The real takeaway I got from The Kraken’s Tooth is that Anthony Ryan is a strong writer. I obviously already knew that, given my familiarity with his other work, but it's nice to be reminded that the authors you like are good at their craft. The Kraken's Tooth is the second installment of a seven-part…
Continue reading ➞ The Kraken’s Tooth – What’s Krakenalackin
So is it just me, or everyone else getting tired of me writing reviews about books I liked and/or loved? No? Just me then? Well luckily for you, I have another one of those reviews that you can’t get enough of. Fortunately, this one is a short little piece for a perfectly sized book. If…
I have been beginning to feel like a metaphorical Goldilocks lately when it comes to Asian inspired political period pieces. The last two I tried were The Throne of the Five Winds and The Wolf of Oren-Yaro - neither of which quite did it for me. But, apparently, I have a thing for these kinds…
Continue reading ➞ The Empress Of Salt And Fortune – A Scrumptious Political Snack
Seanan McGuire’s fifth Wayward Children novella brings us once again to Eleanor West’s home for the titular youth. It also returns to the story of Jack (Jacqueline) and Jill, sisters whose collective tale of sibling love and loss rises to a volcanic climax in Come Tumbling Down. Beware--spoilers from previous Wayward Children installments ahead! Jack…
Continue reading ➞ Come Tumbling Down – Sisterhood Meets Finality
Beneath the Sugar Sky returns, if only for a moment, to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. The third novella in the aptly named Wayward Children series brings us back to present-day following Jack and Jill’s prequel adventure in Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This pattern of alternating past-present stories will continue, according to…
Continue reading ➞ Beneath the Sugar Sky – Nonsense Meets Mortality
Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire’s first prequel to Every Heart a Doorway, offers brutal ruminations on the nature of childhood and the implications of growing up. This story, starring twin sisters Jacqueline (Jack) and Jill (before you ask--yes, there are plenty of references to the nursery rhyme. No, they’re not overdone), paints…
Continue reading ➞ Down Among the Sticks and Bones – Childhood Meets Brutality
Seanan McGuire weaves a poignant tale in Every Heart A Doorway, the first novella in her award-winning Wayward Children series. Through expert world-building and a sharp writing style, Every Heart A Doorway provides a heart-wrenching look at belonging, acceptance, and what it means to be stripped of them. When protagonist Nancy finds herself ejected from…
Continue reading ➞ Every Heart A Doorway – Magic Meets Reality
Upright Women Wanted By Sarah Gailey starts off strong with its main character, Esther, stowed away in a librarian’s book wagon. She’s a runaway in a future dystopian American southwest. Esther is running away from a marriage arranged by her father. The man she was set to marry, was originally going to marry her best…
Priya Sharma’s Ormeshadow overflows with dark family secrets, generations of lore, and tragedy. Sharma has a knack for pitting characters against one another with beautifully selected words. Ormeshadow reads like a wood-carving: Sharma removes all the excess material and presents a pristine, sharp product that feels at once succinct and sprawling. Gideon Belman’s life completely…
I’ve never been a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. Our family only went to church on Christmas, and that was about it. As a result, finding myself excited about the prospect of the Catholic Church in space was a weird experience for me. Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather scratched…
Continue reading ➞ Sisters of the Vast Black – We’re Nuns, We’re Nuns in Space!
