Tag: LGBTQIA+

“A Master of Djinn” Review

Posted on by Jen

“A Master of Djinn” by P. Djèlí Clark

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city—or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

Review

This was such a great read. The characters are fun to read about and the world building was fantastic. I had a lot of fun reading this book. It’s set in 1912 so there’s a bit of history to think about with the time period but it’s also a rather different world because of the changes that have happened. The world building explains enough to keep the story going but doesn’t answer everything. Which I actually appreciated. Since the story is set over 40 years after the changes it would have required a lot of information dumping which the story never did. Some things are explained others are left for the reader to figure out. I really enjoyed how everything worked out and the crisis was solved. If P. Djèlí Clark writes another novel in this series I will definitely read it. There are several short stories also set in the same universe that I’m going to see if I can find and read as well.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “A Master of Djinn”.

Book Details

A person stands at the bottom of a set of stairs in a palace of gold. At the top of the cover are the inner workings of a machine with gears and pipes and other bits of technology.

Author’s Website
P. Djèlí Clark
Publisher / Date
Tordotcom Publishing, May 2021
Genre
Alternate History, Fantasy, Mystery
Page Count
400

Completion Date
May 14, 2023

“Lakelore” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Lakelore” by Anna-Marie McLemore

Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore’s only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate.

Then the lines between air and water begin to blur. The world under the lake drifts above the surface. If Bastián and Lore don’t want it bringing their secrets to the surface with it, they have to stop it, and to do that, they have to work together. There’s just one problem: Bastián and Lore haven’t spoken in seven years, and working together means trusting each other with the very things they’re trying to hide.

Review

This is a great story with great characters. Bastián and Lore are trans nonbinary, neurodivergent Mexican American teens who find themselves in a very weird situation while figuring themselves out. The world under the lake isn’t explained in much detail but that’s mostly because no one really knows much about it anymore.

Bastián was just able to access it as a child and then Lore ended up being able to access it as well. They don’t know any more about it than we do really. And the land under the lake isn’t really the main point – it’s Bastián and Lore dealing with who they are as they work through some issues. Bastián has ADHD and Lore is dyslexic and the book goes into a lot of detail about how their brains work and what their lives are like because of it.

I really enjoyed reading all of that information and the way the characters interact with each other as they learn about each other. This isn’t a story where Bastián and Lore are the only ones who understand and love them for who they are – Their family and friends see them for who they are and love them deeply. Which is good because “two people against the world” stories are a little frustrating – even when it’s realistic because of the way some families.

This was a good read because of the difference. The land under the lake is what brings Bastián and Lore together and helps them figure some additional things out that they needed to deal with.

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

Book Details

The book cover has two teens who appear to be standing chest deep in a lake one looking away and one facing the viewer. There are mountains and the sun visible behind them. The lake has a variety of colors - blue, green, red, orange, purple in swirls. The teens have brown skin and brown hair and thee are green butterflies on their heads. One is wearing a white shirt and the other a yellow hoodie.

Author’s Website
Anna-Marie McLemore
Publisher / Date
Feiwel & Friends, March 2022
Genre
Fantasy, Young Adult
Page Count
304
Completion Date
May 6, 2023

“The Spare Man” Review

Posted on by Jen

“The Spare Man” by Mary Robinette Kowal

With all the glittering banter of 1930s noir, this novel takes class, privilege, and identity theft and wraps them inside a murder mystery. Tesla Crane, heiress to the Crane fortune, and Shalmanseer Steward, a retired private detective, are on their honeymoon cruise from Earth to Mars. When Shal is framed for murder, Tesla has to find the murderer before they try to silence her husband.

Review

This book fits another of the prompts for the Disability Readathon I’m participating in for April: “Read a book with a person using a mobility aid on the cover” – the main character, Tesla, is using a cane on the cover.

I’m going to be honest and say I preferred Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series over this book. That said I think it’s mostly because the series is a different genre and style. This book is a murder mystery set in the future (2075), while the Lady Astronaut series is an alternate history series set in the 50s through the 70s and some choices made more sense in that series.

There was stuff I did like about the book – most of the characters are great and I did like the disability representation of the main character and her service dog. Her disabilities come from an accident and she’s still in the adjustment period so she’s still adjusting to her new reality for the most part. The murder mystery and figuring out what actually happened was interesting – sometimes a little confusing but I think it was meant to be because of how it all worked out. I also like how at the end of her books the author always has a section talking about the science of the book and how she figured things out for the plot.

There was one element of the book that stuck out like a sore thumb though and it’s the amount of intelligence based insults. I know those are far too ingrained in our society, and it’s not as though all of the other books I’ve read don’t have them too but they became very noticeable in this book. Part of the reason it was so jarring was that the main character went out of her way to call out gender based insults and failure to use pronouns, but then used intelligence based insults themselves or ignored them from another characters. One of the other characters was constantly insulting a third character with some of those insults. It must be said that at the time of reading I wasn’t in the mood for seeing one -ism called out while another was being ignored or used to fight the first one. Especially when the book had disability representation that was well done.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “The Spare Man”.

Book Details

A woman and man are standing at a bar on a space ship with stars visible above them dressed in formal attire. The woman is more towards the center of the cover and is wearing a white dress with a blue shawl, and is using a cane. The man is to the right and wearing a suit while leaning on the bar looking at the woman. On the floor to the left of the woman is a small white dog.

Author’s Website
Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher / Date
Tor Books, October 2022
Genre
Science Fiction
Page Count
384
Completion Date
April 23, 2023

“Meru” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Meru” by S.B. Divya

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations.

Review

I really enjoyed this book – the world building is great and while some terms used were a bit confusing it was mostly explained as you read a long what they were referring too. I really enjoyed all of the characters involved – even one that was kind of frustrating at first. I really enjoyed how disability is used in this book as a benefit – the planet is found is actually more stable to those who have a specific disability. There’s also a lot of learning about different people and coming to understand that sometimes you don’t know everything you think you know.

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

Book Details

Book cover of Meru showing a person standing on a rock outcropping at the bottom of a canyon with walls on either Sid e of them the sky ahead is purple. The book title is arranged vertically down the middle of the book with the author's name at the top.

Author’s Website
S.B. Divya
Publisher / Date
47North, February 2023
Genre
Science Fiction
Page Count
443
Completion Date
March 31, 2023

“Transcendent” Review

Posted on by Jen

Transcendent: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction edited by K.M. Szpara

There are fantastical stories with actual transgender characters, some for whom that is central and others for whom that isn’t. And there are stories without transgender characters, but with metaphors and symbolism in their place, genuine expressions of self through such speculative fiction tropes as shapeshifting and programming. Transgender individuals see themselves in transformative characters, those outsiders, before seeing themselves as human protagonists. Those feelings are still valid. Cisgender people can never quite understand this distancing. But though the stories involve transformation and outsiders, sometimes the change is one of self-realization. This anthology will be a welcome read for those who are ready to transcend gender through the lens of science fiction, fantasy, and other works of imaginative fiction.

Review

I love anthologies! Several awesome stories and new authors to discover every tine – what more can you ask for? Doesn’t matter if I like all of them or not – they’re always interesting to read and explore different stories and ideas. This one was no different. Some stories I didn’t really understand but that’s okay – others probably will get more out of them. I’m still going to check out every author and find out who they are and what else they’ve written because that’s always fun.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for Transcendent.

Book Details

Book cover of Transcendent showing a black person with a head scarf with their back towards the cover with their head turned to the right. They are wearing a colorful out fit and a head scarf with the words of the title in it and the words fantasy and community and many other words

Editor’s Website
K.M. Szpara
Publisher / Date
Lethe Press, September 2016
Genre
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories
Page Count
255
Completion Date
March 26, 2023

“Seeds for the Swarm” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Seeds for the Swarm” by Sim Kern

Rylla McCracken dreams of escaping her family’s trailer in the Dust States to go to college, but on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, her mother demands she drop out of school to work for Lockburn chemical refinery instead. When Rylla learns Lockburn is planning to dam the Guadalupe River-the last flowing water in Texas-she defies her mother to protest in the state capital. The protest ends in disaster, but her ensuing viral infamy gains Rylla an acceptance to the mysterious Wingates University.

Review

First I want to say I really enjoyed this book. However I wish I had known going in that it was actually part one in a series and the ending doesn’t actually resolve any of the various plot points that come up in the story. It’s not a hard cliffhanger where someone is about to die horribly, but it is a story that needs resolution that won’t happen until the next book. This is more about me though – when I read a series I like it best when each book mostly stands on its own with a resolved plot at the end. Anything else is just frustrating – especially when I don’t know when the next part is coming. I may have gone ahead and read the book anyway knowing this but I would have liked to know what I was getting into.

However all that said – the book is worth reading, especially if you don’t mind unresolved endings, because the characters are great. Sure they’re teenagers and the main character Rylla, makes some ridiculous choices but she is a teenager, and going through a lot of changes. It should be noted I was always a rule follower so don’t have any awareness of what is actually reasonable when it comes to teenage shenanigans. It’s also a book where kids or teenagers have to save the world which I’ve gotten a bit tired of but it felt realistic given our current world. The book may be set in the future with even worse damage from climate change but it’s a future we could very easily end up in. The emphasis on how rich white people will always able to survive comfortably while everyone else suffers is exactly how it is now.

And yes, it’s likely I’ll read the next book as soon as it comes out…

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

Book Details

Book cover for Seeds for the Swarm. a person with shaggy light brown hair and white skin is on the cover sideways looking up in. In the background are various colors and green flying bugs at the top of the cover.

Author’s Website
Sim Kern
Publisher / Date
Stelliform Press, March 2023
Genre
Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Page Count
440
Completion Date
March 26, 2023