CBR17 Book 56: " Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett

Page count: 496 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 2025: A book with LGBTQIA-rep

CBR17 Bingo: Border (this book is all about a very drawn-out war with borders between the opposing countries constantly changing, depending on who's currently winning)

Spoiler warnings for a 22 year old book. I don't think I can review it well without revealing some of the more essential plot points. 

Official plot summary:

It began as a sudden strange fancy...

Polly Perks had to become a boy in a hurry. Cutting off her hair and wearing trousers was easy. Learning to fart and belch in public and walk like an ape took more time...

And now she's enlisted in the army, and searching for her lost brother.

But there's a war on. There's always a war on. And Polly and her fellow recruits are suddenly in the thick of it, without any training, and the enemy is hunting them.

All they have on their side is the most artful sergeant in the army and a vampire with a lust for coffee. Well... They have the Secret. And as they take the war to the heart of the enemy, they have to use all the resources of... the Monstrous Regiment.

Polly is a barmaid who pretends to be a boy to join the army. Not that the army has that many people fighting to join up anymore, since the war has been going on for as long as most people can remember. She discovers that you can go a long way with a pair of rolled-up socks down your trousers, spitting, and pretending to shave a lot. As she comes to discover, she is by no means the only woman who has pretended to be male to join up; in fact, as the book progresses, it turns out it may be harder to find actual men left in the armed forces.

My RL book club, the Dark Corner, picked this as our June book, vaguely recalling that it's got at least some queer themes, and would therefore be suitable reading material for Pride month. It's one of the Pratchett Discworld books that I had only read once, because I remember being a bit underwhelmed by it the first time around. Upon rereading it, it is a lot more queer than I previously remembered. We have lesbians (with a deeply tragic backstory) and there's Sergeant Jackrum, who is clearly a trans man (also obviously not the only one we encounter in the story). There is also a lot of exploration of gender in general and identity in particular throughout the book, as well as a very nuanced exploration of the futility of war and the rather surprising way in which people might find themselves lauded as war heroes.

The incomparable Sam Vimes (by now very unwillingly the Duke of Ankh) makes a brief appearance along with some familiar faces from the City Watch novels. He has been tasked with trying to negotiate a peace treaty between these two nations, who have warred over who knows what for far too long. He doesn't want to spend a minute longer being a diplomat than he absolutely has to, but it is amusing to see what his reputation is, based on rumours and hearsay. 

It was also an interesting part of our discussion to hear Trine, the woman who founded our book club, share just how much she, as a former female soldier, recognised herself in the story and how many of the storylines and characters felt extremely true to army life. As she said, Pratchett knew his stuff, and a lot of the things that might appear seemingly made up for comic effect are in fact very real, if rather ridiculous. 

I'm really glad to have been given an excuse to revisit this book, and was able to give it a higher rating than before, because while I pretty much remembered it as more or less a one-note book (see, the joke is that they are ALL women!), it turns out that I was clearly just in a bad mood when first reading it, so I didn't take the time to appreciate all the other clever stuff Pratchett explores. Being two decades older probably doesn't hurt either.

Judging a book by its cover: The colourful cover shows the positively rotund Sgt. Jackrum and a selection of "his little lads", including the troll and the vampire recruits. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 55: "Paladin's Grace" by T. Kingfisher

Page count: 360 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR17 Bingo: Purple (most of the cover, barring the cover image, is a lovely lavender purple)

Stephen is one of the paladins of the Saint of Steel (who was a god, despite the name), who died very suddenly and unexpectedly a few years back. No one thought gods could die, and a lot of his paladins killed themselves and caused massive amounts of damage when it happened. Now, Stephen and the six other paladins who remain are housed at the Temple of the White Rat and volunteer as bodyguards whenever that's required. Stephen and the other paladins are berserkers; they used to descend into battle madness when fighting for their god. Without their god to call them back, the paladins worry about new berserker rages, as they may not be able to stop without any force to call them back. So Stephen knits socks and does his best to see to the well-being of his brother and sister paladins.

 One day, when patrolling the city, he runs into a woman being harassed, and to foil her attackers, they pretend to have a steamy tryst in an alleyway. Grace is a skilled perfumer, with nothing but negative baggage in the romantic department. She shares her lodgings with a charming spy, who acts as her agent and tries to make sure Grace makes the sort of money she deserves. Grace wasn't really expecting to ever see her rescuer again, but they meet at a court function, and are soon witnesses to an assassination attempt. Soon, both Grace and Stephen are involved in a complicated power struggle, and to make matters worse, there's a mysterious killer out there on the streets who chops the heads off its victims. 

I've liked all of the Kingfisher books I have read, especially her fairy tale retellings. I even mostly liked What Moves the Dead, despite being very creeped out by it throughout. I've owned many of her Saint of Steel books as e-books for a while, but when it was announced that T. Kingfisher (or Ursula Vernon, as she is really called) would be one of the guests of honour at Norcon (a very small and intimate fantasy/sci-fi convention at the University of Oslo) this year, it seemed like the perfect time to acquire the books in paperback, so I could get them signed. I also had grand plans to read all four stories before the festival started, but since this happened just before the end of term, I was pretty exhausted from work, and had only read a book and a half of the series.

Meeting authors is always such a strange and wonderful experience to me, but T. Kingfisher was funny, gracious and very interested in chatting with her fans in between the panels she took part in. There were also several opportunities during the two days to get books signed. She also had a big signing in the fantasy/sci-fi/all things nerd shop in the centre of town, where I saw a picture of the queue. It went for more than a block and a half. At the actual festival, I don't think there were ever more than six people having to wait in line - it was great.

It's not that I've gone completely off YA as I get older, but romantic fantasy with YA characters is getting less appealing to me. A romance with slightly more mature characters is therefore feels so much more satisfying. None of the protagonists in any of the Saint of Steel books are teenagers (or the age where they could play teenagers on TV). They have lived eventful lives, with all the advantages and disadvantages this involves, and they have to negotiate their awakening romantic feelings while considering the position they're in and the people they feel beholden to. 

Grace used to be married, and her ex is clearly a real piece of work. Stephen struggles to find a place where he truly belongs, and is a protector through and through. He wants to protect and be with Grace, but the thought of abandoning his fellow paladins at the Temple of the White Rat, the only family he now has, may be impossible for him. Trying to sort out the political machinations and trying to find a creepy decapitating killer are challenges enough, but Grace and Stephen also need to figure out how to hopefully manage a happy ending together. 

As well as the romantic relationship, which develops gradually between Grace and Stephen, Kingfisher also includes other important people in her protagonsist's lives. Having lost pretty much everything, even his sense of identity, when his god/Saint died, the remaining surviving paladins are all Stephen have left, and they are all as family. The bishop in the Temple of the White Rat may be his benefactress and de facto employer, but she clearly cares a lot for the broken knights. Grace may have had a troubled past, but she's found herself with a formidable best friend. Because of her husband, Grace doesn't really have any way to prove her previous accomplishments, which might have made it difficult for her to support herself, but thanks to her friend and landlady Marguerite, her perfumes are sought after and exclusive. In fantasy, the heroines are often independent and move about in male dominated societies, not all of them have any female friends. Women supporting other women is one of my favourite things, so I'm glad Kingfisher showed how loyal the women are towards one another. 

Of the four books in this series, I think the third, Paladin's Hope, is my favourite. I really enjoyed all of them, though, and hope that Kingfisher will write books about the remaining paladins who haven't found their happy endings yet, as well. 

Judging a book by its cover: When I first got the new paperback editions of the Saint of Steel series, I was a bit taken aback by how very pastel they all were (this one is lavender, the second is a delicate pale green, the third is baby blue and the fourth book is very pink). The cover illustrations are really nice, though, and really give a good impression of how the characters are described in the story (sadly, not always the case). 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 54: "The Wedding Con" by Janine Amesta

Page count: 251 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to Janine Amesta and Tule Publishing for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

This is the second book in the Love is in the Air series, but this book can be read as a standalone as well. If you prefer to start at the beginning, the first one is Love at First Flight (which I literally, just NOW, as I was writing this, realised is a pun on "love at first sight". Now I feel stupid.)

Naomi Moreno wants to help her stubborn and independent older sister contribute to the family business, High Desert Tours, but struggles to get her sister to listen and take her seriously. She feels guilty for the tight financial situation the family is in, since she saw her father get persuaded to poor decisions and investments via YouTube influencers, ending with the business deeply in debt when he suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. She's sure that their hot air balloon company could be the perfect fit for certain couples looking for an unusual wedding venue, and her sister Selah reluctantly agrees to give her a chance, if she can work out a pricing proposal and find some interested customers. 

Boone Reyes has lived an itinerant life and had to do some shady things in the past to stay alive, thanks to his unscrupulous con man father. He's rarely stayed in one place for very long. The last few years, working for the Moreno family, is the exception, and he's hoping he might be able to find additional work as a rock climbing instructor. He spends his days trying to charm and impress Naomi, the only woman in the Moreno family who refuses to warm up to him.

To have a chance to land a job as a rock climbing instructor, Boone needs to prove that he can actually properly instruct someone, not just solo climb. He makes a deal with Naomi that if she will let him teach her rock climbing, he'll help her find clients who want to get married in a hot air balloon. With a con artist father, Boone knows when to turn on the charm and be persuasive (one of the reasons Naomi distrusts him and thinks he has a hidden agenda) and he would much rather use his powers of persuasion for good, than for tricking people.

It turns out that the way to Naomi's heart is honesty and vulnerability. By sharing information about himself and his life, even when some of the details are less than rosy, Boone gradually wins Naomi's trust. There's been an attraction between them pretty much since Boone was hired, but Naomi has refused to acknowledge how much she likes him, because she's worried about falling into the same traps that her father did. When she discovers that Boone can be truthful, even when the stories he tells are sometimes rather embarrassing, she quickly warms up to him.

Complicating matters massively for our hero, Boone's father is recently out of jail, and insists on coming to crash with his son. Despite his years in prison, Boone's dad is showing absolutely no signs of wanting to become a better person and turn over a new leaf, no, he's already looking for his next score, and the Moreno women look like the perfect marks in his next scheme. Thankfully, while Naomi's mother may be too friendly and trusting, especially to anyone related to Boone, she and her sisters have learned the hard way that they need to be vigilant and do their best to drive him off. Unfortunately, for a while at least, Boone's father manages to persuade Naomi that his son has been working a long con on them, and tries to sabotage everything Boone has managed to build with Naomi and the other Morenos. Can Boone convince the prickly Naomi that he's not a fraud and a scammer, like his deadbeat dad, or will their romance die before it's even had a chance to properly begin?

15th of September to 15th of October is Hispanic Heritage month in the USA, and reading and promoting a book by a Latina author seems like a good way to start this month. I hadn't really heard of Janine Amesta before I was lucky enough to get an ARC for her previous book, but now that I have, I was actively on the look-out for a chance to read this book before it was officially released, and I am so happy I was granted another ARC. While this book works fine as a standalone, some of the underlying tensions and issues were established in the first book, and the family dynamics of the Moreno women, who are all processing their grief in different ways feel richer and more established if you've read eldest sister Selah's book first. 

A lot of romance heroes nowadays are likened to golden retrievers, but as my friend Rochelle pointed out in her review, Boone is clearly a stray cat who shows up on your doorstep, begging for some food and affection, and then just refuses to leave again, once he's been fed that first time. Naomi's reasons for distrusting and being sceptical of Boone and his motives are well established and perfectly understandable. She reads a lot of romance, and is worried that Boone is a George Wickham, all handsomeness, charm and glib words on the surface hiding a scheming, self-serving and unscrupulous personality. As the reader discovers, had Boone fallen in with his father's plans and become as big a con artist as him, Naomi would be absolutely right about him. But Boone doesn't want to decieve and trick people, he wants to be a good person with a place to belong, even though he doesn't really believe he's deserving of anything positive because of his past misdeeds, helping his father (the only stable adult in his life).

Boone works hard for the Morenos, lives in a trailer and tries to get extra work as a rock climbing instructor. He's been pining for Naomi for years, and while it takes him a while to realise just how irredeemable his father actually is, and unfortunately for Boone, he doesn't really care about anything but himself, it takes him quite a while to get over his father's gaslighting and have a proper confrontation with him. He believes himself to be unworthy of the love of Naomi, her mother and sisters, and doesn't realise that while Naomi is initially fooled by Boone's dad, because of her many insecurities, the rest of the Moreno family are firmly in his corner, and feel that his actions while working for them has proven that he's a good man. It takes Naomi a bit longer to accept the truth, but once she does, and realises she's been unfairly judging him and hurt him in the process, she works her hardest to prove to him that he really does have a home with her.

Both of Amesta's books that I've read so far are about ordinary, hard-working people just wanting to make the best of their world. There are no movie stars, no celebrities, no billionaires here. They have everyday problems and everyday lives, and are just nice to spend time with on the page. I'm very much looking forward to reading about the youngest Moreno sister's romance in the third book of this trilogy.

Judging a book by its cover:

It's a very sweet cover and I like the wedding decorated hot air balloon in the background, but Naomi dyes her hair pink early on in this book, and is still described with pink hair when she actually gets married. So I would have been happier if she had pink hair in the cover image. It's a minor niggle, but I have it nevertheless.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 53: "The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold" by Ally Carter

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

Official plot summary: 

Ten years ago, they joined the CIA.

Six years ago, he left the game.

Five years ago, they fell in love.

One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back.

And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark.

They don’t know where they are. They don’t know how they got there. And they have absolutely no idea who is after them or what this nameless, faceless villain wants.

The only thing that’s clear is that, after ten years of covers and chemistry, secrets and lies, these two rival spies have been sucked into their greatest mission yet, and now they’re going to have to team up to stay alive. (If they don’t kill each other first.)

Ten years ago, Alex and King enroll in "spy school" together and become instant rivals. King is basically a legacy recruit, with his grandparents and father absolutely legendary in spy circles. Alex wants adventure and a challenge and getting away from her constant guilt of being the healthy twin, while her sister had multiple heart surgeries and ended up very frail because Alex took up too much space in the womb. She's got a lot ofissues, and she'd rather cut herself off from her entire family to live a life of constant subterfuge rather than properly deal with them.

While Alex and King are bitter rivals, they also clearly do excellent work together, with the result that they keep being paired up on missions, where both of them staunchy ignore their amazing chemistry and mutual attraction to continue their weird feud. As the summary reveals, they eventually admit their feelings for one another. However, after Alex' twin sister is kidnapped by sinister forces who believe her to be Alex (not knowing that Alex had an identical twin in the first place), she is prepared to drop everything to go rescue her twin. King, being the more cautious of the two wants her to take some time and make a plan, resulting in an argument where foolish things like "If you leave now, never come back" are uttered, and actually believed. 

So for a whole year, King has been desperately searching for Alex to apologise and win her back, while Alex has hidden herself away so well that no one knows where she's been. They wake up handcuffed together, with no memory of the previous 48 hours, and need to use all of their wits and skills to figure out why they've been tricked into a trap of some sort, who is behind it and how they are going to get the best of their mysterious enemies.

The story is told mostly in alternating chapters set in the present, where Alex and King are in a strange and very dangerous situation, and trying to figure out what the heck is going on, while also trying to process all their hurt feelings about the last time they saw each other, and the past, starting with the evening before Alex goes to "spy school" and first meets King, who tries to warn her off a career in espionage. As the book progresses, we skip between the present and get glimpses into the past ten years, in especially significant points of Alex and King's relationship, seeing their relationship develop slowly from rivals to reluctant allies to friends to lovers.

As someone who loves a good spy story (in book, TV or movie form), this book was exactly my wheelhouse. It's action packed and features all sorts of exciting spy scenarios, but if Alex and King weren't such engaging protagonists, I don't think it would have mattered what the plot turned out to be. By alternating between the present and the past, Ms. Carter keeps gradually showing the readers how the couple's relationship came to be, and why it was such a dramatic thing for Alex to cut off all contact with King for a whole year. The couple are clearly much better together than apart, but have both had complicated lives and steamer trunks full of emotional and psychological baggage that make it hard for them to actually believe anyone could love them or want a life with them.

This is the second book in the series, but works perfectly well as a standalone. In fact, I hadn't read the first one when I got this ARC, and rather went back and read the first book, The Blonde Identity, once I was done with this one. That book gives us the POV of Alex's twin sister who is on a breakneck adventure through Europe, while suffering memory loss, and the handsome spy who is trying to keep her from being captured by rival spy factions or killed. 

If you like action and suspense and prickly rivals becoming each other's perfect partners, this is a fast and entertaining read. I highly recommend it. 

Judging a book by its cover: I am frequently very critical of the cartoony covers, but there are exceptions to the rule, and this is one of them. This image is really nicely stylized and it would not be as charming or effective if there were real people on the cover. Then it would just look sort of naff. The colour choices, the cat's eye sunglasses, the reflection in the glasses, our heroine looking so very cool - it all works for me. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.