Fiction Book Reviews – Page 2 – Made of Stardust and Stubbornness

“A Pale Light in the Black” Review

Posted on October 23, 2024October 25, 2024 by Jen

“A Pale Light in the Black” (NeoG Series No. 1) by K. B. Wagers

For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback—until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place.

Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own—away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station. With her new team in turmoil, Max must overcome her self-doubt and win their trust if she’s going to succeed. Failing is not an option—and would only prove her parents right.

But Max and the team must learn to work together quickly. A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core . . . a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more unless Max and her new team stop them.

Review

I enjoyed this for the most part. I really liked the characters and how they ended up interacting, but it never really felt like there was that much conflict. Many of the events that happened didn’t feel as serious as they should have been. I did enjoy the dual plots of the games while also solving a mystery. I also felt like the family drama with Maxine and her family got a little annoying especially with the various “secrets” going on. There was also more romance/relationship stuff than I was expecting which isn’t a problem exactly. It didn’t do anything to distract from the dual plots for the most part it was just there more than I like. In any case the dual plots were good and I thought it worked well to have both of them in the same story as they were going about their work lives while preparing for and participating in the Games. I will be reading the next book in the series at some point.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “A Pale Light in the Black”

Book Details

A Pale Light in the Black book cover. The background is black with streaks of blue and red and in the center is a large image of Jupiter. In front of the planet are several ships flying away from it above and to the sides. Near the bottom of the cover is a station where the ships are leaving from. The title of the book is across the center of the cover and the authors name at the top.

Author’s Website: K. B. Wagers
Publisher / Date: Harper Voyager, March 2020
Genre: Science Fiction
Page Count: 432
Completion Date: October 21, 2024

“Someone You Can Build a Nest In” Review

Posted on October 10, 2024October 13, 2024 by Jen

“Someone You Can Build a Nest In” by John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.

However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.

Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk.

And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.

Review

I read this one for one of my book clubs. It’s described as a queer romance but the “romance” aspect isn’t what many would usually call romance given that Shesheshen is technically a monster and wants to find someone to lay their eggs in… In any case I ended up enjoying it more than I was expecting too. Shesheshen and Homily are great characters. Homily’s family is a lot but it all works out well in the end for everyone. Part of what helps is that Shesheshen isn’t fully knowledgeable about what it means to be what she is. She had no one around to teach her anything so was essentially making it up as she went along. Shesheshen also has a lot of opinions about humans from having observed them for so long and actually seems to understand them better than she understands herself. Homily desperately needs to escape her terrible family but needs to work through a lot stuff first as well.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Someone You Can Build a Nest In”.

Book Details

Book cover is almost entirely red and black with a person standing near the bottom center holing a lantern. They are surrounded by red tentacles directly behind them and then above them stands a black grinning figure with more tentacles and a long black wig and witch's hat There are multiple other shapes around the cover books and hearts and spices and skulls.

Author’s Website: John Wiswell
Publisher / Date: DAW, April 2024
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Page Count: 304
Completion Date: October 10, 2024

“The Abbess Rebellion” Review

Posted on October 9, 2024October 9, 2024 by Jen

“The Abbess Rebellion” by Oren Ashkenazi

Twenty-three years ago, Sophie betrayed her family to save her people. She failed.

Once second in line for the imperial throne, Sophie led a rebellion that was crushed by her own grandmother. In the years since her defeat, she has lived in exile at a remote abbey. But her quiet life is interrupted by startling the throne sits empty.

This is no cause to celebrate, for enemies gather to seize her family’s power.

On one side, an ambitious general seeks the imperial purple for himself. If he takes the throne, citizens will become serfs and slaves in their own land. On the other side, the empire’s northern enemies smell weakness and mass their armies to invade. If left unchecked, they will burn their way south and wipe Sophie’s home out of existence.

Against these enemies, Sophie has only the stalwart acolytes of her abbey, a few comrades from her failed uprising, and one dogmatic but loyal senator. From the northern frontier to the imperial capital, Sophie must outwit her political foes and face her enemies in battle. If she fails a second time, the empire will fall.

Written by Mythcreants editor Oren Ashkenazi, this second-world fantasy novel is inspired by Byzantine history and the radical idea that the rich should pay their taxes.

Review

I really enjoyed the book! The characters were great and I liked the way the different groups formed and interacted. I thought it worked well that there were multiple conflicts that had to be resolved before Sophie could take the throne. I can’t decide if the one plot twist was to be expected or not but I liked how it was resolved. The ending did feel a little abrupt but it also works for the story since it’s about Sophie’s rebellion more than anything else. Still I kind of wanted to know more and there were few unanswered questions that even Sophie brought up at the end of the book. I’m hopeful for a sequel someday!

Warnings and additional reviews are available at the author’s website for the book, listed below.

Book Details

Book cover for Abbess Rebellion showing the main character Sophie on horseback with the city burning behind her. The book title is at the top and the author's name at the bottom.

Author’s Website: Oren Ashkenazi
Publisher / Date: Mythcreants, March 2024
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 308
Completion Date: October 7, 2024

“Asunder” Review

Posted on October 3, 2024October 8, 2024 by Jen

“Asunder” by Kerstin Hall

Karys Eska is a Deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with an eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths. When a new case goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her very shadow, an act that may doom them both. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.

And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.

Review

I really enjoyed reading this book and getting to know the characters. The characters are great and I liked the way the various friendships developed. The story is the type where the reader dumped right into the plot without a lot of information about the world so they have to figure it out as they go along. I think this worked out well most of the time, even though there were a few areas I would have liked some more explanation of what was going on and why it was important. I’m not entirely on board with the romance subplot that starts to develop but that’s mostly because romance is not something I enjoy reading unless it’s a very minor subplot.

I did like the idea that on-binary individuals in this world without it ever really being stated. They just appear one the page when talked about or described by other characters with they/them pronouns as a matter of course. There is also at least one trans character in the story. With both of these situations I liked what it meant for the world of “Asunder”. LGBTQIA2S+ People just exist as they are without question.

While the ending is rather abrupt I do believe it works for the story as it plays out. There are several things going on at once and not all of it can be solved easily. I’ve seen that the author is working on the sequel and depending on how it’s marketed I’ll probably read it. If it leans more into the romance plot I might skip it. I could also handle the book ending as a standalone because like I said it made sense with how the plot was going and the overall tone of the book.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Asunder”.

Book Details

The book cover for Asunder depicts a woman with chin length brown hair, standing facing towards the right and is visible from the chest up. She is wearing a tunic that appears to have the outlines of hands grasping her shoulders in outlines. The background is white at the bottom with flames at the top corner. The title and author's name are at the bottom of the cover.

Author’s Website: Kerstin Hall
Publisher / Date: Thor.com, August 2024
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 352
Completion Date: September 30, 2024

“Watermyth” Review

Posted on September 24, 2024October 8, 2024 by Jen

“Watermyth” (Cantata of the Fourfold Realm, No. 1) by Anita Harris Satkunananthan

Plucked out of her pod by the Queen Mother of her merkingdom, Regya has been set a task: to take the potentially deadly Mermaid Storytelling Exam. She has been placed in Yrejveree, the mythical island of exiles to which many Amors have brought their Psyches. Regya narrates and weaves together the stories of the island’s most famous watermaidens: a ferahian Mer-princess who drowned an alternate Venice, an itinerant Malaysian mermaid with the magical power of song, and Aila da Silva, the current active Psyche.

In that telling Regya will also discover the reason behind the war that threatens to engulf the merkingdoms of the Fourfold Realms, a reason that will undermine her own understanding of who she is. The truth is that these Amors are the Fjekres from a fifth Realm. Within the Fjekres society lies an old faction called the Amber Centipedes who are intent on claiming dominion over all of the Fourfold Realms by controlling all of the apertures between worlds. These actions by the Amber Centipedes lead to war in their world. It is a war that creeps into the Fourfold Realms, disrupting life and decimating ecosystems.

Can a mermaid armed with the powers bestowed by her storytelling craft, her Javanese engineer housemate, and her mermaid landlady defeat these beings intent on conquest? Can they change the script of the island they love and claim emancipation from the seductive, powerful and eerie Fjekres?

Review

I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know the characters. It takes a while and some effort to get through because of the way it’s set up. Each chapter is part of the overall story of one of the watermaidens. It’s written as though it’s third person point of view but it helps to remember that it’s Regya narrating the story as she learns it. I feel that towards the end the story comes together and the narrative becomes clearer as Regya learns more and regains some of her memories. The world building is in progress because Regya needs to figure everything out after being memory wiped. I look forward to reading the next book and learning more about the characters and their world.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Watermyth”.

Book Details

Watermyth cover which shows a woman in shadow standing behind a railing with open slates looking across a river or bay towards a cliffside with a castle with three towers under a sky filled with stars. On the right next to the castle is a bridge across a waterfall. The title of the book is on the top of the cover and the author's name is at the bottom.

Author’s Website: Anita Harris Satkunananthan
Publisher / Date: Watermaidens Press, January 2024
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 510
Completion Date: September 23, 2024

“We Came to Welcome You” Review

Posted on September 16, 2024October 8, 2024 by Jen

“We Came to Welcome You” by Vincent Tirado

Sol Reyes has had a rough year. After a series of workplace incidents at her university lab culminates in a plagiarism accusation, Sol is put on probation. Dutiful visits to her homophobic father aren’t helping her mental health, and she finds her nightly glass of wine becoming more of an all-day—and all-bottle—event. Her wife, Alice Song, is far more optimistic. After all, the two finally managed to buy a house in the beautiful, gated community of Maneless Grove.

However, the neighbors are a little too friendly in Sol’s opinion. She has no interest in the pushy Homeowners Association, their bizarrely detailed contract, or their never-ending microaggressions. But Alice simply attributes their pursuit to the community motto: “Invest in a neighborly spirit” …which only serves to irritate Sol more.

Suddenly, a number of strange occurrences—doors and stairs disappearing, roots growing inside the house—cause Sol to wonder if her social paranoia isn’t built on something more sinister. Yet Sol’s fears are dismissed as Alice embraces their new home and becomes increasingly worried instead about Sol’s drinking and manic behavior. When Sol finds a journal in the property from a resident that went missing a few years ago, she realizes why they were able to buy the house so easily…

Review

I enjoyed this for the most part – though I think I do prefer the author’s first two books. It’s a complicated read because on the one hand something sinister is in fact going on but on the other hand Sol is dealing with depression and other mental health issues that are exaggerating some of her responses to the various situations she’s dealing with. There is a very slow buildup of everything as things begin to develop in the community. Sometimes it’s a little tedious but never enough that I wanted to stop reading.

I ended up spending a lot of time wondering how Sol and Alice ended up married – they don’t seem like a good couple who actually understand each other. Beyond the fact that Alice was there for Sol when Sol’s family kicked her out. Though I suspect it’s a similar issue to Sol still visiting her father – she doesn’t know how to do anything else and feels like she has no choices. Some other reviewers are very harsh about Sol but honestly I had more problems with Alice and how she talked to Sol or handled Sol’s issues. That said we are really only getting Sol’s perspective on everything.

While we do find out what is going on with the community the ending is actually rather abrupt. It’s never really made clear how much of it was resolved. I’m also not certain of Sol’s actions near the end and what exactly she ended up doing about the community. Though ultimately it feels like she did what she felt like she had to do to survive with Alice.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “We Came to Welcome You”.

Book Details

Author’s Website: Vincent Tirado
Publisher / Date: William Morrow, September 2024
Genre: Thriller
Page Count: 347
Completion Date: September 16, 2024