Beth Tabler
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
What a cool collection of stories from inspirational women! Not only are the stories great and diverse, but there are quite a few tips that help you with your own exploration story. Plus, there are lovely pictures that inspire as well. It is an all-around cool book that doesn't need to be read in one sitting. The stories or moments can be enjoyed piece-meal. It makes me want to, so badly, get outdoors and have some adventures.
Says: Telling the future is dead easy, girl,easier when you're already dead inside.
Excerpt from Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yollen
This is an incredible idea, but not one that you can easily plow through. It needs to be savored like a fine wine or cheese. Taste each stanza, mull over each word, contemplate Yollen's direction for the story for each word is soaked in meaning and brimming with the narrative.
When I first started reading this story, I honestly did not know what to expect. I don't know much about the legend of Baba Yaga. I still don't really feel like I do. But, I think I have a deeper sense of the legends meaning and what Baba Yaga means for Russian mythology and legend.
I step onto the path,knowing it is but the beginning,one foot, then the other,till I gleam silver all over,in the moonlight.
Excerpt from Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yollen
The overarching themes of the story are very direct and present. In the beginning, we have the controlling father and the harshness of a house that is not a home. Later we have the escape, starvation, and running to the forest to find freedom. The teenage girl finds the house with the chicken legs and begins to live with Baba Yaga, learning all of her magic. With this independence, the girl learns to trust and confidence in herself and who she is inside. I think this is an important thing to take away from this book. The girl finds freedom in her independence and confidence, coming from a broken home some readers can empathize with that. It is empowering and beautiful. But don't believe me, go read it for yourself because that is the miracle and beauty of the prose. What it means to me can be entirely different for another reader. Neither of us is wrong nor right, we can just sit back and sit in awe and Jane Yollen's gorgeously crafted words.
You want a wild ride, this story will give you a wild ride. Magdalene, of Eternity Girl fame, helms this story about former child queen Elida. Elida, having been deposed years ago, is pretty much an all-around badass thief and smuggler. The writing is and graphics are razor sharp. The plot is a very typical rogue scoundrel a la Firefly and Hans Solo, but instead, we have a female character who does not fall into typical writing tropes. It is just a damn fun read and so wonderful to have a female lead who takes no guff.
An ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an open and honest review. Quotes are taken from an uncorrected ARC and may change upon publication.
“Bianca is the most unusual person I have ever met.”
Excerpt from The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
The land bakes, or freezes depending on where you are. Human ingenuity and creativity have completely stagnated. Once cutting edge technologies ten generations ago, have now begun to fail. Cities that are separated by almost pathless land have become mythical and divided on the governance of their citizens. While political and societal upheaval shakes the foundations of the city, Xiosphanti, people begin to rage at their cog-like existence in the dying machine of their city while ecological disaster looms in the distance.
Sophie, a student from a more impoverished background, plods day to day at her wealthy school. She is attracted to Bianca, her roommate, who comes from the upper class and is in a different social stratosphere than her. This attraction shared between the two of them emboldens Sophia to take the fall for some of Bianca's more questionable choices and thus starts Sophie's path as either a savior or her undoing.
The name Charlie Jane Anders is synonymous with excellent writing and incredible world building. Her previous works: All The Birds in the Sky, Six Months Three Days, Rick Manning Goes for Broke as well as few others have garnered her a Nebula Award for Best Novel, a Hugo award for Best Novelette as well as a smattering of others. Anders has significant science fiction writing cred. With all that being said I had gigantic hopes and excitement for this book, and sadly it fell flat for me.
There is a whole lot of good in this book. Anders is a master world builder and she created a unique world system complete with politics, races, gender identity, sociology, and a rich colonial history. She also interwove prominent environmental concerns and adaption into her world system. Ander's has a unique approach that I appreciate as a reader. Instead of just saying, “it was blindingly hot.” She talks about environmental and architectural adaptation to a world with no definitive circadian rhythm and how that can play mary hell with humans ability to mentally rest and physically sleep.
“The video cuts out. I'm left staring at empty space, feeling sorrow for a woman who died a long time ago, one way or another.”
Excerpt from The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane AndersThe world bisects into light and dark. The light side is scorching and blinding while the dark side never sees the light. It has a complete lack of warmth. It reminds me a bit of that scene from “The Chronicles of Riddick” where they are trying to escape the underground prison, and as the sun starts moving across the landscape, the ground explodes from the heat. This is pretty cool when you describe an entire society based around the presence of too much or too little warmth. The impending doom of the cities due to much imperialism. To much rigid control. The reader knows that the end is coming, but not how.Each character has a definitive voice. I never once got confused about who was talking or how they were feeling about a situation. I loved peeking into the minds of the main characters: Sophia, Bianca, and Mouth. Each viewed the world very differently and how, by the end of the book, each character has changed in their way is bittersweet. Sophia comes into her own while other characters show their true colors.The relationships and interactions between the main characters were hard to read but ultimately became a source of strength for the writing. Bianca is a classic character of privilege. She floats through life and dabbles in politics or other things that tickle her proverbial fancy while not reaping the consequences of her actions. At the same time, Bianca abuses by Sophie. Sophie gives her chance after chance while Bianca ultimately does not deserve her. In the end, Sophie finally sees the true Bianca. How she will never develop emotionally, nor will she see past herself or her wants and desires for something greater.I am giving this book a lower rating, and it has everything to do with pacing. This story is slow. So much so that I almost DNF. I kept waiting for the story to pick up and get going, and it did at about page 250 or so. But during the first 250 pages, I was waiting on any inertia to start the characters moving towards their outcomes. Ultimately the ending of the story saved the story and tied everything together. In the end, this is an impressive character study and example of worldbuilding however the pace of the story made it very difficult to read for me.
RE Houser wrote a charming story in Forged in the Storm. The Resouh (Russo? Not sure how to pronounce this name) family is cute and unremarkable. Completely ordinary white picket fence Nebraska family regular. I have a feeling that some of these characters were written from life, Houser seems very comfortable in them. The family consists of the parents, Rus and Nichole. The kids: James, Elijah, and Jade. All of various ages. Each of the chapters in this too short story is written from the perspective of whomever that section is talking about. This type of writing can be a challenging task, and for the most part, Houser does well with it. One of the fallbacks of doing this sort of narrative, and I think he runs into trouble with this, is that if you give so much “screen” time to so many characters, you end up with no lead. With no lead, the reader can feel unattached to the characters and thus cannot empathize with them. It can feel scattered.
The plot involves the Rusouh Family, a tech company creating far-reaching Earth Shaking technology, and portaling from place to place around the world. It is a little Star Trek, a little Leave it to Beaver and a little James Bond. Crazy mix but fun. I wish that Houser had fleshed out the story more instead of doing short novella like bursts. It is hard to keep a solid narrative going in this format when the book is novella length. Had it been one main character, I think it would have been a more cohesive plot. I ended up feeling unsatisfied because I wanted more of both character, dialog, and story. I needed each chapter to explain more and show more than it did.
I know it sounds like I am complaining about this, I am not. It is a cute idea and a fun story, it just needs some editing and reformating. The love the family feels or each other is infectious and sweet. They are thrown in some insane predicaments in short succession. The science fiction elements are fun, a little cloudy at this point, but still very enjoyable — all in all a decent read hence the 3.5 stars. I am curious as to where the story is going to go and if Houser is going to flesh out things a bit more. I will read the next installment and see where the story takes us.
An eARC of this novel was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to desperately like this book. The cover was cute; the story sounded interesting and enticing, and the character's where culturally diverse, but it didn't sing for me, and that's ok. Not all stories sing for every person who reads them.
The story follows a cast of royalty through an arranged marriage, betrayal, war, unrequited love, and then eventual marriage. There are many bumps on the way, much like a tamer and more kind version of Game of Thrones.
There are some excellent parts of this story. Firstly, Chenelle wrote a very diverse story culturally. The two leads of the novel, Prince Gray and Princess Charlotte are of Asian and African heritage respectively. I like that; I also like how Chenelle wrote the settings, memories, and environments of the characters reflecting those upbringings. It is not something you often see in literature, and it is not something you see done that isn't ham-fisted. The author was not throwing up her diversity flag yelling, “hey look at what I did!” She wrote it with class and sensitivity as is befitting. The characters culture is not a thing, it is a part of who they are, and that is how it should be written.
Secondly, I liked the leads in the story, especially Gray. Gray changed and developed as a character; he became more of himself if that makes sense. I love his progression as a person and leader and felt like he was an exceptional counterpart to Princess Charlotte. Charlotte also demonstrated growth. She started the novel as a typical teenage child with ordinary problems and ended as a scarred, but more emotionally mature adult.
Thirdly, the love story was charming. I don't want to give too much away, but as the story progresses and the characters mature the bond that develops between the personalities is written well and is lovely.
The good of the story did not outweigh what did not work for me. I had a difficult time with the points of view changing from chapter to chapter. On the one hand, the multiple points of view were there to lend many voices to the story and/or scene, but they sounded very similar in much of the book. So it became both confusing and repetitious. It did get better as the story progressed, but I found it difficult connecting with any one character aspect because of the shaky beginning.
Also, I found that the story lacked the necessary detail to build a clear picture of events. We hopped from moment to moment before I could get a visual representation of the scene in my head. Again, this led to a disconnection to the characters and the setting.
The plot progression was strange for me also. The events of this story could easily fill three books but are reduced down to a distilled short single book. This seems like an awful missed opportunity. It would have made a killer trilogy.
Brittni Chenelle wrote a solid YA love story. Although the story is plagued with technical problems like pacing, POV, and lack of detail, the central love theme was successful, and the ending comes as quite a shock. Give it a try. It wasn't for me, but maybe it will be for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my open and honest review.
The Prince of Air and Darkness is a book with a lot of promise. It felt like in much of the story the author was getting a feel for their characters and the story up unto the end where it all fused into a coherent story.
The story centers around two men at a college for otherworldy non-humans. Both the fairy courts young people attend this college in hopes of making friends and fostering diplomacy. The first man is named Phineas; he is a rare person indeed. He is one of the few humans in history who can channel a ley line though himself and wield power, or die trying. Previous humans that could use a ley line snuffed themselves out like a roman candle. His roommate and frenemy is Prince Roark, son of Queen Mab and all around pain in Phineas's ass. Phineas has lived longer than all of his predecessors but is starting to wear down from the barrage of attacks from supernatural beings and the strain of the simmering energy always coursing through his veins. After six years of sharing a space, the men have come to a bit of a detent, although Roark feels compelled to save Finn repeatedly from monsters frequently putting himself at significant personal risk. Finn feels compelled to be around Roark as much as he can. Their back and forth and sexual tension culminates in a great love story between the two of them.
On a very positive note, I love that the writer wrote the two lead gentlemen as people rather than stereotypes or tropes. The Author's attention to detail about their personality shaped the two leads and built them as well-rounded people which helped solidify their relationship for me. Also, The authors use of dialog was well done. It helped with the plodding pacing and kept the story moving forward. Additionally, I enjoyed the supporting characters and would like to see more of them; the leads' roommates included a sensitive bridge troll and a satyr. That is fun! I hope that in the future the author gives them more story time. I think it would enrich the often confusing setting and pacing.
I found myself getting lost often in the beginning to the middle of the story. The jumping back and forth through personal past moments betwixt both main characters was difficult to understand in parts. As the story progressed, though, it smoothed itself out as the reader obtained more background information. The pacing was also languid and plodding in the beginning and middle of the story, and it felt too drawn out — too much dancing around each other. Many times I felt like shaking the damn characters and shouting at them. The dancing around each other did add a certain degree of tension between the two leads that eventually led to a beautifully done romance, but till that point it was frustrating. Because of this, I lost my connection to the characters at a few points.
M/M romance is not often written, should be written more, and should be done this well. Pacing and point of view issues notwithstanding this is a well-done love story. It is an excellent first book that is shaping up to be an even better series.
This is a typical Jason book. Weird animals, minimalistic plots, shorter stories. Again, in typical style is affecting and wonderful. Jason is not for everyone. Most of his stories have an edge to them of some sort. Something that will reach in and knick your heart a little bit. But, they are good and worth the reading.
It has been so long that I can barely remember the fine details of this story, but I just want you to know that as a child I lived and breathed this story. I remember the beautiful purple cover that I got from a scholastic book fair, the way the pages smelled and the adventure that was kept inside. I remember that I loved this story, the princess, and Phantasmagoria. I know that when my child is old enough I am going to buy her a copy of this so that she can carry it around everywhere with her as I did. It was a magical book then, and a five star read for a little girl with a blossoming love of reading.
“I inhaled my neighbors' lives”
I have lived through a few things. I have been robbed, my house has caught fire (twice), and I very nearly floated my car in a flash flood. I had to drive on the wrong side of the road and got swept sideways. I have not yet, thankfully, lived through a firestorm and the aftermath. Brian Fies has, however. A Fire Story is a memoir of the experience, pain, fear, regret, and most importantly...hope. His family lost everything. Everything...from pencil to pillar when the Northern California wildfires of 2017 blew through his home and swept away everything but their lives.
A Fire Story is the real world experience of famous Eisner award-winning comic artist and writer, Brian Fies. It starts with the initial smell of a fire, no alarms rang or phones went off. Just the smell of fire and a burning light out in the distance. Then the escape with his family, his dog and cat, and what few belongings he could remember at the moment. Next, is recovery. Being a nomad, the shock and fear of displacement on his animals and how his family rallied together to help them. He talks of starting over, moving on, and trying to rebuild a home both literally and figuratively.
This is a powerful memoir. It makes you stop for a moment, and think about what is truly important. What would you grab? What would you be ok with losing? How do you move on? Graphically, the panels are simply done. Purposefully, not even fully rendered to give the feeling of incompleteness. Even in his use of simplified panels, never think for a moment that emotion, a sense of place and timing are not conveyed. Fies conveys it all and there is a reason why he has won so many awards in the past.
This is a testament to his work as a writer and worth the read.
I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for my open and honest review.
Come Tumbling Down, Seanan Mcguire's fifth installment in the Wayward Children series follows the adventures of the delightfully macabre and grisly Wolcott twins. Jack, the mad scientist, sufferer of OCD, and generally quirky misanthrope and Jill, jacks twin, cruel, beautiful, and wants nothing more than to become a vampire. Jack returns to the school via a door made of lightning, literally carrying her love in her arms. Jack is trapped in the body of Jill, and although Jill is virtually identical to Jack physically, Jill has done horrible things that have soiled her very essence. Jack is a sufferer of OCD and desperately needs her body back to salvage her sanity. She requests the aid of former classmates in a quest, disobeying the no quest rule, to get something of great her body back from Jill and save Jill, even if it means saving her from herself.
The Moors, the twin's world they have come to love, is a place of darkness, monsters, mad science, and unforgiving fierce creatures. It is a place where gods are drowned, the moon has power, and lightning fuels the world, and it is a place where Jack feels most like herself and a home where she wants to stay. But first, Jack and friends Kade, Sumi, Cristopher, and Cora must help Jack stay sane and save this dark and macabre world. But, who knows who the monsters are? The line between good and evil or Monster and savior can be blurry. It depends entirely on which side you are standing.
“The world doesn't stop spinning because you're sad, and that's good; if it did, people would go around breaking hearts like they were sheets of maple sugar, just to keep the world exactly where it is. They'd make it out like it was a good thing, a few crying children in exchange for a peace that never falters or fades. We can be sad and we can be hurt and we can even be killed, but the world keeps turning, and the things we're supposed to do keep needing to be done.”
― Seanan McGuire, Come Tumbling Down
Again, McGuire delights and intrigues with the darkly rich world she has created in the Wayward Children series. Each installment has a message or a sort of idea that can be gleaned from the pages without it coming off as preachy. In this installment, McGuire touches on the sense of self and not being at home in one's own body. Where your body on the outside does not necessarily match who you are on the inside. It is an important message, and McGuire treats the subject delicately and with immense care.
McGuire has written another beautiful and meaningful story with Come Tumbling Down. It will delight, and maybe shock a bit. And, when you get done reading it, you might think twice about who is a monster, and who is not.
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“Low Moon” is a collection of short stories of various topics. Pain, suicide, a chess western, and family. obligations. By far the darkest of these tales is “Emily says hello.” But your despair will be fleeting because the follow-up, “Low Moon” is quirky and fun. It is a chess western if you can believe the combo. I enjoyed this story and Jason showed an uncharacteristic light heart when writing it. The collection closes up with “You are here” which screams as a typical Jason comic. Minimalistic dialog, anthropomorphic characters, and a story that will rip your heart out and ground it into the ground. Overall, this is a good collection of graphic novel short stories. It just isn't great. Aside from “Low Moon” there isn't anything here I would like to read again unlike many of Jason's other works such as “I Killed Adolph Hitler” or “Hey, wait!” If you are a Jason aficionado like myself, give it a read. Otherwise, pass on it.
A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers
Charlie Jane Anders,
Merc Wolfmoor,+23 more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.
This anthology is a who's who in current science fiction and fantasy writing. The stories are varied and all well written with various takes on the future of American culture and society. There are stories about everything from a book store that stands firmly on the dividing line between The United States and the country of California, to one about a world where contraception is outlawed, and feminists are considered terrorists. Even amid the various stories, there seems to be a thread of hope: hope for a better future, a dream of escape from the horrible now, hope at love, or a world that understands us. That is important in a collection such as this because without hope a collection of stories about the vagaries of the human condition could be depressing. This book isn't. Standout must-reads for this collection are “The Book Store at the End of America” by Charlie Jane Anders. A story about what divides us can ultimately bring us together and “The Synapse will Free Us From Ourselves” by Violet Allen. Allen's story is about high tech gay conversion therapy. It is sad, scary, and poignant. Check out this collection, you will be happy you did.
Mark Lawrence, the author of the grimdark series “Broken Empire,” said of Rob Hayes's writing ability, “(he) is one of self-publishing rising stars.” Mark Lawrence is unquestionably right. This story is the epitome of fantasy; it pits dark against light, has epic fighting scenes, heroes that are not quite perfect, and a subtle undercurrent of rye humor.
“Never Die” is centered around Ein. A boy who is not quite right and has been sent on a quest from God, a death God. For Ein's mission to succeed the mysterious and powerful Emperor of Ten Kings must fall. Also, to succeed in his quest Ein must walk barefoot across the cities, mountains, and rivers of the countryside and never don footwear. Ein must select champions to fight the Emporer for him, and these champions must die first so that their souls are tethered to Ein.
The champions are where Hayes really excelled in his story writing. Often when reading fantasy characters, an author tends to muddle together different character tropes to be some kind of quasi trope hybrid. But usually, they are similar from story to story. That isn't the case here. First of the champions is Itami Cho, AKA Whispering Blade the fastest and quietest warrior in the kingdoms. A spoken word from her can shatter walls and tear apart bodies. Secondly, Emerald Wind is a bandit who is the real self-centered bastard most of the story. He is able to blink in and out of existence moving from place to place. I find that his unabashedly disreputable character is refreshing and adds an excellent counter-balance to Itami Cho because not all heroes are good people. Thirdly we have Iron Gut Chen. He has an impenetrable skin and an impenetrable ego. He needs to consume massive amounts of wine to be happy and reminds me of a jolly sumo wrestler. Lastly, Bingwei Ma rounds out Ein's literal dream team. Bingwei is the greatest living master of wushu ever to live. He uses no weapons and has never lost a fight.
As you can see, this is a team of heroes not cut from the traditional cloth. Each also has a weakness one is good but tortured, in the case of Ikami. One is gregarious but full of himself in the case of Chen, and you have one that is chaotic with a streak of goodness, buried deeply. During the journey of the story, there is the day to day peril of existing, not enough food to eat or angry villagers, punctuated with bouts of violence and battles. This keeps the frenetic pace of the story plausible and comfortable. Hayes knows as a writer how vital pacing is, that the slow moments in a story are just as important as the wild crazy ones. As these heroes move towards their overall goal of slaying the Emporer, I found myself cheering for this band of miscreants and heroes. Will they succeed in their quest? Will they tear themselves apart first. Can Ein keep the band together through the threat of not giving them a full life again? The questions are answered beautifully in the denouement of the novel. It takes the reader to places that I had no idea where coming. I absolutely loved and appreciated the ending.
I am new to the worlds of Rob Hayes and his wonderful fantasy novels. But I am sure as hell going to stay around and make myself comfortable. If his other books are one-tenth as good as this one is, I am in for a treat. Come for the story of “Never Die” but stay for the heroes. You will be happy you did.
Two Brothers is a graphic novel written by famed Brazilian brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, of Daytripper fame, loosely based on Brazilian novelist Milton Hatoum's 2000 novel “Brothers.” The story is generally about two brothers, one dark in spirit the other light all set in the Brazillian port of Manaus during the rubber boom in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The story is multi-generational with the twin's mother being the central focus of the story and at times, the narrator.
The central theme of the story is jealousy: jealousy of brother versus brother, or father jealous of the attention his wife bestows up their children. As the characters in the story age, their perspectives change as well. Some of the jealousy and passions displayed earlier as a younger person that were destructive, are put to higher uses and channeled into something much more positive as an adult. Aside from that, the plot of the story is a meandering labyrinth of story and perspective, to sum up. It is best read to be understood.
As much of a fan of the authors, this story left me cold. It has an overly complicated plot, made even more so by the shifting time frames. The art, of course, was well done. The authors are master artists, but even with such great art, it was too convoluted for me to get the full meaning out of the characters and stories. I found myself not caring after awhile. There are many great works put out by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, and I would skip this one and read one of their other great ones such as Daytripper, or How to Talk to Girls at Parties which they wrote with Neil Gaimon.
The Ballad of Black Tom is the reimagining of the Lovecraftian tale, “The Horror at Red Hook” and is one of those rare books that can straddle the dividing line of fiction and urban fantasy. It is a book of many hats.
The story is one of a street hustler named Charles Thomas Tester of Harlem in the 1920s. Charles, who goes by Tommy, makes his way as best as he can by a variety of hustling gigs. Whether it's as a Delivery man or guitarist, Tommy does pretty much anything to make some money. Along with the hustles are the obvious and not so apparent undercurrents of racism present in 1920's Harlem. Tommy is an African-American man and deals with Racism and prejudice on all sides. The writing about the racism of that era is poignant and well done. Tommy gets involved with some occult figures throughout the story, and different types of tragedy ensue. He begins to take matters in his own hands, and the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.
The original story “The Horror at Red Hook” was stunningly racist as was Lovecraft is as a person. It makes sense why LaVille would respond to that story from the angle of an African-American Protagonist. I think it is fitting. That being said, I have not read “The Horror of Red Hook.” Matter a fact, when I originally picked this up I was reading it blind having known nothing about the back story of this novella. I was familiar with the writer and the stories status as a Hugo award nominee which guided me in selecting it to read, but that's it. I have got to tell you overall I was not impressed. I found LaVille's writing to be excellent. He has a way with both the structure of his sentences and the imagery his sentences evokes. However, the pacing of the story was slow and frankly a bit boring for my tastes. That might be because I am unfamiliar with the original Lovecraft story and style. Or, I just was not in the right mind frame to read it. Either way, I am not the right reader for this story.
Thank you to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.
There seems to be a resurgence in a desire to acquire basic living knowledge and techniques. Somewhere along the industrial revolution in the twentieth century and with people leaving farm life for larger cities in droves we have lost necessary and vital knowledge that is usually passed down from one generation to the next. That is why books like this are essential and becoming ever more popular.
This book is a reissue of a 100-year-old classic. Perfect for homesteaders or anyone with that little bit self-reliance desire hidden inside them. Is it everything you need to be a homesteader? No. Is it still fun and useful? Yes. One caveat, this book may be along the lines of more nostalgic on some things. There have been quite a few advances in homesteading since it's initial release. However, it is still pertinent and will give you a great base to start building your homesteading knowledge. I recommend.