CBR18 Book 50: "The Devils" by Joe Abercrombie

Page count: 576 pages

Audio book length: 25hrs 5mins

Rating: 5 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: Book rec from a friend (Ashley/Narfna loved this)

Defeat the Goblin TBR: The Rogue Book - a book with politics/intrigue/sneakery involved (this book has all three and lots of it)

CBR18 Bingo: Left (All of my fiction books are alphabetised by author, so Abercrombie comes to the very top left of the bookshelf it's placed on)

A cowardly monk. A mercenary. A vampire. A werewolf (who used to be a viking warrior). An elf. A necromancer. A knight who cannot die. An orphaned thief who is apparently a long-lost imperial princess. Add them together into a highly unlikely band of allies and watch them make their way through a war-torn alternate Europe (where the holy saviour was the daughter of God, who died on a wheel), facing all manner of dangers (not least the supposed princess's murderous cousins) to get to Troy. This book is basically a late-medieval Suicide Squad, and it is violent, at times extremely gory, constantly surprising, and wildly entertaining.

In the beginning, I wrote a list of all the major characters, so I could remember their names and something about their characters, so I could tell them all apart. The book follows eight different characters, six of whom get their own points of view. In addition, this book is set in an alternate Europe, where the crusades have been against the murderous elves, who want to kill and eat humanity. Troy still exists and is an ancient empire. The saviour is the daughter of god, and the Pope in Rome is a woman (actually a ten-year-old child). There's also been a religious schism, so in the East, all the major religious leaders are men. Street rat Alex is told by a swanky nobleman that she is, in fact, the long-lost imperial princess of Troy, and has a birthmark and one half of a medallion that seems to prove her identity. The oracles of the church confirm her identity, and The Order of the Holy Expediency (a very unusual group of individuals that the Church uses to get its dirty work done) is tasked with accompanying her through Europe to Troy, to get her coronated.

It is a very long and dangerous journey, and our unlikely band of anti-heroes face so many deadly challenges to make it towards their goal. If Alex (or Princess Alexia) actually makes it to Troy and manages to become Empress, it will be an honest-to-God miracle. Her murderous cousins, who would like the throne for themselves, and a staggering number of implausible monsters stand in her way. Luckily, Alex has monsters of her own to help her achieve her destiny. 

While I own several of Joe Abercrombie's books, this is the first of his novels that I've actually read, mainly because grimdark isn't really my favourite genre, and certainly not anything I would choose to read now that we are all living in the stupidest dystopia, and the world is burning. However, my good friend Ashley put this as her third-best book of 2025 (and she reads a LOT more than me), and since she also explains in her video why this was an exception to Abercrombie's other books, I really couldn't help myself when I saw the audiobook on sale last year. Then I saw the hardback at my local library (and decided it was a sign from the universe). I borrowed the book so I could follow along (it has illustrations, pictures of all the major characters), but listened mostly to the audiobook (it makes cycling to and from work so much more enjoyable, and I can also listen while I knit). 

I've seen enthusiasm for Steven Pacey as the narrator of the book in a few places online, but personally, it took me a while to warm to some of his narration choices. He does do a good job differentiating between the many different POV characters, and the further I got into the book, the more comfortable I got with his choices. 

I don't know exactly what I was expecting from this book, but I certainly hadn't expected it to be as laugh-out-loud funny as it was in places. I found myself reading passages out loud to my husband, mainly to explain why I kept cackling with delight while reading. If I had to pick one favourite character, it's obviously going to be Viga, the werewolf, but I grew to care deeply for every single individual in this misfit crew and was delighted to spend time with them in their strange quest through Europe. I'm now very curious as to where Abercrombie is taking the series next; the sequel has been given a release date in 2027. I have also bought my own paperback copy of the book, and hope to get it signed next year when Abercrombie is one of the guests of honour at Norcon in Oslo (along with Martha Wells, I'm so excited!). 

Judging a book by its cover: I didn't actually notice at first that the lower jawbone of the skull on the cover is, in fact, a crown, and not a jawbone at all. I think this cover is funny and creative, and it really catches your eye. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 41: "The Antiquarian's Object of Desire" by India Holton

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Amelia Tarrant and Caleb Stirling are both history professors at Oxford with a speciality in magical antiques. They have been best friends since childhood, but any hint of affection between them could be ruinous to Amelia's reputation and the careers of both. As a result, they have to appear to be enemies and stage elaborate public fights every so often to make sure all their colleagues believe them to be bitter rivals.

One such fight, involving a volatile magical teaspoon, causes a big enough explosion that their careers may still be on shaky grounds. The head of the history faculty sends them to a manor house in Cumbria to assist a local nobleman in cataloguing his extensive collection of magical artefacts. 

If maintaining their ruse of being enemies is tiresome and occasionally tricky in Oxford, having to do it while secluded in a haunted country manor proves even more frustrating to them. Amelia and Caleb both feel, unbeknownst to the other, rather more than friendly towards the other, but wouldn't dare to presume that the other returns such lustful feelings. 

All the books in India Holton's Love's Academic have been delightful, cosy reads, but this one is probably my favourite. Caleb is another very Howl from Howl's Moving Castle-coded hero (although he is more like the Howl of the original book than the Miyazaki version). He's vain and a bit self-centred, but clearly just worships the ground Amelia walks on. She doesn't seem to realise that all his life choices have been determined by what keeps him close to her. She's the one who actually cares about a career in history; he's just muddling through because it makes it easier for him to spend as much time with her as possible. 

Amelia is a capable woman in a male-dominated field, and she constantly has to deal with her overbearing and sexist colleagues and superiors. Caleb really is her only friend, and it annoys her to have to pretend to loathe him just so she won't be dismissed as an emotional and love-struck female, who must marry and go tend house. Over the course of the book, Amelia and Caleb realise that their long friendship has mutually developed into something deeper, but they are unable to act on their feelings since it's impossible for them to get some time alone.

Throughout the book, there is a subplot about a magical teaspoon that reacts to strong emotions and tends to cause sudden explosions if tensions are too high. Amelia comes to the conclusion that she mustn't just reevaluate her feelings for and potential future with Caleb, but come to a decision about whether or not she can keep being underestimated and mansplained to by most of her very sexist colleagues, or whether she should quit the history department and do something else. 

The "cosy" label is found all over the speculative fiction genres nowadays, and a lot of the time, it's not entirely earned, or the author tries too hard with quirky characters and tiresome hijinks. However, Holton really does write lovely, low-stakes cosy romances, and as this was one of my more anticipated releases of the first part of 2026, I am happy that it was worth the wait. 

Judging a book by its cover: All the books in this trilogy have had lovely covers, but this is by far my favourite. The midnight blue and the golden yellow, with the lovely, ethereal night sky in the background, with the stars seemingly dancing - it's just so pretty.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 33: "A Marvellous Light" by Freya Marske

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Monthly Keyword 26: Light

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: LGBTQIA+ rep

Buzzwords Challenge 26: Parts of a house

Buzzwords Cover Challenge 26: Featuring a silhouette

Sir Robert "Robin" Blyth ends up in a civil service position he is vastly unprepared for, as it turns out, he is supposed to be a liaison between the secret magical world and the more mundane regular world. Usually, the post is held by an individual from a magical family just unlucky enough not to have any magic of their own (seems like there are quite a few such "duds" in the magic-wielding families of society). Robin, on the other hand, is both shocked and rather intrigued when his co-liasion, Edwin Courcey, has to reveal the existence of magic to him. 

Edwin Courcey is both annoyed and worried at the disappearance of Robin's predecessor, especially when it becomes clear very quickly that something sinister is probably to blame. When Robin is attacked and a curse is placed upon him, a side-effect also appears to be that he can now receive visions of the future. Unfortunately, they are vague and usually seem to involve strangers. The curse is visible as a strange tattoo on one of Robin's arms, and with each new excruciatingly painful attack, the tattoo climbs higher up his arm, and the pain increases. Edwin can't leave an innocent man who didn't even know magic existed, least of all, where some magical artefact that the villains are searching for is located, suffer and potentially die. Unfortunately, most of the reference books he requires are at his family home, and Edwin doesn't exactly love returning to the bosom of his family.

Edwin may have magical powers, but he is seen as a huge disappointment in the Courcey family. He reluctantly goes back home, bringing Robin with him, to try to find a way to lift the curse. Edwin's plan is basically to get rid of Robin's pesky curse and then magically make him forget he ever even heard of magic (which seems to be the standard way magicians deal with regular humans). There is also the mystery of where Robin's predecessor disappeared to, the identity of the shadowy individuals who cursed Robin, and exactly what the artefact they are looking for is. 

This has been on my TBR list for a long time. I was initially waiting for the trilogy, of which this is the first part, to be completed, but by the time that happened, I sort of forgot about the whole series. This year, it fit into several of my reading challenges, however. As so many online friends whose opinions in books I trust have rated it highly on Goodreads, it felt like it was time to pull it off my shelf (I keep all of my unread dead tree books in a bookshelf in my bedroom, in the hopes that it might make me read them faster. Once I finish one, it gets moved up to the living room, where the majority of our fiction books are located.) Since I read this in mid-April and have since completed 22 other books, some of the finer details of the plot are now rather hazy to me. The book starts a bit slow, but once Robin is attacked and cursed, and Edwin realises that he has no choice but to help this handsome golden retriever of a man, I was pretty hooked. 

The book is set in Edwardian times, in an alternate history England where magic obviously exists. Robin and Edwin are pretty much opposites, with Robin being, as I previously mentioned, much like a golden retriever, while Edwin is a skittish black cat. Because Edwin has always been made to feel like a failure in his own family and generally lacking among his magical peers, he's got quite a big chip on his shoulder, and Robin's charming himbo ways are both attractive and frustrating to him. 

This is a slow-burn romance, but once the men actually admit their feelings for one another (and Edwin gets over a lot of his trust issues), the relationship between them is so beautiful. I also very much liked several of the supporting female characters, including Robin's younger sister (who I think is one of the protagonists of the second novel) and Robin's extremely overqualified and underestimated secretary in the civil service. They were both great.

There's clearly an overarching plot to the series, and some sort of mysterious cult of bad guys who will need to be stopped. However, this book also has a self-contained ending, and I didn't feel the need to rearrange my entire TBR list to read the two sequels right away (I will try to get to them before the end of the year, though). 

Judging a book by its cover:

I think the cover of this book is my least favourite thing about it. I have never liked the colour orange, and the orange silhouettes, accompanied by the most hideously busy wallpaper pattern covering the rest of the book, it gives me a headache if I look too closely at it. I would never ever have picked up this book if I hadn't been assured by several people that I trust that it was excellent. I find this cover very ugly. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 45: "The Geographer's Map to Romance" by India Holton

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Monochrome

CBR17 Bingo: Green (A book with a green cover)

Official plot summary, because I finished the book in early April, and perimenopause is doing my powers of recall no favours:

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either—except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They’ve been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn’t stopped him from stoically pining for her.

When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, threatening catastrophe for the rest of England, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there's no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

True story. Geography was probably my third least favourite subject in high school (after PE - always my most loathed subject, and math, which became increasingly harder in high school until I had the option to drop it). So it's interesting, that while India Holton chose to make the first book in this series about birds (which I have a massive phobia about), and the second one about geography (although if we'd gotten to study the sort of magical geography this book involves, I probably would have liked the subject a lot more in school), I was still so delighted while reading it. The third book in the series is a Gothic romantic fantasy involving historians - now you're speaking my language, Ms. Holton!

India Holton writes unusual and funny fantasy stories set in alternate timelines, featuring at least one neurodivergent protagonist. On social media, she describes The Geographer's Map to Romance as "Anne of Green Gables meets Twister in a light academia fantasy romcom perfect for those who love storms, bespectacled science professors, and shouting 'just kiss already!' while reading." 

Elodie is very intelligent, extremely absent-minded and tries to see the world in a positive light. Gabriel is very intelligent, constantly grumpy and pines for his wife as if it were an Olympic event. Anyone who feels that a lot of romance nowadays doesn't have enough mutual pining and sincere yearning should check out this book. 

Gabriel Tarrant was introduced in book 1 of the series, but these books work perfectly well as stand-alones. Towards the end of this book, we meet Amelia Tarrant, his historian sister, who will be the heroine of The Antiquarian's Object of Desire (already one of my most anticipated books of 2026). 

These books can accurately be described as romps, so if you want deeply serious fantasy, they may not be for you. But if you'd like a light-hearted read with creative twists and turns, an amusing supporting cast, a destructive goat and protagonists who are both frightfully competent at their jobs, and dreadful when it comes to dealing with their own romantic entanglements, this might be a good fit. 

Judging a book by its cover: Ms. Holton has been blessed by the gods of beautiful cover design, because the covers for this series just keep getting better and better (she just this week did a cover reveal for book 3, and it's gorgeous). The green and the gold work so well together. I don't own these books in physical copies (yet), but I will, as soon as my finances allow it.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 20: "To Steal from Thieves" by M.K. Lobb

Page count: 400 pages (DNF at 35 %)

Rating: 2.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

In an alternate version of Victorian London, magic exists and can be used to improve technology. It's known as alchemology, and requires the magic-user to sacrifice some blood and life force to create the magical element known as primateria. It means that alchemologists tend to have shorter lifespans, which was certainly the case with Zaria Mendoza's father. Now she's an orphan struggling to complete her father's outstanding commissions to unsavoury individuals in the London underworld. Soulsteel, the material required to create primateria is rare and expensive, and she keeps having to postpone her rent payments. If her landlord wasn't the father of her best friend, she would probably be out on the streets already.

Kane Durante has been tasked by his patron, the sinister underworld kingpin Ward, to find a particular necklace coming in on one of the boats in the port. He and his best friend, Fletcher, have been working undercover on the docks, trying to intercept the necklace before it goes on display at the Royal Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, because having to steal it from such a public place will be a nightmare. Unfortunately, neither he nor Fletcher are successful and it seems like they have no choice but to pull off a dangerous, nearly impossible heist. If Ward doesn't get his necklace, he promises to do all manner of unpleasant things to Fletcher. So a-heisting they will go.

Having fetched a magical firearm from Zaria while undercover, he decides she is essential to the success of their endeavour, and manages to persuade her to cooperate through a combination of threats and promises. Zaria desperately needs enough money to get her and her best friend Julian out of London, and if she can help Kane rob the Crystal Palace, her share of the loot will be enough for them to live comfortably and get away from the squalor that is their current lives. 

Of course, Kane and Zaria are both cynical, distrustful individuals used to relying on no one but themselves. They both plan to betray the other before the end of the heist, with no misgivings about how this could affect the other. 

Does the heist succeed? Do Kane and Zaria turn from reluctant allies who snipe flirtatiously at each other to potential lovers? Does Kane discover that his patron and boss, Ward, clearly had more to do with his parents' death than has previously been revealed?

I don't know, because I just couldn't with this book. While I thought the magic system introduced was really interesting, I really didn't care about Kane or Zaria at all. It's nice that they both have a platonic best friend they're willing to risk everything for, to the point of stupidity (it's obvious that both Jules and Fletcher would be deeply unhappy knowing how many dangerous things their friends are willing to risk for their sakes), but having spent three days forcing myself through only the first third of the book, I decided to peak ahead to see if things got more exciting further on in the book - and I still wasn't convinced. 

From what I can see, the book ends in a way that suggests at least one sequel (or the ending will be very unsatisfying), but I have absolutely no wish to read more books about these characters. Both the characters and setting felt like they were strongly inspired by Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, but unlike those books, where I pretty much gave up on food and sleep to get through the books faster, there was nothing here to hold my attention. I haven't read anything else by M.K. Lobb, so I can't say if the writing style is similar to their previous works, or something new they're trying. I'm sure this will make for an exciting heist narrative for another reader, but for me, this was a DNF. 

Judging a book by its cover: I'm guessing the necklace that dominates the centre of the cover is the item they're planning to steal. I'm not entirely sure why the cover artist chose to portray him looking like a spoiled prep school boarder, but that's just not at all how he's described in the book. The girl, who I'm guessing must be Zaria, appears to have her own wind machine since her curls are so out of control. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR15 Book 53: "The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels" by India Holton

Page count: 336 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description, because I finished this book two months ago, and the plot is rather convoluted:

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

This book will certainly not be for everyone. I can see how some people might find it too annoying, quirky, or simply rather uninteresting because they're not looking for something quite this whimsical. Do you like Gail Carriger? Then you might also like this. It's set in an alternate history, where magic exists. It's mainly used to make houses fly, and the secret spell that allows one to pilot the houses is mostly in the hands of women. Thievery and piracy also seem to be perfectly above board, as long as certain rules are followed. Our heroine, Cecilia Bassingtwaite, is a junior member of the female crime organisation, the Wisteria Society, and despairs that the older members refuse to see her as a worthy of promotion to the big table, a full member at last. So when she opens the door to find a rather flustered assassin on her doorstep, this is very promising, because ladies whom someone wants to murder are obviously more scoundrelous, and therefore more worthy of promotion. 

Of course, our hero, Ned Lightbourne, who goes by MANY different names and identities over the course of the story, has no intention of actually murdering Miss Bassingtwaite. He's not really an assassin at all. Nor is he a loyal henchman to her insane father, who has tasked Ned to abduct Cecilia from her aunt's house. Ned wants to do no such thing. Cecilia finds him both intriguing and exasperating, he finds her delightful and is instantly smitten. They keep meeting and bantering, usually while also fighting each other with sharp weapons, and obviously fall in love in the process. 

To begin with, I was honestly not entirely sure what was going on with the plot, or the rather flowery language, but it was amusing me and I just let the story sort of flow over me. The many references to the Brontës, and especially the utterly useless Bramwell, were fun. I'm not entirely sure how this society actually works, but piracy and thievery seem to be the done thing in the upper classes. It also seems to be a very matriarchal society, where the husbands are left to take care of the household, although they're clearly also allowed to run around wielding swords and firearms occasionally, as Ned is doing. Possibly they only need to become homebodies after they marry?

I'm probably overthinking it. This was fun, it made me laugh, and since I've waited several years, the entire trilogy set in this strange alternate Victorian world is already completed. The next one involves witches (and a male pirate), so it also promises to be entertaining.

Judging a book by its cover: This is really cute. I love the flowing vines of wisteria flowers, complete with other elements from the story twisted in. The teacup, the flying house, the sword and pistol, and obviously our adventurous little couple at the bottom, each sporting their own gun. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 52: "Kushiel's Dart" by Jacqueline Carey

Page count: 1040 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: Sex (the protagonist is a god-touched masochist courtesan spy)

Kushiel's Dart is the first novel in the Kushiel's Legacy series, which came to number six books in total. Jacqueline Carey also wrote an additional trilogy in her Terre D'Ange universe, and over the course of all of her books, pretty much explored every continent in her alternate-history fantasy world. This first book is set in an alternate historical version of Europe, set at about Renaissance times, or somewhat earlier, although the descriptions of the Skaldi society (Vikings) and the Albans (the Celts and Picts) clearly being from more medieval times. 

Our protagonists come from Terre D'Ange, which is located where our France would be. In this Universe, Jesus died on the cross and his blood, mingled with the tears of Mary Magdalene, fell to Earth, who gave birth to a new deity, Elua. Not acknowledged by the Yeshuite god, Elua went wandering the world in company with a number of angels who felt compelled to go with him. Eventually, Elua and his angelic companions came to the land that would become Terre D'Ange and settled there. Elua's main decree to all of his followers was "Love as thou wilt", and because of this, any sexual act is seen as holy by the D'Angelines. It also means that non-consensual sex of any kind is not only a crime, it's literal heresy. 

Phédre, our unlikely heroine, is the orphaned daughter of a courtesan, who is taken into the household of a mysterious nobleman. She is trained not only in the sexual arts, as a courtesan herself, but taught to watch, listen, observe, and reflect, and her patron, Anafiel Delauney, wants her and his other protegée, Alcuin, to spy for him and ferret out secrets among the nobility who have assignations with them, for reasons he refuses to reveal to them. Phédre has not only sworn herself to the service of Namaah, the goddess of pleasure but is utterly unique in her generation as someone marked by the stern god of punishment, Kushiel. She experiences sexual pleasure through pain, often the more extreme the better, and that makes her a valuable tool for Delauney to ferret out secrets. Both Phédre and Alcuin feel a strong debt of gratitude towards Delauney and therefore serve him with absolute loyalty, but as Phédre gets older, she can't help but wonder what conspiracy her patron is actually trying to uncover. Unfortunately, by the time she figures out the entire truth, she's also unearthed a conspiracy against the Crown itself and needs to be removed.

Since this book is more than twenty years old (originally published in 2001), anyone who wants to can find detailed plot summaries online. I don't really want to reveal too much of the plot, because part of the joys of this book is discovering it all for yourself. In a recent interview, the author herself described the book as "Kinky, but feminist! Epic fantasy, but alternate history! Tattoos! Slow-burn romance! Cool fight choreography! Subversive theology! Big battle scenes! Lyrical prose for readers who love words like ‘ormulu’ and ‘incarnadine!’" So if you think that might be something for you, you should absolutely consider giving it a chance. I hadn't read the book for more than a decade (probably closer to fifteen years by now) and was very happy to discover that it still absolutely holds up as well as it did in my memory, and still very much deserves its place as one of my favourite fantasy novels. I had forgotten just how slow it is to get started, but on the other hand, when the action finally kicks off at about the 40% mark, it doesn't slow down until the very last chapters and some of the action leaves you absolutely breathless. 

I first discovered this book back in 2004. I bought my mass-market paperback copy in Barnes and Noble on Union Square in New York while visiting my BFF Lydia. So it felt extra special to be re-reading it while I was visiting her and her husband now in their house in Vermont. The reason I remember so very clearly when and where I was when I first got this book is not only because it was unlike any fantasy I had read up until that point, pretty much, and it completely engrossed me, but also because the copy of the book that I bought had a misprint, where about halfway through, in possibly the most tense and dramatic section of the whole book (and that's saying something), about 70 pages of the book were missing. There was just a repeat of the previous 70 pages instead. I can promise you that it was a terrible place to suddenly be ripped out of the story, and I had to rush back to the bookstore the next day and secure myself another copy (which thankfully did not have the misprint), so I could see if my beloved protagonists survived their desperate trek through the icy northern wastes (if you've read the book, you know which bit I'm referring to). 

I decided to re-read this now because Jacqueline Carey published her companion novel Cassiel's Servant at the start of August, where we get to know Phédre's unfailingly loyal (if initially deeply disapproving) companion Jocelin Verruil a lot better. Not only do we get to see the events of Kushiel's Dart from his POV, but we also find out about his life before he gave his vow to protect and serve Phédre, no matter what. Unlike E.L. James and Stephanie Meyer, who also wrote POV novels from "the other side", this doesn't feel like a cynical cash grab to me. For one thing, Carey waited more than 20 years after publishing her original novel to do this, and Joscelin's book comes out 12 years after the last book Carey published in her Terre D'Ange universe. She's written a lot of other things in the interim, and I don't think she'd write and publish this companion novel if she didn't feel like it could shed new light on her already cult classic novel. 

It also pleases me that this book happened to become my 52nd review of the year. It feels good to Cannonball on a really excellent novel. 

Judging a book by its cover: In the decades since the novel first came out, it's had many different covers, but this is pretty much the original one. It was recently re-published with some gorgeous UK covers, that I'm going to have to resist buying (I already have the entire original trilogy, I don't need new copies). I know it's probably irrational, but I hate that the illustrated Phédre has bangs - why did anyone think that was a good idea? Phédre is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous (apparently nearly all D'Angelines are near-perfect specimens), and based on the historical setting this is supposed to take place in, that hairstyle feels very out of place.  

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 31: "Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries" by Heather Fawcett

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: History (set in an alternate history, in the Victorian era)

15-word review: Introverted lady scholar goes to fictional Iceland to research faeries, followed by her handsome colleague.

Official book description (because I finished this at the start of May):

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.

Ok, first of all, anyone who picked this up because they thought it was going to be a romance was probably very disappointed. Yes, Bambleby is interested in Emily, but she's so busy trying to do her academic research and figure out what all the f*ckery that keeps happening to the local populace is caused by (well, obviously local faeries - but which ones, and why?) so she hardly notices him, except to be exasperated by his presence.

Early reviews I read for this suggested that it's set in a fictional historical Norway. While in this alternate history, the area that Emily visits may count as part of fictional Norway, it's clearly a fictional historical Iceland. Since the vast majority of readers who pick up this book probably have no idea what differentiates Norway and Iceland, or any of the Nordic countries really, it's a very silly thing to get annoyed by, but nevertheless, I want it clearly stated that the various character and place names described to us by Emily (the entire book is written as her journal, or letters to or from her) are Icelandic, because, to someone from my part of the world, it is very obvious.

With some books, I reduce my rating by the time I get around to reviewing them, but in this case, I've actually added half a star to my original rating, because this is one of those books I keep thinking about, even months after finishing it. Emily and Bambleby are both excellent characters and I loved reading about them, their banter, and their adventures in a strange culture from their own. Emily is a bit of a curmudgeon, prefers solitude and while it is never stated, is probably autistic (this is set in an alternate Victorian era so that diagnosis would not be known yet), she is a very devoted scholar and has been working on her encyclopedia for years. Bambleby is pretty much her exact opposite. He's outgoing, charming, gregarious, and makes friends easily (all of these qualities are among the things Emily seems to find extremely annoying about him. Of course, Bambleby is also Emily's only friend and just seems amused by her anti-social behaviour. 

As a consequence of being so different, the two scholars very much complement each other and make an excellent team, especially once Emily admits to herself that Bambleby's assistance may in fact be beneficial to her stay in Hrafnsvik. As I mentioned earlier, there are hints of romance here, so slow burn as to nearly be treacle in the cold, but I suspect the next book (which isn't out until January 24, boo!) will do more to develop the romantic relationship that is gently introduced in the last third or so of this book. As a huge fan of Bambleby and romance, I would have liked there to be quite a bit more of this subplot, but it would also not be in Emily's character to fall head over heels either. 

I found this whole book delightful and especially liked the various touches of folklore explored (I'm a sucker for folklore, be it actual or fictional). I can't wait to read the sequel and see where Emily and Bambleby's adventures take them next. 

Judging a book by its cover: With some books, the UK and US versions aren't too dissimilar and it's clear that the publishers have gone for a similar feel. With this book, they almost couldn't be more different. The UK cover is creamy off-white with delicate illustrations of flowers and mushrooms, looking very inviting. The US cover is black and full of spooky details like bones and creepy vines. Both strangely capture some of the vibes of the book, but I wonder at the publishers choosing such different approaches to represent the book. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR14 Book 40: "Monstress, vol 1: Awakening" by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Page count: 202 pages

Rating: 2 stars

CBR14 Bingo: Monster (there are several monsters in this story, both humanoid and not)

Official book description:

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.

So total honesty here. This was my local fantasy/sci-fi book club pick for March. Yup, nearly eight months ago. I read the first three issues, then got incredibly distracted by something or other, I don't even remember what anymore, and just left the trade paperback lying unattended until I finally got round to finishing the book in the middle of October, because it seemed like the easiest way to complete the "Monster" bingo square. Also, I was annoyed at myself for not finishing what is basically six issues of a comic book, something I can normally get through in about an hour. 

Splitting my reading of the story this way means that I barely have any memory of what happened in the earliest issues, and my comprehension of the later issues was somewhat hampered by me just spending some time re-reading. As the blurb says, the story is set in an alternate history, in turn of the 20th Century Asia, where instead of the majority of society being ruled and controlled by men, women are in power. So far, so cool. There's clearly been some sort of horrific war, and there are humans and talking cats and strange animal/people hybrids. There seems to be an organisation of powerful women who take the shall-we-say non-standard people captive and perform horrific experiments on them. Our heroine is a young woman called Maika Halfwolf, who is now an orphan and has suffered a bunch of trauma due to the wars. She only has one arm and is the Monstress of the title because some sort of scary life-sucking monster has taken up residence inside her, and they are now battling for control. 

For those with a weak constitution or sensitivity issues, there are probably a whole host of trigger warnings in this story. I recall there being horrific violence all over the place and generally a lot of unpleasantness, which is why I put the comic down in the first place. At the same time, this series has a lot of critical acclaim and has won a bunch of very prestigious awards over the years, so I should probably go back and give the book a new chance at a later date when I'm in a better headspace. The art by Sana Takeda is next-level and so beautiful that some of the unpleasantness just gets even more visceral. However, at this juncture, the book gets only 2 stars from me, because I pretty much finished the first volume out of stubbornness and remember very few details about the story at all. 

Judging a book by its cover: Sana Takeda's art really is breathtaking. While I probably should have given this book more dedicated attention, there is no denying that the art is amazing, and this cover image is very eye-catching. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR14 Book 31: "She Who Became the Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR14 Bingo: Star (Zhu might be described as something of a rising star within the Chinese power structure of the day, and also the sun is literally a star. I'm so very clever).

Back in the 14th Century, the Mongols had conquered and ruled Imperial China. In a small village, drought and famine have killed the majority of the population. A nameless girl (one of the few children left in the village) has managed to stay alive thanks to her ingenuity. When her older brother, who had been prophecied a glorious future and her father die, the girl is has the choice to accept death as well, or to fight fate itself by assuming her dead brother's identity and striving to achieve the greatness likely. Zhu Chongba walks to the nearest monastery and despite all of the monks' attempts to drive her away, waits patiently outside, taking no food nor water for three days and three nights, until the monks relent and take her in as a novice.

Several years later, when novice Zhu Chongba has just been anointed as a monk, the Mongol's infamous eunuch general comes to the monastery and demands enough tribute in support of the ongoing war that the abbot there flatly refuses, and as a result the general orders the whole place burned to the ground. Zhu survives and has to seek out the Red Turban rebels, the Chinese warriors who oppose the Mongols. Small and ridiculed, Zhu ends up in the army vanguard as they are off to fight the Mongols, and through a combination of cleverness and pure luck (or is it the fates looking out for her), Zhu sets in motion a series of events that lead to a very unlikely victory for the Red Turbans. Zhu Chongba's rise toward success continues.

Zhu may be smaller than most warriors (and obviously hiding a big secret), but she is very intelligent and uses her smarts to maneuver the intricate politics of the Red Turbans, steadily rising in the ranks, until she is leading a large part of their army herself. Again and again, her path seems to cross with that of Ouyang, the eunuch general, and with each encounter, Zhu relentlessly finesses herself closer to her ultimate goal, the greatness her young, long-dead brother was promised. 

This is Shelley Parker-chan's debut novel, which she herself described as" a queer reimagining of the rise to power of the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. It’s also a fun story about gender". So She Who Became the Sun is a fantasy retelling of actual historical events. Some of the people in my book club thought the book was almost more of a straight historical fiction with some fantastical elements (there are ghosts and a smattering of magic) rather than a straight fantasy. Even if the book title hadn't given a pretty strong hint as to how our protagonist is going to fare (it's not called The little peasant girl who died nameless and forgotten), history itself may provide some spoilers. The novel has been nominated for a number of big literary awards, like the Locus, Aurealis and Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. Parker-Chan is the first Australian author to be nominated for a Hugo award for Best Novel, and while the book didn't win that award, it won both Best Newcomer and Best Fantasy Novel at the 2022 British Fantasy awards. 

The book was the September book in my local fantasy and sci-fi book club, and we had a record number of attendees for the actual meeting, with the majority of participants having really liked the novel. The discussion continued way longer than the normal hour we usually spend because so many people had interesting things to say about it. Some of the readers thought that a lot of the Chinese terms and descriptions of the culture were a bit complicated, and could have been explained better. It was pointed out that similar things happen in more Euro-centric fantasies all along, with no one batting an eyelid, and the fact that the author just assumes that the readers will figure out what terms like "the Mandate of Heaven" entails, and how Mongol and Chinese cultural norms and values are similar or different from context clues was one of the book's strengths. 

It was very interesting to read an unashamedly queer novel where two of the central characters, our protagonist Zhu Chongba and her antagonist General Ouyang are both fascinating, complex, ambitious, and driven. Both are rather amoral and at times very unsympathetic, willing to sacrifice pretty much everything to achieve their goals. In Zhu's case, this is to achieve the greatness that was promised to her dead brother, to be able to fool heaven itself into letting her assume his identity. In the case of the general, an ethnically Chinese man who was enslaved by the Mongols, and castrated rather than murdered along with the rest of his family for perceived treason, is seemingly loyal to the Mongols but has secretly been plotting to avenge his kin by overthrowing his Yuan masters. 

Very few people realise that Zhu is a woman assuming the identity of a man, and she doesn't really embody any of the virtues and qualities her society ascribes to women. She's also described from the start as small and ugly (frequently like a cricket) Meanwhile, General Ouyang is described as uncommonly beautiful and despite his gift for strategy and his military successes is reviled and mocked by the majority of the Yuan elite. He fights his attraction to his best friend (unfortunately also the son and heir of the man who killed his family and enslaved him) and strives to be the epitome of masculinity. Another interesting contrast to Zhu Chongba is Ma Yingzi, the woman Zhu ends up marrying. Also very intelligent and observant, and sadly ignored and overlooked by most people in her life, Ma fulfills the more traditional feminine ideal in society. 

There are a lot of interesting explorations of identity and gender in the book, which is also a relatively fast-paced and action-packed novel that explores a period of history in a part of the world most Western readers certainly rarely know a lot about. In my book club, several people commented that they were surprised at how short the section where Zhu is in the monastery ends up being, while the plot moves our protagonist into the company of the Red Turban rebels and starts charting Zhu's uncommonly rapid progression through the military ranks until she is a Commander. 

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first in a duology (although I won't exactly be surprised if it ends up being a trilogy - it wouldn't be the first time), and based on this, I'm very much looking forward to seeing where the story goes next. 

Judging a book by its cover: There are two main covers for this book, both in shades of yellow and orange. I much prefer this one, with its big windy Chinese dragon, to the other one, where you see the silhouettes of a bunch of horse-mounted warriors, led by a shadowy figure. There's a big orange sun in the sky and some dark banners floating in front of it. I much prefer the dragon cover. I'm not super happy about the "tag line", as I'm really not sure the third part - hero, is applicable to anyone in this story, certainly not Zhu.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR14 Book 4: "Something Fabulous" by Alexis Hall

Page count: 363 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:

Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern, has twin problems: literally.

It was always his father’s hope that Valentine would marry Miss Arabella Tarleton. But, unfortunately, too many novels at an impressionable age have caused her to grow up…romantic. So romantic that a marriage of convenience will not do and after Valentine’s proposal she flees into the night determined never to set eyes on him again.

Arabella’s twin brother, Mr. Bonaventure “Bonny” Tarleton, has also grown up…romantic. And fully expects Valentine to ride out after Arabella and prove to her that he’s not the cold-hearted cad he seems to be.

Despite copious misgivings, Valentine finds himself on a pell-mell chase to Dover with Bonny by his side. Bonny is unreasonable, overdramatic, annoying, and…beautiful? And being with him makes Valentine question everything he thought he knew. About himself. About love. Even about which Tarleton he should be pursuing.

Just in case anyone was wondering, this book is unashamedly and extremely queer. It would not surprise me if several of the innkeepers and random people who are encountered over the course of the story and barely get to say two lines are also queer, it just didn't fit into the narrative to confirm how and in what way. So considering it's also a Regency romance, some disbelief will need to be suspended, because the very illegal nature of many of these queer relationships is not really dealt with in any way. Which was fine by me. 

I wanted to give this book five stars, but Arabella Tarleton made it utterly impossible for me. I get that she's a woman of meager financial means placed in a pretty undesirable situation with regards to her family wanting her to marry a duke she in no way likes or wished to spend any time with, but the completely irresponsible way she runs off and keeps spreading melodramatic lies about her situation was just insufferable to me. It might have been fine if it happened once, but the second or third time Valentine and Bonny catch up with her and she still keeps on with her ridiculous slander, I wished someone would drown her in a lake. I'm sure I should feel more sympathy for someone of my own gender, but I found her deeply frustrating and couldn't understand why her lovely companion put up with her either. Everyone in this story, including her twin, would have been better off without her. 

The rest of this book was delightful and I laughed out loud several times. Poor Valentine may be a rich and powerful duke, but he's deeply out of touch with his feelings and it was probably good that he had to go haring off through the south of England on an unusual road trip with a handsome young man, even with some of the misadventures they have along the way. 

Boyfriend Material is still my favourite Alexis Hall novel, but until the sequel comes out later this year and possibly surpasses it, this is in second place for me. 

Judging a book by its cover: I'm honestly not entirely sure what I think about this cover. I think I like it? I do like the very colourful coats on our heroes, but the face of the individual I think is supposed to be Valentine seems too leering and wrong to me. I also would have wished for more of a background image, not just ghostly outlines of buildings. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 102: "The Prince and the Dressmaker" by Jen Wang

Page count: 288 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family.

Sebastian has just turned sixteen. He wants to be a dutiful son and does his best to please his parents, but he really doesn't feel comfortable with all the match-making they're suddenly doing. He doesn't dare tell anyone that in the evenings, alone in his chambers, he likes dressing up in women's clothing. At his birthday ball, he sees a young, confident noblewoman wearing a very avant-garde dress. He knows what he needs to do.

Frances is a young seamstress, and about to lose her job. Instead of listening to the wishes of the noble lady PAYING for the dress she was making, she asked the young lady who would be wearing the outfit what she would like and designed a frock accordingly. It was unusual and shocking and her employer is furious. Luckily, as she's about to be shown the door, a tall gentleman arrives at the dress shop to enquire who made the dress in question, and discovers it was Frances. He offers her a huge sum of money to leave her job at the dressmaker's (not really a problem, as she was seconds away from being fired) and come work for an anonymous employer. While Frances is nervous, she doesn't really have any choice. 

During their first meeting, Frances' employer wants her to be blind-folded. Frances explains that she can't really fully do her job if she can't see who she's designing for, so her employer appears wearing a thick veil instead. However, some clumsiness and unfortunate timing means the veil is ripped off during the meeting, and her mystery employer is revealed to be none other than Prince Sebastian. He expects her to run off, disgusted, but instead, she is intrigued. She doesn't really care why he wants to wear or why, she just wants a chance to design some stunning and original outfits.

Sebastian starts going out at night, donning a wig and wearing Frances' amazing creations. He takes the name lady Crystallia and very rapidly becomes a fashion icon. Soon, Frances is seeing her creations recreated everywhere, but no one knows that she is the designer of the beautiful outfits and she has no chance of ever becoming famous and making a grand career as long as no one must connect the prince's personal dressmaker with lady Crystallia's creative modiste, lest they figure out lady Crystallia's true identity. 

One benefit of being strapped for time and needing to read things that I could get through quickly at the end of the year is that I've been able to read more of the comics/graphic novels on my TBR list, including this one. I saw some reviewers on Goodreads criticise the fact that it's never addressed as part of the story how Sebastian identifies. Are they trans, non-binary, or in some other way gender-fluid? Does Sebastian not want to get married because of his/their sexual orientation, or is it just that sixteen really is quite young to have a parade of young, accomplished ladies presented to you and be asked to make a choice that will impact the rest of your life. Sebastian's parents may not have started out as a love match (this is never addressed), but they clearly have an affectionate and strong partnership now and seem to be good role models to aspire towards in a relationship sense. As teenagers, many are still questioning and determining their true identities. Asking someone to decide who they're going to spend the rest of their life with at that age is unfair, whether the individual is straight or queer.

The story is lovely, sad in places, but ultimately very heart-warming. The art is absolutely stunning, and I'm glad the illustrations were in colour, so I could fully appreciate Frances' design genius in Crystallia's gorgeous outfits throughout. This is set in a sort of alternate turn of the century (the 19th to the 20th, that is, not 20th to the 21st), where royalty and noble titles are becoming a bit more obsolete, and modern inventions and department stores are beginning to emerge. It also seems to be a world in which royal parents are surprisingly accepting and progressive, given a bit of time to think and reflect.

My main complaint is that I wanted more romance - which is barely present at all! Whine, whine, whine. Still, it's a lovely story with amazing art. I'm glad this was one of the last things I read in this dreaded year.

Judging a book by its cover: The cover gives you a really nice impression of Jen Wang's art style in the book, with the silhouette of Lady Crystallia sort of looming over prince Sebastian and Frances. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

 

#CBR12 Book 82: "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Max Brooks

Page count: 352 pages

Audio book length: 12 hrs 9 mins

Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the audiobook captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the listener, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

As it's getting harder for me to find the motivation and time to read (and review) coupled with the fact that I'm getting older and more set in my ways, I have a tendency to pick up only books I'm pretty sure I'm going to like, and rarely move out of my comfort zone. I've also gotten better about just giving up on books that just aren't working for me. This year, that was The Three-Body Problem, seriously, after a third of the book, I gave up, read the Wikipedia summary, which was just as boring and confusing to me as the book had been, and concluded that I'm just never going to read that book. One consequence of only picking books in my "safe zone" is that it gets harder for me to pick my worst of the year, as I rarely finish and review books I truly loathe anymore. Another consequence, of course, is that I rarely get properly surprised. 

One exception to this comes from my book club selections. There's obviously the Cannonball Read book club, and also my fantasy/sci-fi club, which meets the first Wednesday of every month (sadly only on-screen now, with corona restrictions). Not all of the books of the month are books I would have picked up on my own (this is also why I've read part of, but not finished the aforementioned The Three-Body Problem). Our book pick for October (to be discussed in November) was this, World War Z. The book is not exactly new,  so I'd heard about it, but never read it - because I really am not a big fan of zombies. The fact that the movie adaptation was supposed to be dire didn't exactly make me more excited about it.

Still, I try to show up prepared and like to have read at least part of the books in question. Another member recommended the all-cast audiobook (telling me to make sure I got the full text, not the abridged version), so I got it on Audible. Within only a few chapters, I was utterly engrossed and found myself listening to the book every chance I got. This book was such a wonderful surprise because I'd thought I would suffer through it, getting squicked out by horror and gore, and instead found myself fascinated by the way the story is told and the way Max Brooks (who I also had no idea was the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft until I read up a bit about him) structures his narrative. I will be very surprised if this book isn't on my top 10 of the year - something I wouldn't have believed before I picked it up. 

I have a Masters Degree in history, and for much of my university courses, I specialised in medieval history and particularly social history at that. I really am not all that bothered about battles, politics, various heads of state, and the like, give me the nitty-gritty of how people lived and all of these big events impacted on regular people, and I will eat it up. So a book chronicling the aftermath of what is known as the zombie wars, where we hear from ex-soldiers, scientists, politicians, regular people and so forth all over the world, which in itself was very refreshing. There is no singular focus on America and Americans here, but "witness accounts" from every part of the globe, even Antarctica, and even features interviews with ex-astronauts. The book covers part of the actual war, but also a lot of the aftermath, and the changes the zombie outbreak caused to society, including social, political, religious, environmental, and financial developments. 

As with Station Eleven, which was certainly a strange book to reread during a global pandemic, a book where the various government powers are criticised for their shortsightedness and how ill-prepared they are to handle a global crisis also took on unexpected additional relevancy now - with the death toll from Covid-19 still rising steadily, especially in the USA. The book was picked for our book club long before we knew what this year was going to look like, so as with Station Eleven, it was just one of those strange coincidences.

I'm really glad that I turned out to be wrong about this book, and my fellow book club member who recommended the full cast version was not wrong. It's an excellent way to listen to the book, and it makes the fates of the various people we meet seem all the more realistic, as you hear them not through the voice of one narrator, but as if you were listening to actual interview recordings. The voice cast is very star studded (go to Wikipedia to see the full list) and I had fun trying to identify some of the actors taking part.

This book should stand as a reminder to me that it's important that I still read outside of my comfort zone occasionally and that I try genres and books that I think are going to be difficult to read or that might make me uncomfortable because occasionally I discover a new favourite - and that's never a bad thing. 

Judging a book by its cover: I've got to admit, the rather plain and unremarkable cover of this book is one of the reasons I've never really bothered to give the book much of a second look. It's not exactly inviting, in shades of muddy brown, with only the plain title on the cover. Doesn't look too riveting, does it?

Crossposted by Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 70: "The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" by Stuart Turton

Page count: 519 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description:

"Gosford Park" meets "Groundhog Day" by way of Agatha Christie – the most inventive story you'll read this year.

Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed... again.

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

This book, which was renamed The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle when it was published in the USA (so it wouldn't be confused with The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hugo) was the August selection in our fantasy/sci-fi book club. It very much mixes your traditional 1920s-1930s set house party cozy mystery at a country estate with a strange sci-fi element, where our protagonist wakes up in a new body every morning. The house party where Evelyn Hardcastle ends up murdered every night is set at a remote, rather worn down manor house surrounded by woods. Nearby is a graveyard, and the lake next to which one of the Hardcastle sons was brutally stabbed to death several decades ago. The house party is allegedly to celebrate Evelyn's betrothal, and there are a large number of posh guests convening to gossip, get drunk, hunt, and generally enjoy themselves at the Hardcastles' expense. All of these guests are also accompanied by servants, so there is no lack of murder suspects. 

Aiden, our protagonist, finds himself in a new host body every morning. Sometimes he's in the body of someone rich and influential, sometimes he's in the body of a servant. He inhabits each body from morning until evening but can switch back to an earlier body if his current host falls asleep or loses consciousness in a different way. He is deeply confused for quite a while (and the reader with him) until a mysterious figure dressed in an old plague doctor's costume explains to him that he has seven days to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. She dies at 11pm every evening, and if Aiden can figure out the name of the killer and give it to the plague doctor before the cycle is over, he is free to leave. If he fails, he will have his memory wiped and start the whole seven-day process over again. To further complicate matters, there are other individuals at the house party who are also trying to solve the murder, and it's not in their interest to co-operate with Aiden. Finally, to add a real slasher movie element to the proceedings - there's a psychopathic footman who is determined to kill all of Aiden's host bodies before he identifies the killer.

As well as being strongly influenced by Agatha Christie, there are elements of Black Mirror, Doctor Who, and Groundhog Day. When we discussed it during our book club meeting, we agreed that the book is very entertaining, even though very few of the characters we encounter in the book is especially likable and there is some truly egregious and very unfortunate fat-shaming in parts of the book (one of Aidan's host bodies is a very intelligent, but also very obese nobleman, and Aidan is clearly utterly disgusted to be "trapped" in that body). The book posits some interesting ideas on the nature of forgiveness and the efficacy of prisons as means of rehabilitation, but sadly doesn't really delve properly into them. The author seemed mostly concerned with his very high concept idea (Agatha Christie mystery meets Groundhog Day) and doesn't take a lot of time to really anything too deep or philosophical. 

Clever, unusual, and interesting as this book is, the fat-shaming aspect bothered most of the readers in my book club, and as far as I can see from online reviews has been enough of a problem to make it impossible for some readers to finish the book. Since I was pre-warned, so to speak, I forced myself to read, despite my intense discomfort, and I'm glad I continued because the central mystery of the book is cleverly structured, with just enough twists and turns that every time you think you've got an idea of what's happening, it turns out there's one final twist. 

This is the sort of book I would never have picked up on my own, so I'm glad I discovered it through my book club. This was Turton's debut novel and it won a bunch of awards. He has a new novel out any day now, which looks to be another unusual mystery. 

Judging a book by its cover: Not exactly the most exciting of covers, showing only the staircase in what seems to be an old house. The black and white floor tiles in the hall are a bit reminiscent of a chessboard, but the intricate game the characters in the book find themselves in is a lot more convoluted than a chess game. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 61: "A Heart of Blood and Ashes" by Milla Vane

Page count: 555 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description: 

A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil - until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.

Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.

Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surpri sing is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

This book is pretty much your ultimate enemies to lovers story. There isn't just the flirty banter of rivalling colleagues in an office or dislike growing into attraction and affection, Maddek, our grouchy and grieving hero really is initially prepared to kill Yvenne, our clever and vengeful heroine, when they first meet. He hates her father and brothers and believes she is the reason his wise and brave parents were tricked away from the safety of their own lands and into enemy territory, where they were betrayed and killed.

Yvenne may be the daughter of a king and a legendary warrior queen, but she has not been raised in pomp and privilege, rather kept captive in a tower and forced to watch her father's abuse of her mother for years. Both her father and most of her brothers have abused her horribly, both physically and emotionally and desperate for a marriage alliance with a powerful and honourable tribe, Yvenne begged for Maddek's parents' help to get her away from her family. Her plan backfired spectacularly, and she feels terrible guilt about her role in their deaths, and the suffering they went through at the hands of her father, brothers and the men loyal to them. While she is physically weak and crippled, she nevertheless has her mother's blood in her veins, and the gifts of the goddess that bless the women of her line, and she's determined to be a worthy queen to her people. She just needs a man strong enough to defeat her father to marry her, so she can claim her birthright and inheritance.

Maddek's tribe values truthfulness above all, and before she died, Maddek's mother made Yvenne swear never to lie to him. Unfortunately, Maddek's grief and anger make it impossible for him to trust or believe anything Yvenne says, and he makes her swear never to even utter his mother's name (or he'll cut out her tongue). The massive distrust between the two doesn't exactly create a fertile ground for a good and strong relationship. Nor does it help that thanks to her father's mistreatment of her mother, Yvenne was born too early and barely survived her childhood. She's also been additionally crippled by her family after trying to help Maddek's mother escape. She's a far cry from the legendary warrior queens that make up her ancestors, nor is she anything like the independent, strong and capable warrior women of Maddek's nomadic tribe. When they meet, she's never even ridden a horse. 

What Yvenne does have is a fierce intelligence, a burning ambition, and the years spent being trained by her mother in the statecraft, manipulation and intrigue that a good queen will need to excel at. Her mother possessed psychic abilities and was able to see far and wide outside the tower she and Yvenne were captives in, and she told Yvenne everything and taught her as well as she could, to prepare her for her future. Yvenne loves her people and works very hard to get to know Maddek's loyal companions as well, knowing that she needs to learn as much about her new tribe as possible to be a worthy queen to them, even if she's nothing like what they value in a woman. 

This is not exactly a light-hearted or carefree book. In this barbarian world, an alternate reality where humans live side by side with pre-historic lizards and other dangerous beasts, physical strength and prowess in battle is valued. The gods that the various people believe in are very real and occasionally interfere directly in the lives of their followers. Some characters are blessed by the gods, others make horrible sacrifices to gain unholy magical powers for their own gain. 

There has been a lot of war, and death and all manner of atrocities and war crimes. Unscrupulous and evil men use rape as a weapon to demean and torture women (not directly described in the story, but there have clearly been loved one's raped in both the protagonists' pasts). A generation ago, the near-unstoppable and ruthless warlord known as the Destroyer was vanquished, but he didn't die, and there are rumours that he is on the move, coming back for another invasion. The various tribes of this world need a strong alliance to stand against him, and as prophecy would have it, Yvenne and Maddok are central to mounting a defense against him. 

I haven't really said much about the excellent world-building or the cast of interesting (and diverse) supporting characters, because this review is already getting long and if I'm ever to get through my backlog, I need to get better at being brief in my write-ups. Suffice it to say, two thumbs up for this too.

Milla Vane also wrote paranormal romances as Meljean Brook, whose Iron Seas novels, set in a Steampunk alt-Victorian world, are among my all-time favourites of the paranormal genre. As far as I can tell, she (like so many others) have had a difficult few years since she last published a novel back in 2014. I know she's been working on this new, pre-historic barbarian world for a long time, and thankfully for the reader, there are already two full novels and a novella to enjoy. My friend and fellow reviewer Emmalita absolutely raves about the books (and was lucky enough have her review quoted in Ms. Vane's social media promos). I have enough trust in the author after four novels and a few novellas set in the Iron Seas that I've already purchased everything Ms. Vane has published so far, but due to the darker subject matter and slightly grimmer feel to these books, I also don't feel in the mood to binge all three available stories in one go. I'm going to need a month or two to recover between books. 

Judging a book by its cover: Anyone seeing this cover, has to have at least a vague inkling that it's not your run of the mill Regency romance novel. There's the title, which suggests some dark subject matters. Then there's the cover model, who is wearing very little, except for some scraps of leather, scraps, and a whole lot of dirt and grime. The author describes this as "barbarian romance" and I think the cover sells that aesthetic very well indeed. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 4: "Red, White & Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston - audio book edition

Page count: 425 pages
Rating: 12 hrs 15 mins
Rating: 5 stars

My original, and extremely enthusiastic review of this book, can be found here.

This was my first re-read (of what I'm sure will be many) and this time, I chose to listen to the audio book. When I first listened to the sample available on Audible, I was honestly not sure if I liked Ramon de Ocampo's narration, but after seeing the audio book of this highlighted on a bunch of best of the year lists, I decided to give him a chance. Of course, the samples never really turn out to be representative, as I always listen to the books in 1.5 speed (it takes far too long to get through the books otherwise). The long and short of it is, I needn't have worried, he turned out to be a great narrator. If I wanted to be super picky, I could note that some of his British accents were a bit less consistent and could have been better in places (note that I'm married to an Englishman and lived in the UK for six years, so I possibly have higher standards than some for this).

Re-reading this book just brought home once again that I was entirely correct to choose this as my top book of 2019. It's funny, touching, emotional, deeply romantic, very sexy. I didn't know that much about the author when I first read the book, and having since read more about her, it's great to see how pleased and surprised she is about the staggering success of her debut novel. The (frankly hilarious) chapter where Alex is coming to terms with his bisexuality and in the end realises that "straight people usually don't spend this much time telling themselves they're straight" is in part based on her own realisations in her early twenties that she was queer and she's had a lot of very positive responses from readers about it too, which just proves that the book reads true to a lot of people. I love that part of what she wanted with the book was to subvert the image of the perfect Prince Charming, and created Henry, who uses his looks and charm to hide to the world how conflicted, gay, rebellious and prone to depression he is.

Of the two protagonists, I love Henry the most. I just want to wrap him up in a warm hug and tell him everything is going to be ok, and he needs to stay brave, because everything WILL work out in the end. Alex is a bit much and can absolutely get a bit exasperating at times, but the two guys are just so perfect together and the semi-epistolary sections towards the second half of the book, when they communicate through text messages and poetic e-mails to one another make me swoon.

I mentioned in my original review that pretty much every single supporting character is solid gold as well. I would quite happily read whole novels about Alex' sister June, their best friend Nora, Henry's sister Bea or his best friend Pez, as well. I would happily read a book about President Ellen Claremont and how she met her husband, or the romance between Henry's parents, the princess with a doctorate and the actor who played James Bond. Even tertiary characters like the White House Chief of Staff, Alex' bodyguards or Henry's equerry are fully fleshed out and interesting to me. That barely ever happens in a novel and I both love and slightly hate McQuiston for giving me this perfect cast of characters and then never letting me find out what happens to all of them after Alex and Henry find their happy ending at the end of the book.

This book ended up not just on my (and tons of other) best of the year list, but won both the "Best Debut novel" and "Best Romance" at the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. It's an utter delight and very good escapist literature during these dark days of ours. I cannot recommend it warmly enough.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.