Friday Face-Off: Gothic

Posted on October 29, 2021 14 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:

~ a cover of a GOTHIC novel

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell

For this week’s topic, I’ve chosen to feature the queen of gothic suspense Laura Purcell’s The Shape of Darkness. The setting is Victorian Bath, where ailing silhouette artist Agnes Darken struggles to keep her business afloat in a world moving towards camera photography. With work already hard to come by, Agnes is shaken when her latest client is found dead, his throat cut and his face smashed in, just before she can complete the final touches on his portrait. Now, not only will her finances remain strained, but she’s also beginning to think someone might be targeting her business by killing her customers, especially when mysterious deaths connected to her seem to keep happening.

Let’s take a look at the covers:

From left to right:
Raven Books Hardcover (2021) – Raven Books Paperback (2021) – Penguin Books (2021)

Winner:

The second iteration of the Raven Books cover for their paperback edition definitely has a more “suspenseful” vibe to it, but in terms of uniqueness and personality, I really like their original hardcover edition. I really like that on closer inspection you notice the little details like the golden scissors pattern in the background, as well as the main motif of the silhouetted shape which is a clear nod to the protagonist’s esoteric yet very cool profession. The Penguin Books cover though just looks a bit blah to me, and makes me think more noir than gothic.

But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

Waiting on Wednesday 10/27/21

Posted on October 27, 2021 12 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 Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz (March 22, 2022 by Ace Books)

I was very excited to find out about The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz, as I’m a huge fan of her work. I’ve mostly read her horror and thriller though, so this one, described as a parallel world romance, seems quite bit different. Looking forward to checking it out!

“In this funny and poignant novel, two strangers learn that their soul mate might be both as close as breath and as distant as a star, from British Fantasy Award recipient Sarah Lotz.

Bee thinks she has everything: a successful business repurposing wedding dresses, and friends who love and support her. She’s given up on finding love, but that’s fine. There’s always Tinder. Nick thinks he has nothing: his writing career has stalled after early promise and his marriage is on the rocks, but that’s fine. There’s always gin. So when one of Nick’s emails, a viciously funny screed intended for a non-paying client, accidentally pings into Bee’s inbox, they decide to keep the conversation going. After all, they never have to meet.

But the more they get to know each other, the more Bee and Nick realize they want to. They both notice strange pop culture or political references that crop up in their correspondence, but nothing odd enough to stop Bee and Nick for falling hard for each other. But when their efforts to meet in real life fail spectacularly, Bee and Nick discover that they’re actually living in near-identical but parallel worlds. With a universe between them, Bee and Nick will discover how far they’ll go to beat impossible odds.”

Book Review: The House of Dust by Noah Broyles

Posted on October 26, 2021 14 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 House of Dust by Noah Broyles

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Inkshares (October 5, 2021)

Length: 445 pages

Author Information: Website | Twitter

I believe there are books that require you to be in a certain mood in order to truly enjoy them, and I can’t help but think The House of Dust is a prime example. This is as Southern Gothic as you can get, set “deep in the heat and silence of rural Tennessee”, a simple yet telling line in the novel’s official description. Yes, it’s dark. Yes, it’s heavy. And sometimes, the story can get a little too bogged down by both these traits.

Our tale opens on a lonely road on the way to a small remote town, where protagonist Bradly Ellison plans to kill himself. But what has happened to bring him to this point? Following a split-structure alternating narrative, The House of Dust reveals the story of Brad, a struggling true crime writer, as well as Missy Holiday, his fiancée and a former escort, as they head to the tumbledown town of Three Summers, Tennessee in a last-ditch attempt to find what they need to save themselves. For Brad, it’s a chance to revive his career before the magazine he writes for fires him, and for Missy, it’s a place she can retreat to and heal from her traumatic past.

The couple has rented a rundown plantation house after Brad gets a lead on a possible story in a nearby town. Strange fate has led them here, after a creepy encounter with an old woman brought the dilapidated house to their attention. In his investigation, Brad makes even more disturbing discoveries about the town, including a possible cultish ritual among its residents as well as whispers related to the worshipping of an angel called Adamah. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Brad believes he is on to something big here, but the deeper he digs, the more he is haunted by the town’s dark and rotten history.

Maybe it’s the structure of the novel, or simply the disjointed nature of the plot itself, but the beginning of this book presented a huge struggle. The early sections were a mess, with issues ranging from ambiguously surreal situations to the deliberate withholding of information, and as you know, it never sits well with me when an author does that, especially when it feels contrived and forced. It’s also difficult to tease out what’s real versus what is merely a product of the characters’ minds, and when the basis of your entire novel rests on that uncertainty, well then, the storytelling is bound to be a bit weaker.

Fortunately, the narrative eventually smooths out somewhat. Once I caught on to the split format and figured out where we were going with it, it did make things easier, and with that obstacle out of the way, I was also able to appreciate the more positive aspects of the novel. First of all, this is a very atmospheric tale. The heat and oppression of the setting mixes with the strange and dreamlike fugue of the story to create a haunting miasma that’s thick enough to choke on. Speaking of which, we also didn’t get as much about the old plantation house as I would have liked, but that said, it’s also the type of vagueness that encourages readers to use their own imagination to fill in the blanks, and one can argue that might be even more effective.

Still, Noah Broyles makes a few mistakes that many debut authors are prone to, namely overwriting which unnecessarily encumbers the prose and restricts the flow of pacing. This story could have been a lot spookier and more disturbing, but I was tripping over too many wonky transitions and instances of awkward phrasing to really feel all that creeped out. Finer edits and polishing might have fixed some things, but generally I feel this was a very ambitious and thus complicated story, and Broyles might have bit off more than he can chew.

Overall, I love Gothic fiction, as well as horror stories about cults or strange things happening in small forgotten towns. The House of Dust is probably worth reading if, like me, you are a fan of those things as well, with the caveat that the novel is a bit rough around the edges. Still, Noah Broyles has a lot of potential, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for his next projects.

Audiobook Review: Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

Posted on October 25, 2021 24 Comments

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 5 of 5 stars

Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone/Book 1

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (October 26, 2021)

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Narrator: Ulka Mohanty

Grave Reservations was very different from anything I’ve read from Cherie Priest in the past, but I loved it! A mix of mystery and the supernatural and with a great healthy dose of humor, the story introduces readers to Leda Foley, just your average struggling travel agent doing her best to get her clients from one point to another. But Leda also has a secret, one she wants to keep on the down low lest people think she’s crazy. After all, how can she explain the way she can tell the future, based on the hunches she sometimes gets? Of course, it doesn’t help that her talent comes and goes, and her accuracy is wildly inconsistent. Better just to keep it to herself, and so the only other person who knows about her psychic powers is her bestie Niki.

But then one day, Leda gets one of those feelings and abruptly cancels the flight of one her clients, booking him on another. The client, Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt, is annoyed at first, but then as his original plane bursts into flame on the tarmac, he realizes that Leda may have very well saved his life. But what prompted her to change his flight in the first place? After making it back to Seattle safely, Grady goes to meet his mysterious travel agent to find out more about her. Leda is left with no choice but to confess her abilities, but rather than react badly, Grady instead sees an opportunity to put her premonitions to good use and offers her a side job. For the past few years, he has been working on a case that he just can’t seem to crack, and if Leda is the real deal as he suspects, she might be able to help him shake loose a few clues.

I had so much fun with Grave Reservations, and it was the perfect book to lighten up the mood after a string of darker, more oppressive reads. The story shares some characteristics with the cozy mystery genre, but it also has some elements of an urban fantasy. Whatever it is though, it is undeniably light and humorous, and unlike a lot of the author’s previous work, this one doesn’t take itself too seriously, overall making it an easy breezy read.

That said, the premise is solid and it’s clearly well thought out. Priest uses the buddy cop trope to great effect, giving her two protagonists very different backgrounds and personalities, which often leads to moments of hilarious conflict and dialogue whenever they are together on the case. There are also a few quirky twists on the characters to make the dynamic more unique, most of which relate to Leda’s powers. For spoilerish reasons I won’t elaborate on here, she begins this novel with a lack of confidence in her psychic abilities, but wants to develop them further in order to help others.

One way she does this is also one of my favorite aspects of the book, where Leda and her friends hold “Klairvoyant Karaoke” sessions at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights. Here’s how that works: after handling a personal item belonging to an audience member, our protagonist would choose a song based on the vibes she gets from the object, and then gauge her success by the reaction she gets from the person. Pretty cool, right? I just thought it was such an offbeat yet brilliant idea which gave rise to some of the best scenes in the story, not to mention it made Leda more sympathetic and lent the novel a certain charm.

Of course, Leda’s involvement also comes with a ton of baggage. Her fiancé was murdered a couple years, and later we find out that it may have some connection to Grady’s cold case. The whos, hows, whys and whens are revealed in due course, and in the meantime, we get to follow along with our investigate duo as they doggedly chase down the answers. The result is the satisfaction of getting a novel where nothing is as simple as it seems, and ultimately readers might be surprised by the complexity of the plot’s murder mystery that belies its lighter, more comedic themes.

Bottom line, Grave Reservations is admittedly a rather unexpected shift in direction coming from Cherie Priest, and it definitely will not be for everyone. However, it does manage to show off a lighter, funnier side of the author, and you know what? I like it. I like it a lot. The entertainment value certainly can’t be beat, and I am hoping with all heart that this will be the beginning of a series because I’m loving these characters and clearly there’s so much more to explore!

Also brava to narrator Ulka Mohanty for bring the audiobook version of Grave Reservations to life. It’s my first experience with her as a reader, but I would not hesitate to listen to more of her performances, and should we be fortunate enough to see this one become a series, I would be extremely happy to see her return for the role.

Bookshelf Roundup: 10/24/21: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads

Posted on October 24, 2021 22 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.

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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!

The amazing folks at Tor.com were great to me this week. A big thanks to them for review copies of the following: Flowers For the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn is described as a novella that reads like Rosemary’s Baby by way of Octavia E. Butler, so just give it to me already! Also received was a surprise ARC of Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire, reminding me once again I should be reading the Wayward Children series because all I’ve heard are good things. This is the seventh book though, so I have a ways to go to catch up. And I also received an an ARC of Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston which I believe is a reissue, bringing back this award winning novel whose themes are just as or perhaps even more relevant today.

In the digital haul, with thanks to Dreamscape Media for a listening copy of The Hidden by Melanie Golding. I’ve been wanting to read this one since I read her debut Little Darlings! As well, thank to Macmillan Audio for a listening copy of Gilded by Marissa Meyer. I really liked her Lunar Chronicles series, so I was excited when I found out she was writing a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.

Reviews

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake (4 of 5 stars)
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (3.5 of 5 stars)

The Expanse Reread

This past week I took part in Orbit’s epic reread event for The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, and in case you missed it, my re-review of book 7 Persepolis Rising went up yesterday so check it out! Get excited for Leviathan Falls!

What I’ve Been Reading

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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!

The Expanse Reread Review: Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

Posted on October 23, 2021 9 Comments

In case you missed my intro post at the beginning of this week, The BiblioSanctum is taking part in The Expanse re-read event hosted by Orbit in celebration of the ninth and final novel of the series which comes out next month. As much as I’m looking forward to Leviathan Falls, it’s always a bittersweet moment to have to say goodbye to a beloved series, which is why I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity to participate. Each blogger in the tour was given a book to cover, and I got Persepolis Rising which was very exciting for me—after all, it’s my favorite installment so far.

And it appears I’m not alone. Go to any review site and you’ll see many others proclaiming the same thing about Persepolis Rising, or that they think it’s the best book of the series. Of course, there’s a significant development here that might have something to do with that. And quite honestly, it wouldn’t even be a spoiler for me to reveal what it is, because the first line of the novel literally starts with, “Almost three decades had passed…”

For many authors, such a bold move would be a mistake. Generally, you don’t jump forward thirty years or so in time in your story and just expect your fans to just go along with it. But in this case, it kind of works. I said this in my first review of Persepolis Rising and I’ll say it again: when your epic space opera series is seven books in and you’ve already put your readers through some of the most intense and nerve-wracking experiences you can imagine, how else can you shake things up?

Well, apparently by pressing the “soft reset” button. And that’s how the book opens. We are reacquainted with familiar characters, albeit all of them are now older, and in some cases wiser. As with the other Expanse books, this one’s told through multiple POVs as well. The members of the Rocinante crew are represented of course, though the passing years have affected each of them very differently. And yet, some things remain the same, and that is why Persepolis Rising was such a joy to read—for the first time and for the reread—because you got to experience the best of both the old and the new.

The characters really take center stage in this one. Unlike the previous books, readers are not immediately accosted by some galaxy-wide emergency, giving us time to gather our bearings and maybe catch up on some of things we’ve missed. As ever, Holden is our main protagonist, as well as the glue that holds everything together. But now, having been through so much, he’s just tired. He and Naomi are getting on in years, and he’s thinking maybe it’s time to quit the space game and retire somewhere quiet to live out the rest of their lives.

However, the universe has other plans for him, starting with the return of an old enemy. Clearly there’s room in this series for one last adventure, and Persepolis Rising does a phenomenal job introducing this new threat, along with setting up the rest of the arc. Like I said, this book’s all about the characters, and not just the heroes but the antagonist as well. We meet Governor Singh, a severe authoritarian but also a tragic figure who is driven to do what he does out of love for his young daughter.

At the end of the day, it’s the relationships that keep me coming back to this series. Sure, I’m also a big fan of the space opera action and sci-fi thrills, but without the people in the story, none of it would mean as much. In a way, Persepolis Rising is a symbol of how far we’ve all come on this journey, following the characters from the beginning all the way to this point. While it might be thrilling and fascinating to see how much things have changed, there’s still this familiarity that keeps us grounded. Deep down, these are always going to be the character we know and love, even if we’re now seeing many of them from new angles and through fresh eyes.

In any case, I’m definitely not going anywhere. The Expanse is truly a spectacular series, and not only has this reread opportunity reminded me of how much I love these books, but I’m now even more fired up in my excitement for Leviathan Falls.

Before that though, there is one last book to cover, and I am pleased to be passing the torch to the next blogger on the list! Make sure to stay tuned for Quintessentially Bookish’s coverage of Tiamat’s Wrath!

Friday Face-Off: Book with “Queen” in the Title

Posted on October 22, 2021 10 Comments

This week’s theme is:

~ a cover of a book with QUEEN IN THE TITLE

The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

Finding a book to fit this theme was pretty easy, as a fantasy reader. The Caged Queen is the second volume of the young adult series of standalone books, Iskari. Let’s take a look at the covers:

From left to right:
HarperTeen (2018) – Gollancz (2018)

Portuguese Edition (2019) – French Edition (2020) – Czech Edition (2019)

Dutch Edition (2018) – Polish Edition (2019)

Winner:

Spoiled for choice this week, with so many great options! However, as much as I’m enjoying the gilded look of many of these covers and all the animal motifs, I found myself drawn to the simple elegance of the HarperTeen or Gollancz editions, but the Gollancz probably comes out slightly ahead.

But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

Waiting on Wednesday 09/20/21

Posted on October 20, 2021 10 Comments

Mogsy’s Pick

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier (July 19, 2022 by Minotaur Books)

I first became a fan of Jennifer Hillier when I read Jar of Hearts. Then I read Little Secrets, and thought that one was even better. Hoping that trend will continue with Things We Do in the Dark, which sounds like another winning combination of thrills and chills.

“A brilliant new thriller from the award-winning author of the breakout novels Little Secrets and Jar of Hearts – The secrets of the past come back around when a woman, long believed dead, turns up alive.

Joey Reyes had a rough life. At thirteen, they took her mother, Pearl, away on a hot June night. In a case that was a media sensation, Pearl was tried and convicted for the murder of her married boyfriend. At twenty, Joey died in an apartment fire.

Or did she?

Years later, Joey’s friend, Drew – a journalist and podcaster – learns that Pearl is finally getting out of prison and she believes, she KNOWS, that Joey is still alive, living in Seattle under a different name. She was married to a very rich man who died unexpectedly and whose substantial estate is now in question. Death – murder even – seems to follow Joey around.

Drew is determined to find out the truth – whose body was found in the ashes of Joey’s apartment, why did she run away and change her name, and what happened on that fateful night when Joey’s mother’s boyfriend was killed. But with so many already dead, can any of them survive the truth?”

Novella Review: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Posted on October 19, 2021 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.

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Fractured Fables

Publisher: Tor.com (October 5, 2021)

Length: 128 pages

Author Information: Website | Twitter

So, this is going to be a relatively short review seeing as A Spindle Splintered was a pretty short read, but the story was nevertheless very enjoyable despite its limited length and scope. As the first novella in Alix E. Harrow’s new series offering fresh and unique takes on classic fairy tales, it does a good job of setting the tone for what’s to come!

In the introduction, we meet Zinnia Gray on her twenty-first birthday. While most young people her age would be out celebrating this momentous milestone with carefree abandon, our protagonist is just happy to be still alive. Pretty soon, she knows she will be dead because of an illness that is killing her, and despite the years of medication and treatment to try to control its effects, as far as our protagonist knows, no one with the disease ever lives long enough to see twenty-two.

In the face of this gloomy prognosis, however, Zinnia’s best friend Charm is determined to give her a birthday to remember. Knowing that her friend is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty, Charm has gone to lengths to arrange a surprise party in an abandoned tower, complete with an old spinning wheel. Impressed with the tableau, Zinnia decides to go full out on the experience by pricking her finger on the spindle, but when she does, something strange happens. Suddenly, she is transported to another world where she meets Primrose, a princess desperate to escape her own fate.

At its heart, A Spindle Splintered is a coming-of-age tale, though a somewhat unique one, seeing as our protagonist is preparing for her death rather than looking forward to the future. Is it any wonder that from a young age she has developed a fascination for Sleeping Beauty, whose story holds some remarkable parallels with her own? Much like the fictional princess who is destined to fall to a curse, Zinnia feels a sense of helplessness to change the cards that she’s been dealt. Admittedly, she is also very harsh in her critique of the fairy tale, but loves it all the same because her ability to relate to the character. Which is why, after breaking through to an alternate reality to come face to face with Primrose, a real-life Sleeping Beauty in the flesh, an immediate bond is forged between the two of them despite coming from very different worlds.

I also enjoyed Harrow’s handling of the story and its themes. While I’m a fan of her novels The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Once and Future Witches, I certainly wasn’t expecting the same level of depth or character development from this novella, but I was impressed all the same. True, the shorter format was a limiting factor, but the author has still managed to pack a surprising amount into the story’s modest page count of 128 pages. Along with a new and imaginative approach to the Sleeping Beauty, there is also a refreshing, rather hopeful message embedded in the narrative arc for Zinnia, in which she makes some surprising discoveries about herself. There’s even room for some quirky and upbeat humor, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Bottom line, I had a fun time with A Spindle Splinted, so it’s probably safe to say this compact little novella managed to succeed in its goals. Its bite-sized format was not as restrictive as it could have been, thanks to fantastic plotting and storytelling on the author’s part as well as a great sense of humor. The book certainly could have been longer, but I was also glad to find out that Zinnia’s tale will be continuing in the next installment, A Mirror Mended.

The Expanse Reread Intro: Book #7 Persepolis Rising!

Posted on October 18, 2021 11 Comments

In November, the long awaited ninth book of The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey will be hitting bookstore shelves, and what are us fans to do while we wait for the grand finale of the most epic sci-fi saga the genre has seen in years? Do a re-read, of course!

To celebrate the upcoming release of Leviathan Falls, the amazing team at Orbit Books has put together this multi-week event bringing together eight book blogs with a shared love of the series. I am so honored and thrilled to have been invited to take part, and as you can see from the participant list in the banner above, I’m in excellent company.

You may have already noticed some of the announcement posts and reviews around the blogosphere, but basically every blog has been tasked to feature a volume in the series, and this week it’s The BiblioSanctum’s turn to cover the seventh book, Persepolis Rising! At the end of this week, I’ll be sharing the thoughts of my re-read with you in a review, as well as to hand over the mantle to the next blogger on the list.

Anyway, out of all the books so far, Persepolis Rising is by far my favorite, so I’m definitely excited for it to be “my” book! 🙂

Be sure to stay tuned for my coverage on October 23rd, and in the meantime, you can head on over to the other blogs to see what’s been happening in the re-read event thus far. If you’re reading this series, you won’t want to miss this! And if you’re not caught up yet, don’t fret, because there’s plenty of time left before Leviathan Falls releases. Same goes if you’re completely new to this series, and I highly encourage you to check it out!

So, are you reading The Expanse? If not, are you planning to? Let me know your thoughts!