Book Review: The Deep by Alma Katsu
Posted on March 10, 2020 30 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (March 10, 2020)
Length: 432 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I was a fan of Alma Katsu’s The Hunger, and was excited to hear her next book would be another historical horror, set to the backdrop of the sinking of not one but two great ships—the RMS Titanic and her fleet mate the HMHS Britannic, both of which met tragic fates.
The novel first opens in 1916, as the Great War rages across Europe. For years, Annie Hebbley has been living in an asylum slowly regaining her lost memory. She now remembers her name, the fact that she used to serve as a maid on a passenger liner, and that the ship, Titanic, had struck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Her doctors feel that Annie is now fully recovered, and should return to society and normal everyday life, starting with taking the position she has been offered as a nurse aboard the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship to ferry injured British forces.
And so, Annie embarks on her new journey, quickly settling back into life on the ocean, despite her past traumatic experiences at sea and the fact that her nursing duties are so different than the work she used to do. The story then flashes back to 1912 aboard the Titanic, where Annie served as a cabin maid to the glamorous and wealthy passengers in first class. It is here where she meets and immediately becomes drawn to Mark Fletcher, despite him having a wife and child.
The rest of the novel alternates between these two timelines: the past, which gradually reveals the tumultuous events aboard the Titanic as Annie becomes increasingly embroiled in the Fletcher’s lives; as well as the present, which chronicles her confusion and despair as she chances to meet Mark again on the Britannic. Now a soldier, wounded and in the care of Annie, he had also survived the sinking four years ago but believed that his wife and baby had perished. Rather than sharing Annie’s joy at being reunited, however, Mark instead recoils in horror at the first sight of her, requesting a move to another ward. Deeply hurt, Annie seeks to repair their connection by telling Mark that his daughter had not in fact died that night. But being close to him now has also reawakened buried emotions and secrets, as well as memories that threaten her sanity.
I don’t know what I expected from The Deep, but the horror was most definitely lacking. Instead, the balance heavily favored historical drama, likely caused by the inordinate amount of time it took for this book to get off the ground. To be fair, a story like this needed a lot of setup, considering the two separate narratives that had to be established, and the author chose to unravel both these timelines in tandem which was probably the most efficient for storytelling. However, this decision presented its fair share of problems, not least of them the awkwardness of trying to give each thread the same amount of attention while ensuring the plot’s pace ran smoothly. Unfortunately, this balancing act was not entirely achieved, and whatever horror elements there were ended up slipping through the cracks as a result.
As much as I hate to say, but much of the first half of the book also felt like a waste of time in retrospect. Katsu featured many characters in the Titanic including the wealthy real estate developer and investor John Jacob Astor and his pregnant wife Madeleine, boxers David “Dai” Bowen and Leslie Williams, businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, fashion designer Lady Duff-Gordon and others—all of them real historical figures, but none of whom had really any impact on the overall story whatsoever. To tell the truth, it struck me an indulgence by the author, a way for her to show off her knowledge and research which I have no doubt was considerable, but ultimately unnecessary to the larger picture.
That being said, while The Deep had its flaws, it also had its high points. I absolutely loved the concept behind the book, especially the way it drew attention to the Britannic, which met the same watery fate as the Titanic but is perhaps not as well-known as her sister ship. I also enjoyed the sinking scenes but wish there had been more time spent on them, and that they had been written with greater gravitas. Description was light on the whole with this novel and it’s a shame because so much could have done with the atmosphere, from the luxury and decadence aboard Titanic to the more disturbing, creepier moments like when Annie’s unsettling memories return to haunt her. Generally speaking, the mood was largely absent, which I thought was the novel’s weakest point.
Considering how much I enjoyed The Hunger, it’s hard not to view The Deep as a disappointment. The premise behind it was good but perhaps a tad over ambitious. Building up two timelines at once while trying to inject as much history and horror elements into this awfully restrictive structure ended up causing a lot of balancing and pacing issues, and ultimately, it’s a format that didn’t quite work for me.
Audiobook Review: The Seventh Sun by Lani Forbes
Posted on March 9, 2020 13 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Seventh Sun by Lani Forbes
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Book 1 of The Age of the Seventh Sun
Publisher: Blackstone Audio (February 18, 2020)
Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Stacy Gonzales
Set in a fantasy world heavily inspired by the legends and traditions of ancient Mesoamerica, The Seventh Sun is a coming-of-age novel by debut author Lani Forbes featuring a rich blend of history, magic, and mythology.
One of the two protagonists is Ahkin, a young prince who thought he had years to learn the sacred rituals which would prepare him for the day he will succeed his father and lead the Chicome people. But as the story opens in the early hours of an ill-fated morning, he is interrupted by a nervous servant who tells Ahkin that his powers are urgently needed to call the sun. It appears that the emperor had passed away suddenly in the middle of the night, and according to tradition, his wife must now also sacrifice herself and follow her husband into the underworld.
And so, within moments, Ahkin finds himself losing both his parents and becoming the emperor, responsible for the wellbeing of every life who lives under his rule. As it is his royal blood that controls the sun, it is his duty to spill a few drops of it each morning to bring about its life-giving rays and please the gods, preventing the coming of another apocalypse. In order to ascend the throne, Ahkin must also marry, choosing a wife among the daughters of the empire’s minor kings, each descended from the gods and are hence blessed with their own unique powers.
This is where our second protagonist, Mayana, comes into play. Her birthright is control of water, but unlike her family, she doesn’t believe the gods demand sacrifices in return for peace and prosperity. However, when she becomes one of the six young princesses called to the palace, Mayana knows she must keep her blasphemous beliefs to herself in order to survive. Only one woman can become Ahkin’s wife, with the rest to be sacrificed to bless the match. In order to ensure she will be the one chosen by the matchmakers, she’ll need to play the role of devout subject and hope to catch the young prince’s eye and keep it. But as she grows closer to Ahkin, and as he begins to develop deeper feelings for her, Mayana knows she won’t be able to keep her secrets forever. As empress, she would be called upon to take part in the bloody sacrificial rituals she doesn’t agree with. How can she rule the empire if she doesn’t believe in its traditions, and what would Ahkin think of her when he inevitably finds out?
To start, The Seventh Sun was a novel full of surprises for me—some good, and some admittedly not so good. On the whole, while I thought it was impressive for a debut, it was also not without its share of “first novel problems” including unstable pacing and issues related to telling not showing. The story itself was interesting, but predictable in a way that you can probably zone out through much of the novel’s middle sections without missing out on anything too important, and in fact, that’s exactly what happened to me with the audiobook. The other issue related to this is the writing style and storytelling. Although I knew this would be a coming-of-age novel, what I did not expect was for elements in it to skew so heavily YA. The plot boils down to a competition between the six young women, who are put through multiple trials with only one winner to emerge while failure will mean death (like we haven’t seen a variation of this scenario in YA a million times before?) In play is also the ever-annoying miscommunication trope, in which two people claim they are on so in love, but of course never tell each other anything.
But there are positives. The world-building is strong, and though the book synopsis describes The Seventh Sun as being based on the legends and history of the Aztec and Mayans, I would say it’s the author’s own flourishes (and here she does take a lot of artistic liberties) that make the setting of her book and the magic of her characters memorable. The final chapters were also a bit surprising, and though I was disappointed to discover that there would be no clean ending to tie everything up neatly, I enjoyed finally getting a few twists and certain developments I didn’t see coming.
Though I wasn’t completely blown away, I saw a lot of promising things in The Seventh Sun that will make me strongly consider picking up the sequel, if nothing else because the ending took the story in a direction I completely did not expect, and I would be curious to see what will happen to Ahkin and Mayana. The audiobook narrated by Stacy Gonzales was another reason for my increased interest, because she made the characters come to life and their emotions feel real. When the next book comes out, should I decide to pick it up, it will definitely be the audio format again because of her fantastic performance.
YA Weekend Audio: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Posted on March 8, 2020 20 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Macmillan Audio (February 25, 2020)
Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Caitlin Davies
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. No pretenses, limited drama, just plain good fun with a generous helping of romance. And of course, a wildly entertaining heroine didn’t hurt.
At the heart of The Shadows Between Us is a fairy tale as old as time—a girl hopes to catch the eye of the king, marry him and become his queen. But instead of living happily ever after, here the girl actually has vicious designs to murder the king and steal his kingdom. Let’s be clear: Alessandra is not a nice person. She’s never claimed to be. She is highly ambitious and has always made it known that she’s only out for herself, and you can either help her or get the hell out of the way.
Now she’s set her sights on the throne itself, and the key to getting it is the newly crowned Shadow King. So named because of the tendrils of living shadows that swirl around him, Kallias is a mysterious young man who mostly keeps to himself, but Alessandra believes she knows what he wants. Her plan is to present herself at court and make it impossible for him to resist her charms, and once he makes her his wife, that’s when she will strike.
And for a while, things seemed to be going as planned. Alessandra is confident that she has Kallias’ attention, and he’s shown his interest by officially making their courtship public. But then came the assassination attempt on his life, and Alessandra is outraged. Someone is trying to kill the king before she can get him to marry her, how dare they! Unexpectedly, Alessandra as Kallias’ would-be killer now finds herself doing everything she can to keep him alive, becoming his most loyal protector, and the irony is not lost on her.
First, let’s talk about Alessandra. She’s completely full of herself, and I love it! I’m sick and tired of heroines in YA who act all coy and demure, who are all full of false modesty. For one thing, they’re not fooling anyone. To have someone like Alessandra, who owns her egotism and her thirst for ambition, is like a breath of fresh air. She’s also got a voracious sexual appetite and isn’t ashamed to admit it, though she does ensure she gets plenty of dirt on her lovers just in case they decide to turn on her. This is one smart, ruthless cookie you won’t want to mess with, and you definitely won’t want to get between her and what she wants.
And yet, in spite of all her flaws, Alessandra is incredibly likable. And really, she’s not all bad. As her relationship with Kallias deepens, she realizes that she does in fact care for him, and goes on to prove that there are other things she cares about other than herself. It’s safe to say she carried the book for me, through the sheer force of her personality. Quite honestly, while I enjoyed the story, world-building and other characters, those aspects weren’t anything too special. In fact, I think in many ways Kallias was overshadowed by Alessandra—not because he wasn’t a good character or that he wasn’t well-written, but simply because everything just tends to fade to the background when compared to our fiery protagonist (okay, with maybe the exception of Demodocus, but who doesn’t love that big adorable furball?) In addition, Alessandra was what made the love story arc not only tolerable but actually enjoyable, and that’s a big deal considering how picky I am about how romances are handled in YA.
But at the end of the day, The Shadows Between Us was simply a straight-up fun and energizing read, headed by a truly memorable and ferociously indomitable heroine. I was almost disappointed to find out this was a standalone, by the way the ending wrapped up so neatly, because I most certainly wouldn’t have minded another book with Alessandra. The story itself was a bit predictable, but that’s not to say it didn’t have its moments, and there were also a few surprises. It held my attention from beginning to end, and I was sorry to say goodbye. Without a doubt, Tricia Levenseller will be an author I’ll remember, and I’ll be watching for what she writes next.
Audiobook Comments: I’m a huge fan of Caitlin Davies, and in my opinion, they couldn’t have chosen a better narrator for The Shadows Between Us because of the way she flawlessly channeled Alessandra’s attitude. Her reading was spot on and pitch perfect, and I don’t think this book would have been nearly as good had someone else been narrating. Fantastic performance, and highly recommended.
Bookshelf Roundup 03/07/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on March 7, 2020 19 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
First, a big thank you to Titan Books for sending me this beautiful finished copy of Re-Coil by J.T. Nicholas, which is even more colorful and vivid in person. I took part in the tour for this book earlier in the week, and now I’m even more excited to check it out. Also thanks to William Morrow for a surprise copy of Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk, which I think I received because I reviewed the author’s The Night Agent last year. Political thrillers aren’t really my thing, but if I have time I might it a try.
With thanks also to Tor.com for sending along a finished copy of Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson which I’d like to try because I’ve been hearing some great things from early reviews, as well as an ARC of Drowned Country by Emily Tesh, the sequel to Silver in the Wood. I’m kicking myself for not having started the series yet, but I know it’s never too late!
Courtesy of the wonderful peeps at Subterranean Press, I also received these pretties: The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold is the seventh novella in the wonderful Penric and Desdemona sequence. Honestly though, just seeing Bujold’s name on the cover of a book is reason enough to read it. And finally, Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 edited by William Schafer is the third installment of the publisher’s acclaimed dark fantasy anthology series, featuring stories from ten of the most exciting names in the genre including Kat Howard, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Sarah Gailey, C.J. Tudor, Richard Kadrey, P. Djèjí Clark and more.
I’ve been doing pretty well whittling down my audiobook pile lately and needed to stock up on good listens, so I decided to make a few requests. From Hachette Audio, I grabbed The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett which caught my eye for being described as a more mature YA fantasy with fairy tale vibes and court intrigue, as well as Girl on the Edge by Karen Dietrich, a thriller about a girl who seeks to understand what drove her father to commit mass murder. Speaking of thrillers, from Penguin Random House Audio I also grabbed listening copies of The Body Double by Emily Beyda, a debut novel about a young woman recruited to impersonate a reclusive Hollywood star; Providence by Max Barry, a story about four astronauts journeying across space in a supposedly indestructible ship to fight against an alien race; and The Keeper by Jessica Moor, a crime mystery following a detective who investigate an apparent suicide that turns out to be a murder. I love listening to thrillers in audio, so we’ll if any of these are what I’m looking for. Courtesy of the kind folks at Audible Studios I also picked up Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden (so happy the books in this series finally got audio versions, I might add) and House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas for review this week, as well as Voodoo Shanghai by Kristi Charish with thanks to the author for providing me a reviewer code!
Reviews
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch (4 of 5 stars)
The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff (4 of 5 stars)
Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus (4 of 5 stars)
This Week’s Reads
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
Friday Face-Off: Skeleton
Posted on March 6, 2020 32 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Them bones, them bones, them dry bones…”
~ a cover featuring a SKELETON
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Donovan Series by W. Michael Gear
This week, I’ve once again decided to compare all the covers of the books in a single series, and I’ve chosen the Donovan sequence by W. Michael Gear not only because it is fantastic, but also because it’s just so perfect for today’s theme. The following are covers of the four volumes (Unreconciled is coming soon in May) currently in the series, published by DAW Books:
Winner:
Bones, bones, bones everywhere! Oh, which to choose? None of these are what you’d call cheery images, which makes it tough to pick a favorite. But if I had to base my decision on atmosphere and how much it intrigues me, I think I would have to go with the second book. Nothing screams “abandoned” like a corpse in a busted up suit of armor overgrown with alien vegetation. I also like the little touches. If you look closely, you’ll see the words “ALL THINGS END” near the bottom of the image. Spooky.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
Posted on March 5, 2020 22 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 8 of Peter Grant/Rivers of London
Publisher: DAW (February 25, 2020)
Length: 304 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this book. We’re now on the eighth installment of the Rivers of London series, and as much as I’ve enjoyed my time with the Faceless Man arc, I also felt it was high time we moved onto something new. Still, while we may be at the dawn of a new chapter in Peter Grant’s life here in False Value, there are still a few mysteries left over from the previous books. Certainly, the novel still contains a lot of references and connections to past events so this might not be the best point to jump on board, and the following review may also discuss those things, so only proceed if you’re caught all up!
With his impending fatherhood in mind (twins on the way!) and his current standing with the Metropolitan Police on shaky ground, it’s pretty safe to say our protagonist is keen for some new work right about now. And as luck would have it, an ex-cop at an organization called Serious Cybernetics Company has caught wind of Peter’s suspension and is interested in offering him a job in their security department. A new start-up by Silicon Valley rising star and billionaire Terrence Skinner, the SCC is heavily involved in artificial intelligence research and development, employing a bunch nerds and geeks, meaning Peter should fit right in. And a good thing too, because his job is to infiltrate the personnel and root out the identity of the employee trying to gain forbidden entry into the company’s most classified project.
As a police officer, Peter thinks finding the “rat” among the “mice” while blending in with the civvies should be a cinch. But then the job grows complicated when he uncovers a fellow magic practitioner during his investigation of the recent break-ins, and realizes the two of them have a history. Next, an attempt is made on Terrence Skinner’s life. Someone appears to be targeting the company founder, but the more he digs, the more Peter is convinced that everything comes down to the mysterious work being done on the top-secret floor at the SCC known as Bambleweeny.
Just as all the previous novels have been filled with pop-culture related in-jokes referencing everything from Harry Potter to Doctor Who, False Value is a geek heaven for sci-fi fans with a love of Douglas Adams, Battlestar Galactica, and even some tech history—like the achievements of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. It’s nice to see that even with the new storyline, Ben Aaronovitch has retained his cleverness and good sense of humor. These Rivers of London books have never ceased to make me crack up, and ultimately that’s what keeps me coming back and why this is one of my favorite urban fantasy series.
But it’s also undeniable that, for the last few books, the story had been getting increasingly complicated and confusing. With this fresh start though, Peter Grant is back in detective mode, rather than being too busy getting tangled up in Faceless Man and Lesley May drama. I loved the undercover aspect of his role, as it truly brings out his dedication to police work as well as his intellect and skill. False Value also shows a lot more of Peter’s relationships with the people around him including Nightingale, his mentor, and Beverly Brook, his girlfriend and soon-to-be mother of his children. While the relationship between Peter and Bev is clearly special, there’s hints of a conflict brewing as he finally realizes the full implications of being involved with a river goddess. She’s more benevolent than a lot of genius loci, but she’s still unpredictable in her power and knows exactly the effect she has on others. Not to mention, being a new father is intimidating enough without having to wonder if your kids will turn out to be minor deities like their mother.
With this volume, we also see an expansion of the magical community beyond the United Kingdom. Peter has had dealings with agents from across the pond in the past, but False Value brings the Americans quite literally onto the Folly’s doorstep, and one of them is even powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Nightingale. This particular thread is an intriguing one so I don’t want to reveal much more, but Peter does come to appreciate that magical schools around the world have their own traditions and also not all of them view the spirits of place as kindly as the Brits do.
All in all, I thought False Value was a great read, considering it’s the first book to move beyond the Faceless Man story arc. We’re in the early stages of something new, so of course there is still this sense that things are developing, but on the whole, I enjoyed the new direction and dynamics introduced here. Big things are clearly coming for Peter Grant and I’m looking forward to seeing where the next book will take us.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Whispers Underground (Book 3)
Review of Broken Homes (Book 4)
Review of Foxglove Summer (Book 5)
Review of The Furthest Station (Book 5.7)
Review of The Hanging Tree (Book 6)
Review of Lies Sleeping (Book 7)
Waiting on Wednesday 03/04/20
Posted on March 4, 2020 16 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
The Mirror Man by Jane Gilmartin (June 30, 2020 by MIRA)
I’ve been getting some interesting books from the publisher lately, which has led me to check out what other titles they might have coming down the pipeline. My eye fell upon The Mirror Man, which sounds kinda like a hard sci-fi thriller version of Multiplicity except, you know…hair-raising and without all the cutesy comedy.
“Meet Jeremiah Adams. There are two of him.
The offer is too tempting: be part of a scientific breakthrough, step out of his life for a year, and be paid hugely for it. When ViGen Pharmaceuticals asks Jeremiah to be part of an illegal cloning experiment, he sees it as a break from an existence he feels disconnected from. No one will know he’s been replaced—not the son who ignores him, not his increasingly distant wife—since a revolutionary drug called Meld can transfer his consciousness and memories to his copy.
From a luxurious apartment, he watches the clone navigate his day-to-day life. But soon Jeremiah discovers that examining himself from an outsider’s perspective isn’t what he thought it would be, and he watches in horror as “his” life spirals out of control. ViGen needs the experiment to succeed—they won’t call it off, and are prepared to remove any obstacle. With his family in danger, Jeremiah needs to finally find the courage to face himself head-on.”
Book Review: The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff
Posted on March 3, 2020 20 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The Nine Realms
Publisher: Tor Books (February 18, 2020)
Length: 487 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Not wasting a beat, The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff plunges back into the war-ravaged world of The Nine Realms, picking up where A Queen in Hiding left off. This review assumes you’ve read the first book and may contain discussions about the previous volume’s events, so proceed with caution!
With Queen Cressa of Weirandale dead, the crown now belongs to her daughter Cérulia—except the young princess is still in exile, hiding in the countryside while the capital still crawls with traitors and spies. No longer a child, Cérulia leaves the safety of her adoptive home and makes her way across the mountains towards Oromondo, the nation responsible for killing her mother. Traveling under different aliases to hide her true identity, she uses her magical gift to communicate with animals, beseeching them to guide her way and lead her to allies who would help her avenge Queen Cressa.
Meanwhile, scholar turned soldier Thelan finds himself in way over his head, leading a ragtag band of rebels to harry the efforts of the Oros, whose invading hordes have left death and destruction all across the Free States. Thelan’s Raiders may be small, but their network is vast, with hidden resistance fighters situated in unexpected places. With Cérulia’s help, they will have even more ways to gather information, using her powers to find resources and uncover enemy troop movements. But will it be enough to make a difference? There’s still a long way to go for Cérulia to win back her throne, and the raiders face threats from all directions.
As the second installment of four, The Queen of Raiders starts by throwing readers right into the action. Now that Queen Cressa is dead, this book shifts its focus to Cérulia (who adopts multiple bird-themed names to stay anonymous) as well as Thelan, who was mostly a side character in the first book. Weaving in and out of these narratives are also several threads following individuals that give us a glimpse into the happenings around the world, including perspectives from inside Weirandale as well as from the enemy Oros camp. Slowly but steadily, we are tying the various storylines together and a larger picture is emerging.
And if A Queen in Hiding felt like a prologue, then this sequel feels like the opening chapters of a greater saga, officially establishing Cérulia as the focal point of the series. While she was introduced as a little girl in the previous volume, in this novel she official comes into her own as a young woman on a mission. I was also thrilled that her talent got a lot of attention, with her calling upon the creatures of the forest to come to her aid, including the hawks, eagles, and owls that serve as her eyes in the sky. A simple concept it may be, but Kozloff has managed to incorporate the power of talking to animals into many an epic scene.
Honestly, it’s hard to fault this one for feeling like a bridge book. Just as calling A Queen in Hiding a prologue was not meant as a slight, I don’t want to sound too disparaging here either, particularly since I believe that a “bridge book” was the author’s intention. With all four novels coming out in quick succession, I’m beginning to view this series as one single, gargantuan volume. While The Queen of Raiders contained an intro, a middle, and a climax and conclusion, in many ways it also reads like a stepping-stone to the next installment, because of the inherent assumption that the reader will be sticking around until the final destination. It’s a steep demand for your time and investment to be sure, but based on how much I enjoyed myself, I think it’ll be worth it.
In sum, I believe the series is still in the stages of establishing a foundation at this point, setting up for bigger things to come. Yet the journey so far has been well-paced and entertaining, and I am by no means losing interest in Cérulia’s journey. In fact, now I find myself even more invested in her quest to regain her rightful place as queen, especially in light of the jaw-dropping events at the end of this book. As we’re officially at the halfway point of this series, I have even greater expectations and hopes for the next one!
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of A Queen in Hiding (Book 1)
Excerpt: Re-Coil by by J.T. Nicholas
Posted on March 2, 2020 9 Comments
The BiblioSanctum is pleased to be participating in the tour for Re-Coil by J.T. Nicholas, a high-concept science fiction standalone that has been described as The Expanse meets Altered Carbon! Today we are sharing an exciting excerpt from the book, available March 3, 2020 from Titan Books wherever books are sold! Check it out, and be sure to also visit the other stops on the tour!
Re-Coil by J.T. Nicholas
Out on a salvage mission with a skeleton crew, Carter Langston is murdered by animated corpses left behind on this ship. Yet in this future, everyone’s consciousness backup can be safely downloaded into a brand-new body, and all you’d lose are the memories of what happened between your last backup and your death. But when Langston wakes up in his new body, he is immediately attacked in the medbay and has to fight once again for his life—and his immortality. Because this assassin aims to destroy his core forever.
Determined to find his shipmates and solve this evolving mystery, Langston locates their tech whiz Shay Chan, but two members are missing and perhaps permanently killed. Langston and Chan are soon running for their lives with the assassin and the corporation behind him in hot pursuit.
What Langston and Chan ultimately find would signal the end of humanity. What started as a salvage mission just might end up saving the world.
Excerpt from Re-Coil by J.T. Nicholas, published by Titan Books. Copyright © 2020 by J.T. Nicholas
I moved to the first row of acceleration chairs and turned my attention to the first corpse. The coil was bio-female, young, and, at least when imagined with the full flush of life, attractive. It showed no signs of decompression or trauma, and the eyes remained, thankfully, closed. I tried to stop thinking of the coil as a person—what made it a person was safely locked away in the core, anyway. It was just a shell, and one that had outlived its usefulness.
The rational part of my mind knew that to be true. It didn’t stop the twisting in my guts as I pulled the frozen body forward, and moved the auburn hair out of the way, baring the hollow in the base of the skull. The laser cutter and the knife did their work, and in a few minutes, I was sliding another core into the bag on my harness.
The work was grisly, but not particularly difficult. The entire coil and core were engineered so that it took only a passing familiarity with anatomy to affect the retrieval. It wasn’t the sort of task that required my full attention—in fact, it was the sort of task that begged for that attention to be turned elsewhere. Sarah, why are the coils not showing signs of decompression?
Insufficient data at this time. I ground my teeth together. Guess. As you wish, Langston. The first and most likely cause is sufficient time during decompression for the fluids and gasses in the body to adapt to the changing pressures. Other possible causes decrease greatly in probability and include flash freezing, absence of fluids or gasses in the system to begin with, or administration of outside agents to prevent decompression.
I knew Sarah was right—no one spent long in space without garnering a basic understanding of how decompression sickness and sudden decompression worked. Yet, at the same time, none of her answers made any sense. Who would sit idly in their acceleration chairs while the pressure in the cabin slowly went from one atmosphere down to vacuum, presumably taking with it all the breathable air? The coils showed no signs of flash freezing or desiccation, and the only outside agent I knew of that could prevent decompression was a vacc suit. What had happened to these people?
I moved down the line of chairs, the laser cutter doing its gruesome work, and the little pouch of cores at my hip slowly filled. I was down to three rows when I felt a slight shiver course through the derelict’s hull.
I paused in my work and waited for a moment. The shiver came again, and then grew into a steady vibration. I felt the faintest tug pulling me toward the back of the cabin. The ship was accelerating.
“Persephone?” I asked aloud. At the same time directing a mental, Status? at Sarah.
“What the hell’s going on over there, Langston?” Miller demanded. “Our sensors show that the derelict’s engines just came online.”
The vessel is powering up and accelerating toward Sol, Sarah confirmed.
“Shit,” I swore. “I don’t know, Persephone. The damn engines just fired. By themselves. Are you sure no one’s aboard?”
“Sensors aren’t showing anything living over there except you, Langston.” There was a momentary pause. “Time to get off that boat.”
“Yeah, that’s a big roger. Heading to the airlock, now.” I panned my light across the last three rows. Nine souls lost, at least for a few months. I turned to go, but something stopped me in my tracks. Something had been different on those last bodies. I swept the flashlight back, panning it over the coils, looking for whatever had caught my attention.
One of the corpses, its pale, lifeless eyes wide open, stared back at me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J.T. Nicholas is the author of the upcoming science fiction novel ReCoil (February 2020 from Titan Books) and the neo-noire science fiction series, The New Lyons Sequence (available now from Rebel Base Books).
J.T. was born in Lexington, Virginia, though within six months he moved (or was moved, rather) to Stuttgart, Germany. Thus began the long journey of the military brat, hopping from state to state and country to country until, at present, he has accumulated nearly thirty relocations. This experience taught him that, regardless of where one found oneself, people were largely the same.
When not writing, J.T. spends his time practicing a variety of martial arts, playing games (video, tabletop, and otherwise), and reading everything he can get his hands on.
J.T. currently resides in Wilmington, North Carolina with his wife, a pair of indifferent cats, and two Australian Shepherd puppies intent on destroying anything and everything that fits in their mouths.
YA Weekend: Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus
Posted on March 1, 2020 19 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror, Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. BYR (February 25, 2020)
Length: 304 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
For so long, I’ve been on the lookout for a YA horror that truly terrifies me, and I think I’ve found it. That’s not to say author Daniel Kraus doesn’t make a few plays toward YA traditions in Bent Heavens, but after reading it, I certainly feel as though I’ve been through a hellish, insanity-inducing nightmare and barely made it back with my mind intact.
Our story stars Liv Fleming, whose father Lee went missing more than two years ago, shortly after he started becoming mentally unstable and claiming that he had been a victim of alien abduction. The resulting paranoia had led Lee to take his daughter and her childhood friend Doug out into the woods to set traps for the aliens, which never ended up snaring anything more interesting than the odd squirrel. Still, even with her dad gone now, Liv continues to go out with Doug to the woods each day to check on the traps, partly out of tradition and partly out of hope. Even though what Lee had claimed about his abduction seemed impossible, neither do the teens want to believe that the man, whom they had both loved and respected, had been completely out of his head.
But then one day, just when Liv was about to give up hope and take down the traps once and for all, she and Doug find a strange, monstrous-looking creature caught in one of them. With shock and horror, they realize Lee had been right, which now puts his disappearance in a whole new light. Desperate to find out what had become to her father, Liv reluctantly goes along with Doug’s plan to keep the alien a secret while they figure out how to communicate with it and force it reveal Lee’s whereabouts.
Much of this occurs in the first half of the book, where the content remains quite tame. It’s what happens later on—as the story descends into dark, uncomfortable and disturbing territory—that makes Bent Heavens such a chilling, skin-crawling read. The beauty in it, too, is that there is not just a single dimension to this terror. It’s difficult to describe without giving away too much of the plot, but I will say the reason why I thought this novel was so effective is because of the combination of graphic detail and an atmosphere of unease. Kraus doesn’t pull any punches, and many of the ideas in here are meant to make you squirm, or like you’ve just taken a sucker punch to the gut. One-part body horror, one-part psychological thriller, this novel is designed to explore the darkness of human nature and the lengths we go to justify certain choices.
Bent Heavens is a “mature” YA horror in that sense, one I would hesitate to recommend to everyone, let alone every teen, because there are moments that get too “real” for comfort despite the story’s speculative fiction undertones. So be aware, this book is not for the faint of heart, and if you do not want to read about themes related to pain, cruelty and torture, I would stay far away.
Personally speaking, though, the darkness was what I loved about this book, the bold way it was written, knowing the complex emotions it would stir up and not caring. In fact, in some ways I wish this had been a purely adult novel, so we could have dispensed with certain YA conventions such as the exaggerated, high-school-style affectations in the dialogue or over-embellished prose. Liv herself is pumped full of adolescent angst, and she’s also involved in a lot of petty school-related drama that ultimately served little purpose. Furthermore, there was a pitiful attempt to shoehorn in a romance when the story really didn’t need one. Bruno’s presence seemed entirely unnecessary, and by the end of the book you realize he was just there as a tool to further plot development. Worse was how underdeveloped his character was, and rarely do Liv’s thoughts of him go beyond ogling his good looks. There’s meaningful diversity and then there’s token representation, and unfortunately, Bruno’s shallow portrayal makes it feel like the latter.
That said, the overall storyline was solid and tightly paced, even with the aforementioned diversions and the needless hanky-panky with Bruno, because in the greater scheme of things, any flaws were just minor distractions. On the whole, Kraus did a phenomenal job tracing Liv’s evolution of thought, which serves as a reflection on the darker side of human psychology. Because of this, none of the main characters are going to feel all that sympathetic, but likely this is by design. And finally, there’s the ending, which admittedly had a twist that I saw coming, yet it was still so nauseatingly and viscerally awful and devastating that I think the intended emotional impact was still felt.
So yes, Bent Heavens is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I would recommend it—but with caveats. You’ll probably need to be in a certain frame of mind to read and appreciate it, but if a truly unsettling horror is what you’re looking for and the novel’s description piques your interest, I would give it a try.
The BiblioSanctum 