I really enjoyed Abeni's world. Lush African fantasy world with strong family ties/belief systems and fully realized characters.
Abeni finds herself I really enjoyed Abeni's world. Lush African fantasy world with strong family ties/belief systems and fully realized characters.
Abeni finds herself apprenticed to the local witch who had been caring for her village for many years until the day the witch showed up and said that she was there for the child she had been promised long ago. Her mother unexpectedly gives her to the witch and then Abeni's village is attacked and the action from then on never stops.
Abeni makes friends along the way, spirit shapeshifters that can either be girls (like Abeni) or panthers/other animals.
I enjoyed the setting the most, but the strong characters were a close second. I can't wait for book two, Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold. This is listed as a middle grade book. The book one opens with Abeni's twelfth birthday.
Highly recommended for fans of P. Djeli Clark, in depth worldbuilding, African fantasy, and strong female protagonists!...more
Amongst Our Weapons is Book Nine in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London/Peter Grant series. As with all good series, each book is better than the last.Amongst Our Weapons is Book Nine in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London/Peter Grant series. As with all good series, each book is better than the last.
Unusually, one of the people Peter & his boss wizard Thomas Nightingale is trying hardest to catch is Peter's former beat partner Lesley May. They were both originally baby cops (Peter started out as a probationary copper) who looked out for each other, as good cop partners do.
Lesley even showed potential for magic and became Nightingale’s second apprentice.
Then Lesley fell victim to the Faceless Man (the villain in book three who caused people's faces to "fall apart"). Lesley had no choice but to leave the police force and try to see what could be done to repair her broken face.
So, Lesley is in cahoots with the bad guys but still has a soft spot for Peter. She warns him evil is afoot in the present case and saves his life when her choice is to do that or make her own getaway.
It is an interesting twist to have someone you know so well (who also knows you well) on the other side of the law.
Lesley makes a major appearance in Amongst Our Weapons. She has her own agenda, of course, but she is definitely in the middle of the action throughout the book.
I was also pleased by the cameo appearances of Peter's young cousin Abigail, who had her own novella recently "What Abigail Did That Summer". (More Abigail tales are promised should the author find time to write them.)
Highly recommended for longtime Rivers of London fans, fans of police procedurals, urban fantasy, wizards & their apprentices, etc. You could potentially read this book first but, of course, you will definitely enjoy the book more if you had read the earlier eight books in the series first.
Much thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in the Hugo Awards Voter Packet so that I, who had missed this book when it originally was published Much thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in the Hugo Awards Voter Packet so that I, who had missed this book when it originally was published last summer, had the chance to actually read the book so as to make an informed choice when it comes time to vote for the Hugo Awards!
Wow! What a fabulous tale! I loved first-time novelist Jordan Ifueko's Raybearer book so much that I've already pre-ordered book two!
Ms. Ifueko has such rich worldbuilding, such a sure understanding of what motivates people / makes people tick that this book was a pure joy to read!
Highly recommended for all fans of African-touched fantasy [fantasy based on African native people], fans who understand loyalty, fate, and the struggle young adults go through to make their own way through life, AND everyone else who enjoys plenty of character-based action and an African lodestone-based magical teleportation as a means of quickly traveling through a large and vivid world! (As with all good fantasy, magic extracts a price!)...more
We have frequently had protagonists in the 1632/Ring of Fire series who were downtimers. [After all, there are a limited number of uptimers, those WesWe have frequently had protagonists in the 1632/Ring of Fire series who were downtimers. [After all, there are a limited number of uptimers, those West Virginia town Grantville time refugees from the future.]
This is the first time we have had a half Portuguese half Native South American (born in Brazil) protagonist. Both the Spanish and the Portuguese prefer slaves procured from Africa to making slaves of the indigenous population. More healthy African slaves arrive on each slaver boat versus the indigenous peoples who are perceived as lazy, quick to fall ill, etc. etc.
Our protagonist Domingos Fernandes Calabar has a good head on his shoulders and is an able scout and military advisor to the Portuguese. That is, until the Dutch arrive, and he switches sides.
Unfortunately, Calabar is too good at what he does. Neither the Portuguese nor the Dutch want to lose his services. The Portuguese strike back by capturing Calabar's family and selling them into slavery.
So, we get a personal in-your-face view of slavery, as experienced by Calabar's wife who is desperately trying to both better her situation and protect her children.
This eye-opening perspective makes it abundantly clear why the uptimer Americans abhor slavery and have outlawed it per their constitution.
Yes, change is coming to the New World post-Ring of Fire.
But can Calabar get to his family in time before they are lost forever to the awful scourge of slavery?
Highly recommended for alternate history and time travel fans and especially for 1632/Ring of Fire series fans for lots of character-driven action and a fast-moving plot!...more
What a terrific debut novel! I had thoroughly enjoyed P. Djeli Clark's earlier novella-length books A Dead Djinn in Cairo in 2016 and The Haunting of What a terrific debut novel! I had thoroughly enjoyed P. Djeli Clark's earlier novella-length books A Dead Djinn in Cairo in 2016 and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 in 2019.
So, I was excited to hear that the new work A Master of Djinn is a full novel!
What's not to like about an alternate history steampunk Cairo in 1912 full of boilerplate eunuch servants, djinn, and magic?
Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi is one of the few women agents at the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. I especially enjoy stories where our protagonist is a member of what amounts to the magical police, trying to keep the ordinary (nonmagical) citizen safe from world-destroying diabolical magical creatures, etc.
To top it all off, Master of Djinn is a murder mystery! So, Agent Fatma has to figure out whodunit and why!
The very best thing about Master of Djinn is that it is labeled as Dead Djinn Universe bk 1.
I can't wait for book two in this new series!!
Highly recommended for those who enjoy magical police procedurals, urban fantasy, alternate history, and magical murder mysteries!...more
Finally, here in book three of Arcane America, we find out that it was no accident that Halley's Comet has brought magic to the world! Caller of LightFinally, here in book three of Arcane America, we find out that it was no accident that Halley's Comet has brought magic to the world! Caller of Lightning is the story of the magicians who had designs upon the comet and the magical battle that ensued!
This book is more a prequel to the earlier two books in that now we see that magic had been dribbling into our world each time the comet had passed in the past.
Inveterate experimenter Benjamin Franklin is always seeking to discover more about natural philosophy (as science was called in his day). Even before the appearance of the comet he is already discovering some minor magic!
Recommended for all alternate history and fantasy fans!...more
This latest Peter Grant book is a special treat for fellow British author Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fans from British author BThis latest Peter Grant book is a special treat for fellow British author Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fans from British author Ben Aaronovitch!
After Peter's last adventure in Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London book 7), he found himself on suspension from his job with the Metropolitan Police. And pregnant girlfriend Beverly also asked Peter to quit his police career.
In False Value (Rivers of London book 8), Peter takes a job at the Serious Cybernetics Corporation, a new tech startup corporation founded by a former Silicon Valley tech genius now based in London.
Needless to say, Peter has his hands full with his first non-police job in too many years plus impending fatherhood!
Highly recommended for all urban fantasy fans, all series fans, and all fans of books set in the London, England area!...more
Ah, the space opera quantum physics heist caper! One of my most favorite genres! Even better, this is book one of a new series The Quantum Evolution!
TAh, the space opera quantum physics heist caper! One of my most favorite genres! Even better, this is book one of a new series The Quantum Evolution!
The most interesting characters in this novel are the genetically engineered offshoots of humanity, the homo quantus, the homo pupa, and the homo eridanus.
Our protagonist is a homo quantus, meaning that he can turn himself into a quantum computer using his brain. So, there is a lot of higher math in this book. (I'm actually terrible at math but I totally enjoy reading about higher math!)
The homo pupa were created as a slave race but, oops, they turned on their masters and now keep them under brutal conditions.
The homo eridanus were engineered to live at the bottom of the ocean under tremendous pressure but are also excellent starfighter pilots!
Anyway, our protagonist is also a supreme con artist. (The odds of success in pulling off his capers keeps his busy brain from driving him crazy. Go figure!)
So, anyway, this book has all of my favorite elements. Starships, interesting races (did I mention the rogue AI yet?), and intrigue.
Highly recommended for space opera and even math fans! Can't wait for book two!...more
Peter Grant and the gang are back in the seventh urban fantasy police procedural Rivers of London series book Lies Sleeping.
I would definitely not recPeter Grant and the gang are back in the seventh urban fantasy police procedural Rivers of London series book Lies Sleeping.
I would definitely not recommend reading this book if you are entirely new to this series (in fact early on in the book it explicitly recommends reading the previous six books first!). For those of us "already in the know", however, the story picks up right where we left off in the last book.
I particularly enjoy Peter's "voice" - his wry attitude and his entire approach to being a wizard's apprentice while at the same time being a newly promoted Detective Constable in London.
I especially enjoyed getting to witness a demonstration of why Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale is a 20th level wizard. More often than not in the later books Nightingale is offscreen- Peter sees or hears evidence of his mentor's battle spells - but this scene showing Nightingale interviewing a suspect is a rare treat indeed!
This novella is set in an alternate history 1871 New Orleans where the Civil War lasted not four years but eight years andWow! What an excellent read!
This novella is set in an alternate history 1871 New Orleans where the Civil War lasted not four years but eight years and, in this world, ended in a truce. Also, this world has magic.
New Orleans is a Free City, meaning neutral territory.
I also liked that this is a steampunk world, complete with airships.
Highly recommended for both alternate history and urban fantasy fans!...more
Akata Witch is very much a read-alike for the Harry Potter series, only it is set in Africa. Nigeria, to be precise.
Sunny Nwazue discovers she's a witAkata Witch is very much a read-alike for the Harry Potter series, only it is set in Africa. Nigeria, to be precise.
Sunny Nwazue discovers she's a witch at age 12 (not 11) and she makes three best friends (not 2) but otherwise her adventures are similar in feel to Harry's, especially in the first book.
Sunny, too, goes to "Hogwarts" but she has to continue attending her regular Muggle school by day and only go to "Witch" school a few times a week at night.
Also, like Harry, she can't tell any of her Muggle family that the entire magical world of the witches exists or what she is doing when she's far from home.
Like Harry, Sunny more than once finds herself and her friends in mortal peril. Young magicians are not shielded from danger to the extent that young Muggles are. Fortunately, one of Sunny's new friends is a strong witch. And one of her friends has the talent to "undo" or reverse magic. [That's always a good talent to have!]
I particularly liked how you earn the "magic" money chittum. You earn it for knowledge gained, not for brave deeds done. That is a cool system. You try out a new charm (or whatever). If it works and you learn something new from it, suddenly your chittum rains down on the floor beside you!
One of Sunny's new friends is straight from Chicago. He doesn't even speak Igbo yet (one of the local African languages). Sunny is American, too, but fortunately speaks Igbo as well as English. So, we get to see African culture from an American perspective, too.
Really enjoyed this latest Destroyermen book, as always!
Author Taylor Anderson keeps SO many balls in the air at the same time!
It feels like World WarReally enjoyed this latest Destroyermen book, as always!
Author Taylor Anderson keeps SO many balls in the air at the same time!
It feels like World War II (before my time, of course) coverage when the Point-Of-View (POV) skips between each of the MANY fronts of the Grik/Dominion/League war and catches you up on each regarding not only what the Allied forces are doing but also some of what the enemy forces are doing!
What made this book so good is that I'm rooting for ALL of the Allied forces! There are characters that I am vested in fighting in each of the many fronts of this war. This is a good thing. So, it is always interesting when the POV skips to the next front!
PLUS, the Grik enemies have evolved in the few short years since the Americans came to this world.
In the beginning, the Allies could count on Grik Rout. The Grik would attack en masse. If they met stiff enough resistance, they would usually break and individually run away as fast as they could.
Unfortunately, the Grik have had time to make "New Army" soldiers. These young Grik (now two years old approx.) have been trained from birth to think on their own and to behave much more like trained soldiers. They have learned how to form up into fighting lines where they can support one another and even retreat in an orderly fashion when they are losing the battle.
This, of course, is not good news for the Allies who had enjoyed being able to count on mindless Grik Rout! (The Allies deal with it, of course, and no longer factor Grik Rout into their battle plans.)
Highly recommended for all military sf/alternate history fans! As always with a series, you’ll get more out of this book if you had already read the preceding dozen books!...more
Wow! What a terrific third book in this trilogy! Really hate to see this series end!
I enjoy space opera books with a lot of different aliens / alien cWow! What a terrific third book in this trilogy! Really hate to see this series end!
I enjoy space opera books with a lot of different aliens / alien cultures, particularly ones where the aliens get along. (Although, in this case two of the alien races are mortal enemies.)
Binti is a harmonizer. In this third book, she meets a fellow harmonizer from a different African tribe (Binti's father's tribe). His gifts are slightly different from hers, which again I find to be very interesting.
Most of this trilogy has been about staying home (Binti's mother's tribe) versus going out to explore the rest of the galaxy (Binti's choice).
When Binti first gets to the galactic university in the initial book, I loved it that SO many different races/types of aliens were students, and all got along just fine!
This is a great setting and I'd love to see another Binti book!! ...more
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