Jessica Strider

Pros: interesting premise, compelling protagonist

Cons:

Every time Molly Southbourne bleeds, she creates doppelgangers that try to kill her.

The novella takes this fascinating premise and explains how Molly grew up, how her parents taught her to kill her doppelgangers, and how she survives into adulthood. It's a weird and horrifying story that's hard to look away from.

Molly goes through a series of emotional ups and downs as she grows, finally becoming mostly emotionless as an adult as the reality of constantly fighting herself takes its toll. The stages she goes through, of rebellion and trauma, fit her circumstances and make her compelling even if it's hard to see yourself in her place.

The book is the perfect length to tell her story. There's enough detail to give it weight and the ending is punchy. I'm curious where the sequel takes the story.

Pros: fascinating worldbuilding, thought provoking, interesting characters

Cons: could have used more explanation at times

Seske Kaleigh is fond of breaking the rules, dragging her best friend, Adalla, a beastworker, with her on adventures. Their society has recently moved to a new beast, and Seske wants to see the preparation work she'd normally sleep through. It quickly becomes apparent that there's something wrong with this beast, but class concerns keep her away from Adalla, despite their feelings for each other, and politics keeps things in their society the same, despite the realization that they're killing the beast, and through that act, themselves.

The worldbuilding is unique. The descendants of those who fled Earth centuries ago have learned to live on space faring beasts, twisting the insides into homes and stores, feeding on the creatures living inside it. There's a lot of blood and ichor, so if body horror isn't your thing you may want to pass on this. The closest comparison I can make is with Kameron Hurley's The Stars are Legion, though beyond the setting there's no other horror elements here.

There's a lot of vocabulary and cultural information to learn in the first few chapters but the author does an excellent job of introducing things naturally and at a good pace so you can really begin to understand what's going on in this strange beast-ship. This world was so different and unique that I'd have been ok with an info dump or two (though I am honestly impressed at how well integrated the information was on the whole).

The family relationship organization is fascinating. Because the protagonists are younger, we only see this from their perspective, so there are 3 fathers and 6 mothers who make up a unit, and they are allowed 1 child between them. There are lines of who's allowed to sleep with whom, but the book doesn't go too deep into that. It's such an interesting dynamic and I didn't feel like I fully understood how it worked. There was one scene in particular where I felt like I was missing a crucial piece of information. It was clear that the character just learned something that changed how they viewed their parents, but I was left confused by what was meant by the conversation. A later scene seemed to clarify it a bit, but I feel that a bit more explanation would have been helpful at times.

The story is told through the points of view of two characters. Seske, next in line to rule their people, and Adalla, Seske's best friend from a lower social class. Their friendship and attraction, and Seske's desire to break the rules, gets them both in trouble and they never seem to get out of trouble. I really liked both of them at the start. I started to really dislike Seske as the book went on, as she's fairly self-centered, and I wasn't a fan of how she treated Doka. It quickly becomes clear that she's not the best successor though she fights hard to maintain her position. I liked her again towards the end when she started making better decisions. Adalla's journey was challenging but she remained a hard worker who cared deeply for others. Seeing her pain was unpleasant and I desperately wanted things to turn out good for her in the end.

There were a few times when it seemed like important plot developments were passed over too quickly or left without a full resolution. I was left with questions regarding Sisterkin at the end of the book. Similarly one of Adalla's projects got a major plot beat and then was never mentioned again.

The author touches on class divisions and how people from one class don't really see people from the others as human - like themselves. This goes for the ruling women of the upper class towards men and lower classes, but we see the men, despite recognizing their own discrimination, do this with the lower classes. Even among the working classes, the people section themselves off based on what organs they work with, scorning the others.

The book wraps up the main threads, but a sequel is coming soon that will hopefully deal with the fallout of the major decisions made in this book.

On the whole the book dealt with some heavy ethical issues and took place in a fascinating and unique world. I hope the sequel fleshes the family relationships out more.

Pros: brilliant worldbuilding, interesting characters, thought-provoking, international setting

Cons:

Olga (Welga) Ramirez only has a few months of shield work left before she ages out of it, which is why she's ready to ignore the tremors her zips (enhancement drugs) seem to be causing. To placate her boyfriend, she asks her sister-in-law, Nithya, a biogeneticist, to look into it.

Protecting drug manufacturing funders from protesters as a shield is a semi-dangerous but rewarding and steady job in a world where most people can only find gig work. When a new protest group, the Machinehood, ignores the established ‘rules' and kills the funder, leaving a manifesto behind, Ramirez realizes the world is about to change.

I really liked the two main point of view characters. Welga's a bad ass former soldier who loves to cook. Her side of the story deals with the physical aspects of modifications. Nithya is the primary wage earner in her family which makes things a challenge when she discovers she's pregnant and has to stop using the drugs that allow her to work. Her story is about juggling family and work. Her story also deals more with ethical problems. The book also has a minor non-binary character which was cool to see. And while the story shows that racism isn't dead, this character faces no in text negativity, so maybe humanity in this future has progressed in that respect.

The worldbuilding was incredible. The amount of history the author created is mind boggling, especially given its detail with regards to politics, conflict, ethics, and most importantly science (with the development of mech technology, then bots, then zips and veemods). I also appreciated the differences in attitude shown by people of various ages with regards to the technology (as it changed) and privacy issues. Also the mixing of technologies - static and moldable items - was really cool, and showed that people adapt new technologies at different speeds depending on their wealth and rural vs urban positioning.

There's a large emphasis on the gig economy and how having machines take over most physical work makes employment difficult for humans. Global warming also shows up in the form of climactic shifts in regions of the world (like Arizona being subject to repeated dust storms).

I loved that the book had an international setting with one major point of view character in India, major mentions of North Africa and Singapore, nods to China and Europe in addition to a fair amount of action taking place in the United States.

This book would be fantastic for book club meetings as there are a lot of interesting discussion possibilities, specifically around ethics, but also with regards to technological advancements and how things like privacy and the gig economy will change in the future.

I noticed in a few places the author gave the same information twice, in one case using almost the same language both times. This isn't really a problem beyond the fact that the repetition was unnecessary and therefore a little distracting.

The ending felt a little simplistic given the complexity of the problems the characters are dealing with, but it did wrap things up well.

This is a fantastic book, alternating fast paced action scenes with slower paced visions of life. There's a lot to think about in this complex possible future.

Edited and with an Introduction by Albrecht Keller and an essay “A Brief Account of Criminal Procedure in Germany in the Middle Ages”, by C. V. Calvert

This is a diary of the executioner of the city of Nuremberg in Germany. It begins with an essay by C. V. Calvert followed by a brief introduction to the diary itself. If you're interested in medieval justice, the essay is invaluable, explaining the various people who worked at the prison, what a cell looked like, the various punishments meted out and for what crimes. The language used is occasionally archaic, for example the translator uses ‘incendiary' where we would be more familiar with the term ‘arsonist'. The introduction goes over some information about the city of Nuremberg and the text itself.

The journal is edited, with occasional notes in brackets explaining that information has been cut (generally items in lists, for example with thieves, where 2 or 3 thefts are given details and others left out for space). There are also some notes referring the reader to other passages (when someone is let off and is later executed or if two people are accused and executed on different days).

The diary entries alternate between terse single lines, “A thief hanged” and long passages giving tantalizing details of the crimes for which people were punished. The diary is a bit frustrating in that you're never given motivations for the crimes, and in some places I dearly wanted to know more of what went on.

On the whole it was a quick, interesting read.

Pros: a lot of detailed information, a good amount of images

Cons: would have liked more information regarding festivities

The book focuses on the events in and around Paris around the year 1200. Since there aren't a lot of documents detailing that specific year, the author pulls information from the decades before and afterwards. After the prologue there are 6 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are: The City and its Bourgeoisie; The face of Pierre the Chanter and Philip Augustus and the Hidden Visages of Women; King Philip and his Government; The Church, Clergy and Religious Life; The Schools; and Delight and Pain.

I found the first two chapters a little boring, being very detailed explanations of the various important nobles and churchmen of the day. I did enjoy the section on women, though due to a paucity of source material it's less about actual women and more about sculptures depicting allegorical women (like Ecclesia and Synagoga). The government chapter was hit and miss with regards to my personal interest though if you're researching bureaucracy in the middle ages, it's an excellent chapter. The later chapters were very interesting for me, particularly the sections on how mass was performed and the seating arrangement in the choir at Notre-Dame de Paris. For most of the book the author fudged the year, bringing in information from as early as the 1180s and ending around 1215, with the fourth Laterin council. I was a little disappointed that the author stuck to the single year when talking about holidays and festivals, as the city was under papal interdict for most of the year and so wasn't allowed to celebrate Easter, weddings or other major festivities. Christmas celebrations got a minor explanation but again, I'd have liked more.

There's a handful of black and white images, including some nice panels from a Bible Moralisée made around that time, and some stained glass and sculpture photographs.

Paris is a fascinating city and it's cool reading a book dedicated to a single year in it. There's a wealth of minor details regarding life at the time (like the debate over whether prostitutes should be allowed to donate a window in the cathedral), and at the end of the book I felt like I had a fair grasp on what life was like there.

If you like the middle ages and want more detailed information about city life, universities, and government, it's a good book.

Pros: great characters, excellent world-building

Cons: I'd have liked a longer epilogue

Ten year old Regan Lewis strives to be normal, so when she notices that puberty isn't hitting her like the other girls she starts asking questions. Walking home from school after a rough day of bad choices, she finds a strange door and stumbles into another world, a world populated by various equine races. Her presence means their world needs saving, but Regan doesn't believe in destiny, and doesn't want to be a hero.

This is the 6th book in the Wayward Children series, but is a complete standalone novella. Regan has not been in any of the other books and the story is completely self-contained.

I loved Regan as a character and enjoyed seeing her start to question the world and her place in it. I thought the Hooflands were wonderful, with a well developed culture between the various hooved races (which includes centaurs, kelpies, satyrs and more).

While I'd have liked a longer epilogue showing some of the fallout of Regan's adventure I understand why McGuire ended this novella where she did. It wraps up this particular story nicely, though I'm hopeful there's a follow-up novella that continues Regan's story.

The copy of the book I reviewed was an advance reader copy, so it didn't have the illustrations by Rovina Cai. I've seen a few of them on the Tor.com website (www.tor.com/2020/11/17/rovina-cai-illustrates-across-the-green-grass-fields-by-seanan-mcguire/) and they're quite nice and I can imagine they help add to the fairytale quality of the story.

If you love horses and character development, this one's for you.

Pros: fantastic worldbuilding, three magic systems, interesting characters, engaging plot

Cons:

Hetty and Benjy Rhodes both escaped slavery in 1858. They became Conductors with the Underground Railway as a way of locating Hetty's missing sister. Their motto: never leave people behind. With the war over, the pair solve crimes affecting the black community in Philidelphia that police ignore. When one of their friends turns up dead, the case becomes much more personal as they learn more about their friends - and each other.

The worldbuilding is fantastic. The setting is often gritty and harsh, especially the flashbacks. The author really captures the complexity of the world, with various laws, good and bad areas of town, economics and politics. I especially loved the friendship connections surround Hetty and Benjy. Community is hugely important in this book, and I loved seeing the variety of interactions and how Benjy and Hetty helped and were helped in turn by their friends.

There are three magic systems: sorcery using a wand, restricted to white practitioners; celestial magic, a mixture of practices from Africa, the West Indies, and Native Americans, which uses sigils for power; and alchemy or potion magic, created by brewing herbs. While you see less sorcery than the other two, I loved how magic was integrated into the world.

The pacing was great. So much is going on here and the setting and characters were so interesting that I never felt the book slow or drag.

It was fun reading about a couple who married for convenience. It's great seeing a different kind of marital relationship and I loved seeing the couple's interactions. They don't always get along, but it was cool watching people in a strong marriage make up after fights and work together towards their goals.

This is a fantastic book. In many ways it reminds me of Jaime Lee Moyer's Delia's Shadow. If you like historical fantasy with great characters, fun magic systems, and an interesting mystery, pick this up.

Pros: interesting worldbuilding, fast paced, great evil entity

Cons: somewhat cliche detective pair

Agents Hamed and Onsi from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, are sent to investigate a haunting at the Ministry of Transportation. But budget concerns make dealing with the entity harder than expected.

The book is set in an alternate 1910s Egypt during suffragette protests. I liked how the fight for women's ability to vote was tied into the rest of the story. Though it's a novella, there's a wealth of detail making Cairo come alive. I loved the diversity of the city, its people, food, and clothing. I loved the included - historically accurate - references to ancient and medieval documents regarding the paranormal.

The evil entity they're dealing with wasn't one I've heard of so I found it interesting - and creepy.

I found Hamed a boring protagonist. He's not quite the stereotypical detective with a new recruit, but he's close. I found the female characters significantly more engaging and would have liked seeing more of them and their points of view.

It's an engaging and entertaining story that had me looking for other stories and books by Clark, including the story alluded to regarding Fatma's assignment at the end of this one.

Pros: lots of twists, some tense scenes

Cons:

Cali Washington took the job as caretaker (burying the dead) on the moon to get away from her failed dreams. A month in, a meteor hits and suddenly thousands of dead start to rise. She and her co-workers must figure out what's going on as they try to survive.

This is an engaging horror story that takes an interesting premise and runs with it. I was impressed with the number of twists the story had, as the characters learn more of what they're up against. This isn't a simple zombie story.

You're introduced to characters in small batches so it's easy to keep everyone straight. Lots of people die, which keeps the tension high as each encounter could be your favourite character's last.

It's a quick read, that isn't overly gross or terrifying. I enjoyed it.

Pros: expressive artwork, faithful adaptation

Cons:

Christine Daae's astounds the Paris opera house with her voice despite having no teacher. Even her old childhood friend Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, is entranced. But she has a secret teacher, the opera ghost that's terrorizing the theatre. The ghost is a jealous master, who demands Christine's affections for himself.

This is an adaptation of the novel by Gaston Leroux. If you're only familiar with the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical there are a fair number of differences. The general story is the same and Tomi's adaptation hits all the necessary beats.

The art, though not my preferred style, fits the subject matter. The colours are subdued with a lot of dark shadows. Faces are very expressive. The author apparently did research for the book in Paris, and illustration of the opera house that begins chapter one is magnificent in its photo realism. The costumes and opera house are lavishly detailed. The ghost looks suitably horrifying with his red eyes and missing nose. The illustrations really bring home the horror of Christine's position.

It's a faithful adaptation of a great book.

This is a translation of the various works associated with Sainte Foy (Sancta Fidis/Saint Faith) written in the 11th & 12th centuries for the Monastery of St Foy at Conques, in the Rouergue region of Southern France. These consist of the Passion of St Foy, four books of miracles performed by St Foy plus some miracles that appear in singular manuscripts but not in others, the Translation of Sainte Foy (ie, the movement of her body/bones from Agen where she was martyred to Conques), and the Song of Sainte Foy (translated by Robert L. A. Clark).

The introduction, while short, gives a historical overview of the foundation of Conques and why they needed a saint's body as well as the politics and social conditions during which these works were written. It helps the reader put the stories into the proper context. Especially important here is the distinction that early Christian theologians made “...between the veneration that the saints deserved as channels through which God's grace could flow to humankind and the adoration reserved for God alone...” (p. 3). Without understanding that miracles were believed to be performed by God's power through the saints, the miracles performed by St Foy look like idol worship, similar to what the Roman pagans practiced.

The translations are all in clear, readable English. There are profuse notes regarding translation and content that are worth referring to often. The stories are varied and quite entertaining. The author of the first two books of stories is an erudite cleric who occasionally devolves into diatribes about how people should have more belief in the stories he's telling.

While some of the miracles seem to have physical explanations (the translator points some of these out) others do not, and must be taken on faith (pun intended). So much of religion is based on believing without proof, and books like these must have given comfort to those with disabilities and illnesses that they too were deserving of a cure.

The book uses a lot more classical (ie pagan) allusions than I expected. After reading this I read Writing Faith by Kathleen Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn, which goes into great detail what we can discern about the authorship and writings of the miracle stories. They point out that classical allusions were a way of proving one's erudition. They also point out that the stories follow many tropes and cannot therefore be taken at face value as being informative of life at the time.

It's an interesting work.

Pros: great characters, lots of political intrigue, slow-burn romance, standalone


Cons:

Twelve years ago the queen disappeared. Her sons, and many others, believe the tyrant king had her executed in secret. Rebels are stirring up trouble in the royal city and Prince Esvar is tasked with quelling it. But in administering a small justice, he chances upon Anza, a member of the rebellion. Years before, in collage, Anza stole two forbidden books: one a book of poetry, the other the queen's journal. Negotiating various levels of politics, the two are drawn together even as the city is pulled apart by the king's policies.

The book is told from three points of view: Anza, Esvar, and Queen Mirantha. The queen's entries are done in a different verb tense, so it feels more remote and historical rather than the third person action the other two used. Both women are highly educated and competent in their roles, which made the book feel delightfully feminist in some ways.

I loved all of the main characters. They each have flaws and do their best despite challenging circumstances. There's so much political intrigue and second guessing motives and actions. The book does a fantastic job of showing how people survive prolonged abuse and fear, how they compartmentalize and cut themselves off from their emotions. It also does a great job of showing how difficult resisting evil can be.

The romance element is small but develops organically and was highly satisfying. Both characters have had past relationships and are very reasonable in their expectations, which I appreciated. Anza is bisexual, a state that goes without notice (indicating that in this world it's considered normal).

There's no graphic sexual or violent content, though rape and prostitution are mentioned. There's so much grimdark fiction nowadays that I enjoy finding books that leave me feeling uplifted instead of depressed.

This was a fantastic book. I read it slowly so I could savour the intrigue. It does get intense at times. It's a standalone novel, which is great if you don't have time (or desire) to read 3-15 books. I highly recommend it.

Pros: lots of black and white photographs, several maps, detailed explanations, enough historical background to fit the works into their setting

Cons:

The book is separated into two parts, the first being the historical background of Jews in medieval European society, specifically how Christian writers addressed their continuing presence and necessity while condemning them for not accepting Christianity. This section also goes over some of the Jewish writings of the time, how their interpretations of the Talmud changed and their polemics regarding Christians. Finally this section examines the development of female personifications in the ancient world into Christian personifications of Church (Ecclesia) and Synagogue (Synagoga). Part two consists of the three case studies on Reims, Bamberg, and Strasbourg. These are the first 3 cities to include life sized sculptures of Church and Synagogue on their cathedral portals.

The first section of the book is informative and lays good groundwork fo the rest of the book and anyone interested in jewish-Christian relations in the middle ages. While other authors shy away from mentioning Jewish polemics and how certain Jewish practices could be seen as mocking Christianity (whether or not that was the intent) sheds important light on the complexities of the period. Jews were not passive victims, nor did their own scholarship lag into the Christian portrayal of preserving scripture for the Christians to use. Their society was vibrant, educated, and engaged with the times.

The case studies are highly detailed with a lot of excellent black and white photographs illustrating the author's points. If you're not interested in the minutiae of what sculpture specific workshops were responsible for or how the smile of an angle on one cathedral is similar to that of another, the chapters are still useful for the historical data regarding how Christians utilized the spaces (for example, the portals with these statues tended to be where ecclesiastical judgements were made and punishments meted out). I also appreciated learning how the Jews fit into the city better, how close they lived to the cathedrals and how this would have affected them.

If you're interested in Jewish-Christian relations, life in the middle ages, or cathedrals and medieval art, this is an excellent book.

Pros: very tense, interesting characters

Cons: is a bit gory at times

Ten years ago four friends went into the forbidden elder's section of the reservation for their end of season elk hunt. Now the spirit of one of the elk they killed is back for revenge.

This is the first contemporary fiction book I've read in years so it took me a while to get into (in part because I'm not conversant with the shorthand for car names so spent some time trying to figure out what the character was talking about). The book is split into 4 sections, each dealing with a different point of view character involved with the elk event.

I wasn't a fan of Ricky and Gabe, but really enjoyed reading Lewis and Cassidy's stories, hoping they could shake the horror coming their way. The pacing was great, really ratcheting up the tension in all the right places.

In the first sections the author makes you doubt what's going on, especially with Lewis. Is there really an elk spirit or is he having a psychotic break from reality? Either way things get horrifying fast. I almost stopped reading it was getting so intense.

While the horror is mostly one of anticipation, there is some gore. Thankfully the descriptions aren't overly graphic. Part of the earlier horror is simply seeing the level of everyday, casual racism natives face. The characters are constantly double checking their surroundings for danger, ignoring slights, conscious of how ‘native' their actions appear, due to criticism from others: natives and non-natives alike, for being both too native and not native enough. There's a strong undertone that no matter what the characters do it will never be ‘enough', whatever ‘enough' even means. Because the characters aren't just up against the supernatural, they're against the biases and prejudices of themselves and everyone around them.

I was shocked by some of the people who died. Which made the ending, that last section, very tense. I DID NOT want that character to die. Not this way. I was on the edge of my seat urging them on, not to give up, just one more step.

The ending fits the story.

If you can handle horror this year (no shame if you can't, 2020's horror enough for a lot of us), this is a good read.

Pros: lots of images and maps, so much good information

Cons: dense, took me several weeks to read

The book consists of 8 chapters: The transformation of trade; Courts and consumers; From court to counting house; Helps and hindrances to trade; Trade in manufactured goods; Trade in foodstuffs, raw materials and slaves; Imbalances in trade; and Conclusion: the pattern of trade.

The book on the whole goes into the nitty gritty of all aspects of trade, so if you're not interested in how long it took for couriers to go from one place to another vs the same route travelled by a 4 wheeled wagon, 2 wheeled wagon, or pack animal, then this isn't for you.

I found the writing style rather dry and academic at times. At other times it grabbed my interest, even if the section wasn't on a topic I was particularly interested in. For example, I found the sections of the cost of road maintenance and who was expected to perform and pay for it really interesting.

Each chapter is subdivided, though unless you know where the information you want is located, you may not find it easily. For example, the section on how quickly couriers can travel isn't in the same chapter as that of wheeled wagons, though the author does put in page numbers at times to help you find complementary information. I tried to return to an interesting paragraph about bridge building done by merchants and experienced some frustration as it wasn't in any of the sections labelled as being about bridges, but in a section called ‘Commercial pressure for improvement'.

If trade in the middle ages is of particular interest to you than you will learn a lot about it here. If you're interested in fleshing out a novel, again, there are some real gems though you may find it a bit tiresome locating them.

A few things I learned: some merchants paid innkeepers to store and repack good, then arrange transit to the next inn. Rooms in inns contained several beds separated by curtains and travellers found themselves sharing beds with strangers. Merchants braved passes in the Alps during the winter, even when the passes were dangerous. In some cases merchant houses paid for repairs (and even the building) of bridges if the communities responsible for them neglected them. Cities quickly grew up around fairs, and died out quickly if those fairs moved. Though inns were profitable businesses, hospices (hostels for pilgrims or the poor/hospitals), even when properly run, were not. Slaves were traded by Southern Italians from the 1300s on, and owning them was only illegal if they were Christians (and some, captured in the Balkans, were). The children of slaves were free, so there was no ‘self-perptuating' market.

Chapter 5 on where and how trade goods were manufactured was very interesting. Each section was fairly short but packed in a ton of information. Chapter 6 on bulk trade items (things like raw wool and grain) was also interesting, talking about which goods were worth transporting and how larger cities needed to import food as the local areas couldn't support them.

The book has a large number of black and white as well as colour images illustrating medieval processes. These are often later woodcuts, manuscript images or close-ups of the background in paintings where painters added scenes from daily life. There is also a lot of maps so it's easy to understand the various trade routes and manufacturing centres.

It took a while to read as the information is very dense, but it's worth the time and effort and you'll come away knowing a lot more about the interconnectedness of the medieval world.

Pros: interesting characters, quite scary and intense

Cons: uncomfortable race relations

Sixteen year old Immanuelle Moore is the daughter of a black man from the Outskirts, who burned on a pyre for having relations with her mother. Her mother was a white bride of the Prophet, who went mad after seeing her lover die. Raised as a good believer in the Holy Scriptures, she doesn't understand why the Darkwood, home of the witches who once terrorized Bethel, calls to her so strongly. When she finally succumbs to that call, she unwittingly unleashes a series of curses on her home.

Immanuelle is a great protagonist, conflicted in her beliefs and desires. She's strong willed and passionate. Her terror of the witches and determination to end the curses were palpable. I loved the slow burn romance with Ezra.

The world itself was terrifying for a liberal reader. Bethel is a closed community with very strict religious rules and no recourse against the hidden evils Immanuelle discovers taking place within the church: abuse of power - physical and sexual - and the subjugation of women.

The division between the villages of the ‘holy' white congregation and the shanty towns on the Outskirts of the black former refugees was stark and left me feeling uncomfortable. I would have thought that with the conversion of the refugees, more intermingling would have occurred. The fact that Lilith, the head witch, was a black woman also left me feeling unsettled as it seems to continue this ‘black is evil, white is good' theme, which is clearly undercut by the churches' abuses on one hand but not really by anything on the other. Yes, Immanuelle fought against the witches, but as she was from the village and not the Outskirts it didn't feel like she broke that aphorism. Nor does Vera, as it's unclear if she ever practiced witchcraft or simply used protective sigils.

The horror elements are very terrifying. There's a lot of blood and the story centres on events in womens' lives that feature blood. The witches are evil and things get so grim I had to take breaks when reading this. Descriptions aren't overly graphic, so though the imagery can be intense, it never feels gratuitous.

The writing is quite lyrical, which brings the world to life and really drives home the terror.

On the whole this is a fantastic story, provided you can handle a horror novel right now.

Pros: lots of twists, great characters, interesting magic system

Cons:

Three years have passed since the events at the Mountain. Orso, Berenice, Sancia and Gregor have created a library for scrivers in Foundryside. But after celebrating a major acquisition, Valeria, the hierophantic construct, warns them that Crasedes Magnus, first hierophant, is being reborn. The gang jumps into action, using their various skills to stop the most powerful entity in existence from enacting his plan.

This is a real rollercoaster of a read. There are so many twists as the group faces off against several powerful enemies. I was really shocked by some of things that happened.

The characters were great and felt fully developed. Berenice and Sancia have such a loving relationship. While it was unfortunate seeing Gregor's pain, I appreciated that his unresolved trauma was dealt with.

The author continues to do interesting things with the unique magic system. I loved seeing the various ways twinning could be used.

This book didn't wrap us as nicely as the previous one, nor does it end on a similar positive note. While it's not exactly a cliffhanger, it will leave you wishing the third book in the series was already out.

Pros: lots of intrigue, thought provoking, nuanced

Cons: /

This is the third book in the Masquerade series, with a 4th book on the way. If you haven't read the previous two books recently, it's worth doing a reread as there's so much nuance that you'll be lost if you don't remember the details of all that's happened.

The book is told from several points of view including: Baru, Xate Yawa, Aminata, and Svir. There are scenes set in the ‘now', contrasted with a direct continuation of the events from book 2 as well as scenes set 23 years prior, continuing Tau-indi's story of when Cosgrad and Farrier stayed with the Mbo princes.

It's not a quick read. There's so much going on and so much nuance that I often had to stop to process what the characters were doing and what that might mean for their future. It's easy to fall into Baru's trap of forgetting there are other players on the board when she acts. Each time I assumed things would go the way she'd foreseen because she's a savant, but everyone in the story has their own motivations and few align with hers, so there's generally a mess of consequences you don't expect.

It's a book filled with hard truths about colonialism, racism, sexism, and what people and nations will do to gain power over others, and what they'll do to keep that power. As such, it's very thought provoking, forcing you to see people and ideas from varied perspectives. In several instances the author uses reversed language to get these ideas across, so 'matronize' instead of ‘patronize', ‘anti-mannist' instead of ‘feminist', etc.

I was surprised that I still found Baru a sympathetic and likeable character after all she's done. I still want her to succeed. With all the horrors going on (and there are a lot of them) there's still a sense of hope to the story, that in the end things just might work out the way Baru wants. I even started to like Yawa, which was kind of a shock given her previous actions. I really enjoyed seeing Tau-indi's growth, overcoming what happened to them at the end of the last book. It felt like the various characters were all growing as people, learning more about the world and themselves and really taking a look a the world they were making and deciding if their choices had helped or not.

While this isn't the series end, this book does tie up several plot threads into a satisfying climax. I can't wait for the final book to wrap up all the remaining loose ends.

Pros: good worldbuilding, interesting setting and characters

Cons: opening felt a bit slow

When the newly trained assassin Amastan discovers a drum chief's body hidden on a rooftop, he's tasked with proving that his clan of assassins wasn't responsible. But the unknown killer isn't the only danger, as the unquieted jaani (souls) of the murdered are restless, not dissipating as they ought, and trying to possess new bodies. With few leads Amastan's time is running out, even as he befriends the servant of the first victim and begins to feel love for the first time.

It took me a while to warm to Amastan. The first few chapters show how undecided and hesitant he is, trying to plan things to perfection. As his relationship with various characters grew, I started to like him a lot more. It was interesting seeing the assassin clan portrayed as merely helping the city get rid of bad people. It makes the concept and characters easier to sympathize with.

I was surprised Tamella, his trainer and head assassin, left him to solve the murder without any advice or consultation. I can understand that she couldn't investigate things herself, but she had knowledge that would have aided Amastan. Instead she simply blamed him for not solving it fast enough despite his having no training in detective work.

The worldbuilding was really good. I did like that Amastan and the other assassin trainees had real jobs to pay bills and keep occupied around their secondary craft. I also liked that they actually worked at those jobs. Menna's work with the elders, quieting jaani was interesting. The jaani themselves were cool and terrifying. I also liked seeing the healers dependent on water for their work, and how towards the end of the season that's problematic as the desert city must ration it. Reading characters running across rooftops and down narrow alleys was entertaining.

While I figured out who the killer was fairly early, it was still interesting seeing the story unfold.

It was a fun, quick read.

Pros: historical accuracy, shows both sides of the conflict

Cons: some graphic violence

During the eruption of mount Vesuvius, Lucius Quinctillius Claudianus rushes to record the events of his time as a Roman legionary serving in Germania.

The frame story of the old Lucius is told in the first person, present tense. But when the narrative switches to the past, it's third person and occasionally alternates to the point of view of a female barbarian he befriends, Freya.

As far as I can tell the author did a remarkable job of maintaining historical accuracy. There's more detail at times than I needed about the various Roman legions and where Lucius was marching in relation to other groups, but on the whole I loved the depth of detail in this novelization.

Bringing in Freya as a point of view character allowed the author to examine several issues from both the Roman and Germanic perspective. Lucius questions the Roman way a fair bit (largely due to Freya's influence) but it's still nice to see the various Germanic tribes humanized and shown off as being different from rather than lesser than the Romans. The author also does a great job of showing that neither side is inherently evil or good, and that when necessary, both are capable of horrific acts of brutality.

There are some graphic descriptions of brutal events. Some people are crucified, decapitated heads are staked to trees, there's mention that one group of female prisoners will likely be raped before being sold into slavery. While mentioned once or twice, there's no sexual content in the book.

If you're interested in the Roman military and its interactions with different tribes, this is engaging and accurate.

Pros: good world-building, interesting characters

Cons: the world is brutal, begins with a rape

Gilene is the village of Beroe's sacrifice for the Rites of Spring, and due to her ability to control fire, has been for the past few years. Her actions keep the other women in her village safe from harm but extract a severe price from her. When she's recognized through her illusion spell by the Gladiator Prime Azarion, he blackmails her into helping him escape the coliseum and the Empire itself. As a fire witch, he needs her to reclaim his rightful place as heir to his clan.

This is a fantasy novel that follows the beats of a category romance novel. Despite it's happily ever ending though, the world is brutal and the book itself begins by explaining that the heroine has been raped in the past as part of her duties as a sacrifice, while graphically showing the rape of the hero by the Empress, a scene I could have done without.

These actions set a tone for the book that I was never able to recover from. The author does a great job of showing how, over time, the couple begins to overcome their meeting (Azarion's abduction and threatening of Gilene) to slowly kindle romantic feeling for each other. A fair amount of time passes over the course of the book, making this feel believable.

I really liked both Gilene and Azarion as characters. Gilene is responsible and pragmatic, even in the face of her imposed ‘duty'. The scene at the beginning where she disrobes, ready to be raped and done, is heartwrenching but really does show what a survivor she is. Azarion has lived through similar horrors and I was surprised that this was never used as a way to bring them closer together emotionally - that they never talked to each other (or other characters) as a way of dealing with and trying to heal from their traumas. I did like his determination and spirit and learning about his tribe was interesting.

Their rape is never formally addressed between them and thus hangs over everything they do. When they finally make love, Gilene thinks back to the last man she was with (ie, her previous rape). Not only is this off-putting to the reader it shows that she's never really dealt with the trauma of the horrors she's been through. Thinking back on this later, I wish the author had eased them into the physicallity of sex as much as she'd eased them into their emotional connection. Yes, they share a bed and end up cuddling, but there's no measure of, this is how sex with a willing partner differs from an unwilling, and I think the characters (and I as a reader) needed that. I also think it would have been interesting to see Azarion discuss how his only (only recent at any rate) experiences of sex were violent and filled with fear and anger, asking for advice on how to give (and feel) pleasure. I found it bizarre that the author would bring up such a heavy emotional event and then not try to show actual healing via therapy of some sort. Because as much as Gilene's pragmatism makes her willing to undergo rape, that's not the same as healing from it and being ready for an actual emotional and physical connection.

The world-building was very good. I liked that there are several types of magic and that some magics come with a cost. There are several interconnected political and economic groups (the Empire, various tribes, guilds, tradesmen). The Savatar were fleshed out as a people with a lot of customs setting them off from the Empire.

I loved that both characters get satisfying climaxes for their different plot arcs. The ending was great.

If you're looking for a feel good, fluffy read, give this a pass. If you like grimdark fantasy but want more romance, this is for you.

Pros: lots of large illustrations and photographs, goes over the entire process, easy to read

Cons: some extraneous information, refutes bad information by first teaching it to the reader

The book consists of six chapters: The Age of the Cathedrals; Patronage, Financing, and the Workshop Committee; The Architect; Before Reaching the Cathedral Construction-site; The Cathedral Construction-site; and The Memory of the Builders. I was hoping for a more in depth explanation of how cathedrals are built, from beginning to end. This turned out to be a very basic primer of the process. Turns out that's all I really needed. There are over 200 colour photos, making this is a luscious book. It's oversized so the photos are also quite large. There's a good mix with a lot of building images and photos from various cathedrals.

The emphasis here is on French cathedrals and guilds, branching out briefly to touch on other places. I found it a bit annoying how the author kept refuting beliefs. Yes, it's important to correct misconceptions but I'd prefer that be done by simply explaining the correct answer rather than taking up room to teach the bad information first. I also found the short chapter on whether a modern French confraternity descends from the medieval guilds unnecessary.

The last chapter includes information on a sketchbook that survives from the middle ages which reproduces many cathedral design elements. That was fantastic. I also appreciated the translations of some of the guild regulations for stonecutters.

This is a basic guide to the construction of cathedrals - from start to finish - whose illustrations really make it worth the price.

Pros: lots of images, covers a range of topics

Cons: no glossary for vestments

This is part of a series of books by the J. Paul Getty Museum where works of art (mostly paintings) have aspects highlighted to give a deeper appreciation of the artworks and their meanings. After the introduction there are 5 chapters in this book: Liturgical Objects and Furnishings; Clothes, Vestments, and Status; Worship and Images; Episodes in the History of the Western Church; and Historical Figures in the Roman Church Tradition.

This book is not a linear history of the Catholic Church. It is a guide to help you identify items of Catholic worship (clothing and implements) as well as important people and events in works of art.

I enjoyed learning about the various church implements, some of which I've learned to recognize and some of which I was unfamiliar with. This section was great as each implement was dealt with individually with at least one or two images.

I was hoping the section on vestments would go over each item of clothing so I could get a better understanding of what each one was. Instead the chapter dealt more with status, showing different orders (monks, priests, cardinals) and what they would wear. While there were some textual notes pointing out the various individual items of clothing (alb, cope, etc) it would have been nice to get a glossary of terms with simple images to better teach these terms.

The paintings used as examples were mostly from the later middle ages to the 1800s and covered a good mix of topics and people. I appreciated the number of explanatory notes each one received.

The chapters on historical episodes and figures covered a fair range of topics. There were a few I'd have added, but on the whole I thought they did a good job.

If you are interested in Christian art or the history of the Catholic church, this is a great book.

Pros: good exploration of a challenging topic, lots of examples, thoroughly examines sources

Cons: sometimes uses fictional narratives as if they were accurate historical works, didn't properly clarify that Ethiopia does not mean the current country, repeats information

The book consists of 8 chapters: Beginnings, Inventions/Reinventions (race studies), State/Nation (Jews), War/Empire (Islamic “Saracens”), Color (Africans), World I (Native Americans as mentioned in the Vinland sagas), World II (Mongol Empire), World III (Romani). There is no conclusion but there are a lot of notes after each chapter.

The ‘Beginnings' introductory chapter gives a brief overview of what each chapter covers. Chapter one deals with the idea that race is a modern construct and that racism as understood today didn't exist in the Middle Ages. The author pulls that argument apart with a few quick examples of how Jews were treated in England (wearing a symbol on their clothes, accusations of blood/murder libel, the Jewish exchequer). She also quickly goes over the mappamundi that gained popularity in the 13th century, with their ‘monstrous races' around the edges of the known European world and how the English wrote about the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish closer to home. She concludes this chapter with a quick example of race as it pertains to colour, specifically black Africans.

With the foundation set, the author moves to the heart of the matter starting with how the Jews were perceived in Medieval England specifically. The first two chapters were a struggle for me as the language was hard to parse, being very academic and dense. As the book progressed the language became more accessible and I found the rest of it easier going. The author repeated some information within chapters, which is great if you're only reading one section but could get annoying at times when reading the whole thing.

I was impressed with the extent to which the author dissected her sources.

The author had the habit of giving very brief mention to things that should have been emphasized more. For example, in the chapter on black Africans there's little reinforcing of the fact that “Ethiopia” referred to anywhere in Africa south of Egypt, and often included India (as goods from India traveled to Europe via ports in Africa). It would be easy to assume the term deals with the modern country. Similarly, while the same chapter uses fictional works to show the European attitudes towards black characters the author later uses other fictional narratives as if they were pure historic documents (while the Norse sagas might have a high level of accuracy, taking minutae written 200 years after the fact at face value is unwise).

There was a lot of great information imparted, and some interesting works broken down. I learned a lot from this book, especially on topics I have less background in. For example it was great that the author brought in archaeological information about Native American tribes that supported information from the Norse sagas. But there were times when had I not had the grounding on a certain topic (having read several books on ancient/medieval Ethiopia, taken a course in university on the challenges of using fictional primary sources for accurate historical information) I might have come away with the wrong conclusions.

This is a good book that discusses an important topic, but it's not for beginners and should be read with care.

Pros: fast paced, focused, interesting worldbuilding

Cons:

It is 1932 and tensions between Germany and France are on the rise. Diagos nightmares of the Great War and sharp violin music are getting worse and he fears los Nefilim will cast him out unless he can prove himself trustworthy. So when his lost violin case is discovered he offers to track down the instrument in Germany. But a past life connection implicates Guillermo's half brother and a fallen angel.

I really enjoyed this. The plot is quick paced and engaging making the book hard to put down. Everything is focused on the plot, so while there is some groundwork being set for the next book in the series (with regards to the Spanish Civil War and World War II), most of what goes on is directly related to what's happening at this period of time.

I love the characters and how they support each other. Even the scenes from one of the antagonist's point of view showed that he has what he feels are noble motivations for his actions. Since Diago is gone for most of the book there isn't as much family time, which is a shame as their personal dynamics are so wholesome and loving - and hard to find in media.

The alternate history additions of angels and daimons continues to be interesting. I love that the magic system is built around symbols and music.

I'm looking forward to the next book.