CBR18 Book 45: "Witch Season" by Julia Bianco

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR18 Bingo: Refuge (The Aestas coven works hard to be a safe haven and refuge for young witches who have snapped and would normally be ostracised by other witches) 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC. This book is on sale now. 

There are two types of witches (in this world, all magic users are called witches, regardless of gender). The ones who are born from families with established magic, who grew up as part of a coven, and who are therefore guided and helped through the process of manifesting their magic, and then there are "unsettled" witches, who manifest their magic in their late adolescence or early teens in an explosive "snap", usually in a stressful situation or when they lose their temper about something. These snaps can cause immense injury and even death, and tend to be very traumatic for the young witch in question. 

Katherine Barnes, who is now the enforcer for the Aestas coven in Los Angeles, was one such witch, and when she snapped as a teenager, she collapsed an entire wing of her high school, leading to three deaths and countless injuries. Katherine ran from her home, abandoning her family, and ended up helpless and desperate in Los Angeles, where Sylvia, the leader of Aestas, found her and helped her through the very turbulent first years until Katherine's magic settled. Now she has a new name, a magically altered appearance and lives in constant fear and guilt about her past catching up to her. 

Katherine is trying to figure out who is manufacturing and selling magical drugs to regular humans. She's also trying to help a newly unsettled teenage girl named Lily come to terms with her recent snap. On top of everything, Aestas is expecting its annual "audit" from Noctis, the most powerful coven of the United States. Sylvia, Katherine's boss and mentor, is on edge and stressed. She's noticed her own powers fading and is having trouble keeping up with her responsibilities as coven leader. She fears that Silas Khatri, heir to the Noctis coven, is there to replace her (she's not entirely wrong - his parents have sent him to find faults with Sylvia's leadership so he can replace her, but he really doesn't want to take over the coven) and becomes desperate to find a solution that will allow her to retain control.

It's been quite a while since I read any new paranormal/urban fantasy, but this was a very promising start to what seems to be a new series. Katherine, our protagonist, lost her biological family when she snapped and has managed to find a new family among the Aestas coven. She takes her job enforcing the coven's rules very seriously, but her loyalty and sense of gratitude towards Sylvia also make her willing to overlook a lot of very questionable behaviour, which she would clearly not have tolerated from anyone else. 

On the surface of things, Silas Khatri might seem like the antagonist. He's rich, handsome, comes from what basically amounts to witch royalty, and there is clearly bad blood between his parents and Sylvia because of things that went down when Sylvia first discovered her own magic powers (she never snapped, despite coming from a non-magical family). However, Silas has no wish to be the heir to the Noctis coven; he just wants to live a quiet life and teach magically adept teenagers. He has no desire to snoop into the daily workings of the Aestas coven and replace Sylvia as leader. He is immediately attracted to Katherine, but also understands why she is so distrustful of him. She doesn't realise that he is a much harsher critic of himself than she can ever be. 

After there is a massive explosion in a shopping centre in Los Angeles, Katherine and Silas have to work together to figure out whether it was caused by rogue magic or something else. This proves to be a dangerous job, since someone is trying to murder Silas, and Katherine is caught in the crossfire. 

This first book establishes some of the world-building of the series, and the plot developments leave both of our central characters, Katherine and Silas, in new and difficult positions by the end of the book. I'm excited to see how Ms. Bianco further develops the series. 

CBR18 Book 3: "Silver & Blood" by Jessie Mihalik

Page count: 448 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this ARC. It has not affected my opinions or my review.

About a year ago, the small village where Riela lives alone after the death of her father was threatened by a flood. Riela unlocked magical powers and managed to divert the water and save the village. Now one of the villagers has been savaged by a monster in the woods, and the mostly hostile villagers insist that she go into the forest and dispatch the monster for them. Unfortunately, Riela doesn't really have much control over her magical powers, and when she encounters a scary creature seemingly made out of tangled vines, which then divides itself into two, she's pretty convinced this is how she's going to die.

It would be a fairly short book if Riela died in the opening scenes; however, instead, she is rescued by a handsome, yet grouchy, mage and wakes up in his strange castle, where she initially can't go anywhere but where the castle feels like letting her go. While she's happy to have escaped death, Riela is upset when Garrick reveals that she is now confined to the forest. There's a magical spell that traps anyone with magical powers inside its borders, so now Riela can't return home. While Garrick claims she can stay in his magical castle (with a gorgeous library) and that he'll help her try to get better at controlling her magic, he also seems deeply suspicious of her and her motives. 

Spending more time together, Riela discovers why Garrick is so suspicious of her. He is, in fact, one of the legendary Etheri sovereigns, and because of a curse, he has been kept away from his magical realm for the last century, and now it seems like Riela might be instrumental in helping him open the gate again. Was she sent there by his enemies with sinister motives, or is she what she appears to be, an orphaned village woman with no idea how to control her magic? 

There are strong Beauty and the Beast vibes in this first part of a fantasy duology. The orphaned village maiden. The strange, magical castle in the woods (although there is no talking furniture in this one). The grouchy resident of said castle, and the maiden's inability to go back home. There is also a shapeshifting wolf, but he's the sidekick, not our hero. While the mystical, magical beings of this fantasy are called the Etheri (there's a bunch of different courts, ruled by various sovereigns), they are very fay-coded, both in their grace and viciousness. 

When I received this ARC, I thought this was the first part in a trilogy. I am very happy to discover that it's a duology instead, and according to Ms. Mihalik's website, book 2 may be coming out towards the end of 2026. There was a lot to like in this book, although the stretch where Garrick's internal monologue seems to switch between how attractive he finds Riela and how convinced he is that she is some dangerous creature sent to entrap him somehow goes on for too long. 

It's going to come as no surprise to anyone who has read fantasy in the past that there is more to Riela's identity than meets the eye, and the plot of the story is trying to figure out both how Garrick can get the magically sealed portal in his castle garden open again, so he can go back to his magical court, and why Riela's magic is so strange and she seems to be the key to getting the portal open again. 

For the most part, I liked the banter between Riela and Garrick, and I especially enjoyed Riela's disastrous attempts to get the magical castle to conjure food for her. For the first half of the book, the entire story is just Garrick and Riela, but in the second half, more supporting cast are introduced, and I liked their interactions with both Garrick and Riela. This book ends in a good place, while still making me very excited to read the second part. 

Silver & Blood comes out on January 27th, 2026. 

Judging a book by its cover: Mostly, I really love this cover, drawn by the talented Luisa Preissler (although I'm not sure why Garrick appears to have forgotten to put on his shirt. The silver embroidery on Garrick's tunic is nice, as are the tiny white flowers in Riela's hair. The castle in the background and the red roses are also cool story elements to include.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 33: "These Summer Storms" by Sarah Maclean

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Book Bingo: Family

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Alice Storm hasn't had any contact with her family for five years, since she went public with some unsavoury company secrets and her father disowned her. Now her larger-than-life father, Franklin Storm, is dead, and she has to return to the family's private island off Rhode Island to pay her respects. She isn't planning on staying past the funeral, but it seems even in death, Franklin is determined to control his family.

He has left his widow and Alice's three siblings letters with specific instructions. They all have to stay on the island for a week, performing the various tasks and challenges, or neither of them will inherit anything at all. Alice doesn't get a letter and is quite happy not to inherit a cent, but is told in no uncertain terms that if she leaves before the week is over, neither of her siblings (or her mother) will inherit anything at all. Now, she has no choice but to stay on Storm Island with what remains of her deeply dysfunctional family, with the stern and worryingly attractive Jack Dean, her father's right-hand man (who she had a one-night stand with before she discovered who he really was). 

It becomes very obvious that in the five years Alice has been cut off from her family, a lot of things have changed, but far too many things have seemingly stayed the same. Along with Alice, her mother Elizabeth, her brother Sam and her sisters Greta and Emily, there are also Sam's children, his greedy wife (who everyone hates) and Emily's wife (who seems to be everyone's favourite, and the only one who seems entirely unfazed by the terribly family dynamics playing out over the course of the week. 

While Sarah Maclean usually writes historical romance (many of which I have really enjoyed in the past), this seems to be her debut in contemporary fiction. There is a strong romantic subplot in the novel, but while Alice and Jack and their developing relationship is a compelling story, the heft of the novel is about the four Storm siblings, their mother Elizabeth having a final reckoning, grieving their father and eventually revealing deeply buried secrets which will change everything for them going forward.

There are some pretty strong Succession vibes to this story, and I'm sure Franklin Storm and Logan Roy would have gotten on like a house on fire (or tried to kill each other, it could go either way). Neither of the Storm siblings, nor their in-laws (with the exception of Sam's wife, she's odious), are as absolutely deplorable as the Roy siblings (or their spouses). I found Maclean's cast of characters very compelling, however, and while Alice has the main POV in the story, each of her siblings gets their own chapter, giving the reader more insight into each of them.

While there are twists and turns and several long-buried secrets coming to light in the novel, I'm not sure the point is for the reader to view this as a mystery. Knives Out, this ain't. Some of the reveals seem quite obvious, while others were fun surprises. This book may not work for everyone (just as her romances don't), but I really enjoyed Maclean's first foray into contemporary fiction and would love to read more from her in the future (although I really do want the fourth Hell's Belles novel at some point as well). 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover of this book is clearly not that of a traditional romance novel. We see the four Storm siblings walking along a beach, in an image a lot more like a photograph, there is no clinch cover, or even cutesy cartoony people showing our romance protagonists. Alice and Jack aren't the main feature here; Alice and her siblings, on the other hand, are. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 66: "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros

Page count: 561 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Smash (romantasy - I want it on record that I hate this term, by the way)

Since this has been a huge success and had lots of attention on the TikToks and the like, I'm not even sure if I need to give much of a plot summary, but here goes:

All her life, Violet Sorrengail has wanted to become a Scribe, like her father. However, her mother, a commanding general of the army of Navarre (the fictional country this is set in) will not accept that any child of hers become anything but a dragon rider. Violet's older sister is a dragon rider, Violet's older brother was a dragon rider (until he tragically died), and so Violet also has to join the most insanely dangerous quadrant of the Basgiath war college, even though she's only had about six months since her mother ordered her to change her mind, and she's disabled to boot, so weaker and much more breakable than most of the ruthless candidates surrounding her. 

Violet survives the perilous first task (apparently more than sixty people died before even getting into the college - is that really a good way to run a school?) and now has to stay alive in a literally lethally competitive environment. The lucky first years who survive, may be lucky enough to bond with a dragon and be granted exciting magical powers as a result. Violet has to use all her cunning and guile to survive among her more vicious peers, and there are a lot of people who want her dead, including the imposing Xaden Riorson, son of the man her mother personally executed after a failed rebellion. He and a number of other young family members of rebels are at the school because enrolling (and most likely being killed) was the only option given to them to ensure their survival. 

Violet does make friends, and surprising everyone, survives long enough to get a chance at bonding a dragon. Once that ordeal is over (and she's once again nearly killed), it becomes impossible for her to avoid Xaden any longer, since their dragons are mated, and that means that if something happens to either of them, the other one dies because of the bond bestowed by their dragons. So that's fun. Of course, Xaden might hate her mum, but he is undeniably very hot. Despite having every reason for wanting her dead and having lots of opportunities to get her killed, Xaden instead seems amused by Violet, even sparring with her and challenging her - it's all very confusing.

There is danger facing the borders of Navarre, and fewer dragon riders every year to deal with it. It becomes clear during Violet's first year at Basgiath that the country's leadership are hiding things and downplaying the seriousness of the attacks on border villages. Will Violet survive her first year at war college only to find herself thrust into an actual war?

For quite a while, I was usure about reading Fourth Wing because of all the hype on TikTok. Colleen Hoover is beloved on BookTok, and what little I tried of one of her books quickly made it clear that those books are not for me. So I was a bit sceptical. Then my friend Ashley read it last year and made this fun video about the experience. Generally, if Ashley likes a book, I will too (there are exceptions, but they are usually hard sci-fi or horror books).

While I don't think Rebecca Yarros and her dragon romantasy has gotten lots of readers hooked, even the ones who don't tend to read speculative fiction, I don't think she's anywhere near Twilight-levels of popularity and obsession. Because I myself was deeply hooked on the Twilight saga back in the day, and you still can't entirely convince me that the pages of those books weren't laced with crack, removing all critical faculties of the reader and making them impossible to put down. 

Did Fourth Wing hook me as powerfully? No, but I can absolutely see why it's become so popular. I also see why it's been widely criticised, because there are aspects of the world building that just do not make a lick of sense. Violet is a better heroine than Bella Swan, mainly because she has some agency, and the plot doesn't just happen to her. But she's also clearly extra super speshul and manages things no one seems to have done before - for why? Who knows? The plot requires it to be that way. Of course there is a love triangle, because these books seem to always have to have one. There's Violet, our plucky heroine, there's Dain, her childhood best friend, who has pretty thoroughly friend-zoned her their entire life, but now seems convinced (despite repeated proof of the opposite) that Violet is too fragile and weak to survive to become a dragon rider, and keeps wanting to smuggle her into the Scribe's quarter. No points for guessing who candidate number three is - if there is a dark, brooding, probably dangerous dude, who your entire surviving family has warned you to stay away from, that's clearly going to be the one guy who's bones you really want to jump. Xaden also gets major points for never underestimating Violet, and instead of coddling her, encourages her to get better, stronger and sneakier. 

While Twilight is YA and Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon who's all about no hanky-panky before marriage  (and let's not forget, if you do have sex, you'll get immediately pregnant with a lifeforce-sucking parasite and literally die giving birth to it), Fourth Wing is aimed at a somewhat older audience, and by the time Violet makes up her mind about which third of the love triangle she prefers (I'm sure you couldn't possibly guess who she picks), there are some pretty graphic sex scenes. Encindiary, one might say. As someone who read a whole lot of smut as a teenager, I don't see a problem with YA readers reading these (or Sarah J Maas or a bunch of other books that seem to be shelved in the YA sections of bookstores despite dealing with much heavier themes). But some people might be shocked, so fair warning. 

As well as having a central premise that just does not make sense Seriously, why kill off most of your promising young people - some of them before they've even made it INTO the school? If your country is fighting a decades-long war, you are going to want as many able-bodied fighters as possible. So only the best can become dragon riders? Fair enough, but why do pretty much all challenges have to be succeed or die? Why not have the ones who fail challenges moved to one of the other three sections of the war college, possibly to start at the bottom, but at least given a chance to be a valuable member of the fighting force. It's quite clear that once the first-years bond with a dragon and start trying to ride on them, a whole bunch of them die anyway. Why kill off  the majority of them before they get to that point and natural selection apparently kicks in? It's maddening, people!

This is my real life bookclub's pick for November, and I'm very much looking forward to the discussion. I hope a whole bunch of people show up, and I suspect there will be many spirited opinions. I'm also glad I waited long enough to read this that third and final book in the series is just around the corner. It's being released in January, so I think I'll wait for December to read book 2 (which I have heard is extremely slow-going in the first half, but gets better towards the end). I'm also glad I liked it because my friend Des took my book to a convention and got it signed and personalised by Rebecca Yarros, so it would suck if I hated it. 

Judging a book by its cover: Despite this book only coming out in 2023, it already seems to have a huge amount of alternate covers, most of them in black and gold. While the hardback is golden with black patterns, I prefer my paperback in matte black, with the pattern in gold and white. Much prettier. 

Crossposted on Cannonballl Read

CBR16 Book 63: "A Taste of Gold and Iron" by Alexandra Rowland

Page count: 510 pages

Audio book length: 18 hrs 20 mins

Rating: 5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Golden Gold in the title and gold as a pivotal part of the plot. Also pretty much all of the central characters are solid gold.

Kadou is the younger brother of the sultan of Arasht and is delighted that she's just given birth to a healthy baby, putting him further down the line of succession. Unfortunately, the baby's father, a powerful ambassador at court, believes Kadou to be jealous and a threat to both his baby niece and his sister. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, because he confides in some of his bodyguards, who massive overreact when they believe his life is later threatened by said ambassador at a hunt. It ends with two of Kadou's bodyguards killed and his sister furious with him.

Kadou has to plead with the sultan to let him stay at court. Kadou is in serious disgrace and hates that he has disappointed his sister. He is also fighting guilt, anxiety and depression after the deaths he feels partially responsible for causing. To keep her brother out of trouble, he is given a new personal bodyguard, the very proper and exacting Evemer, who Kadou is convinced despises him. Nevertheless, Evemer takes his duties very seriously, and accompanies Kadou to dangerous parts of the city, even though he clearly disapproves of the prince's drunken binges and trying to pick fights. After a memorable occasion when the two are ambushed in an alley, and Kadou ends up being the one to save the life of his bodyguard, Evemer's opinion of his charge changes.

To get back into his sister's good graces, Kadou has promised to get to the bottom of a series of thefts that may also be connected to a ring of counterfeiters. Once he and Evemer start to investigate, it's clear that there may be a number of city officials involved in the case, not to mention the self-same ambassador who fathered the sultan's heir and is trying to ingratiate himself further at court. Kadou needs to try to figure out how the thefts and counterfeit coins are connected, why someone is trying to destabilize Arasht's economy and possibly threaten the security of his sister's reign, all the while trying really hard not to fall in love with his taciturn bodyguard.

This book has been on my TBR since it came out and now that I've finished it, I'm really annoyed that it took me so long to finally read it. I listened to about three quarters of it in audiobook, really well narrated by Casey Jones, but got impatient to see how it would end, so ended up reading the rest on my e-reader (then I went back and listened to some of the really romantic bits again, because I really liked how Jones voiced both Kadou and Evemer and wanted to hear their dialogue read to me). 

Far too often, when publishers compare a book to others that have been previously published, the books in question far too often seem to have been selected as some sort of mad lib "book x meets book y", but in this case, I didn't feel lied to about this book being similar to The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Both books are set in elaborate court settings with a reluctant royal just trying their best to do a good job, despite all sorts of personal insecurities holding them back. 

In this case, the book is set in a historical fantasy world inspired by the Ottoman Empire. The eldest child becomes sultan, whether they are male or female, and Kadou's sister is a great secondary character. She is clearly tries to be a fair and just ruler, as well as a loving sister, and sometimes those two roles are difficult to reconcile, especially after Kadou goes and gets himself involved in an embarrassing squabble with a foreign ambassador, with people getting killed in the process. I really liked that children are clearly "belong" only to the mother, who can decide whether they want to grant 'the body-father' any rights to the child at all. The ambassador who fathered the new princess and keeps trying to get all possessive, is repeatedly told that he merely provided his genetic material and that any raising of the child will be done by the sultan herself, and any male members of her family (like Kadou). This is not just the case with the rulers of the country, all men are merely body-fathers, unless the mothers choose to make them more permanent parts of their children's lives.

This is also a very diverse world, where several members of the court are non-binary, with the prounouns çe (che) and çem (chem). Kadou clearly prefers men, but is accepting of the fact that if he has to marry a woman to secure a strategic alliance that would benefit the country, he will do so. The royal family's bodyguards, or khayhalar, are seen more like extended family members than servants, and most of them are extremely well educted and go on to hold important offices in the country's bureaucracy as their careers progress. So Kadou really feels the loss of two of his khayhalar deeply, made all the worse because he is sure he contributed to their deaths. If he hadn't been overly anxious and confided in some of his khayhalar about his sister's ambassador lover, they wouldn't have overreacted when they believed him threatened, and no one would have died. 

Kadou is also suffering from strong anxiety, but believes this to be a personal weakness and that he is a coward. He occasionally suffers from panic attacks, but only one of his khayhalar know about them and has figured out how to calm him down. Evemer, who initially believes Kadou to be "careless, flighty and negligent", not to mention completely unable to take care of himself. So he is rather shocked when Kadou knocks him out with one punch after he patronizingly offers to teach the prince to fight. He's forced to entirely reevaluate his opinion once they are attacked and instead of running away while Evemer does his job and fights the assailants, Kadou, who hadn't been lying about how much self-defence he had been taught, instead stays in the alley and skilfully murders the lot of them remarkably quickly and efficiently. 

In a lot of books, I find excessive mutual pining very frustrating and keep wanting said couple to just get over themselves already. In this book, the growing attraction between Kadou and Evemer is very well done, and the reason neither of them confess their feelings or act on them is clearly explained by their difference in social standing. Kadou believes himself to be a coward, a failure and a disappointment and is far too aware that while it's a very honourable position, Evemer is still his servant. A servant whose duty it is to sacrifice themselves for their charges if necessary. Equally, once Evemer realises that his initial impressions of Kadou were wrong, he believes himself far too lowly to ever be a worthy partner for a prince.

What seems to be a fairly minor investigation into the theft of some documents, turns out to become something a lot more dangerous, not just for Kadou and Evemer, but for the sultan and her baby as well. They come to learn that someone may have turned some of the khayhalar into traitors, and the court is no longer a safe place. There is a wonderful extended sequence where the sultan, her baby girl, Kadou and some of his trusted retainers all hide out with Evemer's mother, who doesn't blink an eye at having to house such exalted company.

I absolutely loved this, and because I waited this long to read it, there is now a sequel novella, as well as another adventure novel by Rowland set in the same universe as this one. So excited to read more. 

Judging a book by its cover: Isn't this cover just the most gorgeous thing? I often don't like covers portraying characters, but this pretty much captures my mental images of Kadou and Evemer perfectly. The hair jewellry, the gorgeous embroidery of the outfits, the background. Kadou holding the coin while Evemer gazes adoringly at him. *heart eyes* In contrast, the UK edition I have, is rather dull. Just a navy cover with some flowers on it. 

Crossposted of Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 55: "Touch Not the Cat" by Mary Stewart

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 3 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: From the decade I was born (1970s)

Smart Bitches Book Bingo: Published in 2000 or earlier (first published 1976)

CBR16 Bingo: Vintage (published 48 years ago)

Briony Ashley is working in Portugal when she recieves word that her father has died, in what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. Her father didn't die instantly, but had time to ramble some strange and slightly mysterious things, among them a warning that Briony needs to be careful. She goes home to what is now her cottage, bordering Ashley Court, the large and expensive estate her father could really only keep by renting out parts of it to wealthy Americans, and letting the National Trust conduct guided tours in other parts of it. Briony is rather relieved that the estate will no longer be her responsibility, and doesn't begrudge her male cousins the inheritance at all. However, she is a bit taken aback when she discovers that several valuable artifacts have been removed from the house. Have they been stolen?

It seems to be an occasional family trait in the Ashley family, going back generations, that some of them have the "sight", that grants them premonitons, and sometimes the ability to telepathically communicate with other family members. Briony has been using this gift since she was a child, able to transmit words and emotions to another, who by now she just calls 'lover' in her mind. She doesn't know the actual identity of her secret telepathic friend, but since the "sight" only seems to be shared by other Ashleys, this 'lover' is most likely one of her three male cousins. Since Briony in time also becomes convinced that one or several of these cousins were responsible for her father's untimely death, the whole telepathic soulmate that she's never actually confirmed the identity of, but who may be a close blood relation gets a bit squicky. 

I've only read one other Mary Stewart mystery, and Madam, Will You Talk? was a lot more batshit than this. In the previous novel, in between chain-smoking from waking up to literally being in bed in the evening, the heroine thought the love interest might be a murderer stalking her through Europe. Here the potential love interest's true identity isn't revealed until about two thirds of the way through, but it's strongly implied that said person may also be a murderer, and even overlooking that, he's one of Briony's cousins. 

There was a much more convoluted plot in the previous book I read, here a lot of the plot is quite slow, and while I see what the author was trying to do with the little snippets of a story from the late 19th Century included at the end of each chapter, I don't think it worked very well and felt rather unneccessary on the whole. Because I bought a whole load of Mary Stewart mysteries in an e-book sale a while back, I'm sure I'll be reading more of them eventually. At the moment, however, I finished this book mainly because it fit into three different bingo challenges. 

Judging a book by its cover: This book came out in the 1970s and consequently has had a number of covers, some of them more baffling and crazy than the next. The cover of my edition is a fairly boring one, with a grave in the foreground and some houses from an English village in the background. Nothing here screams romantic mystery with mild paranormal elements. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 53: "Slow Dance" by Rainbow Rowell

Page count: 496 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Plants or flowers on the cover

Cary and Shiloh were best friends in high school. They saw each other every day, told each other everything, and were utterly inseparable. Everyone thought they were in love and would end up together, but by graduation, they're still just friends. Both come from unstable family environments and dream of getting out of Omaha. Shiloh is going to college to become an actress and Cary has joined the Navy. Once Cary finishes boot camp, he is certain what he wants and needs to do. He shows up at Shiloh's college and they spend 48 hours together, finally acting on their long-repressed feelings for one another. But neither of them is old or mature enough to say what they actually want and need. Shiloh knows Cary has dreamed of seeing the world and getting away from Omaha his whole life, she's not going to stop him from going. Cary has waited and longed for years, but since Shiloh seems perfectly happy to send him on his way, he assumes he misinterpreted her affections.

The two of them don't speak again for fourteen years. Shiloh gets married, has two kids, gets divorced. Cary works diligently in the Navy, slowly advancing in rank. They both get the occasional update about the other's life from their friend Mikey, who was also their best friend (but never like THAT). When Mikey marries for the second time in 2006, both Cary and Shiloh are hoping the other will be there, without wanting to admit to themselves why it's so vital for them to reunite. Shiloh is late for the ceremony, but shows up for the reception, and despite Cary being one of the groomsmen, he and Shiloh pretty much ignore everyone else the whole time, just talking, and eventually slow dancing the evening away. 

Meeting at the wedding may mean another chance for them, but neither Cary nor Shiloh are the unencumbered teenagers they once were. Shiloh is a divorced mother with two young children who lives in her childhood home with her mother, she has a manipulative ex-husband and a job she enjoys. Cary is only back in Omaha on leave for a few days, desperately trying to sort out the finances of his elderly mother and still working for the Navy. He's going to be on a ship in the Pacific for months. They finally manage to talk about their brief, passionate weekend so long ago, and the misunderstandings that led to their heartbreak and disappointment and having no contact for so long. They promise to keep in touch from now on, and Shiloh agrees to help out if something happens to Cary's mother.

This time, when Cary leaves, it's not a total goodbye. He and Shiloh send texts and e-mails and Shiloh steps in and helps when Cary's mother has a fall and needs to be taken to the hospital. Six months of e-mails, letters and care packages later, Cary is sure what he needs to do. But is it too late, has he misinterpreted things again? Can he convince Shiloh that while they squandered more than a decade of their pasts, there is still hope for their future?

I started reading this pretty immediately after finishing Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews. On the surface, the contrast between the two stories could hardly have been greater. One is an action-packed paranormal story full of magical critters and dark gods, while the other is a slow-burn contemporary novel full of wistfulness and regrets. However, both stories are about adults who have been through a lot of disappointment and hardship in their lives and are just doing their best to get by. There is a hope of reconciliation and new beginnings in each of them. 

Rainbow Rowell is one of my favourite authors. After writing the Simon Snow trilogy and for a few different Marvel comics titles, this is her first novel for adults in a decade. Alternating between the characters' present in 2006 and their past, in the 1990s, when Rowell herself was in high school, this story is absolutely not for teens. Shiloh and Cary are in their early thirties and have both lived a life, much of it away from each other, yet never really forgetting about the other. 

For a lot of this book, I felt frustrated about how many misunderstandings and how much of the story was complicated by a failure of the characters to communicate clearly. Rowell has said that of her previous novels, this one is probably a tonal sibling to Eleanor & Park, and that is a good comparison. Neither Cary nor Shiloh had happy, stable home lives growing up. They have messy family situations and life seems to throw a lot of obstacles in their path to a possible happy ending. Rowell also makes it very clear that teenagers are rarely the best at expressing themselves or knowing exactly what they want and need in any given situation. 

While the plot in 2006 progresses in chronological order, the flashbacks to the past keep jumping back to various points in Shiloh and Cary's friendship. The POV changes between Shiloh and Cary and the reader is privy to their thoughts and hopes and therefore the mutual pining for so long throughout the book. It's a very romantic story, for all that it is slow and wistful and the characters have a lot of baggage to work through before daring to take the plunge and love again. 

Both Shiloh and Cary are damaged people, who find it hard to trust. It's one of the reasons they found closeness in their teenage years, and why they still can't let go of the hope of the other, even after fourteen years apart. There's quite a bit of pain and angst before our characters finally get their happy ending, but it feels so worth it once they do. When I got the chance to buy a signed hardback copy while visiting the US, I happily took it, even though I'd already pre-ordered the book to my e-reader months before. Considering how dreadful the exchange rate is for Norwegians at the moment, that should tell you something of my love and dedication to Ms. Rowell. 

Judging a book by its cover: I really don't like the green of the cover (which is slightly lighter on the actual book than in this picture). It feels sort of putrid. The crushed, slightly wiled corsage on the cover seems very appropriate though, considering the story within. It can symbolise a number of things. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 50: "The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love" by India Holton

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Only one bed (and horse)

CBR16 Bingo: And also... (Repeat of the Bananas square, because this book fits the bill)

Beth Pickering is the youngest professor of ornithology at Oxford, and she needs to really impress the faculty if she is to get tenure. She works with wealthy widow Hippolyta Quirm to try to locate and capture rare (and usually dangerous) birds. Just as they are about to capture the coveted deathwhistler, a rival ornithologist, the dashing young Professor Devon Lockley from Cambridge, swoops in and steals the bird away from them. Not only that, he has the temerity to flirt with Beth!

Beth is determined to keep her distance from such an obvious villain as Devon, but that becomes a lot harder to do once a competition to win not only "Birder of the Year", but a large cash prize and tenure for the winning ornithologist is announced. Ornithology is a discipline full of ruthless individuals who are willing to do almost anything to catch their prey, and Beth and Devon discover that they are probably more likely to succeed if they join forces trying to track down the elusive bird in question. Of course, there can only be ONE winner, so sooner or later, one of them is going to have to betray the other. 

What Beth and Devon (and all the other unscrupulous competitors) are unaware of is that the contest is in part to drum up publicity for and increase recruitment to the ornithology departments of British universities, not to mention encourage international tourists to visit Britain. Both Beth and Devon are young, intelligent, and attractive, and publicity agents soon have newspaper reporters trailing them and emphasising just how dashing and compatible they are, spinning a fictional romance in the press long before Beth and Devon can actually act on the growing attraction between them. Constantly finding themselves in locations where there is only one room (with or without the one bed) available, or one horse that they must use to escape pursuers doesn't exactly make them less aware of one another.

Will Beth and Devon succeed in locating the rare bird needed to win "Birder of the Year"? Will they survive the various devious traps and vicious birds thrown at them by competitors (or publicists wanting to secure exciting news coverage of the competition)? Will they actually ever find privacy and peace enough to possibly act on their growing feelings for one another, or will inconvenient interruptions keep occurring? Which of them will actually win the contest (and the coveted tenured position)?

India Holton already wrote three witty and adventurous novels set in an alternate Victorian England with witches, pirates, domestic staff who were also spies, and a bunch of flying houses. In her new series, Love's Academic, there are lots magical birds all over the world, most of them in varying degrees of viciousness, and the academic discipline of ornithology is full of manipulative scoundrels, all working to one-up each other for fame and glory. I'm not going to lie, I care very little for birds, and all the actual ornithology stuff, while wildly fantastical, did very little for me.

This book is an adventure novel, through and through, taking inspiration from films like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and Romancing the Stone. Our protagonists might seem very different at first, but it turns out that always being smarter than everyone else around them, and having to prove their brilliance in academia at a very young age, hasn't exactly made them popular growing up. While Beth has dealt with years of rejection by becoming a very proper, polite, and unfailingly kind young lady, Devon has hidden his insecurities behind a charming exterior, seemingly careless about what anyone might say or think about him. He's utterly smitten with Beth from the start, constantly in awe of both her beauty and academic achievements. Beth keeps trying to deny just how handsome and dashing she finds Devon, wanting to keep him at arm's length and calling him a villain, but she comes to discover that he's not just a charming rogue, but an equally skilled and intelligent scholar, and obviously her perfect match. 

I'm eager to see where Ms. Holton takes the series next. The next book in the series involves Devon's cousin Gabriel (he seems grumpy and deeply unimpressed with Devon's antics, but nevertheless helps him several times throughout this novel) and magical geography. The Geographer's Map to Romance isn't out until 2025, but after the teaser chapter included at the end of this book, I'm already very excited to see what happens to Gabriel and his estranged wife.

Judging the book by its cover: I love both the colours and the design of this cover, featuring no people whatsoever, just a very formidable bird and a simple and elegant design. I had pre-ordered this book long before the cover design was revealed, but now I might have to buy a physical copy, just so I can have this pretty book on my shelf. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 48: "A Ruse of Shadows" by Sherry Thomas

Page count: 368 pages

Audio book length: 13 hrs 3 mins

Rating: 3.5 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: the latest or last book in a series

CBR16 Bingo: fan fiction

This is book 8 in the series, and really not a good place to begin. Start with A Study in Scarlet Women. 

Charlotte Holmes, more used to solving murder mysteries, now finds herself questioned by the police, the main suspect in the murder of Lord Bancroft Ashburton. Inspector Threadles is concerned for her, but needn't have worried, Ms Holmes isn't going to let something as tiresome as a charge of murder keep her down.

In the present, the reader follows Charlotte and her questioning by the police. In various flashbacks, we are given insight into what has really happened, and how Charlotte, her beloved Ash, Mrs Watson and the rest of her gang have been working on a number of different schemes, some of which did involve Lord Bancroft. 

While I really enjoyed the most recent book in the series, A Tempest at Sea (or Lady Sherlock on a Boat! as I have cheerfully renamed it in my head), this one felt like more of a chore to read. No reader of this series is actually going to believe that anyone can stick a murder charge to Charlotte Holmes, whether she actually decided to murder someone or not, so the whole framing device of her being questioned seemed a bit tedious. Then there are the flashbacks, which are spaced out oddly, and keep illuminating different aspects of the story, which obviously doesn't entirely come together properly until the end. It probably doesn't help that this story referenced things that happened fairly early on in the series and I didn't entirely remember all the details, so kept being a bit confused.

As a big fan of Thomas' romances, I was pleased to see that the relationship between Ash and Charlotte is proceeding apace, and some very lovely declarations are made over the course of the story. I always enjoy Mrs. Watson and her niece, but have to confess that I care very little for Charlotte's sister Livia and her thwarted romance with the put-upon Mr. Marbleton. This whole book felt like filler, and since the plot seems to suggest that Charlotte is gearing up to take on Mr. Moriarty in a more serious manner in upcoming books, I am not exactly thrilled by the prospect. Nevertheless, Kate Reading's narration always make these a treat, so I'll probably be reading the upcoming books as well. 

Judging a book by its cover: Another woman in an expansive dress, seen from the back, possibly running from something or towards something. Is it supposed to be Charlotte? Who knows?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 47: "Gemina" by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Page count: 672 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR16 Sweet Books: Binge

Nowhere Book Bingo: A YA novel

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Epistolary romance

CBR16 Bingo: Part 1 and Part 2 (the book has more than 600 pages)

This is the second book in a series, and starting with this one means a lot of stuff won't make much sense. I also don't think it's possible for me to review this book without spoiling the previous one, so if you're not up to date, start with Illuminae.

After the disastrous events, first on the mining colony of Kerenza, and then on the space fleet evacuating survivors, the only remaining ship, Hypatia, is on its way to Jump Station Heimdall, hoping for aid. BeiTech, the organisation which launched the attack on Kerenza and utilised the bioweapon which led to a plague, cannot risk word getting out about their heinous deed and therefore need to make sure that they eradicate the Hypatia. To do so, they will need to use the jump station's wormhole, and later make sure that there are no survivors on Heimdall left to reveal the truth.

Entirely unaware of BeiTech's sinister goals are two teenagers aboard the Jump Station, Hanna Donnelly and Niklas "Nik" Malikov. Hanna is the station captain's beloved and pampered daughter, Nik is part of the Malikov crime family, and Hanna's occasional drug dealer. There's clearly an attraction between them, but Hanna is in a relationship with the dashing Jackson Merrick, one of her father's officers, and consequently doesn't really have time for more than some light flirtation with Nik. Life onboard a space station surrounding a wormhole obviously isn't very exciting for either of them, but Hanna tries to pass the time by studying, parties and working out, while Nik reluctantly assists with his family's business.

Both of their lives are irrevocably changed once an elite team of BeiTech mercenaries arrive, and very rapidly take control of the station. The mercenaries start by wiping out the people who helped their ship get onboard (Nik's family) and Nik only survives because he's on his way to deliver party drugs to Hanna. Thankfully, while she's annoyed that Nik is late for their deal, Hanna is also spared from seeing her father shot in the head when the mercenaries take control of the majority of the station. Now, Hanna might seem like nothing but an airheaded, fashion-obsessed teen, but being the daughter of a military commander with a keen interest in history, she's picked up a lot of useful knowledge about strategy, tactics and how to be stealthy. Nik, meanwhile, has only one family member left alive and is determined to avenge the Malikov crew in any way he can deal hurt to the mercenaries. Unfortunately, in all the sudden danger, both Nik and his computer genious cousin Ella completely forget about the very dangerous alien parasites hatching in a secluded part of the station (long story, the drugs the Malikovs sell are derived from some truly scary creatures, who should not be left unattended and allowed to crawl through space station vents and the like). Of course, the BeiTech baddies don't know about them either.

The BeiTech kill squad need to take control of the wormhole so that a second kill team can be sent through to deal with the Hypatia. They were not expecting to be foiled by a few teenagers and a few officers having sealed themselves on the bridge of the space station. Can Hanna, Nik, and Ella with a few ragtag allies foil their enemies, warn the Hypatia, save the remaining crew and thwart BeiTech's evil schemes? (This is book 2 of 3, what do you think?)

Fans of Ezra and Kady (her dad is the chief of security on Heimdall), not to mention AIDAN, will be pleased to know that in the latter half of the book, they do appear, although they are not the focus of this story, that would be Hanna and Nik. While Kady and Ezra had a past, and many months of separation with only computer chats to make the heart grow fonder, Hanna and Nik's attraction to one another is basically put to a boil in an insanely tense and demanding situation, where they are fighting for survival, grieving loved ones and trying to find a way to help complete strangers aboard the Hypatia. 

Hanna is unbelievably badass, and Nik may seem like he's got a dangerous and ruthless past but is really just a big, tattooed cinnamon roll (who will still do what is necessary if his or others' lives are in danger, he just needs more time to process it than Hanna). Ella is more of a secondary character, but the girl is fierce, especially since she's not really able to move around except via her computer. I love all of them and am so glad that Kaufman and Kristoff had the surviving characters from Illuminae take a backseat so readers could get to know these guys as well.

I am also grateful that while the lanima (super creepy alien parasites) are scary and unpleasant, any scene involving them (including the early ones where it's explained how they incubate) was a pale shadow of all the horror with the virus rage zombies of the previous book. I really liked how the book includes the photos and call signs of all the BeiTech mercenaries, and how as the book proceeds, more and more pictures are just crossed out (they may be teenagers, but Hanna, Nik and Ella are NOT messing around). 

Having now read two of these books, I have absolutely no idea what the authors are going to come up with next, but I'm hopeful that eventually the BeiTech corporation will be brought to justice for all the horrible things it has done. Having now heard so many cool things about the audiobooks, I may do the third and final book partly in audio.

Judging a book by its cover: While the first book was all warm colours, red and orange, this one is all cold, with a cloud of something (dust? smoke?) blue over a black background. I think this entire series has a very well-done cover design, with the covers of the trilogy complementing each other so well. 

CBR16 Book 42: "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis

Page count: 512 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: Award Winner (Won the Hugo and Locus awards in 1998, plus a bunch of others)

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Scene on a boat or body of water (there's a lot of rowing on the river)

CBR16 Bingo: Tech (time travel requires pretty specific technology)

This is the second book in the Oxford Time Travel series, but you really don't need to have read the first one, Doomsday Book, to understand and enjoy this one.

In the universe these books are set in, time travel was discovered, but once it was further discovered that no items could be taken back to the future, so it couldn't be used to gain riches or plunder the past of treasures, the technology became used solely by historians, and there are strict rules that must be followed when doing it for academic pursuits.

Ned Henry is an Oxford historian in the 2050s who feels like he's going mad. Lady Schrapnell, a frightfully wealthy and extremely demanding woman is funding the recreation of Coventry Cathedral (in Oxford, for reasons not really explored in the book) and is demanding that absolutely everything is exactly like it was before the Cathedral was destroyed in an air raid during World War II. Ned has been sent on countless missions back to the past to locate something known as the bishop's bird stump (I had to google this, it turns out it's an incredibly ugly vase shaped like a tree stump with decorative birds on it), because that was one of the items apparently present in the church at the time. Because he has been unable to locate it, Ned has had to go back to the past and visit any number of church bazaars and jumble sales in the hopes of finding the blasted relic. If people are sent back too often, they start getting delerious and behave very oddly, so Ned is ordered by his boss to get some rest.

He can't get the required rest in the present, however, because if tyrannical Lady Whatsherface discovers his whereabouts, she'll just demand that he keeps looking for the bird stump. So Ned's boss sends him back to the Victorian age, to hide out for a few weeks and get the much-needed break he requires. In the Victorian age, he encounters a fellow Oxford historian, Verity Kindle, who is trying to undo an unfortunate mistake, and if they don't manage to set things right, it could have consquences for the entire future timeline. While working together to fix Verity's mistake, she and Ned also have to try to make sure that Lady Schrapnell's ancestor, a truly dimwitted girl, doesn't fall in love and marry the wrong person, a task that proves more complicated than one might first have imagined.

I read Doomsday Book back in 2016 and don't remember it very fondly. It was far too long, the plot meandered a lot and because most of the story takes place during the Black Plague, it was also pretty depressing. This book is much lighter in tone, and a lot of the plot plays out like a farce, with humorous mix-ups, misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and a fairly large cast of rather ridiculous characters. The book is also full of literary allusions and clever references to all sorts of academic things, at least 50% of which went entirely over my head. I'm not sure I'm clever enough to appreciate this book on as many levels as the author intended.

Ned and Verity are both extremely likable characters, and my main complaint about the book is that there is so much faffing about and preventing romances between other characters, so there isn't enough time for them to spend together on page, developing their own romance. Nevertheless, this was a fun read, and I'm very much looking forward to my book club's discussion of it in August (we were supposed to have the meeting in June, but too many people were sick or busy, so we just postponed everything over the summer, which also gives more people the chance to read the book). Considering some of the books we've had in the previous months have been rather disappointing, this one felt like a breath of fresh (albeit confusing) air. 

Judging a book by its cover: This book has been out for decades, and as such, there are a lot of different covers for it, most of which I dislike. The cover for my e-book copy isn't great either, but at least I like the warm colours on it. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 41: "Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me" by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell

Page count: 304 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Nowhere Books Bingo - Graphic novel

Official plot summary, because once again I have waited to long to review the book: Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.

Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

This is one of those books that I heard a lot about when it came out and bought as soon as it was available in paperback (I don't like reading comics and graphic novels digitally), then put on my bookshelf and forgot. Since we have a full floor to ceiling bookshelf dedicated entirely to comics and graphic novels, once something is shelved there, it's no longer out in the open to remind me. I probably shouldn't have waited years to read it, but at least it didn't disappoint once I got to it.

The only other graphic novel I've read by Mariko Tamaki was This One Summer, which was lovely, but had a subplot that hit a bit too close to home for me and made it a rather painful reading experience for me. This one, with its focus on (tragic) romance and friendship was more to my taste. I started reading it during a day I actually had quite a lot to do and had only intended to make a start on it, but instead ended up having to rearrange my schedule, because I once I started, I couldn't really put it down. In This One Summer, the illustrations are done by Mariko's sister Jillian, here she collaborates with Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, who captures the characters beautifully. A really good story accompanied by bad art can be enjoyed, but it's so much better when both the writing and art are both high quality.

Teenagers are often rather self-centred and selfish, caring mostly about themselves and their own issues and as such, Freddy felt very realistic. She is happy to hang out with her friends, but because she's so caught up with her own drama, she doesn't really seem to notice or care about what is happening with others. She has gotten used to her friends, including her best friend Doodle, always being there for her, listening to her and supporting her through her multiple dumpings and getting back together again with Laura Dean, but not really that Doodle and the others are clearly getting frustrated with the constant back and forth, and Freddy's complete inability to see how bad Laura Dean is for her. 

Personally, I couldn't really see what was supposed to be so great about Laura, but then I'm an asexual lady in my forties, who spends much of my working year around teenagers and their drama, so I try to live a very drama free existence the rest of the time. I shared the frustration of Freddy's friends that she would wake up and smell the toxic girlfriend sooner, but I suppose there would have been a lot less plot if the book was 'I'm sick of Laura Dean using me and stringing me along, so I'll dump her once and for all and get on with my life'. 

I think Freddy's friend Doodle was my favourite character, and I felt really bad for her, trying to support Freddy through yet another inevitable break-up with the same person, while she herself really needed a friend and support because of a complicated and sad situation of her own. The rest of the supporting cast (with the exception of Laura Dean, who is clearly the antagonist, of sorts) also added to my enjoyment of the book. 

While Freddy herself had me rolling my eyes possibly one time too many, this book in some ways reminded me of Heartstopper, because it's a story of relatable and realistic-seeming teens, many of whom are queer, including the protagonist, but it's not about awkwardly coming out, or having to struggle for acceptance among parents and friends. These teens are just allowed to be who they are, without facing hatred and bullying. I'm glad I finally read this, and will be recommending it to others looking for a quick read. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover gives a little taste of Rosemary Valero-O'Connell's art, and while it only shows the back of Laura Dean, her jacket, posture and haircut all suggest her cool mean-girl attitude. We only get to see one eye of Freddy's, which looks a bit anxious and unsure. It's a really well-done image. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 30: "Cordelia's Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold

Page count: 641 pages (it is two books in one volume, after all)

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Détente (Cordelia and Aral start out as enemies and end up married)

Official book summary (read this in early May):

In her first trial by fire, Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Expeditionary Force on a mission to destroy an enemy armada. Discovering deception within deception, treachery within treachery, she was forced into a separate peace with her chief opponent, Lord Aral Vorkosigan - he who was called "The Butcher of Komarr" - and would consequently become an outcast on her own planet and the Lady Vorkosigan on his.

Sick of combat and betrayal, she was ready to settle down to a quiet life, interrupted only by the occasional ceremonial appearances required of the Lady Vorkosigan. But when the Emperor died, Aral suddenly became guardian of the infant heir to the imperial throne of Barrayar - and the target of high-tech assassins in a dynastic civil war that was reminiscent of earth's Middle Ages, but fought with up-to-the minute biowar technology. Neither Aral nor Cordelia guessed the part that their cell-damaged unborn son would play in Barrayar's bloody legacy. 

Cordelia's Honor is part of the rather long Vorkosigan saga, which mostly concerns itself with the dashing Miles Vorkosigan and his many adventures. Chronologically speaking, Shards of Honor (the first part of this book) is the very first book in the series, while Barrayar (the second part) is book 7. The reason these two books have been collected into one volume is because they tell the story of how Miles' parents first met, got married and how he was born. I keep hearing great things about these books, and after Sarah, a fellow Cannonballer, wrote an absolutely amazing review last year, I figured that it was really about time to see what all the fuss is about.

Cordelia Naismith is a scientist on what is supposed to be an exploratory mission, but most of her crew ends up murdered and she is left in the wilderness with a badly damaged crew mate and an enemy soldier, popularly nicknamed "the Butcher of Komarr". They spend several days forced to cooperate and navigate dangers on an alien planet, and Cordelia comes to understand that Aral Vorkosigan is a lot more complex and honourable than his reputation would have her believe. By the time they reach civilization and it's time for them to part, it's clear that warmer feelings have developed between them. 

Unfortunately, they are still on opposite sides of a war, and Cordelia's government aren't super enthusiastic about their connection. By the time Cordelia decides to choose love over her own home world, Vorkosigan has been used as a scapegoat for his side of the conflict and is drinking his sorrows away on his country estate. Cordelia's arrival snaps him out of his funk and they get married. 

Their idyllic life together is complicated when the emperor dies, leaving a toddler as the new ruler, and Lord Vorkosigan appointed as his regent. Unfortunately, Aral and a pregnant Cordelia soon find themselves fighting a civil war, against usurping forces who have the dowager princess as a hostage and who want control over the young emperor. Ruthless assassins are dispatched against them, and while they both survive, the poison used could have disastrous consequences for their unborn child (spoiler - the baby is Miles, and he survives thanks to fancy technology from Cordelia's homeworld.

Considering the plots of these two books follow each other pretty closely, I would think that reading the series entirely chronologically would be very strange. Now that I've finally read Cordelia's Honor, which is thankfully more fantasy in space than hard sci-fi (which I rarely enjoy), I can see why so many people rave about the awesomeness of Captain Cordelia Naismith, and Aral Vorkosigan is certainly a good match for her. Barrayar, his home planet, is very patriarchal. Cordelia is a strong-willed, independent woman who has piloted space crafts and fought in a war. She's not prepared to wear pretty dresses and be a passive ornament in her husband's home. Thankfully, while the nobility around him might be a bit old-fashioned, Aral adores his wife and understands how remarkable she is. They have a beautiful partnership which forms the core of especially the second book.

I'm not sure when I'm going to read the books about Miles, their son, but I'm absolutely curious to see how his adventures turn out. 

Judging a book by its cover: These books came out in the 1990s and as such, have covers that feel rather dated now. I'm also not entirely sure why a futuristic sci-fi society dresses as if they were all from early 19th-Century Earth. Also not sure why someone is holding that sword in a way that looks cure to cut palms open and presenting it to Cordelia. Does she want tribute in the form of slashed palms? 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 26: "A Grave Robbery" by Deanna Raybourn

Page count: 336 pages

Rating: 4 stars

This is book 9 in an ongoing series, and as such, not the best place to start. Start with A Curious Beginning. 

Official plot summary (because it's been too long since I read the book):

Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud’s. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?

Sleuthing out the answer to this question sets Veronica and Stoker on their wildest adventure yet. From the underground laboratories of scientists experimenting with electricity to resurrect the dead in the vein of Frankenstein to the traveling show where Stoker once toured as an attraction, the gaslit atmosphere of London in October is the perfect setting for this investigation into the unknown. Through it all, the intrepid pair is always one step behind the latest villain—a man who has killed once and will stop at nothing to recover the body of the woman he loved. Will they unmask him in time to save his next victim? Or will they become the latest figures to be immortalized in his collection of horrors?

As the summary says, in this book, Veronica and Stoker try to track down the identity of the unfortunate young woman who has died (most likely been murdered), after they discover that the wax figure that their employer Lord Rosemorran recently purchased is, in fact, an embalmed corpse. Their investigation also makes use of intrepid lady reporter J.J. Butterworth, and Inspector Mornaday of the Scotland Yard, who are always entertaining supporting characters. There are also some entertaining appearances of Lord Rosemorran's autocratic daughter, who is a lot of fun, and for the most part, avoids being a tiresome plot moppet. 

In my review of A Sinister Revenge, the previous book and my least favourite so far in the series, I found Veronica mostly really annoying and I didn't like that she and Stoker spent most of the book separated. Happily, they have now reconciled and are doing much better as a couple, and actually investigate the murder, and eventually murders, of this novel together. They bumble about rather a lot, and there are plans of theirs that don't exactly go according to plan, but their teamwork and chemistry are back to where it was in earlier books in the series, and I was entertained enough that I will absolutely be sticking with the series for another book or two. 

Judging a book by its cover: Nice spooky red as the major colour on this cover. The little silhouette of Veronica keeps holding a butterfly net, even in locations where she clearly isn't doing any lepidoptery, like a graveyard. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR Book 20: "The Prisoner's Throne" by Holly Black

Page count: 496 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR16 Sweet Books: Excited (this is one of my most anticipated releases in the first half of the year)

This book really doesn't stand alone. It is the second half of a duology that started with The Stolen Heir, which came out last year. If you haven't read that one, it's probably best to skip this review and return once you've caught up. 

Prince Oak, heir to the throne of Elfhame, finds himself a prisoner in the dungeons of Queen Suren (or Wren, as he prefers to call her), and knows that if he doesn't get himself out quickly, his temperamental sister Jude and her husband Cardan, the High Queen and King of Elfhame will react very badly indeed, and probably obliterate anyone standing in the way of their army on the way to retrieve Oak. 

There's also the pesky complication that Oak truly loves Suren/Wren and understands entirely why she feels betrayed by him, and like she can't trust him. Nevertheless, he wants to prove himself to her, and make sure she's not being taken advantage of by the wicked hag who has appointed herself Suren's chief advisor and clearly has some sort of very devious revenge plot against the royal family of Elfhame brewing. 

Can Oak escape Suren/Wren's dungeons, prevent a war, convince his beloved that he truly would like to spend the rest of his days with her (but he'd rather not have to be king of anything, please, how are they going to square that with her now being Queen of her own realm?) and prevent wicked forces from using Suren/Wren for their own ends, possibly destroying her in the process?

I love Holly Black. She has yet to write a book that I didn't at least enjoy. Are Suren/Wren and Oak's courtship and journey towards their eventual happy ending as twisted and at times exhausting as Jude and Cardan's in The Folk of the Air trilogy. Thankfully no, those two psychos are their own special brand of crazy (and I love them so), but that doesn't mean that their relationship doesn't face formidable challenges. 

The storytelling in this book was a bit messy, it's a rather convoluted plot, and I'm not sure it was a great idea to have this be single POV. I get that it's all about secrets and deceptions, and plot twists throughout, but I think both this and The Stolen Heir might have been better with dual POVs, this one in particular. 

Black's world-building is excellent and it's always a joy to see how her fertile imagination depicts the intricacies of the various Faerie kingdoms. Suren/Wren's wintery northern kingdom is a very different place to where Oak has grown up, and as someone from a Nordic country, it's fun to see references to more of the Norse fae. 

While we got a small cameo from Madoc in the previous book, but only mentions of Jude and Cardan, so it was great to get more of Oak's family this time around, to see Jude, Cardan, Taryn and even Oriana and Madoc in a different setting and situation than in the previous books. They deeply care for one another, but have such trouble expressing those feelings. There's rich potention for some really juicy group therapy sessions in the Greenbriar line, and among Madoc's three daughters. 

This book seems to end on a fairly closed note, but if Black wants to revisit her characters further, a novella from Jude and Cardan's possibly expedition to the Undersea realm could be a lot of fun. 

Judging a book by its cover: Like the cover for the previous book in the duology, this cover is dominated by white. There's a lot of icicles, considering Wren's wintery home, and the ring plays a prominent role in the story. I'm generally not as big a fan of these as the ones for the Folk of the Air trilogy about Cardan and Jude. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 6: "Winter's Orbit" by Everina Maxwell

Page count: 496 pages

Audio book length: 15 hrs 24 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Bingo Card: A book that's been on my shelf for more than a year

Prince Kiem, a minor royal in the Iskat Empire is called before the Emperor and told in no uncertain terms that he will be getting married to secure a valuable political alliance. The Empire is about to renegotiate its treaty agreements with all the planets in its dominion, and the representatives all have to be married to be accepted (that bit wasn't entirely clear to me). So Kiem has to marry his cousin Taam's widower, a Thean called Jainan. Oh, and he has to do it the day after he is told.

So the outgoing and exuberant Kiem, who has quite a reputation as a playboy and for getting into scrapes finds himself married to Jainan, a reserved and extremely polite man, his exact opposite. Jainan has multiple degrees and is knowledgeable about engineering and advanced mining techniques, Kiem barely made it through school without getting expelled. Kiem assumes Jainan is still grieving his partner of five years, so tries to keep his distance. Jainan is certainly still affected by memories of his former partner and also assumes that a handsome, charming man like Kiem could never be attracted to someone as quiet and boring as him.

Both men are actually very attracted to the other but keep misunderstanding each other's signals and therefore growing further apart. To add to the complications, it turns out that their hastily arranged marriage might also have been for nothing, as the other-worldly arbitrators might not even accept them as representatives. It turns out that there is suspicion that Prince Taam was murdered, and Jainan is the main suspect. There's also a whole bunch of unique alien artifacts that have been replaced with convincing fakes, making the arbitrators furious. If Kiem and Jainan can't figure out whether Taam was actually murdered, and if so, by whom, as well as help the Empire locate the stolen artifacts, the whole Empirial alliance could be dissolved and war is likely to break out.

I mostly really liked this, and it's narrated very well by Raphael Corkhill, who does a really good job of giving the characters distinctive voices and accents. However, it also made it clear that extreme slow burn just isn't the trope for me. Reading about two characters who clearly care for each other and find one another attractive, but keep misunderstanding the other for a large part of the story just annoys me. Drawn-out mutual pining might work for some readers, but to me, it decreases my enjoyment of the story. That's not to say that very good in-story reasons are given for the miscommunications. Being thrust into a marriage of convenience to a stranger isn't necessarily going to make for lots of honest and open conversations right off the bat, and given Jainen's previous marriage, it's no wonder he's careful and has difficulties trusting Kiem at first. 

The world-building in this story is nicely done, even though I didn't entirely understand how the various political alliances worked. The titles are all non-gendered, from Emperor to Prince to Count and so forth, no matter what gender identity the individual has. There's also a whole system of wearing wood or glass or flint to indicate which gender every individual is, and in the Thean culture, it involves tying scarves in different ways. The author possibly overdoes the explanation with the gender markers, it's repeated quite a few times throughout the story. Trust your readers, lady.

This book is full of political intrigue, there's a murder mystery, and there were clearly suspicious things going on with the mining operation that Prince Taam was involved in (so they have to figure out what that was all about too). Throughout the story, there are near-death experiences, having to trek through the wilderness (there's only ONE tent), someone gets abducted by villains and having to be rescued by a band of rag-tag heroes, as well as the arranged marriage and opposites attract tropes as previously mentioned. So the book has a lot going on. For me, it would have been better if the pining had been resolved earlier in the proceedings, but to each their own. 

I already have the sequel to this, Ocean's Echo, on my bookshelf, but having really enjoyed the audio version of this, I may end up having to get it in audio at some point soon as well. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover is fine but I think it's also a bit non-descript. It's obviously a sci-fi novel, with strange vistas and multiple heavenly bodies in the sky. I don't know if I'm projecting about the colours of the bisexual flag being used in the title, but considering that this is an unashamedly queer romance, I would be surprised if it wasn't intentional. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read