Jessica Strider

Pros: great characters, nice extrapolation of 30s SF tech

Cons: drags a bit

When Nola Gardner's entire team of switchboard operators is laid off, she hires Kelvin ‘Dash' Kent, a professional adventurer, to investigate who replaced them. Rusty, a unique robot person, is being followed when he uncovers a similarly unbranded, and therefore illegally made, robot. Abner Perkins has discovered some strange inefficiencies with the new Tube Transport system and decides to investigate.

I loved the characters in this. Dash is so much fun, and Nola's got a good mix of spunk and intelligence. The Campbell kids are... something. They were both great and terrifying to follow.

The world-building was great. The switchboard is sort of an internet, if history had taken a different path. The priests of the spider god were fun, and kept the old school pulp feel. The robot League and the interactions between robot and human people show a positive future that's often lacking in modern SF and something I enjoyed seeing.

The book manages to evoke a 1950s SF feel without relying on campiness. While the book isn't laugh out loud funny, it did have me smiling and smirking quite often. There are some great comebacks. There are also some callbacks to authors and novels (like the Fraternal League of Robotic Persons being on Rue de Rur). While his role is quite small, I loved the writer Edward Bellin's storyline.

Given the number of characters and storylines, it's not surprising that the story drags a bit. There's a lot to introduce and some of the mystery - being solved in fits and starts by several people - takes a while to turn up useful information.

The book is printed on very nice, high quality paper, likely due to the inclusion of several black and white illustrations by the author. These are great for giving a better feel of the actions, characters and locations. The author is highly skilled at drawing cityscapes and robots, though his human people sometimes look a little off.

Dr. Krajnik confused me. Her plan to help out seemed needlessly wasteful and surely someone so brilliant could come up with a more constructive way to perform a search. It also prevented her from seeing how things turn out. It also took me a while to figure out that she was on a different time schedule from others in the book.

I felt a little sorry for the robots, waiting for the plumber to return...

On the whole this was a fun book, quirky and different and worth the read.

Pros: fascinating characters, lots of intrigue, several secrets are revealed

Cons: very slow moving

Antiphon begins six months after Canticle ends. When an attack rocks the confidence of Rudolfo to keep his lands safe, he and Jin Li Tam make a difficult decision. Winteria's still stunned by the revelations of the last book and wonders if there's any hope of returning her people to their former faith in their home-seeking. Neb discovers blood magicked runners in the wastes who don't die after three days and tries to find out who they are. Meanwhile, the Antiphon requires and answer, and the metal men search for it in many places.

This is a fascinating series, with a lot of intrigue. Each book uncovers more layers underpinning the desolation of Windwir. There are plots upon plots and secrets within secrets. And just when you think you've gotten to the bottom of one mystery you discover there's an entirely new side to it that reframes what you know.

The characters are all great. Winters grows a lot in this book, coming more into her own as she questions how to best help her people. It's sad - but understandable - what happens with Rudolfo. It was great seeing Vlad Li Tam with an intrigue not worked through his children.

It was nice getting some answers to questions, even if there may still be hidden nuances and twists to those story threads. I'd love to learn more of the history that's been hinted at with Whym and the wizards. I happened upon a short story Scholes wrote about the love affair between Francisco and a mysterious woman (A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon), which factors into this novel nicely (you can read it on Tor.com's website here http://www.tor.com/2009/02/17/a-weeping-czar-beholds-the-fallen-moon/).

The book is very slow moving with characters mostly getting from point A to point B, both in terms of location as well as with understanding of the underlying purposes of what's been happening these past two years since Windwir fell.

I am very interested in seeing where things go from here. The book left several characters in fascinating places.

Pros: gorgeous artwork, touching story

Cons: makes the locals look ignorant

Mourning the death of a friend, Lady Mechanika makes her way to Mexico, where she's coerced into joining the Day of the Dead festivities.

This graphic novel gathers a 3 issue storyline.

As with the previous volumes the artwork is simply gorgeous. I love the costumes and make-up associated with the festival. There are some beautiful double page spreads.

I enjoyed the story, though it does depend on the ‘superstitious natives are easily duped' trope and it's not particularly original. I found the opening beautiful and sad, despite the positive message of the festival.

I was confused by who Dallas was. He isn't mentioned in the earlier volumes nor was there a flashback explaining how he died or any explanation of why Mechanika felt responsible for his death.

Despite a few minor issues, I love this series. Each volume stands alone and uses unique new locations and outfits. The artwork really is worth it.

Pros: brilliant world-building, great characters, lots of plot twists, excellent pacing

Cons:

James Holden is the XO of the ice harvester Canterbury. When the Cant encounters a distress beacon, they're the closest ship and must send aid. Holden's sent with a five man crew to check out the damaged ship. But something's not right and things for Holden start to go very, very wrong.

Miller is a cop on the asteroid Ceres. He's given an off the book ‘kidnap' job to send the daughter of a rich magnate home. He becomes more invested in the case than he should, and uncovers more than he was supposed to.

First off, if - like me - you've seen the show and were wondering if it's worth reading the book, the answer is yes. It covers the entire first season (from the POVs mentioned above) and a fair bit of the second, but there's enough new information, nuance, and divergence to keep you entertained. Most importantly, the pacing of the book is brilliant. While not all of the reveals will be a surprise, the novel propels you forward into the next crisis.

The novel is told from two points of view. The opposing chapters help ramp up the tension as you're often given hints that something has happened but switch POV to find out what that thing is.

The world building is brilliant. I love that belters shrug with their hands, because you can't see shoulders move in a space suit. I loved the (unfortunate) realism of racism between belters, Earthers, and Martians. There's a lot of nuance with language - how it's changed and melded by having people from all over Earth living in close quarters outside of Earth. The fact that there's low-brow belter slang and Martian accents was great. The physics were real, aside from the drive that makes interplanetary travel possible (which, while not currently real, is plausible).

I found that some of the motivations and actions made more sense in the book than they did on the TV show (as much as I LOVE the show). It was nice seeing more nuance with character development and gaining a better grasp of who everyone is.

The characters were great. Holden can be a little to ‘righteous' at times, but he firmly believes he's in the right. I did like some of his interactions with Miller, where he's forced to realize that his POV isn't necessarily the right one and that the world isn't as black and white as he seems to believe. The Rosi's crew works together well. Naomi's brilliant! I love her smarts, her intuition, her observations, her skill. I was impressed with how concentrating profanity to Amos's character worked in terms of releasing tension and creating some comic relief. I'm not usually a fan of swearing but this was well handled.

I found the romance sub-plot slow moving enough to feel realistic. It was great when the couple finally got together.

I had high expectations going into this book and it exceeded them. If you like hard science fiction and space mysteries, this is for you.

Pros: political intrigue, plot twists, tense atmospheres

Cons: many aspects of this book are merely set-ups for the next in the series

Minor Spoiler Alert

Canticle is book 2 in the Psalms of Isaac. It's been 9 months since the events of Lamentation and a celebration is under way to welcome Rudolfo's heir to the Ninefold Forest Houses. When tragedy strikes, the people of the already devestated Named Lands learn that the outside threat they feared is closer than they think.

All the principles are back, rushing towards their destinies, though none of the end results they're expecting. Neb finally gets to go to the Churning Wastes, Winters takes up her crown, Jin Li Tam becomes a true queen and her father comes face to face with those who really orchestrated the destruction of Windwir.

The only negative is that some of the events are a little drawn out and feel like they're just to facilitate events in the next book - particularly Neb's storyline.

Ultimately, it's a great book with lots of intrigue, down time for character development and plot twists you won't see coming.

Pros: three dimensional characters, political and personal intrigue

Cons: starts very character driven, which some readers will find slow

Rudolfo, Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses, General of the Wandering Army, is touring his lands when the Desolation occurs. Little does he realize how his life was manipulated with this future act in mind.

Jim Li Tan, 42nd daughter of merchant and spy Lord Vlad Li Tam, is consort to Sethbert, Overseer of the Entrolusian City States. She has just seen him boast of causing the destruction of Windwir, and with it the Androfrancine Order of priests. Her orders from her father to watch this man are about to change.

Neb's mistake caused his absentee father to be in the city when fire rained down upon it. He is the only witness to the destruction.

Petronus is a fisherman who was once much, much more. His quiet life is ruined when he spots the pillar of smoke in the distance. For his path has also been manipulated and it is now his time to act.

These four and many others find their lives irrevocably changed by the sudden destruction of the Guardians of the Light. And it slowly becomes clear that many people have been set up to act during these trying times. But set up by whom and for what purpose?

This is a fantastic book. The first half of the novel is predominantly character driven. Some people might find this portion slow going. But the interesting, fully realized characters (with wildly different backgrounds, customs and secret codes) kept me entertained until the plot picked up.

Magic is used sparingly and for specific purposes. More interesting are the various codes used by the different powers (smudged words on letters, non verbal languages, etc). And once the intrigue begins, so does the tension, making the ending move quickly.

Three dimensional characters, mild use of magic and political intrigue make this a great start to an epic series.

Pros: excellent world-building, great characters, interesting plot

Cons: a few points drag

Kerida Nast was born into a powerful military family, so she's not happy when it's discovered that she has the Talent and must leave her family and join the Halls of Law. Flashing objects and people allows Talents to know truth in matters of judgement. Just as she comes to terms with her fate, a foreign invasion takes place, upending her life and forcing her to flee or die. She joins up with some defending soldiers and along the way uncovers a prophecy and a people long believed to be myths.

The world-building is excellent. I loved how the Talent and jewels work. It's very creepy how the jewels can be used to twist people's beliefs, emphasizing certain truths at the expense of others. There are a fair number of terms to learn, but you come to them organically and they make the world feel expansive. I loved that women were so prominent in the power structure of the Faraman Polity. Seeing the invading force's attempts to subjugate the native customs to fit their own belief system was terrifying.

Kerida's a great protagonist. I loved that she learns a lot through the book. She's practical and makes hard decisions about her own survival, leaving her feeling ashamed by her lack of heroism. She has a lot of responsibility placed on her and does a remarkable job, despite not being fully trained. I thought the supporting cast was great, especially the archer Wynn. Seeing some of them jeweled was tough because I liked all of them.

The story's pretty interesting, with a lot of unanswered questions to take up in the next book. I'm hoping the griffin has a larger role.

There are a few points where the story drags a bit as the characters travel a lot over the same territory.

On the whole I really enjoyed this and eagerly await the sequel.

Pros: good worldbuilding, interesting characters

Cons: middling mystery, little action

Decades ago the world fell apart in a slow apocalypse. Now, those that remain live in small communities, husbanding their resources. When things go wrong that the communities can't solve, they call in Investigators.

Enid and Thomas are Investigators from Haven. There's been a suspicious death that might be murder. The case turns up other infractions and a man from Enid's past.

I thought the worldbuilding was well done. As the book goes on you learn more about how people survived the slow falling apart of civilization and how they rebuilt using a new social order. I really liked the ruins and what happened there, showing that not everyone ended up living the same way.

Enid was interesting in that she liked questioning things and learning about the world but used what she found to justify their way of life instead of wondering if things could be better if done differently. This makes her a decent Investigator but I found myself not liking some of her conclusions about the world. Her underlying anger is problematic for investigations but makes her a more interesting character.

The case is mostly straight forward and while there are a few twists the resolution is what I suspected early on. There's little to no action and I found myself getting bored towards the end.

Pros: fun characters, interesting story, quick read

Cons: repetition

Greta Helsing is a modern day human doctor who treats the supernatural. When she's called to a vampire's house for an emergency, she discovers that a mysterious group is hunting ‘creatures of evil', a group that might be connected to the ‘rosary ripper' murders plaguing London.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The characters were quirky and entertaining. I liked that a few of them were familiar from older literary works. The mythologies for the different creatures were a mixture of common folklore with a few twists to make them different and fresh. I particularly liked the interpretation of angels and demons presented. The author did a fantastic job of making the ‘monsters' feel very human and empathetic.

There's a particular scene with Greta that I absolutely loved. Most urban fantasy novels have literal kickass female characters, so it was nice reading a book with a female protagonist who doesn't know any martial arts, who's terrified by horrific situations, but who manages her fear and is able to act despite it. It was wonderful reading about a woman who didn't beat anyone up and who relied on her friends to help her when things got tough.

I was somewhat surprised that the core protagonists didn't warn the supernatural community of their danger, specifically Greta's patients and employees. I also found it strange that everyone in the group seemed to learn the same information separately - at different times - rather than pooling what they'd learned (or asking more questions of the group that had encountered the antagonists).

There's a fair amount of repetition. Several conversations simply repeated information learned earlier.

On the whole, this was a fun, fast read. I'm very curious to see what adventure Greta has next.

Pros: great characters, interesting plot, complex issues

Cons: some interactions annoyed me, a bit heavy handed at times

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dreadnought, the first book in this series.

Nine months have passed since the events of Dreadnought, and Danielle has a contract to protect New Port City. She's begun to love the feeling of power being a superhero provides, beating supervillians into submission in ways that Doc Impossible finds worrisome. Her relationship with Calamity has soured, though she's not sure why, and multiple work and family issues occupy her thoughts. Soon after she hears news that Nemesis, the asteroid that creates quantum instabilities, is nearing Earth, a new supervillian emerges with a plan to harness its power for nefarious purposes.

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were several opening scenes that annoyed and/or made me uneasy. While some of these were dealt with in detail and worked out later on, others didn't get much attention beyond the initial mentions.

In the first book Danielle was predominately characterized by optimism. Though her life was pretty terrible, when things got tough she constantly believed they would get better again. Dreadnought focused very specifically on Danielle's concerns as a young woman coming of age in challenging circumstances. Sovereign broadens the outlook to show that most issues in life are complex and people can't always be characterized as simply good or evil. Her sudden liking of violence and her enjoyment of beating people up was a little scary to read. While she's in the pay of the government, she goes outside that purview on more than one occasion. The idea that might makes right is not ok, even if you're the hero. Some would say, especially then. The book does deal with this, and I was happy with how the ending focused on the fact that emotional trauma doesn't just go away with time.

I was impressed with how the author handled Sarah and Danielle's relationship. I loved seeing young people talk frankly about their feelings and fears instead of drawing out the misunderstandings.

I enjoyed Kinetiq's group work, but her first interaction with Danielle in the book kind of annoyed me. While I understand Kinetiq's annoyance/anger that Dreadnought took credit for a group fight, their lack of consideration for Dreadnought's age or current circumstances and insistence that she use every public appearance to push the transgender agenda ignores the fact that Dreadnought, as an acknowledged transgender superhero, already pushes that agenda.

Graywytch was an even more horrible character in this book than the last, though she doesn't spout slurs this time. Reading about a TERF (Trans-exclusionary radical feminist) was painful. I find it hard to attach the label ‘feminist' to women who believe transwomen aren't ‘real' women, as if there's only one experience of womanhood and all ‘real' women share it. But it's good to face it in fiction, as it's often through fiction (and other types of media) that people learn empathy and compassion, and that society collectively becomes more socially aware.

I didn't think the book dealt with the Magma and Doc issue well. Both characters have valid complaints about what happened to the Legion, and sometimes there's no right answer that pleases everyone. While Doc was under outside control and therefore wasn't personally responsible for the murders her body committed, Magma does have the right be angry that Doc's lies left the Legion at a disadvantage, and feel betrayed that she never shared who her mother was. The book takes Danielle's POV that Doc wasn't to blame and Magma should just get over it. But this ignores that he and Chlorophyll were left permanently disabled because of that attack. I think it's understandable that they don't want anything to do with Doc anymore.

In terms of world-building, the author mentions several of the laws that govern superhero work. Things like the ability to buy bystander insurance and that there are legal work limits for superhero minors. One issue that wasn't mentioned, that I'd be curious to learn the answer to, is whether superheroes have to pay for property damage incurred during their legally sanctioned missions.

The book has a lot of excellent fight scenes, in a variety of settings. They propel the plot along and keep the pacing quick.

The plot itself was quite interesting. There's a lot of different super powered people in this one, on all sides of the fence, and it was fun learning their different powers and where they land on the varied political spectrums.

While I didn't like this book as fully as I did the first one, I was impressed that the author dealt with some difficult issues that many superhero books ignore. I thought Danielle's development made sense given her life experiences, and am curious to see what the next book has in store for her.

Pros: lots of colour illustrations, good explanations

Cons:

This is an examination of medieval women as depicted in illuminated manuscripts. There's a short forward by Timothy Potts, the Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, followed by the Introduction. There are four chapters: Medieval Ideals of Womanhood, Warnings to Medieval Women, Medieval Women in Daily Life and Medieval Women in the Arts. At the end there's a short epilogue and some suggestions for further reading. The book is 120 pages, and there are 100 illustrations.

The chapters start with a short explanation followed by a large number of illustrations. Each image has a good descriptive explanation that often gives context and/or insights into the medieval mind. I was impressed to see an Ethiopian and a Persian image in the Ideals of Womanhood chapter, as well as a few Hebrew manuscripts represented. The images depict a wide variety of women from a good mix of sources. There are saints, Biblical scenes, scenes of romance, giving birth, patrons praying, etc. Some of the sources are book of hours, prayer books, hymnals, medical and history texts, a book of law codes, etc.

The Warnings chapter opens with a brief foray into nude female imagery and the male readership for whom those images were generally commissioned, something I had never considered before. There are several other interesting tidbits that give greater depth to the people who made and used the manuscripts.

I found this a wonderful read. It's an introductory volume and so accessible to anyone interested in learning more about the middle ages and the role of women.

Pros: excellent world-building, great characters, well paced, exciting

Cons: cliffhanger ending

Refugees flock to Feros, where Lizanne Lethridge, aka Miss Blood, is given the first of a new and even more dangerous series of missions to perform in the Corvantine Empire. Clay has convinced Hillmore to sail South, hoping to find something that will help them defeat the white dragon. Meanwhile, the white is gathering its army of spoiled, training them to overrun the world.

This book starts off with little reminder of the events of The Waking Fire, so it's worth rereading it. One of the characters thought dead returns as a point of view character, giving insight into the actions of the white dragon's army.

The world-building continues to be excellent. You learn more about various governments and see how the drakes interact from a different point of view from the first book. Clay's mission provides a lot of questions, which I'm hoping will be answered in the next book.

There are two appendices, one for dramatis personae, which is helpful as several names are similar and the cast is large, and a second with the rules for the card game Pastazch.

Lizanne is probably my favourite character, making difficult decisions and still being influenced more by her emotions than a good operative should. I was surprised by where her choices lead her. Clay seems to grow as the book progresses, which I appreciated. I was disappointed that Tekela wasn't in this book much, considering how she'd grown in the previous book. I was hoping to see more of her development. Loriabeth gets a good amount of page time, which was nice. Her skills have improved a lot and she's a solid supporting character.

The pacing was wonderful, with a lot of action and cliffhanger chapter endings, propelling you through the book at a rapid pace. There's little wrap up here, with the final chapters leaving several characters in difficult positions. This is only a negative in that since the next book isn't out yet, I can't immediately find out what happens to them.

I'm really looking forward to book 3.

Pros: some good twists; complex language

Cons: Ana angered, frustrated, and annoyed me; lots of major and minor irritants towards the end of the book

Severe earthquakes hit Heart and free Deborl and his followers. Ana and Sam call a group together and decide to escape the city and see if they can end Janan and the threat of Soul Night.

The book is quite exciting, with the characters finally meeting several more of the dangerous creatures living around Range. You also learn the answers to more of Ana's questions about the temple books, sylph, and Janan.

I thought the complexity of the language in the temple books was great. I appreciated that each symbol could mean several things, creating a number of possible interpretations.

I didn't like Ana as much in this book. She had a streak of selfishness (thinking of her own emotional needs and ignoring those of others) in the previous books, that stemmed from her emotional abuse at Li's hands. As the books progressed she seemed to slowly learn how to open up and give emotional support as well as take it. But in this book she makes several decisions that cause deep pain in others later on simply because they help her avoid temporary pain in the moment. She ends up with an overinflated sense of her own importance and stops the reciprocal empathy that friendships and relationships require. I really wanted her to ask the others for advice, to help them through the guilt and sorrow they felt at things she reveals about their past. Basically, I wanted her to show them the love and support they'd given her, welcoming her into their lives, teaching her, guiding her. I mention more about this in the spoiler section below.

While the ending had a lot of twists and turns, by that point I was so frustrated by Ana and so many of the things that were happening that I didn't really feel emotionally invested anymore.











SPOILERS


Half way through the book, after following her for weeks through snow to find dragons for Ana's insane plan, Ana leaves her friends behind with only a passive aggressive note telling them how they used to believe in her and now she's going off on her own, for them to find when they wake up. There's no acknowledgment of the sacrifices they've made or the fact that they FOLLOWED her all that way because they BELIEVED in her. Because it's all about her at this point. Bare paragraphs later she comments on how the sylph give her the feeling of companionship the others didn't anymore (because she wasn't asking for or accepting advice, because she was hiding things from them, because she didn't want to be burdened with their sorrow or guilt or help them work through it, etc). She strangely comes to the conclusion that she can succeed simply by believing in herself. She doesn't NEED other people to believe in her, despite that feeling coming because she felt the COMPANIONSHIP of the sylph! Despite the fact that the sylph continue to help her by melting snow and ice so she can walk easier. She ignores the aid her friends gave her to get her to this point, including the large amount of help and protection the sylph provided. It's only after she cheers herself up that she realizes that the sylph have also felt lonely, and determines she won't ignore them again. But what about the friends she's just left? What about their needs and the fact that they'll wake up and feel even worse because after all their sacrifices for her it wasn't enough? How much are they expected to give just to make her feel better about herself? When do they get something from this relationship?

When the group gets back together, once again it's up to Sam to reconcile things. Which made me think that perhaps his friends are right and having a relationship with Ana's not the right move. She's obviously not ready for a romantic relationship. Maybe the best thing to do would be to give her a few years to find herself, grow up a little, see how other - healthy - relationships work and then try again if they both still want to. Going from an abusive mother to an overly loving and caring psudo-boyfriend may be too much of an extreme for her to dealt with.

The last half of the book contained so many irritating things. If the dragons could communicate with humans, why didn't they? Did Sam use his song against them at some point creating that enmity or were they just unreasonably afraid of him? How big were everyone's packs? (Apparently they had blankets in addition to their sleeping bags, books, enough clothes for Ana to wear 3 hats, etc when flying.) Why did they wait until Soul Night to attack? Couldn't they have tried to kill Janan BEFORE the eruptions, etc? (There didn't seem to be a reason to wait. That's when Janan would be at his most powerful. And I would have thought stopping the eruptions would be just as important as killing Janan. If he's dead, then Soul Night isn't a problem. And if they fail, they have more time to figure something out before Soul Night.) How did Sarit forget why she and Stef left Sam and Ana alone when they hadn't been gone that long? Why did Stef make the distraction explosions have separate detonation devices instead of tying that into their SEDs (like cellphone triggers)? Why didn't Sam want his burns treated before they had sex? (It would have made him more comfortable.) How could they have sex at such a time, after such personal tragedies? (They'd have a lot of distracting thoughts, given what they had to do later that night and having just watched their friends die. I'd think it would be hard to get in the mood under such conditions.) Did everyone's last reincarnation push other newsouls out of the way again? Why did Ana wait until she was in her teens to let Sam know she'd been reborn? (Ok, I know the answer to this one, selfishness. She wanted him to prove he could find her in her new body, like the Masquerade. Because she needed him to prove that he could pick her out of a crowd, or else how would she know he really loved her?). What ultimately happened to Janan? He gave them all one last reincarnation and then ... leaves? He spent 1000 years in a prison to become a god and then lets his followers all abandon him?

Pros: interesting plot, fun characters

Cons: relationship waffling

This is book two of the Incarnate series, and as such this review contains spoilers for book one.

Some time has passed since Templedark consigned dozens of souls to a permanent death. Sam and Ana rest away from Heart for a time. A new gift and Menehem's notebooks indicate that Sylphs may be more intelligent than previously believed. Meanwhile, back in Heart, fears of more newsoul births and an inability to punish Menehem for his actions turns popular anger towards Ana.

I really enjoyed the plot in this book and the fact that things went in directions I did not predict. You learn answers to some of Ana's questions, which was great.

The ‘will they won't they' aspect of their relationship got frustrating, as after a year of being together Ana seemed to still get defensive a lot and misconstrue things easily, regardless of how open and loving Sam was. While I appreciated the question of whether it's appropriate for a 5000 year old soul to have a relationship with an 18 year old soul, that's a question that should have been addressed by Sam much, much earlier.

Despite their relationship woes, I love Sam and Ana. Ana remains passionate about helping other newsouls and discovering more about how she came to be.

As with the first book, it was a very quick and enjoyable read.

Pros: interesting characters, great premise, highly passionate characters

Cons: minimal world-building, highly passionate characters

The people of Heart have been reincarnated hundreds of times, some believe by the will of Janan. When Li and Menehem's child was not the reincarnation of Ciana, people feared what it meant for them. Eighteen years later, Ana wants to leave the cottage she was raised as a nosoul by her hateful mother and find answers regarding her birth in Heart. After a terrible night, she's rescued by Sam, who becomes her friend with the possibility of more.

I really liked Ana. I liked how conflicted she was, uncertain of the world after the physical and mental abuse she suffered under her mother. I liked that she constantly questioned Sam's motivations, constantly waiting for things to go bad. It showed real, persistent, trauma. I also liked that Sam's previous deaths bring their own form of trauma for him to overcome later in the book.

The premise, of people who all know each other because they've been reborn together over and over again, was great. Throw in the possibility that they could die and not return, and their fear of Ana and what she represents is understandable.

The characters - Ana in particular - were often very passionate about life. Towards the end this got to be a bit much for me. It's understandable in Ana, but the others are all old enough to be past the vagaries of first youth. While Sam's age (and subsequent hormones) could account for some of his issues, he should have had an easier time coming to a decision about what sort of relationship he wanted with Ana.

The world was pretty interesting, but not developed very much. The author lists several creatures that live in the world, but you only actually see two of them. And the way they're mentioned, always as a list, makes them feel more like window dressing than actual inhabitants of the world. Having said that, I greatly enjoyed what I learned but hope the later books explain more of the wider world.

This was a very quick read that kept me turning pages. And while the book ended up going in wildly different directions from what I'd expected, I really enjoyed it.

Pros: excellent world-building, interconnected plot, great characters

Cons:

Grappoli is invading more native territory, sending refugees fleeing to the city of their enemy, Bar-Selehm. But Bar-Selehm's politicians aren't sympathetic to the refugees' plight, and some believe the time to unite with their white brothers of Grappoli, at the expense of the black and brown lower classes of their own city, has arrived. When important military papers are stolen, a clue sends Anglet Sutonga to an exclusive club, where she investigates the connections of its members.

This is the second book set in this faux 19th Century South Africa. While you can read this without having read Steeplejack, characters are reintroduced without preamble, so you may find yourself confused by some of the relationships. The plot is self-contained and while the politics carry on from the previous book, it's easy to figure out what's happening in that respect. Some of the world-building assumes you've read Steeplejack, so there's little explanation of the Drowning and the racial divisions of the city, though those come up a lot in the story.

The world-building on the whole is excellent. Again, there's very little of the book happening outside the city, but the city itself affords lots of conflict. I'm impressed by how detailed and realistic the interconnectedness of everything is in the book.

I really like Anglet. She's young, passionate, and tries to do the right thing, even when knowing what the right thing to do is difficult. And with the racial and political tensions running through this book, she's often left unsure of why she feels like she does and whether her work for Willinghouse is achieving any good. I especially liked her confusion over how to best help the refugees, and why she felt a connection to their sorrows despite their differing circumstances.

I appreciated the introduction of a deaf character and the chance to see more of Bar-Selehm's society (high and otherwise). I liked the fact that characters had differing opinions on the political situation of the city.

Unfortunately I read the book in a disjointed manner, which made it hard for me to recollect who some of the players were. There are certain scenes that require a careful reading, as the cast is fairly large and some seemingly minor details become important later on.

The plot went in several disjointed directions as Anglet slowly figured out what was going on, pulling together for the climax.

I really enjoyed this book, and its discussion of racism, refugees, and colonialism is topical.

Pros: diverse cast, interesting plot

Cons: minimal world-building

Carina is a zeal addict, living her life plugged into her dreams where she slowly kills virtual people. When a former co-worker uploads coded packets of information into her brain that will help take down her previous employer, she's not sure she's capable of sobering up and not becoming a monster in the real world.

This book is set in the same world as the author's previous novel, False Hearts. While some characters overlap, Shattered Minds works perfectly on its own.

Carina's a fascinating character. Having information tied to her memories was a clever idea, and allowed for some great development. I was surprised by how much I liked her considering she had very little emotion, had constant urges to kill, and spent the first part of the book heavily addicted. But then, I also enjoyed seeing the world from Roz's point of view, and she's a pretty terrible person. Her scenes didn't make me relate to her at all, but sometime's its nice to read about bad guys who are truly evil.

The cast is pretty diverse with one character a native american trans man, which isn't something you read often. Dax was probably my favourite character, considerate, competent, cool under pressure.

I had mixed feelings about the romantic elements of the book. I liked the pairing, and the text makes it clear that the two find each other attractive. But given Carina's inability to feel anything other than pleasure at the thought of killing, I didn't really get the gut feeling that she was even capable of any kind of intimate relationship. I appreciated that things moved slowly, but there was one scene that felt like it happened too early and so didn't give the emotional satisfaction that it should have. At this point they knew each other better but still didn't have the emotional connection such a scene requires. Oddly enough, had the author waited a bit, there was a place where I think that would have fit better.

While I felt the author knew how this world worked, there were times when it would have helped to understand more of what makes Pacifica tick. Towards the end of the book there's a throwaway comment about the potential consequences of taking down Sudice, of how society could unravel because the company's tied into so many things. This would have been good to bring up earlier. In fact, the comment states that the group has discussed this issue, though the reader never sees any of these discussions. It's a failure of world-building because as a readier I didn't realize the full import of the company they want to bring down and that the Trust's actions might not be as black and white as they're being portrayed. Knowing what Sudice does, and how the world would be impacted would have added more depth and complexity to the characters, and the show how difficult the decision they're making really is.

The book is paced well so there's a good mix of action and down time. The mystery of what Roz is doing and how the Trust can take her down is quite entertaining, and there are a good number of twists to keep things interesting.

On the whole I enjoyed the book.

Pros: beautiful artwork, interesting story, great characters

Cons: short

Lady Mechanika hears of a strange murder case where kidnapped urchin boys were found murdered next to mechanical parts. She starts investigating, wondering if this case could lead to information about her own origins.

As with the previous volumes, this one stands alone, though there is a quick, non spoilery callback for the events of volume 2. It's only two issues, so the story is much shorter than those of the earlier graphic novels (and the price reflects that).

Once more the artwork is gorgeous. The characters have a fun mix of Victorian and steampunk fashions.The cast is widened with the addition of a detective inspector, who I suspect will show up in later volumes.

The cover gallery at the end has some nice pieces.

I'm loving this series.

Pros: gorgeous artwork, fast paced story, lots of women

Cons:

Lady Mechanika returns to London in time to witness the kidnapping of Lewis' niece. Seems the girl's grandfather is part of an African expedition uncovering a long lost underground city. And within that city is the tablet of destinies, rumoured to be a powerful weapon.

Once again the artwork is incredible. It's lush and detailed.

The story's fast paced, going from one crisis or revelation to another. I enjoyed that this book had several diverse locations, and peoples.

Lady Mechanika's a fantastic protagonist. I'm impressed with the number of women the series has introduced, and the great costumes they wear (some sexy, others practical).

I'm loving this series.

Pros: gorgeous artwork, interesting characters, good story

Cons:

Issue 0 is a prequel story that takes place about a year before the main comic. It features Lady Mechanika hunting a ‘demon' that's been killing children.

Issues 1-5 comprises a story about a young woman, found dead in a train station, who has similar mechanical arms to Lady Mechanika.

I LOVED the artwork. The colours are rich and bold, the backgrounds lush, and the characters vibrant.

Lady Mechanika is portrayed in a sexy fashion without showing much (or sometimes any) skin. I loved her costumes (particularly her Victorian style dresses), and the occasional steampunk elements of it. She's intelligent, no nonsense, and kickass.

The supporting cast are also well dressed and appropriately quirky. I enjoyed the fact that there's history between Lady Mechanika and the two lead antagonists.

The story was pretty interesting, though there was one scene where the antagonists had an expository conversation meant for the reader rather than each other.

This volume is self-contained, with a quick mention of what will begin the next volume.

Pros: conflicted characters, good world-building

Cons: not hard SF

Earth spent years forcing thousands of people to emigrate to other inhabitable worlds as the population grew out of control. Jamie Allenby was living on Soltaire, at the edge of inhabited space, when the plague came through. The survival rate of zero point zero zero zero one percent haunts her as she makes her way to the space port in hopes of finding other survivors. As others emerge, they head towards Earth, unsure of what they're looking for or how life will carry on.

I found Jamie an interesting character. In many ways she reminded me of Millicent, the protagonist in Mishell Baker's Borderline. She's not particularly likeable, but because you're seeing her thoughts and feelings (and occasional flashbacks), you understand why she's making the decisions she is, and why she has trouble letting people get close. Jamie slowly comes to understand what she's looking for, but I suspect some readers will find her constant questioning herself and where she's going with her life frustrating. I felt this frustration myself a time or two towards the end of the book, especially when she's trying to get others to join their group despite making it clear that she thinks people should do what they want and joining the group isn't what those people want to do.

Most of the supporting characters are conflicted too, not sure what this new world holds, whether it's better to return to the old way of doing things or hope for something new. Rena annoyed me, but I think she was supposed to. I appreciated the author including an autistic young man in with the main group of survivors.

I liked that different views of how the world should continue were offered by different groups. It didn't surprise me that societal classes would survive the apocalypse. One of the groups they encountered did surprise me though, with their adherence to an even older age.

Some sections of the book are designed to get you to think deeply about life: what it means, where humanity is headed, etc. This was undercut by Jamie's constant waffling though, never sure of what she wanted and feeling at one with the universe for a moment and then doubting the emotion the next.

The world-building was pretty good. Callan's history especially grounded the world for me, in all its cruelty.

This isn't hard SF. While there are lags for communication transmissions, there's no time dilation affecting space travel and it only takes a day or two to get between worlds, with no explanation of how the ship is navigating the distances so quickly. Because Jamie was constantly questioning her decisions, it made me wonder how things would have changed for her if moving from one planet to the next meant years or decades would have passed for those she left behind, so that there was no going back, no reconciliation. How would things have changed for her if these decisions were permanent once she left? Would she have been happier? Would she have stayed on Earth? On Alegria? Would she have found the personal space she needed some other way? Or would she still have ended up on Soltaire, conflicted about the decisions she'd made with her life?

It was an interesting debut. It posed some good questions and while it wasn't perfect, it kept me turning pages.

Pros: atmospheric, interesting characters, intriguing story

Cons: a little slow

No one knows what caused the Spill Zone, but its dangers are numerous. Addison supports herself and her younger sister by sneaking into her old hometown, now a quarantine zone, and selling the pictures she takes. She stays safe by obeying a set of rules. Now she's offered a large sum of money to bring something back from the zone, but it means breaking the rules...

This is the first volume and so mostly sets up the spill zone and the characters. It's a bit slow, but that's due to the many panelled atmospheric nature of the artwork. While the artwork wasn't entirely to my liking, it does embody the post-apocalyptic feel of the city and the creepy stuff going on inside it. It's also highly expressive, showing a lot of motion and emotion.

Addison's pretty interesting as a protagonist, gutsy if not terribly business savvy. Her obvious love for her sister shines through. I have to admit, I'm most intrigued by Vespertine, her sister's telepathic, snarky doll.

The story ends with several mysteries introduced and I'm very curious to see what happens next.

Pros: excellent worldbuilding, deftly woven alternate history, fun characters

Cons: lot of explanations of steampunk vehicles, antagonist gives an expository speech, albino antagonist

A major assassination has changed the world of 1860s Britain into one with mechanical flying and driving machines and genetically modified bird and dog messengers. Sir Richard Burton, the famous explorer, is called by the prime minister to become an agent of the crown and investigate two cases: werewolves kidnapping chimneysweeps and appearances of an entity called Spring Heeled Jack.

The melding of history and fantasy in this book is fantastic. The book ends with short biographies of the principle characters, but further research showed just how much research went into this book. I loved how the world has changed - adding both biological and mechanical developments. The use of language - especially given Spring Heeled Jack's unintelligible (to them) speech - and how they interpret his pronouncements, was quite convincing.

The ‘characters' were all pretty fun, and surprisingly bizarre considering they're mostly based on real people (which just shows that truth is stranger than fiction).

I personally found the longer descriptions of the steampunk technology kind of boring, but your mileage may vary.

There's a long section where you finally learn all about Spring Heeled Jack by way of the main antagonist telling it to a group of peers in a place where Burton can overhear it. Seems to me this story would have been told long ago, like when everyone joined together in the first place. In the author's defence, I'm not sure how else all of this information could have been relayed to Burton, though he seemed to figure out enough of what was going on that a full reveal to him wasn't really necessary, and readers could have kept the flashback scenes from ‘Jack's' point of view.

One of the antagonists is called an albino, though he isn't really one once you learn his background. It's annoying just in that albinos are often made into bad guys for no reason other than their looks.

On the whole this was an entertaining novel with a decent mystery. It's a cool period of history to examine and it's fascinating the changes one death can make.

Pros: fascinating world-building, interesting characters, twisting plot

Cons:

Neverfell was found around the age of five in the tunnels of Cheesemaster Grandible. Seven years later, a series of errors has her emerging into the wider world of Caverna and the mysterious Court that rules it. For in a world where Faces must be learned and lying is a fact of life, Neverfell's face can change expression with her emotions, and lying is beyond her skill.

The world of Caverna is fascinating. You're introduced to it - and all of its various workings - slowly, through Neverfell's eyes and experiences. While she's told early on that everyone lies and manipulates, her own trusting and trustworthy natures make it hard for her to protect herself from the plots of others. As the book progresses, you learn more about the world and the darknesses it's based on.

The plot takes a lot of turns I wasn't expecting, which was a real joy. Neverfell's a great character and her constant curiosity has her acting in unpredictable ways. She starts off hopelessly naive, but over the course of the book learns what society is like, and that not everyone she meets has her best interests in mind. The Kleptomancer is really fun, and I'd have loved seeing more of him and of the brilliantly insane cryptomancers.

This is a fun book, one that briefly touches on numerous discussion points, so it would make a great book club novel.

Pros: great characters, good attention to detail

Cons: limited fantasy elements

When Helen Young is given the news that her death is near, she performs a final duty for an old friend. In 1940 San Francisco, Loretta Haskel, an artist for lurid pulp covers, falls in love with another woman. Their lifestyle is illegal and complicated, and vibrant.

The characters are brilliant. They acknowledge some of the racial and sexual challenges of the day, focusing on Asian and lesbian. The women are all living their lives, trying to get by without getting into trouble with the law for being who they are. They're each quite different, though most of them are artists of some sort.

San Francisco is a wonderful setting. The book allows you to experience several parts of the city. There's a day at the World's Fair, Chinatown, various eateries, the fabulous view. The book also mentions the war a few times, and how that affects people. It's far enough away that the influence is minor, but it helped make the book feel grounded in history. I was impressed with the level of detail - enough so you can fully picture the city, but not so much you get bogged down in descriptions.

There's a faint inkling of magic in the book. It's used a few times in minor ways. If you're hoping for a lot of fantasy elements, this isn't for you. I was left with a few questions about the final piece of magic, but nothing that detracted from my enjoyment of the story as a whole.

I loved that the cover of the book is the final picture Haskel paints, and annoyed that it took me so long to figure that out.

One plot twist was fairly obvious, but on the whole I thought the book was beautifully written and evocative. As a novella it is on the short side, but it's the perfect length for the story being told. If you like historical fiction, San Francisco, or books that explore more diverse lifestyles, give it a go.