For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga. 4/5
Varga retells The Count of Monte Cristo in a fantasy East Asian setting, but you definitely don’t need to know anything about the original to enjoy this fast-paced adventure. Dania is wrongfully sent to prison, where she finds an ally and manages to escape to get revenge. Adopting a new identity and working with dangerous magics, she learns that not everything is as it seemed when she was arrested, and her choices for action become kaleidoscopic. I loved the relationship between Dania and Noor, the woman who escapes prison with her and aids her in her quest for revenge, and found Dania’s conflicting feelings towards her former lover, now a ruler, compelling. The detail in the world-building is excellent, the pacing is good, and the characters develop over the course of the novel. Good for middle grades and up.
The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning. 4/5
Dark fantasy readers, this one is for you. Melding a bit of the dark-magical family trope with dark academia, The Lies We Conjure is a locked-rooms type mystery with murder and magic and horror. Wren and her sister Ruby are hired by a woman to impersonate her estranged granddaughters at a family function, but when they arrive, the host falls dead and their employer vanishes, leaving behind the corpse of their driver. The sisters realize that they’ve been set up–and that the family surrounding them have strong magical powers and are in a war to take control of the family power. Slowly, they make allies and put the pieces together, and manage to survive. The (many) characters are not evenly fleshed out, but Henning does try to work against stereotypes with the large cast. Much of the magic itself is interesting and original, and readers will like the resourceful protagonists.
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez. 5/5
These short stories are a great introduction to Latin American horror, and to Argentine horror in particular. Most are focused on women–women who are threats, women who haunt, women who escape, women who listen to the dead, each one unique and fascinating and chilling. Many of the stories focus on agency, while others examine family trauma; all demonstrate Enriquez’s deft and evocative writing, There is a lot of body horror, so fi t hat’s not your thing you may not enjoy these, but for most horror fans, these knock it out of the park.
Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen. 4/5
This is a sly book–read carefully to be well-rewarded. You may think it’s another novel of family suffering and child abuse–which it is, to be sure–but there are also fantastical elements swarming in the subtext and text that make it a treat. I admit to having a hard time getting into it because of the explicit brutality at the opening, but I caught onto the threads of the underlying tale and that made it worth having to get through the more triggering aspects. I’d suggest pairings to read it with, but that would spoil things, so…. if you enjoy it, you can look on my earlier reviews to find similar books.
This Will Be Fun by E. B. Asher. 4/5
In this smart romantasy, the heroes of their nation, now estranged, are forced together for an event. Sparks fly, as do fists, swords, and much much more. The sardonic tone at the beginning gives way to writing that feels less and less forced as the adventure goes on, and the ending is a sweet HEA with a very surprise twist. This’ll appeal to gamers and fantasy fans as well as romance readers. There’s excellent queer and disability representation as well as other kinds of diversity depicted in the characters and their world.
Dust by Alison Stine. 5/5
Dust is a terrific book about a young Deaf woman’s resilience and ability to think critically, to grow and take risks. Thea’s father, paranoid and desperate, moves the family to a new and horrific Dust Bowl, while her mother is frightened of her father and does whatever he says. Amid this apocalyptic setting, Thea takes a job in town, where she’s exposed to the outside world–at least a bit of it–and meets the only other Deaf person she’s eve known. He teaches her that Deaf folks can move through the world just as well as hearing ones, but her parents’ beliefs that she’s defective rather than disabled are hard to overcome. But Thea makes friends, and learns things, and, in the end, saves her family and other members of her community. Highly recommended.
Nightbirds and Fyrebirds by Kate J. Armstrong. 5/5
Nightbirds and its sequel, Fyrebirds, are a great pair of books for summer reading. A group of preternaturally gifted young women uncover secrets and lies about their gifts, learn of conspiracies to control them, and wreak fabulous political and civil havoc as they rise up against (or burrow beneath) a toxic patriarchy. The world-building is lovely and detailed, the characters evolve and develop, they’re diverse, they’re smart and true to themselves, and the adventure moves along at a good pace. Middle grades and u–and there’s plenty for adult readers to enjoy too.
The Best American Poetry 2024 by David Lehman; Mary Jo Salter. 3/5
This begins with essays from the editors celebrating Keats and Dickinson. But this is 2024, you cry! Surely there are other influential poets who should be named! And surely this book should not contain so very much work by authors who are previously represented in other volumes of the series. But no. I guess it’s like the Supreme Court: once you get in, you’re in for life. And the zeitgeist seems to favor white authors. That said, there are some truly striking and original poems in the collection. Dip in and out of it, and see what strikes you as good.
The Forbidden by Sacha Lamb. 5/5
Sacha Lamb does it again! I loved “When the Angels Left the Old Country,” a superb queer story about Jewish life and culture and movement across the world, and The Forbidden Book is almost as good. Really, I just want it to be a little longer, to resolve a few more things at the end, to expand just a little on the folklore of angels and dybbuks and the demons of Jewish lore. The description of Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement under Russian occupation is breathtaking in its scope and detail, the characters are rich and deep, and seeing (and learning) a little Yiddish throughout is wonderful. Join Sorel in her escape from an unwanted arranged marriage into the forest and towns, where as a boy she’s working to stay alive, not get found out, and find justice for the real boy whose name she has adopted.. Learn the secrets of magic and printing presses and how to foment rebellion and how to run like a fox. Be enchanted by this terrific book.
Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee. 5/5
I really enjoyed this first book of a planned series about a New Korean Empire that stretches out to the stars and the last-minute, barely-trained coterie of (mostly) young people who both love and fight against it. The characters were interesting and unique, the plot was excellent and exciting, and the universe feels thoughtfully created and handled. There are a wide variety of races and gender and sexual identities, all given equal weight and importance in the story, and the issues between classes, political insiders and outsiders, and within power structures is beautifully worked. None of this is a surprise–Yoon Ha Lee is a superb writer, and this new book should bring a lot more readers to his work.
Queer as Folklore by Sacha Coward. 1/5
I really wanted this to be good, but instead it’s pretty superficial, goes off-track a lot (a lot!) and is even kind of boring. I can’t recommend it.
The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance by Josh Ulrich. 1/5
Well, this download is just a handful of excerpts, but even from that, I can tell that it’s a bunch of well-worn tropes in horror with very little original to make it stand out. It’s too bad, but it really is just another the teachers and principal (spelled “pal,” not “ple,” as the text has it) are the bad cultists, a parentized white girl is a hero to poorer (also white) boys, etc. Lots of typos, no surprises. Nope.
