Fiction Book Reviews – Page 5 – Made of Stardust and Stubbornness

“Lost Ark Dreaming” Review

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Jen

“Lost Ark Dreaming” by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level.

There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves.

Three lives within the towers are pulled to the fore of this conflict: Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning a tremendous loss; and Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future that is worth living—for everyone.

Review

I really enjoyed this novella despite its abrupt ending. The great world building and interesting characters make up for a lot. I feel like the author put a lot of thought and detail into the story and created a complex world. I like the way we get three points of view of the tower – individuals from the top, middle and bottom areas, with their perspectives and personalities. They’re all interesting in their own ways and bring something to the story. I did feel like some things could have been written with more depth – like having characters reacting more to a specific plot point part way through the book. I think even the abrupt ending works to some degree because of the story being told – it’s mainly about the three of them learning there’s more than they previously knew and attempting to make a change.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Lost Ark Dreaming”

Book Details

The Lost Ark Dreaming cover shows a group of five towers stretching up into the sky from the ocean with the sun rising behind them. One tower is taller than the rest and in front of the image. The title of the book is written across the front of the towers with the authors name below.

Author’s Website: Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Publisher / Date: Tordotcom, May 2024
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Page Count: 178 pages
Completion Date: October 28, 2024

“No One Will Come Back For Us” Review

Posted on October 26, 2024October 27, 2024 by Jen

“No One Will Come Back For Us” by Premee Mohamed

Here there be gods and monsters – forged from flesh and stone and vengeance – emerging from the icy abyss of deep space, ascending from dark oceans, and prowling strange cities to enter worlds of chaos and wonder, where scientific rigor and human endeavour is tested to the limits. These are cosmic realms and watery domains where old offerings no longer appease the ancient Gods or the new and hungry idols. Deities and beasts. Life and death. Love and hate. Science and magic. And smiling monsters in human skin.

Premee Mohamed’s debut collection of contemporary cosmic horror and dark fantasy heralds the arrival of a new and vibrant voice on the cutting edge of modern speculative fiction.

Review

The seventeen stories in this book are an interesting mix of horror, fantasy and science fiction. Many of them exist within a “gods are real” universe with a more fantasy horror slant while others are general fiction horror with science fiction elements. I enjoyed all of them though I think a couple could have done with a bit more explanation of what was going on and why. I did like that the author included additional information about the various stories at the end of the book.

Below the Kirk, Below the Hill – a woman finds an undead child and struggles to figure out what to do next. I liked the way this one ended because the choices were limited and there wasn’t much that can be done for the child.

Instructions – a set of instructions for British servicemen in a German occupied France. Only it turns out it’s not that simple. As you read through the instructions you slowly figure out the twist to this one. I liked it.

The Evaluator – in which a child has been possessed buy a disturbing entity and all people can do is evaluate the situation. This is another one where there are limited choices but this time the horror is more about being helpless.

At the Hand of Every Beast – a monster in the form of a large cathedral wonders through the area and a small child investigates it. This one was strange but I enjoyed it.

The Adventurer’s Wife – A newspaper reporter is tasked with interviewing a deceased adventurer’s widow. This one has a great twist in the end. Not all is as it seems on multiple fronts. Fun ending.

The General’s Turn – a captured solder is put through a test by the enemy. I’m not entirely sure I understood this one. The explanation from the author helps some.

Sixteen Minutes – a sixteen minute warning comes and a man hides in a bunker abandoning his family in the process. Question is, were bombs really dropped? This one is more about the man who hides in the bunker slowly losing his mind more than anything else. The ending is a little vague on purpose.

Fortunato – a ship lands to rescue the survivors of a failed colony and the crew soon learns the story of what went wrong. Of course the rescue goes about as well as you’d expect. I enjoyed the slow build of horror of this one as things go horribly wrong.

The Honeymakers – Something strange happens with a bee hive and girls who interact with it. This one is a bit confusing but I liked the idea of it.

Four Hours of a Revolution – Many Deaths stalk a group of rebels and solders fighting a revolution…there’s some confusion… This one is interesting to read as death follows everyone as things happen.

For Each of These Miseries – A woman travels to a deep see fortress to help her mother’s friend who is dealing with a monster and a group of soldiers who are slowly succumbing to the pressure of keeping things secret. The ending of this one is interesting.

Everything is Part of Its Infinite Place – a boy grieves the loss of his brother and encounters a double of himself and a series of strange events before making a choice. The ending of this one is a little vague as we know something happened but it’s not clear of it was a good thing or a bad thing.

No One Will Come Back For Us – a visit to a hospital during a epidemic that may have a supernatural cause. I enjoyed reason this one but I think the might have been one where things could have been explained a little more? Or at last the ending as I’m not sure about the narrator’s point of view.

Willing – A farmer’s two cows suffer during birth – one dying one living but birthing a stillborn. A sacrifice is required. I really liked the way this one ended.

Us and Ours – two kids during an invasion of creatures dealing with everything. This one was good – the kids are pretty much used as bait by another group for the creatures. I From the author’s description it seems like the ending is supposed to be a little vague about who actually won. I liked the way it ended though with the two kids driving off to have their own adventures.

The Redoubtables – a young journalist is investigating a disaster to write an article about it. It turns out that the disaster was intentional because a group of scientists destroyed their experiment completely in order to keep it contained. No real explanations are given as to why and that’s the true horror of it all.

Quietus – a young man is being used as test subject – from his point of view he’s fighting several wars. We also get emails exchanged between scientists running the experiment on sleep deprivation and virtual reality. The ending is a little vague but it seems like the right choice to end the experiment is made for the good of all. But whether or not it’s too late is unclear.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “No One Will Come Back For Us”

Book Details

Author’s Website: Premee Mohamed
Publisher / Date: Undertow Publications, May 2023
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Page Count: 288
Completion Date: October 26, 2024

“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