. The anthropomorphised rabbits are not very different to humans at all, but they are not accepted as part of society, and completely ostracised. Once a family does move into a space reserved for humans, and break these invisible barriers, all hell breaks loose, and the humans who refuse to participate in the institutionalised hate suffer the consequences just as much as the rabbits do.
In that respect, it is a very timely novel. More timely now that when it was written, to be honest. It is a satire on xenophobia, using allegory heavy-handedly to underline the very real problems that do exist in contemporary Britain. But it is still a Jasper Fforde novel, which means it is very, very weird, and tends to drag at times. There is a focus on plot over character relationships, which I tend to have trouble connecting to. This is a pattern that is visible throughout his writing, and still I keep going back for more. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn, but his concepts are always incredibly intriguing!
If you want to see what The Constant Rabbit is about for yourself, you can add it on Goodreads here, and pre-order a copy from Goldsboro Books (same price as RRP).
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The Arthurian Megapost
This is something I’ve been cooking up for quite a while – I’ve been reading and collecting some of the hottest recent stories based on Arthurian myth! I love all the diversity that these authors have brought into medieval legend, and I’m sure you will find something that intrigues you!
Look at this pile of books! A honorable mention needs to go out to Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, which will be published later this year. This modern take on the Arthurian legend features a black heroine, a secret society of descendants of King Arthur and his knights and magicians calling themselves Merlins! I have been excited for this ever since it was first announced, but sadly haven’t been able to read it yet. Pre-order via Book Depository.
So. King Arthur, in space. But make it gay. This is the basic premise of the wonderfully quirky Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. Ari, who in this incarnation happens to be a girl, finds out that she is actually Arthur reincarnated when she pulls Excalibur out of a stone in an intergalactic amusement park, leading to a romp through space, a fight against an evil corporation, and, of course, the wooing of Queen Gwen. A thoroughly modern take on the legends, this reinterpretation nevertheless features many of the classical elements of the Arthurian tales, while packaging the quest as a space heist with a queer ensemble crew. I loved it! Get yourself a copy from Waterstones here!
In this just-published sequel to Once & Future, Sword in the Stars, Ari, Gwen, Merlin and company are on the run again and this time they are going native: back to the time of the original King Arthur! But of course, traveling through time and space does not go as planned, and the group gets separated, shaking up the dynamics of the team again. Many shenanigans ensue, and our crew of queer heroes shake up the Middle Ages and shape Arthurian legend into the story it should always have been. Sword in the Stars is a great conclusion to the duology, and I devoured every page. Full of twists and turns, these books are inclusive, fast-paced and thrilling story-telling as it should be. More of this kind of writing, please! This lovely book is available from Portal Bookshop here.
Kiersten White is one of the greats of current YA, especially when it comes to retellings. After having had her go at Vlad Dracul (the And I Darken trilogy) and Frankenstein (The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein), she has now turned her attention towards Arthurian myth, with a trilogy starting with The Guinevere Deception. A mysterious girl posing as Guinevere is to marry Arthur, sent by Merlin to protect the young king. Lancelot is an outcast, and a girl, which I really do hope is a hint for queer stories to come in the sequels. The story starts off slow, but does pick up towards the later parts and poses more questions than it answers. The Guinevere Deception is a decent start to a new trilogy, and I am curious to see where the second book takes the story, although I am not as in love with the series as I was hoping to be. You can get yourself a copy via Hive!
Written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by comics legend Frank Miller, Cursed is the book incarnation of what is intended to become a franchise. Announced from the start as a Netflix show (slated for release this year) as well as a book, I imagine this version of Arthurian legend focusing on Nimue will work better on TV. Nimue and her people are fey, hunted due to their race by the tyrannical Uther and friendly with young Arthur and Morgan. It is grand, and written in a manner that puts its weight on images and plot, rather than character development and prose. I have to admit that I struggled to get through the book, as I could not connect to the writing or the characters. I do hope that the change of medium will help the story find its audience, as I think Nimue could be a fascinating character if given enough development. If you are interested, you can get a copy via Hive.
Published in March of this year in the UK, Lavie Tidhar’s By Force Alone is a period-set mashup of Arthurian myth. This Arthur is brash, young, and power-hungry, expanding his influence out from a small band of men based in London. If I’m being honest, I struggled a lot to get through this book, although I had been looking forward to reading it – it took me almost three months to finish it. It is fast paced, and the language used is rather crass and modern, breaking the illusion for me. This led to a disconnect between story and characters, and I was unable to immerse myself in the novel. While I do not usually mind authors taking creative license with historical source material, having dialogue that is clearly twenty-first century in a book set in the early medieval period does not work for me. I do see this being a personal preference, and I’m sure that By Force Alone will be a book that is great for a different type of reader! If you are interested, you can get a signed copy via Forbidden Planet.
April Genevieve Tucholke’s Seven Endless Forests is a very loose retelling of Arthurian myth, including as many elements reminiscent of Norse stories as English. It is a companion novel to 2018’s The Boneless Mercies, which loosely retold a feminist Beowulf. Tucholke’s novels are slow, deliberate and infinitely poetical. They are quiet books reminiscent of medieval epics, centering on women shamelessly concerned with seeking glory and pursuing their personal aims, ignoring society’s conventions and expectations in favour of those. Here, the central element taken from Arthurian legend is the true ruler’s sword, with greatness thrust not on the most willing but the chosen one. Tucholke’s take is nuanced and special, and I am in love with her books. Get this one from Waterstones!
Giles Kristian’s Lancelot approaches the Arthurian myth from the viewpoint of the eponymous Lancelot, warrior supreme. Following along from Lancelot’s childhood to his time with Arthur past his clash with the legendary king. More historical novel than fantasy, Lancelot nevertheless contains some elements of speculative fiction – anything else would be hard in Arthurian legend with characters like Merlin! It is well written and compelling, and makes the men behind the legends come to life. Very recently, Giles Kristian has published a sequel, Camelot, featuring Lancelot’s son Galahad as the first-person PoV. Order a copy of Lancelot via Hive.
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June Hype Post!
It’s a bit late this month, but it’s here: June’s most amazing new releases! And there are some great books coming out in the next few weeks – I can’t believe I’ve been doing these posts for six months now. I’ve already reviewed the wonderful Court of Miracles, so I’m not including it again here, but it’s out on the 4th!
So, one book that I’m super excited for, and that I’ve had pre-ordered for ages is Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee. Dark forest atmosphere, spiders and shaman magic? Yes please! There also seems to be a focus on friendship rather than romance (though I haven’t gotten to read this yet), which sounds promising, as well as comparison to Naomi Novik and Susan Dennard, two authors I adore. I suspect that I will devour Forest of Souls and fall for Lori’s dark and inventive world. And just look at that beautiful cover… Out on the 23rd of June, you can pre-order Forest of Souls from Hive.
Mermaids/Sirens meet Black Lives Matter. Never more crucial than right now, A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow mixes fantasy with social justice and politics. From the synopsis: “But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she’s also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.” It sounds incredibly intriguing and I can’t wait to read it as soon as possible. A Song Below Water is out on the 2nd of June, and you can get a copy via Amazon (sorry it’s the only place I could find in the UK!).
Another dark and twisty book, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown is a tale of necromancy and betrayal inspired by West African folklore. It also has an incredibly stunning cover featuring a black girl! Publishing has done ok for once. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin promises to be an exciting enemies-to-lovers fantasy, perfect summer reading while I should be working on my dissertation instead! I’ve been loving African-inspired fantasy, so I’m looking forward to reading this debut and getting lost in its world. This one is also out on the 2nd of June, and you can order it from Hive.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the only one on this list that I actually have an ARC for – although I have not managed to read it yet. This is a Gothic horror novel set in a 1950s mansion in Mexico, featuring ghosts, madness and family secrets. Like all of the books on this list, it has a stunning cover. It sounds like a psychological thriller meeting a locked house mystery crossed with magic, so I can’t wait to get stuck into it. Look out for my review in the next couple of weeks! It is out on the 30th of June, and you can get yourself a copy pre-ordered via Hive!
A bookish nerd sharing reviews of current SFF novels