I liked Baker Thief a lot more than I expected - I struggled to get into it for the first 25%, and I was then surprised by how much I liked 3.5 stars.
I liked Baker Thief a lot more than I expected - I struggled to get into it for the first 25%, and I was then surprised by how much I liked the rest.
The beginning wasn't my favorite. Not only it was slow, which can happen and usually doesn't bother me, I also really didn't like the writing. It didn't flow well, at least at first, and it employed a lot of telling instead of showing, which isn't my favorite style: it keeps me at arm's length from the characters. I don't know what happened later - if the writing got better or if I just got used to it - but in the second half I didn't have any problems with it.
The worldbuilding was really interesting, and I would love to know more about it. Baker Thief is set in what I think is a Canada-inspired fantasy city, and the main characters' language is French. There were a lot of French words, and as someone whose first language is not English, I always love when writers incorporate other languages into the story in a way that isn't awkward (monolingual English writers are usually really bad at it). Also, so many plot-relevant croissant puns, I loved them. Baker Thief is set in a queer-normative society, has a mostly queer (if not all-queer) cast, and it's trans-, ace- and aro-inclusive, which is rare (so many queer books have no trans, aro and ace characters in the main cast, which... wasted potential). Also, there are characters who casually switch pronouns, use neopronouns or singular they, which is really nice to see.
But let's talk about the reason I read this book in the first place, which is the allosexual aromantic representation (the one thing I always look for in books and only found one other time). The main characters of this book are Claire/Claude, a genderfluid aromantic baker who is a thief by night, and Adèle, a demisexual woman who is a police officer. Adèle has a crush on Claude-the-baker and is trying to catch Claire-the-thief, which would be the perfect set up for a hate-to-love romance - except this isn't going to be a romance. Baker Thiefreframes common romance tropes for aromantic characters and non-romantic relationships. It shows how non-romantic bonds and non-romantic love can be just as compelling if one takes the time to develop them. There's a focus on family and siblings as well, but what makes this book is Adèle's and Claire's story - it's exactly the kind of trope subversion I was here for. I liked how their relationship was developed and I liked them as characters, just as I really liked the portrayal of aromanticism in this story. The part in which Claire mentions how it felt to be in a romantic relationship when you do not feel romantic love, how it almost feels like a lie, like everyone is feeling in a way you never will? Never saw it in a book before.
While I did end up liking the protagonists after the beginning, the characterization of everyone else was lacking, and the main source of conflict - witch discrimination and literal witch hunts - wasn't always that interesting. (The cats, however, were great. I ask for more cat scenes.) But I have to say that this is not exactly my kind of fantasy either, I always prefer morally gray/dark stories to lighter fantasy. If you're looking for a mostly light fantasy read with no romance and great queer rep, Baker Thief is perfect for you.
Merged review:
3.5 stars.
I liked Baker Thief a lot more than I expected - I struggled to get into it for the first 25%, and I was then surprised by how much I liked the rest.
The beginning wasn't my favorite. Not only it was slow, which can happen and usually doesn't bother me, I also really didn't like the writing. It didn't flow well, at least at first, and it employed a lot of telling instead of showing, which isn't my favorite style: it keeps me at arm's length from the characters. I don't know what happened later - if the writing got better or if I just got used to it - but in the second half I didn't have any problems with it.
The worldbuilding was really interesting, and I would love to know more about it. Baker Thief is set in what I think is a Canada-inspired fantasy city, and the main characters' language is French. There were a lot of French words, and as someone whose first language is not English, I always love when writers incorporate other languages into the story in a way that isn't awkward (monolingual English writers are usually really bad at it). Also, so many plot-relevant croissant puns, I loved them. Baker Thief is set in a queer-normative society, has a mostly queer (if not all-queer) cast, and it's trans-, ace- and aro-inclusive, which is rare (so many queer books have no trans, aro and ace characters in the main cast, which... wasted potential). Also, there are characters who casually switch pronouns, use neopronouns or singular they, which is really nice to see.
But let's talk about the reason I read this book in the first place, which is the allosexual aromantic representation (the one thing I always look for in books and only found one other time). The main characters of this book are Claire/Claude, a genderfluid aromantic baker who is a thief by night, and Adèle, a demisexual woman who is a police officer. Adèle has a crush on Claude-the-baker and is trying to catch Claire-the-thief, which would be the perfect set up for a hate-to-love romance - except this isn't going to be a romance. Baker Thiefreframes common romance tropes for aromantic characters and non-romantic relationships. It shows how non-romantic bonds and non-romantic love can be just as compelling if one takes the time to develop them. There's a focus on family and siblings as well, but what makes this book is Adèle's and Claire's story - it's exactly the kind of trope subversion I was here for. I liked how their relationship was developed and I liked them as characters, just as I really liked the portrayal of aromanticism in this story. The part in which Claire mentions how it felt to be in a romantic relationship when you do not feel romantic love, how it almost feels like a lie, like everyone is feeling in a way you never will? Never saw it in a book before.
While I did end up liking the protagonists after the beginning, the characterization of everyone else was lacking, and the main source of conflict - witch discrimination and literal witch hunts - wasn't always that interesting. (The cats, however, were great. I ask for more cat scenes.) But I have to say that this is not exactly my kind of fantasy either, I always prefer morally gray/dark stories to lighter fantasy. If you're looking for a mostly light fantasy read with no romance and great queer rep, Baker Thief is perfect for you....more
I loved this. I loved it in a way that I didn't think I could ever love a graphic novel. The problems I had with it during the first read - 4.5 stars.
I loved this. I loved it in a way that I didn't think I could ever love a graphic novel. The problems I had with it during the first read - mainly, the fact that there was a lot of graphic violence and horror aspects I didn't expect - weren't problems during this reread, because I knew what I was getting into.
And the art. It's so beautiful, I could stare at the pages for hours, so beautiful it almost distracts from the story with its intricate, fascinating details, but let's be real, the illustration are the main reason I'm reading this in the first place. The backgrounds are themselves almost like characters.
Many people mention being confused by the worldbuilding and plot of Monstress. I understand why - there's a lot of information to take in - but it wasn't a problem for me in this reread, and as I always say, I'd rather be a little confused by the world at first than be bored by it later. It's difficult to follow because it's set in a complex world with history and plot-relevant mythology of its own (parts of it are inspired by Japanese mythology, but that's not the only influence here), and I loved all of it. I mean, how could I not love a gay steampunk matriarchy?
The whole plotline about magic animal-like people fighting magical humans told from the point of view of a human-looking girl who is actually not that human but very magical reminded me of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I really appreciated. I also really like the theme of fighting your own monster in a monstrous world, and I think this story has a lot of potential.
___________________________________ Old review, written in August 2017
3.5 stars This was beautiful, but I didn't love it. It's not this book, it's me. The art was great! The translation, not so much (yes, I read the Italian version, and the dialogue wasn't as good as it could have been). The worldbuilding was well-done.
I really don't like seeing people who are dying/injured (even if it's a drawing). Reading about that doesn't affect me, but this... there was a fight scene every two pages, blood everywhere. If this doesn't bother you, you'll probably love Monstress. It's about matriarchal societies, war and ancient monsters. Sometimes it reminded me of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and in a good way.
The ending surprised me. I don't know if I'll continue - it depends on whether the sequel gets translated.
Edit during the reread for book #4: every time I reread this book, I love it a little more, as I finally catch most of what's going on. This series is amazing.
Merged review:
4.5 stars.
I loved this. I loved it in a way that I didn't think I could ever love a graphic novel. The problems I had with it during the first read - mainly, the fact that there was a lot of graphic violence and horror aspects I didn't expect - weren't problems during this reread, because I knew what I was getting into.
And the art. It's so beautiful, I could stare at the pages for hours, so beautiful it almost distracts from the story with its intricate, fascinating details, but let's be real, the illustration are the main reason I'm reading this in the first place. The backgrounds are themselves almost like characters.
Many people mention being confused by the worldbuilding and plot of Monstress. I understand why - there's a lot of information to take in - but it wasn't a problem for me in this reread, and as I always say, I'd rather be a little confused by the world at first than be bored by it later. It's difficult to follow because it's set in a complex world with history and plot-relevant mythology of its own (parts of it are inspired by Japanese mythology, but that's not the only influence here), and I loved all of it. I mean, how could I not love a gay steampunk matriarchy?
The whole plotline about magic animal-like people fighting magical humans told from the point of view of a human-looking girl who is actually not that human but very magical reminded me of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I really appreciated. I also really like the theme of fighting your own monster in a monstrous world, and I think this story has a lot of potential.
___________________________________ Old review, written in August 2017
3.5 stars This was beautiful, but I didn't love it. It's not this book, it's me. The art was great! The translation, not so much (yes, I read the Italian version, and the dialogue wasn't as good as it could have been). The worldbuilding was well-done.
I really don't like seeing people who are dying/injured (even if it's a drawing). Reading about that doesn't affect me, but this... there was a fight scene every two pages, blood everywhere. If this doesn't bother you, you'll probably love Monstress. It's about matriarchal societies, war and ancient monsters. Sometimes it reminded me of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and in a good way.
The ending surprised me. I don't know if I'll continue - it depends on whether the sequel gets translated.
Edit during the reread for book #4: every time I reread this book, I love it a little more, as I finally catch most of what's going on. This series is amazing....more
Not as compelling as the previous installments (especially since the fourth was my favorite in the series) but still solid and I have so many questionNot as compelling as the previous installments (especially since the fourth was my favorite in the series) but still solid and I have so many questions. The monster sex scene was something though...more
Rereading all the previous installments before getting to this was the best choice I could have done, and I ended up enjoying The Chosen immensely; I Rereading all the previous installments before getting to this was the best choice I could have done, and I ended up enjoying The Chosen immensely; I think it might even be my favorite so far. I mean, this series is somehow managing to get gayer with every volume, so I'm not surprised.
It's still difficult to follow, but after a few rereads I think I can more or less see the outline of what is going on right now, even though I'm still confused about certain details; and while the scope of all of this + the beauty of the art are so overwhelming that I tend to miss the subtler things, like character development, they are there! I really appreciate seeing how Maika's priorities are shifting as she understands more about the ancient gods, and how Kippa is finding her own footing amidst all of this. This is turning more explicitly into a series about the senselessness of war and cyclical nature of harm, and I'm interested in seeing where the authors will bring these themes to.
My priorities haven't shifted, by which I mean I'm mostly here for the art (as usual) and the gay villainess aesthetic of it all. And this volume gave me a horrible F/F arranged marriage with backstabbing and a blood pact! (I've been looking for this kind of thing since The Stars Are Legion's Jayd/Rasida storyline... I can't believe how much this is reminding me of it.) Also, my favorite eldricht-god-possessed villainess - yes there's more than one and I'm living for it - kissed Maika with ulterior motives! This series is a gem.
Do I know where this series is going? Honestly, no, but I have some theories and can't wait to find out what Tuya is really up to. I also hope to see more of the Dracul....more
Sometimes a worldbuilding is as steampunk as it is folktale, and sometimes a family is an obstinate non-binary artist, a prime duelist and a philosophSometimes a worldbuilding is as steampunk as it is folktale, and sometimes a family is an obstinate non-binary artist, a prime duelist and a philosophical mecha dragon, and isn't that just perfect?
Phoenix Extravagant is the story of Gyen Jebi, an artist married to their profession (read: kind of... oblivious about anything that isn't art) as they get caught in the middle of political machinations involving a revolutionary movement in Hwaguk, a fantasy country heavily inspired by Korea under Japanese occupation.
The main character of this book isn't a genius. They aren't good at manipulation or even that charming; they aren't the type of larger-than-life character that leaps off the page like in Machineries of Empire, because this isn't a space opera. This is deliberately a story about a very ordinary person, one good at painting but not a prodigy, who is caught in a place where they're way out of their depth. The book never lets them forget that, and neither do the characters, in a myriad of ways that vary from "subtle" to "outright laughing in Jebi's face because [character] couldn't believe they could be so dense". I don't have a problem with that. I may prefer to read about really competent people because many things are more fun that way, yes. I also know that it's easy, as a reader, to say "well that wasn't smart", but would have I, another ordinary person who would be out of their depth, made better decisions in that situation? No, probably worse. I just need the book not to try to pass it as smart, you know?
And Jebi grew on me. I didn't feel strongly about them at first, but something about their sometimes misplaced obstinacy, their ordinary nature paired with odd artist habits, the way they trusted too easily and were paranoid at less rational moments... I ended up really liking them, and it was probably the "must absolutely paint with mud" scene that made it for me. I also loved the romance, because it appealed to me on so many levels (...characters who grow close physically first and then learn to trust each other? Yes. Also that sex scene.) and because I, too, would be really into the beautiful woman who is the enemy prime duelist. The romance is far from the only important relationship in the book; there's a really complicated sibling relationship at the heart of this, tense and with a lot of conflict but also love. And if you love animal companion stories, you probably really want to read this. My favorite character was Arazi, whom you see on the cover. Mechanical dragon-shaped war machine outside, true pacifist dragon inside!
And when I say "true dragon", I mean that this involves aspects and details involving legends and creatures who come from them. There's a reason this is completely fantasy and not steampunk alt-history.
About the worldbuilding, I always come back to how much I love the way Yoon Ha Lee incorporates queerness into his books. Here, polyamory, same-gender relationship and non-binary people (called geu-ae) are varying degrees of normal, from "not even remarked upon" to "our colonizers see this as odd but who cares". And it goes far beyond a superficial level, involving even small details like cues certain more marginalized groups use to recognize each other (haircuts) to even the very deliberate way the sex scene is written. Queerness is woven into the fabric of this world, it isn't an afterthought. The magic system was really unique, perfect for the story, and horrifying on several levels, being (view spoiler)[literally built on the destruction of artifacts from the oppressed culture (hide spoiler)]. That was one in a series of ugly surprises.
Phoenix Extravagant deals with many aspects of living in a colonized country, from the forced assimilation barely disguised as modernization to the way the history and art of the colonized people is systematically hidden, stolen, and sometimes destroyed. It talks about food, languages, accents, and especially names; the name change Jebi goes through at the beginning seems such an easy choice to make at first, one with little cost, but it turns out not to be at all. Names have power even when that power isn't literal. It also talks about art in the context of different philosophies between the Hwagin and the Razanei, and between both of them and the Western world, which I found really interesting to read. And about war. I already know the ending is going to be polarizing for a lot of people but I loved it deeply, both for what it was and for what it said.
Did I love this as much as my favorite series, Machineries of Empire? No. I don't see it as a full five stars, more like a 4.5, and there were a few things I didn't like about it: ↬ this book feels the need to state the obvious at times. I wonder how much that has to do with the other series' reception, and I wonder how much I would have noticed this in another book (probably a lot less), but still, it was there; ↬ the beginning seemed aimless at first. It's very much not, and I get why it was that way, but I was thinking "where's the plot" for at least 15% of this. I still really liked it, and want to reread it at some point in the future. I know I will appreciate some parts of it even more now that I know what they're doing.
CW: (view spoiler)[interrogation scene featuring torture (beating) of the mc; certain minor characters try to trap and eat a cat (the cat is fine and does not get eaten); mass death; earthquake; bombing; injury (hide spoiler)]...more
Maika has been explicitly confirmed as queer! I mean, it was pretty obvious from the first two volumes too, but t4.5 stars.
I love this series so much.
Maika has been explicitly confirmed as queer! I mean, it was pretty obvious from the first two volumes too, but there are people who will ignore every hint when it comes to women liking other women. Her past romance and complicated relationship with Tuya is both very compelling and heartbreaking to read and I want to know more.
Maika isn't the only queer character - I described this book as a "gay steampunk Asian matriarchy", because by now I pretty much assume that every character here is queer until it's confirmed otherwise, and I love this. I love the way women are portrayed here. They're beautiful without being sexualized, and they're not written for men - it's clear that men are not the intended audience. (Also, I don't think there are any white people in this book.)
Another thing I love about this series? It trusts its readers. Which means that yes, sometimes it's confusing. Sometimes I have to go back and reread parts, sometimes it takes me a while to understand what's happening. But I love how it doesn't talk down to the reader, how its world is just as complex as one you'd find in a fantasy novel - and even more beautiful, of course. This series has some of the most gorgeous panels I've ever seen. Sometimes, I went back and reread parts just for that.
But I have to say that with this volume, the many PoV changes lost me sometimes. I couldn't follow so many storylines at once, with all those setting and time jumps, which added to my confusion. Also, I'm here mostly for Maika's story - both present and past - and some of the subplots just aren't as interesting.
Monstress is a story about war, about a traumatized teenage girl with a terrible past and even worse secrets. It reads like a darkest, less romantic, more diverse Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It's everything I want from a fantasy comic, and I'm glad it's getting the recognition it deserves. I can't wait for the next volume - I especially want to see more about Tuya, both in the past and in the present....more
A Dead Djinn in Cairo is one of the best Tor.com shorts I've read in a while. The first thing IEgyptian steampunk-like paranormal murder mystery? Yes.
A Dead Djinn in Cairo is one of the best Tor.com shorts I've read in a while. The first thing I thought after finishing this story was how I wanted more from this world, and then I remembered that the novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015 will be set there too. I was already anticipating it because I loved The Black God's Drums, but now? I can't wait.
Anyway, this is a story about an Egyptian investigator, Fatma, trying to understand if a suspicious Djinn "suicide" was actually what it looked like. It's an atmospheric, beautiful story set in a world with a rich mythology and an even more interesting steampunk-like technology. One thing I loved about P. Djèlí Clark's The Black God's Drums was seeing the magic and the steampunk aspects coexist, and I think I liked the setup even more here? So much magic and mystery....more
Stormsong is a sequel that does something very few sequels do: it deals with the afterwards. What happens after you've defeated the Big Bad and uncoveStormsong is a sequel that does something very few sequels do: it deals with the afterwards. What happens after you've defeated the Big Bad and uncovered his nefarious plots? Chances are the structures that allowed the Big Bad to rise and thrive are still standing, and that's a serious problem.
As Witchmark was one of the most nuanced takes on the outlawed magic trope and very plausibly portrayed the rich profiting from it, Stormsong is one of the most nuanced versions of the "rebellion against the establishment" plotline, and with a very interesting perspective - Dame Grace Hensley was completely part of it until a few days before, and in some ways still is. This book knows how to talk about privilege and oppression, about how this kind of discussion has to be full of grey areas and still requires steps, solutions, because injustice can't be allowed to continue. Sometimes, those solutions will have high costs. (Forgive me the aside, but this is the very reason no trope is tired until marginalized people have had as many chances to write it.)
In this book, what truly happened with Laneer comes into focus, and there's also discussion of justice in the context of colonial wars. Everything in here is complicated, and this book handles all of it with... grace. (Sorry.) There are also advocates for witches' rights, and the Amaranthines sometimes have goals of their own, and everything is twisted enough that I couldn't even predict the solution to the murder mystery (yes, of course there's murder too!) this time.
I still didn't like this book as much as Witchmark. It might be due to my mental state, but my frustration at the ending had a lot to do with it. I hate cliffhangers, they make me want to not continue with the story, and while I get why a certain character didn't get what they deserved, I'm still really annoyed and that's never the emotion I want a book to leave me with.
The romance in this book also took more of a backseat than it did in the first. Again, I understand why this was necessary, but I still wish I would have gotten more than that, especially when I had to sit through so many scenes with Severin (why do f/f books specifically have to spend so much time on men who want to end up with the main character but obviously won't?). It's also one of those romances in which you're told that the characters were already drawn to each other since before the beginning of the story, but you aren't shown that, not even in a flashback, so you're already starting halfway through. There is a lot to love about Avia and Grace's relationship, about how they came from somewhat similar situations and are going through similar pathways in different times, and there was even an occurrence of the "there's only one bed!" trope. I liked them, of course I did, but I still wanted more from this book....more
How can you write something so unprecedented yet so tropey?
3.5 stars.
The Never-Tilting World is a queer post-apocalyptic fantasy book inspired by anciHow can you write something so unprecedented yet so tropey?
3.5 stars.
The Never-Tilting World is a queer post-apocalyptic fantasy book inspired by ancient Mesopotamian mythology and climate disasters. It's a really peculiar book, and yet, despite my love for weird queer novels, I never fell in love with it. I did enjoy it a lot, yes - it was overall a really fun time and the audiobook was amazing, making the four PoVs work perfectly with four different narrators.
Let's start from this book's main strength: the worldbuilding is inherently cool. It's set on a tidally locked planet (instant love for me), it has an interesting spin on what could have been a very tired elemental system but wasn't, with a sprinkle of creepy plant magic. This book understands how to maximize the cool factor with the characters as well, having two goddess with rainbow-shifting colored hair as main characters, and involving undead underworld priests covered in lapis lazuli. And it's really diverse, having an all-PoC cast, an F/F romance, an amputee main character and another with PTSD, with some really great conversations around trauma, including what's more or less their world's version of therapy.
However, while The Never-Tilting World is made up of a lot of very interesting and often unique ideas, they never quite came together in a satisfying way, and you could see the scaffolding too much. This book has two storylines, one that is a hate-to-love romance during a desert chase, one that is a goddess/bodyguard love story featuring a descent into darkness. And everything about them felt like the author came up with the pitch before actually writing the story. I don't know whether that's true, but the result felt a lot more like a list of ingredients than a book. I wanted more depth from it, from the relationships, instead of it relying on tropes over and over, but that's difficult to achieve when the novel seems to think that the way to keep the reader engaged is throwing either romance tropes or fight scenes against monsters at them. (Fight scenes are really not that interesting. I promise. Please let the characters have an actual conversation for once.) The result is character work that is shoddy in places, predictably.
This book is inspired by climate disasters, and it was promoted as a book that had "climate change" as a theme. Did it, though? I guess that it does in the sense that it's a story about young people doing what it takes to change the status quo in an increasingly hostile environment, and it talks about how the powerful believe they can survive by living in a bubble (the golden city) while stealing resources from poorer people, but the thing about fighting climate change is that it's nothing so cool as fighting monsters; rather the often depressing and too slow work of, among many things, pushing for better policies, learning to deal with our problems instead of making them someone else's, listening to scientists and indigenous people, reshaping the ways we conceptualize growth and economy, changing our priorities and whole way of living. This is not a problem we're good at dealing with as humans, and the fact that you can't solve it by whacking something might have something to do with that. The solutions this book gives to the environment-warping magic do not resonate, so far. Maybe that will change in the sequel, I don't know - it's true that there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and this novel kept my interest enough for me to want to read The Ever-Cruel Kingdom. If the (view spoiler)[reunion of Haidee and Odessa (hide spoiler)] is a way to say that we can solve this problem only if all the world works together, then yes, we're already thematically on a better path. I hope that's what it meant, as there is already one egregious case of wasted potential: Odessa's descent into darkness.
You're telling me that you had a whole character arc tied to greed for power in a book about climate disasters and you didn't tie the "greed" and "climate disasters" themes together? Why? Is that not one of the main driving forces of real-world climate change?
I also found Odessa's arc, like most "descent into darkness" arcs, unsatisfying: it relies too much on magic that warps the character's mind. It deprives the main character of agency, and generally makes for a very uninteresting story. Hundreds of pages of a main character falling into a trap, slowly, with stilted magic-induced character development: not great! (Also, let's add "character eavesdropping on other character's therapy session" to the "content warnings I didn't know I needed" folder.)
Acqua, you might say, you spent the whole review complaining. Why a positive rating? Mainly because I'm a simple gay distracted by shiny cool things and this book is full of them and gay girls, so this was actually a great time, as long as I wasn't thinking too much about how much better it could have been if only it had done certain things differently. But I don't want to undermine that this book did get a lot right, mostly pertaining to Lan's storyline and the ways it talked about power. Lan's arc around trauma, survivor's guilt, and her attraction to Odessa was really well-written; if Odessa's arc disappointed me, the exploration of the power dynamics between her and Lan, the way they shifted as Odessa changed, was really interesting to read. So was the subplot revolving around abuse in religious orders, which was accompanied by some hard truths this kind of stories don't often deal with - everyone has the potential to be an abuser, and switching the people in power won't put an end to abuse if the power structure itself isn't changed.
Also, it was fun. It was entertaining and it was tropey but tropes exist because they work, so yes, I enjoyed this a lot, and I want to know what happens next....more
What happens when you care about the characters a lot but the writing meanders so much that you almost end up DNFing a book? You end up skimming. WhicWhat happens when you care about the characters a lot but the writing meanders so much that you almost end up DNFing a book? You end up skimming. Which is why I didn't enjoy The Watchmaker of Filigree Street as much as I could have.
It was as if the author felt the need to describe every single thing. Which, sometimes, was interesting, as I love details - especially when it came to the steampunk aspects, and the atmosphere was perfect - but for the most part, wasn't. There were whole scenes that could have easily been cut, or maybe I just missed their significance because at that point I was so bored that I was skipping paragraphs. That's possible. It's just... how can one put together such a compelling premise, featuring historical gay people, steampunk technology, clairvoyance and bombings and make a boring story out of it? I don't know. This book managed, and its characters weren't even that bland.
Or - Nathaniel could have won the "blandest man of the year" award, but Grace wasn't bland at all, if unlikable, and Mori was... unlike every character I had ever read about before, in a good way. The romance was also very sweet, and there was a mechanical octopus, and the book said so many interesting things about chances vs. choices, but this book was still so boring that nothing could save it - not even that ending, the best possible ending.
One more thing: while I feel iffy about some things in here, it's not my lane to talk about how the anti-Asian racism is portrayed. Just know that, if you're interested in reading this book, there's a lot of it in here....more
This was even better than the first one. Mostly because we start to get some answers - some of them surprising, some of them I saw coming -4.75 stars.
This was even better than the first one. Mostly because we start to get some answers - some of them surprising, some of them I saw coming - but also because we get more insight in some of the side characters that were just named in the first volume. Now I can say with certainty that Moriko Halfwolf is just as scary as her daughter and she doesn't even need a kaiju inside to be like that, for example. Also, this volume introduced some new characters that have a lot of potential (like Syryssa, she's... wow. So beautiful. Queer lady pirates of color.)
The art is just as gorgeous, of course, and we get to see new settings, which was just what I wanted. I mean, most of this graphic novel is set on a ship, and there are pirates. We get to know more about the ancient gods, their history, and what exactly is going on with Maika's monster, and we get to do that in a ghost-city built between the bones of something enormous. Beautifully creepy and atmospheric. I don't know if there was less body horror or if I just got used to it, but this book affected me less than the first one did, which I appreciated. More pretty and creepy, less graphic gore, thank you (not that I never like that! It's just that the first book had so much of it - it almost started to feel unnecessary).
I have only two small complaints:
• The first book introduced the world, the history and mysteries, and this gave many much-needed answer and raised some new questions, so I can't say it was useless (not at all!). But it didn't have anything to do with what I thought was the main plotline - the one about the war between arcanics and witches - and we didn't get anything new about the characters who are alive in the mainland (I really need to know what's going on with the Cumaea, Lady Atena and Lady Sophia)
• after the ending of the first book, I had hoped to get more about Tuya. I got a surprising revelation, yes, and that panel with Tuya is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, but I want to know more about her and her relationship with Maika.
Anyway the main reasons I'm reading this series are the art and the steampunk aesthetic (also, the casual diversity and many queer leads help) and if that and mythology are things that you like, you should definitely try this....more
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 is a wonderful, atmospheric novella set in an alternate Cairo, featuring haunted steampunk technology.
I already knew I liThe Haunting of Tram Car 015 is a wonderful, atmospheric novella set in an alternate Cairo, featuring haunted steampunk technology.
I already knew I liked P. Djèlí Clark's writing because of The Black God's Drums (...another alt-history, darker novella you should try if you haven't already) and because of A Dead Djinn In Cairo, which is set in the same universe as this book and is also free online (and you should read it). Even though I loved both of these, I was still surprised by how much I liked The Haunting of Tram Car 015.
There are so many interesting concepts in so little space, all of them handled gracefully. In that, it reminded me of Witchmark, even though on a content level the only thing these two books have in common are the steampunk aspects.
I loved the worldbuilding. You can see how much thought and research went into it - this is set in an alt-history version of Cairo in which colonialism ended also because of the supernatural, in which airships and djinn-powered aerial tram cars are the most common means of transportation. I always love reading about worlds in which the technology is tied to the magic system (and, in this case, also to folklore and mythology), and this was no exception. This book also portrays Cairo as a diverse city, not only because humans live side-by-side with djinns, but because its population is all but homogeneous: there are Sufis, Copts, Armenians, Sudanese, people who grew up in the city and people who grew up in the countryside. P. Djèlí Clark's Cairo feels so alive.
Even though the two main characters are men - two agents from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, one of which is a new recruit - this is a story in which women have a very important role. The Haunting of Tram Car's main plotline is about a mysterious being who is haunting a tram car and the attempted exorcisms, but that's not the only thing going on - in the background, we see side and minor female characters collaborating to get women the right to vote in Egypt. And the way that plotline ends? So many feelings.
This novella approaches a lot of interesting themes - the way folklore is often steeped in misogyny; what gender could mean to non-human beings (featuring a genderfluid djinn!); the meaning of personhood and sentience; what "modernization" looks like when there's magic around - and maybe it didn't give that much space to them, but I never felt like any part of it was incomplete. I just want more books set in this world....more
Witchmark is a novel I find very difficult to sum up, because it's one of the few books which are many different things at the same time - a sweet m/mWitchmark is a novel I find very difficult to sum up, because it's one of the few books which are many different things at the same time - a sweet m/m romance, a paranormal, a murder mystery, an exploration of class privilege, a novel about the consequences of war - and manage to develop all those aspects.
I have to say that the first few chapters weren't exactly easy to get into. I was a bit confused by the world at first, I didn't understand what aether was supposed to be or what was the difference between mages and witches, but everything had a point, and the rest of the book was totally worth my initial confusion. The worldbuilding was wonderful. We have a city with vaguely steampunk technology (=great aesthetic), a lot of carriages and bicycles, and we have magical people hiding their magic in their everyday life - the main character is an army doctor - and even Amaranthines, beings I can only describe as the mix between an angel and a faery, and it doesn't even feel weird. (I love weird, but I also loved how these aspects didn't clash with each other at all.)
I loved the romance. If you look at it as a paranormal romance, Witchmark is somewhat tropey, but I didn't care - most paranormal romances aren't a m/m story between a witch and a angel-like faery, and very few of them are as well-written as this one. It's a cute, tropey romance done well, the kind where you really want the characters to end up together, and you feel for them, and the fact that you totally know how the story is going to end doesn't detract anything from your enjoyment of the journey. This isn't true only for the romance, but also for the murder mystery aspect: there are many reveals and I guessed almost all of them, but it wasn't a problem for me. It's a gay magical murder mystery, and I loved every moment of it even if I knew what was going to happen.
Also, "cute" and "tropey" don't mean "lacking in depth", because another thing I loved about Witchmark were the themes. It's told from the point of view of an army doctor who is now working with veterans who have delusions and PTSD - and this book looks at the way the people in power don't even try to help those who won the war for them and made them richer. And, once one gets to know the truth about the magic system, Witchmark becomes also an exploration of class privilege: magic in this book is a lot like crime, which means you can get away with it (and profit from it!) only if you're rich. And is technological progress worth the exploitation of less privileged people? There's also a focus on the importance of agency: Miles ran away from his family, who only saw him as a tool, someone who only had to be useful to his sister, who has the right power - a storm-singer instead of a healer like Miles. But if Miles will help his sister, it will be his own decision. There's some very interesting commentary on what are basically prisons masquerading as asylums as well: prisons are a form of comfortably hidden slavery, just with more plausible deniability.
The character themselves were well-rounded. I usually prefer selfish narrators because I find them more interesting, but it was refreshing to read about someone who wasn't and still felt very real. I really liked Miles as a protagonist and his romantic relationship with Hunter. Miles' relationship with his family is more complicated and often toxic, and he has conflicting feelings about his sister; I liked how the situation developed. The next book will be in Grace's PoV and I can't wait to see what will happen to her....more
The Black God's Drums is a novella set in alt-history steampunk-like New Orleans, which has become a neutral city after the Civil War ended4.75 stars.
The Black God's Drums is a novella set in alt-history steampunk-like New Orleans, which has become a neutral city after the Civil War ended with an armistice. This story follows young teen Creeper, a street orphan who, after overhearing a conversation that may upset New Orleans' already fragile peace, decides to sell information to an airship captain from Trinidad.
This wasn't easy for me to get into at first, because it's written in a way that reminds you of how people spoke during that time (it's almost as if Creeper were talking to you), and English isn't my first language, but after I got used to it, I loved everything about this novella. The atmosphere is perfect, it makes you feel as if you're there, and the steampunk-like elements are really interesting as well. The Black God's Drums is a vibrant portrait of a city in which African mythology meets nineteenth century technology, in which the tension from the war is still present.
The characters are also wonderful. Creeper is a young, resourceful black girl who has been touched by Oya, the African Orisha of storms, who speaks to her and gives her visions. I loved reading in Creeper's PoV. The other major characters - Ann-Marie, a bisexual airship captain from Trinidad; Sister Agnès and Sister Eunice, the awesome nuns who know everything that goes on in the city; Féral, the white girl who grew up in the swamps (be careful: she bites) - are all awesome, and I'd love to read more about them too....more
The Five Daughters of the Moon is the first book in the fantasy duology The Waning Moon. The sequel, The Sisters of the Crescent Empress, will come ouThe Five Daughters of the Moon is the first book in the fantasy duology The Waning Moon. The sequel, The Sisters of the Crescent Empress, will come out this fall. I decided to pick it up because its setting - the Crescent Empire - is inspired by Imperial Russia and the Russian Revolution. This novella follows five sisters: Alina (six), Merile (eleven), Sibilia (fifteen), Elise (sixteen) and Celestia (twenty-two), the daughters of the Crescent Empress and the Moon. There are two chapters in the PoV of every sister, which was enough to develop all of them. My favorite was Alina, because she was the youngest and at the same time she was the one who saw the most - maybe too much. The other sisters think that Alina is haunted, that her mind is weak, but it's more complicated than that.
These are difficult years for the Crescent Empire. The unhappiness amongst the people - poor, fighting unnecessary battles - runs deep, but not everyone who claims to bring equality actually has their best interests at heart. Gagargi Prataslav is an ambitious man, and he might be more powerful than most people realize.
I really like reading books that are inspired by Russian history and folklore, and this was no exception. I loved the gaslamp aspects and the magic that is woven into the story. There are mechanical peacocks, lamps that are fueled by chicken souls, and machines that might require human souls to work - but that's not something we should know. There is also an older, more mysterious kind of magic: the magic of witches, the magic of the moon. The scene with the witch was my favorite in the novella.
I liked the writing. (English is not the author's first language! And it isn't mine, but I could never write a whole book in it...) That being said, I thought that the ending was rushed, and the novella felt more like a part of a book than something that could stand on its own.
I didn't think this book was bad. I didn't hate it at all, but I didn't like it either. It was just incredibly bland.
The writing could have been betteI didn't think this book was bad. I didn't hate it at all, but I didn't like it either. It was just incredibly bland.
The writing could have been better. There were some clumsy infodumps at the beginning, and that didn't help me to get into the story. The ending wasn't bad, but I'm not sure I'm interested enough to continue on with the series.
Also: develop your characters! I know near to nothing about Danny and Colton aside from their love for each other.
The worldbuilding actually had potential. Timekeeper is set in a fantasy victorian London where clocks control time and not the other way around. That aspect was really interesting, but I don't think it's enough....more
On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky.
Years ago, there was a war between gods and men. It was a massacre. On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky.
Years ago, there was a war between gods and men. It was a massacre. Men won. Strange the Dreamer is the aftermath.
I have read many fantasy books. After a while, some of them start to feel similar. The same stories, the same themes, the same tired fake-medieval world. Not here.
Strange the Dreamer is a story about the instability of peace, about forgiveness, about hope and dreams. I had never read a fantasy book with this premise*; books never tell you what happens after the war. Because, supposedly, that part is boring. It isn't.
I loved how this book never took the easy way out. It would have been so easy to show one side as good and the other as bad. But all the major characters have a motivation, and even the ones who do terrible things - you know why. Everyone has been hurt so much.
The function of hate, as Sarai saw it, was to stamp out compassion—to close a door in one's own self and forget it was ever there. If you had hate, then you could see suffering—and cause it—and feel nothing except perhaps a sordid vindication.
You could understand everyone, and... suffer.
Strange the Dreamer may not be a happy book, but is it beautiful. Not only the descriptions are beautiful and full of monsters (all the best things are) but Laini Taylor is the only author who can describe a girl's skin as "her smooth cerulean loveliness" and get away with it. Call it purple prose, but it works. Also, this book starts with the best prologue ever.
Few YA books can capture such a magical, dreamlike atmosphere, and very few have such an interesting worldbuilding. Angels and demons, gods and men, alchemy and moths. Strange the Dreamer is set in a monastery, then in a library, then in a lost city who lost its name.
(Now that we're talking about the worldbuilding: this book is totally set in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone universe. Just read the part where Lazlo is talking about "The Oldest Story in the World" and tell me that's not Dreams of Gods and Monsters).
And the characters. No book had ever shown me a bookish character whose love for books I actually felt. Lazlo grew up loving stories, and he is a dreamer. It's an important part of him. It's not just a relatable but irrelevant quirk. Dreamer. That's what Lazlo is.
And when Lazlo Strange the Dreamer met Sarai, the Muse of Nightmares, everything was perfect. I didn't even care that the romance developed quickly; I don't call it instalove if it feels real. I loved Sarai a lot. She hates herself for what she has done. She hates the world for what has been done to her. But she's also tired of hating.
The only problem I had with this book - the only reason this is 4.75 stars and not a full five - is the length, the pacing. 536 pages is a lot, and the first 150 after the prologue aren't that great. The rest? Perfect. The ending? Weep is actually an accurate name for that place.
And now I have a lot of questions. (view spoiler)[Is Korako alive? How many other Lazlos...? Will this book reconnect with DoSaB more clearly? (hide spoiler)]
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